a Cleric with the Alienist PrC-opinions?

[paulewaug]

OK, so IMC, one of my players is very likely going to become an Alienist.

Now this PC is a Cleric not a Wizard or Sorcerer. (As indicated in the title.)
Looking at the Requirements I don't see anything that would prevent this from happening (in fact there is referacne to controlling and rebuking undead not improving.)

But I just wanted to get some opinions about how good of an Alienist a Cleric classed PC would make?

Do you see this causing any problems, such as affecting the advancment of the Domains' spell access and such as she goes up in levels?

Obviously "Turning" would Not increase; the text itself says this so this makes me inclined to think this idea is not Too crazy.

Thanks all!

 

[Stalker0]

From a roleplaying standpoint, I have no probs with it. Think of him as trying to understand the realm of the gods... from a different perspective Basically trying to understand religious secrets long lost, and slowly going a little nuts because of it.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Remember that while a cleric's access to domain spells will continue to rise, his actual domain abilities will not. So if he's a Cleric10/Alienist10 with the Travel domain, he can only access is Freedom of Movement ability for 10 rounds/day.

From an RP standpoint, I could see it happening, though probably only for a cleric of no-specific-deity. Such a cleric would simply be exploring the forces of morality in the world, and be taken down an unexpected path into madness. I have a harder time envisioning a Cleric of Pelor studying the Far Realms.

Though I suppose a Cleric of Tharizdun/Alienist would make perfect sense...

 

[Pax]

Hehehe.

He could always convert to be a Cleric of Dread Cthulhu. I've been working on two versions of an Alienist for an epic (ECL 25) Arena ... one a sorceror, one a cleric.

I guessed at Cthulhu offering Slime, Destruction, and Time (possibly others) as base domains, and <i>definitely</i> MAdness as a Prestige domain (if not a required BASE domain, lol). Summoning fit the whole alienist / "hastur! hastur! hastur!" feel of it, so that got included, too. (Besides, the +2 caster levels for summoning stuff, and having Summon Monster at all levels as a Domain Spell doesn't hurt, either! heh!)

The attributes were bought with a system of my own devising, which that arena adopted -- I actually posted it here to EnWorld some time ago .. and ... yes, I still have a link:

Pax's Point-Buy Attribute Chart ... look about 1/3 of the way down the page, IIRC, for the block of white and red text.

Here's (most of) the still-unfinished Cleric version; as you will see, teh feat chain is nowhere near complete, and I've snipped some of the other stuff to preserve SOME surprises, if and when this sees the light of day:

[color=white]Name      : Odd Peet (cleric version)
Race      : Human
Class     : Cleric(5)/Contemplative(10)/Alienist(10)
ECL       : 25
Exp       : 300,000
Deity     : Great Cthulhu
Alignment : CN

ATTRIBUTES:
  Str 10( +0)  (10/base               +1/book         -1/age)  0p
  Dex 10( +0)  (10/base               +1/book         -1/age)  0p
  Con 14( +2)  (10/base               +5/book         -1/age)  0p
  Int 20( +5)  (14/base               +4/book         +2/age)  8p
  Wis 34(+15)  (18/base -2/aln +5/lvl +5/book +6/item +2/age) 32p
  Chr 16( +3)  (10/base               +4/book         +2/age)  0p

FEATS
  Race   Spell Thematics
  Cha 1  ?
  Cha 3  Alertness
  Cha 6  Persistent Spell
  Aln 3  Extend Spell
  Cha 9  Augment Summoning
  Cha12  ?
  Aln 7  Sculpt Spell
  Cha15  ?
  Cha18  ?
  ----------[ Epic Threshold! ]----------
  Cha21  ?
  Cha24  ?

CLASS ABILITIES
  Cleric
    Domains
      Slime
      Time
  Contemplative
    Prestige Domans
      Summoning
      Madness
    Divine Health
      immune to all diseases
    Slippery Mind
    Divine Wholeness
      cure up to 50hp/day
    Divine Body
      immune to poisons
    Eternal Body
    Mystic Union
  Alienist(10)
    Summon Alien
    Alien Blessing
    Mad Certainty
    Pseudonatural Familiar
    Extra Summoning
    Insane Certainty
    Timeless Body
    Transcendance

