Best Domain for an Adept with the Religious Adept ACF?

[ATHATH]

The title says it all.

[Venger]

Do you want to explain what the religious adept acf is and where it's printed?

[Inevitability]

Depends on what you're trying to do.
Buffer? Take Planning.
Martial tendencies? War may help there.
BFC? Slime is great for that.


Do you want to explain what the religious adept acf is and where it's printed?

It's an eberron thing. Adepts get a free domain there.

[Venger]

Depends on what you're trying to do.
Buffer? Take Planning.
Martial tendencies? War may help there.
BFC? Slime is great for that.



It's an eberron thing. Adepts get a free domain there.

Ok, that I'm familiar with. I thought "religious adept" was something else. So you get access to 1 domain, no bonus slot, and add the spells to your list of spells known. That does mean you can cast them more than 1/day, so you've got a leg up on the cleric there.

Yeah, can you tell us anything about your build? I assume you're going into hexer. If so and you're just going to be a mini-codzilla, my favorite all-around good domain in absence of any other information is transformation. none of the spells are on your list already and the domain power is +1 cl to trans spells.

[Pyromancer999]

Planar Domains are pretty spiffy, although said domains do clash with the planar setup for the setting.

[ATHATH]

Planar Domains are pretty spiffy, although said domains do clash with the planar setup for the setting.
Does Religious Adept bypass the normal 2-domain requirement for Planar Domains?

[ATHATH]

Yeah, can you tell us anything about your build? I assume you're going into hexer.
I haven't really decided yet, but yes, I think Hexer is just too good to pass up (and yes, I know that I could be getting into Hexer with an Archivist).

Speaking of Hexer, does its Sleep Hex ability work on creatures that have more than 4 HD?

Sleep Hex (Sp): At 7th level, the hexer can use his gaze to generate a sleep effect. This ability functions like the hex ability (above), except that duration is 10 minutes × the character's hexer level and the target is affected as if by a sleep spell. A sleep hex is a mind-influencing, compulsion, enchantment effect, and it requires one daily use of the character's hex ability.

[ATHATH]

Hm... I think I might go with Olidammara as my patron, because her Initiate feat grants some amazing spells.

Which of her domains should I choose? I'm hoping to focus on spellcasting, with the possibility of some buff-assisted face-wrecking on the side (or the other way around, depending on what buffs I can snag).

[ATHATH]

While his Hex ability is active, can a Hexer freely choose which type of Hex (of the ones available to him) to use, or does he need to activate Hex (with another standard action and another one of his Hexes per day) again whenever he wants to switch to using a new gaze attack? If the latter, can a 10th level Hexer spend 5 turns activating each of his different Hex abilities (Hex, Sicken Hex, Fear Hex, Sleep Hex, and Sicken Hex) and wade into battle with five free-action save-or-sucks going off each round?

[Venger]

I haven't really decided yet, but yes, I think Hexer is just too good to pass up (and yes, I know that I could be getting into Hexer with an Archivist).

Speaking of Hexer, does its Sleep Hex ability work on creatures that have more than 4 HD?

Sleep Hex (Sp): At 7th level, the hexer can use his gaze to generate a sleep effect. This ability functions like the hex ability (above), except that duration is 10 minutes × the character's hexer level and the target is affected as if by a sleep spell. A sleep hex is a mind-influencing, compulsion, enchantment effect, and it requires one daily use of the character's hex ability.

Yes it does.


Hm... I think I might go with Olidammara as my patron, because her Initiate feat grants some amazing spells.

Which of her domains should I choose? I'm hoping to focus on spellcasting, with the possibility of some buff-assisted face-wrecking on the side (or the other way around, depending on what buffs I can snag).

ok. olidammara is a man btw.

your options are celerity, chaos, city, luck, lust, mind, sloth, and trickery. since your gm is apparently allowing dragon magazine content, avarice is another option.

of those, celerity and trickery are top tier universally acknowledged as powerful, versatile options. city can be useful if you're in a highly urban game, which is distinctly possible in eberron, but may be too situational if you aren't. chaos is terrible, don't take it, and lust, mind, and sloth are flavorful and interesting depending on your playstyle, but aren't really must-haves. avarice is pretty meh.


While his Hex ability is active, can a Hexer freely choose which type of Hex (of the ones available to him) to use, or does he need to activate Hex (with another standard action and another one of his Hexes per day) again whenever he wants to switch to using a new gaze attack? If the latter, can a 10th level Hexer spend 5 turns activating each of his different Hex abilities (Hex, Sicken Hex, Fear Hex, Sleep Hex, and Sicken Hex) and wade into battle with five free-action save-or-sucks going off each round?
It's the latter. Yes, you can, but it's a terrible use of resources.

