Bout to start carrion crown. I'm playing a heroism/sun domain cleric of sarenrae. I'm playing aasimar to make use of the racial feats especially the channel force line. Here are my stats (15-point buy with +2 wis/cha racial):
Str 14
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 7
Wis 16
Cha 14
I'm going scimitar/shield, and I'm wanting to tank more than dish out damage. Channel force will give me a decent amount of battlefield positioning especially at higher levels (prob grab alignment channel for evil outsiders as well), but what other feats and ideas should I take advantage of for a "tanking" cleric? Currently, I don't have the skill points to put in intimidate, but I am investing in diplomacy. I'm thinking antagonize could be a good choice, but I'd only have half the utility. I also don't have the dex to justify combat reflexes and the other feats that go nicely with that (combat patrol, stand still, etc).
Be sure to nab a Consecrated weapon Channel Foci, as it will count as a Holy Symbol, and you won't have to drop your weapon to cast spells.
Channel Force only really works with something you can do with it.
I suggest picking up a Quickdraw shield, and the Dervish Dance feat.
It's thematically fitting, and when it's not your turn, or you are not attacking, you can benefit from the shield, and stow it away when you want to attack, and use dex for damage.
This combo will also keep down MAD, and allow you to less into strength.
Carrion Crown does have investigative elements - your really low Int may be crippling for those parts (ie needing skills) and also will give you a low Knowledge: Religion which is needed as well.
Your build is also similar to how I'd build a cleric of Iomadae - keep in mind the domains overlap and you can get the same domains if you want to change gods.
Another build *before adj* would be 12,12,12,10,14,12 with the 2 left over points to go to the stat of your choice. 15 point builds are harsher on MAD classes such as the Monk and Cleric.
The Dervish Dance version of a Sarenrae Cleric would allow you to pump Dex and drop Str. Lamellar Cuirass is a good light armour that shouldn't weigh you down if you you have 8-10 strength until you can afford mithril chain.
Channel Force (from Blooad of Angels or Rac Guide, I forget), is kind of a trap chain, and trust me, in Carrion Crown, especially early on, your going to be Channeling a lot. The Sun and Glory/Good/Healing Domains will serve you well. Until much later on, Channel Force only targets one creature.
In addition to that, there is an Aasimar Favored Class option (in one of the two above mentioned books) that lets you add 1/2 your Class Level to Channeling damage vs Undead (and Outsiders via Alignment Channeling), which is probably a must have for you.
If Traits are allowed, Exalted of the Society gives you 1 more Channeling attempt per day, too.
Guided Hand Feat in Ult Combat lets you use your Wis for Attacks, which might be the way to go in such a low Point buy, Cleric is the most MAD class already, so point buy screws them over whie favoring most Arcane casters and other classes less stat dependant.
Prot From Evil, Magic Weapon/Stone, Ghotbane Dirge, and plenty of Cure spells will serve you very well, particularly early on. While Carrion Crown does have plenty of Int based encounters, it also has some Wis and Diplomacy ones as well, so I would suggest working with the group, to be both the tank and the face, and letting others work on other aspects. That's also a bit later on, so you will have some time to branch out a bit, too.
Your channel is bolstered by your faith, allowing you to move and damage your foes.
Prerequisites: Aasimar, channel energy 2d6.
Benefit: When you channel energy to deal damage, you may choose to affect only a single target within 30 feet. In addition to dealing damage, if that single target fails its saving throw, you may pull or push the target up to 5 feet for every 2d6 points of channel energy damage you are capable of dealing.
Improved Channel Force:
Improved Channel Force (Channeling; Aasimar)
You move your enemies within a beam of righteous energy.
Prerequisites: Channel Force, Aasimar, channel energy 4d6(7th level, which is about half way through the AP, but a little too late for this Feat chain to start being functional at this point).
Benefit: When using Channel Force, you can affect all creatures in a 60-foot line or a 30-foot cone-shaped burst. You must choose to either push or pull all creatures within the affected area that fail their saves.
Greater Channel Force:
Greater Channel Force (Channeling; Aasimar)
Your eruptions of divine power move your enemies.
Prerequisites: Channel Force, Improved Channel Force, Aasimar, channel energy 6d6(11th level, which is very near the end of the AP).
Benefit: When using Improved Channel Force, you can affect all creatures in a 30-foot-radius burst.
What Beckett said in both posts. That said, Imp. and Gtr. Channel force would be nifty in Chapter 5, where you should be around 11th... Nifty but not worth the investment... the badguys move pretty fast and pushing them back 20-40 feet isn't that big a deal.
I'm going the dervish dance route. Haven't decided on quickdraw shield just yet as it will require me to take the quickdraw feat to get the most use out of it, but I don't need to worry about that for a few levels anyway I'm okay dropping the channel force feats because now my dex is high enough to justify combat reflexes and all the other feats that go nicely with that for tanking.
I realize my strength is sickeningly low, but with all mithral gear, I can still be at a light load (medium is fine for now as my dex bonus isn't hindered). 4th level point will go into con, and 8th will go into wis or cha with the other at 12. I'm thinking this will satisfy my desire to have a presence in melee while still bringing solid channeling and buffing to the party.
Now that combat reflexes is open, what are some nice tanking combos? I'm thinking combat patrol and stand still would be nice. Any other nice ones I'm missing?
I realize my strength is sickeningly low, but with all mithral gear, I can still be at a light load (medium is fine for now as my dex bonus isn't hindered). 4th level point will go into con, and 8th will go into wis or cha with the other at 12. I'm thinking this will satisfy my desire to have a presence in melee while still bringing solid channeling and buffing to the party.
