Pathfinder 1E Gonna start playing cleric for first time--tips?

[menghini22]

Hello, i am recently new to pathfinder and have been playing for a few months or so. I have played as a ranger and fighter and have done well but now we are starting a new campain with new chars starting at lvl 1. I am not to sure of the campain what it is going to be as the DM has not said anything yet, but our chars are as follows: druid, gnome sorcerer, barbarian, and i believe a gun sligner.
I am basically forced into being the healer/tank/melee since nobody else wanted to be either of them. Before you say anything, yes barbarian is supposed to be the tank/melee, but the girl that plays our barbarian likes to roll play more than anything and has given her highest stat to charisma (which is a 16 i believe) and leaving her strength with very little. (not enough to get power attack) So i am forced to pick a healer/tank/melee guy since nobody else wants to do it, and did i mention this is my first time ever playing any sort of spellcaster, so i am majorily out of my league here.

I have chosen a Human Cleric with the deity Gorum, domains of i believe strength and war, and i am weilding a greatsword. I have not picked out other equipment since i am at work. The feats that i have taken so far are Selective channeling, the question that i have for all of you is what other feats would be beneficial for my current situation? I know at lvl 3 i am going to take power attack since i am going to need it with my party. ANY and ALL help is appreciated thank you everyone.

 

[Nightfall]

I think you need to talk to her about changing characters, due to the fact if she wants to play a character with high charisma, then she might want to consider rogue or a bard. Barbarians meet and drink is Str and Con. If she doesn't have high in those, then she might want to consider another character BEFORE playing. Merely because she won't last long as a barbarian as she might as another character.

That being said, I'd consider Cayden Cailean for the fact you can still be a tank/healer, BUT get more interesting ways of dealing with things. For example: Gorum favors all out assault. Cayden prefers a little drunken bravery along with using his wits. He's also quite popular with adventurers, as they known for their good humor. That might allievate the need people have for being...excitable about being on an adventure. (Or at least winning over the locals.)

If you're sticking with Gorum, then yes, Strength and War, followed by two feats: selective channeling and power attack. 3rd, I'd suggest you go with something more like cleave, or something else.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Even if the barbarian isn't much of a melee combatant, I would think the druid would be able to do some of the things you're trying to do, which should make your job easier.

The big thing you need to ask your party is what kind of scouting/perception do you have? Since you're trying to play a character whose power is based on casting spells to improve himself or the other characters in the party as combatants, you need time to do that effectively.

At level 1, spell durations are very limited. You can take a shot on memorizing Bless or Shield of Faith, but realistically, Cure Light Wounds is what you'll want to cast most of the time. Sanctuary is a good spell choice for some clerics, but not for you because you want to attack. Remove Fear is also a decent choice. Avoid anything with a 1 round/level duration (including summon spells) until you get up in level enough for those spells to not suck.

Shield Other is a very useful spell to think towards for level 3. Being able to split damage and an hour/level duration are both handy, and you can cast it on the barbarian to improve that character's survivability.

Both your domains have powers that have a lot of daily uses and increase the combat power of others, so you might want to think about which party member might be worth spending your turn to boost. The barbarian? The druid? The druid's animal companion? No one?

PF channeling provides high-volume healing if you're good or good-ish, so you want to tap into that.

 

[menghini22]

Ya we have tried to get our barbarian to either switch her character or fix her stats and she wont do either. Says she is invested in this char, what she really likes to do is to intimidate people, so i think that is why she is staying at the barbarian with high charisma. It just sucks for the rest of us in the party cause we gotta pick up the slack. Thanks for the advice tho guys keep it coming!

 

[Kinak]

Selective Channeling is a great choice. It makes channeling in combat feasible and is, in my opinion, the single most important healing feat.

For other healing, Extra Channel is probably also something you'll end up using. Quick Channel has also been amazing in our game (allowing channeling and a targeted heal or two channels in a round). Combat Casting will probably come in handy since you're going to be in the middle of combat. Reach Spell is probably the last I'd take, but it can be pretty handy for healing from across the battlefield.

That said, as a rule, you should try to avoid healing in combat as much as possible. This goes double for using spells to heal in combat, but sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

To keep mental space low, focus on your domain spells at first. Those are the only ones you can't trade in for heals, so your other spells you can afford to ignore or not choose optimal spells, because you'll trade in a lot otherwise.

Once you do start paying attention to your non-domain slots more, build up a list of specialized tools. Since you can trade them in for healing, having stuff that's awesome ten percent of the time is way better than something that's decent all the time, because decent spells and terrible spells both end up as cures.

As far as your other feat slot, it sounds like you'll be doing a lot of tanking, so I'd seriously consider Combat Reflexes. Its one of the cornerstones of tanking and will either make you very sticky (in the tanking sense) or help you deal out a ton of damage with your greatsword. So, win-win. Also, you'll want the Dex for your AC anyway.

Barring Combat Reflexes, I'd probably take Extra Channel. You're going to need a lot of stats as a combat cleric and that'll cover for you dropping Charisma a bit.

Ya we have tried to get our barbarian to either switch her character or fix her stats and she wont do either. Says she is invested in this char, what she really likes to do is to intimidate people, so i think that is why she is staying at the barbarian with high charisma. It just sucks for the rest of us in the party cause we gotta pick up the slack. Thanks for the advice tho guys keep it coming!

