Feat Advice for Cleric of Sarenrae

[Liz Autry]

I'm in the process of creating an Aasimar cleric of Sarenrae for an upcoming Reign of Winter campaign. I've only been playing Pathfinder for a little over a year. Previously I've played a gnome bomber alchemist and half-elf sea witch, neither of which did any healing.

I've decided on the Healing and Fire domains, as our group needs a primary healer and Life Oracles have pretty much been banned by the GM. It looks like the rest of the group will consist of a Fighter, Cavalier, Ice Witch and Bard. Ice Witch will be offering back up heals.

So here's what I've go so far. The point buy is 20 with no buy downs.

Build including race bonuses is Str 10 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 14 Wis 16 Cha 16. Since my main role will be healing and smiting our enemies with fire from the back, I decided to forgo all the physical stats except Con because HP and decent Fort saves are nice. I'll be channeling to heal primarily so I wanted my Charisma and Wisdom equal for both the extra channels and extra spells.

Skills wise I'll be focusing on Diplomacy,Heal, KN: Religion, Perception & Sense Motive. I'll also put some of my favored class skill points into boosting UMD.

And now for where I'm stuck ... feats. My first choice is going to be Selective Channeling. But after that I'm waffling wildly. I'm pretty sure at 9th level I want Glorious Heat. But I have no clue what to go with in between and afterwards. For 3rd level I was considering Extra Channel or Lightning Reflexes, but neither choice fills me with glee. Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

[Altus Lucrim]

As an Aasimar, you could take some race specific feats that eventually lead to being able to fly. There is also the level one feat Fey Foundling, this is not to be overlooked, because adding 2 to every die of healing you receive is huge. The number one rule of a healer is DO NOT GO DOWN. You aren't healing anyone if you are unconscious. Fey Foundling takes priority for channel healers, even over selecvtive channeling

[pcrotteau]

I would look at dodge (to up that AC just one more..) or improved initiative (to get those buffs off first).

If you are the party buffer, craft wand would help (for bless, bull's strength, or cure light)

Shield focus also helps with the ac issue.

[GoldEdition42]

I do agree with Fey Foundling (I like it better for Paladins, but it still works well) but it must be taken at 1st level. Then, Selective Channel at 3rd and Extra Channel at 5th.

Improved Initive is a good Feat but with a d20 inititive roll it sometimes doesn't make much difference. If you roll a 4 you may still be slower than that zombie who got a 16. Some DMs use a d12 for inititive; then it makes more sense.

[Ninja in the Rye]

Glorious Heat has been made much less useful by the unofficial errata that changes the amount healed to spell level rather than 1/2 caster level.

I like the combo of Selective Channel and Quick Channel (use 2 channels to use channel energy as a move action), this lets you do some healing with a move action and still cast a spell. Extra Channel would be a decent option since you can burn through channel uses pretty fast this way.

I like Summoning as an option for a cleric, it gets you a lot of offensive and utility versatility if you have a good knowledge of the Summon lists.

Crafting is a good option if you'll have the downtime (which most APs don't really give you, but I don't know about RoW).

If you're planning on Fire Domain and throwing lots of fire spells around then metamagic is a good option as well, you can take Heighten Spell (prerequisite) + Preferred Spell (Fireball) to spontaneously replace any prepared spell with a Fireball. Add on Intensified Spell and Dazing Spell for lots of spells that break their normal damage cap and cause enemies to miss their turn (targeting the weakest save of many monsters).

My current Human Cleric of Sarenrae's feat progression is
1- Selective Channeling, H- Spell Focus Conjuration
3- Augment Summoning
5- Quick Channel
7- Craft Wondrous Item
9- Extra Channel

[blackbloodtroll]

Selective Channel is indeed a good choice.

Are you going core Aasimar, or one of the alternate Aasimar?

[Mikaze]

Sarenrae?

Don't forget Merciful Spell! (but don't forget how nonlethal damage rolls over to lethal either!)

[blackbloodtroll]

Dervish Dance is a thematic choice.

[Liz Autry]

Thank you for the advice.

Something I forgot to mention is we're planning on doing this campaign as weekend marathons. Our GM will tell us how many levels to have prepared and then we'll play from Friday evening to Sunday evening with breaks for sleeping, eating, etc.

I'm going core Aasimar. I was very tempted by the Emberkin alternate for flavor and back story but I decided swapping the +2 from Wis to Int just wasn't worth it.

Here's the feat chain I'm thinking of now

1 - Selective Channel
3 - Quick Channel
5 - Spell Focus (conjuration or evocation, depends on if I wind up summoning or fireballing more)
7 - Augmented Summoning
9 - Consecrate Spell
11 - ?
13 - ?
15 - ?