Unknown, but Awesome, Class Rundowns

[theos911]

This thread is designed to be a place for people with a knowledge or love of an obscure class to expound on that knowledge to others. The idea is to post a semi-summary, the classes pros and cons, and why you like it. Also include why you think people may disregard this class, and why they shouldn't. Since I'm not very experienced I, myself will not be posting an entry(So much for that), but they should look as follows.

Class Name (Book and page if known)

What this class does and how to play one well/classy/or fun.

Cool things it does.

Less cool things it can't do.

Why people shouldn't ignore or disregard it.

Please no bashing of people about the classes they post, or about how that class sucks/is stupid/ineffective/insert random negative connotation adjective here. If you want to argue go somewhere else. This is designed to spread knowledge and be fun, don't ruin it for people.

and...GO!!!

@subject42 Prestige classes are allowed

They don't have to be unknown, but rather ones not commonly seen, that people might not be aware of or that people might not like(shooting self in foot here). They don't have to be unknown, just interesting and likable(or just your favorite).

If you don't have an entry, feel free to make constructive comments about builds or ideas that employ a mentioned class.

I will try to post something in response to each class shown, as well as answer questions that I'm qualified to answer. I hope others will do the same.

[subject42]

Assuming you allow prestige classes.

Dread Witch (Heroes of Horror)

Dread witch is a caster prestige class that specializes in fear and terror.

It can absorb fear effects that are laid on them and use them to boost their spells or cast spells as immediate actions. Also, your fear effects are cast at a higher DC and can effect things that are normally immune to fear.

Unfortunately, you lose a caster level.

If you've ever wanted to see the party paladin run screaming like a little girl from a gnome, use this class.

[true_shinken]

Dread Witch is nowhere near unknown...

[subject42]

Dread Witch is nowhere near unknown...

Please no bashing of people about the classes they post

Beyond that, I hadn't seen it until a few months ago, and I'm fairly beardy.

[Optimystik]

Dread Witch is nowhere near unknown...

It isn't quite popular though - especially since it shares a book with Fiend-Blooded and Tainted Scholar

Anyhow, I approve of this thread.

[theos911]

Ok that is what we are looking for subject42. I think I've got one.

Platinum Knight(Draconomicon 133)

It is a full BAB 5/10 caster class, that basically smites evil dragons. It also gets a small natural armor bonus. It is similar to vassal of Bahamut in both fluff and abilities. You also get a nice +2 charisma bonus for (almost lvl9)capstone. You also get charisma to saves against evil dragons that does stack with pally divine grace.

It is only a 5/10 caster class, and the abilities don't quite really make up for it. I think 7 or 8/10 would be better.

For a Paladin it is nice, it advances his BAB and has awesome abilities that work with his views, especially a pally of bahamut. They also stack with his Paladin abilities. It doesn't work real well for a cleric since the casting loss is too much. Would be quite interesting if used with ranger with dragon as favored enemy.

[Optimystik]

I should probably post a class, shouldn't I...

My favorite overlooked class is Exalted Arcanist from BoED.

This 5-level PrC (4/5 casting) has many benefits, which I consider to be worth the lost CL even for a sorcerer.

Crunch:

Spoiler

Show

- On the dead level, you still learn two extra spells known, meaning all you really lose is CL - and that is easily buffed or handled via Practiced Caster.
- You get access to the EA spell list, which includes such notables as the Planar Ally line (summoning sorcerers can now qualify for Thaumaturgist), the Aspect of the Deity line, and Holy Word.
- The prereqs are two solid metamagic feats - Purify Spell, which causes your spells to do extra damage to evil creatures and zero damage to good ones, and Consecrate Spell, which turns half of all your spell damage to untyped, ignoring resistance. Who needs Sculpt Spell or Energy Substitution? Layer those fireballs on top of your party, they won't mind.

You get also get two bonus exalted feats, refunding the two you used to qualify.

The capstone is excellent - every Sanctified Spell in the game is added to your spells known. That's a whopping 28 extra spells - all of which you can cast at-will. Just mind the sacrifices

Fluff:
This is perhaps my favorite part about the class. Screw all those draconic sorcerers - your power comes from Celestials! This dovetails very nicely with Lesser Aasimar and the Celestial Bloodline. Which sufficient cheese, buyoff or gestalt you can even tack on Saint for Real Ultimate Holiness. Your Wings of Cover have feathers!

