Alaka-ooze's page

Aight, here's the situation. Same DM as my previous AC advice question, but this time I'm having a bit more a person to person issue; namely, the DM is under the belief that Clerics can't be tanks, and that only Fighters/Barbarians/what-have-you have a place in the front lines.

He went so far as to say that the point of Clerics are to buff and be healers. He did eventually concede that Clerics can, after all that nonsense, assist in close-combat, but basically the general thrust of his argument was that Clerics are purely support and can't really tank or fight.

Where it actually became a bit of an issue with me, however (besides the rather obvious 'Heal-gimp' scenario), was when he conceded to targeting people who he thought weren't playing their characters the way he thought they should be played; IE, he targeted my guy with this homebrewed monster that could hit like a mack-truck and do so many times a turn, because he figured I was buffing myself too much and not everyone else.

Now, I get partially where he's coming from; I should spread the magical-love a bit, yes. However, where I have a great issue is the idea that classes are built for one thing, and that if it's not according to what the DM thinks, he's just going to lay down the hand of god and start being a wanker about the entire thing.

I can concede certain points, don't misunderstand me, but the idea that there's only one primary role for a cleric, and that any deviation from that role should be punished, irks me. He said it was because he was targeting 'powergamers,' but this doesn't exactly strike me as being entirely honest. . .

Alrighty, here's the situation. DM doesn't exactly give anyone money for magic items (so . . . basically no loot drops), and what few magic items we DO have we've had for the longest time. There are a few houserules in effect, but nothing too major besides him allowing my Kobold Cleric to multiclass in Dragon Disciple and count spell-scaling from it in Cleric, and artificially inflating the saving rolls of monsters (so good old 'save or suck' is out of the question).

Here's how the party is decked out:

First is a Pally, with a Vorpal weapon, +2 magic armor, and a Holy G#+-d*!n Avenger, robbed from our second Pally (don't ask . . .) Has a Cleric follower who's been hounding my ass to basically act like the party's heal-gimp since jump.

The second is also a Pally, with an emphasis on healing and skills/diplomacy. This character was clearly built more for role-play and less for crunch. He originally had a Holy Avenger, before he made a big mistake involving a CE NPC. A grappler, for the most part.

Third is a Ranger. Has a super-bow that basically lets him do +infinite damage to CE creatures that are undead.

Fourth is who our party decided was Tank, the Inquisitor. He's got a super-mask from the DM that basically gives him +10 AC, stackable. Cool dude, dickish character.

Fifth, sixth and seventh are a Sorcerer, Sorcerer, and monk. None are really important.

And Eighth is me. Kobold Cleric. No longer has a magic item after the DM let me burn it to Rez our second Pally (yes, I didn't have the 5k to get some crushed diamond). Now only has mundane armor, weapons, and feats to aid him, as well as his spells

The problem? We're all level 13/14, and besides me, nobody has 30+ AC, including our 'tank'. I'm currently using a breastplate, tower shield, dodge, Dex, nat armor stuff, and a couple of other things/feats, and have a grand total of 31 AC. After using my two 'prepping for the day' spells, that increases to 37. My TAC is in a similar boat; two spells and it's at about 28. My saves are decent, but don't particularly matter when a super-monster is nomming on my spleen (one monster we had to deal with recently was some sort of homebrew tentacle thing that could make two standard actions in a single turn, could use 6 tentacles as at will attacks to things within 10 feet, could fly, was invulnerable to all sorts of damage save for a certain weapon, and could cast Suffocation at 12CL).

And while I realize that some people are saying 'don't get into an arms race with the DM', the fact is that I've basically been driven into a corner and now actively have to cheese the system to survive.

So . . . what can I do to improve my AC? And, perhaps less importantly, how can I persuade my party that I'm more than capable of being tank, despite being a Kobold that weighs 27lbs, soaking wet?