Dry lich is almost-certainly not worth delaying any level as much as the template’s LA +4 would have you do, but even if you’re forced to take it, you can still (kind of) take advantage.ĭepending on how much this forces you to delay that last level of walker in the waste, this may make the entire proposition a waste of time. LA does nothing immediately-it only affects when your next level-up is. They very well may have meant for you to take that LA.Īs for whether or not the class is “worth it” with that LA, that depends: do you have a decent sense of when your last level will be? Time your final level of walker in the waste to land on it. What they intended that combination to mean is just not at all clear. The only pieces of data that we have are that they printed a prestige class that gives a template that cannot be gained any other way, and then gave that template an LA.

Your DM has to make a call on that, but he should do so based on what he thinks is best for the game, not what he believes to be RAW-he should do that in general (though I would argue that there is some inherent value in sticking to RAW when possible, this value is definitely not worth making a ruling that makes everyone at the table unhappy), but particularly in a case like this when RAW is so unclear.Īlso, for the record, “RAI” is absolutely not any clearer. Ultimately, nothing in the game defines precisely what it means for a prestige class to give you a template. The strangeness of walker in the waste’s LA despite being only available through the prestige class is the only reason anyone would even consider the possibility that it’s not free. Prior to the walker in the waste, it was always presumed that prestige classes that grant templates give them for “free.” Clearly, dragon disciple (the original such prestige class) is not remotely worth it otherwise, since you already have many of the features of the template. On the other hand, walker in the waste is relatively easy to enter it is definitely worth burning a feat on Heat Endurance (particularly when you consider there are half-decent races that get it as a bonus feat).Īs for LA, RAW is not nearly as clear as you suggest. Taking dry lich means not taking one of those, and if that’s what we’re comparing walker in the waste against, then the answer is “no.” Is it worth 10 levels? You would have to define “worth.” There are more powerful prestige classes that you could take instead (incantatrix, initiate of the sevenfold veil, aboleth mage, illithid savant).

Dry lich is a very powerful template, that you cannot get any other way.

3.5 initiate of the sevenfold veil