Your carrying capacity is a mere 23 lbs.
Leather Cuirass (+2 AC) is 8lbs. Scimitar is 3lbs. Pack is 2lbs. Mithril Chainshirt (12.5lbs) will cost you over half of your capacity and until you hit level 3 your melee damage WILL suck. Carrion Crown is an AP where you start in a village so there is no Mithril chain shirt freely available in town unless the GM rules so. If you want to carry food, wear clothing, carry a few potions or scroll case you are in trouble.
Your are already waaaaaay under the hammer here.
Suggestion. Take Charisma to 14, and Con to 12 and bring your strength to 8 and get a MW Pack as soon as you can... 8 (9 with pack) will give you a carrying capacity of 30lbs, which is borderline doable with an adventurer until you get a handy haversack.
Look under Eastern Weapons and invest in a Hanbo as a bludgeoning weapon. It weighs 2lbs, doubles as a walking stick and can be used with weapon finesse... it is better than a Mace when it comes to encumbrance. You should have a backup weapon and its a good one for some types of undead.
Accept the fact that you will not be the best in terms of stats - simply not possible for a Cleric with a 15pt build. 16 Dex and 15 Wisdom is fine. Trying to stretch to 15 Charisma is not doing you any favours.
Glory and Sun as domains will give you great Anti Undead channeling for your stats and build. The Glory spell list is very good too.
Not sure when the character will have the gold for that - he has to split among the other PCs and the adventure, while not gold light, certainly isn't gold heavy. You don't want to suck completely through half of the module. Then there is the -2 to damage... -1 to damage is bad but its not crippling, -2 to damage means that 33% of the time his hits will do no damage at all until he gets his dervish dance feature.
GM may or may not allow the item to be available in Ravensgro as well.
Ant Haul is a first level spell that triples your carrying capacity for one hour per level.
Helaman has made the right call on your stats as well.
Lastly I'd grab the glory (heroism)/good. Good channeling fantastic buffs and you can play a good support cleric until you finally come into your own as a battle cleric.
If this isn't a PFS game, talk to your GM about the Aasimar alternate option Variant Aasimar Abilities, where you trade your racial spell-like for an option off of the table. You may be allowed to choose vs rolling (I'd personally go for the +2 CON). You may also want to consider a different Heritage, like Archon or Garuda, unless the +2 CHR is more important to the build - otherwise disregard.
Bringing your age category to middle aged, and nabbing the Immortal Spark alternate racial trait will make you a powerful caster as well, without really effecting your physical stats.
Garuda-Blooded Aasimar will be a good choice, and really pump your focused stats.
exactly my thought BBT. I know Str 7 is bad, but I'm patient. I can make it to 3rd without dishing out much damage in melee. While my GM isn't going to just throw whatever magic items we want at us, I'm pretty sure he'd be pretty comfortable providing some Mulebacks for me. I'm also pretty sure I can get my hands on a MW backpack pretty easily.
The biggest concern for me is running into shadows...with only 7 strength, I could be in a lot of trouble (and let's be honest, in CC I bet there will be shadows at some point).
Also, I'm not trying to stay in light load. I'm wearing scalemail and a light shield at level 1. Medium armor is already going to hinder me, so medium load isn't going to hurt me until my dex is higher than 16. My load is currently 44/46 with all my starting gear. I realize that doesn't really leave me much wiggle room, but I'll just have the paladin and barbarian carry the heavy stuff.
Mulebacks and/or mithral gear will put me easily in light load when I need to be. Carrying capacity is by far the least of my worries. I have to make sacrifices somewhere, and I was already really sad about dumping my int. Getting those skill points back in lieu of 2 levels of terrible dmg is worth it for me.
Furthermore, my character is a diplomat in concept. Higher int and lower str makes a lot more sense in this case. From an RP perspective, his ability to stick it out in melee is going to be something he develops as he faces the difficulties of Ustalav. In the mean time...channel dmg ftw!!!
Yeah, I'm gonna ask my GM about middle aged. Our group doesn't allow age category shifts without GM approval. It's a great idea tho. I hope he says yes =)
And you're right, shadows shouldn't live too long if I'm around. Still scary if one of them hits me for a full 6 str. My 16 dex should help vs those touch attacks tho.
Well, strength damage isnt just the realm of shadows. It also comes from necromancers (Ray of Enfeeblelawl!), giant spiders, and other things.
Shadows are practically guaranteed in a campaign like carrion crown but given its horro aspect and emphasis on the undead you can't forget those niggling things that aren't undead but happen to be associated with them. Swarms of gnashing rot grubs for example.
don't get me started on swarms...especially rot grub swarms...by far my least favorite low level encounters.
I'll have pretty solid saves vs ray of enfeeblement since I'm taking deathless spirit instead of celestial resistance. I realize it's still an issue, but a necro would probably prefer to cast that on our barb or paladin who will be dealing a good deal more damage than I will. If he targetted me because he knows I've got low strength, I would suggest that is inappropriate and metagaming which this GM is usually very careful to avoid.
If he targetted me because he knows I've got low strength, I would suggest that is inappropriate and metagaming which this GM is usually very careful to avoid.
Are you trying to say you don't have noodly arms and a tendency to grunt and sweat when moving a couch?
If the necro has a decent intelligence he might purposely shoot those rays at you to take someone out of the fight instead of just making someone else hit less for a few less damage.
I know I like to save those spells for the casters!
