Combat Cleric

[Jeremy]

I think the deflection might be one of the rod of flailing's powers but I didn't look at it too closely. I just know he's pounded the snot out of a good number of strong challengers.

And while I don't recommend duplicating the build, it's got lots of great things to borrow piecemeal.

City of the Spider Queen makes me think one thing. Extended Death Ward. That's the only additional suggestion I'd make.

 

[jgsugden]

Just to get it out of the way: Power Gaming is not the way to go. Pick something fun to play rather than something powerful to play. If your characters are too powerful, your DM will bump up the difficulty of the encounters - thus your extra power will be wasted. If you pick something fun to play, on the other hand, the DM doesn't try to counteract the fun.

You're going up against drow. You want to play a cleric. You prefer melee to missile combat. You'll be going against the drow. If I were building a character under those restraints, I'd probably go with an elf. The tension between an elf and a drow setting sounds like a lot of fun to me.

 

[Jeremy]

And since it's in the Forgotten Realms, you've got it made. There is an elven deity specifically for the war with drow. Sheverash or some such.

Ready made plot hooks built in.

 

[James McMurray]

But if you go with dwarf you get that all-important darkvision. We're currently running through CotSQ and almost the entire party is dwarven for that very reason.

 

[Jeremy]

Ah, what's the fun of being a spell caster if you don't have obstacles that you are specifically suited to overcoming? Darkvision anybody?

 

[Shazman]

The half-orc barbarian/cleric idea sounds good. Rage, good starting hit points, and martial weapon proficiencies should more than make up for the one spellcasting level lost. Get extra rage early so you're not a one shot a day combat machine. Of course power attack is also a must. A human would work with this as well. you could start out with both of these feats.

 

[Darklone]

The half-orc barbarian/cleric idea sounds good. Rage, good starting hit points, and martial weapon proficiencies should more than make up for the one spellcasting level lost. Get extra rage early so you're not a one shot a day combat machine. Of course power attack is also a must. A human would work with this as well. you could start out with both of these feats.

Yeah. Right now I got a gnome like that (the halforc died). Travel domain against grapples. He's hell.

 

[GakToid]

Just to get it out of the way: Power Gaming is not the way to go.

Oh, I'm aware of that. However, I'm a terrible tactician. What others would turn into a horribly unbalanced character, I'll probably get killed inside of 2 sessions.

In this case the player turned DM that is going to run CotSQ hasn't run a module in YEARS. So it'll be interesting.

That said, I'm still working my way between half-orc (??), dwarf (Haela Brightaxe), and human (Red Knight, Torm) as my race of choice. Dwarf gets the nod for the free greatsword, but a 20 strength half-orc barbarian/cleric is very tempting.

I’ll probably start with extend spell, persistent spell, power attack, and one more feat.

Thanks for all the advice. It's given me something to think about. Now all I have to do is figure out what all the cleric spells do!

-Gak Toid

 

[Numion]

But if you go with dwarf you get that all-important darkvision. We're currently running through CotSQ and almost the entire party is dwarven for that very reason.

There is a spell in Magic of Faerun that gives Blindsight for 1 h / level. Some good.

 

[Gaiden]

But if you go with dwarf you get that all-important darkvision. We're currently running through CotSQ and almost the entire party is dwarven for that very reason.

Nah, I'd go with Elf and stock up on the daylight spells - drow hate light and elves hate drow.

Now if it were duegar, well, that's another story .