Starting a Favored Soul

Overview
Favoured Souls are capable of fulfilling some of the MMO archetypes:
 * Healing - Favored souls are excellent healers with a large SP pool and good mobility (wings). By taking empower healing, quicken, and all four tiers of enhanced life magic, you can keep the party healed in any situation.
 * DPS - Favored Souls are middle-of-the-road for melee DPS. Fighters and their sub-classes will be better melee fighters, and arcane casters can do more damage with offensive spells. But favored souls are able to do two things our of three at the same time: healing, melee, or offensive casting.
 * Crowd Control - Favored souls are able to cast CC spells, which are effective up to mid-levels in offensive casting -builds. End-game CC as a favored soul takes significant investment and relies on one or two spells. Namely: Greater Command and Soundburst.
 * Damage Mitigation / Support - Favored souls can buff well, thanks to spells like Freedom of Movement, Energy Resistance, Protection from Evil, and True Seeing.

Types of Favored Souls
As one of the newer character classes, there is less consensus as to what spells and abilities a Favored Soul should focus on. Most fall into the same broad categories as Clerics:
 * Generalist - Able to fight, cast, heal, and buff. Others will do each of these better, but you can do all well.
 * Offensive Caster - Offensive casting usually means evokers. Evoker favored souls are highly mobile, kiting monsters through blade barrier, and able to dish out many AoE spells.
 * Melee Favored Soul - Melee favored souls sacrifice offensive casting (but not healing) in preference for a more in-your-face approach.
 * Nannybot - Nannybot is a build that focus on the traditional "stay back and heal" role. Not recommended, since after maximizing healing output there is still plenty to spend.

Race
Drow: Dwarf: Elf: Halfling: Human: Warforged: Half-Elf:
 * Pros:
 * Spell-Resistance to non-damaging spells
 * +2 DEX for filling the Dexterity bonus of medium armor
 * +2 INT for one more skill point per level
 * +2 CHA for 29 more Spell points at level 20
 * Automatic proficiency in Rapier, Shortsword, & Shuriken; racial enhancements to improve attack & damage with shortsword stacks with Vulkoor feats
 * Cons
 * -2 CON means fewer Hit Points usually
 * Pros:
 * +2 CON for more Hit Points, can be further increased with racial enhancements
 * Racial HP enhancements (up to +40)
 * Racial melee enhancements to improve axe, shield, and armor use
 * Cons:
 * -2 CHA means 29 fewer Spell points at level 20
 * Pros:
 * +2 DEX for filling the Dexterity bonus of medium armor
 * Automatic proficiency in Longsword, Rapier & Bows; racial enhancements to improve attack & damage with longsword/longbow stacks with Silver Flame & Sovereign Host feats.
 * Cons:
 * -2 CON means fewer Hit Points usually
 * Pros:
 * +2 DEX for filling the Dexterity bonus of medium armor
 * +1 AC
 * +1 To Hit
 * +1 base general bonus to saving throws, more available via enhancements
 * Dragonmark to allow healing without using spellpoints
 * Cons:
 * -2 STR
 * 3/4 the carrying capacity of a character with similar STR.
 * Pros:
 * Bonus feat at 1st level
 * +4 skill points for 1st level and +1 per level afterwards.
 * Can take 1 extra wisdom and charisma point as enhancements
 * Human Versatility adds to To Hit, Damage, Saves, AC or Skills for 20 seconds per use.
 * Cons:
 * Pros:
 * Immunity to some spells and spell effects
 * Can follow the Lord of Blades and gain Greatsword proficiency, which combines well with Warforged racial enhancements to two handed fighting
 * +2 CON for more Hit Points
 * Cons:
 * -2 WIS, Favored Soul's offensive spellcasting stat
 * -2 CHA, means 29 fewer Spell points at level 20
 * Healing spells cast on self only heal for 1/2 normal
 * Pros:
 * Can take 1 extra wisdom and charisma point as enhancements (same as human).
 * Human Versatility adds to To Hit, Damage, Saves, AC or Skills for 20 seconds per use.
 * Dilettantes allow you to further customize your character.
 * Counted as a human + an elf, main-class + dilettante class when using equipment. E.g: with wizard dilettante you will be able to use many arcane scrolls and wands.
 * Cons:
 * Compared to human, misses out on extra feat and faster skill progression.
 * Visually unappealing.

The most typical builds are human/half-elf offensive casters and warforged melee, due to their bonuses. Halflings are less common and Dwarves seldom seen.

Stats
Notice that stats can be raised by tomes, from which +1 and +2 are commonly available in the auction house.


 * Strength - Useful for the melee build, who should max it (18). Rarely needed for the Caster or Nanny builds, usually set only high enough (10-12) to prevent becoming burdened with encumbrance
 * Dexterity - Rarely raised beyond 12 on creation for Nanny or Offensive Caster builds and often left at 8. 12 allows maximum armor class, from the best medium armor, with a +6 Dexterity item and +2 tome. Melees may want to reach 17 to be eligible for Two Weapon Fighting (usually starting at 15 and reading a +2 tome).
 * Constitution - Useful for all characters, classes, and builds. Typically set to 14.
 * Intelligence - Rarely increased on creation for any Favored Soul build. If raised at all, typically only done to a 9 so that the player can use a +1 tome for additional skill points.
 * Wisdom - Primary stat for an offensive caster, who will typically max this stat out. The Generalist and Nanny -builds will usually stop 2 to 4 points short of maxed in order to have more points available for other stats.
 * Charisma - For each two points you will gain 29 spell points. A minimum of 19, after items and enhancements, is needed to cast level 9 divine spells. Starting with 12-14 is common.

