The Gossip Board

[Sierra]

If you guessed that the Lady engineered much of it, you're correct. Don't get me wrong, she didn't have Mari's family killed nor did she know about them until Nik fell in with her. She's not psychic.  What the Lady did do is get in contact with Ami's superior, made nice and offered some shiny bribes as well as the location of the demon outpost her regiment was sent to attack. In return she bought Ami, as well as having her superior program her to believe Mari was Mari and to go along with the entire thing.  If you wondered why Ami adapted so swiftly to the concept of being gated in, that's why.

Fucking knew it. Of course, it accomplished nothing to actually confront her about it. Bringing that up during the conversation is something I can only attribute to fatigue late in the session.

Mostly what I figured, in regards to Ami. Was looking forward to deprogramming her, figured Mari's persistence there would at some point evoke Rogue a little and didn't care.

[Sierra]

As far as the Lady goes, I was getting hints near the end that there was more going on with her personally, but first and foremost was always the very obvious fact that her primary interest was in exploiting us. Hard to get past that. Mari was ready to insist that everyone else leave her behind and get the hell away from the creep after the plague arc was over, assuming nothing disrupted the status quo between the group and the Lady.

Out of curiosity, how much did you have planned for the undiscovered cards? I forget how many were left out there.

Who was that dude who bitched Mari out in the ghost of Christmas future sequence?

[Anastasia]

Fucking knew it. Of course, it accomplished nothing to actually confront her about it. Bringing that up during the conversation is something I can only attribute to fatigue late in the session.

Mostly what I figured, in regards to Ami. Was looking forward to deprogramming her, figured Mari's persistence there would at some point evoke Rogue a little and didn't care.

The Lady wasn't entire subtle about it, but she had good, plausible deniability. That was enough.

As far as the Lady goes, I was getting hints near the end that there was more going on with her personally, but first and foremost was always the very obvious fact that her primary interest was in exploiting us. Hard to get past that. Mari was ready to insist that everyone else leave her behind and get the hell away from the creep after the plague arc was over, assuming nothing disrupted the status quo between the group and the Lady.

Out of curiosity, how much did you have planned for the undiscovered cards? I forget how many were left out there.

Who was that dude who bitched Mari out in the ghost of Christmas future sequence?

Yeah, the Lady was a slow burn. Set things up, make her more human and yet have her ruthlessly try and break the party, keep the fires stoked as you get through the arc.

Not much. I usually worked them out whenever you were about to go to a new plane. I had a few bits of planning and sorting, but mostly I played them by ear. Limbo works great with that sort of random bullshitting.

A person from a possible version of Mari's later life. A ghost of what could be.

[Anastasia]

Lich stuff

Yeah, there's a lot of in between results and messed that could result from it.  I mainly highlighted the extremes since they're the most evocative. To your second point, yes, she never showed herself as a true baby-eating evil. This was on purpose. Certainly she did horrible things and experimented with forbidden undeath. Nonetheless, she knew how to manipulate your perceptions and appear as the lesser of two evils.  She wasn't grandiose in wanting to damn souls or unleash a plague onto the world. She was a quieter, mortal evil.

We touched on this earlier, and... look, I'd be able to take the whole 'the people you face are crazy nutjobs, you can't apply normal methods to their thinking!' if we also faced some people who weren't. Were any enemies intended to be, if not smart, at least somewhat savvy or sensible, and without crippling personality flaws that make them unable to function as people, let alone capable antagonists?

Offhand? Michum, Granny Tam(Eccentric but not insane), Kikula, harpy-bitch, Ursagel? Probably more if I sit down and think about it. Not all of those are antagonists, but that makes the point. There were plenty of intelligent, sensible folks out there.

You need to have less rape, implied rape, and weaponized babies in your games. Unless your goal is this! in which case go ahead by all means, but I don't think it was. The subject matter requires some gravity, you know? Otherwise it will reduce me, at least, to either fits of laughter or the rolling of the eyes. I think you can evoke horror, or at least grimness, without resorting to that sort of gorn. If you're gonna play such harsh atrocities, it's imperative you don't do so in a way that's funny (gestaloth) or tacky (Ami's thing, though since it didn't happen IC I have no idea how you'd have presented it.) If it might be, I think it's better to skip it.

