first time cleric needs to survive

I am new to d&d. I have played rp style games before but they were always of a sort which was more interested in having a good story and drinking lots of alcohol, than in stats and feats. to top it all off I have never played any sort of caster before. not even in an rp type game. I would be very interested in hearing what you guys have to say about building this character. it will be a 13th lvl cleric, specializing in healing, but we only have one character that can melee well so I may end up up close and personal fairly regularly. equiptment that could help in either of those areas would be nice too, but only stuff that I can buy fairly cheap, cause the DM probably wont give me much gold to start with. We can use pretty much any book. any good ideas out there for a newb?

I think you should not try to play D&D at level 13 as your very first game. There are too many things to juggle.

I have played a couple of games before, just never one this intensive on the rules. usualy it was more focused on what makes the story move forward. we mostly had to talk our way our of problems rather than fight and house rule was that you dont roll for diplomacy bluff or anything like that. instead you had to rp it. if you could convice the dm then it worked and if not you were screwed. in this new game it is a stricly by the books dungeon crawl with virtualy no conversations in character with anyone. so I am more learning a new style of play than a new game. the biggest problem is that I have never played a caster before. I always stuck with melle classes until now. but the group is desperatly in need of a healer so I am going to try it out.

Yeah, starting at level 1 is a good way to introduce you to the game. You won't get bogged down by all your spell options... in fact whatever spells you choose will likely be converted to cure light wounds for your friends. However, if you really want to start out as a level 13 cleric, you should check out the Player's Handbook II. The Appendix has a Quick PC Generation guide that will come in handy. It'll suggest skills, feats, spells, and gear for you.

Don't play a cleric. They're super complex. If you need to fill the healer role, play a favored soul or Dragon Shaman instead.

In fact, definitely play a Dragon Shaman, with one level of Favored Soul--just so you can use divine scrolls and wands. With that build you can melee, heal, remove negative conditions, and cast clerical utility spells from consumable magic items when absolutely needed.

-z

Okay... Here's a couple of things that you want to keep in mind about the cleric...

Healing Specialization: Any good cleric is pretty much already as good at healing as he needs to be. Good clerics can spontaneously change out any of their prepared spells for a Cure spell of the same level... So. Let's say you've got a death ward prepared in a 4th level slot, but your buddy the fighter has just gotten severely bonked in the noggin, and is in need of some healing. You can (on your turn, of course) dump that death ward spell and, in its place, cast a cure critical wounds on your fighter buddy. So... What you want to do is figure out what else you want to specialize in, since you're already good at healing.

Melee Fighting: Since you've mentioned that your party is short on melee-ers, you may want to specialize in melee yourself. That means that you're going to want a good Constitution and a reasonable Strength. Also keep in mind that you will need a good Wisdom and a reasonable Charisma. Intelligence and Dexterity are going to be your dump stats.

Domains: One of the cleric's special doowackers is the Domains that they get. Each domain is indicative of something that the cleric respresents or upholds... And is usually chosen from a small list based on the god that the cleric worships (or sometimes based on the cleric's alignment, if he doesn't have a god). Each of the two domains that you get grants you a special power and a list of domain spells. If you choose Heironeous as your deity, for example, you get access to the Good, Law, Protection and War domains (I think). Pelor gets you access to the Good, Healing, Law, and Sun domains (I believe). You'll need to talk to your DM and find out what set of deities he's using and see if he maybe has a recommendation for you. Until then, let me recommend a couple of domains as being 'of interest' to a melee cleric build.

Travel: On top of having a cool list of domain spells, the travel domain has the fantastic ability of free movement. For one round per your cleric level, basically no-one can grapple you entangle you, snatch you up, or otherwise prevent you from moving around in any way that you darn well please. As a melee cleric, critters are going to try to eat you time and time again, and this ability is invaluable.

War: This domain gets you proficiency and focus (+1 to hit) with the deity's weapon, usually a reasonably strong martial weapon, like the longsword. This is quite handy for a melee cleric. The domain spells are all reasonably useful, as well.

