In a Runelords campaign. Just started. We finished clearing out Goblins from Sandpoint.
We really don't have a healer. One character took a bit of a dip into a flames Oracle to get cure light, but won't be focusing on it.
I'm playing an Urban Ranger & Guide archetypes Ranger, with an eye to filling in some of the functions, such as trapfinding, of a rogue, since Urban Rangers get the trapfinding ability by 3rd level.
In general we could probably use some more healing. I had a thought, prior to character creation, of taking a dip into a cleric of Desna anwyay, but opted against it because Pathfinder seems to reward not-multiclassing with some nice abilities, as a character progresses in a class.
Right now, my decision making process is going down a few paths:
(1) Take a 1 level dip into cleric, which will have minimal impact as a Ranger and fill a need for a healer for a ocuple of levels. As we level up, the usefulness of a 1st level cleric will diminish.
(2) Split levels between cleric and ranger.
(3) Treat the ranger as a 1 level dip and go cleric the rest of the way.
I'm not sure, if it's worth taking the dip into cleric or just say to heck with it and blow money on cure wounds potions.
cure wounds potions
Wands. You'll want Cure Light Wounds wands. And I'd advice against dipping into a class just to get a few castings per day. Besides, becoming a Cleric has some pretty hefty roleplaying implication.
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Cure Light Wounds is on the Ranger's casting list, so you can use a wand at 4th level. That should take the sting out of the healing.
ETA: Ninja'd.
But since you're looking for the Trapfinding and all, stay Ranger. If you absolutely must dual class, you might like the Inquisitor. But honestly, staying pure Ranger is a good thing in this case. You're either Ranger 3 / Cleric 1 with curing and Trapfinding, or you're a Ranger 4 with curing and Trapfinding. I'd choose the latter.
It depends on how you intend to use the character. Before you plan a character out you need to decide what you want to do once the dice start rolling.
edit:Maybe I should pay more attention to things.
I would say it depends on how much healing you plan to do. You can take one level of rogue or another class with trapfinding and then go cleric if you want to be a healer first. If healing is not what you want to do then pump UMD(maybe take one level of rogue to get trapfinding and umd) and take the rest in ranger.
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Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll burn a feat on Skill Focus:UMD so I don't have to take a 1 level dip into another class to get it.
Did clear up some confusion for me.
You don't need UMD for cure light once you hit 4th level ranger. Your archetypes are not getting rid of your casting so you are fine.
The UMD is for spells like remove disease, remove curse, restoration line of spells, and the spells that return people to life.
You dont need UMD for any level. If the spell is on your class list, you can use the wand. It's scrolls you'd have to make a caster level check for.
No UMD check required, even at first level, for a ranger to use a wand of CLW.
rule for reference, bold is mine:
Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it's even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin. The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
If you want an animal companion, take the Animal domain.
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First up, since you are playing a ranger, Tracking aka Survival is quite important in some parts of the first Runelords book. So regardless of what class you pick you will want to focus on it.
As Weables stated above, if your party is tough enough to not require a in-combat healer, you don't need to have a Cleric as you can get away with a CLW wand.
If do want to go as a Cleric-Ranger and is willing to drop trap-finding, I suggest you go all the way as a Cleric. A proper build Cleric can have high Survival and Perception skills, while still able to throw out damage at range.
Best Deity for a Range Cleric is Erastil, due to his fravor weapon of longbow, coupled with him being the only deity with the Feather (animal) Sub-domain, that give you fly and increased perception.
Survival can be make up with taking the "Heart of the Wilderness", Alternate Human Racial Trait. That will give you half your level to Survival, just like a ranger.
Just some suggestions for you to look up on. Hope it helps.
The town of Sandpoint in the Rise of the Runelords has some friendly low-level clerics that the party could persuade to tag along for healing during the first module. Later, the party can go shopping in the city of Magnimar and pool their cash to purchase a wand of Cure Light Wounds. You don't have to play a cleric, because the setting provides alternatives.
Both cleric abilities and ranger abilities are useful in this campaign, yet neither are mandatory, so play what you want.
A 50/50 split between ranger and cleric would be weak at 8th level, but not bad before that. At low levels, the versatility makes up for the reduced power. At high levels, power is a necessity.
I myself have a fondness for high-dex archer clerics, and a cleric with a two-level dip in ranger would be good for that. The ranger levels also help relieve the cleric's deficiency in skill ranks. It is perfectly believable that a cleric of Desna would have spent some time as a ranger. The cathedral to Desna in Sandpoint is an oddity: mostly Desna is worshiped at small shrines along the road. And even an Urban Ranger is better at traveling long roads than most classes.