EQUIPMENT
  (slot)---( price )---(  ............. item ...........  )
  ring L   216,000gp   Ring of Universal Elemental Resistance, Major
  ring R    36,000gp   Ring of Wisdom (+6)
                         [fungible: Periapt]
  mask      50,000gp   White Skull Mask
  hat      200,800gp   Cowl of Warding
  none      50,000gp   Ioun Stone of Resistance (+5)
  none           5gp   Spell Component Pouch
  none     137,500gp   Tome of Understanding (+5 Wis)
  none     137,500gp   Manual of Health (+5 Con)
  none     110,000gp   Tome of Leadership (+4 Cha)
  none     110,000gp   Tome of Thought (+4 Int)
  none      27,500gp   Manual of Ecercise (+1 Str)
  none      27,500gp   Manual of Quickness (+1 Dex)
  armor    112,000gp   Dendritic Armor
                         [fashioned of Chitin]
                         [+3, Ghost Touch, Acidic]
                         [mkt price: +10]
  shld     102,020gp   Large Shield
                         [fashioned of Chitin
                         [+5, Ghost Touch, Animated]
                         [mkt price: +10]
  weapn    200,335gp   Light Crossbow
                         [+5, Quick-Loading, Force, Corrosive]
                         [mkt price: +10]
  bracer     5,100gp   Bracers of Archery
  none      12,000gp   Word of Chaos' Power
  boots    256,000gp   Boots of Swiftness
  neck      20,000gp   Necklace of Prayer Beads
                         [Karma, Smiting(Chaos)]


SPELL THEMATICS
  DC to identify all Odd Peet's spells with spellcraft increases by +5.
  Spells in main theme gain +1 caster level
  Common thematic element: Lovecraftian and similar visial/aural motifs,
    including and especially, where possible, visual manifestations of the
    "Elder Sign".  Tentacles are also a common feature.
      Basically, just trust me ... I had <b>great</b> fun narrating the
    spells' visual (etc) elements before, and I'm sure I will again! 8)
  Spells in Main Theme, by spell level:
      *insert list here*
  All spells in the main theme are also marked in <red>red</red>, below.[/color]

 

[paulewaug]

Thanks for the input so far!

For "r.p. purposes" she (Cleric of Ehlonna) is going to no longer champion her specific god's cause.
She has already made contact with a strange alien power
(of Chaos actually-re:Slaanesh if you are familliar with Warhammer/Games Workshop) and has taken an interest in investigating where it was coming from.

She has been wanting to get to a good sized library so she can do some research.
(This was all before I had gotten a glimpse of Tome and Blood to see the Alienst prereqs, so that has worked out well.)
I was going to allow her to delve into "mysticism" and begin to tap into the greater/stranger powers that exist "Beyond the Vail."

The player and I have been talking, and I told her that there are several ways we can go with it- the results of course basically would be the same.

Taking ideas from CoC and some things I have read around here before, their is the idea that taping into the True power of their god exposes them to more than just the :mortally idealised aspect: of the being, and what you find is damaging to your sanity and ability to comprehend what it is.
Or she could be taping into a new and different power besides the "Mortal gods."
Some long forgotten gods (or a new and sinister power) perhaps Cthulhu/Great Old Ones/the Dead Gods, although If I did this I would probably not come outright and say that is what it was.
I was thinking about an intersting encounter with a Mindflayer though!

Or simply "The powers that be" (Although this is sort of a lame term when overused, like on Angel, I found the term to become a bit stale)

I have just been wondering if the character would work better with a background or Sorcerer or Conjuration Wizard spec.

But Cleric seems like it will work fine at this point and can be easier than "reworking" the character or loosing power by multi-classing.

She has already begun to loose the domains provided by Ehlonna as the goddes shows her displeasure with the cleric tapping into some other source of power, although the pc has found that she coudl tap that power to fill that void...
seduction by the darker side! bwahaha!


Hey Pax, what books have the details of the Domains you mentioned? "Slime, Time, and Madness."
(Sounds like a title of a book or a name for a music group or song!!)

 

[Cygnus]

Hehehe.

Besides, the +2 caster levels for summoning stuff,

Pax, where does the +2 caster level come from?

 

[Pax]

Pax, where does the +2 caster level come from?

The Contemplative PrC, and more specifically, his first Prestige Domain: Summoning. The Domain Power for that is +2 caster level with all summoning spells.

Add in Spell Thematics (Errata'd) and a Magic Tattoo (+1 effective caster level), and that's a total of +4 effective caster levels. Added to somethign like Spell Girding, and, it gets significantly harder to just dispel what he calls up against you ...