Character concept

[Evilhalfling]

As a young man his village was raided by gaints - they demolished the towns defenders, but a dragon who lived nearby came to the towns rescue. Being a smart lad he eventually figured out the dragon was was concealed in the town itself! The dragon was a religious type and spoke of Bahamut. The impressionalble young lad felt a deep calling and debt to the dragon god. Shortly afterward the dragon was called away and vanished. If you are not starting in your hometown you may be out seeking your mentor.

rules wise Vassal of Bahamet (BoED) is great but with a +7 BAB requirement may be a long road, for loss of clerical advancement. The Platinum Knight (Drac) would be better - but it requires a chr 11 (for Dragonfriend Feat) and it give 1/2 casting levels
If you do keep the int 15, then take scribe scroll - it reinforces the studious nature of the Char and will be quite useful too.

Start with scale mail and a sickle and perhaps a longspear. If your party is large enough he can fight from the second rank. Save some starting money for scrolls once you have XP.
spells should focus on buffing/healing others rather than yourself. Improve intiatitve is good, as your buffs can be used early, and if flatfooted the longspear wont be much use.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Jdvn1:

Given that the Cleric only has 140 gp, he needs whatever help he can get to his AC. The best armor he can afford is Scale mail and shield, which allows a dex bonus of up to +3. Thus, with his Dex at 15, he'll have the maximum AC he can get.

At lower levels, its MUCH more important not to be hit than to survive a single hit. Just comparing Max Dex vs. Max Con:

Max Dex the Cleric has 8HP and an AC of 18. If the average weapon is 1d6 x2, it does 3.5 damage on an average hit. 3 average hits will then do 10.5 damage. 2 max damage hits or a maxed out crit will do 12 damage. The average roll on a D20 is 10.5, and a roll of 18 or better occurs 15% of the time (1 roll in 6.67).

Max Con the Cleric will have 12HP and an AC of 17. It will take 4 average hits or the same 2 max hits/1 maxed crit to drop him. A roll of 17 or better occurs 20% of the time (1 roll in 5).

The probability of the second cleric surviving an average combat are worse. He can take more damage, but he'll be hit more often.

Onto other matters:

Before you settle on the arrangement of stats- think: does your DM have a penchant for throwing Undead around. If so, you'll want at least a 12 in Cha to get an edge on your Turn attempts.

How do you envision the cleric, Quill? A zealot who converts unbelievers by force, or someone who tries to gather converts by being an exemplar of the good that Bahamut can do if you accept him as your divine leader?

Is he of noble birth? From a merchant family? A Peasant? All have RP potential.

Weapon choice? I, too, favor blunt weapons for getting rid of undead, the perennial enemy of the typical priest, and the quarterstaff is typical of a traveller/mendicant. However, Dragons are powerful, heavily armored, fearless and bold- and the best combo I can see is Scale mail (protective and as close to dragon-skin as possible), a Spiked Large Shield, and a Morningstar (same damage as Q-staff, but only 1 handed). That combo keeps your damage curve at its max (without taking a feat or multiclassing) and maximizes your AC. If you (down the road) take Imp. Shield Bash and 2 weapon fighting, so much the better.

 

[Fate Lawson]

Ignoring all of the Stat and Min/Maxing issues, let's look at why the stat's may be as they are, and what has caused a man to devout his life to a Dragon's God.

Perhaps the character was born in an area bordering one of the evil lands. As a child his home village was overrun by the evil rulers troops (perhaps including an evil dragon)and his whole family was slaughtered by sword and fire and he himself was seriously wounded and left for dead. Just before lapsing into unconsciousness he sees the face of a woman staring down on him.

Upon awakening he finds himself in a small hut in the middle of a forest, with the woman tending his wounds. Slowly he regain his strength, but his wounds have left him scarred and weaker than he was. For years he lived with the woman, learning her language and working around the home she tried to make for this poor orphan.

It was her that taught him the difference between the good dragons, and the evil ones. It was through her teachings that he began to venerate Bahamut.

Then it happened, one day troops of the evil lord found their home, and he found out the full truth of the woman he had come to think of as Mother. As the large evil dragon of his nightmares dove down upon their home, with a roar Mother changed and a large Silver Dragon rose to meet the Foe...


Now the adopted-son goes forth into the world of man, but doesn't know it's ways...and because he was raised by a dragon, he has an odd way of dealing with people.


Other possibilities I can see arising from this background. Maybe he still bears scars on his face and he wears a half-mask made of copper to conceal these scars. As he advances in levels maybe he upgrades the mask through the metallic spectrum.

Maybe he slips into draconic speech when excited or angry?

Maybe he has draconic step-siblings?

 

[Jdvn1]

The probability of the second cleric surviving an average combat are worse. He can take more damage, but he'll be hit more often.

A low levels, this is probably true, but you have to plan for later levels too.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Edit: response was needlessly snarky.

