Opinion on "Blessing of Fervor"


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

51 to 100 of 100 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

ShaiHulud wrote:

Use blessing of Fervor against them .

All of my NPC take that spell.
Cleric: Summon monster 1,2,3,4,5 etc
Balance ah yes.:)

Imbalance vs imbalance is not balance, just as two wrongs don't make a right.

If the spell is causing problems, and you want to ban it, no reason not to. As people say, they are other good 4th level spells they could use instead.

Liberty's Edge

Funky Badger wrote:
Diego Rossi wrote:


It get annoying when the casters go "the fight has ended and BoF is still running, let's cast our 1st - 2nd level spells, so they will get extended for free", especially if you have a large group with multiple casters.
Why is characters using their powers annoying?

Read my first comment about BoF. Essentially I don't like a round/level spell with a secondary power that add hours/level duration to other spells.

Generally my group has 6 players and that become at least 2-3 buff extended by several hours at each casting of Blessing of Fervor.


4 people marked this as a favorite.

I haven't had a single problem with blessing of fervor. It makes the cleric feel good about their character. They are often overshadowed by their arcane counterparts. It's nice that a cleric has a spell that can match haste considering they're focused on buffing and curing their party members.


I play a lot if Oracle's and it is a must have spell
if stuck for something to do in the combat, cast this!


Opinion 1) It's a good spell definitely, but it's not the best at it's level or even at what it specifically does. It also has several counters*.
*(By the time you get BoF you're looking at CR8+ minimum for any fight that's supposed to challenge the party, 9-10 for 'real' fights. Again, that's >minimum<. That's a lot of toys and goodies for the bad guys, too.)

Opinion 2) Saying that, if a rookie GM feels taxed/concerned with BoF they should consider E6 or E8, or use the slow xp advanced chart, because with what spell levels 6+ bring to casters the extra time to learn a better mastery of the system will save them headaches they don't even know exist yet.

Opinion 3) Since from the initial post house ruling was being discussed and sought, wrong forum.


I realize that blessing of fervor is less powerful than haste strictly by the numbers and receives flexibility in exchange, but I think it has too much flexibility for what it does. Flexibility and choice are ever-underrated; properly applied, they win battles far more and far often than big numbers do.

I've had problems with the spell myself.

I like the combat maneuvers in Pathfinder, but my players rendered themselves nigh-immune to them. The fighter had Quickdraw and kept multiple weapons (of multiple types and special abilities), so he didn't care if a weapon was disarmed or sundered, while the druid didn't use weapons at all, and the mounted charger preferred to Ride-By Attack enemies for triple damage such that he rarely ended up nearby for them to strike back. Two or three of said front-liners kept freedom of movement up during the adventuring day, so they were immune to grapples. Blessing of Fervor kept them from being effectively tripped, at least for when the party wasn't flying. All in all, although so many monsters had so many cool abilities on combat maneuvers, it seemed like blessing of fervor only helps to marginalize them.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Short bless or prayer, this is one of the few full party combat buffs that actually is effective in combat that makes the cleric shine.

The only offensively natured spells that a Cleric would prepare are:
Terrible Remorse
Debilitating Portent
Summon Monster 4
Spiritual Ally (I don't know a whole lot of clerics, but I use this spell an awful lot.)

Oh no I lost a 5th of my list because my DM couldn't handle it. Dude you're in for a treat when the heavier stuff starts going around or your cleric starts plane shifting people into hell.


Troubleshooter wrote:

I realize that blessing of fervor is less powerful than haste strictly by the numbers and receives flexibility in exchange, but I think it has too much flexibility for what it does. Flexibility and choice are ever-underrated; properly applied, they win battles far more and far often than big numbers do.

I've had problems with the spell myself.

