Feat recommendations for 1st level cleric

[Sejs]

St. Cuthbert - go for Strength and Destruction for domains.

Str 13 / +1
Dex 10 / +0
Con 12 / +1
Int 11 / +0
Wis 16 / +3
Cha 14 / +2

Feats:
- Scribe Scroll: as mentioned before, for back-up healing spells, and status-ailment cures. Important cures to keep in mind, lvls 1 to 3 - (1) Protection from Evil, Remove Fear. (2) Calm Emotions, Delay Poison, Lesser Restoration, Remove Paralysis. (3) Negative Energy Protection, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse.

- Extra Turning: 4 more turning attempts per day, and is also the gateway feat for all Divine Feats, this ranks up there as a must-have for a martial cleric.


For later on, considder picking up Power Attack (a requisite for..), Divine Might, Extend Spell, and Persistant Spell. Keep an eye out for things that boost your wisdom (of course) and charisma: Cloak of Charisma and Armor/Shields with the Sacred quality from DotF. The more charisma you have, the better an undead turner you'll be, and the more effective Divine Might gets. Your dex isn't great, so get in some good heavy armor, and shield. If you have some success with beefing up your charisma, see if your DM will let you take the Mysticism domain when you start taking Divine Disciple levels.



Edit/Additional: Oh yeah, and for the love of fnap don't take Combat Casting. It's one of those feats where you look at yourself 12 levels down the road and think "Damnit.. if I hadn't only taken that useless frickin' Combat Casting..."

 

[Darklone]

Could you help me out please... I think I remember that you need Extra Turning for the Divine Might/Shield/Whatever feats... but where is it written?

 

[Kerrwyn]

Extra Turning is in the PHB.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Could you help me out please... I think I remember that you need Extra Turning for the Divine Might/Shield/Whatever feats... but where is it written?

All the Divine feats are from Defenders of the Faith. You don't need Extra Turning for Divine Might, just Power Attack. Many of the other Divine feats do indeed require it, though.

 

[green slime]

St. Cuthbert - go for Strength and Destruction for domains.

Str 13 / +1
Dex 10 / +0
Con 12 / +1
Int 11 / +0
Wis 16 / +3
Cha 14 / +2

I agree with these stats. As to feats:
Scribe scroll is good, but not really part of the parcel of "martial cleric" (IMO).

The feats I'd look at are:
1) Power Attack
Human) Divine Might
War) Weapon Focus (Greatsword, preferably)
3) Extra Turning
6) Divine Vigour (+2 to Con, +10 to move for Cha mod minutes)
9) Extend Spell
12) Persistent Spell
15) Improved Critical
18) Leadership?

Edit/Additional: Oh yeah, and for the love of fnap don't take Combat Casting. It's one of those feats where you look at yourself 12 levels down the road and think "Damnit.. if I hadn't only taken that useless frickin' Combat Casting..."

Agreed. Never, ever take this feat.

 

[GrassyKnoll]

I disagree with the people say NEVER take Combat Casting. I took it and its the one feat that is used constantly. I do not fail ANY of my rolls for casting spells defensively, which means I can stay in the thick of things while healing or nuking.

Personally, if you are going to be Human, and are using the Forgotten Realms books, I would take the one that gives you +2 to your DCs and the ability to gain extra spells (sorry name escapses me and I do not have the book, Spell Prodigy perhaps? Someone here will correct me,) and Combat Casting.

I am a Cleric who has gone the Divine Disciple route, but I am only taking it for the 2 levels that I have before I change to Contemplative.

My Feats where (I am Dwarven, so no bonus)

Combat Casting
Dodge (Dont ask, I always forget to use it)
Extend Spell
Craft Arms and Armour

My stats are:

Str 16, Dex 14, Int 14, Con 18, Wis 18, Cha 10 (including the 2 level gain stat modifiers) and I have the Domains of War and Protection, and my Divine Disiple Domain was Dwarf.

My character has grown into a very capable fighter, especially with GMW and recently I was blessed with a Karma Bead which really helps those buffs last a long time.

Good luck, and enjoy the Cleric, as they are special. Well, when I say special, I mean absolute quality

Edit: Oh and Extra turning only helps if you know there are going to be loads and loads of undead, and most of the feats that require it, imho are not worth taking either. I would prefer Dwarfs toughness for the extra 9hps. DOnt forget, when you change to DD, you stop advancing in levels for turning, I only turn as a 8th level Cleric, and with a lot of the undead having +HD vs turning, it makes it 2 feats (which we dont get a lot of) wasted.

 

[Sejs]

Oh and Extra turning only helps if you know there are going to be loads and loads of undead,...

4 more turns/day are 4 more uses of divine feats than you would otherwise get.

...and most of the feats that require it, imho are not worth taking either.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

I would prefer Dwarfs toughness for the extra 9hps.

Say 14 starting charisma, Eagle's Splendor running (+4cha, using the 3.5 vers.), and a Sacred Shield. All pretty reasonable for an 8th level character. Modified charisma comes out as a 22/+6. So each use of Divine Might then gives you +6 to weapon damage for 6 rounds per turning use expended. Heck, at 9th level Divine Vigor will give you as many raw hp as Dwarf's Toughness, and increase your speed by 10 feet.

Dont forget, when you change to DD, you stop advancing in levels for turning

True, but cleric level doesn't factor into a divine feat's effectiveness. Besides, if you want to be an Undead Turnin' cleric, you'd be better off with the Sun Domain and bee-lining for the Sacred Exorcist PrC. SE levels do stack with cleric for turning undead, not to mention a whole bunch of other cool stuff.

 

[GrassyKnoll]

I forgot to mention that I would take the updated feat from FR that allows you to take 1 spell per level and make it 'themed' allowing you to cast it at +1 spell level, and increaseing the DC of spellcraft checks against you over the Dwarfs Toughness.

 

[Shallown]

I would throw in a vote for Scribe scroll as well. Think of a martial cleric using their spells to enhance combat abilities so they have less slots for the utility/healing spells needed. Those oh so useful but seldom needed spells. Especially later levels. Scribe scroll is useful at all levels and with the right spells scribed can fake some other feats. So far both playing a cleric with it and seeing a couple others played with scribe scroll it has always been usefull. Especially when you have a little info on what you face you can prep scrolls and not fill slots with specific spells but your normal compliment.

just a thought

later