Combat Cleric

[Nightfall]

I've not yet made a good SL war cleric, but I'd probably go half orc barbarian/cleric/Divine Disciple/Horseman of Vangal. Extra raging, smiting, some extra domain power. He might not be god-like but he'd be pretty potent in my mind, on horseback at least.

 

[GakToid]

Player's Guide to Faerun

Now that persistent spell uses a spell slot six levels higher than the spell's actual level, would anyone like to revise their previous statements?

-Gak Toid

 

[Jixan]

Hey there,

I played a 2-handed-sword weilding human war cleric (war/travel) pretty much as you've described in a campaign for over a year. I thought I'd share a few of my experiences with you.

First off, my character always seemed to be late to the battle. There were a couple reasons for this. First, he had a fairly low dex (10 or 12, can't remember) and no Improved Initiative feat, so he tended to be last in initiative order more often than not. So, right there, he was starting out after all the other characters got going. Also, with the low dex, he wore heavy armor (full plate) to compensate. With this heavy armor, his speed was less than everyone else, so even when he did get going, he could take several rounds to get into the action, especially if any maneuvering was required.

Keep in mind, the above is *without* stopping to cast buffs before the battle. It's true that you can prepare for many combats, but it seemed like the majority of our combats were on the fly and I didn't have the opportunity to spend time buffing before hand. With the new 3.5 rules, you can't just cast bull's strength, cat's grace, etc. at the beginning of the day and go. You really need to cast most of the spells you need directly before entering combat.

Again, major issues. If combat wasn't something I could prepare for, there was absolutely no way I could spend 3-6 rounds buffing before lamely charging into battle with my 20' movement at the bottom of the initiative order. So, without those buffs, I was just a sub-standard fighter and honestly would have been better off standing back and launching off a flamestrike or something.

It became a running joke in the party that my character was always yelling "Hang on guys, I'm coming!!" But, of course, by the time I got there, they had sunk a bad guy or two and had taken a few hits and began calling for heals. Sigh =)

It's been a while now since I played the cleric, but if Iwere to do it again, I would probably put most of my points into DEX, WIS, and STR and go with the lightest armor possible. I'd also cast Longstrider every day Again, I found the short duration of the combat buffs to be my biggest hinderance, so take that for what it's worth.

-Jixan

 

[Kershek]

Or get boots of striding and springing.

 

[Shin Okada]

You don't need to take war domain to make a melee-heavy cleric. That domain only gives you a martial weapon proficiency (and focus). Your cleric can just spend one feat and use any exotic weapon. You don't need to have martial weapon proficiency for this. Try Spiked Chain, Heavy Pole Axe, Great Spear and such.

 

[beaver1024]

Don't forget to get a bead of karma and an orange ioun stone as soon as u can cast 7th level spells.

 

[Anthraxus]

You don't need to take war domain to make a melee-heavy cleric. That domain only gives you a martial weapon proficiency (and focus). Your cleric can just spend one feat and use any exotic weapon. You don't need to have martial weapon proficiency for this. Try Spiked Chain, Heavy Pole Axe, Great Spear and such.

Actually, you have to pick one weapon for the Exotic Weap. Prof. feat.

And someone else mentioned taking the War domain to use a Dwarven Waraxe in one hand. Doesn't work that way. The War domain gives you the ability to use the Deities chosen weapon as Martial- two handed. You need to pick up the EWP to use it with a Shield.

Now, a Dwarf has Weapon Familiarity with Dwarven Waraxes, so he doesn't need the War domain. At 3rd level(or 2nd if he happens to take a level of fighter...), he can choose EWP(requires a +1 or better BAB before taking).

-A
Plays "Shaylea of Mayaheine"- Battle Cleric of the Shield Lands, in Living Greyhawk.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely taking Quicken spell at 12th level. The ability to cast 2 spells in the first round of combat would really help, I think. (like Divine Favor/Shield of Faith & Divine Power/Righteous Might)

 

[DarkMaster]

First off, my character always seemed to be late to the battle. There were a couple reasons for this. First, he had a fairly low dex (10 or 12, can't remember) and no Improved Initiative feat, so he tended to be last in initiative order more often than not. So, right there, he was starting out after all the other characters got going. Also, with the low dex, he wore heavy armor (full plate) to compensate. With this heavy armor, his speed was less than everyone else, so even when he did get going, he could take several rounds to get into the action, especially if any maneuvering was required.

Keep in mind, the above is *without* stopping to cast buffs before the battle. It's true that you can prepare for many combats, but it seemed like the majority of our combats were on the fly and I didn't have the opportunity to spend time buffing before hand. With the new 3.5 rules, you can't just cast bull's strength, cat's grace, etc. at the beginning of the day and go. You really need to cast most of the spells you need directly before entering combat.

Again, major issues. If combat wasn't something I could prepare for, there was absolutely no way I could spend 3-6 rounds buffing before lamely charging into battle with my 20' movement at the bottom of the initiative order. So, without those buffs, I was just a sub-standard fighter and honestly would have been better off standing back and launching off a flamestrike or something.

It became a running joke in the party that my character was always yelling "Hang on guys, I'm coming!!" But, of course, by the time I got there, they had sunk a bad guy or two and had taken a few hits and began calling for heals. Sigh =)

Same story with the dwarven cleric in my campaign by the time she is buffed and ready to hit the first enemy the barbarian/ranger has already downed a few enemies and his screaming for cure spell.

 

[Seule]

Now, a Dwarf has Weapon Familiarity with Dwarven Waraxes, so he doesn't need the War domain. At 3rd level(or 2nd if he happens to take a level of fighter...), he can choose EWP(requires a +1 or better BAB before taking).

The way Weapon Familiarity works is that a Dwarf treats the Exotic use of a Dwarven Waraxe (1-handed) as Martial. Thus, a Dwarven Cleric doesn't have proficiency with the Waraxe unless he gets it somehow, like from the War domain. A Dwarven Cleric with the War domain (in Waraxe) gets Martial Weapon Proficiency and Focus, which allows them to use the axe one or two handed because of racial familiarity.
If they want to take proficiency otherwise, it counts as Martial, which is a feat with no prerequisites, so can be taken at first level.
No Dwarf ever needs to take EWP: Waraxe. Martial Weapon Proficiency does the same thing for them.

--Seule

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

WRT domains, war is an easy and obvious one to take but you can do pretty well in 3.5 without it. (Especially if you play an elf though elves make better archer clerics than melee clerics). Longspear is a very good simple reach weapon if you want reach and heavy mace/morning star are pretty close to longsword/battle axe/warhammer in the one-handed weapon category.

The Strength domain is a very good one for combat clerics. At low levels, you can use Enlarge Person. (And that's still useful at high levels too). At high levels, it seriously reduces your required buffing time when you can activate your domain power and get a +10 enhancement bonus to strength for one round as a free action. Stoneskin isn't anything to shrug at either.