I am currently DM'ing RotRL for a group of 6 relatively new players. One of them - my younger sister - is playing an aasimar cleric. The problem is, she plays this character like a paladin and usually fights toe-to-toe with the baddies alongside the party tank. This strategy worked with weak enemies like goblins, but as the adventure progresses, I foresee her being clobbered if she continues to play like this. I don't want to see her get discouraged, but at the same time, I am not an expert in playing a cleric either.
Do you guys have any advice on strategies, possible multi-classing options, or tips that I could give her?
She's currently a 2nd level aasimar cleric of Pharasma (domains: death and healing) with a stat spread of: S 14, D 8, C 12, I 10, W 18, C 18. (32 point buy).
Thanks for the prompt response :)
I'm curious about her 'Death Touch' ability. How exactly does it work?
I don't think you have very much to worry about. Clerics make very tough, capable frontline combatants. Sure here hitpoints are a little low, and her touch AC sucks (I have the same problem with my cleric), but in a few levels (once she can afford Full plate), her regular AC should be fine.
To keep her alive, suggest that she "buff" before closing to melee. An unbuffed cleric can be a useful melee combatant, but a buffed cleric (even a simple Bulls Strength) can be a true force in melee, and if she even gets the chance to "fully" buff (ie 3 or more buff spells), watch out, she will be unstoppable.
So as long as she is casting spells that hep out her combat effectiveness, then she will be fine I reckon. Sounds like the way I like to play my clerics.
Thanks for the prompt response :)
I'm curious about her 'Death Touch' ability. How exactly does it work?
It's her domain power from the Death Domain It basically works out to be a no-save death effect. Tends not to be terribly useful against high HP BBEG's, but can easily take out a mook.
Clerics, with the right buffs (Divine Favor, Bull's Strength, Divine Power and Righteous Might) and feats (Extend Spell and Persistent Spell) can generally outfight a fighter. This Order of the Stick comic sums it up pretty well.
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Clerics have a very long list of available spells, and chosing/remebering that list can be hard for new players. Maybe you could sit with her and discuss her spellscasting abilities, along with pointing out buffing spells, how they work and how helpful they are. Sometimes, buffing up the big fighter in the party and watching him slice through the ennmies like a hot knife through butter can be as rewarding.
You could also point out her healing abilities and how useful they are for the rest of the party. Springing a couple of those goblins from the rear where they hit on the mage could have her see how usefull it is for her to maybe stay a little behind. To enforce it, having her in the dying (-1 to-9 HP) range once or twice to show her that the potion supplies get used rapidly when she can't do the healing. (Fudging so the last goblin standing does a critical on her, for exemple. Better now then when things are realy dangerous for the whole team.) Also, a couple of those goblins could come from the side or go around the first line to hit on her from time to time, so she sees a little battle here and there.
Party strategy is also useful to discuss. While an extra "fighter" makes those waves of goblins fall faster without that much risk, against a single tough bad guy, the above buffing/curing can get a lot more useful (the ennemy has higher hit rate, damage output and AC, so he's harder to hit and he hits harder...). Discuss those strategies with her, so she can foresee what she could do in different encounters.
Your description of damage levels of ennemies when DMing can help her too.(My players are very keen on catching those hints I throw, and often ask for more.) While she could strike at first, saying the ennemy doesn't look like he's tiring or hurt after a couple rounds, she can more easily see it's time for her to do that "5-foot-step-retreat-and-heal-everyone" strategy. And when the ennemy is almost dead, she can take a chance and go back into the fight to finish the job.
The rest of the party should value her life over anyone else, so maybe you can discuss with them to roleplay their disagreement that she expose herself so much.
She also has a high Charisma: Let her shine in roleplaying encounters. That way, she wont feel left out, as she plays an important role in those situations.
