Warpriest Suggestions for Vargouille

[Havok.cry]

They already have a tree with SLAs, so I don't think they should have another with more, because I can tell you I would be the first to simply pick them all up from both trees. That being said, if they do get SLAs these are the ones I would pick:

t4: break enchantment
t5: holy aura (after it is fixed and working correctly, I never heard that it was so I assume it still isn't)

These two spells are useful to the role of a warpriest that I envision, where you are playing to the strengths of your class while bashing in heads. Break enchantment gets rid of alot of annoying things, most notabley enemy blade barriers. Holy aura both buffs you and blinds enemies, having all enemies blinded is like casting displacement on all your allies, it keeps them alive better, and also enables sneak attack damage, making it a very nice thing to have.

I would not do 3, simply because you end up filling your slots with useless spells already and having even more spots filled with useless junk seems wasteful. If you have to give them 3 I would give them displacement. It is self only so you are not taking away from someone else's buffing power and, well, it is displacement.

Baring those I would look for spells that they have not added to the game yet and pick some from there (and add them to the game at the same time.)

But honestly I think they would be better off doing something other than SLAs. I really Like the idea of mass cures on vorpals, but think it would be much cooler if it is on a crit. Having it ona crit makes weapon selection more important for a warpreist than it otherwise would be. I would have it be a mass cure light on a x2 crit, mass cure moderate on a x3 crit, etc. This way you cn have the dual scimitar guys from the undying court tossing out tons of small heals, and then you could have the guy who splashed in some fighter and is bringing the heavy picks dishing out the occasional free mass cure critical, and over there you have the bladeforged cleric who is cleaving through foes dropping multiple mass cures. The coolest part though is you might even see some weird combinations like rapier/heavy pick for someone who wants to have frequent small cures and occasional big ones.

I would have a line of enhancements that adds to-hit and damage upon spell cast, and adds spellpower upon weapon strike. Warpreist should not play as a fighter with backup spells, it should play as a cleric that bashes in heads in the name of his deity.

Have an aura that boosts movement speed by like 15%, same bonus type as barb/ranger sprint boosts. This allows the rest of the party to keep much closer to those guys and get to the combat sooner, without leaving the party behind.

that is my two cents

[eachna_gislin]

Just a reminder of the different Eberron faiths and their weapons:

Sovereign Host: Longswords
Undying Court: Scimitars
Lord of Blades: Greatswords
Silver Flame: Longbows
Vulkoor: Shortwords

A multi-select halfway up the tree that grants a set amount of spellpower based on your faith would give even casters a reason to dive into Warpriest, and give some nice bonuses to offset the lower DCs a melee divine has. My suggestion? Sovereign Host gets Positive Spellpower, Undying Court gets Light, Lord of Blades gets Force, Silver Flame gets Fire, and Vulkoor gets Negative.

Also, give me a reason to pick a faith other than Sovereign Host or Lord of Blades! Undying Court should get TWF boosts and Tempest-like abilities from Warpriest. Silver Flame should get some arrow imbues or some doublshot or something that will make choosing a faith important. And Vulkoor followers could get poison imbues and sneak attack damage like rogues. Maybe that's too much to expect out of one PrE tree, but even just a section of the tree that grants some differing bonuses based on your faith would be wonderful!

The SLA suggestions are a good idea too. One thing I was disappointed about was the lack of SLAs in Angel of Vengance compared to Divine Disciple. Even if they're lesser used spells, it's nice to be able to use something you normally can't, or even something you already can use for cheaper.

Some nice ideas above...want to second them.

My own suggestions are going to be based on the playtest version of the warpriest build (I can't find the Complete Divine version online):

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.a...mp/mp20010413d

To start:
Hit die: d10
Requirements To qualify to become a warpriest, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack: +5
Diplomacy ranks: 5
Sense Motive ranks: 5
Feats: Combat Casting, Leadership

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Warpriests have proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, all armors, and all shields.

Rally (Ex): The warpriest can attempt to rally all allies within sound of her voice (allies are entitled to Listen checks to see if the warpriest affects them). Allies who can hear the warpriest and who have failed a Will saving throw may immediately make another at the same DC, with a +1 morale bonus per level of the warpriest. The warpriest cannot use this ability if she also failed the original Will save.

