Café de Nuit

I've only recently made the transition from 3E to 3.5, and I've just picked up the Complete series. After giving them a look, I was wondering if anyone has made much use of the alternate base classes in their Ravenloft games?
At first glance, the Favoured Soul and War Mage seem totally inappropriate for Ravenloft. On the other hand, the Scout seems pretty inoffensive and the Swashbuckler fits right in. Warlock and Hexblade present some interesting possibilities, but some concerns as well, such as determining how invocations are affected by Ravenloft's altered magic, and whether Powers Checks are required for any of either class's abilities. Samurai, Ninja, Shugenja, and Wu Jen are of course tailor-made for Rokushima Taiyoo, but probably won't get much play elsewhere. And I'm totally torn about the Spellthief and Spirit Shaman.
What do you think about the new base classes as they relate to Ravenloft, and how have they seen play in your own campaigns?

The favored soul IMHO is too paladin-y. I have allowed the hexblade, the warlock, the spirit shaman, the scout and the swashbuckler comfortably in my RL games. The warmage seems to have little use, although I've used it just once in a Dead Man's Campaign adventure. The spellthief I have yet to test.

Check out the Quoth the Raven series; I have detailed the Favored Soul, Hexblade, Samurai, Shugenja, Spirit Shaman, and Swashbuckler in Ravenloft in game terms.

As for story terms, I see no reason why there couldn't be any of those classes in the Demiplane. Samurai and Shugenja have definately originated in Rokushima Taiyoo, but there's no reason that Falkovnia couldn't have some Samurai there following Drakov. Remember, just because a character is a samurai doesn't mean he has to wear oriental clothes and armor.

The Favored Soul is just another type of Cleric. They don't have to be good anymore than they don't have to be evil. The Hexblade fits right in to the setting, along with the Spirit Shaman and Swashbuckler.

I have submitted an article to QtR13 detailing the Complete Arcane classes of Warlock, Warmage, and Wu Jen. And I'm working on the Complete Adventurer detailing the Ninja, Scout, and Spellthief.

I think the Spirit Shaman can fit into Rokushima Taiyoo pretty well as a "Priest of the Kami".

I don't own any of the complete books, but I've glanced over the classes and think:

Swashbuckler and Scout slip in beautifully.

The 'Oriental' classes (Samurai, Shugenja, Wu Jen, Ninja) would be at home in Rokushima.

The Spirit Shaman fills the niche of the Souragne bocoru nicely.

John once mentioned on RPG.net that he would consider using Warlocks for the Three Hags. I'd be inclined to tweak their flavor and use them for hags and witches.

The Hexblade, Warmage, Favored Soul, and Spellthief are iffy, IMO, in order from most likely to least likely appropriate.

Matthew L. Martin

The only class I allowed in my games is the Favored Soul...
HEAVILY remade to make it more like a "clerical sorcerer" and less a "sorcerous cleric".
IMC, the only religion that can generate favored souls is that of Hala.
Usually, Witches are Sorcerers/Favored Souls, while Warlocks are Wizards/Clerics.