Strength: This domain grants you the ability to get real strong for one round, once per day. Though the limited time and use makes this ability not quite as cool as the previous two domains, being real strong can come in handy in a surprising number of situations. Get snatched up by a big monster? Make him regret it by whooping the crap out of him. Need to impress a lady in waiting? Open up the unopenable pickle jar. Can't get a door unlocked? Kick that sucker down... And so on.

Must have spells... There are a couple of spells that are absolute must haves...
Bless (1st): This is a first level spell that gives all of your buddies a +1 to attack. Always have a bless handy.
Calm Emotions (2nd): Fear effects, frenzied berserkers, there's all sorts of things that a clam emotions can handle.
Stone Shape (3rd): Especially in a dungeon setting, being able to manipulate stone into various shape has innumerable uses.
Death Ward (4th): You never know when you're going to be faced with a level-draining undead. Death Ward reduces the threat of most undead critters to pretty much nothing (also good for enervation flinging evil wizards). Always ALWAYS keep a couple of death wards prepared. I cannot stress enough the importance of having death wards available.
Restoration (4th): In the case that your death ward gets dispelled, or something zaps one of your companions with an energy draining effect before you can properly protect them, restoration is also your friend.
Righteous Might (5th): You're not actually going to get to cast this that much, what with being the party healer and all, but if you really need to lay the smack down on somebody, its always a good idea to have a righteous might available for when that time comes. This is a seriously useful self-buff for any melee cleric.
True Seeing (5th): Also very handy for those times when the bad guys are trying to pull a fast one over on you. Good for defeating illusions, recognizing polymorphed ... whatevers... and generally ruining a bad guy's day.
Blade Barrier (6th): A super useful battlefield control spell, you can cut the battlefield up (quite literally) into more manageable sections to reduce the number of critters that you have to fight at once.
Heal (6th): Fighters take a lot of damage. Let me reiterate... Fighters take a LOT of damage. You're going to need to use something more powerful than the Cure line of spells on him, and this is it. Keep a Heal or two handy whenever possible.
Wind Walk (6th): If you need to get somewhere in a hurry, or want to scout out a region with a minimal risk of danger.... Wind walk can do that for you. It won't be of use all the time, but in the cases when it is useful. It is super useful.
Holy Word (7th): This is a particularly nasty mook leveler. Make sure that your buddies are all good, so as not to nuke them, as well. This particular spell can be seriously exploited by way of various caster level boosting feats and items. So some DMs may look down at you taking it... But if you're using it primarily to clear out lesser critters, it shouldn't be a problem.

Hmm... I think that's about all I've got. Oh. Armor is our friend Since your Dex is so terrible, get the biggest armor you can afford, and consider putting some fire resistance on it.

Also, even though you will be feat starved as a cleric, seriously consider taking Lightning Reflexes.

Later
silver

thank you silver. I only have 2 more days to figure this out, and this should be really helpful. one of the problems with the group is somehow it worked out that everyone who CAN cast heals is in another role we have a fighter a rogue a psion a mage and a druid. the druid has something going on where she cant cast very many heals (I cant remember what it was calle, but she shapeshifts about 10 times per battle...) I know clerics are good with healing already, but what is there out there to maximise that? I would like to keep the melle ability as much as possible but it is secondary to being able to save the day with those heals. most games we end up haveing to camp in the middle of a dungeon because we have no more healing available... it annoys me... I am especialy interested in prestiege classes and the like. I have heard good things about the combat medic class, but I cant seem to find it. does anyone remember what book it is in?

Good News: Clerics are Uber Powerful.
Bad News: They are somewhat complex, but not TOO bad.

