Creating a Cleric

[Rolzup]

Looking for some advice from the more experienced D&D3ers out there.

My wife and I have been playing in an ongoing D&D campaign for about two years now, and the DM is all set to wrap it up and start a new one. So far, so good -- we're both looking forward to it.

My wife, though, is a little...frustrated with the character creation process. She's been playing a druid for the past two years, and has enjoyed it tremendously, but she wants to go with something a little different this time around. So she decided to go with a chaotic good cleric.

Again, so far so good. One of the things that she really liked about playing a druid was the sheer volume of neat things that you get as you advance in levels. Wild Shape, trackless stride, and so on. "Crunchy Bits", as Robin Laws calls 'em. Now Clerics, despite having an wealth of spells to choose from, are a little low on the crunchy bits.

What she's looking at now is going into some kind of prestige class, and building a character that can do so as soon as possible. She's considering the Contemplative, or the class that specializes in Divination magic (can't remember the name right now), but hasn't made any final decisions yet.

Any suggestions? She likes being able to kick righteous ass, but she wants to play a character who is more than *just* a killing machine. We're doing the point-based character creation method, with 32 points, so there's no stat problems with any choices.

(For the record, I'm playing a rogue who specializes in social skills. Can't pick a lock to save his life, but he can talk all four legs off an Arcturan Mega-Donkey...and then convince it to go for a walk afterwards. Should be a lot of fun to play.)

Rolzup

 

[Piratecat]

Interestingly enough, the single-classed cleric is probably the most powerful class. As you've probably noticed, though, all of the crunch comes in the form of spells. But my goodness, those spells can be extraordinarily potent. It's designed as compensation for being the group healing machine.

I think my recommendation would be to choose an especially interesting religion, and work with the DM to create religion-specific subplots. Another option might be to allow the cleric to swap out "core" spells for spells in auxilliary books (such as Relics & Rituals) on a one for one basis. With this, she should be able to customize her cleric to a significant extent.

Multiclassed spellcasters are usually fairly ineffective. 3.5 will mitigate that a bit by encouraging Prestige Classes that compensate somewhat (mystic theurge = wiz/cl, eldrich warrior = ftr/wiz, etc.) I have a rough cleric/rogue PrC whipped up for my campaign if you have any inrerest in seeing it. Even with these, I still suspect that straight cleric is amongst the most interesting choices if you want butt-kicking and fun spell effects.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

What world are you playing in? Has she decided on any particular race yet?

I'm a huge fan of Half-Orc Clerics, with one or two levels of Barbarian thrown in there.

I've found, in the past, the extra skills and hitpoints are a lot of fun to fall back on, and the rage is great after you've run out of spells.

Of course, you wouldn't be as powerful a Cleric, which can be a problem.

 

[Cedric]

I agree with Piratecat, find your niche as a cleric in terms of which deity and which religion you choose. That is where the cleric gains their flavor. Their spells are the crunchy bits.

Domains go a long ways towards making up for this as well. For instance, I'm making a cleric right now for a new campaign. I've decided to go with an Elven cleric who specializes in Archery.

My GM hasn't finished his pantheon yet, but I'm hoping to find a deity that gives me access to the War and Travel domains. Be able to take Wilderness Lore as a class skill and start out with focus in longbow.

Obviously there are a lot of ways to go about this though...

Cedric

 

[robaustin]

As someone said earlier - there aren't as many crunchy bits- but more in the way of spells.

Create your own "prestige class" and create your own "preferences" of spells to use. I play a chaotic good cleric of Zeus. His preferences run toward the chaotic spells. When I summon - I tend to have my character summon one or two monster types, and that's it. You can do a lot more with that...

--*Rob

 

[star]

Not being a fan of prestige classes, I would go with Cedric's plan of an elven cleric/archer. My backup PC is a CG cleric of Lebalas Enoreth with the Elf and Time domains. I haven't been playing 3E long and am used to clerics being the party medic that protects the wizard with his mace. I'm looking forward to playing this PC, just for going against what I'm used to clerics being able to do.

And crunchy bits? How about free point blank shot and improved initiative, access to haste and eventually time stop, and with GMW, rapid shot and haste you will be the major damage dealer. Oh - and cleric spells. Those are cool too.

Star

 

[Dark Jezter]

A cleric with the Strength and War domains is nearly as good as a fighter when it comes to melee combat, due to their domain abilities and the nice buffing spells they get to cast daily.

 

[hong]

Domains go a long ways towards making up for this as well. For instance, I'm making a cleric right now for a new campaign. I've decided to go with an Elven cleric who specializes in Archery.

My GM hasn't finished his pantheon yet, but I'm hoping to find a deity that gives me access to the War and Travel domains. Be able to take Wilderness Lore as a class skill and start out with focus in longbow.

Munchkin!

Munchkin!

Munchkin!



Hong "always plays half-orc wizard/sorcerers" Ooi

 

[Thomas Percy]

Use a sacrifice rules from Book of Vile Darkness p. 26, but because of Your good alignment, don`t use bloody sacrifice, but some another for example best crops and wine for a godness of nature. With a rise of Your knowledge:religion, You can do many interesting rituals.

 

[Cedric]

Munchkin!

Munchkin!

Munchkin!



Hong "always plays half-orc wizard/sorcerers" Ooi

Don't hold back Hong...tell me how you really feel.

Cedric