Talk:Arcane Disciple

Balance discussion

This is pretty cool. --Msallen

As you can imagine, I fell in love with it at first sight. I look forward to a AD/Sorc/DD monster spellcaster build. -gm

So, trades the domain spell for a lower-level Arcane spell, and turn/rebuke for bonus feats? I'm not very familiar with clerics. -Slitherrr

There are some subtle comparisons to be made here.

• Pros:
  • You get bonus metamagic/item feats (5 of them total)
  • Much better spell choice: You get access to 6 spells from Magic domain + 20 arcane top-picks (instead of 18 pre-chosen spells from 2 domains).
    • Minor diff for L9 spells: No 9th level arcane spells means you have one less 9th level spell choice than a cleric with two carefully-chosen domains (traded for a few extra 8th-level arcane picks). Magic domain does give you Mage's Disjunction, though.
  • 4+INT for skill points each level (versus 2+INT)
  • UMD as class skill
  • The following spells are added to the AD spell list: Magic Aura(1), Identify(2), Antimagic Field(6 normally Clr8), Spell Turning(7), Protection from Spells(8), Mage’s Disjunction(9)
• Cons:
  • No domain spells per day (in other words, -1 spell slot per level versus a normal cleric with domains)
  • No domain abilities
  • No turn/rebuke
  • Lowered hitdice from d8 to d6

Anything else? -Mattie

A vanilla cleric can memorize EXACTLY ONE domain spell in each domain slot per level, and those spells are NOT added to the cleric's regular spell list. In the case of the AD class, however, it does not gain the magic domain, but does get all of those domain spells added to her cleric spell list. So, a Magic Domain cleric can memorize exactly one Identify as her second level domain spell, but a AD can prepare as many Identifies as she has second level spells.

A Evangelist, OTOH, gains the domains chosen AND gets those domain spells added to her "known spells" list. -gm

I added a note about the extra 6 spells above (3 already exist, Dispel Magic, Imbue, and Spell Resistance).

I'm still confused, on one point, though. On the Spells per Day for Cleric there is a "+1" for each spell level for domain spell memorization. What does an AD do with that +1 slot? Do they lose it? -Mattie

Yeah, they just don't get it. that +1 slot is for your domain spell at each level. No domains, no domain spell slot. -gm

Spell overlap?

Randomly curious: If you pick the Identify spell for an arcane spell, it's Level 1. So does that mean an AD could memorize Identify as a Level 1 spell or a Level 2 spell (per Magic domain) if they so desired? (If it matters whether it is a Magic spell or not, consider Locate Object which is already on Clr spell list a level higher than Sor/Wiz.) Or is there some implied requirement that if it already exists in their spell list, they can't pick the same arcane spell? For some reason the class flavor description makes me think they wouldn't mimic arcane spells they already had divine-ish versions of. -Mattie

Yes. They would have IDentify (1st) and Identify (2nd) on their spell list in that case. -gm