Inflame (Ex): By delivering a stirring speech for at least 5 minutes prior to battle, the warpriest gives those who listen a morale bonus to saving throws against charm and fear effects, and a morale bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls. The bonus varies with every 2 levels of the warpriest. This effect lasts for 5 minutes after the speech ends, plus 1 minute per level of the warpriest. The warpriest also gains the bonus.

Impart Maneuvers (Su): A warpriest can impart a single feat to all allies within 100 feet plus 10 feet per caster level. The feats must be directly related to combat, and must not have more than 2 other feats as prerequisites. This ability cannot impart weapon proficiencies. For instance, a warpriest could impart Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Mounted Archery, Mounted Combat, Trample, Ride-By Attack, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, or Sunder. This effect lasts 5 minutes plus 1 minute per level of the warpriest. The warpriest also gains the feat.

Heroes' Feast (Sp): Once per day, the warpriest may cast heroes' feast without preparation as a cleric of the same level as the warpriest.

Divination (Ex): Experts in tactics and strategy, warpriests can often predict what an opponent will do. At 6th level, warpriests gain access to the Divination prestige domain (see Chapter 4 of this book) and gain that domain's granted ability.

Mass Haste (Sp): Starting at 7th level, the warpriest can cast mass haste a number of times per day equal to her warpriest level. This is in addition to the warpriest's spells per day.

Mass Fear (Su): The mere presence of a warpriest can strike fear into the hearts of her enemies. At 8th level, the warpriest gains a gaze attack with a range of 100 feet. The warpriest can affect one target per level per day with this attack, and affects any enemies who can see her. The targets must save as if the warpriest cast fear. This is in addition to the warpriest's spells per day.

Mass Heal (Sp): Starting at 9th level, the warpriest can cast mass heal a number of times per day equal to her warpriest level. This is in addition to the warpriest's spells per day.

Implacable Foe (Sp): By 10th level, the warpriest can channel enough positive energy to allies within a 100-foot radius that they will continue to fight even after suffering mortal wounds. Using this ability is a move-equivalent action and requires Concentration. While in use, allies within the radius who suffer enough damage to become disabled, dying, or dead ignore the effects of that damage and continue fighting. Disabled or dying characters must keep track of further damage. When the ability ends -- because the warpriest stops concentrating, fails a Concentration check, or becomes disabled or worse -- then the full effects of all damage take effect.


My comments:

___ Tree ___
I'd say something that boosts hps (the same toughness-like enhancements some other melee prestiges can get is fine) to start.

Egotism: While actual warpriests emphasize diplomacy, Radiants already got that boost. So I'd go for an opposite approach and give +2/rank Intimidate (since it's cross class) and +1 Spellcraft (only because I don't see it anywhere else). If not a flat +2 to the intimidate skill per rank, maybe something that does the equivalent but with different wording (+2 to intim DCs per rank).

Warpriests might get the Rally enhancement off paladins. It's at least close (although paladin rally applies specifically to fear and the warpriest rally would be any will save fail). If not the paladin rally, maybe the ability to scrub any one will-based effect such as daze, charm, fear, etc. Cooldown and costs should work like paladin Rally.

Divine Might. Keep it. It should work exactly like the Paladin version, however that operates in the future. Cleric Warpriests should spend turns to power it. Favored Souls should spend spell points. Please don't make clerics spend spell points on Divine Might.

Impart Maneuvers: Just like Legendary Tactics from Dreadnaught. +[2/4/6] to DC's of all tactical feats.

I'd also like to see an attack chain by weapon type. What Fefnir suggests above would be fine. I'll repeat it here: "A multi-select halfway up the tree that grants a set amount of spellpower based on your faith would give even casters a reason to dive into Warpriest, and give some nice bonuses to offset the lower DCs a melee divine has. My suggestion? Sovereign Host gets Positive Spellpower, Undying Court gets Light, Lord of Blades gets Force, Silver Flame gets Fire, and Vulkoor gets Negative." I'd edit Positive to do Holy Damage and Negative to do Unholy.

