Prestige class for dwarf cleric?

[sombrancelha]

Hello everyone,

I'm playing a dwarves only campaign. I'm a lvl 5 dwarf cleric (used the racial substitution levels of Races of Stone) and my deity is Moradin. My domains are Good and Protection.

I'm looking for a prestige class which would allow me to go into combat, but I don't want to completely forget healing and buffing.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Theroc]

Hello everyone,

I'm playing a dwarves only campaign. I'm a lvl 5 dwarf cleric (used the racial substitution levels of Races of Stone) and my deity is Moradin. My domains are Good and Protection.

I'm looking for a prestige class which would allow me to go into combat, but I don't want to completely forget healing and buffing.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

Which books are available to you?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First of all, welcome to the boards!

Second, assuming you're running a standard Cleric- IOW, there are no house rules stripping your PC of weapons or armor- you should be fine in combat. He just won't be "CoDzilla" with the War domain, etc.

What kind of PrCl would improve your PC's combat abilities, though, depends a little bit on what books you can use (as mentioned by Theroc) and the exact nature of the campaign. Your combat effectiveness may vary because some PrCls don't work well or work VERY well with certain campaign types.

By that I mean that a PC designed to combat Undead with particular fierceness will not be worth it in a campaign that sees very few Undead, but could be the MVPC in one that is crawling with them.

(I'm working without my books, so I can't be specific at this point.
List of prestige classes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Your PC is a little low-level for the Dwarven Defender (DMG & SRD), but it is a nice PrCl to consider a couple of levels down the road. However, its not going to give you any spell levels- its a purely martial PrCl.

Another purely martial PrCl that will definitely boost your combat potential is the Kensai (CompWar), though you have to be lawful, and you'll need a +5BAB. The Justicar from the same book is also interesting.

The Warpriest (CompDiv) is another one to consider, as are the Holy Liberator and Church Inquisitor from the same book.

The Ordained Champion (CompChamp) is interesting, but as I recall, it may be limited to a certain faith.

The Shadowbane Inquisitor and Stalker (CompAdv) are quite flavorful.

 

[sombrancelha]

A few more info:
- I have access to all 3.5 books
- my main enemies should be, at least for now, orcs and giants. I probably won't see an undead (with the racial substituion level, i changed turn undead for smite giants).
- I would not like to completely abandon the spell progression, since I'm the only healer in the party.
- I'm Lawful Good

I'll have a look at the suggestions, but if anything else comes into mind, please tell me.

Thanks!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One option would be the Prestige Paladin. Its originally from Unearthed Arcana, and can be found here as well.

Prestigious Character Classes :: d20srd.org

The Prestige Ranger may also be of interest, depending upon your perception of the campaign, since you'd get that Favored Enemy thing.

 

[Theroc]

Warpriest, Complete Divine Page 74-76-ish.

It's a 10 level PrC with 5 levels of caster progression, as well as giving several spell-like abilities such as

Mass Cure Light Wounds (Sp): Starting at 3rd level, a
warpriest can use mass cure light wounds once per day as a
spell-like ability. Treat the warpriest’s caster level for this
effect as equal to his highest divine caster level.

However, one of the requires is the ability to Turn or Rebuke Undead. So, if you can convince your DM to allow your "Smite Giants" to qualify since it originally WAS Turn/Rebuke undead... might be a good choice for you.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you're willing to lose some caster levels, try the Warpriest (Complete Divine). Otherwise, I don't know... I really like Church Inquisitor (also CD) and you're the right alignment and it costs you nothing really to enter. It just doesn't boost combat ability at all. it does give you some nice immunities to charms and compulsions, though as a cleric, you were probably only failing those saves on a 1 already.

The best suggestion I can give is dependent on your DM. Multiclass a level or so into Crusader (Tome of Battle) and then take the Ruby Knight Vindicator prestige class (also ToB). It gives a decent casting progression and some very nice martial abilities. The only problem is it's a PrC specific to Wee Jas. But in the adaptation section it mentions making the class for other gods, so it's worth a shot.

 

[kevin_video]

If you've used the Races of Stone book, then maybe you'll know of the prestige class I'm about to talk about. The Battlesmith. You might have to get Endurance as a bonus feat, and if you haven't put any points into Armoursmithing and weaponsmithing, you may have to do that, but it's a good class. It works really well because as a Cleric, you need to have a high Wisdom to use your spells. At first level, you add your WIS on top of your STR to damage so long as you're using a warhammer.
Ifyou've got the money to swallow (quite literally) Stonelord from Complete Warrior isn't that bad.
Another good prestige, if you can meet the requirements, is Hammer of Moradin from Players Guide to Fauren. Like the Stonelord, it's got a full BAB, but doesn't have a +1 to spellcaster levels (which is retarded because you have to be able to cast at leat 2nd lvl divine spells to get the class). You can get around this by taking Practice Spellcaster which gives you +4 to your caster levels. However, it doesn't give you bonus spells per day.
Lastly, Complete Adventurer, Ollam PrC. Again, you'll have to meet the requirements, but that's all because of the skills you need.

BTW, I see what books you're allowed, but are you allowed Dragon Magazines too? If so, take a gander at issue 328 on page 28-29. Probably the best of the ones I've listed as it's got cleric save bonuses, and +1 to spell caster level ever two levels. You still go up as a cleric for BAB though I'm afraid. But you get a lot of good abilities though. At first level your hammer gains +1d4 fire damage (providing you don't already have that), and you gain the War Domain. Again, the prereqs might be hard for your character, depending on how you built them. The problem is always the feats.

Check them out. They're all pretty decent. If you want to take a quick look at them, and just look at the prereqs only, plus what you can get for the first two levels, just go to Crystal Keep, and look up the Prestige Class pdf. It's got a section in there just for racial prestiges. It also shows your minimum level to get it.

Also, have you considered Dwarf Paragon? It's not the greatest, but it's also an option.

All in all, there's nothing wrong with going with the good ol' Fighter class. The Fighter/Cleric dwarf's probably been done to death, but it's still a classic. There's a Races of Stone substitute for that class as well (you even get d12 HD and Know[dungeoneer]) at 1, 2, and 8.

 

[Humanaut]

I don't have my books here, but how would a Pious Templar fit? If I remember, full BAB, d10 HP, Mettle, Specialization with deity's weapon and some spellcasting (Paladin list I think). Complete Divine I do believe.

 

[Theroc]

I don't have my books here, but how would a Pious Templar fit? If I remember, full BAB, d10 HP, Mettle, Specialization with deity's weapon and some spellcasting (Paladin list I think). Complete Divine I do believe.

Pious Templar has it's own separate spell list. (Which is the Paladin Spell List, if good, Blackguard spell list if Evil. [Spell list is based on Deity alignment, not Templar Alignment])

So, it'd weaken Clerical casting, but aside from that, it's a decent choice.