D&D 3E/3.5 Need advice on 3.5 cleric build

[kitcik]

LOL! I suggest you learn to spell and pronounce your gods name. (You do mean Fharlanghn, right?) Interesting, a dwarven god of the human god of travel. I wonder what his story his... What campaign world do you play in? Generic? Homebrew? Or Greyhawk?

He means (and is much closer to the pronunciation of) Fahrvergnügen (which means "driving enjoyment" in German and was Volkswagon's slogan... get it yet? god of roads?). No need to duck, dude, stuff just naturally flies over yer head.

 

[CuRoi]

Take a level of rogue to give you trapfinding making a thief in the party obsolete.

Unless there is a rogue already in the party. If so, there's no reason to not let him do his/her job just pickup more spellcasting levels. Besides, losing spellcaster levels and burning spell slots on Find Traps (until you of course make an item) seems like a waste just to thumb your nose at the rogue (but maybe necessary if no one in the party can find traps).

Anyway, I'd side with some of the other posters that say if you are really new to the game, just go full on cleric. It's just as good if not better than dipping into 3-4 other classes.

Being a dedicated healer/buffer also isn't a terrible thing, especially if it promotes group tactics and co-operative play. Try to avoid the stereotypical "neutral-selfish" play that I see pretty well taking over most groups. Sure, you can probably flip through a dozen books and make your cleric into a character that makes the fellow rogue, fighter and possibly mage in the party mostly obsolete. Or, you can work alongside your team mates and develop a group concept as opposed to a single player concept. Of course, this all depends on what your fellow party members are expecting out of the game. If it is every man for himself, then so be it.

 

[Alexander123]

Yes, if there is a character with trapfinding, it becomes obsolete. And I do agree that a beginner should just go straight cleric. Although I would not recommend playing a healer, a cleric has much more potential to waste it on healing.

 

[billd91]

If you're new to D&D, keeping it relatively simple is a good idea. I would recommend that you cut out extra multi-classes and stick with the basics. Maybe just one level or two of another class and that's about it.

I would also take a good hard look at the other players and style of game they play. Do they tend toward heavy optimization or not? If so, you might want to think about optimizing along with them or get help from them so you fit in. Bringing the wrong type of character or even a character optimized in the wrong direction can cause some problems with heavily optimized parties. If they're more casual about it, you get a lot more freedom to go with something that isn't pushing the envelope. That will open up a little more freedom to multi-class, for example.

 

[Zyphoid]

I know I never responded to any of this, been busy, I have been reading though and thanks for all the replies and feedback from everyone.

I guess the thing that is confusing me most is that all I get for being a cleric is spells. After first level there is nothing a cleric gets at all for continuing to get cleric levels.

Why is it better to go 20 cleric rather than some PrC that gives full caster levels plus other goodies? there aren't a ton of those that Id be interested in but some are decent.

So why is 20 cleric so powerful compared to... lets say 10 cleric, 10 contemplative to give one example?

Thanks again.

/edit - Also wanted to mention that while I am new to D&D, I am not new to roleplaying or character building in general. Have spent more hours playing pen and paper RPGs than I could count.

 

[Alexander123]

You can take a prestige class if you want, altough I would suggest taking one that doesn't lose caster levels.

 

[Dandu]

And which doesn't require stupid feats.

 

[Aramax]

pick a god that uses strength domain go straight cleric and buff the crap out of yourself,I did this and after a 2-3 buff turns you are better than the fighters at mid high Ls

 

[Alexander123]

Personally I would take knowledge and luck domains in core.

 

[Dross]

I guess the thing that is confusing me most is that all I get for being a cleric is spells. After first level there is nothing a cleric gets at all for continuing to get cleric levels.

Not strictly true.
Turn Undead: The usefulness of this ability is determined by two things

• How often undead are fought.
• What other uses you can make of this ability. (outside of PHB/Core) There are a number of feats in the Complete books and others that allow you to use TU to power various things.

Domains: A couple have already been mentioned, but these are one of the best ways to grab a different ability/skillset/spells otherwise unavailable (even with multiclassing).

PrC: Really depends on what you are after. If turn undead isn't really important to you then a PrC usually gains a fair amount of attraction (with the caveats already metioned).