[ATHATH]

The Celerity and Luck domains look pretty good, but as far as I can tell, all of the hype for the Trickery domain is there because of the Trickery domain's high-level spells, which adepts don't get. Is there something that I'm missing?

[Venger]

The Celerity and Luck domains look pretty good, but as far as I can tell, all of the hype for the Trickery domain is there because of the Trickery domain's high-level spells, which adepts don't get. Is there something that I'm missing?

while 6-9 are quite good, 1-5 are valuable utility filling niches the cleric list doesn't have, and the granted power gives class skills it's often annoying to obtain otherwise. if your character doesn't need either of those, then feel free to give it a pass.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Cold domain is pretty good for providing strong crowd controls at the higher spell levels, plus you get to turn/rebuke fire and cold subtype creatures, which can lead to some mostly free cold-subtype minions.

The Slime domain gets some decent spells and you can rebuke oozes, which means mostly free ooze minions (like custom living spells).

The Kobold domain (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) gets Trapfinding along with Search and Disable Device as class skills.

If you're just looking to access additional spells, the Raiment of the Four set in MIC is a good place to start.

[ATHATH]

If you're just looking to access additional spells, the Raiment of the Four set in MIC is a good place to start.
Yeah, I think I might pick up some Gloves of the Starry Sky.

Your mentioning of the Slime domain reminded me of the existence of the Spell Sovereign PrC. Although the familiars that it provides require arcane casting levels, the Improved Familiar feat doesn't actually require an arcane caster level, so I could get into SS with little issue. A two-level dip (until I can get into Hexer) will do nicely, I think.

Mm, 24/7 Haste (poached from the Trapsmith list) for the whole party...

EDIT: Wait, no, Haste doesn't have an AoE. What's the best 1st level AoE buff? Someone must have researched this at some point.

[Venger]

Yeah, I think I might pick up some Gloves of the Starry Sky.

Your mentioning of the Slime domain reminded me of the existence of the Spell Sovereign PrC. Although the familiars that it provides require arcane casting levels, the Improved Familiar feat doesn't actually require an arcane caster level, so I could get into SS with little issue. A two-level dip (until I can get into Hexer) will do nicely, I think.

Mm, 24/7 Haste (poached from the Trapsmith list) for the whole party...

EDIT: Wait, no, Haste doesn't have an AoE. What's the best 1st level AoE buff? Someone must have researched this at some point.

Sanctum, arcane thesis, earthbound haste will fulfill your criteria.

[ATHATH]

Sanctum, arcane thesis, earthbound haste will fulfill your criteria.
I don't think that Living Spells can have metamagic applied to them. In any case, I'm not going to mess around with Sanctum Spell cheese (on this character).

[Venger]

I don't think that Living Spells can have metamagic applied to them. In any case, I'm not going to mess around with Sanctum Spell cheese (on this character).

I mean, you asked for haste as an aoe as a 1st level spell, some cheese is gonna be necessary. but that's fair, I wouldn't expect it to be used in normal play either.

[ATHATH]

I mean, you asked for haste as an aoe as a 1st level spell, some cheese is gonna be necessary. but that's fair, I wouldn't expect it to be used in normal play either.
Haste from the Trapsmith list as a first level spell.

[Venger]

Haste from the Trapsmith list as a first level spell.

I know haste is a 1 on the trapsmith's list, but it is not by default an aoe.

[ATHATH]

I know haste is a 1 on the trapsmith's list, but it is not by default an aoe.
Yes, and I later noticed that and added an edit to my post. What I'm asking now is if there are any good 1st level AoE buff spells that actually qualify for the Living Spell template.

[thorr-kan]

If you're looking for ACFs and not wedded to the adept's familiar, Dragon 348 has two ACFs for any class that has the familiar class feature. It specifically calls out the "any class" bit.

Dragon 357 offers six ACFs for the familiar class feature. It does not specifically call out the "any class", but you could make an argument with the DM in favor of allowing it.

[ATHATH]

If you're looking for ACFs and not wedded to the adept's familiar, Dragon 348 has two ACFs for any class that has the familiar class feature. It specifically calls out the "any class" bit.

Dragon 357 offers six ACFs for the familiar class feature. It does not specifically call out the "any class", but you could make an argument with the DM in favor of allowing it.
Thanks. I had heard of those, but I had for some reason thought that they were Sorc/Wiz/Hexblade-exclusive. I'll go check them out.

[ATHATH]

Random thought: I might want to not take the Religious Adept ACF, as taking it prevents me from gaining an additional spell per level from a prestige domain (a dip into Dracolyte for the Domination domain looks nice, for example).

