|
I've had a character idea for the Age of Ashes adventure path living rent-free in my head for literal years now and I'm still struggling to realize it. The basic thrust of it revolves around the Haunting Vision background, with the character himself being the eldest child of a dwarf and elf who fell in love and got married (asking the GM for permission if they'll allow me to put the Half-Elf heritage on a Dwarf, of course). He grew up with the terrifying visions Dahak sent and his parents helped him develop healthy coping strategies, including swordplay, smithing, and worship of both elven and dwarven gods like Yuelral and Torag, showing how fire can be creative instead of just destructive. The problem comes when selecting a class. I've got a bunch of different options that I feel could represent the concept, but none fit COMPLETELY well, and I'm stuck trying to figure out which one to go with:
Monk with Rain of Embers Stance?
If you don't like Thaumaturge because of the CHA flaw, then I'm not going to recommend any of the CHA-based casting classes for the same reason.
Generally the feel I am getting for the character is more of a martial class with some spellcasting or fire abilities. So probably not any of the other spellcasting classes either.
What about psychic or magus? Both can be intelligence based, which helps crafting and general skill coverage. The psychic is a bit fragile but has a couple unique cantrips which do more damage in melee, including produce flame. And the awakened mind angle could be played up as a result of the visions. I could see an oscillating wave precise discipline psychic who is all about trying to bring order and balance to the chaos that is Dahak. The unleashed psyche and mind shift feats could represent monetarily lapses in that control. Seems pretty dope!
Alternatively, the magus remains the premiere way to gish for good reason. And multiclassing into psychic for Imaginary Weapon is one of the strongest builds in the game, with Produce Flame being a close second. You get a lot of the flavor still, though it won't really kick in until level 2. But dormant abilities being awakened over the course of the story is a tried and true staple of characters like this. You wouldn't be able to get full plate until level 3, but you'll have a hard time affording it before then anyway and might get it as a drop while you wait.
|
|
Monk with Rain of Embers Stance?
If you don't like Thaumaturge because of the CHA flaw, then I'm not going to recommend any of the CHA-based casting classes for the same reason.
Generally the feel I am getting for the character is more of a martial class with some spellcasting or fire abilities. So probably not any of the other spellcasting classes either.
It's not that I don't LIKE it so much as the received wisdom that playing any CHA-based class with a dwarf (or any other ancestry with a CHA penalty) is a bad idea and the character will continually struggle to be useful.
What about psychic or magus? Both can be intelligence based, which helps crafting and general skill coverage. The psychic is a bit fragile but has a couple unique cantrips which do more damage in melee, including produce flame. And the awakened mind angle could be played up as a result of the visions. I could see an oscillating wave precise discipline psychic who is all about trying to bring order and balance to the chaos that is Dahak. The unleashed psyche and mind shift feats could represent monetarily lapses in that control. Seems pretty dope!
Alternatively, the magus remains the premiere way to gish for good reason. And multiclassing into psychic for Imaginary Weapon is one of the strongest builds in the game, with Produce Flame being a close second. You get a lot of the flavor still, though it won't really kick in until level 2. But dormant abilities being awakened over the course of the story is a tried and true staple of characters like this. You wouldn't be able to get full plate until level 3, but you'll have a hard time affording it before then anyway and might get it as a drop while you wait.
I'd love if there was a divine caster version of the Magus. :(
You could also just go Battle Oracle. Dahak has the Zeal domain, so you can use Divine Access to poach fire spells off him or a bunch of other gods. Debilitating Dichotomy is pretty powerful and an amazing way to share your visions of destruction with others. And a dwarf can rock a pretty great will save to prevent the damage from bouncing back on you.
The biggest downside, outside of the charisma penalty itself, is you don't get a boost to strength either. But you could focus on strength over charisma and use buffing spells instead of offensive ones.
Or again, be a psychic.
I think my vote would be for a Thaumaturge who dabbles in being a Draconic/Wyrmblessed Sorcerer?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Worth noting any dwarf could have fire powers from a connection to Dahak with the Elemental Heart Heritage, with zero reflavoring. From there, whatever class path you take could be a matter of learning to harness and control the fire inside you. Don't get too hung up on whether you're writing arcane or divine spell casting on your sheet if arcane casting does what you want the character to do.
|
|
Worth noting any dwarf could have fire powers from a connection to Dahak with the Elemental Heart Heritage, with zero reflavoring. From there, whatever class path you take could be a matter of learning to harness and control the fire inside you. Don't get too hung up on whether you're writing arcane or divine spell casting on your sheet if arcane casting does what you want the character to do.
