Help!!! I finally get to be a player instead of DM and...

[frog]

I need help with planning the progression of my Cleric. I have never played a cleric before (as a player) and so I have no idea what the best choices are for feats, skills, etc.

He is a dwarf, cleric of Moradin, and I want the focus to be on ability in combat (both spell combat or melee). I plan on the motivation for the character changing midway through the campaign. Right now he is trying to find his spiritual "way". He will change his motivation to be that he is Moradin's Judge, Jury, and Executioner on earth. This will occur sometime around level 6 - 9 when he has a "religious awakening" and becomes truly committed to the "cause" (ie. fanatic). I want to prep his skills and feats accordingly.

We are using the Core books and we have access to the splatbooks for this creation.

His first level stats are as follows:

Otar Ironbrow, M Dwarf Cleric 1 CR 1; Size:M Type Humanoid; HD (1d8)+4; hp 12; Init +1 (+1 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 15'; AC 17 (flatfooted 16, touch 11), *Mace (Heavy) +2 0'/B (1d8+2 20/x2 Neither M ) or *Dagger +2 0'/P (1d4+2 19-20/x2 Neither T ) or *Dagger (Thrown) +1 10'/P (1d4+2 19-20/x2 Neither T ) or ; SA: +1 to hit orcs/goblinoids, +2 on Appraise of stone/metal items, +2 on stone/metal Craft check, +4 dodge vs giants, save +2 vs spells, save +2 vs. poison, Spontaneous casting, Stonecunning, Turn Undead 2/day; Vision: Normal, Darkvision (60') AL: NG; Sv: Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +6; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 8

Skills and Feats: Concentration +8, Knowledge (Religion) +5, Spellcraft +5; Armor Proficiency (Heavy) (1x), Armor Proficiency (Light) (1x), Armor Proficiency (Medium) (1x), Combat Casting, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency

Have at 'em gang. Give me your best.

 

[SouthernPride]

Do you have access to "Defenders of the Faith"?

 

[frog]

Do you have access to "Defenders of the Faith"?

Yes. As indicated, I have access to all of the WotC class "splatbooks." I do not have access to any of the FR items.

 

[Happiest_Sadist]

Combat Casting is pretty useless for you. With your high con and ranks in concentration, you should have no trouble casting defensivly, and it dosn't help otherwise. I'd take another feat. Possibly scribe scroll, to up your spell power and versitility. Or something from defenders of the faith.

 

[SouthernPride]

Oops, didnt see that.

Ok, to start off, Now that I look at your stats, DotF ain't much use to ya, most of the feats are good, but Charisma based. Now that DotF is out the window, the only thing I could suggest if you go melee cleric is Power Attack and its cousins, Weap. Focus. Or if you go spell cleric some metamagic feats, Quicken and Empower are keepers, Maximize is good too.

 

[frog]

Combat Casting is pretty useless for you. With your high con and ranks in concentration, you should have no trouble casting defensivly, and it dosn't help otherwise. I'd take another feat. Possibly scribe scroll, to up your spell power and versitility. Or something from defenders of the faith.

Unfortunately I was given the character "as is" by the DM and can't make any changes to the current skills/feats. What I am looking for is help in developing him as we gain levels. I should reach level 2 during the next session. I have been debating leveling in fighter to gain the extra feat and expanded weapons listing plus the help in combat.

Any thoughts?

 

[Mr Fidgit]

so what are your domains (and domain abilities)?

 

[Rel]

Hey, frog. Glad to hear you are getting to play. Is Milo or one of the other players from your previous campaign going to be running the game?

Anyhow, I think that Scribe Scroll can be a great feat for a Cleric since it lets you put aside those "once in a while spells". And a few extra Cure Light Wounds scrolls never hurt either. But that might be a bit cerebral for this character concept.

If, when you say he's going to become a "fanatic", you mean that he will be taking the battle to the natural enemies of Moradin's people (orcs and goblins), Power Attack and Cleave are never bad choices. If you can afford to swap your stats around a bit to get a better Cha, Divine Might is also pretty nice.

Good luck and have fun.

Edit: Oops. I didn't see your post about taking him "as is" until I'd submitted. Given that, I see two possible directions to go:

Alternate cleric levels with fighter levels and use the extra feats to bolster his melee effectiveness. This means that your spells will remain low level and you probably won't be able to be the dedicated healer of the party. But you will be able to buff yourself nicely by mid levels with things like Divine Shield, Bulls Strength, Bless, Magic Weapon, etc.

Or, you could run with the combat casting thing and go straight cleric. You should be able to cast defensively no problem and delivering those "Inflict" spells with your hammer is a nice way to bolster your damage output. If you go this route, I'd say Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus could be very handy.

 

[frog]

so what are your domains (and domain abilities)?

Sorry, that part didn't come over. Here it is again but this time WITH the domains.


Otar Ironbrow, M Dwarf Cleric 1 CR 1; Size:M Type Humanoid; HD (1d8)+4; hp 12; Init +1 (+1 Dex, +0 Misc); Spd Walk 15'; AC 17 (flatfooted 16, touch 11), *Mace (Heavy) +2 0'/B (1d8+2 20/x2 Neither M ) or *Dagger +2 0'/P (1d4+2 19-20/x2 Neither T ) or *Dagger (Thrown) +1 10'/P (1d4+2 19-20/x2 Neither T ) or ; SA: +1 to hit orcs/goblinoids, +2 on Appraise of stone/metal items, +2 on stone/metal Craft check, +4 dodge vs giants, save +2 vs spells, save +2 vs. poison, Spontaneous casting, Stonecunning, Turn Undead 2/day; Vision: Normal, Darkvision (60') AL: NG; Sv: Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +6; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 8

Skills and Feats: Concentration +8, Knowledge (Religion) +5, Spellcraft +5; Armor Proficiency (Heavy) (1x), Armor Proficiency (Light) (1x), Armor Proficiency (Medium) (1x), Combat Casting, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency

Deity: Moradin (DD) Domains: Earth (Turn or destroy air creatures as a good cleric and rebuke or command earth creatures as an evil cleric. 3 + CHA modifier attempts per day.) Protection (You can generate a protective ward, a spell-like ability to grant someone you touch a resistance bonus on their next saving throw equal to your level. It's an abjuration effect that lasts one hour, once per day).

 

[frog]

Is Milo or one of the other players from your previous campaign going to be running the game?

No. Milo and Brigit are already in a secondary game and 2 is as many as they can fit into their schedule.

We have 3 relative newbies to RPG, Mazi, myself, and two "old timers" (one of whom is the DM and the other is a gnome illusionist).

I had a wonderful human rogue all put together for this game (Inocencio "the Fox") when I found out that we had no cleric and there would DEFINITELY be undead. I made the supreme sacrifice and became the party medic. Or at least that's what THEY think

Since there has been much debate about how the cleric is the most powerful of the classes, I thought I would pose the question to the community "How do I max out my cleric". Not being an advocate of power gaming, I have never really tried to do it. So I need your help.