Cleric or Favoured soul? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cleric or Favoured soul? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
xaryuo
10-24-07, 04:58 PM Hi!

We will be shortly running a Planescape campaign (2e ed setting, but 3,5 ed for the rules)

I'm to be the "cleric" of the party, a half-dragon/half-kender (don't ask how), deity: Paladine.

I was wondering, wich is better class between the two?

Is one more fun to play a cleric or a favoured soul? What are the pro's and con's of each class?
Salla
10-24-07, 05:02 PM The Cleric is uber, the Favored Soul is mediocre.

Cleric gets heavy armor, domain powers, turn undead (to fuel divine feats like, oh, Divine Metamagic), and unlimited spell access, including spontaneous cures.

The Favored Soul gets medium armor and limited spell acquisition, and must use one of their limited spells known to gain spontaneous curing.

Especially with losing caster levels with the half-dragon template, you're going to need the clerical oomph.
danielinthewolvesden
10-25-07, 12:24 AM No one cares about Heavy armour. And sure, the Cleric is one of the Big Five, but the FS still is more powerful than any non-full-spellcasting class. It ranks #8 or something out of 40.

The Cleric gets Domains, the FS gets class abilities. Other than that they are about even.... well except for the one BIG difference- Turning. Sure, Turning Undead is no big deal, but Turning attempts can be used to power many very powerful Feats. If you wants to go fro Divine Metamagic cheese, you have to pick Cleric.

I like the flavour of the FS myself, but the Cleric is slightly more powerful.

A Dragon Shaman would work well with that race combo, and it can do healing.
gullas
10-25-07, 10:15 AM well favored soul gets wings , DR 10(silver or cold iron) , deitys wep prof. focus and spec and more spells than cleric , medium armor prof and every good save.

cleric gets turn , two domain powers , bonus domain spells and heavy armor prof and only two good saves.

both have advantages and disvantage. I personally think that favored soul is better for savage races then cleric(so does CD says)
so if your not an savage race , then cleric it is.
RobbyPants
10-25-07, 10:31 AM As previously mentioned, cleric is by far the more powerful choice, although favored soul isn't weak.

However, the favored soul may be more fun for flavor, and it certainly involves less bookkeeping. If you don't want to hassel with picking spells prepared per day, pick favored soul. If you don't mind the bookkeeping, the cleric can give you more.

Also, is your DM having everyone start out with templates, or is this something you chose for yourself? If you have to pay the level adjustment in caster levels, I'd recommend against it. If not (or if you don't care), then I'm assuming you're going to use your +8 Str and natural armor bonus to help focus on melee more?
LoneFlame
10-25-07, 01:43 PM Don't forget the Domain abilities. Some of them are useless, but other are quite nice(like the one Travel Domain gets you).

If you look long enough, you'll find 2 domains that have plenty of non-standard cleric spells for your needs, as well as providing nifty abilities.

Also, unlike the Cleric, Favored Soul needs 2 stats for their spell casting, instead of 1. Under standard stat rules, that's a sizable weakness.

Plus, to make matters worse, Spontaneous casting is weaker than Prepared casting(especially when you can sub out any prepared spell for another, equally useful spell, like the Cures). The dialog goes something like this:

Favored Soul: "I've got slightly more spells per day than you."
Cleric: "Hold on. Be right back."

*Cleric teleports away*

Favored Soul: "I wish I could do that..."

*Cleric returns 2 minutes later*

Cleric: "Feel the wrath of CoDzilla!"

*Cleric stomps the Favored Soul into the ground*
danielinthewolvesden
10-25-07, 02:46 PM Plus, to make matters worse, Spontaneous casting is weaker than Prepared casting(especially when you can sub out any prepared spell for another, equally useful spell, like the Cures). The dialog goes something like this:

How does a Cleric Teleport twice? Generally, you can cast Domain spells only once.

And of course for Preapared casting, the litany is "Sure I can cast that spell- tomorrow."
LSMFT
10-25-07, 03:07 PM You could prepare a second in a higher level slot?

