Domain Issue

[Desi]

I'm in the middle of creating a battle cleric, and I'm picking domains. I'm taking Heroism as one of them, and considering Strength as the second. When I read Might of the Gods*, however, it says it only applies to checks? Does it not apply to attacks and damage?

*Might of the Gods (Su): At 8th level, you can add your cleric level as an enhancement bonus to your Strength score for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. This bonus only applies on Strength checks and Strength-based skill checks.

[Are]

That's right. It doesn't apply to attacks or damage.

(It would have been quite thoroughly overpowered if it did)

[Desi]

So, is Sun just an all-around better domain then?

Cleric of Iomedae, if better suggestions.

[Jiggy]

Sun is great for undead-nuking. Also, the 8th level Sun domain power is the most powerful anti-darkness measure in the game. If you find yourself in a fight where one or more creatures has at-will deeper darkness, you can just walk around dispelling it and keeping the area in bright light. And your aura is supernatural, so it can't be dispelled.

[Sir Ophiuchus]

Does that mean you can use it to escape grapples, or is that considered an attack?

[Jiggy]

Sir Ophiuchus wrote:

Does that mean you can use it to escape grapples, or is that considered an attack?

Doesn't matter whether it's considered an attack, as the ability doesn't say "everything that's not an attack". Is it a STR check? No. Is it a STR-based skill check? Nope.

When you make a STR check (i.e., break down the door), you get the bonus. When you make a Climb or Swim check, you get the bonus. That's pretty much it.

[Desi]

Why is it so useless? I've never had such a problem with a door that I thought to myself, "If only I had an eighth level ability that would increase my chances of opening this door the rogue can probably pick the lock to!" Maybe if the boss was bullrushing down the hallway and the door really needed opening, but that's about it.

@Jiggy: Any suggestion for a character if this falls through? I'd be up for most anything. I'm just not a huge fan of characters that sound roughly like, "I'm going to shoot arrows. Oh, my turn again? I'm going to shoot arrows from the same place again." I've been down the min-maxing, damage-dealing road, and it sucks.

[Jiggy]

If I recall, you're looking for someone healing-capable in a mid-level, undead/demon-heavy campaign? Is that about right?

[Desi]

General enemies we've fought thus far:
Trolls
Undead, including Vampires
Gnolls
General Animal/Magical Beast encounters
We haven't fought them yet, but the 8-armed demon apes I'm sure will come up, as we've passed them before.

Our DM called it a "horror-campaign," and there's a lot of evil everywhere. A nalfashnee summoned some demons to kill us once, too.

Roughly 9-10th level.

Healing isn't a must, but my party would appreciate it. It's irrelevant to me personally, though.

[Jiggy]

How do they feel about radiating evilness for minutes at a time? You could play a party-buff-focused wizard (getting you out of the "I do damage. Again. Again." rut you mentioned) and use wands of infernal healing to patch people up after the fight.

Or if you wanted a fun little uber-healer, play an aasimar Oracle of Life and use the alternate FCB to ramp up your Channel progression. Get your CHA as high as possible, take Extra Channel and Quick Channel and Selective Channel, and make your team invincible. ;)

[Desi]

So channel as a 15th level cleric? That's awesome!
How are ninjas? I just realized we have no rogue/skill monkey.

[Jiggy]

Never played one, but they seem like a rogue who's more combat-oriented.

[Desi]

I kinda like the idea of the oracle. What else would it do?

[blackbloodtroll]

Inquisitor will be better for that.

Rogues a famously weak.

[Jiggy]

Desi wrote:

I kinda like the idea of the oracle. What else would it do?

Spontaneously cast cleric spells, for one.

Oh, and if you take the Blackened curse from Blood of Angels, you get to learn some nifty fire spells (burning hands, scorching ray, flaming sphere and I think something else).

[Desi]

How do they fare in combat? I don't want to totally not take part either. I've just always played a combat role, I suppose.

[Jiggy]

Oracles? I haven't played one, but at your level you'll have a LOT of spells. If you take the Blackened curse, then you'll have some fun fire spells as well as the whole cleric list to use those slots on. That means you have buffs, silence, pilfering hand (great for grabbing some half-BAB caster's component pouch!), some blasting from your curse, various "remove" spells, and so forth. Meanwhile, from your Mystery (if you choose Life), you can heal like nobody's business without even dipping into your spells. Alternatively, other mysteries can give you some fantastic offensive supernatural abilities.

[Desi]

That does sound pretty fantastic. I'll have to look into it when I'm not posting from my phone, but upsetting my DM by healing the PCs with the ridiculously high ACs does sound good. I think I might play an Oracle. Thanks a lot for your help, again!

[karkon]

Have you considered the Destruction Domain for the Destructive Smite power? 1/2 your cleric level to damage 3+Wis per day. The 8th level power is not so great so I prefer the Catastrophe domain which replaces that power.