I was actually planning in using the Elemental Wrath feat to kind of simulate this if I ultimately decide to go with a martial class like Thaumaturge, since if I get the base concept approved I couldn't take Elemental Heart due to having Half-Elf as the heritage. If I start with a caster like Druid or Oracle, I'd instead have to go with Elf Weapon Familiarity to have access to swords, but with those classes there's a lot of fire spells so that base is still covered.
Oh right, I keep forget this is a half elf. If you're in house rule territory anyway, have you considered asking for using the elf as a base and half dwarf as the heritage? Basically just treat it like a versatile heritage, probably giving darkvision and access to dwarf feats. Seems like it would alleviate a lot of your concerns.
|
|
I've thought some more about it and I think you've got a point, Captain Morgan: Magus makes a lot of sense. Yuelral's not just about herbalism and gemstones...she's about responsible magic use and instruction. I was already kind of looking at that angle with the Thaumaturge in the first place, so maybe the fact that Magus' spells aren't divine isn't as big a deal?
Nice! I'm pretty sure there are more wizards that worship Nethys than clerics, so the same concept probably applies here. Worship isn't just for divine classes.
|
|
Nice! I'm pretty sure there are more wizards that worship Nethys than clerics, so the same concept probably applies here. Worship isn't just for divine classes.
The question is, do I take your next suggestion and throw Psychic into the mix. You're right that the Precise Discipline and Osscilating Wave give it some more literal fire and fit the mentality I was going for with the character, plus give an inherent reason for the characters to have "visions" than Magus kind of does...and I am a sucker for Jedi-styled characters...but I'm not sure how to integrate the cold aspect of it. Maybe tie to Yuelral with ice CRYSTALS, but that feels like a stretch, or a corny pun. And I worry it might make the character feel TOO special, so to speak. Too much "main character/chosen one energy" and risk upstaging the rest of a potential party...
The Oscillating Wave is all about Conservation of Energy. If Dahak's fire is a raging inferno that will burn Golarion, then you are going to use the cold to temper and control it. Not destroy it entirely, because energy can't be created or destroyed, but make it sit down and wait for your call, and play by your rules when it comes out. To God as arrogant and chaotic as Dahak, what could be a greater insult than having his fury tamed like that?
|
|
I think my vote would be for a Thaumaturge who dabbles in being a Draconic/Wyrmblessed Sorcerer?
This is incredibly tempting too, especially Wyrmblessed, though I'm slightly leery of Sorcerer for similar reasons to Psychic; that it runs the risk of getting too "main characterey" or "Mary Sueish" since he's already an unconventional person as a dwarven half-elf, and because Wrymblessed kind of feels like the benefits of being an Oracle without the drawbacks, which kind of clashes with my desire for the character to be angsty about his powers...gah, sometimes I utterly LOATHE how my degree makes me overthink stories so much!
|
|
It's clear that a big source of the issue is the Background specific to this, Haunting Vision, doesn't offer boosts to the core stats of most CHA-based classes, boosting either Constitution or Wisdom. If I'm starting from a dwarf-half-elf base, that background just doubles down on those bonuses that, while more health and stronger will saves helps EVERYONE, it's not good if I want to be a caster. It's frustrating that the Age of Ashes backgrounds that would help an Oracle best AREN'T the ones tied to having prophetic dreams, which are the Oracle's stock in trade! >:(
It's less the background's fault and more that you're trying to play a cha class on an ancestry with a cha malus that also doesn't grant dex so you're forced to flaw str and int just to get your cha up to par and then take sentinel because your dex is in the toilet and you need to hit your AC cap. The background is just, as you say, doubling down. You already have no choice but to take sentinel so it's not doing any additional harm. Probably going to want unburdened iron to offset the speed penalty since dwarves come with a built in speed malus though.
What's tripping you up? Typically you have three objectives at chargen.
