Advice for battle cleric

[Siren's Mask]

Hello, I DM frequently but play rarely. So I am finally getting a chance to play in a friends campaign coming up next week and I find my self at a loss for character builds. What I am asking is for help optimizing/ helping me build my character. Here is the rundown:

Starting at level 6, 25 point buy,no alignment restrictions, Human only, we could only use the core classes ,but all Paizo material is a go ( so archetypes,feats and such from any book are okay). I rolled a cleric for my class and decided I wanted to play a battle cleric, as I have no seen anyone at my table play one yet.

Other factors( DM restrictions)- I am basically starting as if just being born, so I don't have a concrete personality/ type yet. No animal companions.I can only have one level or multi class if i choose. And I cant worship a God, think more aspect/ animism. I do have my wealth for my level, but my weapon is only allowed to be a +1, but I am proficient in any one martial weapon. Party make up so far is a healing focused archer paladin, boreal seeker sorcerer, Barbarian/ martial artist monk.

Please help, and thank you.

[EWHM]

Two handed sword? Go for travel and liberation domains, as both of them don't mess with your action economy when you try to fight and occasionally mix in a cast. Travel will give you good speed, enough to keep up with your party pretty easily, and make engaging/disengaging a lot quicker if you want to cast. For stats, how about
Str 14 Dx 12 Cn 14 Ws 16 Int 13 Ch 10? Add your racial bonus to strength or wisdom as you choose. Swap the charisma and intelligence if you like too. Put your level 4 stat point to cha or int most likely.

[Wiggz]

Glory and Nobility are two Domains/Sub-Domains that should be very seriously considered.

[Siren's Mask]

So for weapons is Falchion still king the general consensus?

I looked at the domains mentioned and I can see travel being very versatile, especially having access to fly. I have just been informed that leadership is not allowed so nobility seems like a bust. What type of action is the liberation ablity in the liberation domain? Can anyone verify if either the ferocity or demon subdomains are worth it?

Okay feat wise I have four to work with. Obviously power attack is a must, how about channel smite? Is it worth it if i go negative energy?
Any other thoughts or niche cleric feat or items of this level that are a must?

[EWHM]

Falchion is king for 2handed fighters with improved crit past level 9 or so. You're not a fighter and thus probably won't get your static damage bonus up to the point where it crosses over to becoming better than a greatsword. Your BAB is lower and you don't have weapon training, weapon specialization, or greater weapon focus. The crossover for your character might well not happen till 15th level or so.

[EWHM]

BTW, travel just plain rocks. At first level you get longstrider, a +10 untyped movement bonus and 1 round/level of ignore difficult terrain. Add onto that all the domain spells in travel---some of the best spells in the game. Liberation is also righteous. You get a round per level of on-demand freedom of movement. That means you don't have to worry about one of your biggest weaknesses as a 3/4 bab guy who frontlines---getting grappled. Those two domains are so damned good that they're often enough to bail out some seriously suboptimal builds (like the level 6 fighter/ level 4 cleric in one of my games).

[ErrantPursuit]

I'm very fond of Luck.

Luck Domain wrote:

Bit of Luck (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, giving it a bit of luck. For the next round, any time the target rolls a d20, he may roll twice and take the more favorable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

Any time they roll d20 in the next round. That's every attack and saving throw and skill check, etc... Of course, you need to pick for you.

[EWHM]

ErrantPursuit,
Luck is very nice also---particularly for stuff like disarming traps or passing an important roll you know about in advance. But it takes a standard action to use that one. Law is another sweet one, if your target can succeed 'taking 11' on everything.

[Siren's Mask]

I see your points, very valid. I think great sword and travel is a must. I am just debating between ferocity, liberation and heroism. Liberation power is just amazing and worth a 40,000g item so I totally get it. Heroism gives access to one of the best buffs in the game at 5th and 11th level, and no one else in the party will have them, so its a contender. Ferocity is an okay buff, but the big draw for me is enlarge person (as a side note does that stack with righteous might, neither have polymorph effects) if i did go this route I think I might use a reach weapon, or is this good in though bad in practice?

Any thoughts on feats or human variants racials?

[Dead Phoenix]

One of the players in my Kingmaker campaign is a crusader, and he is a beast in combat. Get extra combat feats(some of them are normally fighter only) and has a domain that gives him rage. He also uses vital strike, though I think that is actually holding him back but w/e. I'm pretty sure he out damages the armor focused fighter and the samuari with an absolutely ridiculous build(mostly involves throwing katanas... I tried to warn him).

