Favored Soul Fix: Covering Curative Bases

[Mike_Lemmer]

I'm playing a Favored Soul in an exploration campaign. She can handle curing regular damage just fine, but with her limited Known Spells, I can't cover every debilitation the party comes across: blindness, deafness, paralyzation, disease, poison, ability drain, resurrection, etc. Until I get Heal, I need about a half-dozen spells to cover all those, and they would be used rarely (if ever). Wands cost too much to get one for every debilitation, and getting 2-3 scrolls for each would drain the party coffers and probably not be enough to heal everyone anyway. ("I got 3 Restoration scrolls, but the vampires drained Con from 5 of us...")

For a solution, I turned to the Spirit Shaman: he has a limited number of Spells Known too, but he can change them each day. I would change the Favored Soul by replacing 1 of her highest Spells Known with 1 Wild Known Spell. At the beginning of each day, she can choose which cleric spell fills that Wild Known Spell. Then she can cure anything a cleric could... given a day.

"Blinded? Give me a day. Level drained? Give me another day. Don't worry, we'll get all this patched up eventually."

It would make spontaneous casters more powerful, but I don't think it will unbalance them. Comments?

[CASTLEMIKE]

What level are you playing at? Resurrection should be level 14+.

Known spells should be limited even further.

Something like a single fixed domain with a bonus fixed known spell of choice would still be pretty generous with Shamanic Spellcasting because you can do a lot of what you want simply by taking an extra domain Healing (with a single Flaw mechanically) and simply taking Fast Healing 1 or Mass Fast Healing 1 as a Known Spell as a FS.

Consider the Shaman. Just adding a Domain or Two really pumps up the class.

[The_Snark]

There is a spell from the Spell Compendium, called Panacea, which cures: blindness, confusion, dazing, dazzling, deafness, disease, exhaustion/fatigue, fear, feeblemind, nausea, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning. It won't work on negative levels or ability damage, but you only need Lesser Restoration or Restoration to take care of those.

It's a 4th-level cleric spell or a 5th-level druid spell, and a very handy one to have around, particularly for a spontaneous caster.

[Stam]

There's a 1st or 2nd spell, also in CDivine as well as SC, which allows a Cure spell to also remove other conditions.

It can't fix *every*thing, and requires a steep level of Heal skill...but it's something :)

[Falrin]

That's the problem with favored souls: They were never ment to be the parties healbot.

Weapon Focus & Specialization.
Energy Resistance & All Good Saves.

These tell us the class was ment to be more combat orientated. You should see it more like a crossbreed between a Paladin & Sorceror then a Cleric & Sorceror.

based on this view the limited spell-list isn't such a big limitation.
The Basic Buff Spells to keep your own in a fight.
A few Healing Spells to get hp up (which he's really good at if he takes a cure at every LvL, which he schouldn't)
Sparse utiliy to boost your flexibility.

An Allround healer he is not and shouldn't be.


This said we all know adventuring without a healer is suicide. So you get a divine caster in the party. Then it turns out that's not enough when you start encountering the bad stuff you mentioned. So a kind DM might concider to allow swapping between some 'healing' spells.

I'd rule you can take a certain group 'healing' of spells instead of just one Buff/Cure/... . You can switch between these spells afther one hour of prayer.

So as a LvL 2 Spell you could chose Bull's Str or the 'Healing' group: Delay Poison, Gentle Repose, Remove Paralysis & Lesser restoration.

This might be a litlle to powerfull so concider a limit on the # groups/ a slower switch/burning extra SPellSlots

[Dausuul]

On the contrary, favored souls are excellent healers. I played a Favored Soul healer once (twice, if you count cohorts) and did very well with it. That's why you get 3 spells known each time you hit a new level, rather than 1 like the sorceror.

Just pick up the cure spell at each level, along with a few of the key spells like restoration. For everything else, pick up some scrolls or potions.

[Kurald Galain]

I believe there's a bunch of feats around that add to your spell lists (and do a better job at it than Extra Spell)

[mostlyharmful]

On the contrary, favored souls are excellent healers. I played a Favored Soul healer once (twice, if you count cohorts) and did very well with it. That's why you get 3 spells known each time you hit a new level, rather than 1 like the sorceror.



Yet anouther example of the sorceror getting the shaft, yet anouther example of spontaneous casters getting a wider selection, better BaB, more skills, better hit dice, ALLOWED TO WEAR ARMOUR, etc. :smallfrown:

[CASTLEMIKE]

Yet anouther example of the sorceror getting the shaft, yet anouther example of spontaneous casters getting a wider selection, better BaB, more skills, better hit dice, ALLOWED TO WEAR ARMOUR, etc. :smallfrown:

I have to agree the sorcerer was really nerfed mechanically because it is fun and easier to play than a mage. A good fix is to plug it into Beguiler instead of having Beguiler known spells or to use a UA Spellcaster variant.

[Dausuul]

Yet anouther example of the sorceror getting the shaft, yet anouther example of spontaneous casters getting a wider selection, better BaB, more skills, better hit dice, ALLOWED TO WEAR ARMOUR, etc. :smallfrown:

...and way less powerful spells.

Seriously, the sorceror is fine. It's wizards, clerics, and druids that need to go. I could play a sorc in a party with (for instance) a favored soul, a warblade, and a swordsage and feel just fine about my power level.