Eh. One hand I think you have a point, on the other I think we just have differing tastes on horror and how to present these things. I don't think the gestaloth was the least bit funny, for example. Ami would've presented it as something that happened, cold and clinical. The horror of it is realizing what happened and how.

To be honest I think you're taking two cases way out of context.

Actually, that's a good question- how did all of that go down?

Nasty little war for awhile, the Xorn are pushed back but not eliminated. It degenerates into lower scale guerrilla actions while various sides fan the flames. What happens there depended on if you guys got involved or not.

[Zephyrus]

I especially enjoyed my time in Shivra and "Cloud City"! When we were all flying about and stuff, Nikk took a great deal of pleasure in it and let a small remnant of his repressed childhood bleed out.

Stuff I'd Really Like To Know:

1. What was up with that little boy that the Lich supposedly took on as another apprentice? Was that a ruse? Was she really keeping him out of sight somewhere in her place? Did she plan to rear him as Nikkolai's replacement?

2. I admit that the thought of redeeming her never really crossed my mind. Nikk hated her far too much to even consider the possibility. Would she have been content with me becoming her apprentice in truth? Would she have seen me as a surrogate son? Or someone to keep an eye on in case I stabbed her in the back?

3. Calariel is something that's also intrigued me quite a bit. What would she have done had she met me in my undead state? Would there have been a future there (with more solar nookie!) if I had stayed undead or even attempted to become alive again?

4. How did the Lich break my contract with Balinbomb? The way that some NPCs talked, getting into a bargain with the Fey pretty much means that nothing, not even death or other various circumstances, will keep them from holding you to your end of the bargain. I figure she must have had something epic up her sleeve to get him to back off.

5. Nikkolai's heritage was also something I wanted to explore more in depth. Remember that whole Fire Bloodline thing? What would that have led to? Discovering that I had nubile fire nymphs for ancestors? I was a distant relative of a powerful elemental? Some naughty dragon did the horizontal mambo with a great, great^6-grandmother and left me with an affinity for fire? I'm curious.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. The Abyss was equal parts annoying, fun, and epic. Adail WTFPWNing that dragon was one of the few highlights of the game. I wish I could have seem him rock more. Granny Tam has my vote for Best NPC.

More random thoughts could be forthcoming as I think of them.

[Anastasia]

1. What was up with that little boy that the Lich supposedly took on as another apprentice? Was that a ruse? Was she really keeping him out of sight somewhere in her place? Did she plan to rear him as Nikkolai's replacement?

He was another opportunity, the lich getting her hands on another apprentice/victim. He wasn't directly connected to her plans right now, she kept him well hidden away. She had various plans for him, but none of them were solidified yet. Her main focus was on Nikkolai.

2. I admit that the thought of redeeming her never really crossed my mind. Nikk hated her far too much to even consider the possibility. Would she have been content with me becoming her apprentice in truth? Would she have seen me as a surrogate son? Or someone to keep an eye on in case I stabbed her in the back?

She wanted Nikkolai to suffer. Not for stealing her phylactery, though this is an insult, but for having what she craved so much. She wanted to break Nikkolai down, make him miserably suffer for eternity and all that nasty shit.  As long as her motives don't change and her mask is in place, that's her goal.  If you could breech this through hook or crook...mmm.

It would depend on how you did and how she ended up after the fact. It's hard to say, since it's so damn dependent on how things would have resolved.

3. Calariel is something that's also intrigued me quite a bit. What would she have done had she met me in my undead state? Would there have been a future there (with more solar nookie!) if I had stayed undead or even attempted to become alive again?

Calariel firmly believes that you need to solve your own problems and grow on your own. That said, if you came to her as a necropolitian twisted by the Lady, she'd change you back if you came seeking restoration  If you embraced your undead nature, it wouldn't go so well.

