In our campaign, set in Ptolus. My high level character is starting a knighthood devoted to Gaen, the goddess of light.
The prestige class is called the Knight of Holy Radiance. Please tell me what you think; if it is too good, too weak, or how it could be tweaked to be better. I know many of the Paizo staff have played in Ptolus so I would especially like your opinion.
Level base att Fort Ref Will special Spell level
1st....+0.......+2..+0..+2....Holy Radiance, turn undead
2nd....+1.......+3..+0..+3.................................+1 existing spell caster class
3rd....+2.......+3..+1..+3....call upon inner light........+1 existing spell caster class
4th....+3.......+4..+1..+4.................................+1 existing spell caster class
5th....+3.......+4..+1..+4....Glory Domain
6th....+4.......+5..+2..+5....Spell Focus (good or light)..+1 existing spell caster class
7th....+5.......+5..+2..+5....Holy Radiance Mastery........+1 existing spell caster class
8th....+6.......+6..+2..+6.................................+1 existing spell caster class
9th....+6.......+6..+3..+6....Unstoppable Righteous
10th...+7.......+7..+3..+7.................................+1 existing spell caster class
At 1st, 5th and 9th level there is no increase in caster level.
Requirements:
Alignment: Lawful Good or Neutral Good
Base Attack: +3
Knowledge (religion): 7 ranks
Feat: Spell Focus (good or light)
Special: turn undead ability
Class Skills: concentration(con), craft(int), diplomacy(cha), heal(wis), intimidate(cha), Knowledge(arcana)(int), knowledge(history)(int), knowledge(planes)(int), ride(dex), sense motive(wis), spellcraft(int)
Skill Points at each level: 2+ int modifier
Weapons and armor: A knight of Holy Radiance gains no proficiency with weapons or armor
Turn Undead: A Knight of Holy Radiance adds his levels to any previous levels when turning undead. Ex. A 4th paladin/ 4th level Knight would turn undead as a 5th level cleric.
Holy Radiance: At 1st level all light and good spells that cause damage add +1 pt/die. If a spell does not normally cause damage it does 1 pt of divine damage/spell level. Ex. Daylight is a 3rd level spell. Those within its radius who are evil take 3 pts of damage each round they remain. A neutral creature would take 1/2 3 pts of damage (rounded down) or 1 pt of damage/round. Good aligned creatures take no damage.
Call Upon Inner Light: While most spell casters are vulnerable when their splls are expended, this is not so for a Knight of Holy Radiance. He may spontaeously cast any good or light spell he is normally able to cast at a cost of 1 pt of constitution damage/spell
level. Ex A cleric wishing to call a holy smite spell would take 4 pts of constitution damage.
Glory Domain: The Knight gains access to the Glory Domain. If a Knight normally does not have domain spells he may prepare Glory spells in his spell slots. The knight gains the +2 turn check and +1d6 damage of the Glory domain.
Holy Radiance Mastery: The Knight now casts good and light spells at a caster level equal to his previous spell caster level+ knight level. Ex An 8th level cleric/7th level knight of Holy Radiance normally casts spells at 13th level, but good and light spells would be cast at 15th level. (Good and Light spells would also do +1 pt of damage/spell level from the Holy Radiance ability.
Unstoppable Righteousness: If a knight is affected by a spell that restricts him from acting, the following round his inner light will well up inside of him to counter the spell, constitution damage is applied normally. A knight need not be able to act for this to occur. Ex. If a knight is turned to stone the following round he would take 6 pts of constitution damage and no longer be stone. This counts as the knight's action for the round. A knight may spress this ability as a free action if capable of thought. Ex. A knight subject to a hold person spellmay choose not to counter and try to free himself normally. This decision must be made before any dice are rolled. If he chooses not to counter and fails to be be freed, he may counter the following round on his turn.
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I think that the Constitution Damage might be a little harsh, but I do like the idea of the guy basicly hurting himself to cast more spells. Maybe if it was to the guy's hitpoints. Perhaps 2 times the level of the spell cast. This way, each spell after his daily alottment would prove immediately harmful, but the damage wouldn't last several days like the Constitution Damage would.
Otherwise, it sounds great. But I would say it really needs to see some playtesting to accurately gauge.
I forgot to list on of the special ability description. At 6th level the Knight of Holy Radiance gains Spell Focus (good) or Spell Focus (light) whichever he did not take as a prerequisite for the prestige class.
I like the flavor of the PrC. I don't see hit dice listed but I assume it's a d8. It feels like its a fairly strong PrC verging on too strong. Hard to tell without looking at seeing it in play. I also think it's one of those PrCs (or a lot of classes for that matter) that increase in strength based on what books you use. The BoED and SC would both add some good and light spells that could make the bonus damage to evil come in handy a lot. Having Daylight do damage per round to evil seems like it could add up fast. It would be accessable to a cleric at 5th level (or maybe 6th) which makes it a pretty early PrC. I think in it's current form its worth play testing and trimming some stuff back if it turns out to be too powerful.
