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I know there have been a rash of PrC guides out lately, and I wanted to put this out there before anyone else decided to do one. What? No one in their wildest dreams thought of doing this one? Ever?
Does anyone actually play these? To be honest, now that I have finished my guide, I kind of want to do it now.
I dunno, but I thought I would put this out there because there are actually some cool options. The synergy of this PrC actually works pretty well with Battle Herald, so someday I might actually put the two in the same document. But I think I got as far as I can without any input to tell me if I am way off on any of my conclusions.
Anyway, without further ado...
Wow! Can't say I'm not surprised to see this, but glad to see this PrC being given some attention.
Great thinking on the Battle Herald synergy; an Order of the Dragon Cavalier/PfCr/BH focusing on Aid Another would be an interesting concept, especially if you had a Halfling Opportunist in the party.
Looks like this was added to the Guide to the Guides.
@ harmor- Thanks!
@ agnelcow- It was actually a surprise to me as well, but I found a couple of cool things about it when I had to level up a NPC one of these. Then I saw how useful this was to our group and decided to find out how optimized I could make one, and this guide was the result. I also like that it is a pretty cool fluff character as well. One that isn't really addressed in other places and still has their use.
The Order of the Dragon Cavilier doesn't seem to stack with the bonuses for PfC, since they both change the base bonus to start. I think a reasonable GM would over look that though, or come up with some compromise.
I haven't looked at the Halfling opportunist PrC, I will have to take a look at it to see where they might synergize.
@ Merck, good catch on the Evangelist. I never looked closely at clerics, I didn't know there was another option. I will have to make a note of that. This is exactly why I wanted to start some discussion!
Also, my name is spelled "Oterisk" not "Osterisk". There's only one "s" in there. There are five people who have done this and I know who you are!
@ ashern, Thanks! Battle Herald stacks with bardic levels for Inspire Courage modifiers. Also, Battle Heralds get an ability called Inspiring Command which is similar to Bardic Performance, but different. It seems to be affected by Bardic Performance feats, and Bardic Performance rounds can be converted to Inspiring Command rounds. You can Inspire Courage with it as well as a few other things, but it's the Inspire Courage that seems to be the best use in this kind of build. If I do a Battle Herald guide later, I will explore it more.
.. wouldn't guide to the peasant have more crunch?
@ Choon, Thanks! I will take that as the highest of compliments!
@ BNW Peasants are crunchy.
Great thinking on the Battle Herald synergy; an Order of the Dragon Cavalier/PfCr/BH focusing on Aid Another would be an interesting concept, especially if you had a Halfling Opportunist in the party.
I think that it would be simpler to have a Helpful halfling Battle Herald aiding a Halfling Opportunist.
I think that it would be simpler to have a Helpful halfling Battle Herald aiding a Halfling Opportunist.
Well, now I have a new character concept: a halfling rogue who loves getting into trouble, and his cavalier brother who writes and sells books about their exploits.
The only hurdle would be convincing a GM that the Aid Another modifiers should stack instead of replace. If you can manage that, at level 10, a Cav5/PfC4/BH1 could be aiding a Rog5/HfOp5 to give a total of +11 to AC, attack, etc:
+2(base)+1(Cav:Order of the Dragon)+2(Helpful)+2(PfC:Improved Aid)+1(BH:Teamwork)+3(HfOp:Excellent Aid)
Yeah, the real trick there is convincing your GM to allow it. :)
I would say that Aid Another, Excellent Aid, and Inspiring Command (Teamwork) all stack, since that's two untyped and a competence bonus. However, when more than one thing replaces the Aid Another bonus, I would say that you have to pick one: Helpful, Aid Allies, or Improved Aid.
ETA: I just had a brainstorm with Swift Aid. It replaces +2 with +1, but it's an "aid another" action, so Excellent Aid and Teamwork would both apply. You can only use Teamwork for skill checks and attack rolls, and you can only use Swift Aid for AC and attack rolls, so you could only use them together for attack rolls; but it would be a swift action.
Since everything but Teamwork is untyped, I think that you could use a standard action and a swift action to stack +4 (Helpful or Improved Aid), +1 (Swift Aid), Excellent Aid x 2, and Teamwork x 1 on a single attack roll. Does that sound reasonable?
Don't forget Team Up to aid another on a move action and Bodyguard to Aid Another to AC.
Your write up of Inspire Action has one glaring issue and one that if I bring up will derail the thread, so I won't do that one.
Granting an extra standard action will not allow the wizard to cast two spells a round. There is a hard limit of one non-swift action spell per round, and this ability does not allow you to bypass that hard limit.
Magic chapter, under Casting Time.
A spell with a casting time of 1 swift action doesn't count against your normal limit of one spell per round. However, you may cast such a spell only once per round. Casting a spell with a casting time of 1 swift action doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
I strongly disagree. (They even say "normal" limit.) All I see is a reiteration of the (normal) limit of one swift (or immediate) action per round.
Disagree all you want, but it clearly says "your normal limit of one spell per round." If that isn't the case, then that text means nothing, as there wouldn't be a limit to count against. It's yet another rule like sneak attack being Precision damage. It's only mentioned in the last place you'd expect to look, but it's still a rule.
Ah, well if it is a hard limit, then Time Stop is a waste. Cest la vie.
Disagree all you want, but it clearly says "your normal limit of one spell per round." If that isn't the case, then that text means nothing, as there wouldn't be a limit to count against. It's yet another rule like sneak attack being Precision damage. It's only mentioned in the last place you'd expect to look, but it's still a rule.
Almost all spells take at least a standard action. You have a normal limit of one standard action per round. Therefore, you have a normal limit of one spell per round. It seems clear to me that the first sentence in your quote isn't a rule; it's just stating the obvious. (And they probably should've left it out, since it resulted in this debate.)
I noticed in your guide that a Cavalier can take a feat which allows him to add his non-Cavalier class levels to his mount for purposes of determining it's power. I was considering using the Beast Rider Cavalier option, but I wanted to make sure that my mount kept getting stronger as I leveled up. What feat were you referencing in particular?
I believe they are referencing Horse Master, although Boon Companion also works (if only for four levels). However, since Horse Master requires the Expert Trainer class feature, a Beast Rider is not eligible for the feat. This is likely intentional, so that you don't take 4 levels of Cavalier for a powerful Animal Companion on a full BAB class.