I like the combat maneuvers in Pathfinder, but my players rendered themselves nigh-immune to them. The fighter had Quickdraw and kept multiple weapons (of multiple types and special abilities), so he didn't care if a weapon was disarmed or sundered, while the druid didn't use weapons at all, and the mounted charger preferred to Ride-By Attack enemies for triple damage such that he rarely ended up nearby for them to strike back. Two or three of said front-liners kept freedom of movement up during the adventuring day, so they were immune to grapples. Blessing of Fervor kept them from being effectively tripped, at least for when the party wasn't flying. All in all, although so many monsters had so many cool abilities on combat maneuvers, it seemed like blessing of fervor only helps to marginalize them.

So you have a problem that PCs are prepared and don't want to die? Combat maneuvers are so debilitating that they can cause effectively instant death if you can't do something about them. Being prone vs a high DPR monster is a 1-2 round death sentence. Being grappled by a grapple build monster is nearly impossible to break free of in time to avoid death. Being full attacked by a martial NPC can drop PCs in a round.


We have never felt it was out of line with other spells. I play a cleric, and stopped prepping it because haste seemed to be much better. The metamagic choices on 1st and 2nd level spells was not utilized much. I think we might have extened a few spells, but none of our group seems to cast many 1st and 2nd level spells in combat.


I'm playing in a Second Darkness campaign. My cleric casts it so that he can cast extended Delay Poisons on the group while our sorcerer gives us extended Darkvision spells. Very handy against drow. ; )

Dark Archive

Blessings of Fevor is pretty unbalanced, mostly for the fact that it takes an effect that is unique to the arcane casters, multi-target haste effect, and given it to divine casters. You'll notice that most of the spells Jiggy was comparing it to are not on the divine spell-casters list without domain or mystery limited availability.

My home group has pretty much permanently banned the spell.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Victor Zajic wrote:

Blessings of Fevor is pretty unbalanced, mostly for the fact that it takes an effect that is unique to the arcane casters, multi-target haste effect, and given it to divine casters. You'll notice that most of the spells Jiggy was comparing it to are not on the divine spell-casters list without domain or mystery limited availability.

My home group has pretty much permanently banned the spell.

You'll notice that many divine spells that imitate arcane ones are a spell level higher and limited in other ways. Vice Versa is also true.

Have you played 3.5? This shouldn't come across strange if you knew of a very nice spell called Righteous Wrath of the Faithful.
http://dndtools.eu/spells/spell-compendium--86/righteous-wrath-faithful--37 93/


Strange Doc wrote:
To me, if a spell is written is ink on a character sheet, it's too powerful. This cleric takes it every time, no matter the situation! It is an automatic cast if he ever thinks there is going to be combat. If a spell becomes a no-brainer, it is unbalancing IMHO.

Might deviate the thread a bit, but there are a lot of no-brainer spells out there that casters always take... would you take those away, too?

Cure X Wounds/Heal
Mage Armor + Shield until they get magic equip to replace them
Magic Missile
Feather Fall/Fly/Overland Flight/...
Dim Door/Teleport/...
Invisibility/Greater/Vanish/...
Shadow Conjuration&Evocation/...
Shocking Grasp for Magus (is there any Magus out there that doesn't have it in his book?)

and that's just the beginning... I'm sure the forum could/will come up with a much bigger "have2have" list.

Also some of my characters are based around a "theme": my hexcrafter magus is all about curses, this means piling up as many malus effects that I can find: shaken/fatigued/sickened/entangled... once I actived all these (takes 2-3 rounds, so prep time is needed here) I do all/most of these conditions with a single weapon hit(and I get multiple attacks in 1 round)! (On the downside I don't do as much damage as our damage-focussed Magus, but being flanked by both of us is very lethal for pretty much any creature.)
Would you nerf those and take them away... making my entire character pointless?

Such nerfs to spells will most probably end up in only damage-PCs and heal-PCs groups, because everything else might not suit the DM's vision of combat... this would get boring very quickly. :-(

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

It seems totally silly to nerf melee classes by taking away the Cleric's best way to buff melee types. As many posters have said, Blessing of Fervor, while a powerful and useful 4th level divine spell, is not much better than Haste, a 3rd level arcane spell.