RPG Superstar 2013
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At first, I thought you should nuke the damaging ability of good and litght spells, but maybe insead it should just be limited to creatures vulnerable to light spells, according to searing light. So, undead and evil outsiders might take the damge, but no onw else would.
This brings down the power level, makes him more playable in mixed groups (neutral PCs are not gonna like that feature much), and still impacts your 'target audience'.
Not bad!
The only thing that caught my attention were the prerequisites.
A character can qualify for this PrC at 4th level. It isn't a hard and fast rule or anything, but most PrCs can only be qualified for at 5th level - or later.
Again, I'm not saying it is wrong or bad... It is just something that catches my attention (and I can't even tell you why).
Well, that and the lack of Hit Die, as already mentioned.
Good and light are descriptors, not schools, so you can't have Spell Focus(light) or (good).
If the difference is a Ptolus thing (I haven't played it.), then nevermind.
At first, I thought you should nuke the damaging ability of good and litght spells, but maybe insead it should just be limited to creatures vulnerable to light spells, according to searing light. So, undead and evil outsiders might take the damge, but no onw else would.
I think that's a fair trade. This class is basically a cleric Prestige Class. They gain the ability to add damage to two types of spells in exchange for losing a level of spellcasting access and delaying access to some higher level spells(they'll never get ninth level spells). I almost think they should get a little more to make up for that, like 4 skill points per level. This is assuming that they tweak the Con damage to get out of effects. That's a cool idea. I like the flavorful explanations here as to why they get to do things. I would almost be tempted to have them expend a spell slot to avoid effects (like a dispel magic really).
Why is Chaotic good excluded? Because these are members of an order?
I'm not sure why knowledge (planes) is on their list but knowledge (religion) isn't. If they are intended to be a true "knight" (and I see that they get Ride), some additional martial abilities may be good, like an exotic weapon proficiency.
I have DMed some Ptolus games, and hung on Monte's boards for a long time. I think this is a decent class for a Ptolus player.
exchange for losing a level of spellcasting access and delaying access to some higher level spells(they'll never get ninth level spells). I almost think they should get a little more to make up for that, like 4 skill points per level.
Won't they just be able to get 9th level spells without going Epic level? Cleric 10/PrC 10 would be a 17th level caster right? It's that 9th level spells (I can't remember because I rarely play that high).
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Just a thought but how about Full BAB and rework the bonus holy damage for the spell types into a flat caster level bonus(+2) for a school of spell. Maybe even drop another spell level progression if needed(then they would no longer get 9th level spells before 21st level).
Just a thought, I like the Constitution damage stuff alot. Great mechanic IMO.
The only thing that caught my attention were the prerequisites.
A character can qualify for this PrC at 4th level. It isn't a hard and fast rule or anything, but most PrCs can only be qualified for at 5th level - or later...
Your point is most devastating, but in Heroes of Horror the dread witch can be as low as 3rd. It's all a matter of balance. If the knight Prc isn't as powerful as, say, the assassin, it's fine. Otherwise, you'd best get back to work.
Oh, and the Con damage is a nice touch.
The only thing that caught my attention were the prerequisites.
A character can qualify for this PrC at 4th level. It isn't a hard and fast rule or anything, but most PrCs can only be qualified for at 5th level - or later...
Your point is most devastating, but in Heroes of Horror the dread witch can be as low as 3rd. It's all a matter of balance. If the knight Prc isn't as powerful as, say, the assassin, it's fine. Otherwise, you'd best get back to work.
Oh, and the Con damage is a nice touch.
I think the Master Specialist PrC from Complete Mage is avaliable at 3rd as well, so it's not unheard of.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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The flavor is good, but you've got some gaping holes in your mechanics.
The biggest problem, right off the bat, is the CON damage for spellcasting thing. What if I use the power to call a restoration? It's a 4th level spell, but it fully restores all ability damage. Sure, there's a costly material component, but you could call lesser restoration instead, which lacks the component and restores 1d4 points of ability damage, taking only 2 points of damage to call it in the first place. Sure, it's a slight gamble, but I can see this power getting heinously abused. Also, what about metamagic feats? Could I call a maximized flame strike by taking 8 points of CON damage, even if I can't normally cast 8th level spells?
RE: the light spells dealing damage - I agree with the earlier comment someone made about the damage only applying to undead or outsiders. There's a spell (non-SRD, but in the Book of Exalted Deeds) called celestial brilliance that illuminates a 240 ft. radius as a 4th-level spell. With this power, you could bake an entire army in short order with that spell. Also, widened daylight spells would be abnormally devastating. Consider toning it down.
As I said, though, the flavor looks really good.
RE: the light spells dealing damage - I agree with the earlier comment someone made about the damage only applying to undead or outsiders. There's a spell (non-SRD, but in the Book of Exalted Deeds) called celestial brilliance that illuminates a 240 ft. radius as a 4th-level spell. With this power, you could bake an entire army in short order with that spell. Also, widened daylight spells would be abnormally devastating. Consider toning it down.
