Help! -- Cleric stuff

[Kristivas]

Alrighty, I'm going to have my first Eberron game in a few weeks, and I shocked my friends by saying I was going to play a cleric. They still see cleric'n as just a heal-bot bandaid kinda thing. They don't read ENworld like I do muahaha.

So.. (I don't know too much about Eberron yet) can you guys give me some tips for some stuff I could do to really shine as a cleric? I have no idea what level we'll start at. I do know that I'm leaning toward NG or CG alignment-wise.

So, maybe some domain suggestions? Racial suggestions? Some spells I should really get to know? Feats? Any other misc info would be great. By the time the game rolls around, I'll be Mr Uber Cleric guy!

 

[amethal]

The only cleric idea I had for Eberron was taking the domain which gives you augment summoning as a bonus feat as the domain power. I can't remember what the domain was called (probably summoning )

This allows you to play a summoner cleric, taking advantage of the lack of aligment restrictions on spells in Eberron (so you can summon whatever you like) and getting augment summoning without "wasting" a feat on spell focus (conjuration) or even on augment summoning itself.

The problem with this idea is that only one religion gives you access to the relevant domain, and that is the Dragon Below.

You can either throw your NG / CG character ideas out of the window or - and I've always wanted to try this! - take advantage of Eberron's concept of "corrupt" clerics.

You could play a "corrupt" cleric of the Dragon Below, who is possibly simply a member of the family religion and followed the tradition of the second son entering the church but is not at all interested in the church's teachings.

Alternatively, you could be a scholar who has infiltrated the church in order to gain a "free power up" to his summoning magic (no doubt for the noblest of reasons) - and who maybe turns from chaotic good to chaotic evil by degrees, as the ethos of the church corrupts his good intentions. This person masquerades as a sorcerer, hiding the origin of his powers.

It also stops the other PCs from making you "waste" your spells on healing them, if they don't realise you have any healing magic.

 

[Nail]

The "big deal" with the cleric is the buffs. Decide whether you'll be buffing yourself, or buffing the rest of the party, and then build around that.

I found buffing the party works best (with SM thrown in every once in a while). It's plenty of fun -- no one calls my Cleric a "heal-bot" -- and the amount of damage you can be responsible for is truely remarkable. Of course our party is pretty good at team-work, and "in-fighting" rarely happens.

My favorite domains are Luck and Travel, FWIW -- an excellent combo. It's so much fun being put in a save-or-die situation, failing, and then saying "I think I'll try again". Moreover, it means you're around after everyone else has succumbed ...and you get to save their bacon.

Other good ideas (for 1st thru 20th level play) include the cleric archer, the summoner, and the melee-machine. Which are you interested in?

 

[Shin Okada]

Cleric can take various roles and very customizable. Thus, recommendations may vary.

But my preferred choice of Domains are Magic and Travel. Magic domain let you use various wizard magic items, especially wands and staves. Having caster level 9 wand of Magic Missile is really handy, for example. I like Travel domain because it will virtually make you immune to hold spells and magic paralysis. And the domain spells are super useful.

I usually select Scribe Scroll as the first feat for a cleric PC. With that feat, you can easily make 1-2 each of scrolls which can solve critical problems, yet you don't need to cast by yourself. I mean, spells which has no saves. Remove Paralysis, Dispel Magic, Restoration, etc. By having those scrolls, you can fill your own spell slots with more offensive spells such as Hold Person, Sound Burst, Blindness Deafness, Poison, Flame Strike and such. Now no one call you a walking bandage.

 

[Kristivas]

We're gonna be starting at level 3, just found out.

I don't mind doing some healing, honestly. I'd really like to surprise them, though. "Wow, man.. I didn't know a cleric could do stuff like THAT!"

The magic domain sounds pretty nice. I still want to stay in the good-area of alignments. I'm thinking I like the melee-build. Doing some melee as good as or better than the fighter guys would be nice.

So, going with a melee-build that doesn't mind healing (that's what wands are for, after all).. What would be the direction to take?

 

[gabrion]

IIRC, Eberron helped further break the cleric by creating a domain called "transformation," which give access to alter self, polymorph, polymorph any object and shapechange.

Playing a cleric in Eberron I strongly suggest using that as one of your domains. You wont see the full effect uless you are an outsider (play an aasimar), but if you do this then at 9th level your character will really leave people scratching their heads and saying, "how did the cleric just turn into a huge watsit and smash everyone?"

For more general tactics, pick up persistent spell and divine metamagic if it is allowed. Use these with dvine favor until you get access to divine power and then you'll be doing just as well as the fighter in the group.

Other good spells to keep on had when you get access to them are GMW, Magic Vestment, Spikes (by a wooden mace or something), and Divine Insight.

Edit: Could you play a race from the Planar Handbook?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I'm currently running into a 3rd level game with a Bbn1/Clr2. Extra Rage, Strength and Destruction domains.

Strength can be replaced by Magic, and I'm not sure, but I think the pantheonal god system would let you grab that for the good-guys. Destruction + Magic means you can grab a Wand of Sheild and a 2-handed weapon. BOOYA.

At any rate, Buff Spells + Rage + Smite + Power Attack = Huge Damage Output. When you get to lvl 6 you can take Extra Smite for 3 smites per day. 3 Rages, 3 Smites, 3 combats where you can walk up and pretty much take out the biggest thing there. Smite gives you +4 attack bonus you can dump directly into 2-handed Power Attack. Strength at later levels just adds more strength bonus and attack bonus onto the smite attack. Taking Cleave/Great Cleave lets you get more juice out of your Super-Strike by running it through several badguys at a time. If you took Strength domain you get Enlarge Person as a domain spell (if you took Magic, you can just grab an arcane wand of it). Enlarged you have MORE strength AND reach which all feeds right back into cleaving on your super smite.

