Spell selection for a favored soul.. It's super hard to nail it..well, for me

[dehro]

The allowed spell sources are spell compendium and core books only. I can maybe squeeze in 1, 2 spells that aren't from there at the most.

So far I've reduced the selection as follows

Lesser vigor
Conviction
Protection from evil
Shield of faith
Resurgence

I have one more slot to fill.


Cure moderate wounds
Resist energy
Divine protection
Divine interdiction
Healing loreal
Zone of truth
Elation

Light of venya
Vigor
Energy vulnerability
Crown of protection
Cure serious wounds
Seeking light
Dispell magic
Invisibility purge
Mass conviction
Mass resurgence


Air walk
Greater status
Dimensional anchor
Divine power
Restoration
Panacea
Cure critical wounds
Death ward

Righteous might
Spell resistance
Raise dead
Reviving
Greater vigor
Atonement
Divine retribution
Wall of dispell
True seeing

Mass cure moderate wounds
Heal
Greater restoration
Banishment
Energy immunity
Greater dispell magic.

Mass cure serious wounds
Regenerate
Mass restoration
Resurrection
Mass spell resistance
Holy word.

Antimagic field
Dimensional lock
Wall of greater dispelled
Holy aura

Now.. I am aware of the fact that several of these may be redundant at epic levels, and that several do similar things at differing strengths,but I'm really bad at picking the right levels to keep.
I would also like to have, if possible, a few good debuffers and a couple more damage dealing spells..but.. Well..I'm lost at sea here.
The main things I'll be doing is healing/buffing and secondary melee.

[GilesTheCleric]

I've got a game to prepare for, or else I would be more exhaustive, but you might check the link in my sig for some reasonable generic suggestions that might help inform your own selection from the ones you've picked.

[Troacctid]

If you're at all interested in healing, then Close Wounds is a must.

I think you can lose Cure Moderate Wounds. It's redundant and not very efficient. Lesser Restoration is a lot more useful to have IMO. Ditch Divine Interdiction as well, it's so narrow as to be useless.

What does your typical buff routine in combat look like? Make sure you aren't loading up on so many standard action buff spells that you'll never be able to cast them all.

Have you considered the variant in Player's Handbook II? If I recall correctly, it's quite nice, and usually better than Weapon Focus, especially if you're doing any healing, buffing, or supporting, which does appear to be the case here.

[dehro]

I've got a game to prepare for, or else I would be more exhaustive, but you might check the link in my sig for some reasonable generic suggestions that might help inform your own selection from the ones you've picked.
I have yet to check it out, but your link seems to hold the answers I'm looking for

If you're at all interested in healing, then Close Wounds is a must.

I think you can lose Cure Moderate Wounds. It's redundant and not very efficient. Lesser Restoration is a lot more useful to have IMO. Ditch Divine Interdiction as well, it's so narrow as to be useless.

What does your typical buff routine in combat look like? Make sure you aren't loading up on so many standard action buff spells that you'll never be able to cast them all.

Have you considered the variant in Player's Handbook II? If I recall correctly, it's quite nice, and usually better than Weapon Focus, especially if you're doing any healing, buffing, or supporting, which does appear to be the case here.

Il take your suggestions on board.. As for the variant.. I'm not sure I can take any more on board (we have a point buy system for variations from core and complete, which I may have exhausted already). What variant would that be anyway?

[Troacctid]

Il take your suggestions on board.. As for the variant.. I'm not sure I can take any more on board (we have a point buy system for variations from core and complete, which I may have exhausted already). What variant would that be anyway?
Every spell you cast on an ally gives that ally temporary hit points equal to 3x the spell's level. Replaces Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization. It makes the favored soul one of the most effective healer-buffers in the game.

In general, I think you have more HP-healing spells than you need here. You definitely don't need the entire cure X wounds line.

Good examples of buffs that probably aren't worth the action cost would be shield of faith and divine protection. (The latter doesn't even stack with conviction, which actually makes it pretty useless.)