Suggestion to OP GM: rather than retroactively nerf clever stuff your PCs like to do, learn from them. Fight fire with fire. For example, next time your PCs fight a band of [some humanoid monster], have the [some humanoid monster] Shaman cast BoF (perhaps off a scroll), and see how the party likes fighting hyper-foes.

Another suggestion: When PCs open a door and find a BBEG who has just finished buffing up, smart PCs will close the door, wait 20 minutes until the bufss wear off, then open the door again. Have your monsters do the same thing to hyber-buffed PCs, and watch your players cry :-)


Jiggy wrote:
Strange Doc wrote:
I try to GM in a way that uses common sense and rule on things based on the "smell test" and this spell stinks!

Ever consider that your smeller might be broke?

Compare it to other combat spells:

Dismissal is a save-or-die against any outsider.

I disagree with Dismissal being the end all to be all. Remember that the outsider will quite often have SR AND get a Will save. So that is two layers of defense that the caster must get through.


Andrea1 wrote:
Jiggy wrote:
Strange Doc wrote:
I try to GM in a way that uses common sense and rule on things based on the "smell test" and this spell stinks!

Ever consider that your smeller might be broke?

Compare it to other combat spells:

Dismissal is a save-or-die against any outsider.

I disagree with Dismissal being the end all to be all. Remember that the outsider will quite often have SR AND get a Will save. So that is two layers of defense that the caster must get through.

Bah! Any competent god-wizard will have no less than five plans and twelve redundancies in place to get through both those defenses twice with no effort or chance or failure while simultaneously winning the whole fight for free with one spell and circumventing ninety percent of all the traps and other trouble the GM put in their way.

Because, as everyone knows, wizard = Batman. /sarcasm

Liberty's Edge

Cerberus, you are in error.
It is:
wizard > Batman.


Strange Doc wrote:


I agree with your argument except for the fact that you can change the benefits every round based on your situation. The flexibility is the most important aspect of the spell.

Again, great argument, but I still think it's a pretty useful spell.

It's not as flexible as you think it is, mostly because "choosing your benefit" when 90% of the benefits are provided at the same time by a different spell (at a lower level) is not a benefit. It's a drawback.

Can you seriously sit there and tell me that Movement speed OR a to-hit/AC/Ref save bonus OR an extra attack is "more flexible" than Movement speed AND a to-hit/AC/Ref save bonus AND an extra attack?

Because that's a weiiiiird sort of logic to go on there.


Rynjin wrote:
Strange Doc wrote:


I agree with your argument except for the fact that you can change the benefits every round based on your situation. The flexibility is the most important aspect of the spell.

Again, great argument, but I still think it's a pretty useful spell.

It's not as flexible as you think it is, mostly because "choosing your benefit" when 90% of the benefits are provided at the same time by a different spell (at a lower level) is not a benefit. It's a drawback.

Can you seriously sit there and tell me that Movement speed OR a to-hit/AC/Ref save bonus OR an extra attack is "more flexible" than Movement speed AND a to-hit/AC/Ref save bonus AND an extra attack?

Because that's a weiiiiird sort of logic to go on there.

Not every class needs the attack bonus at all times. Or the increased movement speed. Or the extra base attack. It provides a couple bonuses Haste doesn't, like the free metamagic on first or second level spells or the swift action to get up from prone without AOs. I'd consider that versatility, if for no other reason than finding a spell that does those things anywhere else is nigh impossible.

It's also worth noting that Blessing of Fervor provides both a larger attack and dodge bonus AND it's bonus to speed is a typeless one, not an enhancement one. That means most spells which boost speed would stack (except for Haste, obviously, as that's called out as a specific exception).


Yes, but whether you need it or not, having it all at once is still better than not.

Let's say you have a toolbox. You need a hammer, but you also have a screwdriver and a wrench.