I envision something like a fake half-elf dilettante chain where each tier you click on it to get the boost the god provides. Make sure to include an attack chain for Morninglords. Along with Fefnir's suggested selector to grant spellpower, you could get a tier 4 ability that applies that suggested damage type to your favored weapon strikes. The tier 5 ability could have a vorpal attack doing a similar type of damage as a "burst". So...at tier 4 you add 1d6 of your favored damage to every strike. At tier 5 you get a vorpal burst (or even 1d8 favored damage + burst). If you want to get even fancier with the coding, you could give a vorpal proc as a tier 5 (so Vulkoor warpriests level drained 1-4 levels, Undying Court did radiance guard blindness, Silver Flame's fire had a chain missile made of fire, Sovereign host got full Holy Burst on every vorpal, Lord of Blades followers could get a weaker version of the central buff in the Lord of Blades raid (a built in "Combat Infusion").

I'd make tier 4 and 5 a toggled stance for cases where you want to turn it off. Bonus marks if you can make the strikes and vorpals work with celestias (which are nominally cleric weapons although I do know rogues love them).

Instead of Wisdom/Charisma, a Warpriest should be able to choose between two points of either charisma or constitution. (charisma will stack with strength via divine might)

I'd love to see something for the Incite ability...but the description reads too much like a form of bard song. Bards get so little I wouldn't take anything away from them. Maybe the Favored Soul aura (giving a weaker aura to warpriest clerics as well) could be subbed in somehow.

The rest of the tree could be filled in with leftovers presently in Protection.


___SLA's___

Fear
Haste
Fake Mass Heal

Fear: Standard fear spell, 3 tiers, each tier reduces sp cost and cooldown. This would be the lowest level SLA as it's only single target fear, not mass fear. I'd like this cheap enough (4-5 sp) and the cooldown fast enough that it could be spammed on one opponent after another. For the third tier, it might be good to pin a successful feared opponent in place (like the way a turned undead crouches) rather than having to chase after them.

Haste: I'd do a regular haste spell with 3 tiers. First two tiers reduce sp cost. Last tier reduces spellpoint cost and gives a +5% sacred bonus to doublestrike for the length of the spell (this would not stack with Zeal but would stack with pretty much everything else). If there's a suitable boost that only applies to ranged attacks include it at tier 3 as well.

Fake Mass Heal: We need something to replace mass heal as a SLA. You can't give it to warpriests or they'd be chained down as heal bots. But it does have to be healing based as it's clear that they're meant to have some boost to heals. I'd consider a heal over time. Something like a weaker form of mass regeneration...a little bit like the radiant aura but still it's own thing. I'd make this a Tier 5 power. The two metas to affect it would be Empower Healing and Quicken. Number crunching I'd say it should heal about half as effectively as a Radiant Aura when considering everything but Heal spellpower (Radiants will have more Heal skill spellpower so it shouldn't be considered), but give those hit points back faster. So...just as an example, if a meta'd, max-spellpower'd Radiant's Aura lasts 2 minutes and can give back 1000 hp on a normal un-amped fleshie, then a Fake Mass Heal would give back 500 hit points over 1 minute on the same human. This means a Radiant will have more steady HoT power in the tank, but the warpriest can give a shorter, faster HoT. The pace of use can also be controlled by the cooldown. Unlike the aura it could be targeted, so a ranged Warpriest can make full use of it.

There should be a fourth SLA but I don't have any ideas.

Since the SLAs don't really tie into each other I wouldn't chain them. I set it like in the Divine Disciple tree and let warpriests choose which one they want.


___Core Abilities___

Warpriest: +1 hit point and +2 AC per ability point spent in this tree.

Sanctuary, advanced sanctuary, and ultimate sanctuary seem ok but a bit weak. In addition...

At 6th level I'd like warpriests to get proficiency with all martial weapons.

At 12th level I'd like them to get proficiency with tower shields.

At 18th level I'd like them to get either +1 sacred bonus to their crit range or +1 sacred bonus to their crit multiplier (their choice) on their divine weapon.

The capstone is fine...+2 Wisdom and Divine Intervention is nice and many cleric players are already used to using it (Favored Souls who never played a cleric to cap can get used to it soon enough). And if you squint and tilt your head it reads a bit like Implacable Foe.