And if you still want something draconic after all - say, Dracolexi - just make yourself the descendant of a celestial dragon, preferably metallic.

[Renchard]

Class: Shaman (Oriental Adventures)

Upsides: Full preparation divine caster. Gets turn undead, domains, an animal companion, an equivalent to the paladin's divine grace, Improved Unarmed Strike, and a bonus martial arts feat in the first five levels. Has a spell list that has winners from both the druid and the cleric spell list.

Downsides: The big one is that it is 3.0. Updated to 3.5 in Dragon 318, but still more work to get approval. Requires DM approval to get the spell expansion support that clerics and druids enjoy (although text in SpC supports this). Not as dippable as cleric, not nearly as good as base class druid (No wildshape). Only light armor and d6 HD.

Why this class: Did you see the upsides? Getting approval for stuff can be a pain, but this is still a Tier 1/Tier 2 class out of the gate. The first 5 levels make an excellent base for almost divine caster build.

[hamishspence]

And if you still want something draconic after all - say, Dracolexi - just make yourself the descendant of a celestial dragon, preferably metallic.

What about a planar dragon of the Upper Planes, like a Radiant Dragon (Draconomicon) or an Adamantine Dragon (Dragon magazine)?
As Extraplanar dragons with the Good subtype, they come pretty close to the "celestial dragon" concept.

[theos911]

I should probably post a class, shouldn't I...

My favorite overlooked class is Exalted Arcanist from BoED. **EDIT Page 61**
This 5-level PrC (4/5 casting) has many benefits, which I consider to be worth the lost CL even for a sorcerer.

I hoped someone would mention this little gem. It wasn't until now that I realized just what those entry feats do and that they get refunded at 3 and 5. Those extra spells really make up for the lost caster level, they might even be better than it(BLASPHEMY!!!).

Class: Shaman (Oriental Adventures) EDIT: Page 22**

I'll have a comment in a moment; after some reading... Ok, from what I can tell it's crunch is: Cleric who talks to spirits, gets and animal companion, fights like a monk, gets save bonuses like a pally, sees ghosts, and can turn undead like a cleric. For flavor it is, a guy who gets magic from the spirits and can repel undead through his spirit power, while perfecting his resistance by mastery of kindness(charisma). The spirits grant him a friendly animal guide. Would I be correct in this statement?

(I don't normally use oriental adventures, so I had never heard of that before)

[Kaiyanwang]

Class: Shaman (Oriental Adventures)

Upsides: Full preparation divine caster. Gets turn undead, domains, an animal companion, an equivalent to the paladin's divine grace, Improved Unarmed Strike, and a bonus martial arts feat in the first five levels. Has a spell list that has winners from both the druid and the cleric spell list.

Downsides: The big one is that it is 3.0. Updated to 3.5 in Dragon 318, but still more work to get approval. Requires DM approval to get the spell expansion support that clerics and druids enjoy (although text in SpC supports this). Not as dippable as cleric, not nearly as good as base class druid (No wildshape). Only light armor and d6 HD.

Why this class: Did you see the upsides? Getting approval for stuff can be a pain, but this is still a Tier 1/Tier 2 class out of the gate. The first 5 levels make an excellent base for almost divine caster build.

Good call. Glad to see another Shaman fan, good sir.

[hamishspence]

How does it compare to the Spirit Shaman in Complete Divine?

[theos911]

How does it compare to the Spirit Shaman in Complete Divine?

Well, since I don't know either class, I'm, not biased, but I also don't know them at all. I'll share my opinion after reading spirit shaman.

Not done reading yet, but seems shaman is more of a guide; spirit shaman is more of a mediator. Hmm spirit shaman casts on wisdom, but DCs are on charisma. Peculiar... They seem similar, but different. They are like cleric and druid or fighter and barbarian; maybe even wizard and sorcerer. They are however different, in both crunch and flavor. I don't understand them well enough to speak about them, so hopefully someone else has an answer.

[Optimystik]

What about a planar dragon of the Upper Planes, like a Radiant Dragon (Draconomicon) or an Adamantine Dragon (Dragon magazine)?
As Extraplanar dragons with the Good subtype, they come pretty close to the "celestial dragon" concept.