Do you throw out the screwdriver and wrench because you don't need them right now? Are the screwdriver and wrench being in your possession somehow hindering you, even though you may have need of them later?

And yes, the bonus is bigger and the speed is untyped...because it's only on a portion of the time. And because the spell needed at least SOME small boost to justify it being a higher level spell than Haste.

The free metamagic thing IS pretty neat, but that is again justified by it being a 4th level spell and only giving certain benefits at certain times.


Im guessing that the bonus to speed being typeless is an oversight since any spell that grants a speed bonus is providing an enhancement bonus. I treat it as a enhancement bonus in my own games.

- Gauss


It's a nice spell, esp. if your party has no arcane caster PCs who could cast Haste instead (I'm a cleric in an ongoing Kingmaker game with a party like that).

However, one point that has been brought up is the "free" Extend Spell metamagic. I don't see this as a real concern. One of two things will be true:

1) the cleric is taking this 4th level spell and casting it out of combat at the beginning of the day to save the wizard or sorcerer from having to take some of their minor 1st or 2nd spells twice or three times (if they're going for all-day coverage), or
2) the cleric is casting Blessing of Fervor in combat long after the casters in the group should have had their utility spells up and running.

Neither 1) nor 2) above is overpowered.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rynjin wrote:

Yes, but whether you need it or not, having it all at once is still better than not.

Let's say you have a toolbox. You need a hammer, but you also have a screwdriver and a wrench.

Do you throw out the screwdriver and wrench because you don't need them right now? Are the screwdriver and wrench being in your possession somehow hindering you, even though you may have need of them later?

And yes, the bonus is bigger and the speed is untyped...because it's only on a portion of the time. And because the spell needed at least SOME small boost to justify it being a higher level spell than Haste.

The free metamagic thing IS pretty neat, but that is again justified by it being a 4th level spell and only giving certain benefits at certain times.

Oh, I'm not arguing that Haste is the less versatile of the two, quite the opposite really. Having all those bonuses at once is what makes it such a ridiculously good lower-tier spell. I think BoF would be way too damned good if all those effects were on all the time, so they made it situationally flexible rather than always-on versatile. Having two unique effects that few, if any, other spells can duplicate, along with more powerful normal options, is what makes the spell worth it even if you have to make a slightly difficult choice now and then.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

If a GM is hinging a game on one 4th level Cleric spell something is wrong and I don't mean with the spell.

Liberty's Edge

Zog of Deadwood wrote:

It's a nice spell, esp. if your party has no arcane caster PCs who could cast Haste instead (I'm a cleric in an ongoing Kingmaker game with a party like that).

However, one point that has been brought up is the "free" Extend Spell metamagic. I don't see this as a real concern. One of two things will be true:

1) the cleric is taking this 4th level spell and casting it out of combat at the beginning of the day to save the wizard or sorcerer from having to take some of their minor 1st or 2nd spells twice or three times (if they're going for all-day coverage), or
2) the cleric is casting Blessing of Fervor in combat long after the casters in the group should have had their utility spells up and running.

Neither 1) nor 2) above is overpowered.

Marius Castille wrote:

I'm playing in a Second Darkness campaign. My cleric casts it so that he can cast extended Delay Poisons on the group while our sorcerer gives us extended Darkvision spells. Very handy against drow. ; )

Let's say that that add up to 3 extended Darkvision, 4 delay poison, 1 armor spell.

That is the equivalent of 2 and 2/3 rods of lesser extend. Not bad for a 4the level spell.
Cast it before entering the first suspicious area and at 7th level you will still have 3 rounds of BoF available (assuming the wizard cast darkvision and armor and the cleric the 4 delay poison spells).
14 hours of protection instead of 7.
If you prefer you can use the last 3 rounds for some spell with a duration of 10 minute/level. 140 minutes are enough for a lot of dungeons.

Sure, with the 3.x/Pathfinder style of playing spell duration count way less than in the 1st or 2nd edition, but it is still a strong benefit in a group with several spellcasters.


