Enhancement feedback project, volume 6: Favored soul

[HatsuharuZ]

General Comments: Favored Soul has always been a powerful class, with a large spell point pool, high saves, Leap of Faith ability, innate elemental resistances and damage reduction. FvS only has two class enhancement trees, but that's not as much of a disadvantage as it is for other classes, since it still has strong class abilities.


Angel of Vengeance

Comments: The offensive spellcasting tree. To make the most out of it though, you have to get close enough to the enemy to get them within your Aura of Menace. This tree is very light on top. Where is the earth-shattering kaboom?

[Core Abilities]

1) Shield of Condemnation ----> Aura of Menace

Comments: These enhancements can be used whether you are a melee fvs or a caster fvs. Aura of Menace can grab an enemy's agro though, so it should be turned off if one is running invisible.

2) Summon Archon

Comments: A shoulder fairy that shoots lasers. Luckily, it never says "hey, listen!", unlike some shoulder fairies I could name. Also, using this causes "Scourge" charges.

3) Vengeful Magic

Comments: Not very useful. I have yet to meet an FvS player who would forgo healing himself in order to get these minor benefits. And if the guy with all the healing spells dies during combat, the other players in the party are more likely to die unless they have their own healing spells.

4) Ascendancy

Comments: All of the variations of this capstone are likely to be used (or at least I would use them) except for "Stealth of the Hunter". I would suggest replacing "Stealth of the Hunter" with something similar to Shadow Fade from the monk's ninja spy tree. Also, this capstone is lacking an impressive passive ability.

[Tier 1]

1) Scourge ----> Animus

Comments: What's interesting about this ability is that the spellpower bonus applies to multiple energy types. Animus has it's place, but I feel that it's like adding water to a river once one gets the Archon.

2) Smiting ----> Smiting ----> Smiting ----> Smiting ----> Evocation Focus

Comments: Why does evocation focus have such a long string of prerequisites? It's already a fifth tier ability....

[Tier 2]

1) Efficient Metamagic

Comments: Empower Healing seems to be missing from the available selections.

[Tier 3]

1) Spell Penetration

Comments: This enhancement only has one rank.

[Tier 4]

1) Crown of Retribution

Comments: Unlike other "crown" abilities, this only functions while the target is within the user's Aura of Menace. For that reason, I think this enhancement should be moved to the "Shield of Condemnation" core ability.

2) Intense Faith ----> Zealous Faith

Comments: These two enhancements could be combined into a single enhancement

[Tier 5]

1) Unstoppable Magic

Comments: Most useful when combined with Implosion.


Warpriest

Comments: See Volume 4 for comments on the warpriest tree.