Always been partial to a caster dip for my martial characters.
What are your favorite domains/deities to pick for your Cleric dips and why?
EDIT: IF the spell is on your domain list, but is not otherwise a Cleric spell (Fire Domain, Fireball, for example) can you still cast from wands and scrolls as if it were a divine spell completion/trigger item?
Usually get two domains, correct? What would your other choice be?
Travel domain and the feather domain are really good.
Getting a +2 bonus on surprise round initiative, as well as a per Wepon bonus, which will help in getting involved in the surprise round is amazing.
Liberation is OK. The domain power (Freedom of Movement) is gold, but only once per level per day, ie once. But that may be all you need. The domain spells are entirely meh.
Trickery isn't bad. Mirror Image as a move-equivalent action a few times per day, and the spells are OK.
But really, Travel. I bet there isn't a single cleric of Cayden or Desna without it.
Liberation is OK. The domain power (Freedom of Movement) is gold, but only once per level per day, ie once. But that may be all you need. The domain spells are entirely meh.
Trickery isn't bad. Mirror Image as a move-equivalent action a few times per day, and the spells are OK.
But really, Travel. I bet there isn't a single cleric of Cayden or Desna without it.
Or Abadar or my favorite, Hanspur!!
Seriously though, Travel is the best one level dip domain. And I'd say the Growth subdomain is second. I don't think there's a deity with both, though, right?
Perception bonus*
Always been partial to a caster dip for my martial characters.
What are your favorite domains/deities to pick for your Cleric dips and why?
EDIT: IF the spell is on your domain list, but is not otherwise a Cleric spell (Fire Domain, Fireball, for example) can you still cast from wands and scrolls as if it were a divine spell completion/trigger item?
To answer your second question first, yes to wands/staffs (spell trigger) and only divine scrolls (spell completion). Arcane scrolls still require Use Magic Device.
Travel is a great domain for the extra 10 ft of base movement. Air, Earth, Fire, and Water (for the ranged touch elemental attack), as well as Magic (use your melee weapon to attack at range), can give some decent options. Defense (shield), Light (faerie fire), and Luck (true strike) have nice 1st-level domain spells.
Developer
|
...Can you use Magic Domain on Unarmed Strike? Ranged Unarmed Striking was my favorite part of the Soul Knife in 3.5 (after they printed the reassess soul blade feat). I'm not sure what kind of shenanigans you can get into with it, though. What's fun is that most unarmed strike feats don't bother specifying "melee unarmed strike".
So (looking through feats) you can poison, lay on hands, use any domain power through, elemental fist, sicken, hex, silence, trip, push back, reduce speed, touch attack, apply a bloodline power, bullrush, serenity...all from 30 feet away!
...was really fun when we had a "switch places with unarmed strike" feat in 3.5e combined with Natural Flight and enemies...without Natural Flight.
Of course Feral Combat Training always let you do that with...uuh...Manticore spines?
...Can you use Magic Domain on Unarmed Strike?
<eye-roll>
Sure, as soon as you manage to detach the body part you're using for the unarmed strike.
Hand of the Acolyte (Su): You can cause your melee weapon to fly from your grasp and strike a foe before instantly returning. As a standard action, you can make a single attack using a melee weapon at a range of 30 feet. This attack is treated as a ranged attack with a thrown weapon, except that you add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll instead of your Dexterity modifier (damage still relies on Strength). This ability cannot be used to perform a combat maneuver. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
The "fly from your grasp" part limits the ability to weapons held in hand that are not worn (brass knuckles, spiked gauntlets, armor spikes, etc. are worn) or otherwise attached (i.e., in a locked gauntlet, on a weapon cord, etc.). Also note the "cannot be used to perform a combat maneuver."
Worship Besmara.
Tactics to have an ally roll initiative twice and take the best roll 3+wisdom mod per day. It isn't an action and you get better control of the battle from the get go.
Deception to gain Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth as class skills and, when you are missed by an attack, teleport up to 10ft around the enemy as an immediate action.
I was going to mention the same vazt. Also remember for things that target "ally" you can also use on yourself. And the tactics ability doesn't specifically say it can only be used once per combat, so you could expend 2-3 uses to give several people including yourself a double roll
edit with link to the faq that states this
Ally FAQ
Hanspur, with Travel and... Your pick ,I guess. Water, Death, etc, looks pretty good.
Besmara with Tactics and Deception looks very nice as well.
I can see a cleric/rogue teleporting into a flanking position, or a really nice flanking buddy cleric doing the same.
Might have to add one to the my book of builds...
I would suggest Daikitsu, Ketephys or Erastil and take the growth and the fur subdomains.
Both are nice for 1 level dips.
The elemental domains are a bit feeble for a dip, because you do so little damage. If a Martial can't come up with a way of doing 1d6 damage within 30', he's probably naked. OK, it's touch and it'll go through DR, but it's still inadequate.
Class skills are nice in theory, but most martials either have the skills in question anyway (rogue, ranger, monk) or don't have the skill points to exploit them (fighter, paladin). And possibly armour will interfere too. Perception is about the only one really worth going for, but even so that's only +3 which is the same as a feat.
Fur is OK for a human, or possibly very good for everyone depending on how often you get to use the +10 movement. Unclear.
Luck domain is great to have as a support character. Use it when your TWF friend is doing a full attack. It doesn't help you much though if you are using it on yourself because it requires an action to use.
Peet
|
If I was doing a cleric dip for a front line martial type, I'm thinking Travel, Trickery, and Tactics (War) all have level 1 domain powers that would be useful.
I know you can get Trickery and Tactics from Besmara, or you can get Travel and Trickery from Sun Wukong. I don't believe there's a Golarion deity that grants both Travel and Tactics, unfortunately. That would be an awesome combo for martials - +10 speed and two initiative rolls per fight.
One thing to remember with Trickery, or any other spell-like ability that you might get from a domain, is that they provoke AoOs like a spell. So you'd have to concentrate to use it while on the front lines, and your caster level is only your cleric level, so you'll suck at it.