Here's a quick sample level 13 melee cleric build using elite array:

STR 13 (Boost to 14 if possible)
DEX 10 (Boost to 12 if you can for wearing full plate and maxing AC)
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 15+3 from level ups
CHA 12

Race: Human

Domains: Luck & Travel (The best core domains, arguably; Luck has an awesome ability and Travel has great spells and a decent ability)

Feats:
Human Bonus - Extend Spell
1 - Persistent Spell
3 - DMM Persistent Spell
6 - Extra Turning
9 - Extra Turning
12 - Power Attack

Classes:
If you can get the Radiant Servant of Pelor PrC from Complete Divine, take that; otherwise, just max out your Cleric Levels. There is no need to multiclass: Multiclassing just weakens your character! If you REALLY like the flavor, you could take the Church Inquisitor PrC from Complete Divine as well. The Inquisition Domain is handy for resisting Dispel Magics...

The Trick:
Persistent Spell allows you to make many spells last ALL DAY LONG. Divine Metamagic allows you to spend Turn Undead attempts instead of increasing the spell's level to fuel the metamagic. Each spell you Persist requires 7 turn attempts. You have 3 attempts for being a cleric + 1 from high charisma + 8 from Extra Turning + 2 from casting Eagle's Glory. That means you can persist two spells. If you take the RSoP PrC like I suggested you'll have even more and might be able to dispense iwth the Extra Turning Feats.

I'd suggest persisting Divine Power and Righteous Might.

If your DM thinks this is broken, replace with DMM Quicken Spell. Throwing off a quickened Buff is almost as helpful, as it means you can get into the fight sooner.

Key Items:

Nightsticks (7500 GP from Libris Mortis; Grant +4 turn attempts... Which you use to fuel more Persistent Spells!)
+1 Heavy Shield (No need to make it higher -- just cast Magic Vestment)
+1 Full Plate (No need to make it higher -- just cast Magic Vestment)
+1 Melee Weapon of Choice (I'd suggest Morningstar; if RSoP, ditch the shield and get a Greatsword; cast Magic Weapon Greater on it rather than paying for more pluses)
+1 Bane Ammunition for your missile weapon
Wand of Lesser Vigor or CLW (Healing out of combat -- make your party members chip in for it)
Scrolls of spells that aren't used often but are potentially lifesavers: Neutralize/Slow Poison, Remove Disease, Lesser Restoration, Raise Dead, and so on...
Potions of Enlarge Person (for when Righteous Might is dispelled)
Item to boost WIS
Item to boost DEX (if you don't have 12 dex)
Bead of Karma (to up your caster level)
Don't bother with STR boosting items -- they won't stack with Righteous Might.

kelson said:

I have heard good things about the combat medic class, but I cant seem to find it. does anyone remember what book it is in?

Click to expand...

it's in Heros of Battle... p:99

Mike

nittanytbone said:

Key Items:

Nightsticks (7500 GP from Libris Mortis; Grant +4 turn attempts... Which you use to fuel more Persistent Spells!)
+1 Heavy Shield (No need to make it higher -- just cast Magic Vestment)
+1 Full Plate (No need to make it higher -- just cast Magic Vestment)
+1 Melee Weapon of Choice (I'd suggest Morningstar; if RSoP, ditch the shield and get a Greatsword; cast Magic Weapon Greater on it rather than paying for more pluses)
+1 Bane Ammunition for your missile weapon
Wand of Lesser Vigor or CLW (Healing out of combat -- make your party members chip in for it)
Scrolls of spells that aren't used often but are potentially lifesavers: Neutralize/Slow Poison, Remove Disease, Lesser Restoration, Raise Dead, and so on...
Potions of Enlarge Person (for when Righteous Might is dispelled)
Item to boost WIS
Item to boost DEX (if you don't have 12 dex)
Bead of Karma (to up your caster level)
Don't bother with STR boosting items -- they won't stack with Righteous Might.

Click to expand...

Righteous Might (has been errat'd to be less powerful) increases your STR via size bonuses... so that will stack with a belt of giant strength.

And be sure to check with your DM about those Nightsticks... I haven't talked to a DM that would allow them at their table... YMMV

If you are able to use DMM-Persistent... you may want to look at righteous wrath of the faithful (SC) as one of your persistent spells... divine's version of haste for every party member... all day.



Mike