4. How did the Lich break my contract with Balinbomb? The way that some NPCs talked, getting into a bargain with the Fey pretty much means that nothing, not even death or other various circumstances, will keep them from holding you to your end of the bargain. I figure she must have had something epic up her sleeve to get him to back off.

Limited Wish plus a successful opposed caster check against Balinbomb.

5. Nikkolai's heritage was also something I wanted to explore more in depth. Remember that whole Fire Bloodline thing? What would that have led to? Discovering that I had nubile fire nymphs for ancestors? I was a distant relative of a powerful elemental? Some naughty dragon did the horizontal mambo with a great, great^6-grandmother and left me with an affinity for fire? I'm curious.

I was going to go with an elemental several generations back, maybe the nymphs to explain Nik's charisma. Either one would've worked.

[Carthrat]

To be honest I think you're taking two cases way out of context.

With Ami it is possible, since it never happened so I can't judge it. (I think it would've been more effective for it to be the one thing that actually gets her to show fear or horror, because horror thrives on the unexpected and Ami was set up to be pretty much fearless. Her being callous about is what we were used to at that point, though one could contest that if someone is capable of being offhand about such a terrible thing, it has some very nasty implications for what they consider normal.)

Nonetheless, try to understand that I wouldn't bring this up unless I thought it was true, and I'm not lying about how the whole scene made me react, so I don't think you can say I'm taking it out of context. Yes, objectively, the sort of shit we confronted would be pretty terrible to come across, but that alone doesn't make it capable of evoking the emotions I think were the aim there.

As always, I can't accept 'he/she's undead! Must be evil!' without some clear sign that it is an inherent in-world truth. Nikkolai was undead. He didn't seem too evil. Functioned pretty normally, too! I think you really need to attach some inherent drawback to the undead condition that means it's impossible to be or create an undead creature without performing an evil act, or constantly performing evil acts.

[Anastasia]

With Ami it is possible, since it never happened so I can't judge it. (I think it would've been more effective for it to be the one thing that actually gets her to show fear or horror, because horror thrives on the unexpected and Ami was set up to be pretty much fearless. Her being callous about is what we were used to at that point, though one could contest that if someone is capable of being offhand about such a terrible thing, it has some very nasty implications for what they consider normal.)

You hit it dead on. I wanted it to be a moment where you nod, think about it and go 'oh...OH!'. A delayed reaction bit of horror about the sort of things Baator is capable of in it's endless kowtowing to authority.

Nonetheless, try to understand that I wouldn't bring this up unless I thought it was true, and I'm not lying about how the whole scene made me react, so I don't think you can say I'm taking it out of context. Yes, objectively, the sort of shit we confronted would be pretty terrible to come across, but that alone doesn't make it capable of evoking the emotions I think were the aim there.

As always, I can't accept 'he/she's undead! Must be evil!' without some clear sign that it is an inherent in-world truth. Nikkolai was undead. He didn't seem too evil. Functioned pretty normally, too! I think you really need to attach some inherent drawback to the undead condition that means it's impossible to be or create an undead creature without performing an evil act, or constantly performing evil acts.

Nikkolai was undead and being driven to evil by it. From his PM about it:

This is addition to what was posted on the Gossip Board. This part is not for public dissemination!

1. Your soul is dead and cold. Your alignment shifts chaotic neutral(chaotic evil tendencies.) A cold, bitter emotionless state continually creeps onto you, freezing away joy, happiness and the verve to live.

2. You lose the spell good hope. This will be elaborated on IC next week.

3. You gain the following special quality.

Shattered Will (Ex)

The Lady of the Green Kirtle has remade Nikkolai in a profane image. During this his will was broken, trounced and left asunder. Nikkolai suffers a -3 penalty to any attack roll, saving throw, ability check, caster level check or damage roll against the Lady of the Green Kirtle. This is -not- known IC nor is it to be posted publically . Keep this to yourself and remember it, modifying any rolls that it comes up on.

How this executed was another matter - after this session I was going to talk to NIk and give him a few nudges about it, but well...you know. Game over. I did want it to be a slow corrupting creep, not an obvious change into pure batshit evil. That's now how the Lady works.

[Yulia]

HEY LISTEN!