 

[LeapingShark]

I would have my cleric totally obsessed with dragons. He'd have a dragon painted on his shield, a dragon painted on his cloak, and the pommel of his weapon would be carved in the shape of a dragon. And of course he'd wear a little wooden dragon token dangling from a chain on his neck.

He'd always buy the best armor he can afford. He'd carry a morningstar (cuz it does piercing like a pick, it does d8 damage instead of a measly d6, it's 1-handed so you can carry a shield).

Naturally I'd make sure Int was high enough to get a bonus language, because he needs to know Draconic.

Even though it's kindofa stupid spell (your enemy just comes back a few seconds later), he'd prepare "Cause Fear", because most dragons have the "frightful presence" ability. (Clerics usually end up converting all their cool spells to "Cures" on the other party members anyway, so you might as well pick something wierd for the fun of it).

Lastly on his horse saddle he'd carry a small birdcage with a trained canary in it, and give it a cutesy name like "Aurum" (means gold in latin). Because Bahamut is said to polymorph himself and his 7 gold dragons into; a wandering old man with 7 trained canaries.

 

[Runesong42]

I couldn't copy/paste the info, but I found a link to the description of the priesthood of Bahamut (and, actually, a hella lot of Greyhawk deities) from a Living Greyhawk pdf.

http://www.theocracyofthepale.com/downloads/lg_deities.pdf

Check that out.

 

[Tatsukun]

Plus, a higher dex means a higher "Flat-Footed" AC.

Huh?

Anyway...

I see this guy as approaching his faith from both wisdom and intelligence. He probably has some logical reason he thinks his god is better than others, but he’s just not that able to articulate this to others. His mind and spirit are whirling energies, but he can’t get other people to understand (no Cha, no diplomacy).

So, I would think “University Astronomy Professor”. A guy who knows a lot, and is always pondering the world, but is boooooooring. He just drones on in a monotone voice about the natural superiority of dragons until he annoys even himself. He might even let on about his secret wish to somehow ascend and become a dragon. He feels a bit like a looser because he’s a silly human (and other humans know it).

He’s not that quick to react to things, probably because he’s often pondering deep things when he should be keeping an eye out for danger. Because of this, he usually prepares a lot of long-term buffs and he wears heavy armor.

He has just begun his career, so he probably has a good stout mace, a large shield with a dragon painted on it (maybe he painted it, maybe he has tried to express his thoughts in art since he falls so short in speech), and the heaviest armor he can buy.

You know, he might be a cloistered cleric (UA), not a battle-type cleric (PHB).

-Tatsu

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Originally Posted by Dannyalcatraz
Plus, a higher dex means a higher "Flat-Footed" AC.

Originally Posted by Tatsukun
Huh?

Thank you Tatsukun for pointing out the first of 2 obvious errors I made in that post and a subsequent one. I've been a little sleep deprived of late- I am, as the old curse goes, "living in interesting times".

What I meant, of course, is that the higher Dex PC would have a higher AC against touch attacks.

Error #2

Max Dex the Cleric has 8HP and an AC of 18. If the average weapon is 1d6 x2, it does 3.5 damage on an average hit. 3 average hits will then do 10.5 damage. 2 max damage hits or a maxed out crit will do 12 damage. The average roll on a D20 is 10.5, and a roll of 18 or better occurs 15% of the time (1 roll in 6.67).

Max Con the Cleric will have 12HP and an AC of 17. It will take 4 average hits or the same 2 max hits/1 maxed crit to drop him. A roll of 17 or better occurs 20% of the time (1 roll in 5).

The error was, of course, that a first level Cleric with a 15 con and max hp would have 10, not 12 hp- which actually strengthens my point. That cleric will be dropped by the same number of hits as the Max Dex cleric, and will be hit more often.

I'd still advise morningstar over mace. With a Str of 13 or worse, your PC will have to be careful with his encumberance, and a Mace weighs 4 pounds more than a Morningstar (that's a 50% weight difference)- does the same damage, and only has 1 damage type compared to 2 for the Morningstar. Oh, and the Mace costs 4Gp more as well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If its an option, I would also add Datsana/armored sleeves to the character. I know they were first published in D20 form in Oriental Adventures, but I've seen them in other places, I'm sure.

Datsana are scale-mail style armored sleeves that can be attached to light to medium armor, and their +1AC bounus stacks with shields. Not only does this give another precious point to a low-level PC's AC, their scalyness will resonate with the character concept.

+++

Ask yourself: Who is attracted to worshipping a dragon?

Someone who is strong and whose personality resonates with the power and awesomeness of divine dragonkind?

Someone who sees dragons as a contrast to his weak self- and sees them as a protector, like a scrawny child who latches onto the biggest guy he knows as a buddy?

Or another physically weak person who hopes to be transformed by his association with dragons...someone painfully aware of the difference between being and becoming...anyone ever read Red Dragon or see one of its movie adaptations (Red Dragon or Manhunter)?

Someone who has witnessed the transformative power of the good that Bahamut does?