Help - how to build a cleric/rogue?

[Yair]

I want to create a priest-of-thieves character, a cleric of Olidammara that dabbles in social and thievery skills but mainly is a cleric. She'll be a merry, and flirtatious, girl - so probably mainly Bluff and Diplomacy, and dabbling with Disable Device and/or Search. A straight cleric/rogue is problematic since the cleric will lose lots of spellcasting levels and I don't want to be wearing the heavy armor and so on available to it. I was hoping that perhaps there is a prestige class I am missing, hidden somewhere in the depths of some forsaken book...

The lightly-armored, merry thief-priest of Olidammara, part of a posse of thieves, is surely a common and supported archetype!

Yair

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Just because you have the heavy armor proficiency doesn't mean you have to wear it.

If I were to do this, I would take the trickery domain for the extra class skills and take rogue at first level and hen every fourth elvel or so to keep the critical rogue skills high. High Int, Wis and Dex are very important.

There are cleric/rogue prestige classes that give good benefits for both sides, but none for a CN typecharacter like you propose that I know of. Maybe in a book I don't know.

 

[Ringan]

Rich Burlew, creator of The Order of the Stick did a "divine trickster" class which might be of interest.
website: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/5M5QGsJ5mpbLfAHduZG.html

 

[jasin]

There's the shadowbane stalker in Complete Adventurer. It's intended for stealthy hunters of evil, not trickster-priests, but the changes needed to adapted are pretty minor. You just need to drop the LG aligment requirement, and switch detect evil at will for something more roguish and less inquisitorish.

 

[Sound of Azure]

I highly recommend using the Cloistered Cleric variant from Unearthed Arcana, picking Trickery and another domain (such as Charm, Celerity, or Travel. Chaos might also be useful). You also get the Knowledge domain, have 6 skill points per level (almost as good as the rogue), and a bardic knowledge-type skill. You'll have the same hit die as a rogue, but with a poor base attack. The Cloistered Cleric is proficient with light armour and simple weapons.

Using this variant means you can keep up on many common rogue skills, especially the diplomatic and information gathering skills. The only official Cleric/Rogue crossover I know of was in Complete Adventurer, but that was for a LG type (The Shadowbane Stalker), and definitely not the CN archetype you're after.

I did find the Divine Trickster on Rick Burlew's site, and I found it very balanced, and have wanted to try it out for some time. Your turn undead feature doesn't improve, but you can use it in new and interesting ways with this PrC. You eventually gain hide in plain sight too, which is a bonus. The downside is that your skill points per level drop to 4 per level (+ Int bonus), but you do get full casting and an excellent sneak attack progression.

You may also find something to your liking here on the boards if you're willing to search around.

good luck!

EDIT: Damn, beaten to the punch!

 

[Nyaricus]

There's the Temple Raider of Olidammara, page 67 of ComDiv. Problem is, it's a really wonkyass PrC. Needs +5 BAB (for a rogue PrC) and doesn't even improve your spellcasting - it just gives you a small list, much like the Assassin PrC, or Black Guard PrC. Kinda a moot point, really - you'd need to signifigantly re-work this to fit you character concept.

However, the Auspisian PrC (of the FR gods of good and bad luck Beshaba and Tymora) is a decent fit. You get a bunch of "lucky" abilties, which tie in with Olidammara decently, and full spellcasting prog once you get there.

Prereqs:

Alignment: Any Chaotic
Base Save Bonuses: Fort +5, Ref +2
Feats: Dodge, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes
Domain: Luck
Special: some campaign specifc stuff that doesn't *really* matter.

If I were you, go for this PrC! It looks like a decent fit; just talk with your DM about chaging up a few minor things and lettign this PrC in your game

cheers,
--N

 

[Thanee]

I've played a Rogue/Cleric in 3.0 and found that 2 levels of Rogue give a good headstart and a good Int will allow for quite decent skills already. I went Rogue 2/Cleric all the way from there.

With some of the options 3.5 brought, you can support this even better.

Human with Able Learner especially and possibly Human Paragon levels for example.

If you want to play a Gnome, there is a PrC in Complete Adventurer (I think? Could also be Races of Stone) that combines divine magic and the roguish side (IIRC).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Wycen]

I agree that 2 level of rogue worked well for my rogue/cleric of Xan Yae.

 

[rgard]

I've played a Rogue/Cleric in 3.0 and found that 2 levels of Rogue give a good headstart and a good Int will allow for quite decent skills already. I went Rogue 2/Cleric all the way from there.

With some of the options 3.5 brought, you can support this even better.

Human with Able Learner especially and possibly Human Paragon levels for example.

If you want to play a Gnome, there is a PrC in Complete Adventurer (I think? Could also be Races of Stone) that combines divine magic and the roguish side (IIRC).

Bye
Thanee

Able Learner...yep, my preferred bonus feat for all my human characters. Indispensable. And yes, rogue 2, cleric all the rest of the way should work out great.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Herobizkit]

Why be human at all? Halfling seems the most likely race for this set-up. Sure, you get some extra skill points, but you're already a Rogue -- how many more do you need? *LOL*

Rogue 2/Cleric the rest of the way seems fine, but you might also want to consider Favored Soul (since Cha is the stat for Bluff and Diplomacy, you might as well get more mileage out of it) and then the Divine Trickster prestige class that Ringan recommended. You lose out on domains and turn undead, but big whoop. You can cast more spells per day, and you only need to focus on the ones you use most often rather than having to pray every day and hope for the best.

But, you don't have to take my word for it.