Why yes, that works fine
I tend not to sweat the details - when I said "celestial dragon" I wasn't specifically referring to dragons with the Celestial template

I hoped someone would mention this little gem. It wasn't until now that I realized just what those entry feats do and that they get refunded at 3 and 5. Those extra spells really make up for the lost caster level, they might even be better than it(BLASPHEMY!!!).

The Sancitified Spells aren't half bad either.

Luminous armor, 2nd level - +5 to AC and imposes -4 to attack against any and all melee attackers, no save - which stacks with penalties taken by light-sensitive attackers (and it will impose those penalties, because it sheds light = a daylight spell.) That's an effective +9 to AC from a second-level spell, lasting hours/level. The sacrifice? 1d2 Str damage. You're a sorcerer, so you don't care about strength anyway. It's also touch range, so you can throw it on the beatstick too - you still pay the sacrifie, not him..

Celestial Aspect, 3rd-level - A menu-spell; perfect for sorcerers. Choose the function you need - my personal favorite is Deva's Wings - grant the touched creature a fly speed of 100ft, Good maneuverability. Or how about a +1 Flaming/Holy armblade like a sword archon (cannot be sundered or disarmed?) Or Cervidal's horns - add a natural gore attack to any melee ally's charge (stacks with their weapon attacks), dealing 1d8 + (1.5*Str) that automatically dismisses summoned and called creatures. The sacrifice is 1d3 Str, which again, you could care less about.

I too will read up on Shaman - I'll be honest, none of the classes in OA leaped out at me save for the ones that were updated (e.g. Wu-Jen, Shugenja), but I'll give it another look.

[Renchard]

I'll have a comment in a moment; after some reading...[/S] Ok, from what I can tell it's crunch is: Cleric who talks to spirits, gets and animal companion, fights like a monk, gets save bonuses like a pally, sees ghosts, and can turn undead like a cleric. For flavor it is, a guy who gets magic from the spirits and can repel undead through his spirit power, while perfecting his resistance by mastery of kindness(charisma). The spirits grant him a friendly animal guide. Would I be correct in this statement?
(I don't normally use oriental adventures, so I had never heard of that before)

Got it in one, yes.

As for the spirit shaman, its crunch matches its fluff much more closely. They have a spirit guide who grants them spells and helps them control their spells, and they gain abilities to both ward off evil spirits and enter the spirit realm.

[Kaiyanwang]

How does it compare to the Spirit Shaman in Complete Divine?

It greatly depends on how you expand his spell list. But cleric-like spellcasting + char to saves + AC + Kung Fu is awesome.

SpC guidelines follow.

Originally posted by Spell Compendium

Shaman (Oriental Adventures): Shamans have a spell list that is a blend of druid and cleric, but they should not get all the spells clerics and druids do. Examine the spell lists of both those classes for good choices. Also, consider using the cleric domains presented in this book as shaman domains

Sernett, M; Grubb, J; MacArtor, M; Spell Compendium, Other spellcasting classes, pp 3-4. Wizard of the Coast, 2005.

[Curmudgeon]

I nominate the Berserk. It's a handy PrC in Deities and Demigods (3.0). Basically it's like the Frenzied Berserker, except you don't need rage-based feats to get into the class. Quite handy if you don't want to be limited to using just one mechanism to create that sort of character.

[Fax Celestis]

Luminous armor, 2nd level - +5 to AC and imposes -4 to attack against any and all melee attackers, no save - which stacks with penalties taken by light-sensitive attackers (and it will impose those penalties, because it sheds light = a daylight spell.) That's an effective +9 to AC from a second-level spell, lasting hours/level. The sacrifice? 1d2 Str damage. You're a sorcerer, so you don't care about strength anyway. It's also touch range, so you can throw it on the beatstick too - you still pay the sacrifie, not him..

Use Chain Spell and hit the entire party for 1d2 Str damage.

[Xallace]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone mention the Doomlord from Planar Handbook.. Then again, I don't ever see much mention of the Planar Handbook.

Pros:

• d12 hit die, Full Base Attack Bonus, Good Fortitude Save
• Entropic Blow: A Smite-esque ability, adds double your class level in damage and automatically ignores hardness, as well as DR possessed by constructs and undead.
• Bonus Feats: You get three! The list is short (6, and one is Toughness, bleh), but bonus feats are always a nice perk.
• Destructive Expertise: A flavorful bonus to Disable Device and Knowledge (arc and eng) checks.
• Negative Adaptation: Very situationally useful, makes you immune to the effects of negative-dominant areas.
• Body and Soul: You get to add 1 to either your Constitution or your Charisma - twice!
• Unmaking Magic: Dispel Magic, with a CL equal to your class level, plus a bonus. You get a higher bonus when attempting to dispel a Permanency effect.
• Disintegrate: Free once-per-day Disintegrate effect.

