I have an Adventure path coming up and Im looking for some ways to build a very effective human cleric of Gorum. She's brash, opinionated, and always looking to fight anything and everyone even if its just a duel.
Ive decided to take the crusader archetype from Ultimate combat so she gets all sorts of great fighter feats for her greatsword. The issue Im having is feats beyond her crusader feats (which will be 1st:Heavy armor prof 5th:Weapon focus 10th:Weapon spec 15th:Greater weapon spec 20th: Greater weapon spec).
Her ability scores are 20 str 14 dex 15 con 12 int 16 wis 12 cha
1st level feats will most likely be Heavy armor prof (from crusader archetype), Toughness (human bonus feat), and finally I wasnt sure what to take for the normal 1st level feat but I settled on Improved unarmed strike because I see her as a mix of swordswoman and martial artist. Her skills will be Craft weapons and armor, spellcraft, and probably heal
After third level, Im having issues coming up with a nice feat build. What I as thinking of is the following but I would like some suggestions from more experienced players who have played front line fighter clerics (I mostly play healing ones)
1st Improved unarmed strike
3rd Power attack
5th craft magic arms and armor
5th level crusader feat: Weapon focus greatsword
7th improved grapple
9th Vital strike
10th level crusader feat: Weapon specilization greatsword
11th Bloody assualt (APG)
13th Hammer the gap (UC)?
15th versatile channeler (UM)?
15th crusader feat: Greater weapon focus greatsword
17th Improved critical greatsword
19th
20th crusader feat: greater weapon specilization
I don't see Improved Unarmed Strike as a useful investment.
Check out Tark's cleric guide here.
Also, a build depends slightly on your domain choice, as a Crusader gets only one. I'm assuming you're going with the War domain?
Keep in mind you can ignore prerequisites with your Crusader bonus feats, so you could take Weapon Focus at 1st level.
Also, a cleric like this would do fantastically well in the Divine Scion PrC. As you're a bit iffy on other 1st level feats, consider taking Iron Will, as it's one of the prereq's for the class. Unfortunately, so are a few knowledge skills (Religion and Planes), though I think it works out quite well in the end.
Since you'll have 4 skill points per level, you could pick up Craft, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Religion) and Knowledge (Planes).
Pros of Divine Scion are: Full spellcasting progression, the ability to take the Weapon Specialization line of feats without being a fighter, the ability to heal yourself when you cast domain spells, bonuses to weapon damage and True Strike as an SLA 3/day, bonuses against an alignment of your choice, extra spell damage, and DR.
Cons of Divine Scion: You'd lose your 10th and 15th level Crusader bonus feats, no Channel Energy progression, and slightly lower Fort saves, and wouldn't get the Legion's Blessing ability.
In light of some of the cons, it might be worth it to skip the Crusader archetype for Divine Scion, allowing you to have the granted abilities of two domains and an extra spell per day, in place of two bonus feats.
If you're going to take improved unarmed strike anywa you might as well pick up domain strike over improved grapple. Then pick the Chaos (protean) domain. This gives you a neat ability where you can knock people for a loop where they will quite literally make bad rolls. Consider taking the boar style line of feats since they match Gorum's kind of combat well.
Honestly I'd consider with the protean aura at your disposal the Shattered Defenses line of feats.
Now if you want to go for raw power forget unarmed strike completely and go for weapon focus from level 1. Here's how I'd move it around.
Domain: Destruction
Channel Negative Energy
1 Weapon Focus
1 Channel Smite
1 Toughness
3 Power Attack
5 Scribe Scroll (This will be your best friend)
5 Heavy Armor Proficiency
7 Guided Hand or Dazzling Display
9 Furious Focus or Shatter Defenses
10 Weapon Specialization
11 Improved Critical
13 Hammer The gap or Furious Focus if you didn't take it earlier
15 greater weapon focus
17 Quicken Spell
19 Greater Channel Smite
20 Greater Weapon Spec
Alter these to taste but ultimately you are all about dealing out the hate. If you get an oppurtunity to use Dazzling Display to its fullest go for it.
Keep in mind I ahve a very specific image of Gorumite clerics in my mind. They are not very nice. The nicest they get in mind is more like Conan or Red Sonja. The book ones not the crappy movie ones.
