Non-Boring Cleric Ideas

[Charwoman Gene]

Okay, I have a character in our campaign that is boring me. Very boring. Plain Vanilla, 14th Level Elven Cleric of Ehlonna, almost straight PHB as far as feats go.

I used to use a fairly interesting Treant Related Class from Master's of the Wild, but ditched it as I stopped using any 3.0 source material, and the transformational ends of the class were unusual.

I want some interesting Feats/Prestige Classes to perk up the character.
Any sort of suggestion is acceptable. The character is a fairly earthy, (you could say lusty) melee competent female elf, tired of the mothery role she keeps getting stuffed into as "the priestess".

 

[KrazyHades]

Well, first, (as I'm sure you already know!), good roleplay is what defines a character, not just the class and feats, so two identical characters, if played with different personalities, can be totally different. As for prestige, I've always found it best to make my own. If you're a player, make your own and go to the DM for approval, or ask the DM to make it for you.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Extend Spell, Persistent spell, Quicken spell. (Also, rods of metamagic - quicken).

Persistent divine favour for +3 at and dmg
Quickened divine power which makes you a melee machine but doesn't take any time away from attacking the enemy.
Maybe Quickened righteous might in round two

Let's see whether they call you mother after you wade into mêlée laying into the enemy, then emerge from the carnage covered in blood, calmly saying "The hand that destroys is the hand that heals, does anyone need divine assistance?.... Don't worry for me - none of this blood is mine!

I am playing a cleric right now (okay, it's a dwarf), and have played clerics in past 3e games. Never once called my character mother (okay, they were all males, but they never were considered a mere minister and field medic, either).

Did your party start in 2e? Do they still think that clerics are mostly for healing and stuff like that? It was like that in an old group of mine. The cleric was usually played by the new guy (who good conned into playing it) or something like that. In 2e (and/or, their 2e games) that might have been right, but it changed in 3e. A lot.

So I got it into my head to show them. I played an elven cleric (war and elf domains) that used a longbow. After I played that character (which was toned down a couple of times because he was so dominating), they never again played no cleric because they were weak and boring.

 

[Kafkonia]

What resources do you have?

She could experience a crisis of faith and turn into a Defiant (Planar Handbook.)

She could take a level of barbarian and pass off the rage as some sort of "angered maternal instinct" (or not.)

She could start picking spells like Summon Undead on the grounds that being summoned, killed, and returned whence they came is less traumatic for a mindless undead than for a creature with animal-level intelligence.

She could pick up a Dwarven paramour as a cohort.

She could die and be reincarnated instead of being raised.

She could have a close encounter of the tentacled kind and, intrigued, start taking levels in Alienist.

She could become a Contemplative.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

I should point out that I am the GM and this is a semi-shared character in a solo campaign.

 

[Malhost Zormaeril]

Define semi-shared.

What's the concept for the character, though? Define her in one line. And you can't say "Female Elf Cleric of Ehlonna". What are her goals in life? Her fears? Does she have a home town? A beloved teacher?

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Also of interest would be her domain choices. This choice really defines a cleric's role in the party and what they're capable to a certain extent. A cleric of Ehlonna can have a very "druidy" flavor with the animal and plant domains, or a more "undead smiter" flavor with good and sun, or a "flower-child" flavor with plant and sun, or...well, you get the idea.

In past campaigns where I used the PHB pantheon, I developed different sects of the churches based on domain choices, which also made for conflict within churches.

Instead of changing the character based on new feats and prestige classes, a simple tweak of how you use her spells and domain abilities can really change the flavor of the character.

Quentin and Marie

 

[Li Shenron]

I used to use a fairly interesting Treant Related Class from Master's of the Wild, but ditched it as I stopped using any 3.0 source material, and the transformational ends of the class were unusual.

And here's your mistake

Why can't you just keep on using the Verdant Lord? And obviously, there is no rule that makes it mandatory to go through ALL levels of a PrCl, you could just stop anywhere before the transformation.

For cleric-types, but not only, I've always found Faith & Pantheons a great source of inspiration. If you have the book already, just forget that it's Faerun-based, and adapt one of its prestige classes to your needs. I can see that for instance the Forest Master and the Heartwarder could fit with Ehlonna pretty well.

 

[Lockridge]

You should also check out Malhavoc's (Monte Cooke's) Book of Hallowed Might. Its a couple of years old but had good ideas. I seem to remember one feat being "See no evil" that allowed the cleric bonuses if he didn't see evil. He took the feat and then blinded himself.
He played it as an interesting character idea.

 

[el_skootro]

The Dragon Compendium has a PrC called the Fleet Runner of Ehlonna. My wife once used it for a character she had. It can be pretty cool for stealthy-ish clerics.

El Skootro