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I thought I had an amazing original idea...for a Lawful Neutral Cleric of Asmodeus. So I look on the boards...and it's been done a thousand times. lol. It's too good of a role-play opportunity to waste though.
I'm burning some GM credit to bring him in at Level 2.
Tarkus Ignatius Corbin Argentilla de Macini
Human Cleric of Asmodeus (Evangelist/Fire Domain)
Statistics
Str 12
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 18
Cha 12
Feats: Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment), Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Traits: Domineering (Command), Maestro of the Society
He's hyper-focused on compulsion spells. At 2nd level Command has a DC of 18; Murderous Command is DC 17. Pure caster.
My conundrum is stat allocation- I absolutely need an INT of 12+ for the skill points; I'm pumping skills into Profession: Barrister, and Knowledge skills for role-play purposes. A CHA of 12+ is needed for some of the Evangelist abilities, and face skills (he *is* an attorney).
Beyond that, I can't decide. Dumping CON is suicidal. What few attacks he'll be making will be ranged. And dumping strength just makes inventory management a pain in the ass.
I also had a temptation to be a Dirty Cheese Monkey Optimizer and take a level of cross-blooded Sorcerer (Fey/Serpentine) to pump my DCs up by +2 and allow mind-effecting & language dependent spells to work on animals, magical beasts, and monstrous humanoids...
Meh. I feel like I'm trying to run too many directions at once.
Anyway, some advice would be welcome. :)
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Tarkus Ignatius Corbin Argentilla de Macini
Human Cleric of Asmodeus (Evangelist/Fire Domain)Statistics
Str 12
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 18
Cha 12Feats: Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment), Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Traits: Domineering (Command), Maestro of the Society
1: The PFSP legal sores for Maestro of the Society is Bard only.
2: If your going casting focus I recommend starting with a Wis 20. You don't need to but I recommend it.I would do the stats like the following.
Points Stat
-2 Str 8
0 Dex 10
0 Con 10
5 Int 14
17 Wis 18+2= 20
0 Cha 10
So you end up with the best casting stat you can. Along with skill points. Base 2 + Int 2 + Human 1 = 5 Per level ( 6 if you use favored class.) You will not have many hit points. But you should not hit as much if your a casting cleric.
3: I don't recommend spell focus feet's for cleric. There are not enough good cleric spells from all levels for it to be worth the feet. Metamagic feet's will provide more bang for the buck.
4: Evangelist or any one that uses performance. Should take Lingering Performance ASAP. This is to much of a good thing. This was one of the first level feet's my bard started with.
5: Fire is not a domain I recommend. And I highly recommend not taking it if you only get one. I recommend Deception subdomain.
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Totally not grasping the spell focus enchantment stuff but fire domain instead of trickery or magic-divine.
Also, if you are going pure caster a str of 12 is little different than a str of 10 for weight purposes since you don't really need medium armor (or any armor) anyway. Moreover, you are likely to get a mithril chain shirt and call it a day so weight seems largely irellevant. Consider also that you said pure caster so it is safe to assume that you won't be utilizing a weapon. Just what sort of items besides mithril armor did you plan on carrying with a pure caster that 10 str cannot cover?
Does this guy channel? If not you can drop the charisma more. I'd dump the str to a 10 or so then increase con and Dex, prioritizing con.
Str 10, Dex 13, con 14, int 12, Wis 18, cha 10.
That is where I would start. But as a bit of a min/maxed I would probably be a different race, have dipped into sorc as you said, and dumped one or more of those stats I didn't need (like str) down to a 7 and if absolutely necessary, have grabbed muleback chords (or cast ant haul) or the like to compensate. Not that you couldn't dump str and spend a 1st level slot on ant haul anyway and have it up for an hour per level a day anyway, eventually covering all the time you'd need (with two castings) and saving you lots of stat points. At third level you shouldn't miss the spell a lot and if you dumped str you could start with a 19 wis and have a 22 by 4th level netting you a second bonus first level spell, increasing all your spell dc's by 2, etc, etc.
Renegade is right, lingering performance is solid and for a pure caster you do want initiative. To that end consider reactionary and the Improved initiative feat. By level 8 you should have roughly a +9 or, depending on belt choices, +10 initiative modifier if you're building well. That would be good enough to see you commanding and dominating foes before they get to act and ruining enemy turns.
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Lingering performance was next on my Feat list. My first priority was getting my DC's up for Command. Improved initiative will have to wait for level 5.
As to Maestro...I would have sworn that I read something saying that the class restrictions were changed on the "...of the society" traits, and now all you needed was the Bardic Performance ability...
If I absolutely can't take Maestro, I'll go for reactionary.
Evangelists don't get a channel until level 3. Plus it's negative energy.
For the stats I think you guys are right...I'll be dumping STR, it just feels so *wrong*.
I was avoiding Aasimar in favor of human for the extra skill points and feat...but If I'm going full-cheez wiz with the guy, I could do the Sorc splash with an Aasimar, and not worry about the spell focus as it gives me the +2 DC that I'm looking for.
Thanks for the advice...I'm going to play with the stats a little and come back.
Its not dumping unless you go below 10 pre racial. If you leave it at 10 you're not a filthy power gamer.
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As to Maestro...I would have sworn that I read something saying that the class restrictions were changed on the "...of the society" traits, and now all you needed was the Bardic Performance ability...
