Hello all,
I think it worth mentioning this is my first character and I am totally new to Pathfinder but love it, so hopefully this will explain why you will look at my build and think why on earth did he pick that...
The others guys are -
Undead /Necro Sorcerer
Druid with wolf that favours bow and support spells
Get stuck in TWF Rogue
So far this is what I have -
Gung Ho 4th Level Human Cleric of Gorum (Strength & Destruction Domains) called Brother Raymond
STR 16
DEX 8
CON 13
INT 7
WIS 18
CHA 14
- Power Attack
- Selective Channel
- Channel Smite
We use core although the DM is pretty cool with us either making up feats or using other stuff as long as it fits with the character
So Ray and the rogue are pretty much the frontline & get a flank on as much as possibly for Sneak Attacks.
Ray typically spends a round buffing then running in sword a swinging & pinging out the odd spell when needed...
Ray leans more towards buffing than debuff as he wants a good fight, but isn't adverse to trying to silence a mage etc if the odds are stacked against the group...
So currently my concerns are -
1# Low AC which is at 15 on a breastplate
2# Decreasing the amount of times he misses &
3# Generally being more effective/deadly in combat also it would be nice to move more than 4 squares (but that's not a biggie)
I don't really mind missing out on top level spells (unless anyone strongly suggests not too) also, I don't really like the idea of dipping Barbarian as I don't like the idea of being fatigued (but am open to a decent opinion on this)
Is dipping a level in Fighter worth it to get some more combat based feats? Is dipping 5 levels in fighter worth it for armour training etc? Or do you have any other ideas for Ray?
Any help/advice on how to progress Brother Raymond in his pursuit of melee nirvana would be greatly appreciated.
As a cleric you are a second tier melee combatant, and dipping will make you worse all around. As you get access to better spells you will be better at fighting up front provided you have time to buff yourself. You might want to look at taking heavy armor proficiency later on.
If the sorcerer has ranks in UMD getting the party to pitch in for a cure light wand will save you channels and spells if someone needs to be healed.
Picking up an amulet of natural armor will help boost AC. I know you have shield of faith, but if you get a ring of protection, that will also help. Taking a crafting feat or two will help you save money to buy magic items.
Looking into the summoning spells also. That will help draw the enemy's attention so you don't get attacked as much. If you are getting attacked less then your AC wont matter as much.
Go to that link. I am sure I am forgetting something, but it should help..:)
If you're mostly self-buffing and engaging in combat, you don't really need high Wisdom. I'd drop it to 16 and put the points in Con and Dex.
I'd drop Selective Channel. Just channel after the battle is over. Get Weapon Focus for your greatsword, and maybe Combat Casting. Oh, and heavy armor proficiency at 3rd level. The Lord In Iron wants you to be all metal with spiky bits.
One level of fighter might be worth it, but I wouldn't do more.
Hi guys thank you both very much for your help, Wraithstrike those guides look great I'll have a looksy.
Tonyz, unfortunately these are all things I have already rolled and selected and I don't think the DM will oblige me swapping.
May the Iron Lord be with me...anybody else have any thoughts suggestions?
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If you want to get in the fighting, look at the Crusader archetype (linkified).
You give up one domain and one spell per level to get fighter feats without having to meet prerequisites, such as weapon focus or heavy armor proficiency at 1st level, and weapon specialization at 5th.
Zahariel, having read up about the Crusader that sounds perfect...I will definitely go down that route, so I suppose the questions now would be -
1# which domain to keep (strength/destruction)?
2# when to go Crusader? should I do it at next level (5th) or should I take a level of Fighter first or another cleric then go Crusader?
I just read up about Archetypes and you have to pick them at level one...
So I was thinking would it be unreasonable to ask the DM to let me swap at 5th and continue advancing (spells/BAB/saves) as my cleric class would but as far as the Crusader combat feats go start them as lvl 1 at 5th so it goes...
Cleric 5 (Crusader lvl 1 feat)
Cleric 10 (Crusader lvl 5 feat)
Cleric 15 (Crusader lvl 10 feat)
Cleric 20 (Crusader lvl 15 feat)
I'm losing out on getting the 20lvl feat as a penalty for going Crusader so late...is that reasonable?
Or am I kicking myself in the chins too much? Should I just take one lvl of fighter and that'll do? Any opinions advice greatly appreciated
I say not to worry about it overmuch. Are you channeling negative energy or positive energy?
Positive
@TarkXT was that your Cleric guide I just read? If so it was very well put together & written.
And in need of a bit of updating sadly.
Honestly switching archetypes by this point would do little more than put more work on your GM. Let's not do that. Instead let's look at what we have.
Frankly channel smite was a waste for you unless you find yourself constantly fighting undead (in which case it's merely ok) I only suggest channel smite for alternate channeling negative channelers since you can combo it with a conductive and spell storing weapon to lay out three nasty debuffs in one attack. Don't dip, don't need to especially not fighter.
As for feats going forward Furious Focus at your next level will prove exceedingly handy since you only have one attack anyway. There's little we can do AC wise but what we can do is at least make it tougher to get to you. So I would switch out my greatsword for a Longspear/Cestus combo. Than I'd grab pushing assault at 5th level, Toughness or Scribscroll at 7th and Lunge at 9th. After that we need to start focusing on our spell casting since there's little more combat wise we really need and our spellcasting starts to become good enough for metamagic and other things to matter.
Defense wise you should focus on just using summons + positioning to ensure you only take one or two attacks at a time.
I GM right now a group with a N human Cleric of Gorum, also at Lvl 4.
He took 3 lvls in Cleric and one in Rogue (the last for the skillpoints and the flanking dmg and the Ref)
His Domains are War and Destruction though.
What the main diverence is, that he took channel smite and negativ channeling. If he crits he does with his greatsword (inkl. channel smite and flanking) 7d6+6 dmg. Not that bad.
His stats are
STR 14
DEX 10
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 16
CHA 13
His feats are: Thoughness, Channel Smite, Iron Will
Don't know how much this actually helps. But maybe it will give you a little inspiration.
Thank you all for your help, all very interesting stuff, I'll let you know how I get on.
I recently played a cleric of Gorum and I have some recommendations. I used the ferocity and demon subdomains to get mroe to hit and damage when I could. I actually based my build on Nualia, a cleric/fighter from the rise of the runelords adventure path.
Personally I would drop 1 level in fighter for a number of reasons, the feat, the bab, and armor proficiency, and the weapon proficiency.
Rock the greatsword as your main weapon, but keep a backup longsword and light shield(Clerics can cast while using the light shield). If you have extra carrying capacity, keep a tower shield around, incase your ranged members need some cover. Buy full plate.
Switch your Str and Wis scores. 4 str mod is 6 damage with 2 handed weapon, while a 3 only gives you 4 damage.
Take scribe scroll. You can make all of your stuationally good cleric spells into scrolls and have them with you at all times. I found this incredibly useful.
Thanks for the input Mark...that's really handy, it seems there are lots of different ways I can take it. Very useful.