Question on Spell Equality


Advice

Silver Crusade

Okay, I'm making a character for a relatively new player, she wants to be a Tiefling, descendant of a succubus, so Demon-Spawn, especially since she wants a Bard character, she gets the +2 to Cha, but what I'm looking at is the spell-like abilities. Normally, a Tiefling gets Darkness, Demon-spawn get Shatter, but neither of them really fit with the ongoing theme of being succubus-born. Now, I was looking at trading it out for either Alter Self, which the Rakshasha-descended get, or Suggestion, as it's an ability the demon itself has, and fits with the character's theme. Would either of these be appropriate? I'm GM, so what I say for the character goes, but I want to make certain I'm not missing something unbalancing.


Alter Self is actually quite powerful, even if just for the +2 Str or Dex. Suggestion is normally a 3rd-level spell. If the character is charisma-based (thus high DC), it can also be very strong. If not, I think that would work fine. If so, maybe do charm person instead.

Edit: Totally missed "Bard" in your post. See Dave Justus's post.


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Maybe you can give them Change Shape (alter self, any humanoid) or Disguise Self?


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In general the alternate spell like abilities are supposed to be balanced. However, just picking and choosing i.e. taking the best abilities for a character and then the best spell-like, not having to compromise is a little cheesy. You are the GM, so that is less an issue, but still I would lean against doing that.

I can see not liking shatter, so my thought is to look at other variant heritages that also have a CHR bonus, which would mechanically be about equal, meaning the reason to choose the Demon over them is pretty much just flavor. The Raksasha Spawn get detect lies, which is the most interesting of those options to me. That isn't a powerful combat spell, but it is an interesting one, and would probably not be taken with a bards limited spells known so it adds something extra and gives plenty of roleplay potential.

As an aside, for most Bard builds the entire Raksasha package is superior. I understand that Succubi are Demons, however they are also much more similar to Raksasha in abilities and demeanor then they are to most Demons. I would consider using the variant-heritage Raksasha and reflavoring it a succubus-descended.

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