Design Manager
|
The Battle Herald PrC was clearly written with the Cavalier in mind, and just as clearly prior to the existence of the Samurai, and without regard to some archetypes. I have some guesses as to intended reading, but would really like some clarification.
The only Cavalier-specific requirement for the PrC is the Challenge class feature.
- Does the Luring Cavalier qualify for Battle Herald?
My guess is "RAW: no, RAI: yes". I ask specifically because it's the only official archetype that replaces Challenge. However, it replaces it with something that defaults back to the normal Cavalier Challenge on a certain condition, hence my RAI guess.
- Does the BH Banner ability stack with Samurai levels?
It states "cavalier levels stack with battle herald levels". Since Samurai also has a Banner ability, I'm guessing this is also "RAW: no, RAI: yes".
- What effect do the Voice of Authority and Teamwork Feat features have when the qualifying class does not have the Tactician ability?
Voice of Authority states "The battle herald's levels stack with cavalier levels for the purpose of the cavalier's tactician ability", and Teamwork Feat states "She can use her cavalier tactician ability...". RAW seems fairly clear: without the tactician ability, these features are much less useful. Is that RAI? If so, should the tactician class feature also be a PrC requirement?
Thanks for your attention.
A character who takes an alternate class feature does not count as having the class feature that was replaced when meeting any requirements or prerequisites. So that kind of kills the Luring Cavalier being able to take Battle Herald.
The Samurai is actually just an advanced archetype of the cavalier, so the BH Banner ability would stack with him just the same as any other cavalier.For the last question, see my answer to the first. If you traded out the ability via an archetype (like the Samurai), you don't have it for all intents and purposes. So the Voice of Authority ability and the Teamwork Feat ability are essentially wasted if you don't have the Tactician ability.
|
Design Manager
|
A character who takes an alternate class feature does not count as having the class feature that was replaced when meeting any requirements or prerequisites.Yeah, that's why my RAW interpretations are "no". I'm curious about RAI (and whether RAW will be amended to match RAI if they are not aligned).
The Samurai is actually just an advanced archetype of the cavalierI know there have been statements to the effect of "the difference between an archetype and an alternate class is whether it got an illustration", but I haven't seen any official ruling on that topic with regards to situations like this. Has there been any such ruling?
If not, it still strikes me as against RAW. Which, again, raises the "should Battle Herald have different requirements" question.
I'm digging a bit trying to find it (unfortunately the PRD for Ultimate Combat does not contain the text explaining alternate classes) but an alternate class still counts as the base class for the purposes of feats and meeting requirements as long as the feat or requirement in question doesn't stipulate an ability or class feature traded out by the alternate class. That's why you couldn't be a Samurai 2/ Cavalier 3, because Samurai are Cavaliers. There was a post from one of the designers (can't recall if it was JJ or JB) related to the fact that the reason there was an Extra Rogue Talent feat but no Extra Ninja Tricks feat was because of an oversight where initially they had just assumed everyone would get that the two feats were doing the same thing. So Samurai can legally take the Battle Herald class, but they're not going to get nearly as much out of it as another cavalier. I'll post it when I find the specific reference for alternate classes that lays this out.