[EWHM]

Siren's Mask,
The level 8 powers of travel and liberation are pretty nice too. Also, at the high end, liberation gets mind blank as an 8th level spell. In a lot of campaigns, that spell is godly.
You can use a reach weapon along with your greatsword---longspear is a simple weapon you see. Just eventually get quickdraw. Also, at 7th level you're getting greater magic weapon, which becomes +2 at 8th level. Your GM limited you to a +1 weapon which indicates to me he might be inclined to be stingy on that front. GMW has 1 hour/level duration which is usually enough to be an 'all day' buff. Your sorcerer can probably cover enlarge if you want it. Maybe even get a wand, they're cheap---same as wands of cure light.

There's another domain you MIGHT consider, particularly if you go for the higher INT I suggested.
Trickery
That one gives you bluff, disguise, and STEALTH as class skills, along with a not-terrible power (copycat) and a very good spell list. If you want to give yourself a nice secondary function, or at least not have the worst stealth in the party, that's not a bad call. But I do think that liberation is the best.

I'm not super fond of any of the variant racials for humans. Barbarians I guess like heart of the fields. But you can remove most conditions via spell as a cleric.

[Fromper]

Look for the reach cleric guide that's floating around on these forums. It's probably the best way to play a battle cleric.

[Wiggz]

Honestly, I think the most powerful Domain is arguably the Madness Domain, but it didn't seem to fit your theme so I didn't mention it. Visions of Madness just might be the most powerful/versatile buff/debuff available to a Cleric.

[Siren's Mask]

Dead Phoenix wrote:

One of the players in my Kingmaker campaign is a crusader

Thanks for that option, but at my level two feats at the cost of a spell per level and a domian does not seem worth it.

At EWHM, trickery is nice but I think that is for another character, our sorcerer will be handling the face part and monk will take stealth. Me and the heal-a-din will have to pretend we are quiet. As a side note about armor, is heavy armor prof worth the feat, or better to spend it on something else.

racial considerations: heart of the field, maybe adoptive parents to try and get weapon focus at level 1 ( is this worth the feat?)

feats:
1) heavy armor prof.
1(h) ?
3)power attack
5) ?

[ErrantPursuit]

There is a good argument for Barbarian/Cleric. Reach weapon, fast movement, decent armor. Rage grants access to Furious enchant and some good combat boosting. Combined with Travel you would have +20 movement walking around, which is pretty special.

[EWHM]

Heavy armor is nice---there's like 3 in delta between the masterwork breastplate and full plate. But if you have much of a dex modifier the dex max on full plate will cramp your style, and you do have cat's grace on your spell list. Power attack is really the only 'must have' for your build. You might also consider toughness a must. Saves on a cleric are pretty good, so you probably don't need iron will/great fortitude and the like. If you do really want to go reach cleric, there's a weapon that's essentially a longspear with d10 damage if I recall---you may have to trawl for it. Also, if you go reach, increase your dexterity probably at the expense of strength, and combat reflexes becomes a must. Not much point in reach cleric if you don't have a lot of potential AoO.

[EWHM]

Another kind of out there option. Go reach. Higher dexterity, lower strength. Evangelist archetype. You get inspire courage +2 at your level. That's huge for the archer paladin and the barbarian/martial artist, who probably both have a lot of attacks. Also, just one more level and starting it becomes a move action. Downside---you'll lose medium armor proficiency and shield proficiency, as well as one domain and a die of channel energy.

[Magda Luckbender]

Fromper wrote:

Look for the reach cleric guide that's floating around on these forums. It's probably the best way to play a battle cleric.

I second this. I've played an Evangelist Reach cleric through level 9, in PFS, and it's been both fun and outrageously successful. This build allows you to shine at the traditional cleric support role, while also utterly kicking butt in combat.

One session I played next to a greatsword wielding battle cleric. I felt bad for the other guy, because I was so much more effective.

The only problems I've had with this approach came from loose cannon players who were overeager to rush the foe and had little grasp of tactics or teamwork. Even these were not hopeless cases, they just required a bit of guidance.

[Driver 325 yards]

Instead of suggesting an exact build (some good advice has been already given) let me state what all truly optimized melee characters have.

Mobility - difficult terrain is used so often against melee fighters to slow down their effectiveness. Speed is a most. No wonder why everyone is suggesting, and rightfully so, the Travel Domain.

Ranged Attack - Yes, you need to have this option viable. Composite Bow, Good Strength, maybe deadly aim for good measure.

Stealth - Why so many people think that because it is not a class skill they should not get this is unbeleivable. Look, a stealthy rogue is no good if the clanky cleric gives the party away. There goes the surprise round. There goes pre-buffing. There you go getting sneaked attacked while flat-footed. There goes the GM having to fiat the party out of a sure death situation. Stealth, take it and max it. A campaign triat to make it a class skill is even better.

Perception, Acrobatics

Power Attack - Duh, you probably had this much figured out.

