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In the past, my clerics and oracle have mostly focused on buffing and utility spells, with minimal straight up offensive casting. Now for the first time, I'm intentionally making a high wisdom cleric and considering things like Spell Focus to get high save DCs for spells I use against enemies.
I'll be doing the "bad touch" thing, focusing on front line spellcasting with melee touch attacks. I'll have a melee touch debuff from one domain and spontaneous inflict spells from negative channeling. Needless to say, Focused Mind and Combat Casting are absolutely necessary for the build, since I'll be concentrating to cast defensively on the front lines a lot. That's not to say that everything I'll be casting will be melee touch, but it'll be a large part of the build.
So what melee touch or other offensive spells would you recommend for a high wisdom cleric? I'm considering Spell Focus: Necromancy and maybe even a Varisian Tattoo to try and get the most out of my Inflict spells, and a couple of others like Cause Fear.
Not many other good melee touch (Other than the obvious "inflict" spells/slay living:)
Gozreh's Trident
Poison
Contagion
Other Offensive Spells:
Burning Disarm
Admonishing Ray
Hold Person
Bestow Curse
Boneshatter
Flamestrike
Cold Ice Strike
Hellfire Ray
Destruction
Firestorm
Stormbolts
Energy Drain
Polar Midnight
I came in here expecting someone being offended by cleric spells.
Ok, that's enough internet for one day.
But seriously. Arrow of Law, Shard of Chaos, Spear of Purity, and whatever the evil version is. They pack a nasty punch at lower levels and at high levels can be okay.
Boiling Blood can be good, if you aren't fighting orcs.
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Never heard of Gozreh's Trident, but I suspect you have to be a Gozreh worshiper, so my cleric won't qualify.
Also, Bestow Curse is a touch spell, and necromancy, so it works with the theme.
It does look like there's more enchantment than necromancy, but they're all will based. At least with the necromancy, there's Blindness/Deafness, which is a fortitude save. And with the Inflict spells, they still take half damage even if they make the save. And Cause Fear causes them to be shaken for a round even if they make the save, even if it's useless past level 4 or 5. So Spell Focus: Necromancy still looks decent.
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Rod of metamagic lesser extend can go a long way for a cleric.
Some feet's you might want to think about.
Metamagic Reach(+1): So you can cure at range.
Metamagic Persistent(+2): The best metamagic feet for getting though saving throws.
Some suggestions
1st-Level Cleric Spells
Command: One subject obeys selected command for 1 round.
Murderous Command: Target is compelled to kill its ally.(UM)
2nd-Level Cleric Spells
Hold Person: Paralyzes one humanoid for 1 round/level.
Spiritual Weapon: Magic weapon attacks on its own.
Burst of Radiance: (Champions of Purity)
3rd-Level Cleric Spells
Bestow Curse: –6 to an ability score; –4 on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or 50% chance of losing each action.
Blindness/Deafness: Makes subject blinded or deafened.
Command and Murderous Command, while not touch spells, are good offense.
Sound Burst ditto.
If you really want to make enemy spellcasters cry, combine Still Spell withSilence, cast Silence on yourself, and walk right up to them. Hit them with silent spells if they don't run away; take an AoO with a silent touch spell if they do.
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Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Varisian Tattoo. That would give me +1 CL to all spells of that particular school (again, probably necromancy). For inflict spells, that's an extra point of damage. More importantly, it helps the concentration checks to cast those spells defensively, and helps with overcoming SR. Those could be useful on all necromancy spells, not just the inflicts.
You know, I completely forgot about the Magical Lineage/Persistent Spell combo. What spell would be best for this? Again, this is for PFS, so it only goes to level 11, so I'd want it to be a spell I'll be able to start using relatively early. Otherwise, I'd probably lean towards Blindness/Deafness, but I wouldn't be able to use this combo until level 7 with that one.
I have a similar cleric, focused on Conjuration for 'bad touching' the undead with cure spells. Decided on Spell Specialization, since it can swap up the chain of cure spells to ramp up the damage. Might have to pick up some tattoos as well.
I would suggest the Feats:
Reach spell (metamagic) = APG p 168 = So you can use those touch spells as touch range attacks.
Heighten spell (metamagic) = PHB p 126 = So you can better overcome creatures saving throws with said spells.
Dot. Nice use of the BAB of the Cleric and touch spells.
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Blindness/Deafness and Bestow Curse are no brainers but keep in mind that most of the necromancy spells target a Fortitude Save. These are awesome spells against humanoid opponents tho and a single Blindness can shut down an enemy spellcaster.
Problem is really only at early levels. Your cleric will start to shine more on 5+ level since spell list from cleric is rather poor on good offensive spells.
I suggest avoiding ranged touch attack spells if you plan invest in Strength only for melee touches and grab a wand of Bless for permanent buff in fights just in case you need it.
There are some Bane + Cause Fear small combo's but they require alot of spell slots and burn them pretty fast.
My debuff cleric used the Luck-Curse domain and focused on spells like Blindness/Deafness, Bestow Curse, Aura of Doom, Major Curse, and Harm.
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But seriously. Arrow of Law, Shard of Chaos, Spear of Purity, and whatever the evil version is. They pack a nasty punch at lower levels and at high levels can be okay.Just keep in mind that these spells:
- Allow SR,
- Require a ranged touch attack, and
- Allow a Will Save for half damage / negate the extra effect.
Burst of Radiance just seemed like a much better spell to take; Damage potential is a lot lower, but it's an AoE with no save against the damage (mind you, the rest of my party are all non-casters, so I needed to have some AoE options up my sleeve: Your experience may vary).
This search for offensive cleric spells has turned into a 4+ year long epic quest!