Best Cleric race? (sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

[Storminator]

One thing to note is that you don't want a Str/Wis race. You want a Str/Cha race or a Wis/Cha race. If you go Str/Wis, you'll likely lack the Cha to make use of rider effects.

My dwarf cleric dumped Cha for an 18 Str and 15 Wis (after bonus) and he's hugely effective. I think a Wis/Cha cleric would be better, but I spend my life giving Righteous Brand bonii to strikers, flanking for the rogue, throwing in a Divine Glow wherever there's a lot of guys standing (it hurts, it buffs! it doesn't matter if it's enemies or allies or mixed in the grouping...) and healing like crazy. Thrrak's not optimal, but he's good enough to get the job done.

PS

 

[Reidentski]

i couldn't find who said it to quote them here, nor can i recall the specific name of the feat, but the feats where u train ur melee attacks towards a specific atribute (i.e. cha, wis, etc) i don't have the book or character builder on hand to refer to it, but iknow these feats say u can use said atribute as ur modifier for ur basic melee attacks and attacks. does that mean it would be my modifier for say healing strike? (i.e. if i picked the wisdom training would i be able to use my wis modifier over str for when i hit my target with healing strike?) or is it simply just letting me use wisdom as the modifier in normal attacks like a basic melee and etc? sry, hope that made sense ^^;

 

[CovertOps]

i couldn't find who said it to quote them here, nor can i recall the specific name of the feat, but the feats where u train ur melee attacks towards a specific atribute (i.e. cha, wis, etc) i don't have the book or character builder on hand to refer to it, but iknow these feats say u can use said atribute as ur modifier for ur basic melee attacks and attacks. does that mean it would be my modifier for say healing strike? (i.e. if i picked the wisdom training would i be able to use my wis modifier over str for when i hit my target with healing strike?) or is it simply just letting me use wisdom as the modifier in normal attacks like a basic melee and etc? sry, hope that made sense ^^;

They are as a group called "Melee Training" and they only apply to "Basic Melee Attacks" so no you cannot use WIS for your STR based Cleric powers...if only!!!!!

On another note I found the STR/WIS Cleric build to be very effective by about level 8. Built with a Shifter and starting stats of 16/16* -> 18/18 after racial modifiers you pick up Bastard Sword, Scale, Plate, Light Shield, and Heavy Shield you have a near defender AC with monster damage (+5 after stat bumps 4/8) and Leader buffs to boot. Add in Weapon Focus and the ever popular IAoP and you're doing 1d10+8 with at-wills and you're granting +5 to hit to a friend or some temp HPs.

*You'll need to put at least a 13 or 15 CON to get all the Armor feats, but it's well worth it. You might have to go with 13 CON and wait till 21 to get Plate, but that's only 1 AC bump and you can still get the other 3.

Edit: This also allows you to effectively use the WIS based powers if you want to pick up a few as your STR/WIS are the same.

 

[Reidentski]

Ah ok, thanks. i was pretty sure that was going to be the answer to my question, but i saw no harm in getting an answer from more experienced minds of them game =) thanks alot.

 

[Turtlejay]

Halfling is the best race for cleric.

Whatever race does what you want is the best race. I wanted a Cleric that had mobility and was a non-typical cleric, so he was Pacifist Cleric multi rogue, the feat that allows you to add Cha to your defenses for OA once an encounter. That is what *I* wanted.

If you want a cleric that hands out bonuses like a tactical warlord, go strength based, shifter is good for that because you still want some wisdom for it's healing bonus. If you want a cleric that just stands in the back and zaps things, Elf is good, it has the right stat, and elven accuracy can turn a miss into a hit on that all important daily.

Such justifications can be made for *any* race, but it depends largely on what you want to do in combat.

Jay

 

[renau1g]

Another cool race is the Goliaths for a melee-based STR cleric. I played one in my home game and had great fun, using a two-handed Maul with the goliath waepon training feat and 18 STR, I was doing 2d6+5 on at-will and granting ally bonus to hit, with Righteous Brand.

 

[Garrett Bishop]

New Question

Hi All,

My question is...well, first of all let me start out with this:

I was just asked to join a Game with no dedicated healer. (Just a Paladin)

The DM is starting us at lvl 11 with a 24 Point Buy. The game setting is basically all Undead, Demons etc.

I was wondering what race/class combo would excel at healing, while not have to be standing at the back end of the party? I'm accustomed to Front line types of characters, so I want something that will allow me to dish out a good amount of damage while healing/protecting/buffing the party as well.

Is there even such a build? (Doesn't have to be a Cleric)

What I am currently working on is a Deva Templar Cleric. But after reading all the great advice here, I am sure Deva is NOT the race to go with.

Thoughts?

Thanks in Advance
Garrett

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hi All,

My question is...well, first of all let me start out with this:

I was just asked to join a Game with no dedicated healer. (Just a Paladin)

The DM is starting us at lvl 11 with a 24 Point Buy. The game setting is basically all Undead, Demons etc.

I was wondering what race/class combo would excel at healing, while not have to be standing at the back end of the party? I'm accustomed to Front line types of characters, so I want something that will allow me to dish out a good amount of damage while healing/protecting/buffing the party as well.

Is there even such a build? (Doesn't have to be a Cleric)

What I am currently working on is a Deva Templar Cleric. But after reading all the great advice here, I am sure Deva is NOT the race to go with.

Thoughts?

Thanks in Advance
Garrett

Some things HAVE changed since '09. More races have WIS bonus possibilities now than back then. The Warpriest (Essentials cleric) has pretty well replaced the STR cleric. Race is still pretty much whatever gives you a good WIS bonus can be worked with. Given you'll probably be more in the 'laser' category with a straight PHB1 type cleric now Dwarf, Minotaur, and Goliath may have lost some luster, though they are fine warpriests. Half-elf, drow, hamadryad all get WIS/CHA. Deva is still pretty good since it has some nice racial stuff. Of course the Dwarf is going to be pretty much the toughest, so you may still want to go with that, minor action SW is pretty awesome. There just isn't a LOT of reason to stand up front as a templar. You can of course still build a straight up STR cleric for that, but a dwarf warpriest would probably be the best possible frontline cleric.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Hi All,

My question is...well, first of all let me start out with this:

I was just asked to join a Game with no dedicated healer. (Just a Paladin)

The DM is starting us at lvl 11 with a 24 Point Buy. The game setting is basically all Undead, Demons etc.

I was wondering what race/class combo would excel at healing, while not have to be standing at the back end of the party? I'm accustomed to Front line types of characters, so I want something that will allow me to dish out a good amount of damage while healing/protecting/buffing the party as well.

Is there even such a build? (Doesn't have to be a Cleric)

What I am currently working on is a Deva Templar Cleric. But after reading all the great advice here, I am sure Deva is NOT the race to go with.

Thoughts?

Thanks in Advance
Garrett

If you want to frontline as a cleric there's now close combat powers you can steal from the warpriest. But from what you've said, I think the class you want to be playing is the Warlord and possibly even a Bravura Warlord (think Leonidas from 300, leading from the front and giving inspiring speeches). The Bravura Warlord even offers openings to draw the enemy off balance so someone else can slip in and eviscerate them while they are off balance.

But Warlords are a little party-dependent (do other people have good basic attacks?) so what else is in your party would help.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

The Warpriest (Essentials cleric) has pretty well replaced the STR cleric.

I would agree with this comment but for the (relatively) recent Dragon article for the battle cleric - which gives strength clerics access to better armour and some pretty potent powers when using a mace or other simple melee weapon.