Help with Feats for a Cleric

[MacMathan]

My group is about to kick off the Shackled City AP and I am planning on playing a Cleric of St. Cuthbert.

things to keep in mind:
So far I was thinking Strength and Destruction for Domains.

I rolled wll for Wisdom (17) but not so hot for Cha (10)

Most any WoTC book is fair game except for BoED.

So let me hear those ideas for feats all the way through 20.

Thanks,

 

[drdevoid]

Basic ideas

Divine Ward (PHb II) and Augment Healing (Comp Div) are great for combat healing.

For Melee, Divine Vigor, at any level, and Extra Smite, starting at 6th (Comp War), are highly regarded.

Then you need to decide if you want to use metamagic feats or not. Quicken Spell is very good for short duration buffs like divine favor, divine power, and Righteous Might. Whether or not you want to use Divine Metamagic (and you'd need Extra Turning to make it worthwhile) is something you should address with your GM first.

At 18th level, I like Extra Slot (comp Arc).

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Hmm, feats for a cleric.... A few of my faves below

Divine Vigor: Arguably the best of all the Divine feats. At least one divine feat as you neeed something to do with unused Turning attempts.

Spontaneous Domain. A great way to increase your versatility in spellcasting. Another set of spells you do not need to memorize. Strength is a good domain for this. Not great, but good.

Tehy canot afford many feats, so I genenrally do not do combat related ones, though Power attack is good enough to take, with your ability to get major bonuses to attacks, with Divine Favor and Righteous Might and so on.

Antoerh tactic is to buy armor with lots of special abiliteis and use Magical Vestment to buff up the +aC part of the armor and shield.

Same with the weapon but with Greater MAgic Weapons.

Clerics are awesome fighters, really

Have fun

 

[Chiaroscuro23]

Scribe Scroll. It's even better for Cleric spells than for Wizard spells, because you have the status-removers on your list, won't want to prep them every day, and when you need 'em, you really need 'em. Plus, a pile of Protection From Evil scrolls is probably the best anti-domination countermeasure if you're surprised by a bunch of enchanters or mind flayers or something.

 

[seans23]

It's not very glamorous, but lightning reflexes can be handy.

 

[Felix]

Scribe Scroll. It's even better for Cleric spells than for Wizard spells, because you have the status-removers on your list, won't want to prep them every day, and when you need 'em, you really need 'em.

QFT

 

[Wish]

Well, without knowing more about the character, it's really hard to say what's best. Straight cleric? Pclass? Physical stats? Do you want to be a buffer, a healer, a fighter (your domains suggest as much), or a spellcaster?

Going with militant melee cleric, you'd want:
1) Power Attack
Human) Extend Spell
3) Craft Wondrous Item (this is a bit campaign dependent - you might substitute Improved Toughness)
6) Extra Smiting (CW)
9) Quicken Spell
12) Craft Magic Arms and Armor (again campaign dependent - maybe Divine Vigor here)
15 & 18) You could take more Extra Smitings. Or Quick Draw. Or Divine Spell Power and Extra Turning. Or Divine Vigor/Improved Toughness if you didn't take them before.

 

[Nazhkandrias]

Well, I'm not an expert on feat selection, but I have to agree with what Wish said -
We need some character details! First off, how often do you anticipate meeting up with undead? If you see a lot, Extra Turning is a MUST. Your Charisma is too low to deal with undead the way most clerics do, and while you'll never make a Nightcrawler cower in fear, being able to disintegrate ten to twenty zombies a day is still a possibility. However, if you won't, it's a worthless feat. And it seems like you're going for a melee build, but you've gotten help with that. I'll help with an archetypal cleric, equal focus being put on healing and fighting. Oh, and be sure to look at the feats PDF at http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php. Great info!

