Ex-planar shepherds

[Inevitability]

The Planar Shepherd class tells us this:


EX-PLANAR SHEPHERDS
If you change to an alignment incompatible with your chosen plane, you lose access to planar shepherd class abilities. You can no longer advance in this prestige class until you atone (PHB 201). If you decide to choose a different plane, you must begin again at 1st level of the prestige class and do not benefit from abilities associated with the former plane.

What does the bolded thing mean exactly? Say we have a druid 5 / planar shepherd of syrania 5, who then changes alignment to NE and wants to become a planar shepherd of dolurrh.

1. As opposed to being an ex-paladin or ex-sacred fist, being an ex-planar shepherd isn't simply a removal of your class abilities while keeping the raw HD: you lose the actual hit dice as well! Our character would become a druid 5 who gains XP normally and soon becomes a druid 5 / planar shepherd of dolurrh 1.

2. You keep the RHD, but the levels are 'dead'. Our character becomes a druid 5 / ex-planar shepherd of syrania 5, who at next level-up becomes a druid 5 / ex-planar shepherd of syrania 5 / planar shepherd of dolurrh 1, gaining no benefit from the syrania levels without changing alignment again and atoning.

3. The entire textbox above does nothing, and our character becomes a druid 5 / planar shepherd of dolurrh 5 right away, or at worst after an atonement spell.


Case 1 is hilariously abusable and enables a sort of clunky super-retraining.

Case 2 seems needlessly harsh to planar shepherds, and has a little edge case where you can take the first level over and over, racking up a huge fortitude/will bonus (not broken obviously, but kind of weird).

Case 3 just blatantly contradicts RAW in the interest of causing as little friction as possible.

[loky1109]

Looks like it's two.

[Biggus]

Two seems like the only viable option to me. Also, it's how other classes (eg Cleric) work according to my understanding.

[Rebel7284]

The writers almost certainly meant for it to be #2. Yes, it is harsh if you are already heavily invested when you switch, although being able to take the same prestige class multiple times is curious.

[Tzardok]

Two seems like the only viable option to me. Also, it's how other classes (eg Cleric) work according to my understanding.

Clerics work like case 3, according to RAW.

Edit: I think we can construct a case 4: Whenever you level up, instead of gaining a new HD, you regain one level of class abilities, effectively converting old HD into new HD. I think I remember 3rd party classes that tried to work that way. Ridicously overcomplicated messes.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Case 2 seems needlessly harsh to planar shepherds, and has a little edge case where you can take the first level over and over, racking up a huge fortitude/will bonus (not broken obviously, but kind of weird).

"It seems needlessly harsh to the best class in the game to implement basically its only restriction.". It would be a shining example of Grod's law, but I wouldn't put it past WotC.

[Biggus]

Clerics work like case 3, according to RAW.


Do they? Where are you getting that from?

[loky1109]

Do they? Where are you getting that from?

PHB2, p. 193

[Tzardok]

Do they? Where are you getting that from?

"A cleric who changes his patron deity must complete a quest to prove his devotion to his new patron. The nature of the quest depends on the deity, and it always clearly reflects the deity's alignment as well as his or her goals and beliefs. To start the process, the cleric must voluntarily accept a geas/quest spell cast by a higher-level cleric of his new deity. During the quest, the cleric has no access to spells or cleric class features -- except his weapon and armor proficiencies, which he does not forfeit.

Upon completing the quest, the cleric receives the benefit of an atonement spell from a cleric of the new deity. The character then becomes a cleric of the new deity and is inducted into the clergy during an appropriate ceremony of the DM's choosing. After selecting two of the new deity's domains in lieu of his old ones, the character has all the powers and abilities of his previous cleric level, plus the granted powers of his new domains.

This method is the only one by which a cleric can change his deity."

This is located on the Divine Conversion sidebar of Pg 193 of PHB2.