Diego Rossi wrote:
Zog of Deadwood wrote:

It's a nice spell, esp. if your party has no arcane caster PCs who could cast Haste instead (I'm a cleric in an ongoing Kingmaker game with a party like that).

However, one point that has been brought up is the "free" Extend Spell metamagic. I don't see this as a real concern. One of two things will be true:

1) the cleric is taking this 4th level spell and casting it out of combat at the beginning of the day to save the wizard or sorcerer from having to take some of their minor 1st or 2nd spells twice or three times (if they're going for all-day coverage), or
2) the cleric is casting Blessing of Fervor in combat long after the casters in the group should have had their utility spells up and running.

Neither 1) nor 2) above is overpowered.

Marius Castille wrote:

I'm playing in a Second Darkness campaign. My cleric casts it so that he can cast extended Delay Poisons on the group while our sorcerer gives us extended Darkvision spells. Very handy against drow. ; )

Let's say that that add up to 3 extended Darkvision, 4 delay poison, 1 armor spell.

That is the equivalent of 2 and 2/3 rods of lesser extend. Not bad for a 4the level spell.
Cast it before entering the first suspicious area and at 7th level you will still have 3 rounds of BoF available (assuming the wizard cast darkvision and armor and the cleric the 4 delay poison spells).
14 hours of protection instead of 7.
If you prefer you can use the last 3 rounds for some spell with a duration of 10 minute/level. 140 minutes are enough for a lot of dungeons.

Sure, with the 3.x/Pathfinder style of playing spell duration count way less than in the 1st or 2nd edition, but it is still a strong benefit in a group with several spellcasters.

Here's a few more details on our situation: Our group consists of a cleric, a sorcerer, an inquisitor, and a rogue/bard. We're 8th level and our quest to stop an insane drow has led us into an uneasy alliance with the local elves.

The elves are trying to reclaim a ruined city held by drow and demons. The forest itself is filled with undead and strange monsters. We're no strangers to drow or creatures that use poison to obliterate your stats, so in this area, morning prep consists of BoF followed by four delay poisons, four darkvisions, and a mage armor. My cleric only prepares one BoF (my other two spells are typically summon monster IV and holy smite). The sorcerer has haste on her list.

After one particularly bad encounter with camouflaged acid oozes, most of my cleric's gear was destroyed. He scrounged up a mithral shirt, a heavy steel shield, a masterwork rapier, his silver holy symbol, and a hallowed chalice. At this point, we hit 9th level.

The DM has done a great job depicting this war---NPCs with their own agendas, time sensitive missions that can take hours to get to, multiple encounters, limited resources, ambushes, tough opponents, terrain hazards. These factors more than balance BoF's extend ability. Despite the "savings" provided by the spell, the cleric and the sorcerer have both run out of spells on more than one occasion.

You'll also notice that my cleric was a *touch* under WBL going into 9th level. We've also never seen a metamagic extend rod. So you'll understand why I'm not concerned by what the spell can do; at this point, I'll take any advantage I can get.


Something I haven't seen mentioned, and this is a flavor thing rather than a crunch thing mostly I guess, is that Blessing of Fervor is a spell intended primarily if not exclusively for followers of Irori. It's a little bit weird for all these casters following other gods to have it all the time.


The Golux wrote:
Something I haven't seen mentioned, and this is a flavor thing rather than a crunch thing mostly I guess, is that Blessing of Fervor is a spell intended primarily if not exclusively for followers of Irori. It's a little bit weird for all these casters following other gods to have it all the time.

Wut?

I don't see anything that even implies that, on either the SRD or PRD.

Liberty's Edge

Marius Castille wrote:
You'll also notice that my cleric was a *touch* under WBL going into 9th level. We've also never seen a metamagic extend rod. So you'll understand why I'm not concerned by what the spell can do; at this point, I'll take any advantage I can get.