Still, a crucial point is, I think, "does the party divine need to cast teleport at all?" If the party has a wizard, you can cast twenty teleports and it doesnt matter when you are part of a team.

The cleric is more powerful, yes, but the favored soul is plenty powerful enough and fun to play.
Legdiwena
11-15-07, 03:54 PM The second teleport could have been from a scroll too.
SilverFoxKnows
11-15-07, 04:58 PM I like the reduced bookkeeping aspect of the FS. I'd rather agonize over my spell selection once and be done with it. Three good saves are also nice. I think some of your choice comes down to the campaign style. If your DM only gives you combat once per day, you're free to come up with some uber leet spell combo that would make the gods cry. If you have two, or three(!) fights per day you may be better served by having more spells at your disposal. Play what calls out to you.
ragoftag
11-16-07, 06:19 PM I'd go with the Cleric to play, but I'm resetting my game's focus to a non-deity specific Priest-hood with deity specific 'Favored Souls'. Personally, the whole 'wings' schtick is down right goofy.
sally_jones
11-17-07, 01:30 AM if u want to pretige class go cleric cuz there are very few PrC for FS. with the level adjustment i would go FS, grab ur healing spells and buffs for all thats left. leave damage spells to the arcae fellows.
in my campaign i attribute every party win to the gnome favoured soul who destroys enemies with her rightous might in between healing spells (if u tell my other players that, i'll swear u made it up)
Jaxgaret
11-17-07, 02:31 AM The second teleport could have been from a scroll too.

There's also a feat (called Domain Spontaneity IIRC) that allows you to trade a Turning attempt to spontaneously convert a spell slot into a domain spell of the same level.

Awesome feat.

if u want to pretige class go cleric cuz there are very few PrC for FS.