Anyway, here's the build skeleton that I have so far:

CN Feral (or Winged) Human Religious Aligned Spellcaster (Chaotic) Adept 2/??? 2/Dread Witch 5/Hexer 10/??? 1

I can qualify for Dread Witch with the Magical Training+Precocious Apprentice wombo-combo. If I can nab a 3rd-level SLA from somewhere (maybe from a Dragonmark?), I can squeeze my way into Paragnostic Apostle. Chaotic Spell Recall will help me get around my low number of spells/day.

[Venger]

Random thought: I might want to not take the Religious Adept ACF, as taking it prevents me from gaining an additional spell per level from a prestige domain (a dip into Dracolyte for the Domination domain looks nice, for example).

Anyway, here's the build skeleton that I have so far:

CN Feral (or Winged) Human Religious Aligned Spellcaster (Chaotic) Adept 2/??? 1/Dread Witch 5/Hexer 10/??? (probably Spell Sovereign) 2

I can qualify for Dread Witch with the Magical Training+Precocious Apprentice wombo-combo. If I can nab a 3rd-level SLA from somewhere (maybe from a Dragonmark?), I can squeeze my way into Paragnostic Apostle. Chaotic Spell Recall will help me get around my low number of spells/day.

Are you referring to generic spellcaster? that would take care of your ability to cast scare.

since you don't seem to care about optimization/caster levels, you might check out nightmare spinner if you're looking for stuff to kill time after you finish hexer.

[ATHATH]

Are you referring to generic spellcaster? that would take care of your ability to cast scare.

since you don't seem to care about optimization/caster levels, you might check out nightmare spinner if you're looking for stuff to kill time after you finish hexer.
Nope- I'm referring to the Magical Training and Precocious Apprentice feats.

And I am trying to optimize to a reasonable (IMO) degree. I've decided to limit all of my spellcasting to that provided by the Adept class as a self-imposed challenge/handicap, however.

[ATHATH]

I'm considering dropping Dread Witch for something else- it's limiting my race to Human or Elf, and it's delaying my entry into Hexer by a level. What should I replace it with?

Oh, and Venger, thanks for recommending a Nightmare Spinner dip to me. I think I'll take it as my 19th level (and sandwich it between Hexer levels once I get access to 5th level spells).

[Pyromancer999]

Does Religious Adept bypass the normal 2-domain requirement for Planar Domains?

It says it only takes up both of a cleric's domain choices, so it is technically viable.

[thorr-kan]

If you're still monkeying with an adept, you can try to convince the DB to allow a Grodd goblin, from the Into the Dragon's Lair. Their adepts have an innate racial ability to command/rebuke shadows. That's gotta be useful for something. They also have a variant spell list that includes lightning bolt, so they qualify for Hexer.

It's FR and 3.0ED, but worth a shot.

[ATHATH]

If you're still monkeying with an adept, you can try to convince the DB to allow a Grodd goblin, from the Into the Dragon's Lair. Their adepts have an innate racial ability to command/rebuke shadows. That's gotta be useful for something. They also have a variant spell list that includes lightning bolt, so they qualify for Hexer.

It's FR and 3.0ED, but worth a shot.
What book is it from? Is it first-party and/or from Dragon Magazine?

EDIT: Nevermind, I checked the other thread. Could you please list what spells it removes and adds? It's really annoying to have to go through the spell lists one spell at a time to check what was changed.

How much LA and/or Racial HD does a Grodd Goblin have?

[thorr-kan]

No LA for Grodd Goblins.

[thorr-kan]

Forgot about this; sorry.

Grodd's adepts' spell list:

0-Level
create water
cure minor wounds
detect magic
ghost sound
guidance
light
mending
purify food and drink
read magic

1st Level
bless
burning hands
cause fear
command
comprehend languages
cure light wounds
darkness
detect chaos
detect evil
detect good
detect law
net of shadows*
obscurement
protection from chaos
protection from evil
protection from good
protection from law
shadow mask*
sleep

2nd Level
aid
blindness/deafness
cat's grace
chant
claws of darkness*
cure moderate wounds
darkness
delay poison
detect invisibility
endurance
invisibility
mirror image
resist fire/cold
shadow spray*
spiritual weapon
strength
web

3rd Level
animate dead
bestow curse
continual darkness
continual light
cure disease
cure serious wounds
lightning bolt
neutralize poison
phantom steed
remove curse
tongues

4th Level
cure critical wounds
dimension door
minor creation
phantasmal killer
polymorph other
polymorph self
restoration
shadow conjuration
shadow well*
stoneskin
wall of fire

5th Level
break enchantment
demishadow conjuration
heal
lesser ironguard*
major creation
raise dead
shadow evocation
true seeing
wall of stone

[ATHATH]

Thanks, thorr-kan.