Cleric skills?

[preacher]

Hi all, a friend of mine has asked for some help with his build. He's playing a Cleric 8 / Radiant Servant of Pelor 2, and has no idea where to dump his skill points. I've never played a cleric before, so I'm a bit stuck - I usually play mages or skill monkeys. He's largely a one-man healing battery, but clerics don't get a lot of skill points, and it's hard to know where to put them to do the most good. He currently has Heal 10 and Knowledge (religion) 9, and all I can suggest is Concentration. He wears full plate so a lot of the available choices are blown away by his AC penalty.

I realise this is quite a wide question, but what are good skills for clerics?

 

[FalcWP]

Concentration is certainly good - he should feel free to bump it til he can make the DC 15 + his highest available spell level check in his sleep, so he never has to worry about casting defensively.

Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (the planes) are also useful, since they can uncover useful info about various monsters (helpful if either he or his character haven't run in to a particular monster before... always good to know what will and what won't work). If there's going to be any non-violent encounters in the game (ie, more than just a basic dungeon crawl or 'go beat folks up' type game), Diplomacy never hurts, and those Knowledge skills become more valuable. Finally, Spellcraft is useful, but, IMHO, not quite as much - a few ranks to be able to attempt basic stuff is likely plenty.

Also, he has 10 ranks in Heal - Radiant Servant of Pelor only needs 5, and I can't think of anything off the top of my head that needs 10 ranks of Heal. Might be worth it to drop 5 ranks of that... possibly stick those in Spellcraft or something.

 

[nittanytbone]

- Concentration should be maxed until you can make that DC 15+SL check in your sleep.
- Diplomacy can be attractive as you have very high CHA. However, without taking specific domains, its hard to get other useful skills (sense motive, bluff, intimidate, etc).
- Heal may be required for feats/PrCs, but other than that is fairly useless. Magic is much better in most cases, and you only need a DC 15 check for most applications of Heal.
- Know (Arcana) and Know (The Planes) are great. They are worth at least 1 rank each. I like putting 5 ranks in Arcana for the synergy bonus to spellcraft. There are useful monsters here that are worth IDing.
- Know (History) is less valuable but may be worth one rank.
- Know (Religion) is worth 5 ranks. First, synergy to Turn Undead, which RSoP are actually decent at. Second, you're the cleric -- everyone will ask you questions about religion, and you're expected to know!
- Spellcraft is worth either 1 rank (so you can make the check) or 5 ranks (for the synergy bonus to UMD).
- UMD can be worth a rank or two CC. You have excellent charisma and likely buff it if you're a RSoP, and its easy to pick up a quick synergy from spellcraft. Being able to whip out a MU spell can be handy from time to time.

 

[Legildur]

Never neglect Swim! Particularly when you are wearing heavy plate

You only need if very occasionally, but then you really need it.

Oh yeah, Concentration is definately the way to go.

 

[blargney the second]

Balance and Swim are the two skills that will eventually kill you if you don't have them.

 

[nittanytbone]

A cleric with masterwork full plate and a masterwork buckler has a -5 ACP, which makes for a -10 swim check.

Investing ranks in swim is NOT how to avoid drowning as a cleric. These ways are much better:
- Travel Domain power
- Freedom of Movement spell
- Divine Power spell (+6 STR = +3 to STR based checks)
- Righteous Mihgt (Large Size = more STR and more likely to be able to touch bottom)
- Fly spell (travel domain)
- Water Breathing
- Bear's Endurance (more CON = more time you can hold your breath)

Likewise, the only time Balance is very useful is when you have 5 ranks in it, and then it only protects you from rogue's sneak attack in a few limited circumstances. You have to be a high level cleric and invest 10 SP CC in balance to have 5 ranks -- probably not worth it. There are easier ways to get protection from Sneak Attack (boost AC, fortification armor, miss chance, etc).

 

[preacher]

My mistake - I have his sheet in front of me now, and he has 5 ranks in Heal, not 10 - that's the skill modifier including bonuses. Also he already has 6 ranks in Spellcraft, and as stated 9 in Knowledge (religion).

His Concentration is only 3 ranks, for a total mod of 8 including various bonuses. I think that has to be the way to go for most if not all of his ranks at the moment.

I'll mention the other Knowledge skills, but with an INT of 10 there won't be much chance of making the more obscure rolls, and we have plenty of others in the party with lore type skills.

Diplomacy is a good choice that I hadn't thought of, but this has been quite a combat-intensive campaign. There are some non-violent moments, but this player isn't usually the one to negotiate with NPCs, despite his character's high CHA. He may want to step up, though, if his character has the skills for it.

Thanks for all the ideas, I'll pass them on.