Skills
Favored souls usually start with little intelligence, so expect to gain only 2-4 skills points per level. Start with INT of 9 and use a +1 INT tome at level 3, which will grant you extra points. The cost of the tome might be too high in the auction house for a new player.
 * Concentration: Whenever you take damage, you have to make a roll. If the roll fails, whatever you were casting will fail, wasting SP and time. Even if you take Quicken, it helps with casting from scrolls. Keep maxed.
 * Diplomacy: Causes a roll, if successful, makes a single monster find another target. Because the roll is DC based, this is an all-or-nothing skill: the total should be around 40 at level 20. Since favored souls are highly mobile, this skill is not needed.
 * Heal: As a healing capable class, favored souls do not need this. The extra healing, per skill point, is also too low to matter.
 * Jump: Being able to jump higher is situational beneficial, such as when you are surrounded by monsters. Acquire Morah's Belt later in the game to give yourself a near permanent +30 bonus. 40 points is the maximum for this skill. With the belt + Cannith Boots of Propulsion any points spent will be a waste.
 * Balance: Many monsters can trip. As a caster, you more often than not fail the strength check and become helpless, which is often enough to kill you. With balance, you may get up a moment before the final blow.
 * Haggle: While not useful in combat, haggle gives better prices for vendor trash. However, later in the game platinum is plenty.
 * Use magic device: While a cross-class skill, this one allows a favored soul to use arcane scrolls, wands, and other items normally restricted from them. To get the maximum potential out of this requires some planning.

Presuming there are 3 skill points (10 int) to spend per level, a fail-safe build is to keep concentration and balance maxed, and use whatever is left to haggle. Later on, after your first true reincarnation you may want to consider switching haggle and balance to use magic device, depending on your build and if you find the arcane buff spells worth it.

Feats
The following feats are worth considering:
 * Empower Healing Spell - Taken by virtually all Nannybot builds and some other builds. More efficient for enhancing healing than Empower Spell and Maximize Spell.
 * Empower Spell - Typically taken by Offensive Casters and some Generalist to enhance offensive spells, such as Blade Barrier and Cometfall, but also for mass cure spells. Heal and Mass Heal are not affected. The SP cost increase can be brought down by investing points in efficient empower spell enhancement line.
 * Extend Spell - Taken by some Favored Souls at low level, its usefulness declines in later levels.
 * Improved Critical - Taken by some Generalist and most Melee builds.
 * Maximize Spell - Typically taken by Offensive Casters, and some Generalists, primarily to enhance offensive and mass cure spells. This feat is also taken to maximize heals per SP, and is very efficient when combined with empower or empower heal
 * Toughness - Useful for all classes due to the 2 lines of HP enhancements it allows. Is usually only dropped on nannybot or offensive caster builds, and even then its usually worth the feat slot for those builds.
 * Mental Toughness - Taken by some Nannybots for extra spell points; You should be able to find a more useful feat though.
 * Spell Focus - May be used by Offensive Casters. Higher spell DC makes it tougher for enemies to save against them.
 * Spell Penetration - Not a common feat for any other than Offensive Casters. Past lives with passive spell penetration feats (Favored Soul and Wizard) make these feats less important.
 * Quicken Spell - Important feat for all favored souls, who cast while taking damage. Expensive at lower levels, so usually taken only later on. Makes casting faster and prevents spell casting failures due to damage, which is very common at higher levels.

Beginner Equipment:Offensive Caster
These are the items you should aim to acquire for levels 1-6. Note that Chronoscope, the Red Fens, Sentinels of Stormreach and Threnal are adventure packs, so those have to be bought first for non-VIPs.
 * Armor: Mithral full-plate armor +2. Switch to Elfcrafted Robe later on.
 * Weapon: Any weapon with the highest "potency" available.
 * Shield: +2 adamantine medium shield, or any generic Spell Penetration or Evocation Focus weapon. At lower levels, Invulnerability is a great suffix.
 * Boots: Any pair of boots with +xx% striding. Switch to Gyroscopic Boots of Striding later on.
 * Head: Helm of Frost (Chronoscope). Switch to Teraza's Sight later.
 * Hands: Maenya's Fists, any pair of gloves with +xx strength
 * Bracers: Scorched Bracers (Chronoscope); monk splashes may prefer the Jidz-Tet'ka from Sentinels.
 * Belt: Disease/Poison immunity belt of light/medium/heavy Fortification.
 * Trinket: Pearl of Power X, Dusk Heart, Greater Cunning Trinket (Crystal Cove)
 * Cloak: Envenomed Cloak (Chronoscope), Cloak of Resistance +4
 * Ring 1: Katra's Wit, Ring of Fire/lightning Resistance
 * Ring 2: Ring of Fire/Lightning Resistance, Ring of the Mire
 * Necklace: Necklace of Disease/Poison Immunity, Shaman's Beads (the Red Fens)
 * Consumables: Wand of Neutralize Poison, 100x healing scrolls, 100x Raise Dead scrolls, restoration scrolls, 100x Heroes' Feast scrolls.