1) maximize accuracy - in this case spell DC
2) maximize AC
3) maximize saves
For a dwarf with a cha class, we first need to undo the cha malus. We can't flaw dex, con, wis or cha, so str and int are our only options. We then have the actual ancestry boosts of con, wis, free (cha)
Then background. We have con or wis and free (cha)
Then class, cha
Then dex/con/wis/cha for our 4 free boosts.
This results in 8/12/16/8/14/18. Pretty standard stuff with full magic accuracy and saves as good as they'll get. Unfortunately, we still need to fix our AC. Sentinel archetype is the flex tape for how armor values work in this system. Slap it on at level 2 and you now have your AC at the +5 non-plate cap for the remainder of your character's lifespan.
|
|
And he's so weak he can't lift a sword and not bright enough to have skills so he can do things like smithing, gemcutting and herbalism! It's like there's no class that allows me to fit each thing I want out of the character in it:
If I make him an Oracle, he's gotta be a boring old human-half-elf to get a CHA bonus, or I have to take Battle mystery instead of Flames so now he loses the fire motif I'd had in mind conceiving him. He'd no longer "see fire."
If I make him a Cleric, he's limited to one god and so he loses the flavor I was going for where he worships a blended pantheon of elven and dwarven gods and the cool factor of turning an evil god's power against them.
If I make him a Magus or Psychic or even a Thaumaturge since their CHA doesn't need to be as high as a caster's, I lose out on the spiritual aspect entirely because no divine spellcasting.
If I make him a Witch to get divine spellcasting via Intelligence, I have to have a pet, and I don't LIKE playing characters with pets!
If I make him a Druid, I have to think of another class for his youngest brother (who I was planning on making a Druid/Alchemist) because that's redundant, or I have to make his middle brother who I was specifically trying to make more mundane like a Fighter or Rogue so he's jealous of his powers a druid too so all three are druids and it's balanced from a narrative perspective.
Ignore gesalt's advice here. They're a good optimizer but are prioritizing that over your concept because that's how they build characters. But also... Reassess my dude. Most of what you're writing is wrong.
Any Oracle can have a fire motif thanks to Divine Access and ancestry options. The flavor of the curse can be morphed to suit your needs. And you're already trying to sell a homebrew Heritage option, so if you make it half dwarf instead of half elf you're covered.
There are in fact rules for worshipping pantheons in Gods and Magic, and even making up your own, so cleric works fine. War Priest seems perfect in fact.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1386
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1709
There's more to spirituality than divine spellcasting. Occult spellcasting literally has spiritual as one of its magical essences, and there's a variety of ways you can express a divine connection beyond being a full blown divine spellcaster. It can be anything from a divine ancestry feat to a champion, oracle, or sorcerer multiclass dedication.
There are so many familiar variants by now that you can pretty easily move away from the pet actually being a pet. Turn it into a tattoo, a mask, or a hunk of iron, for example.
Why does it matter how many family members are druids? You're only playing one of them. Your rules here feel completely arbitrary. Either only one can be a druid or all three can be, but never two?
You and gestalt are approaching this from opposite extremes. They are disregarding your flavor for the crunch, but you're so focused on the flavor that you aren't accounting for how easy it is to use a little reflavoring of perfectly fine crunch options.
Also Merry Christmas!
If it were me I'd try and prioritise what you want and then do a build which hits as many of them as possible, from the top down.
Given what you've said before I think you priorities are as follows:
1. Has to have the Haunting Visions campaign background. So thats +Con/Wis, +free, trained religion, Student of the Canon.
So far, so good. Religion training can represent a certain amount of personal spirituality since you pay attention to religion and you've got a skill feat in it too.
2. Should be a Dwelf or Elwarf.
This has some pretty hefty crunch implications so probably should be considered along with class, but roughly a Dwelf would be +con, +wis, +free, - cha and an Elwarf would be +dex, +int, +free, -con. Given the various classes you've thrown around it sounds like Elwarf would be better generally, since you've not mentioned the character being tough but have wanted charisma. Still, come back to this.
3. Should embody/reflect fire (creation elements), smithing, swordplay and others.
and I kind of wanted to do a bunch of different skills like Crafting to smith weapons and armor, being the party face and Nature to follow Yuelral's tenet of practicing herbalism.
