Cleric in need of help!

[ksbsnowowl]

Somewhere or other there's also a spell that grants a circumstance bonus to a skill check - perhaps in one of the Eberron books? (The artificer in my last campaign used that spell extensively. Alas, I forget the name as it was 2 years ago now.)

It's in the ECS, and is called Skill Enhancement. Unfortunately, it is an Artificer infusion, not a spell. It likely won't help him.

 

[twizty]

First off, really appreciate all the replies. I wasn't expecting to get much out of a post, but you guys are great with a lot of info for a newbie.

The DM actually apologized for how badly he nerfed me and assured me it wasn't on purpose. Said he didn't even think of someone running an Illumian Cleric. And no, it wasn't brought up pre-campaign. This was caused by an encounter that we had a 2% chance of finding. We found it! We still haven't gone back to town yet to report into to our "C.O.". We've communicated via Sending in which we've been ordered back to town and that cleric's everywhere are losing their . We're a 2 week travel away.

As for the item and it's cost. I'm relying on the group to help me out here as I don't even know where to begin. Only been at this a couple months. They've suggested something along the lines of a custom Gloves of Spellcraft +10 which I believe they said would cost around 27-28k. I've got that, but it will just about break me. I'm still in the same armor I had a L5.

I have no plans of trying to figure out what the evil sign in the sky is outside of gameplay. I've seen a lot of metagaming and don't like it. Ruins the story. I play in a 5E group as well (yeah, learning 2 systems at the same time) and they meta-game like mad. It's kinda disgusting.

The symbol effects all Conj and Div spellcasting, however wands and potions do appear to work no problem. And to clarify, it is a DC20+spell level. Sorry.

I am very tempted to get away from primary healer while this symbol exists and try to get creative with buffs, debuffs and damage. The party leader has done a lot to keep me out of combat because I'm the healer. I had a list somewhere of fun spells to do some damage, I'll have to dig them up.

Feats and ranks are an option. As soon as the group gets back to town we'll be leveling we've been told. So there's some ranks right there, but it will be another level before I can grab a feat. But I'd hate to grab a feat just to combat this one issue. My PC has plans.

Domains...well. I took Community and Darkness. My PC doesn't follow a known god. He's insane, broke out of an asylum and thinks his psychiatrist is his god. He's running around the world trying to spread the word of Beb. Took Leadership feat to assist in that. Working towards creating a church. He's managed to piss off Bahamut quite a bit. DM approved and let me pick any 2 domains. I probably could've chosen a hell of a lot better combo, but oh well.

I'm going to do some digging, but any suggestions on non-conj/div buff, debuff and BF-control?

Again, appreciate all the info.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Gloves of Spellcraft +10 should cost around 10,000 gp. The usual formula is (bonus^2)*100 gp. Your DM may rule that it's an unusual spot and adjusted the price. Or the DM may feel that the price is too low for such a large bonus.

For your armor, you can always cast Magic Vestment. It lasts your entire adventuring day and gives a scaling bonus to your armor. Throwing in things like Divine Favor, Divine Power, Greater Magic Weapon or Righteous Might can make you be just as effective as the fighter in combat if not better.

In combat healing can be inefficient. It's great in an emergency but the general agreement is that it's better to kill your foe before they have another chance to crit you.

For spell suggestions, what books has your DM permitted?

Edit: What is your cohort from Leadership? It may help us suggest spells and other tactics.

 

[twizty]

So far, he hasn't disallowed any books at all.

My cohort is a bard, level 7 I believe. He writes songs about the greatness of Beb and sings them around town attempting to gain followers.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Hmm ... well given the Bard's music and their spell selection, you can leave party buffing to him.

For debuffing you'll have access to things like Poison, Bestow Curse, Blind/Deaf, and things like Wrack (If you're evil) or Lastai's Caress (if you're good).

Direct damage, you always have Inflicts and Harm. Or you can blast with Deific Vengeance, Flame Strike or Searing Light. Dragon Breath is great for the utility it provides. Arcanists are going to be able to drop more d6's than you usually.

For Battlefield Control, you can use Briar Web which is basically Entangle+. Energize Potion can be funny to use (why are we still carrying a potion of Read Magic?). Stone shape works if you're in a stone area, like a dungeon or underground. Dancing Web is available if you're good. Wall of Stone is, unfortunately, conjuration. You'll get access to Blade Barrier next level.

I don't know how your DM thinks but I usually let my players know that tactics are a two way street. If the PCs keep using things like Finger of Death then they can't complain if the monsters do too.

