Favored Soul!

[BobsYourUncle!]

Hello,

I am looking for an out of the box Favored Soul Build ideas, Starting level 8.

Races: Core only

Allowed Books: Completes, PH1, PH2, DMG, MIC, SC

Not allowed: Race books, TOB, Dragon Mag, Homebrew.


Looking for any real cool ideas for this....based on story I need this to be a Favored Soul type build, Paladin and Cleric would be ok as well but would prefer to stay with FS. You may splash any other classes from approved books in your builds.

Current party makeup:

Ranger/Scout/Dervish

Cleric of Pelor

Cleric of Flangnagnnmnnnananan! (Yes I know its not spelled right)

Fighter(Archer)/Cleric of Azana (Made up God for the World)


Any and all ideas would be helpful..


Thank You,

[Gildedragon]

Honestly with three clerics you're pretty well covered on the divine front. I'd go for arcane to provide some spell-list variety

[BobsYourUncle!]

Honestly with three clerics you're pretty well covered on the divine front. I'd go for arcane to provide some spell-list variety

Normally I would agree with you but do to story line purposes this is the path I need to take:)

[WeaselGuy]

I agree with Gildedragon. You've got a melee two-weapon fighter with precision damage, 2 generic clerics (one a sun/anti-undead, the other a travel(I'm assuming)), and an archer cleric (zen archery, I'm presuming). You have no Arcane support, although it's not totally necessary, depending on how one of the three clerics build themselves. You also don't really have a skill monkey (which again, isn't totally necessary, but is generally useful) nor a party face.

My advice would be to kill a few birds at once here, and maybe try out Warlock (Complete Arcane). You can be a basic blasterlock of pretty much any race, and just about always be useful to the party. One of the great things about Warlocks is that they are also a class that can work as straight warlock 20. You can do crafting with minimal investment too, if that's something your party might be interested in. Warlock's Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?265455-The-Newest-Warlock-Handbook-3-5)

On the flip side, if you need something a little more subtle than a Warlock, Beguiler 20 (PHB2) is an extremely solid option. More charisma based, and can be an extremely effective party face, what with it's access to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive, along with Forgery, Knowledge Local, and Gather Information. Spellcraft and Use Magic Device are almost always useful for an Arcane Caster, and with 6+Int skillpoints, it shouldn't be too difficult to get them all maxed out. Beguiler's Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2322.0)

If you absolutely must go with Favored Soul, then my advice would be to take a look at this post by Curmudgeon, and then do a search for a Cleric Handbook, and read the sections in there about Favored Souls.


No, that's not all you need to know. A very big part of a Favored Soul's abilities comes from their deity's favored weapon, because the FS gets as class abilities a bunch of weapon-specific feats. It's good to know, for instance, that Kossuth and Zoser have spiked chain as their favored weapon. That gives a Favored Soul worshiping one of them the following feats:

Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain) (level 1)
Weapon Focus (spiked chain) (level 3)
Weapon Specialization (spiked chain) (level 12)
If you're going for a spiked chain, then it's helpful to look at what Steadfast Boots (Magic Item Compendium, pages 138-139) can do for you while you wield one.

It's also good to know that Knowstones (from Dragon # 333, page 93) work for divine spontaneous spellcasters as well as arcane; they're not just for Sorcerers. The FS can learn extra spells as long as they can afford the (spell level)2 x 1,000 gp price.

What else? Well, since your daily spell allotment is dictated by Charisma, and spell DCs are a function of Wisdom, you've got two spellcasting stats. It's good to know that an Aasimar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/planetouched.htm#aasimar) gets a racial bonus to both of these, and a Lesser Aasimar (see Player's Guide to Faerûn on page 191) is a Humanoid with no LA.

Favored Souls aren't proficient with heavy armor the way regular Clerics are. The Cloistered Cleric "fix" I came up with works for Favored Souls, too.

1) Start with the right clothing.

2) Next, enhance the robe with an armor bonus (up to +8), as per Magic Item Compendium page 234. This works exactly the same as Bracers of Armor; the "Adding/Improving Common Item Effects" table allows armor bonuses in both Arms (bracers) and Body (robe) slots.

3) Next, you can add an armor enhancement bonus on top of the armor bonus with Magic Vestment:

4) Finally, realize that your armor boost (up to +13) isn't from actual armor at all, and thus you can still wear a Monk's Belt to get (1 + WIS bonus) more AC!

