Combat Cleric


Advice


So I'm a bit n00b when it comes to building Clerics, and wanted to build one that can do his job of healing, and have a reasonable capacity as 2nd rank combatant (There is a Fighter, but he might want a buddy up front)

Parameters:
20pt build.
No dump (ie sub 10) stat.
Aasimar
Decent CHA. 16 or 14.

I was thinking
S 14
D 10
C 12
I 12
W 17
Ch 16

Traits: Heirloom Wpn, Greatsword. + the one I cant remember that gives Perception!
Feat: ?
Domains: Healing/Good?

Now as you can see, I haven't touched a cleric since 2ed, and just have romantic notions of an Aasimar who really sees himself as an Angel trying to get back to Heaven on a bridge of good deeds. Protector of the weak, doer of good deeds, and occasionally doing this with a beefy sword... hes almost a Paladin. At this point its a level 1 campaign, could go as high as 10 odd, so not looking for endgame. Looking for something that kinda works from the get go.

I'd like a decent healing capacity, and the guy is charismatic and wants to inspire people to greatness.

Should I drop the notion and simply sword & board him? Is there a viable tank build?


Consider a deity (within your parameters I would suggest Saranrae).
As far as feats go, Armor Prof (heavy) Would help with AC (you don't have a dex bonus so full plate at around 2nd or 3rd level is a good idea) or toughness (more HP, since you only get d8 hd and +1 from con).
Tank might be a better way to go (better AC). THe biggest thing you can do is buff (esp. early on). At level one, Bless' +1 to hit is pretty significant. Selective channeling could also be useful as it would allow you to channel heal in melee without healing the enemy.

Another thought is to go Archer cleric and trade Str for Dex. You'll need less AC, and will have to worry less about casting spells in melee.


Thanks for those tips.

They suggest I haven't jumped the shark too much :p

I like Archers, and got all rockstar excited about the concept, but am going to save that gem for an elven archer paladin later :)


Hey,

I like to play clerics, healers most of the time. For a combat cleric, just go two-hander, coz then you can easily free one hand for casting spells. Plus, your damage output will be better.

If you want to go for combat and healing, channel positive energy goes a long way to ensure you get your buff spells.

Then, a cleric is not as gear-dependent as other classes, because of their buffs. From lvl 4-5 spells you get x hours a day magic armor and weapon, so you can put your money in other gear.

My suggestions:
Stats as you put them (cha for the channeling, wis for casting, 14 str for damage and PA)

Feats:
Lvl 1: Power Attack
Lvl 3: Furious Focus
Lvl 5: Selective Channeling
Lvl 7: Weapon Focus (greatsword)
Lvl 9: Toughness / Improved Initiative / other... (Leadership)

Spells:
Buff and utility at all times

Lvl 1
Protection from Evil/Shield of Faith/Divine Favor (becomes good later)/ Magic weapon (looses efficiency around lvl 4 coz of magic items

Lvl 2
Align Weapon / Bull's Stength / Lesser Restoration

Lvl 3
Dispel Magic / Invisibility Purge / Magic Circle vs Evil /Magic Vestment / Protection from Energy

Lvl 4
Death Ward / Divine Power / Freedom of MOvement / Greater Magic Weapon / Restoration

Lvl 5
Breath of Life / Righteous Might / Spell Resistance

Domains
Protection: gives you a free cloak of resistance that scales with your level (+3 all saves at lvl 10) and a lot of domain spells that are in above list

Healing: domain spells are mostly useless but all your cure spells are empowered (x1.5 healing) from lvl 6

Travel: gives you the ability to ignore difficult terrain and you gain an automatic freedom of movement effect at lvl 8 (very handy!) Plus gives you teleport spells

War: gives you free feats x times a day from lvl 8 plus gives you good domain spells...

God: Abadar is the only to combine two of above domains (protection and travel) and these two work well together, certainly as a fighting cleric (better saves and mobility)

I also advice you to put stat points in Strength, rather than Wisdom, to get your damage output up. Wisdom will be not as critical for you as you do not use spells with saves, only buffs. The only difference Wis makes for you is one or two lesser spell around lvl 4...


Shifty wrote:

Thanks for those tips.

They suggest I haven't jumped the shark too much :p

I like Archers, and got all rockstar excited about the concept, but am going to save that gem for an elven archer paladin later :)

This is one I've been wanting to do, flavored as a shrine priestess.

The Exchange

Go Holy Warrior variant, the cleric trades their domain spells for +1 BAB/level and 1d10 hit points/level. Then boost strength over wisdom and concentrate on buff spells so that the Wisdom bonus is not so important.

Good luck.

Dark Archive

Pavlovian wrote:


Feats:
Lvl 1: Power Attack
Lvl 3: Furious Focus
Lvl 5: Selective Channeling
Lvl 7: Weapon Focus (greatsword)
Lvl 9: Toughness / Improved Initiative / other... (Leadership)

I don't think it's possible to get Power Attack at level 1, so I'd start with Selective Channeling and then take Power Attack/Furious Focus on level 3 and 5, but otherwise sound advice.


Some more interesting pointers :)

Seems that most suggestions are around pumping that Offense... anyone else think Heavy Armour is the way? It seemed like a good suggestion to me...

Thanks!