Oh, also, you want divine insight, it's crazy overpowered.

[Anthrowhale]

If you are looking for a spontaneous cleric, the spontaneous cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/spontaneousDivineCasters.htm) is generally better. You get access to higher level spells a level earlier, domains, and have turn undead.

[Telok]

If you are looking for a spontaneous cleric, the spontaneous cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/spontaneousDivineCasters.htm) is generally better. You get access to higher level spells a level earlier, domains, and have turn undead.

You know, I haven't tried it, but I think it's possible to build a spontaneous cleric off the normal cleric chassis with feats and such. That seems like an interesting exercise.

Frankly there's no benefit to Favored Soul, no domains, no turns, no bonus spells, fewer spells, split casting, worse weapons (no War, etc., domain), worse armor, just a couple really minor bonuses and a better Reflex save.

[Troacctid]

You know, I haven't tried it, but I think it's possible to build a spontaneous cleric off the normal cleric chassis with feats and such. That seems like an interesting exercise.
It probably starts with the Benevolent variant is my guess. Maybe the Proteus feat.


Frankly there's no benefit to Favored Soul, no domains, no turns, no bonus spells, fewer spells, split casting, worse weapons (no War, etc., domain), worse armor, just a couple really minor bonuses and a better Reflex save.
You get proficiency with your deity's favored weapon even if it's exotic, so actually better weapons than a cleric, depending on your deity.

I think you still compare unfavorably to the Evangelist Cleric though—spontaneous casting, but with six domains instead of zero. Well worth the weaker Reflex save if you ask me.

[danielxcutter]

One of the basic tips for picking spells for a spontaneous caster like Sorcerer or Favored Soul is to pick spells that you know that will be used a lot, and spamming them is a viable tactic. You probably know that, but I believe stating it again is important, since the spontaneous caster has less spells known compared to a prepared caster like Cleric or Wizard, but has the advantage of being able to spam the spells that they do know until your enemies drop dead.

[dehro]

I need the weapon focus for the ordained champion PrC.
Build is human cloistered cleric 1/ favored soul 15/ ordained champion 3. (Because reasons)
I've substituted the knowledge, law and good domains with their respective devotions. I kept the war domain mostly because it's needed for ordained champion.
Feat wise, I'm taking practiced spellcaster, rapid metamagic, extended spell, quicken spell, maximised spell, power attack, cleave... Not sure what else to get on that front either.
DMM: persistent is banned by the DM.
I might get DMM something else though.
I'll remove a few heals, and the redundant/non stacking buffs.
My main thing would be to cast righteous might and divine power, then follow the main bruisers (paladin and paladin/rogue/something else) into battle or lag behind to defend the arcane casters, ready to heal and/or buff one or the others. I would do very limited offensive casting, but would like to have one or two decent spells on that front too.
If I remember well, there's a talent that turns touch spells into ranged? Also, a spell that allows someone to go well below -10 for the duration of the spell as long as you heal before the spell runs out?

[Troacctid]

Oh...I'd highly recommend taking all 5 levels of Ordained Champion. Rapid Spontaneous Casting is gas. Being able to toss around blade barriers and flame strikes and even spiritual weapons with a swift action is insane action economy, and the difference between a standard action divine power and a swift is immense. The ability is extremely powerful and absolutely worth taking one more level. You know how good DMM is? Imagine if you didn't have to spend turning attempts on it and it just automatically applied for free on every spell you cast. That's Ordained Champion 4. (And then the 5th level advances casting so it's basically a free CL boost, mise.)

I would keep the Good domain and trade its granted power for a Fighter bonus feat, which will probably be more impactful than the small amount of DR once a day (let's be real, you're probably not spending turning attempts on it). And you definitely want to trade away the Weapon Focus you're getting from favored soul, since it will be redundant with the War domain ability.

I would not take Quicken Spell as you can already auto-quicken your War domain spells. That would also mean you don't need Rapid Metamagic.

