Hi all, I have turned to the good people at paizo to help out one of my brand new to rpg players evil cleric. This is for Way of the Wicked AP.
She wants to be kinda in your face with the inflict spell slapping.
I'm not good with spellcasters, or hybrid spell/fighter like so thats why I'm coming to you guys for help. A good balanced class would be decent, keeping it cleric for the sake of confusion. Gear and spell selection along with feats would be helpful. Cleric of asmodeus (vanilla to the setting).
bump
Without knowing what point buy or array you're allowed, it's hard to give specific advice. The most important attribute for a combat cleric is strength, the most important attribute for a spellcasting cleric is wisdom, and the most important attribute for a channeling cleric is charisma. How many points you have to spread around is going to directly impact how specialized or diversified you can be.
For domains, you have a lot of good choices. I'd personally advise against the Fire domain and its subdomains, and against the Arcane subdomain (unless you have multiple arcane casters in the party), but otherwise you should be happy with any combination. I'm leaning towards recommending the Devil (evil) subdomain with the Trickery domain.
LVL 2
Catfolk (stats already adjusted
STR 16
Dex 16(+2)
Con 14
Int 13
Wis 14(-2)
Cha 16(+2)
Destruction domain
She wants to be more frontline, I'm just bad at casters, but she liked the idea of coming up and slapping them with an inflict spell.
I would like a layout on maybe what feats to go for later on, and what spells would be beneficial at the level later, along with gear, as she plays I'll explain why these specific things are chosen and how it benefits her, like I said, brand new to the game for her.
Wis 14(-2)
This is painful, but for a more "in-your-face" melee cleric it's not a dealbreaker. The big problem is that the save DC of your spells is going to be quite low because of this, so enemies will save significantly more often. And unfortunately for you, the "inflict" spell line allows a saving throw for half damage.
Destruction domain
Asmodeus, which you mentioned in your original post, does not offer the Destruction domain.
She wants to be more frontline, I'm just bad at casters, but she liked the idea of coming up and slapping them with an inflict spell.
Due to your high strength and low wisdom, this isn't a very useful approach for this character. Due to the high likelihood that the enemy will make their save, and your good strength score decreasing the likelihood that your melee attack will miss, there's really no reason to cast inflict spells in the first place.
Some thoughts on feats:
The "Command Undead" feat might be nice for this character. Since you're running an evil campaign, the usual "inter-party conflict" issue of undead minions won't be present. Once the character reaches 5th level, she can create her own minions (fast zombies and bloody skeletons are particularly useful).
Due to your decent charisma, you might consider the "quick channel" feat. Normally channeling isn't very useful in combat, but by reducing it to a move-equivalent action you can channel and cast a spell in the same turn (or double-channel, even). It does burn through your uses-per-day very quickly, however, and without the "selective channel" feat you'll be a loose cannon.
The "Sacred Summons" feat is a great choice if you like summoning creatures. The downside is that it makes you very susceptible to "protection from evil", since the feat only works when summoning evil creatures.
As for equipment, that's actually very straightforward. You want a belt to boost your strength score, a headband to boost your wisdom score, a cloak to boost your saving throws, a ring/amulet to boost your AC, and a good enhancement on your weapon.
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For domains, you have a lot of good choices. I'd personally advise against the Fire domain and its subdomains
Smoke subdomain is pretty nice, actually.
Yes, smoke, mist and a scythe.
Trust me.
I (gm) gave her destruction cause she seemed to like it. I like the reach cleric variant. I have Ultimate magic/combat, APG, ARG, core and 1001 spells for reference for them.
I'm now considering
1.selective channel (just cause hitting your party sucks)
3.combat reflexives
5.power attack
7.either quicken channel, or command undead, depending on how she is liking it.
9.^^
11.?
13.?
15.?
Don't know if it will get too much higher
putting lvl 4 and 8 boost into wisdom. With magic items I'm expecting a balanced character type.
Most of the spells I'm looking into will be more buffs witha few utilitarian spells, again, spellcaster not my forte
Open means the spell slot is left open. You can't use it in combat, but with a few minutes out of combat prayer you can use it to select any spell on the Cleric spell list. This is particularly helpful for negative energy channelers, because an Open spell slot can be converted to a Cure spell.
Only arcane spellcasters can do this. Divine spellcasters can only prepare spells once per day.
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Open means the spell slot is left open. You can't use it in combat, but with a few minutes out of combat prayer you can use it to select any spell on the Cleric spell list. This is particularly helpful for negative energy channelers, because an Open spell slot can be converted to a Cure spell.Only arcane spellcasters can do this. Divine spellcasters can only prepare spells once per day.
Incorrect.
Spell Selection and Preparation: A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. When preparing spells for the day, a divine spellcaster can leave some of her spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes. During these extra sessions of preparation, she can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or f ill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if she prepares more than one-quarter of her spells.
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Provided your ability score allowances are high enough to sustain minimum scores of 15 in both, I suggest emphasizing Charisma over Wisdom (extra-appropriate insofar as Asmodeus is the god of tyranny and pride) and specializing in channeling negative energy? There are few enemies in Pathfinder more terrifying for most parties than an Evil Cleric, and channeling negative energy is why. If you want to do this, try taking:
the Sacred Conduit trait (assuming you get traits, or even if you don't, you might still take the Additional Traits feat for it and something else)
the Improved Channel feat (another +2 to your channeling DCs)
the Extra Channel feat (especially if your ability array allowance is limited)
Outside of that, the Crusader and Theologian (which has been observed before by myself and others as going very well with the Fire Domain or its variants, rare but offered by Asmodeus) Archetypes (you could even be both!) complement Asmodeus very well.
Interesting, and quite odd when you put it up against the "time of day" rules section preceding it (which goes just short of stating that spell preparation is a once-per-day thing for divine casters). Thanks for the correction.
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Outside of that, the Crusader and Theologian (which has been observed before by myself and others as going very well with the Fire Domain or its variants, rare but offered by Asmodeus) Archetypes (you could even be both!) complement Asmodeus very well.
Indeed. With both Burning Hands and Fireball as spontaneous spells this cleric blasts like a heavily armored wizard. I don't think I'd allow both archetypes, though, as both only allow one domain. Maybe if I was in a generous mood.
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Provided your ability score allowances are high enough to sustain minimum scores of 15 in both, might I suggest emphasizing Charisma over Wisdom (extra-appropriate insofar as Asmodeus is the god of tyranny and pride) and specializing in channeling negative energy?
Fixed.
Indeed. With both Burning Hands and Fireball as spontaneous spells this cleric blasts like a heavily armored wizard. I don't think I'd allow both archetypes, though, as both only allow one domain. Maybe if I was in a generous mood.
If you look at the "RAW," nothing really indicates that one has to come to the exclusion of the other. It's sort of like when I went to a super-swanky restaurant the other month, and they listed rules at the door including 'no ringing cell phones,' to which I simply replied "I didn't bring my phone," and they were like "hey, more power to ya'."
It was a roll for ability style and she got lucky with her roles, hence why most are pretty dang high. Thanks for all the advice guys, I will look into it a bit more and try to work with her to tailor it to how she wants more.