Cleric over balancing the game

[Pylar]

Thanks for all the help folks. You've givin me a little to think about. As far as the type of cleric I play, he is a Dwarven Cleric of Dumathoin. 9 levels cleric, 5 levels of Divine Disciple, 2 levels of Heirophant. He has spell casting prodigy, craft Arms and armor, Extra Turning, Divine Vigor, Extend Spell and magical atrisan feats. Also several other prestige class abilities. My domains are Craft, metal and Dwarf. And yes I have created magical weapons for the Half-orc. I haven't made any armor since he has a celestial chainshirt of flight, that would be better than I could make. And an animated shield so he can use his two weapon fighting abilities. I've also buffed the half-orc with bull strength, and magical vestments. He's got a +4 bastard sword, so the GMW didn't give much of an improvement. My only thought has been to used my imbue with spell ability from my DD levels and give him a couple of low level spells to cast. Either for healing, or lower level buffs. As far as the plane hopping goes, we are on another prime material, so it wouldn't affect my level or casting ability. Also one of the first things I do in combat is cast spell resistance, or spell immunity dispel magic to help protect me from those nasty dispels that can kills my buffs.

 

[bret]

Also one of the first things I do in combat is cast spell resistance, or spell immunity dispel magic to help protect me from those nasty dispels that can kills my buffs.

Sorry, but that doesn't work.

Look at the Dispel Magic spell.

Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

Spell Immunity acts as if they had unbeatable SR. Too bad that SR doesn't affect Dispel Magic. Same problem with the Spell Resistence spell.

 

[Victim]

Add properties to the other characters' existing items. Add some extra pluses to his celestial chain, and throw something like Flaming onto his weapons. If you use Magic of Faerun, add screaming to his weapons. For 2 weapon fighting, bonus damage dice are the big plus because they affect each attack. Since you can cast sound burst, you should be able to make screaming weapons.

Also, find a good way to transfer your self only spells to the 1/2 orc. Imbue with spell ability has annoying school restrictions, so have someone create a spell storing item instead. Now consider a fighter with Divine Favor running . . .

A high level non-spellcaster will likely be very dependent on magic items. To be effective, you not only want weapons, armor, a STR boosts, but also lots of utility and other minor effects. Teleportation items, see invisible goggles, and every kind of bonus type for attack, damage, AC and saves that you can find. Pale Green ioun stones (+1 comp bonus to almost everything) or a similar item or nice. Skin of the Hero is really good too. If you find it too difficult or expensive to power up his main items, you can usually get at least twice the bonus by finding/creating items with smaller bonuses of unsual types.

 

[0-hr]

The only good defense that I found against Dispel Magic was a Ring of Counterspell (Dispel on the one hand, Greater Dispel on the other).

Does your DM usually let you folks rest after just one or two encounters? That will make a huge difference in the effectivness of the spell casters. By the 5th or 6th fight of the day, I bet the half-orc would be doing more work than the casters...

 

[MeanGenes]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong as a player. You should play your cleric however you want to as long as he stays true to his alignment and the teachings of his god.

However, the problem seems to be the DM. If you're casting greater magic weapon all the time (giving your weapons a +5 bonus), then the DM should have given the 1/2orc a couple of +5 or greater weapons by now (and by greater than +5 I mean +5 flaming/vorpal/keen etc. weapons). If you're buffed on bull's strength or divine power, the 1/2orc should have been given a girdle of giant strength +6. Is your ac better than the 1/2orc? How about +3 or +4 mithral full plate mail of fortification for the barb/ranger?

It is the DM's job to keep all the players on a relatively equal playing field, and the only way to do that is through magic items. Another thing is that the DM does not seem to be playing his mages/clerics intelligently. Every evil mage should begin combat with a (mass) haste followed by an area dispel magic or a chained targeted dispel magic. Your character wouldn't be nearly so powerful if he was dispelled 1/2 the time.

It's tough telling the DM that he's not doing his job right, but I would sort of recommend that you suggest he start giving out more powerful magic items designed for the 1/2orc.

 

[Endur]

Buffing Spells

A lot depends on the variables, but generally buffing spells are more effectively cast on a fighter-type than a cleric-type.

1) Fighters go into melee immediately unlike clerics who may cast spells for a few rounds;
2) Fighters have all the fighter feats/special abilities to pump up their prowess, whereas the cleric is relying solely on spells;
3) Fighters tend to have the best magic weapons/armor for combat whereas clerics tend to have a mix of combat and spell items;
4) Fighters have more hit points, higher str, higher BAB, etc. before the various buff spells are applied.

Granted, there are some powerful caster-only buffing spells that make up for many of the fighter's advantages (Divine Favor, Divine Power, Righteous Might), but most of those spells are short duration and do you really want your spell caster to be in hand to hand combat with a Big Nasty Creature? Especially if some low level flunky of the Big Nasty reads a scroll of Greater Dispelling (caster level 20) and sends all your magic protections away and Big Nasty swallows your cleric whole?

The high level game is a campaign where spell casters are more effective than fighting types--the variety of spells is amazing and the power level is awesome. But, as a player, I would always avoid hand to hand combat as a cleric.

After all, if the Fighter dies, you can cast a spell to raise him from the dead. If the cleric dies, neither the Druid nor the fighter can cast Raise Dead. I suppose the Druid could cast reincarnate, although you might come back as a squirrel.



Tom

 

[Pax]

Re: Buffing Spells

After all, if the Fighter dies, you can cast a spell to raise him from the dead. If the cleric dies, neither the Druid nor the fighter can cast Raise Dead. I suppose the Druid could cast reincarnate, although you might come back as a squirrel.



Tom

Well, being reincarnated as a squirrel might qualify you for the opportunity to earn an experience point award for killing El Ravager*, or for a Prestige Class along those lines.








* --- KODT reference