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Clerics have a very long list of available spells, and chosing/remebering that list can be hard for new players. Maybe you could sit with her and discuss her spellscasting abilities, along with pointing out buffing spells, how they work and how helpful they are. Sometimes, buffing up the big fighter in the party and watching him slice through the ennmies like a hot knife through butter can be as rewarding.
You could also point out her healing abilities and how useful they are for the rest of the party. Springing a couple of those goblins from the rear where they hit on the mage could have her see how usefull it is for her to maybe stay a little behind. To enforce it, having her in the dying (-1 to-9 HP) range once or twice to show her that the potion supplies get used rapidly when she can't do the healing. (Fudging so the last goblin standing does a critical on her, for exemple. Better now then when things are realy dangerous for the whole team.) Also, a couple of those goblins could come from the side or go around the first line to hit on her from time to time, so she sees a little battle here and there.
This is what we've done to get my girlfriend to understand the clerics roll..... we ran through that last 2/3 of the D&D xbox game without a fighter (ranger and thief I think) she knew to keep her hand over the heal button and to shoot arrows/close only when needed... now if she dies she starts singing about how she's supposed to be in the back healing our mangy butt, but now she's just bleeding on the floor floor floor floor floor
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Depending on what books you are allowing, the divine feats from the player's handbook II could be handy as well. Basically they would let her trade turn attempts for small bonuses to ac, saves or DR.
At higher levels, quicken and extend are two very useful feats. One of the frustrating parts of playing a high level melee cleric is the two to three round buff routine you need to do (Righteous Might, Divine Power) before you can really start smashing. Quicken spell helps you cut that down to 1 round. Extended vigors, and vigorous circles (Complete Divine spell) let you heal a bit as you fight.
I think its already been mentioned, but as a cleric she has the ability to wake up everyday and completely customize her spell list and how she wants to play. One day she can be the tank, the next a healer, the next a buffer etc.. Feats like quicken and extend transfer across to each role very nicely. The flip side of that is that all the possibilities and spells can get very daunting and confusing for a starting player.
Guys. It's a game. If she's having fun being at the front rather than futzing around with a complicated spell list or being a mobile band-aid ... let her have fun at the front.
Nothing's less fun than being told you're playing the game wrong. If you're having fun, you're playing the game right.
The party will just have to devote more resources to healing potions and a cure light wounds wand than the "optimal" party. But they'll have fun. And having fun while playing a low-level cleric is an astounding success in the first place.
If you want to have her healing the party when needed, but she wants to kick some arse, convince her to take up archery. One of my characters is a very effective elven archery cleric. He spends the first few rounds shooting the enemy, then switches to "healer mode" when things get rough. Ordinarily, nobody needs to be healed the first few rounds, so it's an effective way to do some damage without getting "caught up in the mix"
It seems that clerics are the one class that people feel entitled to order around. I've seen nitwits run up to engage monsters that should have been avoided dozens of times, then yell, "Cleric, heal me." (Sometimes I've been the nitwit in question, so I'm not saying I'm much better...) If she enjoys smiting the unrighteous (and who doesn't?), let her!
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The party will just have to devote more resources to healing potions and a cure light wounds wand than the "optimal" party. But they'll have fun. And having fun while playing a low-level cleric is an astounding success in the first place.
:) IMHO an optimal party should be devoting a bunch of resources to cure light wands. A lot of healing happens after combat is over anyways. Why waste a couple of 4th level spell slots, when you get 50 cure lights for the low price of 750 gp? Even less if someone can be talked into taking craft wand. By high levels everyone should be packing a bunch of these and some scrolls.
Most of the folks I game with (who've been playing for decades) consider a cleric who spends all their spell slots on "self buffs" to be one of the toughest characters around. Good Armor, huge potential bonuses and protections available (SR, anyone?). Hit points aren't as high as straight fighter-types, but you can always trade a racked buff to heal yourself. Paladins are almost irrelevant.
Naturally, most folks will expect the party cleric to provide some healing. But as others have pointed out, a wand of CLW is pretty cheap.