I'm going to miss saying that. It's sad that games end, but Master says that's what happens in life.  I want to say thanks for all the good times and hope we'll met again some day! No matter what all of you think, even!

*Eyes Knight*

*Quickly flies away*

PS: Drac or Rat, post the last session's log?

[Sierra]

We'll miss you too, Yulia.

[Yulia]

We never got to get drunk together, Mari!

Life isn't fair.

[Yulia]

I was curious how Yulia's build would look later on, so I did a few versions of her. This is the first, with her having gained seven levels. She's finished Combat Medic, giving her lots of bonus add ons when she heals. Oh, and it gives evasion. Score.

She's a strong healer and status curing machine by this point. She mixes in a little bit of buffing for good measure, but is a mostly self sufficient mending machine. The way this party was going, this is filling a sorely needed niche. I suspect she'd compete with Adail for healing, winning that battle and allowing him to focus on a fully martial spell selection. Her main flaw is HP; 87 HP around level 14-15 is dangerously low. Evasion and incorporeal mitigate the worst of this, but if a nasty monsters gets it's hands on her? Bad times.

By this point Yulia's offensive potential is near nil. Magic missile is still free damage, but her turns are better spent tending to the party or buffing them to do grievous bodily harm.

Yulia, courre favored soul 7/combat medic 5

Tiny Outsider (Good, Chaotic, Eladrin)
Hit dice: 9d8+18+5d6+10 (87 HP)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 20ft, fly 60ft (perfect)
Armor Class: 27 (+2 size, +5 dex, +4 natural, +5 armor, +1 dodge) (+2 deflection vs evil)
Base attack/Grapple: +9/-1
Attack: Longbow+21 (1d4+1d6+1d4)
Full Attack:  Longbow+21/+16 (1d4+1d6+1d4)
Space/Reach: 2 1/2ft/0ft
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, spells.
Special Qualities: Alternate form, eladrin subtype, immunity to electricity and petrification, magic circle against evil, resistance to fire, acid and cold 10, tongues, healing kicker(DC 24 sanctuary, +5 competence to reflex, maximized aid), defensive casting+5, field healer, evasion, spontaneous heal.
Saves: Fort+11, Ref+20, Will+10 (+4 vs poison)
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 19
Skills: Concentration+16, Diplomacy+11, Escape Artist+17, Heal+10, Hide+29, Knowledge(Religion)+16, Knowledge(The Planes)+16, Listen+5, Move Silently+21, Sense Motive+5, Spot+5, Survival+0 (+2 on other planes), Use Rope+7(+9 bindings).
Feats: Dodge(1), Augment Healing(3), Weapon Focus(Longbow)(FS3), Touch of Healing(6), Combat Casting(9), Healer's Luck(12), Mobility(CM4)
Gear: Tiny longbow+2, shocking and screaming; wooden holy symbol, mithral breastplate+3, belt of constitution+2 and charisma+2.
Alignment: Chaotic Good.

Spells:

Yulia casts as a 12th level favored soul. (13th level for conjuration(healing) spells.)

Spell charges:

6/7/7/7/7/5/3

Spells known:

0: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Resistance, Virtue.
1: Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Lesser Vigor, Obscuring Mist, Ray of Hope, Resurgence.
2: Close Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, Delay Poison, Elation, Lesser Restoration, Remove Paralysis.
3: Cure Serious Wounds, Heart's Ease, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Remove Nausea.
4:  Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Neutralize Poison, Restoration.
5: Break Enchantment, Chaav's Laugh, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Raise Dead.
6: Celestial Blood, Heal, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds.

Spell-like abilities: At will-Dancing lights, detect evil, detect magic, faerie fire; 3/day-Magic missile, sleep. 1/day-haste. Caster level 12th. The save DCs are charisma based.

