Show me your clerics!

[Corsair]

I'm the type of player that always plans at least one character ahead in case something horrible should happen to my current character. Given that I am playing a loremaster who is relying heavily on Contact Other Plane recently, there is a possibility that I end up being useless for 5 weeks in game. If nothing else, I may need a cameo character.

After a recent stroll around the WotC CharOp forum, I realized how rarely people talk clerics. Everyone seems to acknowledge they are both powerful and useful, but you see far more builds for warriors or arcanists than you do for divine characters.

So here is my challenge to you folks! Show me your clerics! Ideally I don't want to see any of the following: Cleric 20, Dweomercheater (or derivatives there of), Nightstickwielding divine metamagicing persister, Radiant Servant (aka, Cleric+). I want to see what other interesting but still playable divine casters are out there. Primarily I'm more interested in full casters than quasi-casters. Try not to lose too many caster levels in whatever builds you showcase.

 

[nittanytbone]

The reason you don't see many cleric builds on the Char Op forums is because it is widely acknowledged that Clerics & Druids are very very powerful, and very easy to make.

If allowed, Extend Spell --> Persistent Spell --> DMM Persistent Spell is a guranteed winner. Radiant Servant of Pelor is just that good. A lot of clerics can get decent mileage out of 20 levels of cleric, honestly.

Druid doesn't require any PrCs either, except maybe Planar Shephard.

Neither class gets many bonus feats, so no need to worry too much about those.

Seriously, the only way to gimp a cleric is:
(1) To use a race with LA.
(2) To lose caster levels unless you really know what you're doing and understand the consequences.
(3) To start with con <10 or wisdom <15.

So long as you avoid those three killers, your cleric will be at least fairly effective.

 

[Corsair]

When I DM I don't allow things that I consider stupid. DMM is one of those things. I would prefer not to try to take advantage of things as a player that I myself don't like as a DM.

 

[mikebr99]

An interesting Cleric I've wanted to try recently... a new spin on a Paladin:

Male Human(Damaran) Clr4/Ftr2/Hos4; CR 10;
Medium Humanoid (Human);
HD 8d8+2d10+20; hp 86;
Init +1; Spd 20 ft/x3;
AC 20 (+8 armor, +1 shield, +1 dex), touch 11, flat-footed 19;
Base Atk/Grapple +9/+11;
Full Atk +10/+5 Two-handed (2d6+3;19-20/x2, Greatsword), +11/+6 One-handed (1d8+2;19-20/x2, Longsword), +10/+5 Two-handed (1d8+3;20/x3, Lance), +11/+6 One-handed (1d4+2;19-20/x2, Dagger), +10/+5 Two-handed (1d8;20/x3, Composite Longbow);
SA&SQ Aura(Ex), Spontaneous Casting, Restricted Spells, Turn Undead(Su), Lay on Hands(Su), Remove Disease(Sp), Remove Disease(Sp), Code of Conduct, Multiclass Note;
AL LG; SV Fort +13, Ref +5, Will +8;
Str 14(+2), Dex 12(+1), Con 14(+2), Int 10(+0), Wis 17(+3), Cha 14(+2);
Skills: Concentration¹ +15, Handle Animal +10, Jump¹ -9, Ride¹ +14, Spot¹ +4.
Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Power Attack, Extend Spell², Improved Buckler Defense, Divine Might, Saddleback, Improved Toughness.



Mike

 

[Nonlethal Force]

One of my favorite clerics isn't a cleric: Favored Soul 15 / Thaumaturgst 5.

Take it to whatever level you want. But, as the FS advances they learn the Vigor spells at the levels available. On the levels there aren't Vigor spells they learn the Cure spells.

They also take Summon Monster I-IX.

They also take the Planar Ally Spells.

They then take whatever other flavor spells you want. So, you have a spontaneous healer/summoner who excels at both. i've never played one in game yet, but the next "cleric" I play is going to be this character.

 

[Kodam]

Summoning Cleric

Hi!

I have a Cleric of a fire god with the Sun and the Good domains. He's specialized in summoning spells (SM I-IX). To emphasize this he has the feats: Spell Focus (conj), Augmented Summoning, Beckon the Burning [= Beckon the Frozen from Frostburn, converted to fire] and Blessed Summoning [homebrew: attacks of the summoned creatures count as good for DR-purposes].

SM I and II didn't bring forth any monster suitable for a fight, but from SM III on the monsters did their Job. He doesn't do much damage in melee himself, but rather strengthens/heals the front-line in battle after summoning once or twice. Fighters are hard to kill when constantly healed!

He is currently at Level 8 and his next feat will be Fiery Burst from Complete Mage, since all his SM-Spells are [Fire] and it just fits for a Priest of a god of fire.

Kodam

 

[Darklone]

Friend of mine had a bbn1/cleric10 gnome. Usually wielding a greatsword or a longsword twohanded. Domains Travel (with that extremely strong Freedom of Movement) and Good or Luck IIRC.

The few disadvantages he had considering his size were countered by the Freedom of Movement except for being tripped... that's when he started to call down Flame Strikes.

The build wasn't too complicated, he simply enjoyed the many hitpoints, the good movement for a small char and the huge damage output for twohanded weapon fighters all together combined with a nearly full score caster.

 

[Sithobi1]

What about grappling? The domain power only applies to magical effects.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Clr-20 is great. Does all sorts of things and by the way the spells are memorised, you can rejig the focus of your character with a nights rest?


I'm playing a BBn-1:Clr-4(Kord) right now. Seems an effective melee type and pretty straightforward. Martial weapons and speed boost are nice. Buff fighter types (including self), hit things with greatsword. When things really annoy you, go berserk.

Not that taken with self buffing in combat - fights half over before you wade in... I was tending towards buffing the party fighter and then helping to mop stuff up. Now he's dead and playing a druid, so will find out how well I fare as the main frontline fighter.

I could see DDM(Quicken) being good. Although it'd need a lot of turn attempts to work, and IMO that would dilute the fightiness. Regular quicken might be worth a peek. Won't find out about DDM myself - it's a PhB only (mostly) game. Rods of quickening could also be nifty.


Chr focused Pal-2:Clr-X could be workable. Silly saves and divine might/vigor/etc.

 

[Rhun]

I'd recommend you go take a look through some of the Rogue's Gallery threads. Most of them have at least one cleric or cleric-equivalent posted in them. There are a lot of possible builds out there.