[Gildedragon]

Normally I would agree with you but do to story line purposes this is the path I need to take:)

If you must be a divine sort I'd go with Cloistered Cleric then. Magic and Spell domains. Feats: Dynamic Priest and Initiate of Mystra... Pretend to be a Cha based wizard.

Or Divine Bard

Or Binder (instead of praying to your god for spells, you enter into a religious trance with your pantheon)

Point is: Favored Soul is going to come off as redundant in the abilities department.

[BobsYourUncle!]

wonder if I could build in a FS and a warlock into like a Theurge? Thoughts?

[WeaselGuy]

Or say screw it all to being another caster, and just go straight Paladin Mounted charger. Be an Aasimar for that sweet Outsider type and +2 Cha +2 Wis. Serenity (Dragon Compendium) will even get rid of you Charisma necessity, so you can focus on Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom, in that order. 12 Dex for the +1 AC bonus while wearing Full Plate and the Int and Cha are now dump stats.

[WeaselGuy]

wonder if I could build in a FS and a warlock into like a Theurge? Thoughts?

You "can", but it's not going to be particularly useful. Eldritch Disciple, from Complete Mage. Requires 2nd level Divine Spells (FS4) and Least Invocations (WL1), which isn't a huge problem. The difficulty is in getting access to Turn/Rebuke Undead (not impossible, just requires some effort (Sacred Exorcist, from Complete Divine, just needs 10 ranks of Kn-Planes)). Also, you don't really have any other theurge options for after ED10. Meaning FS will cap out at CL14, and WL will cap at CL 11. Hellfire Warlock 3 will boost it's efficacy, and also bring you up to level 18, plus whatever prestige class you snag for Turn/Rebuke Undead.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm assuming you have to be a holy-divine type? Or just divine? Because with two Clerics, I think a Favored Soul is going to struggle to find a place. Instead, how about a Shugenja (CDiv)? You'd still be a Charisma-based spontaneous caster, but with a different list-- one much more focused on traditionally Arcane spells, especially if you go for a Fire or Air Shugenja. Bringing fireballs and illusions to the table would be a useful and somewhat unique offering amidst all the conventional Divine characters.

If applicable, a Druid would also be a nice change. You can use the Shapeshift variant in the PHB 2 if you don't want to mess around with Wild Shape; the class is more than strong enough to survive the hit.

You could also try asking for a refluffed Sorcerer, perhaps one rocking the Celestial Sorcerer Heritage line of feats from the PHB 2.

You don't have much of a Rogue type. If you can get the Kobold domain approved (it's from a web enhancement), you can pick up Trapfinding. A Cloistered Cleric with the Kobold and Trickery domains makes for a pretty decent skillmonkey, especially with spells like Divine Insight up your sleeve.

Veering away from casting to a more brutish build, I notice all the elements for a supermount build are on the table-- specifically the Devoted Tracker feat, which lets you treat your Paladin mount as your Animal Companion, giving it all the benefits of both, and the Halfling Outrider PrC, which simultaneously progresses your Mount and Animal Companion. Ranger 4/Paladin 5/Halfling Outrider 10 would be the default, though you might swap Ranger for Druid to get the build moving sooner.

[BobsYourUncle!]

Interesting ideas and yes have to be a for of holy type, druid is interesting idea. I should explain more about the clerics in party:

the archer is on level 1 cleric taking it late in build. no speciality.

The Pelor Cleric is healing and turning

The Flar..... Cleric is Buffing and movement.

Was thinking combat or summoning build for this maybe? or maybe warlock into enlightened spirit?

I do like the Paladin idea as well. but how often does having a horse come in to being handy:)

[WeaselGuy]

Interesting ideas and yes have to be a for of holy type, druid is interesting idea. I should explain more about the clerics in party:

the archer is on level 1 cleric taking it late in build. no speciality.

The Pelor Cleric is healing and turning

The Flar..... Cleric is Buffing and movement.

Was thinking combat or summoning build for this maybe? or maybe warlock into enlightened spirit?

I do like the Paladin idea as well. but how often does having a horse come in to being handy:)

I've heard mixed reviews about Enlightened Spirit, and never actually played one myself.

Regarding a Paladin's Horse, well, it depends on if you're outside much, or stuck in tunnels. If it's the former, I suggest Dragonsteed, and using a friggin dragon. If it's the latter, go Strongheart Halfling and use a Riding Dog. Or a Kobold and use a Dire Weasel (Ranger substitution level). Guess which one I like?