One note - don't take Extra Smiting. You don't even have a Smite ability, it's worthless. Your smite ability from the Destruction Domain doesn't qualify, as the feat description states that you must be able to Smite <any>. Yours is simply described as a smite, it has to be a Smite <something specific>. In addition, I don't think a domain-granted power really counts as a class ability. It's a Paladin feat, meant to be used with Smite Evil.

Also, you didn't specify race - human is an excellent choice, especially for a deity like St. Cuthbert. Under most circumstances, Dwarf would be a wonderful choice, but since clerics aren't proficient with martial weapons, the dwarf's usually AMAZING ability to treat a Dwarven Waraxe as a martial weapon is lost. All you'll really get is a bonus to Constitution, and a further penalty to Charisma (you can't afford that). So yeah, Human for sure.

Now, for feats, as specified for the usual cleric (good healing, good melee power):

Human Feat - Combat Casting - This will help ANY spellcaster, especially if you intend to be doing some front line fighting AND healing.
1st Lvl - Scribe Scroll - Chiaroscuro23 says it all. Those obscure spells usually just take up space, but you should always have them. Take this feat, get yourself an extra Cure Critical Wounds each day; it helps!
3rd Lvl - Power Attack - Always helps. In conjunction with your domain powers, you'll deliver DEVASTATING attacks.
6th Lvl - Extra Turning or Cleave or Improved Sunder - Depends on your style. Turning for lots of undead, Cleave for close-quarters ability. Combined with Combat Casting, Cleave is a good choice. Lets you heal those fighters up close! Only take Improved Sunder if you're going for a Sundering Cleric and intend on taking the Improved Power (Destruction) feat. Sundering fits well with the Destruction domain - armor, weapons and objects will have a tough time standing up to you. You might want to take Cleave later on, though.
9th Lvl - An Improved Power feat (Destruction), Undead Turning Feat (your choice), or a metamagic feat (like Quicken or Maximize (Empower if you like your luck) Spell) - All of the Improved Power and Undead Turning feats are found at that Crystalkeep link. For details on improved domain powers, go to the Base Classes PDF on the same site. The Adamantine quality on your weapons is good if you want to sunder a lot (and took Improved Sunder), but if you want to improve your Strength power, that works, too. Other than those two, metamagic works.

You'll have to take it from there. Initiate of St. Cuthbert feat gives some extra spells, and metamagic always helps. For great melee and sundering capability, consider Combat Brute, but only if you intend to charge, bull rush, sunder, and power attack a lot. It's more for the melee cleric. Improved Critical and Weapon Focus feats always help.

Final note - I don't think many DM's will let you use the Strength and Destruction domain powers at the same time. I tried, my DM said no. It works well on paper, though!

 

[LostSoul]

Human Feat - Combat Casting - This will help ANY spellcaster, especially if you intend to be doing some front line fighting AND healing.

I thought Skill Focus: Concentration was generally considered better than Combat Casting. Though I'm not really skilled at ultimate builds, so I don't know.

 

[Nazhkandrias]

I thought Skill Focus: Concentration was generally considered better than Combat Casting. Though I'm not really skilled at ultimate builds, so I don't know.

In a lot of cases when you'll be dealing with Concentration issues stemming from sources other than close combat, yes, the versatility of Skill Focus makes up for the loss of one bonus point. A cleric's Concentration issues will usually be from enemies making AoO's, as he's a close-quarters fighter in addition to a divine spellcaster. He'll be casting defensively most of the time, so Combat Casting is better in this one particular case.

For a wizard, Skill Focus is definitely better, since no sane wizard is going to get close enough to provoke AoO's. They won't be casting defensively often, instead, they'll be worrying about losing Concentration due to ranged damage. I'd rather have +4 for a situation I'm going to be in 80% of the time than +3 to deal with that pesky 20% and lose effectiveness on the 80%. But, that's just me.

Plus, I think that there are a couple of prestige classes and feats out there that have Combat Casting as a prerequisite. Not sure, but it never hurts to leave doors open.