So, I ran a homemade campaign using the Pathfinder Campaign Setting.
And I have a player that dipped into the Low Templar Prestige Class. The phrasing of the Favored Enemy ability made my player want the very best of his possibilities, so here is the phrasing :
"Favored Enemy (Ex): Whatever his faults, the low templar is a skilled warrior against the demon hordes of the Worldwound. This ability is identical to the ranger class ability of the same name, applies only to chaotic outsiders or a specific humanoid subtype, and stacks with any favored enemy ability the character has from other classes."
At the 1st level of Low Templar, he gets a "Favored Enemy +1". +2 at 4th level, +3 at 7th level, +4 at 10th level of the PrestigeClass.
The question is: By "Identical to the ranger ability of the same name" did they mean that he gets four times the +2 bonus of a regular ranger ability, or does the bonus increase by +1 for each of those levels?
Well, the low templar was written according to 3.5 rules, so it may need to be adjusted to the new favored enemy mechanics. In my homemade conversion I have simply changed the bonuses to match the PF rules for favored enemy, not modding anything else. If I am not mistaken, the low templar is a candidate for official conversion in the upcoming revised campaign setting (the inner sea world guide in the Chronicles line). Hope that helps.
Well actually no, that doesn't help me much. Thanks anyway I should mention.
The Ranger's favored enemy ability : "At 1st level, a ranger selects a creature type from the ranger favored enemies table. He gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of his selected type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A ranger may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additionnal favored enemy. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (Including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by +2)"
The question in clear is :
The "Favored Enemy Bonus" that the Low Templar gives;
- is it a +1 bonus to all the above skills and attacks on Worldwound monsters,
- or is it a new favored enemy from the worldwound, allowing a +2 bonus to these skills on a new monster type like the ranger ability does? (In other words, a +8 bonus at 10th level)
Well actually no, that doesn't help me much. Thanks anyway I should mention.
The Ranger's favored enemy ability : "At 1st level, a ranger selects a creature type from the ranger favored enemies table. He gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of his selected type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A ranger may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additionnal favored enemy. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (Including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by +2)"
The question in clear is :
The "Favored Enemy Bonus" that the Low Templar gives;
- is it a +1 bonus to all the above skills and attacks on Worldwound monsters,
- or is it a new favored enemy from the worldwound, allowing a +2 bonus to these skills on a new monster type like the ranger ability does? (In other words, a +8 bonus at 10th level)
I would say option #2, since this is how the ranger's FE works in Pathfinder. Since the text specifically states that the Low Templar's FE is identical to the ranger's, it would make sense to have them work in the same way.
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I'd have to go with option #1 actually. The ranger's favored enemy class works almost exactly the same in PF as it did in 3.5, so there's no need to really convert much of anything besides skills. Now, the ranger's class ability is both listed in its level table and its ability descriptions as gaining a new favored enemy, whereas the low templar lists a bonus.
To explain for those without a book handy, the ranger lists itself in both 3.5 and PF at 1st, 5th, 10th etc, as "1st favored enemy, 2nd favored enemy, 3rd favored enemy, etc." The low templar lists itself as "Favored enemy+1, Favored enemy+2, etc." That, to me, implies that the designers meant for the low templar to pick chaotic outsiders, or whatever, and for their bonus to increase at higher levels at the rate given. The only thing, IMO, that the "identical to ranger ability of same name" means is that the +1 bonus applies to all the skill checks, attacks and damage that a ranger would apply to his favored enemy
My reading of the skill would agree with Abjurer.
The Favored Enemy +1 just means that he gets a +1 bonus to that single favored enemy type (CE outsiders) at that level, that goes up to +2, +3, etc at the listed levels.
Otherwise, the ability works like ranger favored enemy in the sense that it is to attack and damage, and the listed skills. The ability is specifying his creature type so he doesn't get to pick the creature type.
And I have a player that dipped into the Low Templar Prestige Class. The phrasing of the Favored Enemy ability made my player want the very best of his possibilities, so here is the phrasing :
"Favored Enemy (Ex): Whatever his faults, the low templar is a skilled warrior against the demon hordes of the Worldwound. This ability is identical to the ranger class ability of the same name, applies only to chaotic outsiders or a specific humanoid subtype, and stacks with any favored enemy ability the character has from other classes."
At the 1st level of Low Templar, he gets a "Favored Enemy +1". +2 at 4th level, +3 at 7th level, +4 at 10th level of the PrestigeClass.
The question is: By "Identical to the ranger ability of the same name" did they mean that he gets four times the +2 bonus of a regular ranger ability, or does the bonus increase by +1 for each of those levels?
Hmm.. The wording there of "chaotic outsiders or a specific humanoid subtype" would seem to suggest that you can pick humanoids subtypes as well. So that would suggest that you do get to pick at least one favored enemy type, and might be able to pick additional favored enemy types when it grants additional bonuses.
I'm not as sure now as I was when I read it earlier.
But yeah, I'd still say it isn't multiplied.
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After having read over the class in question, I'm actually inclined to think that the bonus for the Low Templar's favored enemy ability is a typo, as it hearkens back to the 3.0 ranger (where they only get a +1 bonus initially) as opposed to the 3.5 or Pathfinder one (where they get a +2) and would therefore need to be brought in line with how it works now. Demons are chaotic outsiders so the specification in that regard is fine. The humanoid specification would probably represent either cultists or the tribes of humanoids living within the taint of the Worldwound (subject to DM approval).
Of course I could be totally off base and the ability could actually serve to represent the fact that while possessing it, the Low Templar's favored enemy ability isn't as good as the ranger's ability but stacks none the less. The only way to know for sure is to have the original creator of the prestige class clear it up.
Hate to Necro the thread, but was this ever clarified?
Creative Director
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The Low Templar is going to be updated in the revised Campaign Setting, but the way this ability works is that it increases the bonuses granted by the "favored enemy" ability he may already have.
Example:
At 1st level, Harsk takes humans as his favored enemy. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +2.
At 5th level, Harsk takes chaotic outsiders as his second favored enemy. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +4 and chaotic outsiders +2.
At 10th level, Harsk (still a ranger) takes a third favored enemy: dragons. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +4, chaotic outsiders +4, and dragons +2.
He finally takes his first low templar level at 11th level. He gains the low templar's first favored enemy ability, and selects humans for that one. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +5, chaotic outsiders +4, dragons +2.
When he becomes a 4th level low templar, he gets another +1 bonus to assign; this time he decides to add it to chaotic outsiders. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +5, chaotic outsiders +5, and dragons +2.
When he becomes a 7th level low templar, he gets ANOTHER +1 bonus, but since he's had an "incident" with some giants, he chooses humanoid (giant) as his next bonus. He now has Favored Enemy (human) +5, chaotic outsiders +5, dragons +2, and humanoid (giant) +1.
It's really not presented that clearly in the rules for the current book, and those rules will be cleaned up for the revised book and perhaps even changed further... but for now, that's how the ability is supposed to work.
Thanks for the clarifications James... I should have known the way we house-ruled it back then was way broken!... but hell if my player's character didn't save the day often against Worldwound's creep.