Alternate Form (Su)

A courre can assume the form of an incorporeal ball of light at will. This transformation counts as a standard action. In this form, the coure can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities and supernatural abilities. In this form, the coure has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source, except for force effects or attacks made with ghost touch weapons. A coure in this form can pass through solid objects, but not force effects, at will. While incorporeal, its attacks ignore natural armor, armor and shields, but deflection bonuses and force effects work normally against them. In this form, a courre always moves silently and cannot be heard with listen checks if it doesn't wish to be. While incorporeal, the courre sheds light if it wishes, providing illumination with any radius it wishes up to 30 feet. Changing the amount of light it sheds is a free action that the coure can perform once per round.

Magic Circle against Evil (Su)

A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds the courre, as the magic circle against evil spell, caster level 2nd.

Skills: Courres have a +4 racial bonus on hide and move silently checks.

Touch of Healing (Su)

As long as you have a conjuration (healing) spell of 2nd level or higher available to cast, you can spend a standard action to touch a target creature and heal 3 points of damage per level of the highest-level conjuration (healing) spell you have available to cast. You can use this ability only on a target that has been reduced to one-half or fewer of its total hit points. The effect ends once you've healed the subject up to half its normal maximum hit points. This ability has no effect on creatures that can't be healed by cure spells. As a secondary benefit, you gain a +1 competence bonus to your caster level when casting conjuration (healing) spells.

[Yulia]

Yulia, pre-epic.  At this point she's an insanely good healer - dedicating her spell selection to healing makes her close to how an video game RPG healer works. She's not all that optimized, I avoided another PrC and stuck to pure favored soul. Despite that the usefulness of high level magic is obvious.

To get to this point the party would have to be in low epic. This isn't a contingency I was planning on, though I suppose anything is possible.  Her HP has risen thanks to a +6 con booster, but her HP is relatively worse for the frame she's fighting in. Being splattered is a distinct concern for her, so some caution with how she fights is absolutely essential. Her saves are slightly shaky for the level, though superior resistance largely mitigates this problem.

She's not quite god-mode for the party, though she can get them out of any problem short of death+trap the soul shenanigans. At this level those tactics are entirely valid.

Yulia, courre favored soul 13/combat medic 5

Tiny Outsider (Good, Chaotic, Eladrin)
Hit dice: 15d8+30+5d6+10+20 (146 HP)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 20ft, fly 60ft (perfect)
Armor Class: 29 (+2 size, +5 dex, +4 natural, +7 armor, +1 dodge) (+2 deflection vs evil)
Base attack/Grapple: +13/+3
Attack: Longbow+27 (1d4+4+1d6+1d4)
Full Attack:  Longbow+27/+22/+17 (1d4+4+1d6+1d4)
Space/Reach: 2 1/2ft/0ft
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, spells.
Special Qualities: Alternate form, eladrin subtype, immunity to electricity and petrification, magic circle against evil, resistance to sonic, fire, acid and cold 10, tongues, healing kicker(DC 24 sanctuary, +5 competence to reflex, maximized aid), defensive casting+5, field healer, evasion, spontaneous heal.
Saves: Fort+16, Ref+23, Will+13 (+4 vs poison)
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 24, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 25
Skills: Concentration+19, Diplomacy+14, Escape Artist+17, Heal+10, Hide+34, Knowledge(Religion)+21, Knowledge(The Planes)+21, Listen+5, Move Silently+34, Sense Motive+5, Spot+5, Survival+0 (+2 on other planes), Use Rope+7(+9 bindings).
Feats: Dodge(1), Augment Healing(3), Weapon Focus(Longbow)(FS3), Touch of Healing(6), Combat Casting(9), Healer's Luck(12), Mobility(CM4), Toughness(15), Quicken Spell-Like Ability(Magic Missile)(18), Weapon Specialization(Longbow)(FS12)
Gear: Tiny longbow+4, shocking and screaming; wooden holy symbol, mithral breastplate+5, belt of constitution+6 and charisma+6.
Alignment: Chaotic Good.

Spells:

Yulia casts as a 18th level favored soul. (19th level for conjuration(healing) spells.)