Consider the Holy Warrior reserve feat. It's usually pretty solid on Ordained Champions. Another good one is Awesome Smite, which gives you free trip attacks and the ability to ignore concealment and DR when smiting. Both are from Complete Champion.

[dehro]

I don't think I can get more than one spell of the war domain... I have 1 level in cleric and I don't think the levels of favored soul scale with cleric for the purpose of domain spells attribution (which is why I was so liberal with swapping the domains for the devotion).
Also, I am indeed swapping weapon focus since I got it at first level with the war domain. I just haven't decided what with, yet

This is what I've got so far (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21426861&postcount=10)

[danielxcutter]

Err... Did I miss something, or are you not picking Heal? Is Heal a sub-par spell for Favored Souls?

[dehro]

It's listed in the first post, sixt level spells
Definitely one of my first picks.

Side question (@Troaccid?).. Should my next level (provided I don't die straight away) be favored soul to gain access to 9th level spells or ordained champion to progress that class more quickly?
At these levels death is very likely, leveling up an infrequent occurrence.
Alternatively I could go cloistered cleric 1/favored soul 13/ ordained champion 5, and then progress with favored soul.. which would set me back a spell level right now but get the full ordained champion straight away

[Telok]

Um, War domain? That gives proficency and Weapon Focus in the weapon already. You don't need Favored Soul for those.

[dehro]

I know but favored soul still gives it to me, with the stipulation that I can take something else instead, which is what I intend to do, as soon as I know what to take in its place

[Troacctid]

I don't think I can get more than one spell of the war domain... I have 1 level in cleric and I don't think the levels of favored soul scale with cleric for the purpose of domain spells attribution (which is why I was so liberal with swapping the domains for the devotion).
Also, I am indeed swapping weapon focus since I got it at first level with the war domain. I just haven't decided what with, yet
All of the spells in the War domain except for the last three are also on the cleric spell list. You can choose them as your spells known normally. Rapid Spontaneous Casting will apply to them.

There are only three options to trade away a favored soul's Weapon Focus. There's Deity's Favor, the temporary HP one, which I already mentioned. There's Favored of Bahamut, which gives you two claw attacks, Dragontouched as a bonus feat, and the ability to pick a couple spells off of the sorcerer list to add to your class spell list, but you have to worship Bahamut or Tiamat, so it's probably out, unless your DM lets you adapt it for one of the dragon gods of war. And there's Favored of the Fiends, which gives you two claws and a bite that count as evil for bypassing damage reduction, and surprisingly does not require you to be evil. All of them are fine.


Side question (@Troaccid?).. Should my next level (provided I don't die straight away) be favored soul to gain access to 9th level spells or ordained champion to progress that class more quickly?
At these levels death is very likely, leveling up an infrequent occurrence.
Alternatively I could go cloistered cleric 1/favored soul 13/ ordained champion 5, and then progress with favored soul.. which would set me back a spell level right now but get the full ordained champion straight away
You should do the latter. I don't think it sets you back a spell level yet anyway; the build with 3 levels of Ordained Champion has an effective favored soul level of 17, which is an odd level, so losing one more still puts you at 8th level spells.

Why is everyone spelling my name wrong this week? :P

[dehro]

Why is everyone spelling my name wrong this week? :P

Not knowing what it means makes it easier to misspell...also, for some reason I associate it with a male profile :smalleek:

Deity favour sounds like the only option, thematically.
I can't find it though.. Where is it from? Holy warrior and awesome smite sound both good.
I'm still a little wary of delaying access to level 9 spells 2 levels.. But I'll trust your judgement.

[Troacctid]

Deity favour sounds like the only option, thematically.
I can't find it though.. Where is it from?
Player's Handbook II.

[dehro]

Player's Handbook II.

Then I'm being more obtuse than usual, as I can't find it... :smallfrown:
New avatar? :smallsmile::smallsmile: