Re: The Impostor Prestige Class

Don Shaffer meandered fecklessly...

> > Impostor (Prestige Class)
> >  Spells: Ability to cast alter self and change self.
> >  Bluff: 5 ranks
> >  Disguise: 5 ranks
> >  Spellcraft: 7 ranks
>
> This one seeams a bit to easy to grab as it uses a bunch of skills a
> thief/wizard is likely to have anyways. Maybe toss in Skill Focus as a
> requirement? I'd increase all the ranks needed by one in any case as you
can
> possibly grab it at level 4 as is and that seems a bit to low. I'd toss in
a
> few ranks of perform too.

See below...


> > Class Skills
> > The impostor's class skills (and the key ability for
> > each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con),
> > Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Chr), Disguise (Cha), Forgery
> > (Int), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis),
> > Read Lips (Int), Scry (Int, exclusive skill), and Spellcraft (Int)
> >  Skill Points at Each Level: 2+Int modifier
>
> I'd toss in Perform, again.  Seems like something that an 'actor' type
would
> need.

Whoops. I thought I had put Perform in here; had meant
to, anyway. The skill points of Daphne reflect this. Thanks.


> > Class Features
> Seems a little bit to strong here.  The Imposter is still getting the same
> spell progression as a regular wizard and the powers are a tad more
powerful
> then the bonus feats a wizard would get (IMO).  I would either increase
the
> number of levels in the prestige class and space them out more, increase
the
> penalties with Alteration Susceptibility, or change the spell progression
to
> either give him bonus spells that can ONLY be taken with 'disguise'
spells,
> or give them a modified spell list and progression chart.

I disagree that the class is unbalanced, and here is why...

There are two ways to get into this class: multiclass with either
rogue or bard, or as a single class spellcaster. Both of these
approaches have a price that balances out the class.

First, multiclassing for a spellcaster is almost always a poor
choice unless you have a concept that is well planned out
and uses the strengths of the two classes well. This is just
a fact of 3e in my experience. Give me a straight up fight
between a "typcial" 20th level wizard and a Wiz10/Clr10 and
I know where my gold will go. Not saying it might not be close,
but I'd certainly bet on the class with access to 9th level spells,
over the one with access to only 5th level spells.

And while it might seem that a few levels of rogue or bard
_would_ work well with the impostor, the truth is that what the
impostor gets most out of these classes is skills, and since
these skills are also class skills for the impostor, this is only
so meaningful.

For example, take a look at the sample character Daphne.
What does she really get for her three levels of bard, that
contribute to her current modus operandi?  Not much. A few
minor spells, mostly. The bardic abilities might be handy
once in a while. Mostly, the class gave her access to the skills
she needed to qualify.  What does she lose out on? Access
to higher level spells. If she was a pure sorcerer she would
have access to more spells, more castings per day, and
fifth level spells. I do not think her bard levels make up for
this.

The second method is single class. This delays the level at
which the character can become an impostor, and requires
the character to spend points on cross class skills, and, to
be honest, skills that are not necessarily useful to the character
_until_ the caster becomes an impostor. I am not saying useles,
but certainly not exciting. For example, Bluff is nice, but if
the wizard has charm person, the skill loses some of its charm.
And, the combat use of the skill is mostly lost, since single-
classed wizards that step up to use it are being overly
optimistic in most cases.

You mention above that a character could take this class as
early as 4th level, but a character could not take it until
reaching 5th level, and even then it would take some hardcore
point mongering or access to certain feats not found in the
core books (unless I am missing something you see, which
is certainly possible : )

In order to single class into the impostor the caster must first
reach 7th level (the minimum level for 5 ranks in a cross
class skill), and have spent 20 skill points on two skills to get
there. Thats a lot of skill points to qualify for a class! Now, the
right selection of feats from some sources would help this
(Cosmopolitan from the FR book), but this is simply shifting the
burden to a different limited resource.

The abilities of the impostor are decent, but they apply to only
a very limited number of spells. In the PHB it essentially applies
to three spells: alter self, change self and polymorph self. But,
the enhancements are not front loaded. For example, except
for Shielded Mind and Formidable Disguise, the best disguise
spell the impostor has, polymorph self, is in no way enhanced until
sixth level, the last of the class. So, the impostor is getting
abilities that mostly enhance low level spells, spells
likely to be several levels lower than the best spells they can cast.

Impostors do one thing well, but to do this they need to dilute
their other abilities to a degree that I feel balances the bonuses
of the class. In all honesty, because of the specialized nature
of their enhacements, and the extremely limited range of spells
they modify, I almost consider the impostor underbalanced on
the side of weakness. Her strengths will come to the fore in
games with a good deal of roleplaying.

Daphne is a good example of all of this. While she perhaps
could have been optimized a bit further (which wasn't my point,
of course), I don't think by much. Compare her and her abilities
to an 11th level wizard, rogue or fighter, and I think her overall
weaknesses in the "typical" D&D game come to the fore. Her
susceptibility to spells such as flesh to stone, disintigrate,
polymorph other, or other Transmutation spells with Fortitude
saves can be problematic. Daphne's save against polymorph
other is effectively +2. Not good. When she becomes a 6th level
impostor this effectively drops to +1!


Thanks for the feedback, Don!


>  I'd also suggest tossing this up on the Prestige Class group on the
Wizards
> DnD site.  :) It's a fairly good prestige class as is and just needs a bit
> of tweaking.

I don't get over to the groups on WotC's site much. I might, if
they would make them accessible with a news reader.



Leroy Van Camp III
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