Hello, I'm going to be playing as an evil cleric for our new campaign soon. I have already picked one domain (the Death Domain with the Undead subdomain) so now I need to pick one more. Everyone in our party heals with negative energy and since I am filling the supporter role I need to pick one with a good amount of inflict spells.
What would be the best domain for this?
Go neutral-aligned cleric of an evil deity so you can channel negative energy. That means you have two pools of party-healing effects since you'll be able to spontaneously convert any spell to an inflict, and you can mass heal between encounters with your channel.
As far as the "best" domain choice: I would leave that to you; you may be overthinking it. Pick something fun!
The only real difficulty that may come up is what the general party alignment is -- are you all running a "good guy" campaign, or not?
Go neutral-aligned cleric of an evil deity so you can channel negative energy. That means you have two pools of party-healing effects since you'll be able to spontaneously convert any spell to an inflict, and you can mass heal between encounters with your channel.
As far as the "best" domain choice: I would leave that to you; you may be overthinking it. Pick something fun!
The only real difficulty that may come up is what the general party alignment is -- are you all running a "good guy" campaign, or not?
Sorry, I probably should have cleared up my first post a bit. We are running a Neutral Evil campaign along with another group that is Neutral Good. We are the "bad guys" and the good group is trying to stop our destructive path.
I can convert any spell to an inflict spell? That's awesome. I've never played a cleric before so I don't really know a lot about them.
Take the Undead Lord Archetype. It essentially gives you the effects of the healing domain, except it is for Undead. Cleric itself has some good damaging spells, and that would give you an advantage in healing your allies. That also covers your second domain considering the Undead Lord does not gain a second domain.Hello, I'm going to be playing as an evil cleric for our new campaign soon. I have already picked one domain (the Death Domain with the Undead subdomain) so now I need to pick one more. Everyone in our party heals with negative energy and since I am filling the supporter role I need to pick one with a good amount of inflict spells.
What would be the best domain for this?
[Sorry about the extra responses, my Ipad seems to be glitching a bit]
I was thinking about the Undead Lord Archetype, the Unlife Healer is kind of nice. I'm just not sure if it's worth a domain. I'm not going to be summoning a lot of undead unfortunately (we have a Juju Oracle in our party) and the prime focus of the archetype seems to be summoning undead. The only reason why I have the Death Domain is for Death's Embrace because otherwise my character would not be able to heal from negative energy.
Edit: Nevermind, I just noticed the Spontaneous Casting ability that Clerics have. I'm quite surprised that I didn't notice this. Thank you for the help everyone.
Yup. Once you choose positive or negative (as dictated by your alignment/deity), you're pretty much set for heals as-needed. The ability to lose a prepped spell slot to cast the equivalent-level cure/inflict helps out a great deal, especially at low levels.
Now, I do feel somewhat obligated to point out that actively seeking to be a combat healer diminishes a cleric's overall effectiveness, according to most thinkers you'll encounter here. The reasoning behind this boils down to the fact that actively eliminating your foes and/or removing them from combat does more to keep your party alive than does reactively healing hurt allies. In-combat healing is sometimes necessary, but all it does is give your opponents an increased number of opportunities to get a critical hit on your teammates -- at low levels, that can be especially lethal. Therefore, the prevailing wisdom is: never prepare cure/inflict spells, since you can pull them out at need.
Your character would likely benefit from a high Charisma score, since your channel negative will have the dual purpose of nuking foes *and* healing buddies. While channel energy is not the greatest tool for the cleric, if you invest in it, its performance won't disappoint. I don't have the links, but there are some class guides that may be of service -- check the sticky at the top of the Advice page. I would point you toward treantmonk's guide, especially -- very solid advice in that one.
Now, all of this is very generalized, and without additional information it is impossible to say whether or not the other particulars of your campaign would/would not overrule all or any of what I have said.
I look forward to hearing more from you!
Are you not a dhampir?
Yup. Once you choose positive or negative (as dictated by your alignment/deity), you're pretty much set for heals as-needed. The ability to lose a prepped spell slot to cast the equivalent-level cure/inflict helps out a great deal, especially at low levels.
Now, I do feel somewhat obligated to point out that actively seeking to be a combat healer diminishes a cleric's overall effectiveness, according to most thinkers you'll encounter here. The reasoning behind this boils down to the fact that actively eliminating your foes and/or removing them from combat does more to keep your party alive than does reactively healing hurt allies. In-combat healing is sometimes necessary, but all it does is give your opponents an increased number of opportunities to get a critical hit on your teammates -- at low levels, that can be especially lethal. Therefore, the prevailing wisdom is: never prepare cure/inflict spells, since you can pull them out at need.
