Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Rils Oct 17, 2011 10:44:49	Has anyone tried to do any conversion work of the 2e character "kits", ie specialty priests, for 4e?  I had a beloved 2e specialty priest of Dugmaren Brightmantle (FR) that I was thinking of resurrecting.  But it's difficult to figure out a class/build - the original kit was not really damage focussed, it was more "utility" spell focussed (got things like Mend, Augury and Legend Lore for free), so I'm having trouble finding the right niche to rebuild him...  4e powers are hard to work around the old Vancian system.  Any help or discussion on how other kits or specialty priests have been converted would be much appreciated!
#2 manion Oct 17, 2011 10:51:02	Utility spells, make him a Ritual Caster.  Beyond that just pick a class that sounds fun from the divine source and be flexible.
#3 bone_naga Oct 17, 2011 18:03:38	Create themes to replace the kits. For spells that don't even seem to fit as utility powers, make them rituals. You could even restrict them to characters that have that theme or at least worship that particular deity if it suits you.
#4 chaosfang Oct 17, 2011 18:23:32	Has anyone tried to do any conversion work of the 2e character "kits", ie specialty priests, for 4e?  I had a beloved 2e specialty priest of Dugmaren Brightmantle (FR) that I was thinking of resurrecting.  But it's difficult to figure out a class/build - the original kit was not really damage focussed, it was more "utility" spell focussed (got things like Mend, Augury and Legend Lore for free), so I'm having trouble finding the right niche to rebuild him...  4e powers are hard to work around the old Vancian system.  Any help or discussion on how other kits or specialty priests have been converted would be much appreciated!
#5 AbdulAlhazred Oct 17, 2011 18:56:43	Well, there is also the issue of your diety's sphere, his domain. My Monster Mythology says this god is one of basically Knowledge and Change or something like that, so you could take the domain feats in Divine Power for those domains. Power of Change gives a +2 to Thievery and if you use Recovery Strike you get a +1 to-hit with a power next turn. Power of Knowledge gives a bonus with Astral Seal and a +2 to History, etc. Sure Knowledge isn't bad either.
#6 Tony_Vargas Oct 17, 2011 21:03:00	Has anyone tried to do any conversion work of the 2e character "kits", ie specialty priests, for 4e?  Speciality priests are a pretty serious undertaking. However, if you check out the Neverwinter book, you'll see a few 'Domains' for deity-specific warpriests, that's awefully close.     I had a beloved 2e specialty priest of Dugmaren Brightmantle (FR) that I was thinking of resurrecting.  But it's difficult to figure out a class/build - the original kit was not really damage focussed, it was more "utility" spell focussed (got things like Mend, Augury and Legend Lore for free), so I'm having trouble finding the right niche to rebuild him... You'll want to look into Rituals for utility-spells-equivalents (yes, I know there are 'utility' powers, and some old spell are there, too, but the stuff you mention are all rituals).  The nearest rituals to the three classic spells you mention are Make Whole, Hand of Fate, and (for a Cleric) Consult Mystic Sages (there's still a Legend Lore, but it uses the Arcana skill).  A Devoted Cleric build (PH1) would seem like a good place to start (ignore the PH1 advice about investing in STR).  You can't afford to invest too heavily in INT, but a 14 to start shouldn't be too burdensome, that'll help with the knowledge skills - Religion & Arcana, particularly.  You should also take Dungeoneering and Nature.    That should give you a pretty good sense of being devoted to a god of knowledge.
#7 Rils Oct 18, 2011 11:25:16	Thanks guys for the help.  I had pretty much come to the same conclusion that its more a matter of re-fluffing with my DM.  Just curious to see what/if other people had done to achieve the effect. (Starting to lean towards Char Dev now...)  For those not as familiar with what I'm talking about, the specialty priest kits were similar to themes, in that it was a template of abilities that you kind of overlayed on the cleric class.  Other classes had kits like this too.  There were some granted abilities, and then as you progressed, you got some bonus abilities/spells as you went.  In my example, Dugmaren "The Wandering Tinkerer" is the dwarven god of scholarship and invention, with a minor in change.  He embodies the experimental, progressive side of the dwarves.  His priests were seekers of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and recovered lost dwarven lore, collected riddles and puzzles, etc.  They are tinkerers and experimenters with a dose of ADD, and have a penchant for half-baked ideas and unfinished projects.  The kit (build) gives you things like an additional language every other level, at certain levels you get a spell-like ability like "You can cast Legend Lore once per day for free", you can always cast priest/wizard scrolls of any level but with a certain % chance to backfire, and a couple other things.  The trade off is you can't turn undead, you can't multiclass, after a certain level you have to earn triple XP to advance, some things like that.  Much like an Essentials build - you give up some of the cleric's versatility in exchange for a more pre-defined progression. I was thinking maybe instead of a cleric, I could use a bard or artificer as the base class, and just RP him as a devout follower of the deity.  Maybe use the Scholar theme, which gives the additional languages and access to some knowledge-type utilities.  Either class comes with Ritual Caster and a couple basic rituals; bard emphasizes the lore/riddles/secrets/puzzles/ADD aspect, while artificer emphasizes the tinkerer/inventor aspect.  Then just reflavor the powers a bit: Bard at-will Vicious Mockery is more like I pose a riddle or "fun fact" that so boggles the bad guy he takes a -2 on his attacks next turn, or Artificer 13 Barbed Automaton is "Hey guys check out this mechanical grain reaper I invented, looks like it works on bad guys too!" Anyone else tried to do this kind of 2e conversion, or even things like 3e Prestige classes?
#8 Garthanos Oct 18, 2011 13:00:54	I was thinking maybe instead of a cleric, I could use a bard or artificer as the base class, and just RP him as a devout follower of the deity.  Maybe use the Scholar theme, which gives the additional languages and access to some knowledge-type utilities.  Either class comes with Ritual Caster and a couple basic rituals; bard emphasizes the lore/riddles/secrets/puzzles/ADD aspect, while artificer emphasizes the tinkerer/inventor aspect.  Then just reflavor the powers a bit: Bard at-will Vicious Mockery is more like I pose a riddle or "fun fact" that so boggles the bad guy he takes a -2 on his attacks next turn, or Artificer 13 Barbed Automaton is "Hey guys check out this mechanical grain reaper I invented, looks like it works on bad guys too!" Sounds like you have exactly the idea right there. Love sticking things like that in my Creative Character Build Collection...