Cons:

• Half-Caster; still, OK for rangers or paladins I suppose?
• High entry prereqs; +7 Base Attack, although you only need two feats, which is a perk.
• Low Skills: 2 + Int, not many class skills
• Healing Resistance: Conjuration (Healing) effects heal only half.

Might be a pretty awesome warforged though!

[Optimystik]

Use Chain Spell and hit the entire party for 1d2 Str damage.

I don't think that will work - for one, Chain Spell can't be applied to touch spells, and for two, only the caster pays the sacrifice.

Because the sacrifice component replaces the material component, I'd say that even if you could Chain a Sanctified Spell you would only pay the sacrifice once - after all, you don't need multiple material components to chain a spell - but were the sacrifice to be paid more than once, the caster would be stuck with the bill. Xd2 Strength damage, where X is the number of party members.

[subject42]

I don't think that will work - for one, Chain Spell can't be applied to touch spells, and for two, only the caster pays the sacrifice.

Could you apply reach spell to it to make it a ray?

[Thespianus]

The 3.0 PrC "Heartwarder" from Faiths and Pantheons (not sure if it has been updated for 3.5)

It has some bizarre entry requirements: Dodge, Mobility, Spell Focus (Enchantment) and EWP(Whip) but if you can get your DM to apply some sanity (The Heartwarder *gains* Spell Focus (Enchantment) as a class feature on level 6.) it's pretty neat for a Sorcerer or maybe a War Mage.

But, what makes it a sweet Sorcerer PrC is the 10/10 casting, the +5 (over 10 levels) inherent bonus to Charisma, the good Fort and Will saves and the 3/4 BAB. At level 10 you turn into a Fey. Whoohoo. ;)

[theos911]

The 3.0 PrC "Heartwarder" from Faiths and Pantheons (not sure if it has been updated for 3.5)

Now that's unknown. The EWP Whip, might be if sune's weapon is a whip. The spell focus you get as a class feature is stupid, I'd waive it. Seems interesting, especially in a male build; Ok everyone come get your kiss(I mean buff).

[Flickerdart]

Maybe it's a Bard PrC? Bards are naturally proficient with the Whip, could be expected to use Dodge and Mobility (by WotC, anyway) and get a lot more mileage from SF: Enchantment.

[theos911]

Maybe it's a Bard PrC? Bards are naturally proficient with the Whip, could be expected to use Dodge and Mobility (by WotC, anyway) and get a lot more mileage from SF: Enchantment.

Ya, but make it an entry req OR a class feature. Not both! *unless they stack of course*

[Flickerdart]

You could always Chaos Shuffle it into something else.

[jiriku]

I don't think that will work - for one, Chain Spell can't be applied to touch spells, and for two, only the caster pays the sacrifice.

Because the sacrifice component replaces the material component, I'd say that even if you could Chain a Sanctified Spell you would only pay the sacrifice once - after all, you don't need multiple material components to chain a spell - but were the sacrifice to be paid more than once, the caster would be stuck with the bill. Xd2 Strength damage, where X is the number of party members.

I think that was Fax's point. For the cost of 1d2 Strength damage, you can chainreach the spell onto every party member. When the benefit increases, but the cost remains the same, the choice becomes very efficient.

[theos911]

Well yes, but you can always chaos shuffle into something different.

[Fouredged Sword]

Slap on warweaver, I think it's called. A one level dip allows you to cast touch buffs and effect an number of willing targets all at once. Get the full progresion and all spells you cast like that gain one range bracket, (touch to short, short to medium).

One spell to hit the entire group with luminus armor.

In the eternal words of Billy, but wait there is more.

You can indefinatly delay a number of spells in a weave. Cast Lunimus armor the day before. Have the party cleric heal that ability damage. Now as a swift or imidiate action, I can't remember, release all thouse spells into you team. The best part is that those spells came of your spells per day last night, not today!

[hamishspence]

I'd like to see a rundown of the Mystic from Dragonlance Campaign Setting- I haven't read the book in years, and can recall nothing about the class.

It may be one of the most obscure 20 level WOTC-published classes.