I have started in my first Pathfinder game. After several ideas I've settled on a Dwarven Forgemaster. However, I'm looking for people's advice on the best route to keep him viable in the party. There are some great runes for the Forgemaster, but is it worth it to lose channel energy?
I will be the only "healer" in the party, but we have all been playing for many years so I'm sure we can get around that. The DM has also planned for the fact that we don't have a strict heal bot.
I would like to be able to step up to the front line with the main melee and hold my own while supporting them. Are there any avenues to get heavy armor without buying the feat and without having to multiclass? I would like to go 1-20 as a cleric.
Any other advice for a new player in the Pathfinder system about to start on the road as a Forgemaster cleric?
Thanks all in advanced!
Widj
I don't mind really about the int score. I'm not trying to min / max my character. I'm more focused on making a fun character to rollplay with.
I either will be supporting or shooting a heavy crossbow. I'm contemplating possibly taking 1 level in Fighter (it fits part of my back story) so that I can use heavy armor and get a feat for a heavy repeating crossbow, and give access to the dwarven war axe. Though I haven't decided on this 100% yet.
My stats at the moment are;
Str: 14 Dex: 12 Con: 14 Int: 15 Wis: 16 Cha:8
All the stats fit in with the story I have writen up for him so far.
I would like to have a higher Int even outside of the Forgemaster Arch. in order to build on some of the Skills for my character. While this won't help me as much in combat, I'm hoping that it will allow me to be more useful outside of combat.
Right now the group consists of a Rogue, Barbarian, Monk, and Sorcerer. The Barb and Monk are strictly focusing on combat. From what I can tell, the Rogue is as well. I would like to be able to help more outside of combat as well as during combat.
I know I may be sidelined as buffing, which I don't mind, I will also be able to help the party later on buy creating gear that we can use when I get to that point.
|
One option is the Crusader archetype for clerics, which while by RAW doesn't stack with Forgemaster, would get you bonus feats, one of which you could spend on heavy armor prof. The only thing that doesn't allow them to stack is that Crusader only allows on domain and forgemaster also modifies domains, but if your DM would be cool with that then there is a solution.
After reading up some on the oracle, how does taking a couple levels with an Oracle of Steel sound to add to it? I could use that to get martial weapons and heavy armor, along with some other interesting add ons.
Edit: Oracle of Metal that is, not steel. I like the idea of getting an ability called Riddle of Steel. R.E.Howards FTW
|
|
Going into Oracle for a dip might be a good idea for other classes, but you would be dipping into a charisma based caster with a character whose best dump stat would be charisma. Also, Oracle's curse causes the class to be less amenable to dipping into it due to front loaded penalties.
Long story short, you would be spreading yourself too thin for no real benefit, if you are going to multiclass for armor prof then I would suggest dipping fighter instead, which will also get you another feat on top of the prof. In general, multiclassing casters doesn't work too well.
If you like the oracle better, however, then just go ahead and roll one up instead of the cleric. Both have their pros and cons, it just depends on your play style.
|
You should be able to pull off Forgemaster AND Crusader (as stated earlier). Take Craft Wand to help mitigate your out-of-combat healing costs too. Craft Wondrous Items will help mitigate some of the MAD as you gain levels also.
I just built this for a non-PFS campaign, actually, but starting at level 9.
Avoiding MAD is some of the most basic optimization (Right up there in importance with "don't run a 5 con Elf Wizard"), not min-maxing.
"Optimizing" is just a nice way of saying "min-max". Eiither way, you're trading roleplaying for numbers that look good on the sheet.
(pro tip: Avoid needing multiple attributes to power your features).
The normal Cleric needs Cha as much as the forgemaster needs Int. So if you call the forgemaster terrible you should do the same with the core cleric and nearly every other cleric archetype.
I like the idea of the forgemaster. It's either good straight or as a dip. Even at a single level some of your spells are quite nice because they last as if cast with a higher CL.
One question: are those stats WITH racial modifiers or without?
Take Extend Spell so that any armor/weapon buff spell you cast lasts twice the duration. Reach Spell could also be beneficial, as you'd be able to cast certain buffs from afar. This is pretty group/dm/campaign dependent though, but I'm just putting it out there.
Extend Spell seems to be your best bet to get a lot of mileage out of the free +1 metamagic ability. Persistent Spell, together with Magical Lineage, could turn your Heat or Chill Metal spells into deadly traps but I'm afraid that that combo won't have a lot of oompf from lvl3 to 7 when it matters and loses any value past level 8.
Heavy Armor Proficiency would be nice for your AC, but I'd focus on the role your archetype pigeonholes you into: a buff bot with crowd control spells. Take feats that accentuate this role. Augment Summoning (earth/mud/magma/fire elementals that flank and tank) is a great feat for any cleric, but would require spell focus conjuration which is rather useless on you. Sacred Summons, Summon Good Monsters and Superior Summons are three feats that work great in tandem with Augment Summoning and Torag, the main dwarven deity. SGMonsters is from Champions of Purity, a new paizo splatbook. The monsters you summon using this feat also get diehard. Not that spectacular, but it's still nice!
Breadth of Experience is a dwarf feat that gives you a +2 on all knowledge/profession skills and lets you make those checks untrained. Paired with your int, this could be nice if you want to add some flavor to your character. But since clerics are feats and skills starved, this is entirely up to you.
I'd go for:
1 Spell Focus Conjuration
3 Augment Summoning
5 Summon Good Monsters
7 Sacred Summons (turns LG summons into a standard action)
9 Superior Summons (adds +1 summoned when you summon multiple monsters)
At 9 you can summon swarms of Lantern Archons or multiple Hound Archons with a lvl5 spell. Obviously all of this is rather feat intensive and leaves you without Extend Spell.
If you rather go the melee route, I'd take:
1 Extend Spell
3 Heavy Armor Proficiency
5 Power Attack
.. and focus on keeping up Bless, Prayer, Divine Favor and buff spells while tanking for your group and ensuring they get into flanking position. Your STR isn't super high though and since you can't take any melee-focused domains, your melee contribution will drop off sharply past level 7'ish. Especially if you get no time to buff.
At low levels you can still step in and help tank, dishing out some damage with your warhammer, but I'd really focus on support/crowd control/buffs.
As for your first level rune, take Glowglyph. It's a DC14 reflex or be blinded for 1D4 rounds, which is insanely good at 1st level. And guess what? You can use it multiple times a day. At 4, get Deathstrike. Death Knell is an evil spell, but this rune isn't. If you can manage to get killing blows, this boosts your CL nicely, but perhaps your tank will appreciate the temporary HP, STR buff or CL boost.
I'm just throwing out ideas here, because I too like the Forgemaster. But getting a Forgemaster working isn't all that easy - missing out on one domain and being forced to take a relatively bad one (artifice) means you miss out on the main powers of the cleric. You also got a low cha, so channeling feats are a no go. Your str14 will let you wear armor and at lower levels join in melee, but eventually you'll want to go full caster and for that, I'd seriously consider going summoning. Torag is LG and you get plenty of LG summons early on and later on.
Be the cornerstone of the group, the one they can't do without, be a Forgemaster of Torag!