Silver Crusade

First your not hiting the broad side of a barn. After level 5 starting with a 14 Str. Your cleric Str 2 + BAB 3 = to hit +5, Figher Str 5 + BAB 5 = 10. Now you need to decided. Do you want to be good at casting or good at melee. With out a high stat mod it wont mater if you can cast X spell or use X weapon. And yes starting with a +1 stat mod helps. For higher levels its about geting your spell DC high enough for monsters to have a chance at failing. Or geting your Str high enough to hit the higher AC. Monster saves and AC scale faster then charter to hit and spells.

Shelyn NG Goddess of beauty, art, love, music Air,
Domains: Charm*, Good, Luck, Protection*
Weapon: glaive 1d10 ×3 reach

Desna CG Goddess of dreams, stars, travelers,
Domains: luck, Chaos, Good, Liberation*, Luck, Travel*
Weapon: starknife 1d4 ×3 range 20 ft.

Sarenrae NG Goddess of the sun, redemption, honesty, healing
Domains: Fire*, Glory, Good, Healing*, Sun
Weapon: scimitar 1d6 18–20/×2

Level 10 Charter. Needs to hit a monster AC of 24 avrage. And most monsters have a save bouns of 11 or higher.

20pt build. Aasimar
No dump (ie sub 10) stat.
examples.
Caster Easyer to do as a Aasimar
Str 10
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 17+2=19 (+1 at levels 4,8,12 ect.)
Cha 14+2=16
Good spell DC. Good channel energy.

Meleee Harder to do as a Aasimar
Str 17 (+1 at levels 4,8,12 ect.)
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 12+2=14
Cha 10+2=12
Good at melee.


French Wolf wrote:

Go Holy Warrior variant, the cleric trades their domain spells for +1 BAB/level and 1d10 hit points/level. Then boost strength over wisdom and concentrate on buff spells so that the Wisdom bonus is not so important.

Good luck.

Where is this cleric variant? I can't find it in the APG.

Silver Crusade

Its in Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Seting. Thes is a 3.5 book. They are not core or splat for the pathfinder system. So it's up to your GM if they are alowed.

Holy Warrior Ex: A cleric with this ability is proficient with her deity's favored weapon. In addition her base attack bounse as a cleric equals here cleric level, and her cleric Hit Die becomse a 1D10.

Taking the above ability requires a cleric to give up both of her domains, including her domain powers.


Probably the 3 'best' battle cleric dieties are Gorum, Indomae and Erastil

Gorum- Has a Subdomain that grants rage (combine with a furious Wpn)
a bonus to damage on standard action attacks and another which grants the wounding property (blood and ferocity i think)

Indomae has Archon (aura of menace-standard action)and heroism (aura of heroism- swift action). These are awesome and benefit the whole party.

Erastil grants growth (free enlarge) and animal (for a.pet tiger)

All these bump your dpr. For an asimar sounds like.Indomae would work for you.


Appreciate all this guys, some great suggestions and excellent ideas.

I will go away and have a good look at the builds :)


Okay, here you go:

Aasimar (Angelkin)

STR: 17 (4th level bump)
DEX: 14
CON: 13 (8th level bump)
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 12 (or you can tank the dex to bump a 14, but you don't need it).

Here is the thing about both your WIS and you CHA for this type of cleric, you don't need that much in either- especially at low level. You are intending to heal people so you don't need high DC's to your spells, so you don't need that 16 or 18 WIS. The CHA is useful IF you want to do a lot of channeling, for the most part you shouldn't be doing that in combat much its more like an out of combat band-aid so you don't have to use your cure spells.

Now you will eventually want to cast higher level spells, no problem! by the time you need to cast those you will have a headband to let you get there!

If I was going to do this I would honestly dump my CHA down to a 10 and use those points in CON.

Deity: Cayden Caylen
Domains: Travel/Ferocity - This allows you to still be mobile in heavy armor and you can deal some extra damage when you need to from that ferocious strike. You need to be mobile to get up in a fight, and travel just makes that so nice and easy. Longstrider is a decent 1st level spell too, which is nice.

Feats: I guess it depends on what you want to do, but I figure that Toughness is a good feat. Its great at first level and stays good along the way. But combat casting could be fine too.

3rd: Power Attack

5th: Selective Channel (by this point its worth getting, do to how much you heal)

7th: Heavy Armor (you can afford to get good heavy armor at this point, and you will need that extra AC around now as well).


Really now?

This character has been built and level, like, 5 for almost a year now.

I don't think he really needs help anymore.

The Exchange

Ah, but I was thinking of doing something similar sometime, and that build is pretty nice. I've copied it and pasted it so I can edit it later.

Thanks for the build. ^_^

Dark Archive

I went negative / asmodeous but a small change would yield a decent healer fighter. Eventually get the phylactery of positive channeling 11k gold

1. Select channel
3. Imp init
5. Quick channel
7. Elemental channel

At level 8 go holy vindicator get your shield. Then back to cleric for level 8 domain powers. Thus you have a 6d6 heal up to 2 times in a round at level 9. Top it off with additional channeling if you like.


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Yeah, I knew this was an old thread, but I wanted to put out there some options for others who may have been considering a cleric.

I was actually looking for some input on a build I was considering, found this thread and figured I would add to it instead of make a new one.

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