Nothing against your use of the spell. It is a personal dislike for a spell lasting round/level extending other spells by minutes to hours as a secondary effect.

If the primary effect was to extend 1 first or second level every X levels levels of the caster I would have little problem, but that is not its primary power.

I think that my solution of adding the duration of BoF to the duration of the spells cast under its effect is a acceptable compromise.

BTW, Bof allow people to chose between several metamagics: enlarged, extended, silent, or still spell.
Getting the AoE of a spell enlarged isn't a bad effect on a field of battle.

The group where I first encountered the spell had a summoner in it, and his skewed spell list added a few spells to the list of spells that could be affected by BoF.

The Golux wrote:
Something I haven't seen mentioned, and this is a flavor thing rather than a crunch thing mostly I guess, is that Blessing of Fervor is a spell intended primarily if not exclusively for followers of Irori. It's a little bit weird for all these casters following other gods to have it all the time.

It is in the APG, a generic product. I don't know if it was presented in some other product before that, but it being in the APG make it accessible to all clerics and oracles.


The Golux wrote:
Something I haven't seen mentioned, and this is a flavor thing rather than a crunch thing mostly I guess, is that Blessing of Fervor is a spell intended primarily if not exclusively for followers of Irori. It's a little bit weird for all these casters following other gods to have it all the time.

I believe that is the 3rd level Channel Vigor spell.


Strange Doc wrote:
Ron Lundeen wrote:

chaoseffect, I disagree. To me, one of the most balancing effects of blessing of fervor is that it has to compete against other great "no brainer" spells at the same level. Every blessing of fervor is one less freedom of movement, air walk, death ward, or greater magic weapon, all of which are very desirable.

To the OP, what about a slight reduction? For example, making switching the benefit type a move action? Or removing the ability to switch a type at all (that is, each time the cleric casts it, he gives all targets the same benefit for the entire duration)?

My thought exactly! Maybe locking it in (honestly, this is probably the biggest reason the spell bothers me) is the answer. Tell me wouldn't you still take it as a 4th level spell if the recipient had to choose the benefit at time of casting?

I would not, most likely. In fact I would not have it if it wasn't a patron spell I get without choosing it. It's just so much cheaper for our summoner to use haste instead.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

My group likes to stack it with haste, in a one-two buff combo. Still not broken. I always say, it might seem unbalancing at the level you gain it, but wait two or three more levels and see if it's still all that bad. It normally isn't.


I do not like the spell. I would prefer that arcane and divine spell lists maintain more of a thematic divide (even where one is a couple levels behind the other). If divine casters deserve a powerful, multi-person buff then there are other ways to accomplish such a thing.


Andrea1 wrote:
The Golux wrote:
Something I haven't seen mentioned, and this is a flavor thing rather than a crunch thing mostly I guess, is that Blessing of Fervor is a spell intended primarily if not exclusively for followers of Irori. It's a little bit weird for all these casters following other gods to have it all the time.
I believe that is the 3rd level Channel Vigor spell.

...Yup, feel free to ignore me, I'm just over here apparently not having a clue what I'm talking about~

Sorry!


@Shadowdweller

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "arcane and divine spell lists maintain more of a thematic divide".

I have my suspicions, but I'd like to hear it from you. What, specifically, are those two themes?


Adding more (but weaker) encounters or maybe a series of staggered encounters is how you can defeat rd/level shenanigans like haste or BoF.

Also, I make it a point to put wizards with their own hastes against the party if they use it often. It balances combat.

Shadow Lodge

Shadowdweller wrote:
I do not like the spell. I would prefer that arcane and divine spell lists maintain more of a thematic divide (even where one is a couple levels behind the other). If divine casters deserve a powerful, multi-person buff then there are other ways to accomplish such a thing.

Then wouldnt it be much better to keep this as a Cleric spell as is and remove Haste from arcanists?


aaron Ellis wrote:

@Shadowdweller

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "arcane and divine spell lists maintain more of a thematic divide".