You might want to steer her towards the feat Intimidating Prowess. With it, she can bump her Strength and be even better at intimidating than she was with the Charisma-focused build.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Dandu]

Ya we have tried to get our barbarian to either switch her character or fix her stats and she wont do either. Says she is invested in this char, what she really likes to do is to intimidate people, so i think that is why she is staying at the barbarian with high charisma. It just sucks for the rest of us in the party cause we gotta pick up the slack. Thanks for the advice tho guys keep it coming!

Sometimes the best thing to do is to let nature take its course.

 

[Herobizkit]

If anything, get her to play the Cleric. Although people tend to see them as (only) the healer, the class is rife with role-playing potential. Once you decide on a deity, coming up with reasons why your character chose hat deity, what you do to honour Him/Her, how much of a mouthpiece you are in 'spreading the word'... all of this can make for an interesting character.

Second, don't sweat the stats too much. Pathfinder's thresholds for HP and damage are much lower than, say, 4e. +2 damage here and there won't matter too much to your barbarian, plus she can rage to boost it if necessary.

Also, your barbarian player may find that an Oracle might also suit her well, especially if she also take a war-like Mastery and models a 'barbarian' (the social definition, not the class) with it.

But i guess none of this addresses what feat you should take. :3

For domains, see if your DM will let you sub the Tactics subdomain for War. Why? Here's why:

Replacement Power: The following granted power replaces the battle rage power of the War domain.
Seize the Initiative (Su): Whenever you and your allies roll for initiative, you can grant one ally within 30 feet the ability to roll twice and take either result. This decision is made before results are revealed. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Giving someone the chance to get a better initiative for pretty much the entire adventuring day is priceless.

 

[N'raac]

Selective Channeling is a great choice. It makes channeling in combat feasible and is, in my opinion, the single most important healing feat.

Of course, this requires a 13 CHA, and leaves out one target for each point of your CHA bonus. How high will your Cleric's CHA be, needing to also focus on the Tank roll? It does make healing in combat viable, but just as your Barbarian is invested in a high CHA Barbarian, you should be invested in your character. If that means no healing in combat, maybe that's what it means. Personally, I prefer interesting characters, even if they are not 100% optimized or the team does not fill all classic roles, so I'm biased on this.

To keep mental space low, focus on your domain spells at first. Those are the only ones you can't trade in for heals, so your other spells you can afford to ignore or not choose optimal spells, because you'll trade in a lot otherwise.

Once you do start paying attention to your non-domain slots more, build up a list of specialized tools. Since you can trade them in for healing, having stuff that's awesome ten percent of the time is way better than something that's decent all the time, because decent spells and terrible spells both end up as cures.

I wouldn't say "optimal", but the Cleric list has a host of very situational spells. Knowing that you can sub it out for another Cure if you don't need to, say, Neutralize Poison or Restore stat damage makes it easier to include these "unlikely to be needed but critical if it is" spells in your typical repertoire.

As far as your other feat slot, it sounds like you'll be doing a lot of tanking, so I'd seriously consider Combat Reflexes. Its one of the cornerstones of tanking and will either make you very sticky (in the tanking sense) or help you deal out a ton of damage with your greatsword. So, win-win. Also, you'll want the Dex for your AC anyway.

I think this highlights the need to assess your stats - you'll need CHA 13 for Selective Channelling (which gets more versatile with a higher CHA bonus), STR 13 for Power Attack (and Melee), DEX 13 for Combat Reflexes (and AC), CON for hp, INT if you want skills and, oh yeah, WIS is your spellcasting stat (so do you want bonus spells for more healing?). You're not going to have a high score in all of them, so you'll have to make some decisions on where to focus.

 

[Kinak]

I think this highlights the need to assess your stats - you'll need CHA 13 for Selective Channelling (which gets more versatile with a higher CHA bonus), STR 13 for Power Attack (and Melee), DEX 13 for Combat Reflexes (and AC), CON for hp, INT if you want skills and, oh yeah, WIS is your spellcasting stat (so do you want bonus spells for more healing?). You're not going to have a high score in all of them, so you'll have to make some decisions on where to focus.

Thank you, I meant to touch on this. Attribute choices are going to way harder and way more interesting than normal with this character.

Int is probably the only one I'd consider properly dumping, but Con might have to lag around average as well. Even with that in mind, depending on the point buy (or rolls), there are a couple of totally valid ways to build the character out to cover that many roles.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Starfox]

Get your party top pay up for a wand of cure light wounds. Yes, it is cheezy, but it is also freedom for the cleric in a little stick. That will handle all your non-combat healing. In combat, it is generally better to attack, buff, or debuff than to heal, and if you have to heal in combat, Selective Channeling is most likely your best bet - it avoids AoOs too.

Unless you have a Dex modifier of +3, I'd take Heavy Armor Proficiency early on (that's no longer free in Pathfinder) and consider taking a shield as well - unless you are really strong, the little extra damage for a 2-handed weapon just isn't worth it if you plan on tanking. AC is THE most important defense in DnD, especially as a tank.

As for your barbarian lady friend not optimizing, that is absolutely not a problem unless the rest of you over optimize or the DM is a jerk or plays overly by the (scenario) book. The DM will learn what kind of challenges he can throw your way pretty quick. If you are too weak to progress in the main story, a few filler encounters can kick you up to a level where you can.