My group has just recently finished running Rise of the Runelords and for our next AP (which is still undecided) I decided to break my usual motif and play a cleric, this is the first time I ever played something besides a fighter since 2nd edition so I was just wondering on some ways to go about this, here's what I have so far.
He, or she will have a 25 point buy and for RP purposes I've decided to become a follower of the Lost Prince and am leaning pretty heavily towards taking the Madness and Martyr domains, everything else I kind of need a little help with such as feat selection and stats. I don't care whether I wind up as a battle cleric or a healer.
I've played all different kinds of clerics in my day. I'm used to a 15 or 20 point buy, but the general theory is that wisdom is first, then Str for combat cleric and cha for healers and defenders. dex is best for clerics intending to be balanced between combat and skills. Con should be average unless you're being a meat shield and intelligence is the dump stat. Dwarfs and humans make the best clerics in my opinion, but every race can be made to synergize.
As far as domains go, I'm not sure why you are picking those two. The aura of madness is very nice and can be used to surprising effect in a defensive build if you want to stall opponents while you get in there to heal. You'll want to make a decision about what kind of cleric you are going to be before deciding domains.
Feats are pretty straightforward. If you're a battle cleric: take the feats you would for a barbarian. The style actually works similarly I find. Don't shy away from heavy armor either. That's why I suggested dwarves. Toughness makes up for a low CON score and you've already got decent fortitude saves. Highly recommended. extra channel for healers. power attack for battlers. Beyond that, I'm not sure where your build is headed, so I'd need more info to give better advice.
Equipment is a weird thing for clerics. There's not much for us. If your DM allows some cherry picking from 3.5 look up magic item compendium there's a few must-haves for healers.
I'll probably wind up being a more defensive/healer type as most of the other people in my group seem to prefer playing total balls out offensive characters. More of what I need is just a few good feats I should worry about for said Healing/defensive build, besides selective channeling and extra channel.
I don't have my ISWG in front of me, but isn't one of the Lost Prince's domains insanity, not madness? Ancestors, martyr, memory an insanity. Minor difference, I know. I have a huge nerd-on for the first world, hence my correction.
He's CN, yeah? So you would be able to choose between channeling positive energy or negative energy. The choice would make all the difference between ending up a battle cleric foremost, healer second, or the other way around. Let's assume battle cleric, so it's not too far out of the norm for you. Going with that, I'd probably point buy something like
(assuming human, half elf or half orc. Dwarf would be a good choice as well. Gnome would be interesting, flavor wise, but you'd have to move points around so you can bump strength even higher, only to knock it down with racial adjustment):
Str 14 (5 pts) +2 racial= 16
Dex 12 (2 pts)
Con 14 (5 pts)
Int 8 (+2 pts)
Wis 16 (10 pts)
Cha 14 (5 pts)
Feats: Power Attack and Channel Smite (again, assuming human for the extra feat and neg. energy for the channel smite).
Just my 2 cp, and I'm far from an expert on clerics. The advice the above poster said about treating feat choice like you would for a barbarian is good, as long as you don't ignore the channeling feats as well. Extra channel, selective channel, the aforementioned channel smite, etc.
I'll probably wind up being a more defensive/healer type as most of the other people in my group seem to prefer playing total balls out offensive characters. More of what I need is just a few good feats I should worry about for said Healing/defensive build, besides selective channeling and extra channel.
And this is why I should have previewed my post..... If you're going with healer, ignore everything I just said.
I'll probably wind up being a more defensive/healer type as most of the other people in my group seem to prefer playing total balls out offensive characters. More of what I need is just a few good feats I should worry about for said Healing/defensive build, besides selective channeling and extra channel.And this is why I should have previewed my post..... If you're going with healer, ignore everything I just said.
He has insanity and madness domains, and the reasons for him being a follow of The Lost Prince is tied in with his backstory where he was trapped in the first world for a bit and found that following one of the eldest managed to afford him some protection.
As for his build I kind of just threw this together in the last few minutes:
race - Human
Str 13
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 13
Wis 16+2
Cha 15
Deity - The Lost Prince
Domains - Madness and Martyr
Feats - Extra Channel and Selective Channel
I just don't know what I should do as I level up feats wise
Go with more Strength, less Intelligence. Possibly less Wisdom to bump Strength more. Make your Charisma an even score. Con is a bit low, but putting your favored class bonus to HP should help offset that. The whole 'healer' cleric isn't really all that great in Pathfinder. You'll have a lot more fun if you can contribute to the party offensively, instead of just being the bandaid box (which really doesn't seem like it would fit the god/domains at all). The Domain abilities are melee abilities anyways, so if you want to get the most of them you're going to be next to the Big Dumb Fighter. Given the range on Cure spells and channeling, that's where you'd want to be anyways.
If you're going to go defense/healer, then extra channel and selective channel are a must. You're already set up to be a battlefield control expert, so I'd suggest bringing that up to a greater focus. Looking at the Martyr subdomain, I'd say this is a situation where you can bring CON up higher. gnome has the right ability score bonuses and it's a good flavour choice. Combat patrol chain or the side-step chain would be good. Consider being a lunge expert of sorts. The closer an opponent gets to you, the more it has to deal with. Ask about an unofficial feat to expand your range of supernatural abilities. That'll make things really good for you.