Yes it was updated. However the updated version is not PFSP legal. So you will have to trade out that trait. And all the update did was remove the class restriction.
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As to Maestro...I would have sworn that I read something saying that the class restrictions were changed on the "...of the society" traits, and now all you needed was the Bardic Performance ability...Yes it was updated. However the updated version is not PFSP legal. So you will have to trade out that trait. And all the update did was remove the class restriction.
Ah, I missed that the update isn't society legal. He should otherwise qualify as the Evangelist gives the Bardic Performance class feature, and he qualifies for any other feats that rely upon it.
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OK...round two. This time as a dirty optimizer...
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At level two:
CLR 1(Evangelist ??? Domain)/Sorc 1 (Crossblooded Fey/Serpentine)
STR 7
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 18 <Racial>
CHA 14
Traits:
Domineering
Reactionary (total of +3 init)
Feats:
Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment)
I lose a caster level of Cleric by taking the Sorcerer level, but gain +2 DC on my enchantments to compensate, so it's a net gain. As an Evangelist Tarkus can spontaneously cast Command with a DC of 20, and his other 1st level compulsion spells are DC 19.
I was leaning towards the Fire Domain to give him a minor ranged attack that didn't require an equipped weapon. I know firebolt is a crap ability, but it's better than a light crossbow early on, and later Fireball isn't half bad. Taking the level of sorcerer also opens up the Sorc spell list, so I may just sub a wand of magic missile, although it burns two more prestige points. I'm not sold on Deception or Trickery...it just doesn't appeal to me.
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The mirror image ability of trickery on a cleric is quite useful for survival. It reduces the need for heavier armor and makes the str penalty less of an issue as a result. 50% miss chance = good. Never mind that thematically it fits very well...amusingly so. So you're out spreading the word but you're a cleric and your domain is trickery? Can I *really* trust what you say? Gotta love them devils. :)
Also, the divine sub domain of magic is solid for supporting allies. But since you plan to spend more time casting on others than yourself it may be a trap.
Fireball later on is just sort of meh to me. But then I play an optimized oracle of flame so I am heavily biased when I see a 5-10d6 fireball.
Yes, fire fits the clerical theme very well but mechanically I don't know if it really is doing much for you besides flavor and the occasional utility of blasting. If you believe the common idea that blasting is the worst option for spellcasters, it leads me to believe that another domain is in your best interest (PS, I do not believe that blasting is the worst options-I think it is one of the best).
Personally, I like trickery domain (deception sub domain is ok) but not quite as good maybe). By itself you get a 50% chance to not be hit several times a day while having a freaking awesome set of additional spells which seem to directly compliment exactly what you're trying to do. The spells aren't so good in combat (though the domain power really is) but out of combat or before combat they can really give you an edge...disguise self as an enemy, infiltrate and dominate.....lots of awesome rp opportunities with that.
If you took the trickery sub domain of deception you actually need to be missed I'm combat-which is no problem when you have access to the mirror image spell from the sub domain. However I find the domain power weaker and more limiting but useful tactically.
But if none of them is your play style then yeah, that just leaves fire. You could sell that with rp, too and it does give you that occasional 'Hey, I'm going to directly contribute to damage dealing, too' feel. Also, fire resistance is never a bad thing. Just keep in mind that a lot of your damage will eventually come from Command, Murderous Command etc, either by forcing aoo's and/or making foes easier to hit(approach, fall, flee) or directly making someone attack someone else. Once you get into spells with durations longer than a round which have these sorts of effects, I don't see where you'll want to contribute by dealing damage directly. And with your bardic performance ability, you're already boosting the groups damage as well.
Regardless of what you pick, the domains only add to the strength, they don't define it because the build looks solid as is. I would probably stay human in this case as it fits the flavor well (aasimar doesn't seem to click for me) and the extra feat does matter. I know it is contrary to what I said above but I am adjusting my statement based on your responses.
I am rather liking the character concept, though.
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Lesser rod of extend, tongues all day long. Not sure about undead, assuming you got a rod of threnodic spell, do they have a language you can command them in? I never ran out of performance rounds after lv 6 or so with a 16 cha evangelist, wouldn't worry too much about rounds usage or feats to extend rounds if I were you.
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Since you're going human anyway, take the Fast Learner feat for that extra hit point and skill point each level due to favored class. Possibly, this would allow you to play an Aasimar with the Scion of Humanity racial trait instead of a human. Possibly, playing an Aasimar Cleric of Asmodeus who can also manifest a halo might be fun and have its perks.
Fast Learner
You progress gain extra versatility.
Prerequisites: Int 13, human.
Benefit: When you gain a level in a favored class, you gain both +1 hit point and +1 skill rank instead of choosing either one or the other benefit or you can choose an alternate class reward.
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Thanks for all the suggestions.
@Dark Immortal: you've pegged exactly what I'm going for. Command, and related compulsions, are going to be his main focus. Fire was mostly just an attempt to have some capacity for offense... But I'm thinking I'll forgo that completely.
You've convinced me to look at the trickery domain a bit more. I was worried about survivability, so invisibility and the domain power might just be the ticket.
A related question - are Command and related compulsion spells considered to be attacks for the purposes of breaking invisibility? An invisible voice making evil suggestions sounds very Asmodean...
I think I'll stick with Human for his Race... That second feat is just too valuable.
Thanks again for the help, you've all given valuable suggestions.