I have my suspicions, but I'd like to hear it from you. What, specifically, are those two themes?

For example, divine spells tend to be more thematically focused upon: Debuff removal, healing, numerical (bonus-based) buffs, alignment-focused offensive and defensive spells, prophecy divination, undeath creation and destruction, single-target death spells, curses. Arcane magic has the major blasting spells, illusions, major battlefield-control spells, etc.


Strange Doc wrote:

Just want opinions on the cleric/oracle spell, Blessing of Fervor. I GM a Kingmaker game where one of my players runs a cleric of Serenrae. Once he reached 7th level, he has been beating me over the head with this spell! I understand it is a 4th level spell, and its duration is 1 rnd/level, but it affects the entire party (7 targets minimum), helps spellcasters as well as martial combatants, it lasts the entire combat (I very rarely have one go longer than the 7 rounds minimum for the spell) and each recipient can change its benefits each round without even costing an action! I try to GM in a way that uses common sense and rule on things based on the "smell test" and this spell stinks!

Now don't flame me if you're a player and LOVE this spell, but try to take an impartial look at it from a GM perspective. I just want well-reasoned arguments for and against this spell. I am probably going to change the spell or disallow it, but maybe someone can convince me of its validity.

Thanks in advance for the responses!

Strange Doc

PS. I don't get to look at these message boards very often. Sorry if I don't respond to your posts quickly.

I am the player mentioned above! So funny to come across this post 4 years later when researching a Paladin build...

We played this last weekend and we are using a 'nerf' variant: When switching from one choice to another you can never go back to the previous choice. This leaves all the abilities, but does limit and forces the player to plan out their actions a bit.

Some observations:
1-We do have a mage, but he 95% is a damage dealer and rarely buffs, so no haste, so my cleric is the buffer.
2- were 11th level now, so if I get a low initiative in round one and it goes badly, I'm playing catch up with healing and don't cast Fervor or any other 1 rd/level Spell
3-Having started GMing a Mummy campaign in the interim, I can see where the 'paperwork' of this spell is 75% of the hassle.
4- Was told by Strange Doc that he discussed this issue here 4 years ago, just never went and looked it up.
5- I'm surprised no one mentioned another drawback when compared to haste- the caster is not included in the effects:
"With this blessing, you call your allies to move forth and empower them to conquer and become victorious. Each round for the duration of this spell, each of your allies can choose one of the following bonuses for that round at the beginning of its turn (their choice)." Note it only works on 'your allies'- not one subject per level or similar...
6-Seriously, I just need the Mage to cast Haste, it'll be so much easier...


Strange Doc wrote:
Seranov wrote:

It sounds like you've already made up your mind on the spell.

Just try not to neuter it too badly when you change it, as players never enjoy having their toys broken in front of them.

Yes, I need to do something about this spell because it has become a problem.

To me, if a spell is written is ink on a character sheet, it's too powerful. This cleric takes it every time, no matter the situation! It is an automatic cast if he ever thinks there is going to be combat. If a spell becomes a no-brainer, it is unbalancing IMHO.

I take it you have banned Grease, create Pit, and Glitterdust then.


thorin001 wrote:
Strange Doc wrote:
Seranov wrote:

It sounds like you've already made up your mind on the spell.

Just try not to neuter it too badly when you change it, as players never enjoy having their toys broken in front of them.

Yes, I need to do something about this spell because it has become a problem.

To me, if a spell is written is ink on a character sheet, it's too powerful. This cleric takes it every time, no matter the situation! It is an automatic cast if he ever thinks there is going to be combat. If a spell becomes a no-brainer, it is unbalancing IMHO.

I take it you have banned Grease, create Pit, and Glitterdust then.

Both Grease and create Pit have been used, but creatively(and not a lot). Glitterdust has been used more defensively, so its not as much as of a "Every. Single. Combat." thing.


Psyonis wrote:
thorin001 wrote:
Strange Doc wrote:
Seranov wrote:

It sounds like you've already made up your mind on the spell.

