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Hey guys
I got a question regarding the Feat: Varisian Tatoo & being a Divine spellcaster.
Player of mine has a cleric of Sarenrae & has chosen Sun & Healing as his domains. Now the feat is more geared toward arcane spellcasters but he was thinking of using to "up" one of his domains (Healing in this case), but wasn't really sure about this, so I decided to ask here.
I like that idea really, doesn't seem overpowering & goes good with the class. How would you guys go about giving out the cantrip? Healing is under Conjuration so it would Acid Splash according to the Player's Guide list.
any help would be appreciated
thanks
RM
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well what I'm looking at is the feat:
+1 caster level to the school of your choice
then a cantrip from that particular school
now Healing spells fall under the Conjuration school, looking at the description, Conjuration is Acid Splash, usable # of times per day = to CON mod.
The way we are gonna change is:
+1 caster level to your choice of domain
& then not sure about the cantrip thingee (ahhh totally spaced off the that clerics get 0 level spells, ha ha)
I think I'm gonna let the player choose his orison to cast, but I do like the light or cure minor wounds thou, epically with him being a cleric of Sarenrae
Does that sound to powerful thou, letting the player choose? The player isn't a powergamer, so he has no reason to make sure he has the best spell, etc etc.
Thanks for any help on this one.
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I think I'm gonna let the player choose his orison to cast, but I do like the light or cure minor wounds thou, epically with him being a cleric of Sarenrae
Does that sound to powerful thou, letting the player choose? The player isn't a powergamer, so he has no reason to make sure he has the best spell, etc etc.
Thanks for any help on this one.
Make it collaborative; ask him what he thinks, then respond, have a bit of debate about what fits best with a Varisian dedicated to Sarenrae. That way you'll probably come up with a solution that pleases both of you.
If it's a use at will cantrip, it can't be cure minor. With enough time between encounters, the party's healed up full with no cost.
The way we are gonna change is: +1 caster level to your choice of domain...
That's really an interesting question.
I struggled for awhile with the idea of letting Varisian wizards (assuming there are some!) take the Varisian Tattoo feat. The way it's worded, it mentions that it enhances one's natural talent with magic. For wizards, it's more of a learned talent than a natural one.
Hence, it would seem that feat was only meant for sorcerers. And, if you go back and review the RotR Player's Guide, the sections on wizards and sorcerers make it pretty clear that Varisians favor the latter anyway. So the feat seems tailor-made for them...and not for wizards -- or in the case you're considering -- clerics.
But it's still an interesting template to follow if you did want to develop a similar feat for divine spellcasters. I like what's been suggested so far...
+1 caster level for a single domain of the player's choice (though it must be one of the domains he's selected for his cleric, obviously...not one of his deity's other domains)...
-- plus --
...a single orison as a spell-like ability, useable X number of times per day based on a certain ability score (to a minimum of once per day).
However, what I'd suggest is that you make the X number of times per day for the orison based on the cleric's Charisma modifier...not the Constitution modifier.
Why? The reason it's Constitution-based for the Varisian Tattoo feat is because that's traditionally a sorcerer's second major ability score. You wouldn't want to base the use of the spell-like ability on his Charisma score, since he'd obviously get to use it a LOT of times...maybe more than a single feat should dictate. So, by basing it on the Constitution score, you spread out where the sorcerer puts his points during character creation...and reward him for having a high Con.
So, to play off that, I think a cleric's second major ability score is typically his Charisma. You wouldn't want to base the spell-like ability on his Wisdom, because most clerics have high Wisdom and you don't want him to be able to use this ability too often. But, just like the sorcerer situation, you don't want to base it on a cleric's least used ability score either. You want to reward the cleric for putting extra points into Charisma, not penalize him for having a low ability score in something else that gets tied to the feat.
Now I realize that some may argue the spell-like ability granted by this kind of feat should still remain Constitution-based, because it's a tattoo and it's on your body. I agree when it involves sorcerers...because their source of magic stems from within their physical form. But, for clerics, they draw their power from faith and their ability to exercise it. To me, that means Charisma.
Lastly, you had raised the question about what orison to grant? The Varisian Tattoo feat defined it for each and every school of magic. There's no opportunity to choose which cantrip a PC gets to cast as a result of the tattoo...even if there's more than one cantrip available for a particular school. Instead, I think the designers pre-selected the cantrips that made the most sense...and that didn't threaten the game-balance of what a feat should provide.
So, I think you should follow that logic when designing a divine feat that mimics the Varisian Tattoo. Pick a single, defining cantrip that matches each domain. For the Sun domain, it should be light. And the Healing domain should provide cure minor wounds. Since your player selected those two domains for his cleric, he then needs to decide which domain his Divine Tattoo represents. If he picks Sun, the feat should provide him with a spell-like ability to cast light a number of times per day equal to his Cha modifier (to a minimum of 1). And, if he picks Healing, it should be the same, but substitute cure minor wounds for light.
Also, just to examine the other domains, if he'd taken the Good domain, I'd suggest virtue. If he'd taken the Fire domain, I'd give him light or maybe flare (from the Sor/Wiz spell list). And, if he'd taken Glory, I'd probably go with virtue again or disrupt undead (even though that's his 1st-level domain spell, too).
In addition, you might want to design this feat so it can be taken multiple times (just like the Varisian Tattoo)...but each time the new tattoo corresponds to a different domain. It must still be one of the domains provided by his or her deity, of course.
My two-cents,
--Neil
P.S. One last word of warning from "Behind The Curtain." Be mindful of the domains that already give +1 caster level. You'll need to decide if the bonus from a Divine Tattoo will stack with those. I believe there's precedent for it doing so in such stackable bonuses as those provide by the Artifice and Creation domains. But still, you'll need to eyeball it. You have consider what spells each domain contains and whether you want a divine spellcaster to be able to kick them up two or more caster levels just because he selected that domain and the Divine Tattoo.