Author Topic: Generic Spellcaster  (Read 2714 times)

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borg286

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Generic Spellcaster
« on: August 25, 2008, 05:19:34 PM »
I was looking over the generic spellcaster
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm#spellcaster

His spell list is chosen from the wizard/sorcerer, cleric, and the Druid spell lists.  The who's who of spell lists of the top 5 best classes.  This and the fact that he gets to pick any feat for his bonus feats or replace them with Class abilities that are great PrC requirements.  Please tell my why this class is not used more and why he's not made up of 150% awesome.
People try and squeeze their way around of making arcane/divine versions of divine/arcane spells.  This guy does it naturally. 
Is it that most DMs will either play with these classes and ban the rest (along with most of the cooler spells fro splat books) or vice versa and not allow an erudite around one of these guys?

Are there any handbooks for this guy?

Prime32

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2008, 05:23:41 PM »
Spells aren't the only reason for clerics and druids being so strong. For clerics, it's all the stuff you can get out of Turn Undead (such as free metamagic). For druids, it's Wild Shape cheese (cast spells in a body stronger than the fighters) and Animal Companions (stronger than the fighters).

And yeah, those classes are intended to replace the existing ones - they're a variant rule, so you should no more assume you can use them than that you can have Reserve Points.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2008, 05:25:39 PM by Prime32 »
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carnivore

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2008, 06:00:46 PM »
they can be lots of fun .... but they tend to be slightly weaker due to the reduction in number of spells.. but make up for it with the choosable skills known and extra feats and you can choose your best save...



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Nunkuruji

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2008, 07:29:17 PM »
I've been looking at it as well over the last few days.

At the very least, it makes qualifying for a few PrCs much simpler, and perhaps with better casting:
Arcane Trickster
Blackflame Zealot
Daggerspell Mage
Shadowbane Stalker
Harper Paragon


Pick your preferred skills
Pick your save
Choose spells off of Druid, Cleric, Wiz/Sorc lists

With just SRD you can easily build a
Spellcaster-10 / Arcane Trickster-10 with 10d6 sneak attack and full casting

If you break the guideline of not using base classes you can get some bigger numbers, but there's already been threads on that.


Ultimately, I'm curious if it can make some of the more unpopular PrCs playable, viable, or even *gasp* optimized.

Spellcaster(Divine) / Blackflame Zealot -> and now you can put Greater Invisibility on your spell list and make Death & Sneak attacks easier.

Blade2718

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2008, 11:02:28 PM »
Spellcaster(Divine) / Blackflame Zealot -> and now you can put Greater Invisibility on your spell list and make Death & Sneak attacks easier.
BFZ is halfway to respectability if you use Generic Spellcaster, but there's no saving Death Attack without massive Int and Strifeleader's Greater Death Attack (for +2 or +4 to the DC).  Come to think of it, it's still not good.

Negative Zero

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2008, 01:16:52 AM »
The way I understood it, the standard thought is that DMs won't allow it. It's a powerful choice if they will.

Phaxi

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2008, 08:55:25 AM »
Spellcaster(Divine) / Blackflame Zealot -> and now you can put Greater Invisibility on your spell list and make Death & Sneak attacks easier.
Still, Full spellcasting >>> Black Flame Zealot. Any day. Just pick up Trickery and use Slay Living instead.
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awaken DM golem

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2008, 07:06:59 PM »
DMM on some choice Arcanes.
Arcane on Wisdom casting.
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Caelic

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2008, 08:49:26 PM »
Generic Spellcaster/Arcane Trickster is an old favorite.  The catch, as has been mentioned, is that the generic classes are explicitly supposed to replace normal classes--hence, builds using GS are only going to be useful in "generic" campaigns (a fairly small number) and builds mixing GS with non-generic classes are only going to be useful in campaigns that are ignoring that rule (a smaller number.)  Consequently, people don't spend a lot of time crafting builds with them.

PhaedrusXY

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Re: Generic Spellcaster
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2008, 08:59:42 PM »
The way I understood it, the standard thought is that DMs won't allow it. It's a powerful choice if they will.
Meh. It has spells known like a sorcerer, which means I'd still rank cleric, archivist, and wizard as better spellcasters.
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