How soon will I regret one of these deviations from pure cleric?


Advice

Grand Lodge

I've got a Cleric 3 in PFS, and I need some advice about whether to multiclass.

So far, I've been a Trip-happy reach cleric w/Longspear. Swift Growth for 20' reach trips are fun and I've been quite happy with my effectiveness. But spellcasting has been pretty minimal except the occasional buff.

I'm worshipping Erastil for Growth and Wolf domain. At Character level 5, I'm planning to retrain to Feather and pick up Boon Companion for full level Ape Animal Companion.

I'm sorely tempted to deviate from the "Never give up caster levels" mantra with one or both of these dips:
Ranger 1 (Freebooter, Trapper) for Skills (including Handle Animal and Trapfinding) and Weapon Upgrades and the Freebooter buff for my Ape.
Inquisitor 1 (Probably Spellbreaker) for Skills, True Strike, and Litany of Sloth, with a Judgement to make up for the missing BAB.

I could even see taking 1-3 more levels of Inquisitor (Initiative, Solo Tactics, 2nd level spells.)

I'm amused at the idea of taking advantage of Share Spells for Enlarge Person+True Strike to have my Huge Ape auto-grappling/tripping casters/anything, with some Litany of Sloth backup to prevent AoO and Dimension Dooring out. I could even imagine retraining all the way to Inquisitor X/Cleric 1 to keep Growth Domain and a bit of Channel Energy.

But I'm wondering when I'm going to start missing higher level spells, especially in PFS, and if anyone else thinks it's worth losing spell casting for skills, saves, and some melee buffs. I'm also curious if anyone has any other build suggestions.

Cleric 3 (Growth and Animal)
Str 18 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 7 Wis 14 Cha 12
Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative.

Dark Archive

As it stands you are primarily a combat class and not a casting class. With a 14 wisdom you are not going to be casting any offensive spells relying on saves so you should be doing just what you have been, buffing and melee.

That said, losing caster levels is insignificant unless you really want/need/are built around a particular buff spell.

However, as a 3/4 Bab cclass with full caster progression, multiclassing into another 3/4 Bab class with limited casting progression is going to murder hobo you pretty hard without some very well-tuned selections. The loss of Bab means being a level short on getting an already delayed second attack per round while requiring you to use a buff of some sort to keep your attack bonus where it would have been had you not taken the level. So if you do something like the inquisitor, you either should be milking a lot from the class to make it worth it or you should plan some levels of a full Bab class (ranger or fighter or paladin or whatever you like) to get you back on track or possibly ahead with enough levels, shortly down the road.

The loss of caster level arguments pertain to full casting classes who function as primary casters. If you take a full casting class and use it as a primary melee combatant, then ignore most of the applicable rules. This is so very similar to being a melee summoner except multiclassing works out fine since there is no eidolon to consider.

PS. Don't forget that inquisitors get another domain, though I don't know if one of the class features you mentioned was one of those effects or not.


My info says long spear isn't a trip wp... U could go phalanx fighter. One if the chars i am thinking about is a phalanx fighter with reach wp and growth and spell breaker.

Grand Lodge

Inquisitor/Cleric has to take the same domain for both, so they'd both have Animal Domain (which is fine, because it means both spell lists are available for Share Spells.) I'd lose a point of BAB at Cleric 5 anyway, so if I started cranking Inquisitor instead of that, that wouldn't hut too much.

Yeah, I need to suck it up and commit. I guess I'm just not sure how much I'll miss level 3+ buff/support spells (Channel Vigor, Divine Might, Greater Magic Weapon, Blessings of Fervor, maybe Clairvoyance or something) in higher level PFS play.

Dark Archive

You can trip with any weapon, the trip feature simply lets you drop it instead of being tripped yourself if you fail badly.

On topic, Dark covered it pretty well, decide what you want your character to be, a buffer whose companion does the hard work, a melee focused with a flanking companion, caster with a bodyguard, etc. Once you know what you want to play its a lot easier to build for that, if you've enjoyed the way you play so far, keep at it, and if buffing is your primary spell casting then a dip isn't going to be particularly rough on you and may open up some fun new options.

Grand Lodge

Duncan, as far as I know, you only need a Trip Weapon if you want to avoid the counter-trip, which hasn't been a problem.

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fm#v5748eaic9nvd

I was definitely thinking about Phalanx Fighter if I give up the idea of being a spellcaster and jump in whole hog. Although I'd probably want to get to Inquisitor 3 first (Tandem Trip+Solo Tactics looks awesome,) so I wouldn't get the sweet Spear+Shield action until 10th. (Oh, and I'd lose levels on the AC.)

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