Divine MetaWHAT?

[eamon]

The Sudden xxx are usable only 1/day. DMM is usable as long as you have turning attempts. Meaning depending on the cost of the DMM and your number of Turning Attempts, you have to carefully balance both. Anyhow, a cleric going DMM usually throws in high Cha, Extra Turning and a Nightstick, meaning at least 10 Turn attempts a day, enough for twice DMM: Quicken. In general, with 10 Turning attempts you can use each day 5x DMM: +1 feat, or 3x DMM: +2 feat, or 2x DMM: +3 or +4 feat. Beats Sudden XXX IMO.

If your DM allows nightsticks, indeed. I don't allow them in this fashion. In that case, you really need a high CHA and a good deal of extra turnings for some of the more expensive feats.

In any case, I'm not a huge fan of divine meta-magic. It tend's to be very limiting, since if you want it to work, you really need to spend a lot of feats, which a cleric just doesn't have (and in any case, there are many nice cleric feats), or you end up allowing items which allow it to function (such as nightsticks) - but then it quickly grows completely out of hand.

Combined with persist spell it's OK, but it does make you very vulnerable to dispel magic.

So given the complexity, it turns into an extremely character defining feat, and it's easy to mis-balance. But if you're going to take it and run with it, then indeed, persistant spells and nightsticks are the way to go. I think there's a domain which grant's extend spell somewhere, which would be very nice to have.

But the OP is a DM, and probably should decide on a character-defining aspect like this - he'd pretty much need to reengineer the entire character to get this to work well. Further, a player that doesn't optimize well is likely to be overwhelmed by DMM. Finally, you really don't want to open the can of worms that are night-sticks, especially if the rest of the party do optimize...

 

[eamon]

To the OP: does the character use Spell Compendium spells yet? You could consider allowing those, and helping him make a short-list of interesting spells that work well in your setting. There's almost bound to be something in there which is an easy improvement. I'd prefer DM fiat simply raising his ability scores to rearchitecting a character; you run the danger of making it your character otherwise. OK, I'm exaggerating a little here, but I really don't think DMM is what you're looking for. There's probably a few prestige classes that might be interesting too, such as at least one which grant an extra domain and detract little from the standard cleric's ability. There are also many more Divine feats.

 

[Mistwell]

Divine Favor, Divine Power, Righteous Might, Greater Magic Weapon, and Magic Vestments on both armor and shield are all plenty powerful on their own (and even better with a normal extend spell) for a melee cleric. Clerics should be naturally plenty optimized just core for him to enjoy playing one. Throw in a wand of lessor vigor, plate mail and a heavy shield, and you are good to go.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Thanks for the replies. I think I have a better handle on it now. We'll have to see what he decides. I'm not sure if he's willing to burn all the feat slots necessary. Thanks everyone.

Oh and for the record, he is not a melee cleric.

 

[eamon]

If he's not a melee cleric, consider Zen Archery (Wis bonus on to-hit with ranged weapons instead of Dex), and consider getting him the Bow of the Wintermoon (3,400gp MIC48), a +1 composite longbow which adjusts its pull automatically, allowing things like righteous might and divine power to retain their usefulness.

 

[mikebr99]

Thanks for the replies. I think I have a better handle on it now. We'll have to see what he decides. I'm not sure if he's willing to burn all the feat slots necessary. Thanks everyone.

Oh and for the record, he is not a melee cleric.

I would recommend Divine Spell Power for a caster cleric then...
With one (per use) turn attempt and a good Turn Check (1d20 + CHR mod + 3 (DSP) + any other modifiers) you'll be adding up to 4 caster levels to your spell. That's 40 more damage from a Harm... or lots of BAB from Divine Power... or "helpful" with Holy Word...


Mike

 

[Nail]

I would recommend Divine Spell Power for a caster cleric then...
With one (per use) turn attempt and a good Turn Check (1d20 + CHR mod + 3 (DSP) + any other modifiers) you'll be adding up to 4 caster levels to your spell. That's 40 more damage from a Harm... or lots of BAB from Divine Power... or "helpful" with Holy Word...


Mike

My cleric would do this all the time with DMM Quickened Holy Word (DSP feat, Orange Ioun Stone, Karma Prayer bead, Magic Tatoo). Having a caster level +10 meant pretty much everything would be dead or paralyzed, no save.