Or disallow that spell. :)
I hadn't noticed that this class could be picked up at 4th. So technically, yes, they could get to 9th level spells at 20th level (since the PrC removes 3 levels of existing class spellcasting gain). However, there's a long time between 17th and 20th that will make that loss sting. There's nothing like playing a character without access to the best spells of that level to make you think twice about it the second time around.
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RE: the light spells dealing damage - I agree with the earlier comment someone made about the damage only applying to undead or outsiders. There's a spell (non-SRD, but in the Book of Exalted Deeds) called celestial brilliance that illuminates a 240 ft. radius as a 4th-level spell. With this power, you could bake an entire army in short order with that spell. Also, widened daylight spells would be abnormally devastating. Consider toning it down.
As I said, though, the flavor looks really good.
There are already way abusive spell combos out there. One of my Munchkins in the group pointed out a spell(locate city) that when combined with other effects would toss all those in its area of effect (several miles) outside of the area of effect, taking massive amounts of damage at the same time. Sure there is a save involved but every living creature in the area suddenly being flung several miles would be another way of decimating an army with a really benign spell. "I cast Locate City, the entire army needs to roll a save. Just the ones in this several mile radius needs to save."
The flavor is good, but you've got some gaping holes in your mechanics.
The biggest problem, right off the bat, is the CON damage for spellcasting thing. What if I use the power to call a restoration? It's a 4th level spell, but it fully restores all ability damage. Sure, there's a costly material component, but you could call lesser restoration instead, which lacks the component and restores 1d4 points of ability damage, taking only 2 points of damage to call it in the first place. Sure, it's a slight gamble, but I can see this power getting heinously abused. Also, what about metamagic feats? Could I call a maximized flame strike by taking 8 points of CON damage, even if I can't normally cast 8th level spells?
Just a note: The Knight can only burn Con for [Light] and [Good] spells, not any spell (such as Restoration).
If switching from Con damage to hp damage (which is SO much less damaging, regardless of amount), it needs to be *at the minimum* 3 hp/spell level, and probably should be at least 5 hp/spell level, to somewhat be equivalent to the con loss.
Here is something you might find useful: Prestige Class Creation Cookbook. I think this might help with some issues you are having.
Here are some updates...
Chris P- I forgot to include the HD it is d8.
ancientsensei- I would be fine with the damage only affecting evil outsiders and undead. That seems to be a good consensus so far. I was looking at the decomposition spell changing from 1 pt/rd in 3.0's Masters of the Wild to 3 pt/rd in the Spell Compendium.
Disenchanter- A character can be a 4th level cleric or paladin (min) to enter the prestige class. It matters not if one enters at 4th or 5th level cleric regarding having access to 9th level spells. The number of levels without gaining in spell casting determine that. My reason is because we have a quite a bit of roleplaying in our campaign and I wanted the class to be available early.
Ross Byers- Spell Focus (good) is found in the BoED. It gives a +2 DC to all good spells. To correct having spell focus(light). I am changing the prerequisite to spell focus (good) and having the granted ability be +2 DC on all light spells.
Varianor- Gaen has mostly LG worshipers, so I chose to go one step only but LN is not appropriate for having good spells so by elimination it became LG and NG. Feel free to use it for CG as well.
Fake Healer- The additional damage helps to offset the loss of spells. Even though by 20th level a full Knight would have 9th level spells he would only have one normal and one domain compared to a 20th level cleric who would have 4 normal and one domain. He would also be less (1) 5th level, (1)7th level spells and (2) 8th level spells. Quite a hit. A 7th level cleric/10th level knight would only have access to 7th level spells while a 17th level cleric is casting 9th. I considered giving the purify feat from BoED but I would rather have +1/level instead of 1d8 becoming 2d6.
Fatespinner- Lesser restoration will greatly help avoid walking around with a lower constitution, but the trade off would be preparing a 2nd level spell (lesser) to gain back, on average, 2.5 (1d4) lost con points. The one dilemna is being at a lower con until combat is over or using up a round to cast the lesser restoration. Restoration helps quite a bit, but again you have to prepare the spell and fight at a lesser con or spend a round of combat casting the spell. Using call upon inner light should only be used when needed. The cost should keep players from abusing it but restorations should help continue to the next fight without a crippled character.
I like the idea of drawing upon reserves to defeat a powerful enemy. I see great roleplaying opportunity. BBEG- "You have wasted your best spells on my minions and now I stand victorious." hero "Think again!" Unstoppable Righteousness allows a character to remain in the fight (if only at a diminished capacity) rather than sit on the sidelines while everyone else rolls out the fight. Again when thinking of my example I pictured the Knight turned to stone. As the initiative ticks by, rays of light would pierce the stone shell until on his turn the stone shell erupts in a burst of blinding light and is no more.