This is a lot of elements but I think a big thing is what exactly counts as 'doing' them. For a level one character simply being trained in a skill is all that you can really get. So that means you need to be trained in: Crafting, Nature, Diplomacy. You'll get religion from your campaign background too so three skills is manageable on any class by having at least 12 Int, so you get 2+1 Int = 3 trained skills + religion. From this I get a character who can (within the limits of level 1) craft things, do some herbalism, be the party face and has a sense of spirituality.
So far all we've had to commit to is 12 Int, that's the racial bonus from Elwarf. No major build decisions needed yet. What remains is simply a question of how good they are at all these things. But they should range from around +3 (trained with 10 in the stat) and +7 (trained with 18 in the stat). It seems to me that we've hit that goal reasonably well, so lets go and consider classes.
4 Class should fit in with the story of the background - terrible visions of Dahak, channeling fire powers into something useful, mixed elven/dwarven pantheon etc.
Fire Oracle seems like a good fit - Dahak provides the power (curse and casting both) and his own worship is what makes it 'usable'. That would have to be done in character posts, but seems very workable. It's a cha focused class so Elwarf would be best, but entirely doable.
Magus would be good to get swordfighting and spellcasting - yes it's arcane casting but you can get lots of fire spells in there and say that it took rigorous study and training in order to contain the wildfire of Dahak and it can only be channeled safely in a very controlled (read: Arcane/prepped caster) method. Split your boosts into Str and Int (16 of each I think) and then spread the rest around.
Captain Morgan's Oscillating Wave Psychic idea was a really cool one to me too. Again, pretty easy to do, push your int up and you're done. Really I think you can do almost any character build. At the moment (based just on ancestry and background, and trying to hit the skill requirement we mentioned above) you've got...
Dwelf: Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12/14, Int 12 (used a free boost), Wis 12/14, Cha 8. [+1 free boost].
Elwarf: Str 10, Dex 12, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10 [+2 free boosts].
TL;DR
Either way this gives you loads of versatility to work with. You could play anything off this. Oracle, Psychic and Magus I think would all be good from a fluff perspective but you could do something like Champion or Thaumaturge too if you wanted to emphasise the combat rather than the magic. Free Archetype (Oracle/Sorceror) could add the spellcasting back in later if you want. In other words, take whatever class you like the most/think best embodies your concepts - you should be able to make everything else work perfectly well.
I hope this helps a bit.
Pantheon rules, as mentioned, should be a great relief to you here - I recently whipped up a Pantheon of my own over in the Homebrew section, and it was maybe fifteen minutes of work.
|
|
Ignore gesalt's advice here. They're a good optimizer but are prioritizing that over your concept because that's how they build characters. But also... Reassess my dude. Most of what you're writing is wrong.
I usually tend to be...like I said, the more I learn about how everything in 2e interlocks, the more confused I feel about how to get the story I want out of the mechanics.
Any Oracle can have a fire motif thanks to Divine Access and ancestry options. The flavor of the curse can be morphed to suit your needs. And you're already trying to sell a homebrew Heritage option, so if you make it half dwarf instead of half elf you're covered.
That's just it: it just really kind of feels like the game has very specific ways it wants certain classes and stuff to be played, flavor and mechanic very strongly intertwined. I wouldn't even have CONSIDERED playing a half-elf-dwarf as an option if the Core Rulebook hadn't explicitly said "if you GM approves it, it's okay!" And Oracle kind of suffers this more than the others: each curse having a very different playstyle and generally not working well if you try to play it as something else, like a Flames Oracle as a Dex-based battle-caster, dancing in and out of combat with a finesse weapon and setting things on fire, as opposed to Flames' intended use as a blaster caster.
There are in fact rules for worshipping pantheons in Gods and Magic, and even making up your own, so cleric works fine. War Priest seems perfect in fact.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1386
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1709
Really? I was under the impression that the devs were really trying to steer players away from doing "clerics of pantheons" and "clerics of ideals," one of the big things separating Pathfinder from the other big TTRPG. That the whole point of being a cleric was because ONE deity chose YOU to receive divine spells because you emulated the ideals they embodied or valued so closely. The vibe I got was "The pantheon rules are there, but they're not FOR clerics."
And I thought the consensus on Warpriest was it sucked?
