Are Fochlucan Lyrists Any Good In D&D 3.5?

In this video I talk about the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 prestige class from the Complete Adventurer, the Fochlucan Lyrist. I talk about what the Fochlucan Lyrist is, how to become a Fochlucan Lyrist, what the Fochlucan Lyrist gets, and how good the Fochlucan Lyrist is.

[ObatongoSensei]

Maybe you do not know, but this prestige class is the direct porting of the first bard class from the first Unearthed Arcana book for Advanced D&D 1st Edition, back in the eighties. It was also the very first prestige class in history, since you didn't start as a bard back then. You had to be a fighter, a thief and a druid before becoming a bard, taking at least some level in each class in a precise order.

And it was just as powerful as this one, in that it had two spell lists, pretty solid combat skills and the typical old school bardic abilities, including an at will charm on a percentage base.

The very main problem of trying to access this class is the multiclass penalty. You have to be a three-class multiclass just to be able to get all the requirements, so you have to choose wisely how to advance and in what classes at what time. Having at least one of the three classes as the favorite one can help, as does using another prestige class in place of one of them (but then it must be compatible with the demands of the fochlucan college).

Being part of the college has also its downsides, such as the minimum of 50 gp per month of donation to provide. As any other organization, it would also demand for quests and services here and there at times. And the lyrists are not welcomed everywhere.

On a more technical note, this class is an exemple of a "blender" prestige class, one that better mixes up the various aspects of a multiclass character. Other such classes are the mystic theurge, the eldritch knight (especially the Pathfinder version), the true necromancer (this one for a very focused multiclass).
It doesn't give much in terms of new abilities, but it boosts all that the multiclass already has and adds a couple extra nice touches.
Despite having double good spellcasting on top of good BAB, since it loses so much in all three in the first ten levels of the progression, that doesn't end up being unbalanced in the least. It still ends up better than any triple multiclass, of course, but if you manage to pull this out, you frankly deserve it.

[joaoguilhermeassim]

Hello, i really like your content and want your advice.
Im planning on playing as a bug themed Character in a campain my friend in going to DM, i know im gonna play that Bug prestige class from Book of Vile Darkness, but i dont know what base class to get, any suggestions? (I wanna be a non frontline caster that can hold its own in melee because of the bite ability on the prestige class)

[emrysdyn]

The pain I am in because none of my 5e friends want to abandon their path for a greater cause and learn 3.5

[Arekkusu]

Have you ever covered Gestalt characters before? I tried searching your channel, but couldn't find anything on the topic. An example build would be awesome too. With how 5e has been going downhill rapidly, I feel a resurgence of 3.5 is desparetly needed.

There are also not a lot of channels (at least that I've been able to find), that cover 3.5 or Gestalt characters. Most of them are from 6+ years ago, but nothing more recent. Your channel is the only one I've found that still uploads 3.5 related content on a regular basis, even if they are just shorts and not full videos.

[natehewett]

Yep, this is a grab bag of a class. I agree that it's very good all around except for the requirements to get into it.

There ARE ways to get around the druidic language requirement. You can theoretically learn druidic by learning it from an ex-druid (after all, they still know it and don't have a taboo from teaching it), or learning from a Loremaster - Loremasters get a language at level 4 and level 8, and there are no restrictions on which languages they can learn, and again, no taboo from teaching it.

And you're right that the last weird one is Evasion. That can be gotten from a couple of feats. Shape Soulmeld: Impulse Boots (this gives the character Uncanny Dodge as long as the meld is shaped) and Open Least Chakra: Feet (this allows you to bind the meld there to get Evasion).

Still a tricky class to get into.

[CH-bdjg]

I think I'd prefer a druid core for this, not a Bard core. that does invite some questions of "how do you get the skills", but able learner might solve that?

Bardic music on Druid brings Dragonfire Inspiration on Druid's summoning specialist core(Lions, with 4-6d6 damage on each pounce charge?). throw in some light bard casting, and you get a number of nice things to plug non-strengths of Druid, like buffing your non-animal allies, haste, and so on.

[Stone_Orchids]

I tried to build a gnome lirist, I love that character, the campaign ended before I could take the first level on the prestige class....

[Adelina-]

This is a Prestige Class you need to plan to play, it's powerful, but the prerequisites are crazy to attain.

[injashiran]

There are so many good 3.5 prestige classes, and this is one of them.. (since i am new to your channel, i have not watched all of your videos.) Other prestige classes i have played with great results; are: The enlightened fist, the rage mage, and the warshaper(the last one i combined with the natural born were tiger template) Can you make a video on these 3 prestige classes?