Advice on fixing the Blighter PrC

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:48 pm

The Blighter's been one of my favorite Prestige Classes ever since I first laid eyes upon it in Masters of the Wild. They make great villains, especially when the party contains a Druid or Cleric of Nature.

But the prestige class is very flawed, be it for PCs or NPCs. Here are what I consider the biggest problems in need of change:

Alternate spell progression: the first few levels really screw you up. At 4th level you're a 10th-level character yet you only have access to 3rd-level spells. The Blighter spell list is also rather restrictive in terms of spell versatility.

Deforestion: You can't cast your spells unless you use this ability to destroy nonsentient plant matter. This restricts Blighters to hang around verdant forests and grasslands if they wish to retain their powers. A Blighter in a desolate desert or rugged mountain region can get screwed over real fast. This also limits Blighters greatly in terms of headquarters and strongholds. It would make sense for a Blighter to hang around an undead city on the Negative Energy Plane due to his theme, but he can't prepare spells and is wide open for attack.

Undead Wild Shape: A 7th-level Druid can Wildshape 3 times a day, with an additional use at 10th and 14th level. An ex-Druid 6/Blighter 3 can use Undead Wild Shape once per day, up to a maximum of three times per day at 9th level in the PrC. Also, a standard Druid can Wildshape into a Large animal at 8th level, while the Blighter can do this by the time they're eleventh level (ex-Druid 6/Blighter 5). The Blighter can become Huge at the same level as a standard Druid, but that's not even a consolation prize.

Possible fixes:

An idea is to give Blighters the option to trade in Druid levels, sort of like Paladin-to-Blackguard. A 6th-level Druid may not get anything special, but a 17th-level Druid is a prized catch for the forces of decay.

You shouldn't have to be an ex-Druid to take this class. There are evil forces of unnatural creation who've never once embraced the "natural world." A Blackguard doesn't need to be an ex-Paladin, and many villains have never fallen from grace because they were rotten from the start.

Change deforestation to a generic entropy field. It doesn't just kill plants; it rusts metal, dissolves rock, and destroys life on a microbiological level. It is literally destroying the cycle of life and death in the area by flooding the area with negative energy so that nothing can live and grow in its radius without magical intervention.

Unbond is a limited-use gimmick. It can only be used once per day, and a Blighter NPC villain who uses this will get whacked on by the party. A better use of his action is to drop a stinking cloud or Save or Die abilities (which he has at this level). You can just as easily break a bond with a well-placed finger of death on the party Wizard or Druid.

I already asked this question on the Min-Max Boards (formerly Brilliant Gameologists), but I like to get a wide enough consensus on the classes' problems.

What should be changed, and how would you change it?

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:53 pm

The obvious solution to the spellcasting problem is to simply declare that a level one blighter casts spells as a druid of as many levels as you have levels of ex-druid plus one per level of blighter.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:02 pm

Well, there's a blighter fix here. It keeps the undead wildshape, and ups it to ghostshape.

Literally, the biggest problem with the blighter was the spells. They needed casting like legit druids, and needed compensation for a weaker list (better wildshape). The rest is flavor.

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:22 pm

Unbond would work better as an AoE that sends trained and domesticated creatures into a panicked frenzy or something, with an additional effect of severing the connection of familliars and animal companions. I find it wierd that the pet monkey of a ranger is subject the effect of Unbond, but a knight's trained warhorse is not.

Also, spell list needs fixing.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:58 am

Why do 'fallen' PrCs force you to start over with a whole new spellcasting progression? That has never worked in the history of ever.

Why don't they just let you resume your old spellcasting progression but hold you to your new oaths?

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:30 am

Here's a quick and dirty stab at an "everything is an at-will SLA" alternate version

The Blighter

flavor text goes here

Requirements:
Alignment: any nongood, non-vegan
Knowledge (Nature) 9 ranks. Proficiency with scimitar, Dreadful Demeanor Feat (or Skill Focus: Intimidate or Know (nature) or something if you are using Core feats)

HD: d6
BAB +3/4
Saves: Good Will

Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (-), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str) Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skills/Level: 4 + Intelligence Bonus

Weapon and armor proficiency: a blighter gains a proficiency with one single exotic weapon of choice. They do not gain any proficiency with armor or shields.

Level / Special
1: Diet of Decay, Touch of Pain, Path of Corruption
2: Ways of Wilting, All Things to Their End
3: Use for Husks, Toxic Vapors
4: Living Death
5: Lethal Vapors
6: Antilife Shell
7: Corrosive Vapors
8: Horrid Wilting
9: Destruction
10: Hellwasp Plague

Diet of Decay: A blighter shuns the lesser functions of life and so no longer needs to eat or drink.

Touch of Pain (Sp): As an attack action a blighter may deliver a Inflict Moderate Wounds. This is usable at will.

Path of Corruption: a Blighter chooses whether to base the save DCs of all of their class abilities off of their Wisdom or Charisma stat. Once chosen this stat is used to calculate saves for all blighter class abilities. The blighter uses all spell-like and supernatural class abilities at a caster level equal to his total character level

Ways of Wilting (Sp) At 2nd level, a blighter gains the spell-like abilities to use Blight, Diminish Plants, Contagion and Poison each at will

All things to their ends A 2nd level blighter gains the spell-like abilities to use Dominate Animal, Command Plants and Command Undead at will

Use For Husks(Sp): At 3rd level, A blighter gains the ability to Animate Dead at will. maybe they should also get the better undead creation at higher levels

Toxic Vapors: A 3rd level Blighter gains the ability to use Stinking Cloud at will

Living Death: At 4th level, a Blighter totally forsakes those icky lesser functions of life. Against any particular effect they can chose to be counted as the more beneficial of Undead (including all the usual Undead immunities) or their base creature type. Thus a blighter who started out as a humanoid can ignore Turning attempts for being a [Humanoid], then turn around and laugh off Charm Person. This also means that they can now be healed by both Cure and Inflict spells. This ability does not change their HD size nor alter their ability scores.

Lethal Vapors(Sp) At 5th level, a Blighter gains the ability to use Cloudkill at will.

Antilife Shell(Su): At 6th level, a Blighter is under the effects of a continuous Antilife Shell

Corrosive Vapors(Sp) Acid Fog at will

Horrid Wilting (Sp) I bet you can guess which Spell a blighter gets to use at-will at 8th level.

Destruction (Sp) I ran out of pithy flavor text before the prior entry. Destruction at will

Hellwasp Plague (Sp) This is just like Creeping Doom, but replace each instance of "centipede" in that text with "hellwasp". At will.

I also found this thread: http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=52299

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:25 am

I have to say, I really like You Lost Me's alternate Blighter, especially the reworking of preparing spells! I will definitely use this when I design a Blighter villain!

icyshadowlord · Post by **icyshadowlord** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:15 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Why do 'fallen' PrCs force you to start over with a whole new spellcasting progression? That has never worked in the history of ever.

Why don't they just let you resume your old spellcasting progression but hold you to your new oaths?

Because someone more influential than you or me (don't ask me who, I don't know nor do I care) thought it was an excellent idea to use a stupid mechanic like that, and everyone else happened to listen. And as with most much-needed changes, a fix to this thing is unsurprisingly either ignored or opposed to by most of the non-Den people.

Then again, I don't know which TTRPG (or which D&D edition) started that shit, so yeah.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:04 pm

Why thank you, sir. I have done the same--one of the things to keep in mind is that a true wizard-level blighter needs a houseruled version of Natural Spell at those higher levels. I'd run over and change it myself, but nobody really cares about the Gaming Den's version and I'm banned on Giant.