Step Up - Invaluable to get at some point. Nothing worse than getting into the archer or mage's face only to have them take a five foot step out of harm's way.

Enlarge Person - Make sure you can get it either through yourself or a party member very reliably.

Greatsword and Glaive - Why not?

Great AC, Great Fort&Will Saves (cleric natural have this), Great Attack Bonus (b/c that is the point).

A Theme - Often overlooked, but if you have a general tactic your party will learn to anticipate you better and to optimize the strategies and character around your strengths.

Keep in mind that you can buy some of these things as well, so you are not stuck picking certain domains for these ability.

Boots of Spring and Striding, Boots of Feather Step, Sipping Jacket with Potion of Enlarge in it, Cloak of Elvenkind, Wands (for many things), Quick Runner's Shirt

Hey, post your build once you get done taking in the advice to allow people to comment further. I would love to see the theme you come up with.

[Thac20]

You could try Fighter 1 / Cleric 5, to get all martial weapons, heavy armor proficiency and an extra feat.

I've played a Travel / Luck cleric before and it was fun. We had homebrewed deities so I'm not sure which standard deity has this domain combo.

[notabot]

My battle cleric is currently at lvl 6, its pretty solid IMHO. It has some issues with sustained offense, but it still is better than most at that.

Human Cleric of Gorum lvl 6 (chaotic neutral, neg energy)
18
9
14
7
16
13
Feats:Heavy armor, power attack, channeled smite, toughness
Domain: Rage, Tactics

Rage gives destructive smite, which is nice bonus damage, tactics gives a higher chance of a party member including yourself acting reasonably quickly.

This build is based around a big hit. At level 8 tactics domain lets you use any combat feat for the cost of a swift action for rounds=level/day, so vital strike is an option, as other good feats that you qualify for.

Channeled smite + destructive smite + power attack and typical buffs (and the spell storing sword I just got) means it hits pretty hard for a cleric.

Yeah, this build is a bit one dimensional, but it is a battle cleric of Gorum, so that is part of the deal. Against targets that require range this build is going to struggle, but that is what a summon or other spells are for (or for that matter magic items and consumables).

[nate lange]

neutral (that way no protection from X bonus or smite X against you).
human; cleric 6 (choose to channel negative energy- which gives spontaneous inflict spells)
str 14; dex 12; con 13; int 8; wis 15+2race+1@4 (18); cha 15
favored weapon- lucerne hammer; domains: destruction and strength[ferocity]
feats: h-channel smite; 1-guided hand; 3-power attack; 5- combat reflexes
skills: who cares, you're not a skills kinda guy
traits: sacred conduit, divine warrior
equipment: +1 Lucerne Hammer [2k], +2 dex belt [4k], +2 wis headband [4k], +1 Mithril Breastplate [5k] (so you don't get slowed down), 1k for mundane cost of equipment and consumables. (item bonuses not included in stats above).

spells should mostly be buffs, but Wis is high enough for some control or save-or-suck spells too. attack rolls with your weapon are based on Wis instead of Str so you should be decent at hitting. try to position yourself to get as many AoOs as possible (up to 3/round, and you have reach, so that will help) that way you're dealing damage even in rounds you're casting spells. if someone closes to melee, 5' step away and continue or start touching them with inflict serious wounds (which you can apply channel smite to for a real deterrent). when you do use your round to attack- you can stack the smites from both domains (for an extra +6 damage) and use channel smite 5/day (for an additional 3d6 on the attack); power attack will add an additional +6 damage if you're buffed enough to use it. furious focus may be worth thinking about at 7th (as would weapon focus, toughness, or even dodge); at 9th vital strike could up your damage without burning through smites too quickly.

hope that helps :)
i'd love to see your build when you settle on one.

[Charender]

Liberation domain is my favorite for battle clerics. I still remember to look on the DMs face when I told him, I am going to walk out of the grapple by a hideous monster who is about to swallow me without having to make a grapple check.

Personally, I would probably make my next battle cleric's second domain the Healing sub-domain Restoration. Healing Domain makes every healing spell you have to cast 50% more effective after level 6, which lets you burn more spells on buffs. It also give you the option for a quick on the spot self heal in combat when necessary. The restoration subdomain gives you the ability to remove certain conditions.

Another option would be the evangilist archtype. Basically, you give up a domain, some channeling abilility, and spontaneous cure/inflict for bardic abilities and spontaneous charm spell. At level 7, you will be able to start a bardic performance as a move action. Round 1: Cast buff + start bardic performance. Round 2: Start the beatdown.

[ArmouredMonk13]

Theoligian might be worth a mention. It lets you prepare domain spells in other spots and gives free metamagic feats, along with a +2 level to domain powers.