trying to find a good feat for a 3rd level dedicated healer cleric

[randcortin]

My cleric of Ilmater has just reached 3rd level, and I am trying to pick a suitable feat for him. But I am having a little bit of trouble.

My cleric is pretty much completely non-combative. He has a STR of 10, DEX of 12, INT 10 WIS 18 (counts as 20 via Spellcasting Prodigy) and a CHA of 14. While I know that this may not have been the best use of Stat points (32 were used) I wanted a cleric whose sole purpose in life is to help those ailing and less fortunate, and to be a dedicated healing machine. He can cast 5 CLWs a day, plus as a cleric of Ilmater his healing spells work better. He also has Combat Casting (the +4 to Concentration one).

My problem is that I'm having trouble finding a feat that will help him do what he is designed to do, heal/support others. Our party is always on the move with virtually no downtime, so brew potion or scribe scroll wouldn't be too effective. I'm not aware of any metamagic feats that would work at such a low level (the one that could work, Reach Spell out of DotF, uses spell slots two levels higher - wow, I could cast Cure Minor Wounds at 30 feet away!), and the hand to hand combat feats wouldn't really help because he sucks at combat, and he doesn't like doing things like inflicting pain on others, even his enemies.

My DM allows just about anything WotC and a lot of stutf that is 3rd party, but I don't have access to a lot of these books. A list of allowed materials:

Alchemy and Herbalists Bastion Press
Arcane Societies of Magic Green Ronin
Armies of the Abyss Green Ronin
Arms and Armor Bastion Press
Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue TSR (WotC)
Book of Vile Darkness TSR (WotC)
Creature Collection Sword and Sorcery Studios
Defenders of the Faith WotC
Dragons AEG
Dungeon Master's Guide WotC
Dungeon World Fast Forward Entertainment
Dungeons AEG
Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils Fast Forward Entertainment
Epic Level Handbook WotC
Evil AEG
FR: Faiths and Pantheons WotC
FR: Magic of Faerun WotC
FR: Silver Marches
Fiend Folio WotC
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Gods AEG
Good AEG
Legions of Hell
Magic AEG
Manual of the Planes WotC
Masters of the Wild WotC
Mercenaries AEG
Monster AEG
Monster Manual WotC
Monster Manual II WotC
Monsters of Fearun WotC
Players Handbook WotC
Psionics Handbook WotC
Races Of Faerun WotC
Savage Species
Song and Silence
Sword and Fist
The Avatar's Handbook Green Ronin
The Hunt: Rise of Evil Mystic Eye
Tome and Blood
Toolbox AEG
Undead AEG
War AEG


Does anyone have any suggestions for a 3rd level feat that would fit in with the character I've described above?

Also, I was just thinking of maybe going Psion at 3rd, but only if I can't come up with something satisfactory for a cleric 3rd level.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

If you are going lightly armored you could consider Cosmopolitan: Tumbling. That will let you move in and out of the thick of it without drawing AoOs.

Sometimes the simple things work well, too: Improved Initiative. A simple spell like Bless, Protective from Evil, can add up to a healthy advantage at little investment when you can get it off early in the combat. At higher levels, reshaping the battlefield with walls/fogs are passive spells that can give your team a big edge. These spells always work better when you win initiative.

 

[Tidus4444]

Actually, a reach cure minor wounds would be great for a cleric. Everybody only uses cure minor wounds for stabilizing anyway, with this you can do it from a range. Sounds like a good fit to me, and it'll get even better as you progress through levels.

 

[WonkaMania]

Actually, a reach cure minor wounds would be great for a cleric. Everybody only uses cure minor wounds for stabilizing anyway, with this you can do it from a range. Sounds like a good fit to me, and it'll get even better as you progress through levels.

That sounds like a pretty good idea.

Alternatively you could consider the "plain and boring" Improved Initiative. The quicker you go the quicker you can heal someone in combat before they get nailed again.