There's more to spirituality than divine spellcasting. Occult spellcasting literally has spiritual as one of its magical essences, and there's a variety of ways you can express a divine connection beyond being a full blown divine spellcaster. It can be anything from a divine ancestry feat to a champion, oracle, or sorcerer multiclass dedication.
You're right about this, but again, I keep hearing the multiclassing is problematic: Champion is a good multiclass, but you need to have the Strength to do it, and if you're playing an ancestry with a CHA penalty, you're not going to have the boosts to make it viable. Oracle just isn't a good multiclass period because being flat-footed is just that dangerous, especially if you're trying to melee, and while Sorcerer is good, you're still not going to get Legendary spellcasting.
There are so many familiar variants by now that you can pretty easily move away from the pet actually being a pet. Turn it into a tattoo, a mask, or a hunk of iron, for example.
Really? I don't think there's any option quite like the Half-Elf Bonded Witch, Name-Keeper or True Silvered Throne Shaman archetypes from 1e where you effectively replace the familiar/spirit animal with a totemic item or book of some sort. Even Aeon Wyrds are creatures and thus have feelings and stuff, right? The general vibe I've gotten is "If you don't want the pet, don't play a witch, the wizard class is right there (and even then, why WOULDN'T you want the pet? Familiars are so useful!)."
Why does it matter how many family members are druids? You're only playing one of them. Your rules here feel completely arbitrary. Either only one can be a druid or all three can be, but never two?
I'm only playing one of them NOW (technically, I'm not playing any of them at the moment, this is purely in the hypothetical so I can have him ready to post next time someone wants to run Age of Ashes). I do have plans to play the other two brothers in future APs, and in fact the upcoming Gatewalkers one feels PERFECT for brother number 2, jealous of his older brother and seeking fame and fortune via elfgates himself! Plus, the final, peaceful druid brother would make an interesting fit in the plot of the upcoming Sky King's Tomb path: getting in touch with his dwarven heritage and helping old enemies become friends over a pint.
As for why I feel like having two out of three brothers be the same class would feel lopsided...well, that's more a personal hangup than anything else. The last brother was always meant to be a druid/alchemist combo, I have my heart set on that, but if the eldest is a druid too, then the middle brother becomes the odd one by default, and I'd kind of meant for him to serve as a more grounded, "normal" character to contrast against his eldest brother's prophetic visions and strange powers. If all three are druids, then that gives the opportunity to explore the class from different angles and perspectives, but because I don't have a strong vision for brother 2 as opposed to brother's 1 and 3, I end up feeling like a caster class isn't necessarily a good fit for him from a narrative standpoint.`
You and gestalt are approaching this from opposite extremes. They are disregarding your flavor for the crunch, but you're so focused on the flavor that you aren't accounting for how easy it is to use a little reflavoring of perfectly fine crunch options.
I can see what you're saying here. Part of the issue is that honestly a bunch of classes are a good fit for this character, and I've been indecisive about "locking in" a final decision and then feeling unsatisfied with it or changing my mind later (wanna avoid retraining down the line because I feel like the whole "dwelf" thing is already kind of a big ask, and I feel like if I have too many "big asks" eventually a potential GM's going to say "No, stop asking me to bend the rules for your narrative and meet me halfway by making some sacrifices.")
Also Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year too!
Granted, a lot of this is kind of moot at this point because of the new ability errata that was just announced: now I don't necessarily have to worry about the CHA flaw...
If it were me I'd try and prioritise what you want and then do a build which hits as many of them as possible, from the top down.
Given what you've said before I think you priorities are as follows:
1. Has to have the Haunting Visions campaign background. So thats +Con/Wis, +free, trained religion, Student of the Canon.
So far, so good. Religion training can represent a certain amount of personal spirituality since you pay attention to religion and you've got a skill feat in it too.2. Should be a Dwelf or Elwarf.
This has some pretty hefty crunch implications so probably should be considered along with class, but roughly a Dwelf would be +con, +wis, +free, - cha and an Elwarf would be +dex, +int, +free, -con. Given the various classes you've thrown around it sounds like Elwarf would be better generally, since you've not mentioned the character being tough but have wanted charisma. Still, come back to this.3. Should embody/reflect fire (creation elements), smithing, swordplay and others.
and I kind of wanted to do a bunch of different skills like Crafting to smith weapons and armor, being the party face and Nature to follow Yuelral's tenet of practicing herbalism.This is a lot of elements but I think a big thing is what exactly counts as 'doing' them. For a level one character simply being trained in a skill is all that you can really get. So that means you need to be trained in: Crafting, Nature, Diplomacy. You'll get religion from your campaign background too so three skills is manageable on any class by having at least 12 Int, so you get 2+1 Int = 3 trained skills + religion. From this I get a character who can (within the limits of level 1) craft things, do some herbalism, be the party face and has a sense of spirituality.