The starting domain will be War. I could really only see war or destruction for her and war wins out for a few thematic reasons
Shes also starting with heavy armor prof to begin with because the Rich parents trait, along with crafting costs allow her to wear full plate at first level (the GMs just allowing an autosuccess on initially crafted equipment at 1/3 of the cost). This means I would either have to take heavy armor prof at 1st level as a normal feat or the bonus crusader feat. So I could pick up weapon focus as the crusader feat and grab heavy armor prof as the regular 1st level feat
For an actual feat build (with Divine Scion), I would look at something like:
1st: Heavy Armor Proficiency
1st: Iron Will
3rd: Power Attack
5th: Weapon Focus
7th: Craft Magic Arms and Armor
9th: Greater Weapon Focus
11th: Weapon Specialization
13th: Greater Weapon Specialization
15th: Quicken Spell
17th: Furious Focus
19th: Hammer the Gap
It's a little feat-tight, but you'll be a solid combatant by the end of it. Alternately, if you eschew Divine Scion and opt for straight Crusader, then
1st: Weapon Focus
1st: Toughness
1st: Defensive Combat Training
3rd: Power Attack
5th: Heavy Armor Proficiency
5th: Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7th: Cleave
9th: Lunge
10th: Weapon Specialization
11th: Improved Critical
13th: Furious Focus
15th: Greater Weapon Focus
15th: Quicken Spell
17th: Open
19th: Open
20th: Greater Weapon Specialization
Considering I'm one of the players in the campaign you're making her for, I'm going to say you should stick with channeling positive energy (since you're the groups sole divine character).
The downside to taking Heavy Armor Proficiency at 1st level is that it means you're stuck with a selection of crappy feats for your 5th level bonus feat, since the rest of the list is all shield-related.
The starting domain will be War. I could really only see war or destruction for her and war wins out for a few thematic reasons
Then I would beg you to take War (Tactics) over standard. The standard first level war ability is regarded as among the lousiest.
Then I would beg you to take War (Tactics) over standard. The standard first level war ability is regarded as among the lousiest.The starting domain will be War. I could really only see war or destruction for her and war wins out for a few thematic reasons
I know our wizard friend would be absolutely delighted to have the ability to roll twice for initiative.
She does channel positive energy which is one reason why I was considering versatile channeler. it seems like a nice little switchblade feat
Im pretty sure Im sticking with heavy armor prof at 1st level. With 900 gp to spend and the ability to craft spiked full plate armor at 512 gp(rounded up) I just cant justify leaving it for 5th level. Its only a +1 hit bonus that Ill miss out on for 5 levels, where I get a +3 AC bonus with heavy armor prof (assuming breastplate to full plate differences). Besides what self respecting gorumite wouldnt be wearing spiked armor as soon as possible?
Although i may replace unarmed strike with Defensive combat training. I hadnt considered that before
Besides what self respecting gorumite wouldnt be wearing spiked armor as soon as possible?
One who rips it off the freshly killed corpse of an enemy.
Considering that this is going to be for a Serpent Skull game, the heavy armor in the jungle is going to be amusing. Hopefully you took the Armor Expert trait :P
There's also a couple Gorum-specific cleric spells, one of which causes spikes to sprout out of any armor you're wearing.
One who rips it off the freshly killed corpse of an enemy.Besides what self respecting gorumite wouldnt be wearing spiked armor as soon as possible?
Even then it would have to be resized, costing 200-800 GP. No full plate is something you make or have made for yourself, then enchant with your hard earned money
One who rips it off the freshly killed corpse of an enemy.Besides what self respecting gorumite wouldnt be wearing spiked armor as soon as possible?
Even then it would have to be resized, costing 200-800 GP. No full plate is something you make or have made for yourself, then enchant with your hard earned money
Nothing stopping you from using your craft skill to resize it.
I think the point about heavy armor in the jungle is a valid one. Serpent's skull also has you ona boat right from the start. So honestly full plate from the beginning isn't all that advantageous. You are slughtly better off getting more hit bonuses (weapon focus) and qualifying for as many of your favorite combat feats as possible to use with the War domain ability.
I understand that you guys have your own way of building characters and youre trying to be helpful and I appreciate that. However you need to understand that the feat choices up to level 5 are pretty much set in stone now. Im taking heavy armor prof for a few reasons and Im taking it at first level because thats what works for me. Weapon focus at first level doesnt work for me, sorry
Im still willing to listen to ideas beyond level 5 though, so far theres been some nice suggestions I hadnt considered