Something else would perhaps be Dodge and then Mobility- mobility gives you that +4 to AC against AoO's for moving through threatened spaces. That's useful for when you need to get to someone that just dropped and is going to die unless they get a heal. Then again, a "reach" cure minor would stop them from dieing just the same!

Anyways, don't know if that was much help but that's what I take for my clerics!


~Wonka

 

[randcortin]

That sounds like a pretty good idea.

Alternatively you could consider the "plain and boring" Improved Initiative. The quicker you go the quicker you can heal someone in combat before they get nailed again.

Something else would perhaps be Dodge and then Mobility- mobility gives you that +4 to AC against AoO's for moving through threatened spaces. That's useful for when you need to get to someone that just dropped and is going to die unless they get a heal. Then again, a "reach" cure minor would stop them from dieing just the same!

Anyways, don't know if that was much help but that's what I take for my clerics!


~Wonka

Yeah, I suppose the "Reach Cure Minor Wounds" could be useful to stabilize without drawing a half-dozen AoOs... but if I did prepare that spell, could I "burn" the prepared spell for a spontaneous Cure Moderate Wounds spell?

Dodge and Mobility wouldn't work right now - my Dex is only 12, and you need a 13 or higher for dodge, and then Mobility.

Improved initiative seems more for those that already have a high Dex and need to act first in a round in order to preserve their AC from getting lowered by being caught flatfooted. If my cleric was a halfling (he is actually a human, by the way) and he had a 18 DEX and a chain shirt, then Imp Init would be good because otherwise if he is caught flatfooted and only has a AC of 14.

If no one has anything else, then I think I will go with the Reach Spell feat.

 

[Scion]

I dont have any of the cleric prestige class books, but perhaps someone would be good enough to let you know about any of those that would be good for your character concept and tell you what feats you would need to get there along with the book they are in.

My only real other comment for right now though is this: Why combat casting?????? Skill focus(concentration) is +3, and works in every circumstance you use concentration.. giving up the +1 for casting on the defensive seems like a very easy tradeoff, but I could be way off base Sounded like you didnt want to be in combat anyway though.

 

[James McMurray]

Yeah, I suppose the "Reach Cure Minor Wounds" could be useful to stabilize without drawing a half-dozen AoOs... but if I did prepare that spell, could I "burn" the prepared spell for a spontaneous Cure Moderate Wounds spell?

Actually you could burn your memorized 2nd level spell for a reach cure minor wound. It would entail applying metamagic to a spontaneous spell, and thus be a full round action. But that just means you don't get to do mor than 5' step that round, so it isn't that big of a deal.

 

[Darklone]

In this case, I'd rather cast the spell, tumble to my buddy and cure him with a Cure Moderate Wounds.

Try to get that Healers Benediction feat from Rituals& Relics 2. It allows you to maximize as many dice from your cure spells as your Cha Mod while burning a turning attempt.

 

[brendan candries]

brew potion: depends on your campaign/DM

extend spell: you can get a lot of milage out of the FR/splat book regeneration spells (the splat version only heals damage taken after the spell is cast but lasts longer) since they heal over time (round based). But you might want to wait for lvl6 before taking it since it won't help much (if at all) right now.

 

[Ahrimon]

Hmm, I saw creature collection, so your DM isn't anti SSS. I would suggest a feat that was originally in Relics and Rituals II and just recently reprinted for 3.5 in the Clerics and Druids guide for the scarred lands. I can't remember the name of it right now though. The gist of it is you can burn, as a free action, one of your turn undead ussages for the day in order to maximize as many dice in a cure spell as your cha modifier. So, with your cha of 14 you could maximize up to 2d8 of any cure spell. Which would mean that your clw would be curing 11+ points and your CMW would be pumping out 19+ points of healing goodness. It comes in very handy to have.

(The "+" is for whatever you said you have from your religion that increases your healing)

Ahrimon