Spell charges:

6/8/8/7/7/7/7/6/5/3

Spells known:

0: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Resistance, Virtue.
1: Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Lesser Vigor, Obscuring Mist, Ray of Hope, Resurgence.
2: Close Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, Delay Poison, Elation, Lesser Restoration, Remove Paralysis.
3: Cure Serious Wounds, Heart's Ease, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Remove Nausea.
4:  Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Neutralize Poison, Panacea, Restoration.
5: Break Enchantment, Chaav's Laugh, Greater Vigor, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Raise Dead, Summon Bralani Eladrin.
6: Celestial Blood, Greater Dispel Magic, Heal, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds, Superior Resistance, Vigorous Circle.
7: Mass Cure Serious Wounds, Greater Restoration, Mass Restoration, Regenerate, Resurrection.
8: Cloak of Chaos, Holy Aura, Mass Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Death Ward.
9: Mass Heal, Miracle, True Resurrection.

Spell-like abilities: At will-Dancing lights, detect evil, detect magic, faerie fire; 3/day-Magic missile, sleep. 1/day-haste. Caster level 18th. The save DCs are charisma based.

Alternate Form (Su)

A courre can assume the form of an incorporeal ball of light at will. This transformation counts as a standard action. In this form, the coure can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities and supernatural abilities. In this form, the coure has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source, except for force effects or attacks made with ghost touch weapons. A coure in this form can pass through solid objects, but not force effects, at will. While incorporeal, its attacks ignore natural armor, armor and shields, but deflection bonuses and force effects work normally against them. In this form, a courre always moves silently and cannot be heard with listen checks if it doesn't wish to be. While incorporeal, the courre sheds light if it wishes, providing illumination with any radius it wishes up to 30 feet. Changing the amount of light it sheds is a free action that the coure can perform once per round.

Magic Circle against Evil (Su)

A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds the courre, as the magic circle against evil spell, caster level 2nd.

Skills: Courres have a +4 racial bonus on hide and move silently checks.

Touch of Healing (Su)

As long as you have a conjuration (healing) spell of 2nd level or higher available to cast, you can spend a standard action to touch a target creature and heal 3 points of damage per level of the highest-level conjuration (healing) spell you have available to cast. You can use this ability only on a target that has been reduced to one-half or fewer of its total hit points. The effect ends once you've healed the subject up to half its normal maximum hit points. This ability has no effect on creatures that can't be healed by cure spells. As a secondary benefit, you gain a +1 competence bonus to your caster level when casting conjuration (healing) spells.

[Anastasia]

Sidebar: The rest of the party at higher levels:

Nikkolai: Casting, casting, casting. A high level sorc will do okay enough. May have finally grabbed a PrC, maybe not. I figure he'd be slinging meteor swarms around and the like. Pyro, deals lots of fire damage, good HP for a wizard type.

Adail: Probably finish sacred fist and continue cleric. The combo of spellcasting and decent monk abilities works well for him. If he makes it into epic he'd want to pick up epic sacred fist, I'd imagine. Doesn't change much beyond having lots of magic to make his melee even deadlier. His AC slows down eventually, though magic buffing keeps it from falling lax.

Kamvakua: Finish Champion of Gwyn, go back to barb, hit epic champion of Gywn come 21. Sounds about right, his build don't change significantly by then. If anything it tapers off a little bit, due to his spells finishing up and monsters finally catching up with his trip modifiers. Probably ends up with a huge number of hit points, most of which are lost at an alarming rate. Probably runs Yulia out of diamonds more often than she'd like to think about.

Knight: Uuuuuuuuuuuh. Could pick up a couple of classes/PrCs. Knight, what were you going to aim for later on? She's harder to pin down since the deck could change her power scope radically. If she ever gained the full power of the deck for herself, she'd be akin to a demigod/demipower. Unless we're well into epic that means character retirement.  I don't see her making that choice, so...mmm. Dunno. Hadn't decided on the endgame mechanics of the deck.

Mari: OH SHIT IT'S A GIANT BEARDRAGON SNEAK ATTACK MACHINE!!!!!

That says it all, doesn't it?

[VySaika]

I would have tried to talk you into a Musteval Paragon class at some point, but yeah Adail would never really deviate from the Divine Casting/Punchy line. May have gone for more Monk over Cleric, largely for the BAB and because it fits his style better.