So far all we've had to commit to is 12 Int, that's the racial bonus from Elwarf. No major build decisions needed yet. What remains is simply a question of...
This was all very helpful, yes. Thank you. And its even more flexible now that the alternate errata options exist, even easier to fit into the class molds. Now I just have to overcome my chronic indecisiveness and my weird narrative-based hangups...
Pantheon rules, as mentioned, should be a great relief to you here - I recently whipped up a Pantheon of my own over in the Homebrew section, and it was maybe fifteen minutes of work.
I continue to envy the speed and ease with which you come up with ideas and realize them, keftiu! I've actually kind of been percolating this for a while: what gods do I have in this Pantheon? How many deities should there be in it?
The only two definite gods I want in there are Torag and Yuelral, a craftsy dwarf god and a craftsy elf god (one who SPECIFICALLY welcomes half-elves), but most pantheons don't JUST have two gods. Angradd is probably a shoo-in, given his fire motif, but then I feel like I need an equivalent elven god on the other side to balance it. Alseta may be a good choice as she's "elf-adjacent" (and she kind of features in Age of Ashes), but I'm not sure which other ones to put in or how many is too many. Do I need to have Dahak in there even though my character fears and despises him, and doesn't actually worship him in order to work mechanically? And if Dahak is in there, do I balance him out with Apsu? Then the pantheon kind of drifts away from its original intent as a "blended dwarf/elf pantheon."
I usually tend to be...like I said, the more I learn about how everything in 2e interlocks, the more confused I feel about how to get the story I want out of the mechanics.
Yes there are very few writers who look closely at the mechanics of their universe and do a good job of bringing a reasonable and interesting world out of it.
I wouldn't even have CONSIDERED playing a half-elf-dwarf as an option if the Core Rulebook hadn't explicitly said "if you GM approves it, it's okay!"
This is the PF2 approach.
1) If it works for your group then that is the rule the GM should play with. Yes this is hard for mechanically minded people like myself to take on board we would prefer clearer rules and proper cause and effect. Which then helps us to extrapolate into areas not covered by the rules as required. Ultimately it is just a game.2) It is perfectly reasonable to reflavour an existing mechanic.
And Oracle kind of suffers this more than the others: each curse having a very different playstyle and generally not working well if you try to play it as something else, like a Flames Oracle as a Dex-based battle-caster, dancing in and out of combat with a finesse weapon and setting things on fire, as opposed to Flames' intended use as a blaster caster.
Oracles have options. Yes the Oracle flaws can cause some real limits. So long range archer is a bad role for a Flame Oracle. But I don't see any real problem with multiclassing a Flame Oracle with Rogue or Swashbuckler or Fighter and getting some occasional melee action in with a flaming weapon or an Ifrit unarmed flame attack. There is not just one build. For starters I like leaning into Incendiary Aura with splash damage via alchemical items or Elemental Wrath providing you don't play with the ultra narrow definition of Acid Splash. Divine Access can get you a lot of options to do other thing like say pick up True Strike, or Haste. Multiclass into Bastion and become a lot tougher...
If you are only seeing the one build for a class or an archetype you are missing the forest for the trees.
I was under the impression that the devs were really trying to steer players away from doing "clerics of pantheons" and "clerics of ideals,"
I've not seen this. It is mostly up to GMs.
I thought the consensus on Warpriest was it sucked?
Just because a few loud optimisers (I include myself in this gerenal category) say something is weak does not mean it is always so. In general if they tell you that one build is the most powerful ignore all others then they are just wrong. A Wisdom 12 Battle Cleric can be a perfectly good build. It is still a full spell caster and a good half of all spells don't need a good spell DC or spell attack roll to be useful. Yes it has less spell options, but no it is defintely playable and can make a reasonable contribution in melee. You do have to think about it though, because it is easy to do badly.