Then grab a wand since you'll have used all your SPD on buffing yourself up. The appropriate buffs are pretty obvious but in the 1st level tier:

Bless is a good party buff (+1 Morale to attack) but doesn't stack with a bard if you have one.
Divine Favor is a +1/+1 LUCK bonus, so does stack with bard/bless for you. Solid choice.

You've got Sheild of Faith and Prot. Evil at this level. At such low levels Protection from Evil is clearly superior IF you'll be fighting evil creatures (as it has the same +2 Def bonus to AC, but many added thrills).

2nd level for a melee cleric ... you've got Bull's Strength and Bear's Endurance right there, saying: "PICK ME!"

--fje

 

[Magesmiley]

Well, I don't actually play Eberron (nor do I own any of the books), but I do play clerics, so I will offer my advice with that caveat.

My personal thought on something different: try finding a deity which grants two of the elemental domains - fire plus either earth or air. The fire domain list throws in a few nice direct damage spells, which might surprise a few people (earth and air have some decent spells as well). By selecting fire and one of the two above you can either rebuke or turn ALL elemental creatures (plus undead of course). This eventually turns into destroy and command of those same creatures (commanding said creatures about can be very handy).

If you take fire as a domain, the feat that allows spontaneous domain spells (from Complete Divine, can't recall the exact name & don't have my books right now) might be fun too (burn burn burn). A chaotic good cleric who likes burning things might be a LOT of fun to play.

As was mentioned before, consider the much discussed divine metamagic feat from Complete Divine. This can be a very potent combination for a cleric - I like quicken and reach myself.

From the later post, you're looking at a martial cleric of some sort however. I think the strength domain is kind of a no-brainer here. Enlarge person and bull's strength as your level 1 & 2 spells domain spells (plus the str bonus for a round domain ability) kind of makes it shine. However, that said, those spells are probably better dropped on the party fighter than yourself. In general, I've found most of the buff combat spells are better applied to the party's main fighter-type rather than the cleric.

On a final note, I've generally found the magic domain to be a bit on the weak side when I've selected it in the past.

 

[Shin Okada]

In 3.5e Longspear is a simple weapon. So a cleric can use it without taking War domain or martial weapon proficiency feat. Now Combat Reflex is quite nice. Power Attack -- Cleave feat line work well with a reach weapon, too.

And two-handed weapon is a way to go if your DM consider putting one hand off from the shaft for spellcasting and putting that hand on to the shaft are both free actions. Many DMs do.

Regarding Magic domain, you still suffer arcane spell failure when using scrolls. So you mainly use wands. But there are some good spells without somatic component. Sometimes a scroll is more convenient than a wand. You can put your hand off from the shaft of your weapon (a free action). retrieve a scroll of True Strike (a move action) and use it (a standard action), then drop the used scroll (a free action).

True Strike does not have somatic component. Thus, scroll of True Strike is a friend of melee cleric. Use it, then use Power Attack feat and attack. Use True Strike and disarm. Use True Strike and shoot Searing Light (if you have enough time to do that, of course).

Wand of Shield or Scroll of Stilled Shield are good, too. Mirror Imaged fighting Cleric is awesome.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

To add to and amplify the points of others:

Strength is THE bread & butter Domain for a martial-minded Cleric. Death, Destruction and War are also pretty good.

If you take a reach weapon like longspear, wear spiked armor. You'll threaten all your adjacent hexes as well as those you reach with your weapon. If you are going to run a melee-oriented Cleric, you might also consider taking an exotic weapon like the Great Spear or the Maul- nothing like doing a little extra damage!

I prefer blunt weapons for my Clerics on general principle unless I have a specific PC concept that tells me otherwise. Most critters take blunt damage, especially undead who may be less susceptible to piercing or slashing damage. If you want to stick with simple weapons, Morningstar is the way to go here (1d8 Piercing & Blunt damage) and you can use a shield. You can also go with the Warhammer (Martial) and the Maul (Exotic)- both 1 handed blunt weapons- if you want to edge your damage up a little more. Then, of course, there's the Monkey Grip feat. A less optimal but still cool option is the Flail. I've used Flails to great effect with the Improved Trip and Improved Disarm feats, but unless you've got Fighter levels, you'll never have the Feats to get maximum utility out of it. Still- tripping someone and then braining them (or letting your Fighter buddies do it)...priceless. And disarming a wand- or Staff-using mage- truly memorable!

If you go with Magesmiley's idea of an elementalist cleric, take the Feats Energy Substitution and Energy Admixture as soon as possible. The flexbility of ES is nice, and the Feat doesn't increase a spell's level. EA increases the damage of the spells you sling, and together may enhance your PC's impressiveness. Imagine a Cleric whose Flame Strike or Ice Storm rages so mightily it does sonic damage...who creates a blast of fire that snakes from target to target (modified Chain Lightning)...who calls down the voice of his diety to harm his foes (modified Flame Strike).

In a related vein, getting a couple of Innate spells could be good, too. Spell-like abilities that can't be taken away are always a plus. Yes, its only meaningful with spells of 3rd level or higher, but its a feat you need to lay the groundwork for early.

And remember, Silence can be a mage killer, especially if your PC has Silent Spell himself. Also consider casting Silence on a thrown or missile weapon. If your party archer can bury an arrow with Silence on it in the butt of the BBEG, you'll buy yourself some time as he tries to cast spells or issue commands and finds that he can't.