One of the best Prestige Classes for a Favored Soul is by far the Sacred Exorcist, to pick up Turning at 1st level. A good way to gain Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill is to select the Education feat - it also happens to give all the other Knowledge skills as class skills as well, which is pretty nice. That way you can gain access to all of the great Cleric PrCs, with both K:Religion and Turning.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
xaryuo 10-24-07, 04:58 PM	Hi! We will be shortly running a Planescape campaign (2e ed setting, but 3,5 ed for the rules) I'm to be the "cleric" of the party, a half-dragon/half-kender (don't ask how), deity: Paladine. I was wondering, wich is better class between the two? Is one more fun to play a cleric or a favoured soul? What are the pro's and con's of each class?
Salla 10-24-07, 05:02 PM	The Cleric is uber, the Favored Soul is mediocre. Cleric gets heavy armor, domain powers, turn undead (to fuel divine feats like, oh, Divine Metamagic), and unlimited spell access, including spontaneous cures. The Favored Soul gets medium armor and limited spell acquisition, and must use one of their limited spells known to gain spontaneous curing. Especially with losing caster levels with the half-dragon template, you're going to need the clerical oomph.
danielinthewolvesden 10-25-07, 12:24 AM	No one cares about Heavy armour. And sure, the Cleric is one of the Big Five, but the FS still is more powerful than any non-full-spellcasting class. It ranks #8 or something out of 40. The Cleric gets Domains, the FS gets class abilities. Other than that they are about even.... well except for the one BIG difference- Turning. Sure, Turning Undead is no big deal, but Turning attempts can be used to power many very powerful Feats. If you wants to go fro Divine Metamagic cheese, you have to pick Cleric. I like the flavour of the FS myself, but the Cleric is slightly more powerful. A Dragon Shaman would work well with that race combo, and it can do healing.
gullas 10-25-07, 10:15 AM	well favored soul gets wings , DR 10(silver or cold iron) , deitys wep prof. focus and spec and more spells than cleric , medium armor prof and every good save. cleric gets turn , two domain powers , bonus domain spells and heavy armor prof and only two good saves. both have advantages and disvantage. I personally think that favored soul is better for savage races then cleric(so does CD says) so if your not an savage race , then cleric it is.
RobbyPants 10-25-07, 10:31 AM	As previously mentioned, cleric is by far the more powerful choice, although favored soul isn't weak. However, the favored soul may be more fun for flavor, and it certainly involves less bookkeeping. If you don't want to hassel with picking spells prepared per day, pick favored soul. If you don't mind the bookkeeping, the cleric can give you more. Also, is your DM having everyone start out with templates, or is this something you chose for yourself? If you have to pay the level adjustment in caster levels, I'd recommend against it. If not (or if you don't care), then I'm assuming you're going to use your +8 Str and natural armor bonus to help focus on melee more?
LoneFlame 10-25-07, 01:43 PM	Don't forget the Domain abilities. Some of them are useless, but other are quite nice(like the one Travel Domain gets you). If you look long enough, you'll find 2 domains that have plenty of non-standard cleric spells for your needs, as well as providing nifty abilities. Also, unlike the Cleric, Favored Soul needs 2 stats for their spell casting, instead of 1. Under standard stat rules, that's a sizable weakness. Plus, to make matters worse, Spontaneous casting is weaker than Prepared casting(especially when you can sub out any prepared spell for another, equally useful spell, like the Cures). The dialog goes something like this: Favored Soul: "I've got slightly more spells per day than you." Cleric: "Hold on. Be right back." Cleric teleports away Favored Soul: "I wish I could do that..." Cleric returns 2 minutes later Cleric: "Feel the wrath of CoDzilla!" Cleric stomps the Favored Soul into the ground
danielinthewolvesden 10-25-07, 02:46 PM	Plus, to make matters worse, Spontaneous casting is weaker than Prepared casting(especially when you can sub out any prepared spell for another, equally useful spell, like the Cures). The dialog goes something like this: How does a Cleric Teleport twice? Generally, you can cast Domain spells only once. And of course for Preapared casting, the litany is "Sure I can cast that spell- tomorrow."
LSMFT 10-25-07, 03:07 PM	You could prepare a second in a higher level slot? Still, a crucial point is, I think, "does the party divine need to cast teleport at all?" If the party has a wizard, you can cast twenty teleports and it doesnt matter when you are part of a team. The cleric is more powerful, yes, but the favored soul is plenty powerful enough and fun to play.
Legdiwena 11-15-07, 03:54 PM	The second teleport could have been from a scroll too.
SilverFoxKnows 11-15-07, 04:58 PM	I like the reduced bookkeeping aspect of the FS. I'd rather agonize over my spell selection once and be done with it. Three good saves are also nice. I think some of your choice comes down to the campaign style. If your DM only gives you combat once per day, you're free to come up with some uber leet spell combo that would make the gods cry. If you have two, or three(!) fights per day you may be better served by having more spells at your disposal. Play what calls out to you.
ragoftag 11-16-07, 06:19 PM	I'd go with the Cleric to play, but I'm resetting my game's focus to a non-deity specific Priest-hood with deity specific 'Favored Souls'. Personally, the whole 'wings' schtick is down right goofy.
sally_jones 11-17-07, 01:30 AM	if u want to pretige class go cleric cuz there are very few PrC for FS. with the level adjustment i would go FS, grab ur healing spells and buffs for all thats left. leave damage spells to the arcae fellows. in my campaign i attribute every party win to the gnome favoured soul who destroys enemies with her rightous might in between healing spells (if u tell my other players that, i'll swear u made it up)
Jaxgaret 11-17-07, 02:31 AM	The second teleport could have been from a scroll too. There's also a feat (called Domain Spontaneity IIRC) that allows you to trade a Turning attempt to spontaneously convert a spell slot into a domain spell of the same level. Awesome feat. if u want to pretige class go cleric cuz there are very few PrC for FS. One of the best Prestige Classes for a Favored Soul is by far the Sacred Exorcist, to pick up Turning at 1st level. A good way to gain Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill is to select the Education feat - it also happens to give all the other Knowledge skills as class skills as well, which is pretty nice. That way you can gain access to all of the great Cleric PrCs, with both K:Religion and Turning.