I would say that if I was going to build a "front-line" cleric, I wouldn't spend the 32 points the same way as your sister. A bit more Dex and Con seems prudent. But if your sister wants blazing wisdom and charasima, so be it.
:) IMHO an optimal party should be devoting a bunch of resources to cure light wands. A lot of healing happens after combat is over anyways. Why waste a couple of 4th level spell slots, when you get 50 cure lights for the low price of 750 gp? Even less if someone can be talked into taking craft wand. By high levels everyone should be packing a bunch of these and some scrolls.
Which shifts the responsibility over the rogue-type (not a bad thing, they tend to be more mobile as a rule) but requiring everyone to take ranks in UMD can get a bit rough.
Personally, I'm a big fan of going the theurge route and using a flying, buffed, maybe even invisible familiar to deliver those Cure Moderate Wounds spells.
Also, unless your cleric channels negative energy or using some variant, there is little point in preparing spells to be a healer, since those can be cast spontaneously.
Combat clerics can be very effective: heavy armor and a large selection of buff spells. If the character is having fun and the party has other methods of healing (bards, druids, paladins, and rangers can all use wands of cure light wounds without a Use Magic Device check), a cleric makes a good front-line combatant. If you have access to some of the Complete books or Player's Handbook II, take a look at some of the Divine feats that allow a cleric to burn a Turn/Rebuke Undead use to get other benefits. Also, Complete Divine has the Spontaneous Healer, Spontaneous Summoner, and Spontaneous Wounder feats, which allow any divine spellcaster to spontaneously cast cure, inflict, or summon spells a limited number of times per day.
As far as the rest of the party goes, they should consider the following:
1) Front-line types need to protect the spellcasters, but the spellcasters need to protect the front-line types. The casters should be buffing and healing the front-liners constantly. They should also be ready to cast delaying/disabling or summoning spells to help out the front-liners or to provide a decoy/rear-guard so that the front-liners can retreat.
2) Disabling attacks are the key. Blinding, entangling, grappling, paralyzing, tripping, or otherwise preventing a foe from acting at full effect (especially if it gives bonuses to other party members) is much more effective than straight damage. Against tough foes and spellcasters, minimize the number of chances they have to hurt the party. Against weak foes and minions, get them out of the way as quickly and efficiently as possible so you can concentrate on the BBEG.
3) Ranged attacks rule. Unless you need to get into melee rapidly (to eliminate an enemy ranged specialist or spellcaster, for instance), keep your distance and hit your enemies with ranged weapons and spells. Most monsters have poor or no ranged attacks, so are at their least effective until they can get into melee. Even if you can't avoid melee entirely, you should at least soften them up at range first.
4) Fight magic with anti-magic. Dispel Magic and the various other forms of anti-magic spells are lifesavers. Every 5th level wizard should have several Scrolls of Dispel Magic and anyone with the Craft Wand feat should have a Wand of Dispel Magic as soon as he can afford to enchant it. If the party runs into a magical effect and have no Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic/etc. spells to deal with it, then something is wrong. Either they failed to prepare adequately or they are almost out of resources.
5) Divide and conquer. Summoning spells provide one of the easiest ways to increase the party's combat capability by increasing the party's number of attacks. Even if they only last a couple rounds, they still force the enemy to split his attention/attacks. Smart placement of the summoned creatures can provide flanking opportunities and/or threaten spellcasters with AoO. Many of the creatures also have disabling capabilies.
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We also have a party of 6 with a cleric as a front line fighter, she took the War cleric PrC from Complete Divine, she loses every second level of spell casting, but gets d10 HD and other stuff. She is damn tough, in general the party is 8th level and I cannot see a point where she would get "clobbered" any more than the tank.
The loss of spells isn't a real issue as we have another cleric in the party (that would be me).
But to reiterate what everyone else has pointed out, let your sister do it, just get her to buff and into heavy armour and she will be fine.