Help turn this statline (+4 levels of cleric) into something useful


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Stats:
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 15

4 levels of cleric - channels negative energy, undeath domain
Feats: Improved initiative, Extra traits: Reactionist (+2 initiative),
Magical Knack (+2 caster level if multiclassed), Stealthy.

Task: level this up from a lvl 4 to lvl 12.
The goal is not to super optimize the build or anything - merely to turn this character into something somewhat useful at lvl 12, so any ideas are welcome. No PrC's and the less obscure the sources are, the better. In effect, try to keep it as simple as possible?

I'd really love to continue on the cleric path, but I'm not sure if that's anyway usefull, given the low casting stat. Also, gold at (roughly) 21k or so, so you can't lean heavily on equipments to make up for the stats.

I was thinking about maybe something roguish..?


I will say this outright: In most cases, Rogue/Cleric doesn't mix. I've tried that before, and it's just too low of a BAB with poor channeling, poor spellcasting, and poor sneak attack die.

I'll offer you an alternative: Turn your cleric into a Cleric archer. Use Divine Favor and similar buff spells. Use undead minions as meatshields (and heal them with Channel Negative Energy when you need to). Consider grabbing the Quick Channel feat so you can channel and cast in the same round, or channel and shoot with your bow. Throw down a Desecrate spell to boost your undead, perhaps. There's a few other spells that may help you out, but I don't play clerics as much as I do arcane spellcasters; either way. That's what I'd do given your stats, and I have seen this sort of playstyle used effectively in 3.5 (though I haven't witnessed it at a Pathfinder table yet, so do some research first).

A few spells that do come to mind: Magic Weapon, Weapon of Awe, Divine Favor, Desecrate, Chain of Perdition (maybe). Glyph of Warding, due to being permanent, might be a good way to at least set up a battlefield before you draw enemies to it, if that's an option; it has its limitations of course. If you can get a lot of undead entities around you, I'd use area of effect buffs on them if I can (Prayer at low levels, for instance; Protection from Alignment).

Stat-wise: You've got two stat upgrades ahead of you. You only need 16 WIS to use all your spells at 12th level, so you could probably go straight cleric and toss two points into wisdom. Alternatively, putting one point into Charisma would help you with channeling a bit... If you really don't want to go full cleric with these stats, you might consider Gunslinger for a gun with DEX to damage; I'm not sure how much synergy the two classes will have together, but your Divine Favor and similar buffs WILL apply to your bullets. It could work.


Archery could work, but the problem is that it's feat heavy, you're not even proficient with longbows, and you haven't taken any appropriate feats so far. It could be fixed with a two level fighter dip to get point blank shot, precise shot and rapid shot, then deadly aim at level 7. I would recommend against any more channeling feats in that case, just focus on the archery feats. You could do a similar thing to become a decent dex-based melee fighter, probably also easiest with a level of fighter. If you could get an agile weapon, taking a level of fighter at level 5 to grab weapon finesse and exotic weapon proficiency in the dueling sword or elven curve blade (finessable weapons that can be two-handed). Buy yourself a +1 agile weapon (well inside your budget), get power attack at level 7, and you are a pretty solid battle cleric.

Considering your domain and negative channeling, you could make an excellent undead commander. Get the command undead feat at level 5, make good use of the animate dead spell, get a staff of command undead, and quickly become pretty much as powerful as you want as you command your own small army of undead minions. Have a look at this guide, if you're interested. It's a lot of management during combat though, so you have to be efficient and your GM has to be willing to put up with you.

You could also just continue as you are. You can make a pretty good support cleric. You can summon, you can cast buff spells, you get some battlefield control spells. In that case, I'd recommend spell focus conjuration and augment summoning as your next feats. Your excellent initiative is useful here, as you want your summoning and control spells to come off quickly, and going first will usually allow you to cast a full round action summon spell before someone has the chance to interrupt you.

Off course, you could also combine the latter two options. Play a support cleric with a couple of undead minions who occasionally summons things. Something like that. If you stay a full caster, you'll be just fine for power. Your wisdom may not be good enough for awesome save DCs, but it is good enough for everything else, and there's a lot of power in spells without saves.


Dip two lvls in weapon master fighter for archery feats (you also take advantage of your trait), then continue with cleric advancement. After the essential archery feats (pbs, rapid shot, precise shot, deadly aim) you can take command undead and selective channel to augment your unead controlling capabilities, + Staff of Command Undead. Finally, when you can afford gloves of dueling, dip a final lvl in fighter for weapon training.

EDIT: It is probably better to dip after your 5th lvl as a cleric, so that you learn 3rd lvl spells.

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