[ATHATH]

Hm... Would a Sha'ir work for you? A Raptoran Sha'ir 5/Elemental Savant 1/??? 1/Skypledged 7/??? 6 might be a fun build (if you can fill in the gaps). You'd get semi-spontaneous casting from entirety of the Cleric and Druid lists, spells that you've seen/chosen as spells known upon level-up from the Sorc/Wiz list, and from the "list" of a handful of domains. It'd fill your group's need for an "arcane" caster quite nicely, methinks.

[Dagroth]

If you go the Halfling & Dog route, you can get Exalted Companion and get a Blink Dog. Then get Celestial Mount and give it the Celestial Template.

That's a companion that can fight along side you very well.

Edit: Your Turn Undead buddy should consider Exalted Turning, if you guys are running in to Undead regularly.

[ATHATH]

Wait, nope, you can't enter Skypledged because it requires you to be a Raptoran (or a Changeling with the Racial Emulation feat) and you can't use non-core races or stuff from the Races of X books.

Sha'ir's still a good option, though- go check out the handbook for it.

[ATHATH]

Also... Do you know why your DM bans the Tome of Battle?

[Troacctid]

Honestly I think you could do just fine with a Favored Soul. Having two Clerics in the party takes a lot of pressure off your known spells so you don't need to bother with the usual healing nonsense. And there's plenty of room for summoning and such. It's hard to have too many casters. Especially if you pick a prestige class that gives your character their own unique flair.

[BobsYourUncle!]

Thank you, Wish I could use Exalted Deeds but not possible:(

DM is worried about meta gaming and power gaming so he limits down a lot in games. His point buy is strict so our stats are not that high and our available books are slimmed to reduce issues. Although you cant solve everything. He finds TOB to be an over powered book.. his opinion not mine but hes running so its cool. :) Don't wanna run every game so have to take the play time when I can.:)

And yeah summoning sounds interesting even though Druid would be better how would a FS summon build work?

And I am curious about Enlightened Spirit more I think. Flight at 3rd level is kinda nice. Blast from above kinda things.

[WeaselGuy]

Warlock gets Lesser Invocations at level 6, of which Fell Flight is one. The Dead Walk is also Lesser, of which a giant bat is a great target.

[Pyromancer999]

Definitely seconding the person that said Druid. Sha'ir is also good. It's a pretty good class. Spirit Shaman is also a good class(basically the Druidic version of Favored Soul, but with class features and the ability to switch up spells known every day). There is also the Shamam from Oriental Adventures is decent, and even gets a domain(although not 100% the same ones as a Cleric). There is a guide to that somewhere on here, although can't find it right now.

If you are set on Favored Soul and don't mind being a Dragon-lover, being a Favored Soul of Bahamut/Tiamat(An ACF) can get you some good stuff spell-wise in the form of being able to select a few Sorcerer spells. Also, Prestige Paladin isn't too bad for a character with a Charisma focus like the Favored Soul.

[ATHATH]

Read these if you want to go into summoning:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?255219-The-Summoner-s-Desk-Reference-D-amp-D-3-5
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2791.0

[WeaselGuy]

If you go Summoning, I've heard that Malconvoker is a good fit for Favored Soul.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Low point-buy hurts the Favored Soul more than most, as a dual-stat caster, but if you focus on summoning and buffs you should be okay.

[DEMON]

If you are set on Favored Soul and don't mind being a Dragon-lover, being a Favored Soul of Bahamut/Tiamat(An ACF) can get you some good stuff spell-wise in the form of being able to select a few Sorcerer spells.

This.

Follow up with Knight of the Raven, if available. Bonus points if you can refluff the Raven to a Huitzil.

Both the ACF and Huitzil are from Dragon Magic, KotR is from the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, which are neither on your allowed nor disallowed books list.

[Troacctid]

Stay away from Enlightened Spirit, it's a trap. It doesn't actually advance your caster level, so your invocations won't scale at all.

Thaumaturgist is a good prestige class for summoning (contingent summons are great, essentially gives you free action summon spells), as is Malconvoker. I personally prefer Thaumaturgist as it does not slow down your casting.

[Thurbane]

I'm quite a fan of the Favored Soul - however, I did play one alongside a Cleric in a RHoD game, with very limited splat books allowed. He was pretty much always the Cleric's "wimpy little cousin"; it wasn't a lot of fun.

