I recently started building a character for an online, PvP arena game. I was planning on building a Crusader/some magic user gestalt character. It's easy to find the viewpoint that clerics make great fighters, so I expected the magic user side to be a cleric. At 10th level or so, it's easy to see the reasoning, since a cleric with Divine Favor, Divine Power, Righteous Might, Recitation, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestment and maybe some other spells is a fearful force. This game starts at first level, and I was surprised to find that wizards appeared to be a better match at low level. Am I missing something, or does it take a cleric several levels to turn himself into an uber-fighter.
Here are some of the points I saw.
Armor: Clear advantage to the cleric, since it doesn't bother him any more than a fighter. However, several useful spells (true strike, blade weave, critical strike, swift expeditious retreat, swift fly, sonic weapon, blades of fire) (mostly from Complete Adventurer) don't have somatic components, so they can be freely cast in full plate.
Weapon proficiencies: N/A, since the Crusader gives me what I want
Buff spells:
Magic Weapon: tie
Bless/Aid: cleric
Shield/Shield of Faith: wizard unless I'm wearing a shield. But that makes spells with somatic components a problem for both classes
True Sight/Guidance. Wizard(?) Timing is less of a problem with guidance, but the bonus is much smaller.
Non-core spells: Wizard. Everything I listed under armor is a wizard spell, and there's almost certainly more than I'll be able to learn and memorize. I didn't find any similarly useful list for the cleric. I'm I just looking in the wrong books?
Is a low-level wizard a better gestalt fighter than the cleric, or am I missing something?
Here are some of the points I saw.
Armor: Clear advantage to the cleric, since it doesn't bother him any more than a fighter. However, several useful spells (true strike, blade weave, critical strike, swift expeditious retreat, swift fly, sonic weapon, blades of fire) (mostly from Complete Adventurer) don't have somatic components, so they can be freely cast in full plate.
Weapon proficiencies: N/A, since the Crusader gives me what I want
Buff spells:
Magic Weapon: tie
Bless/Aid: cleric
Shield/Shield of Faith: wizard unless I'm wearing a shield. But that makes spells with somatic components a problem for both classes
True Sight/Guidance. Wizard(?) Timing is less of a problem with guidance, but the bonus is much smaller.
Non-core spells: Wizard. Everything I listed under armor is a wizard spell, and there's almost certainly more than I'll be able to learn and memorize. I didn't find any similarly useful list for the cleric. I'm I just looking in the wrong books?
Is a low-level wizard a better gestalt fighter than the cleric, or am I missing something?
