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To be perfectly clear from the get go, I of course mean the Treantmonk style of controlling, buffing and debuffing caster he referred to as 'God' in his famous class guide for the wizard. Back in the day, when Treantmonk wrote his guide, there weren't the same number of options available to us. (*cue the 'I had to fight monsters in the snow without shoes' old man*) And the variety of options has skyrocketed since then and made the role available to multiple classes. Players have access to a huge number of feats, spells and class abilities that have expanded on the role and I wanted to open up a discussion on what everyone felt like was the 'best' (by which I mean, their favorite, because there is no quantifiable way to determine best).
Quick explanation of the 'God' Playstyle, for newbies. (Just in case)
More importantly, when I talk about a "god" Wizard, I'm talking about style not power. (like writing that will get me out of trouble.)
What god comes down and finishes off all his mortal enemies personally? No, instead he provides his followers the tools required to do it themselves.
The Greek heroes are all pretty much examples of this principle. That is the role of the wizard in the party. He doesn't win the combat, he instead provides the
tools for the rest of the party to win, by "controlling reality". AKA: a god.
The 'god' character provides buffs for his allies, debuffs for his enemies and controls the battlefield with summons and other spells. He manipulates things for the benefit of his party, rather than try to blast away opponents. He does not seek glory for himself by dealing huge amounts of damage, but instead changes a scenario for his allies so that they can do so and do so more safely.
While I do not know which is the best, I have played both a god wizard and a god cleric. God clerics are a bit trickier to pull off, since a lot of people expect you to be a healbot rather than control the battlefield, but with the right group they can be pretty rewarding and a natural fit.
Witches also seem like a good candidate, since they kind of like the other side of the coin of clerics. Clerics have access to a lot of buffing spells and some debuffs, but Witches have a ton of debuffs and some buffs.
Shamans. Steal the cleric list with your Human FCB, steal the Wizard list with one of your two flexible hexes targeting Arcane Enlightenment. And you have all the best Witch Hexes.
^^^
+1
The Theologian and Ecclesitheurge are weak archetypes...
And the Cleric has ratehr weak BFC... the cleric spell list mainly shines in Buffs and Counters (Cure X spells, Res spells, ect)
The druid and the wizard are the shining examples of God Casters.
Nothing Matches the Druid and the Wizard when it comes to being able to manipulate the battlefield. Heck, they can straight up MAKE an advantageous field. A horde of enemies? No problem, just cast X wall spell and funnel the enemies into more managable sizes. Fast enemies? Entangle and Black Tentacles do wonders. ect.
Oh and Witch hexes do no play God Caster. The witch is the epitomal Save or Suck caster. There is a MAJOR difference. The God Caster manipulates the battlefield to were his party is almost guarenteed to win. The SoS caster is built around a very binary response. Did you make your save? Yes? Well they pretty much became a waste of space. No? Well your dead.
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The druid and the wizard are the shining examples of God Casters.
Can I be totally lame and suggest that maybe Druids don't count? My reasoning is that yes, they can do a ton of controlling stuff, BUT they don't do the God part that well. Zeus never turned into a bear and fight side by side with his triceratops companion inbetween throwing lightning bolts. They are much more hands on.
But for serious, they are excellent. I know a lot of people don't like Summon Nature's Ally when compared to Summon Monster, but I do and besides, they don't have to prepare it. And they have some great battlefield control too.
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Uh, Koujow, Zeus turned into lots of animals, and threw lightning bolts and javelins and spears. I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure you may have chosen exactly the wrong god to call druids "not similar to".
(Also, in response to the title alone, my vote is "God", but, you know, I think that'd be an obvious statement for me to make. :D)
Renegade, I think what you're failing to understand here is that battlefield control works even if everyone on the enemy team rolls a nat 20. Spells like Black Tentacles and Entangle leave difficult terrain for the enemy to wade through, destroying charging lanes and generally making life difficult for anyone forced to wade through it. If Dazing Fireball neither dazes nor deals enough damage to kill the enemy is exactly as dangerous now as he was before you took your turn. God Casters are far more luck proof than that.
Best God(dess) is Pharasma. She's only fair.
My vote is for Druid.
Renegade, I think what you're failing to understand here is that battlefield control works even if everyone on the enemy team rolls a nat 20. Spells like Black Tentacles and Entangle leave difficult terrain for the enemy to wade through, destroying charging lanes and generally making life difficult for anyone forced to wade through it. If Dazing Fireball neither dazes nor deals enough damage to kill the enemy is exactly as dangerous now as he was before you took your turn. God Casters are far more luck proof than that.
This...
A simple wall spell is almost guarenteed to break the enemy into small groups.
Black Tentacles shapes the battlefield to your advantage
Summons helps manipulate the battlefield as well.
Create Pit is a powerful spell that can slow down or immobilize opponents with a low level spell slot.
Oh! and Dazing Fireball is victim to SR:YES spells, so golems don't care. A god wizard has the answer to them as well :)
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Uh, Koujow, Zeus turned into lots of animals, and threw lightning bolts and javelins and spears. I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure you may have chosen exactly the wrong god to call druids "not similar to".
Zeus usually turned into animals... then humped things. He didn't turn into an animal so that he could fight.
Uh, Koujow, Zeus turned into lots of animals, and threw lightning bolts and javelins and spears. I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure you may have chosen exactly the wrong god to call druids "not similar to".Zeus usually turned into animals... then humped things. He didn't turn into an animal so that he could fight.
But maybe to the kids in the next room who were listening it sounded like they were fighting. "Why is Zeus hurting mommy?"
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But maybe to the kids in the next room who were listening it sounded like they were fighting. "Why is Zeus hurting mommy?"Uh, Koujow, Zeus turned into lots of animals, and threw lightning bolts and javelins and spears. I'm, uh... I'm pretty sure you may have chosen exactly the wrong god to call druids "not similar to".Zeus usually turned into animals... then humped things. He didn't turn into an animal so that he could fight.
I've always found Zeus' preference for farm animal forms when raping mortal women to be mildly disturbing. Classic fantasy.
Still not finding the inherent disconnect.
Zeus has the eagle, bull, thunderbolt, and oak tree as his symbols. All classic druid tropes.
He wears no metal armor, despite being in a culture that does so.
His weapons are all druid weapons.
His powers - over weather, and most notably lightning - are similar to the various druid spells of the same.
He was raised by Gaia - you know, the earth.
(Alternately: a goat, a nymph, a woman, or a shepherd: all revering nature in their own ways.)
He summons giants and other creatures and controlled many of the elements themselves, sealed up creatures deep into the earth, under mountains, and underground, and just generally did stuff that a druid did.
I mean, really: almost any (well-known) deity other than Zeus would have been a better candidate for your point.
It's cool, though: just look at my posting history. I've also made bad examples over the years - lot's of 'em. :)
In this case, mostly I just found it funny, so I figured I'd share.
Half the point of the 'god' caster was that you'd win the battle without hogging the glory. The GM and other players won't think of your character as overpowered, even though that well placed web spell made it impossible for the enemies to attack more than one at a time, making the rest of the battle pretty much a foregone conclusion.
If you're incapacitating all your foes completely with a dazing fireball, that's going beyond the 'god' role.