 

[N'raac]

My bias is not to change my character concept and build for something like this. 10,000 gold will buy 13+ wands of Cure Light Wounds. As noted above, in-combat healing is pretty inefficient anyway, so this allows you to use your spells for other purposes. Check the various clerical buff spells for those that will stack with the Bard's abilities.

Your domains have some pretty fair buffs, debuffs and battlefield control spells. One feat I got a lot of use for with a Cleric with some combat-handy domains was Domain Spontaneity - pick one domain, and you can use a Turn Undead to cast a domain spell replacing another prepared spell (same as spontaneous cures). May not be good if you have other plans for your feats, though.

Whether you want to focus on personal buffs or group buffs depends a lot on your build - if you're already a fair combatant, personal buffs become a really nice choice. If not, group buffs and enemy debuffs become a lot more practical.

The Cleric does not have to be a medic - this development actually frees you up from that preconception, giving you a perfect excuse to tell the party to invest some gold in CLW wands (which either you or the Bard can use) because you'll be directing your spells elsewhere.

 

[N'raac]

Investing all your skill ranks into Spellcraft for the next three or four level-ups will be your best long-term option. Spellcraft is important; maybe you'll remember that next time you play a caster.

I'm going to take the contrarian view. It's important someone in the party have spellcraft, but that's typically better for the Wizard-type. INT based characters have a better bonus for the skill anyway, have more skill points to throw around, and when Spellcraft determines your ability to learn a new spell, it's a must have.

It's also crucial if you will be an item crafter, of course. If not, then your Cleric probably doesn't have a pile of skill points to throw around, and may not have a great INT bonus to back up a Spellcraft roll anyway.

Luckily for the Cleric, he can select from a broad array of spells, so while losing access to Conjuration (including Healing) and Divination is unpleasant, it's not as big a nerf as many seem to be making it out to be. Especially if you have the full 3e array of books to select spells from!

 

[delericho]

It's in the ECS, and is called Skill Enhancement. Unfortunately, it is an Artificer infusion, not a spell. It likely won't help him.

Actually, I made a mistake - in addition to that infusion, there's also a spell "Divine Insight" which gives an insight bonus to a skill check (+5 plus caster level). Apparently, it's in the Spell Compendium, and is a Cleric 2 spell.

That seems like just the thing, under the circumstances.

 

[ksbsnowowl]

Actually, I made a mistake - in addition to that infusion, there's also a spell "Divine Insight" which gives an insight bonus to a skill check (+5 plus caster level). Apparently, it's in the Spell Compendium, and is a Cleric 2 spell.

It's Divination, so is also impeded, else I would have already brought it up. Same with Guidance of the Avatar.

My bias is not to change my character concept and build for something like this. 10,000 gold will buy 13+ wands of Cure Light Wounds. As noted above, in-combat healing is pretty inefficient anyway

Since the healing is for out-of-combat, might as well go with wands of Lesser Vigor. Much more cost efficient. Snag a CLW wand or two for the bard cohort to use, but Lesser Vigor is a better option for the cleric.

I'm going to take the contrarian view. It's important someone in the party have spellcraft, but that's typically better for the Wizard-type. ...

As long as the other casters are okay flubbing important spells in clutch situations, then sure. I DM'd a party that had a very rough go of things in a dangerous area of the Plane of Shadow, because the Druid couldn't successfully cast his Daylight. It nearly got them killed.

 

[N'raac]

Since the healing is for out-of-combat, might as well go with wands of Lesser Vigor. Much more cost efficient. Snag a CLW wand or two for the bard cohort to use, but Lesser Vigor is a better option for the cleric.

Agreed on cost effectiveness - and if the Bard has some ranks in UMD, maybe we don't even need the CLW wand (watch out for 1's, though).

As long as the other casters are okay flubbing important spells in clutch situations, then sure. I DM'd a party that had a very rough go of things in a dangerous area of the Plane of Shadow, because the Druid couldn't successfully cast his Daylight. It nearly got them killed.

I'd replace "clutch situations" with "unusual circumstances". Just like our Cleric here, when those unusual situations arise, the character may have to reconsider his spell load to focus away from spells he can't use as effectively at the time. Non-INT based casters don't tend to be rolling in skill points, so dedicating resources to Spellcraft means giving up something else. For a Crafter, Spellcraft is a must, so some ancillary benefits are nice. For a non-crafter, a lot of other skills are relevant a lot more often than when we are travelling the planes, in most campaigns.