cleric multiclassing into fighter

[Hescamar]

i am running lvl5 cleric an i am thinking of doing this, so my questioin is, does they work any good?

i myself think of them as fighters capable of buffing themself with spells before battle and the afterwards heal themself.

or is it just a silly idea to do so, cause you will slow down yur spellprogession and thing like that, but on the otherhand you will get some nice fighter feats.

so anyone that have had experience of a similar charcter, you are more than welcome to post your opinions here

 

[Crothian]

Obviously, you will have a cleric more focused on fighting and you will do better in combat for it. It really depends on your character. If you have the war domain it makes a lot of sense. If you find yourself constantly standing shoulder and shoulder with your parties fighters, then it's a good choice. If you are the closest thing your party has to a fighter, it is even a better choice. But if your party has a lot of fighters, you might not want to go that route. Or if you find yourself casting spell more then fighting.

You will lose your high level spells unless your campaign goes to above 20 levels. There is no right or wrong choice, it depends on your character and situation.

 

[Hescamar]

the party cosists of me, a rouge, a monk and a wizard, so i think that it can be a good idea.

the main reason i posted this thread was to make sue i didn´t make anything really stupid.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Given your party composition, one or two levels of fighter might make sense (they'd probably make sense for the rogue too). If you take much more than that, you'll probably find that your clerical abilities are falling too far behind the power curve.

In a more general situation, I think that fighters can multiclass into cleric for up to 4 levels without giving up very much (more than that and the loss of BAB and feats will start to hurt).

Similarly, clerics can multi-class into fighter for one or two levels without giving up too much spellcasting power. Much more than that, though, and the cleric is giving up lots of power in an area he's very good at (spellcasting) for a small power increase (a few feats) in an area that he's mediocre at (fighting).

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Have you considered staying a single classed cleric and taking the Leadership feat at 6th level? With it you can get a 4th or 5th level fighter as a cohort. This will significantly help your party in the combat arena while leaving your cleric free to get those high level spells as soon as possible.

 

[shilsen]

A single-classed cleric with the appropriate buffing spells can be quite potent in combat, and be a good replacement for a fighter.

At 6th level, if you pick up the feat Extend spell, you can extend spells like Bull's Strength to last for 12 hours. Given that you have four 3rd level slots (presuming a score of 16 in Wis) as a 6th level cleric, you can afford to use up a couple to make yourself more potent in melee, while still retaining full spellcasting progression and getting the higher level spells as soon as possible (remember Greater Magic Weapon at 7th).

Considering you've already put 5 levels in cleric, I think the spells that you get by staying single-classed will more than make up for the benefits of a couple of levels of fighter.

 

[maddman75]

One of my players has such a character - a Cleric2/fighter5/Hunter of the Dead1. He's basically a fighter that can use a couple protection spells, use healing wands, and can detect undead. Its a good combination - always has been. Its a simple question - what do you spend most of your time doing?

If you spend most of your time in melee (sounds like it from the makeup of your group) getting a couple levels of fighter might be a good idea

If you spend most of your time healing, buffing, and casting spells, you'd be better off staying with cleric moving your caster level up.

 

[The_lone_gunman]

From a strickly power point of view, you hurt yourself by taking fighter. For every level of fighter you take, you will be cutting off a lvl of higher spell casting. To really make an effective fighter/cleric, you need to take several levels of fighter, make your cleric one of war, focus on a single weapon and fighting style. IMO, you would be better off sticking with cleric and focusing on spellcasting. A straight cleric is still fairly effective as a back up fighter, especially if you put yourself in some good armor and lots of buffs. You don't have to sacrifice your spellcasting that way though, and the way to power with a cleric is through his/her spells.


TLG

 

[Voidsinger]

First time poster, long time reader, so heyas folks...

As for multi-classing fighter/cleric, there's a few considerations you need to think about...

First, will you have any XP penalties? If you're a human or a race that favors fighters, then no problem. If not, you're looking at a 20% reduction which will definitly slow down your progression.

Second, what are your motivations behind multiclassing as a fighter? Are you going at it for the extra feats, or the overall attack bonuses? If its for the latter, I'd suggest you look at a prestige class instead. The Warpriest from DotF, for example, has the same bonus progression as the fighter, and still allows you to gain a spellcasting level for each 2 level you get in the prestige class, along with adding your warpriest levels to your turning attempts, spells, etc.

Personally, I'm also playing a cleric right now, 9th level, with all the necessary feats and requirements to crossover into the warpriest prestige class. I'll hold it off to after 11th, though, since level 10 and 11 give out nice bonuses to a cleric. But since I'm also leaning towards more of a "crusader"-type of cleric, I'll probably jump over.