Your character would likely benefit from a high Charisma score, since your channel negative will have the dual purpose of nuking foes *and* healing buddies. While channel energy is not the greatest tool for the cleric, if you invest in it, its performance won't disappoint. I don't have the links, but there are some class guides that may be of service -- check the sticky at the top of the Advice page. I would point you toward treantmonk's guide, especially -- very solid advice in that one.
Now, all of this is very generalized, and without additional information it is impossible to say whether or not the other particulars of your campaign would/would not overrule all or any of what I have said.
I look forward to hearing more from you!
Thank you for the help! Yes, I am not a dhamphir. However, I heal from negative energy as well because of Death's Embrace. The DM is starting us at level 9 (the level of the good party) so I already have it.
I did not realize until now that the Spontaneous Casting ability could convert any spell to inflict spells, so now I don't have to worry about carrying inflict spells. Thank you for pointing that out to me.
My cleric is essentially going to be taking out enemies with its channel energy and healing allies. That is why I was originally going to focus on inflict spells. However, because of Spontaneous Casting, I think I will invest in battlefield control spells now (seeing that I can just convert them into inflict spells if needed). Once again, thank you for the advice.
I assume Darkness is the best domain for battlefield control, I can see the use of some of the spells - especially since our whole entire party has darkvision (except me - but I get temporary darkvision from the domain when I'll need it)
I am about to be away from a computer for a while, so I will be a while before I get back to you.
I would like to see a full build on your character, as you have it so far, to see if there's anything else I can point out to help you. It will also go a long way to helping anyone else who would like to contribute!
I am about to be away from a computer for a while, so I will be a while before I get back to you.
I would like to see a full build on your character, as you have it so far, to see if there's anything else I can point out to help you. It will also go a long way to helping anyone else who would like to contribute!
Sorry about the wait, I had to leave unexpectedly after I made my post.
I haven't figured out what I want to buy yet armor-wise (probably a full plate) but I know I am going to be wielding a spiked chain since those are pretty cool. Here is what I have:
Name: Kalhalla
Alignment: LE
Deity: Zon Kuthon
Homeland: Geb [this could change]
Race: Human
Languages: Common, Infernal, Necril
Domains: Darkness, Death (Undead)
Stats (In this order: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha)
14, 8, 16, 10, 19, 18 [I put in all the bonuses]
AC: 18 (10 + 9 (full plate) + dex modifier)
Weapons: Spiked Chain, Morning Star (backup)
Feats: Improved Initiative, Extend Spell, Command Undead, Extra Channeling, Heavy Armor Proficiency (are these okay?)
Skills (the ones that I put ranks into):
Perception + 9 ranks (+13), Knowledge Religion + 2 ranks (+4), Linguistics + 2 ranks (+4), Sense Motive + 4 ranks (+11), Knowledge Plains + 1 rank (+3), Intimidate + 9 ranks (+12)
edit: I forgot about my HP. That would be 92.
edit 2: I made a mistake with my skills, they should be updated with the accurate descriptions now
The rest is undecided. Any advice would be great since I've never played a cleric before.
Busy, busy, busy. Sorry for the three-day break -- but there's always more to do, right?
@Davia D --
My advice to go with a neutral-aligned cleric of an evil deity wasn't about a "lack of options"; rather, it was about doing something other than the obvious. And Pharasma is very clearly indicated in this scenario.
It's just a flavor preference for me -- nothing more.
@Canadian Paladin --
I would advise against the Darkness domain: the 8th-level vision power can be largely offset by an item or spell that grants darkvision; the miss chance touch attack isn't as effective as, say, Law's "take 10" touch ability (usually better to boost your allies than debuff foes). The domain certainly fits with the character, but I think you can find some stronger options. Are you fully locked in on Zon-Kuthon?
Why do you want Command Undead? Are you looking to go "necromaster"?
Shouldn't there be another feat in your list? I see: racial, 1, 3. 5. 7.
Your Int-based skills that are class skills should be (= #ranks + 3), rather than (#ranks + 2).
What do you know about your wealth by level? Are you going to begin with all your gear, or is your GM going to give you all a huge treasure hoard after a tough fight?
If you want to be good at Negative Energy Healing, might I suggest worshipping Urgathoa and using the Variant Channeling rules to take Variant Channeling (Undeath)?
Variant Channeling (Undeath) empowers your channeling when healing undead. It also stacks with the Undead Lord archetype, which would mean healing twice as much total whenever you channel to heal. However I personally wouldn't recommend taking the archetype. It gives up too much for some bonuses that don't make up for it.
At the end of the day though, a Wand of Inlict Light Wounds will be your best source of healing. Channeling just saves you some charges each day.
Man, Harm is going to be such a good spell for you...