The more splats allowed, the more you can customize FS.

In a game where they are the only divine caster in the party, they can definitely hold their own. Alongside a Cleric? Not so much...

[Anthrowhale]

I can't tell from your list of (dis)allowed sources whether the spontaneous cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/spontaneousDivineCasters.htm) is allowed. If it is then you should take it in a heartbeat, as it solves many problems without introducing new ones. You get turn undead which can be used many ways via divine feats. You get access to two domains rather than none. And you get spell level access at the "right" time. And, you become SAD on Wisdom.

The domain access alone is going to be very helpful in defining a character as a [Magic, Spell] spontaneous cleric is very different from a [Trickery, Illusion] spontaneous cleric. If you want to mimic a Favored Soul, then pickup the War Domain and take the Holy Warrior reserve feat. Use your other domain and turn undead to further enhance or define the character. You could make a solid face-beater by optimizing DMM[Persist] for self-buffs or you could make a summoner build by taking the summoner domain and enhancing with feats and prestige classes as per the guides above.

[Rerednaw]

Thank you, Wish I could use Exalted Deeds but not possible:(

DM is worried about meta gaming and power gaming so he limits down a lot in games. His point buy is strict so our stats are not that high and our available books are slimmed to reduce issues. Although you cant solve everything. He finds TOB to be an over powered book.. his opinion not mine but hes running so its cool. :) Don't wanna run every game so have to take the play time when I can.:)

And yeah summoning sounds interesting even though Druid would be better how would a FS summon build work?

And I am curious about Enlightened Spirit more I think. Flight at 3rd level is kinda nice. Blast from above kinda things.

What? 3 Tier 1 casters and he finds a tier 4 (arguably T3) book OP? Um okay.

Back on topic...because of your spell list limitation, much like the sorcerer, you want spells with biggest bang/versatility. Summons fits that well. Just keep stats for your pets handy.

Aside from that go nuts, there are 3 other superior divines in the party, you can be whatever you want.

[weckar]

ToB IS OP compared to what it directly replaces.

[BobsYourUncle!]

Makes sense:) thank you all:) yeah I'm narrowed down to the summoning build or the spirit for some reason I keep coming back to it. Yes you lose some invocations but gain some cool abilities. I know not OP but interesting. Are there better summon monster spells then others?

How early should you take the feat Augment Summoning? I mean if I go Thaumaturgist then I get it free so should wait till then but if I don't go Thaumaturgist how early should it be taken?

[Thurbane]

You could also Theurge a FS and Warmage; with Versatile Spellcaster and Heighten Spell you can get early entry (i.e. Warmage 1/FS 2/MT 10/X 7).

Your FS casting will only be 1 level behind normal progressions, and you get a bunch of blasting spells.

You could do the same build and use Dread Necromancer in place of Warmage.

You'll need a FS ACF for Knowledge (religion): http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20070227x

Forgot about book restrictions.

[Pyromancer999]

Makes sense:) thank you all:) yeah I'm narrowed down to the summoning build or the spirit for some reason I keep coming back to it. Yes you lose some invocations but gain some cool abilities. I know not OP but interesting.

If you did want to go Favored Soul/Warlock, with some summoning thrown in, it is possible to go Favored Soul 4/Warlock 1/Cleric 1(Preferably Cloistered, and possibly with the Elysium Planar Domain for Smiting or Summoner to boost your Conjuration spell caster level)/Eldritch Disciple 4/Enlightened Spirit 5/Thaumaturge 5. That gets you 5th level normal invocations, 5d6 Eldritch Blast, 6th level spell casting(13th level Favored Soul), plus attendant class features, like the Planar Cohort. Not optimal, but should be workable.

[Firechanter]

Since your party makeup allows you to lose caster levels, you can become a combat monster.
Dump Wis. Never cast spells that allow a Save.

Base build Favoured Soul X / Paladin(2) for truly grotesque Saves.

Consider 1 level of Cleric, or another 2 levels of Paladin for Turn Undead attempts... you know what to do.
Ideally, also pick up Evasion from somewhere (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=15704.0) -- just run through traps and dragonbreaths without a care in the world.

[Unfortunately, 3.5 doesn't have that NWN2 version of the Water domain that grants Evasion as domain power. Turn Undead and Evasion in one level - that makes the Divine Soul one of the strongest melee builds in the game.]