Astral Fire

[Nifft]

Useful for only one race of cleric? Joy.

There are only two races which make decent laser Clerics, so don't whine. Half of them are good with Astral Fire.

Strength Clerics don't need it.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aldarc]

And for the record, cleric feats vastly outnumber wizard feats. At least, they do if you count channel divinity. And they had to put those in there because there are cleric fans who will hunt down the designers and smother them in their sleep if deity choice doesn't have mechanical results. Clerics actually get more text in the feat section than any other class, I believe.

Except that when you take one wizard feat does not prevent you from taking the rest; it does with clerics. So while there may be more cleric feats, it is a superficial abundance.

There are only two races which make decent laser Clerics, so don't whine. Half of them are good with Astral Fire.

Strength Clerics don't need it.

Cheers, -- N

I know strength clerics do not need this. I am concerned about spell-casting focused wisdom clerics here.

 

[Nifft]

I know strength clerics do not need this. I am concerned about spell-casting focused wisdom clerics here.

Nitpick: all clerics are spell-casting, because all cleric powers are "Prayers". Even the Strength ones.

There are two races which make decent Wisdom clerics: Elf and Dwarf. Elves are good with Astral Fire, Dwarves are not. That's 50% of all possible passable combinations.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

So much truth, it got posted twice!

 

[mlund]

I look at it this way: there are maybe 4 races well-stat'd to play Clerics out of the gate: Humans, Elves, Dragonborn, and Dwarves

Laser Beam Clerics: Humans, Elves (Wis, Cha, Dex)
Godhammer Clerics: Humans, Dragonborn, Dwarves (Str, Wis, Cha)

Dwarves don't make optimal Laser Beam Clerics. Their racial background directs them to the front lines where they can use Strength based Cleric attack, their Dwarf Racial Hammer-Fu, and their high-Con + Healing abilities to tank and smash.

Dragonborn may not be the highest-wisdom Clerics around, but their high Strength and Charisma helps their odds if they go smashing things and they have higher Healing Surge values along with a Close Blast racial ability as a Minor Action. If you have them start trying to shoot Laser Beams they are going to disappoint.

Elves don't make optimal Godhammer Clerics. Their racial background directs that to the back of the party where they use Dexterity and Wisdom based Ranged Attacks and move swiftly to an ally's side to administer aid.

Humans can go either way depending on how they run their stats.

Ideally, you pick a diety whose Channel Divinity isn't utterly useless either. The Channel Divinity feats aren't very balanced, IMO, and it leaves some worshipers out in the cold in the Heroic Tier.

- Marty Lund

 

[helium3]

Except that when you take one wizard feat does not prevent you from taking the rest; it does with clerics. So while there may be more cleric feats, it is a superficial abundance.

I know strength clerics do not need this. I am concerned about spell-casting focused wisdom clerics here.

There are a lot of strength based cleric powers that do radiant or fire damage. It's just as useful for those as it is for the wisdom based cleric powers.

 

[Aldarc]

Nitpick: all clerics are spell-casting, because all cleric powers are "Prayers". Even the Strength ones.

There are two races which make decent Wisdom clerics: Elf and Dwarf. Elves are good with Astral Fire, Dwarves are not. That's 50% of all possible passable combinations.

Cheers, -- N

Nitpick: spell-casting focused wisdom-based clerics as opposed to the more martially inclined strength-based clerics. Yes, they both cast spells, but one is more inclined to pick up general or martial feats than the other.

I'm still waiting for a half-way decent in-game explanation for the Dex requirement.

 

[Rystil Arden]

There are a lot of strength based cleric powers that do radiant or fire damage. It's just as useful for those as it is for the wisdom based cleric powers.

Less so. They can grab Weapon Focus, which applies to pretty much all rather than some of their powers unless they change their weapon for some weird reason (at which point they retrain) and does not stack with Astral Fire.

 

[Stogoe]

I'm still waiting for a half-way decent in-game explanation for the Dex requirement.

Aim your laser. Pew pew!

 

[Nifft]

Nitpick: spell-casting focused wisdom-based clerics as opposed to the more martially inclined strength-based clerics. Yes, they both cast spells, but one is more inclined to pick up general or martial feats than the other.

Well, if you want to really get picky, you don't ever get any spells, because Clerics aren't Arcane. There are only Prayers.

I'm still waiting for a half-way decent in-game explanation for the Dex requirement.

Is there a decent in-game explanation for the extra damage?

Cheers, -- N