Just try not to neuter it too badly when you change it, as players never enjoy having their toys broken in front of them.

Yes, I need to do something about this spell because it has become a problem.

To me, if a spell is written is ink on a character sheet, it's too powerful. This cleric takes it every time, no matter the situation! It is an automatic cast if he ever thinks there is going to be combat. If a spell becomes a no-brainer, it is unbalancing IMHO.

I take it you have banned Grease, create Pit, and Glitterdust then.
Both Grease and create Pit have been used, but creatively(and not a lot). Glitterdust has been used more defensively, so its not as much as of a "Every. Single. Combat." thing.

Every one of my casters who has Grease on his spell list takes Grease.

If you have so few combats that a single 4th level spell can be cast in "Every. Single. Combat." then you may have too short of an adventuring day.


thorin001 wrote:


I take it you have banned Grease, create Pit, and Glitterdust then.
Both Grease and create Pit have been used, but creatively(and not a lot). Glitterdust has been used more defensively, so its not as much as of a "Every. Single. Combat." thing.

Every one of my casters who has Grease on his spell list takes Grease.

If you have so few combats that a single 4th level spell can be cast in "Every. Single. Combat." then you may have too short of an adventuring day.

This is inherent to the Kingmaker setting and its "hex adventuring". Oracle in a Runelord campaign-same group of players, same GM-has same spell and it doesn't come up as much as its more of a standard dungeon delve


Strange to see this thread, I've actually been talking with my players about letting them use the Mythic version as the default version because we've found the spell to be so underwhelming.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yeah, I find blessings of fervor more balanced than haste. Which I guess isn't saying much.


Psyonis wrote:


5- I'm surprised no one mentioned another drawback when compared to haste- the caster is not included in the effects:
"With this blessing, you call your allies to move forth and empower them to conquer and become victorious. Each round for the duration of this spell, each of your allies can choose one of the following bonuses for that round at the beginning of its turn (their choice)." Note it only works on 'your allies'- not one subject per level or similar...

According to an FAQ you count as your own ally unless it doesn't make sense. I know that "unless it doesn't make sense" part is not very clear, but when I saw it in play most GM's let it work on the caster so many see it as making sense to allow the cleric to benefit to.

Silver Crusade

I'd stack Haste *and* Blessing of Fervor.

BoF is a 4th level spell, it happens at 8-9th level when casters start to take over. Shutting down enemy casters becomes vital.

The Cleric casts BoF while the Wizard casts Haste then the Cleric casts Silence on the Wiz. BoF lets him cast with Silent Spell every round. With that increased Silent stealth he can get up close and cast shutdown spells in a zone of silence. If the party has another battle caster like a Magus or a Bloodrager, enemy casters are in severe trouble. That Magus is in his face, using his spell combat or spellstrike and all the enemy caster can do is run to get away from the silent zone.

It's a very nasty combination.


It's... been 4 years? And you've only gone from level 7 to level 11?

Anyway, I'm amazed that with four additional years of gaming under your belts that BoF is still considered a problem, as it is a pretty inferior haste and at a higher level to boot.

But as long as everyone is having fun.


Gulthor wrote:

It's... been 4 years? And you've only gone from level 7 to level 11?

Anyway, I'm amazed that with four additional years of gaming under your belts that BoF is still considered a problem, as it is a pretty inferior haste and at a higher level to boot.

But as long as everyone is having fun.

Group has 4-5 active campaigns going and we are biweekly players at best, so we fly though adventure paths like molasses. %&%$ you Paizo for having so many good Adventure Paths!!


thenovalord wrote:

I play a lot if Oracle's and it is a must have spell

if stuck for something to do in the combat, cast this!

agree. I'm so gonna learn and spam this spell on my future oracle. Combined with the deaf curse, I have free Still and Silent on all my (low-level) spells in-combat.

51 to 100 of 100 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Opinion on "Blessing of Fervor" All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.