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In an attempt to build a Dwarven Cleric for PFS I came across the Blessed Hammer Feat from Inner Sea Gods.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast 3rd-level divine spells, proficient with warhammer, worshiper of Torag.
Benefit: You can use any warhammer you wield as a holy symbol when casting spells that require a divine focus or when you channel energy.
Furthermore, as a swift action when you cast a divine touch spell, you can choose to have the warhammer carry the charge of the spell instead of your hand. When you deliver a touch spell with your warhammer you can do so as part of melee attack made with the warhammer. If you drop the warhammer or the warhammer is disarmed while carrying a charge, the charge is lost.
What are folks opinion on this feat particularly in the context of PFS? Has anyone built a character around it and played with it?
My first instinct was that it's probably not very good at level 5 when you can pick it up as you won't have all that many castings to burn in a regular PFS scenario where you are sorta guaranteed 3 fights in one day.
Also while this is essentially spellstrike the Cleric doesn't have the powerful touch spells of the Magus and is more or less limited to inflict spells and Bestow Curse.
It really depends how often the player uses touch based spells and how willing they are to improve their action economy. At the moment, I can't think of anything better than the inflicts and Bestow (Greater) Curse.
So, Divine Spellstrike?
Essentially yes. However you are also limited to Worshipping Torag. Which semi sucks as he doesn't have the best of domains.
For non Dwarves the Oracle might actually be an option. Both warpriest and inquisitor have far fewer spells per day than the full divine casters so they likely have less spells to burn.
Touch of Bloodletting
Disfiguring Touch
Marids's Mastery
Bestow Curse
Contagion
Sands of Time
Fleshworm Infestation
Forceful Strike
Poison
All the inflict spells.
Decent amount of options to have access to without multiclassing.
It works well. Also, Not a bad option for a LN or TN Dwarven Druid who worships Torag. You also get +1 to hit with all hammer attacks including the ones for Blessed hammer if you take the obedience feat. And hey, Torag is already one of the best deities mechanically due to Defensive Strategist.
The druid idea might have merit...defensive strategist seems a bit hyped. At least for Dwarven Divine Caster who are rarely gonna be sporting more than a 14 DEX.
Sepratist Cleric of Torag? You would have to spend proficiency on warhammer (unless you were a dwarf).
So Dwarven Sepratist Cleric of Torag, with this feat. Choose a domain that will give you a useful touch range offensive spell. Does any domain offer shocking grasp?
Touch of Bloodletting
Disfiguring Touch
Marids's Mastery
Bestow Curse
Contagion
Sands of Time
Fleshworm Infestation
Forceful Strike
Poison
All the inflict spells.Decent amount of options to have access to without multiclassing.
Touch of bloodletting seems pretty nice. So assuming you attack an unharmed opponent, what resolves first your melee attack or touch of bloodletting?
Marid's Mastery is also quite nice yet very undwarven.
Contagion and Fleshworm Infestation are evil so mark those of the list.
Forceful strike works with weapons normally anyways.
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It works well. Also, Not a bad option for a LN or TN Dwarven Druid who worships Torag. You also get +1 to hit with all hammer attacks including the ones for Blessed hammer if you take the obedience feat. And hey, Torag is already one of the best deities mechanically due to Defensive Strategist.The druid idea might have merit...defensive strategist seems a bit hyped. At least for Dwarven Divine Caster who are rarely gonna be sporting more than a 14 DEX.
Not being flatfooted is worth far more than dex to AC. It's allows you to always take AoOs (the main benefit of combat reflexes), and makes you immune to sneak attacks in the surprise round.
As for the Druid, Rime Spell Frostbite alone makes it worthwhile.
Sepratist Cleric of Torag? You would have to spend proficiency on warhammer (unless you were a dwarf).
So Dwarven Sepratist Cleric of Torag, with this feat. Choose a domain that will give you a useful touch range offensive spell. Does any domain offer shocking grasp?
I've thought about Separatist as well. Thing is you are only casting domain spells once per day.
I've thought about Separatist as well. Thing is you are only casting domain spells once per day.Sepratist Cleric of Torag? You would have to spend proficiency on warhammer (unless you were a dwarf).
So Dwarven Sepratist Cleric of Torag, with this feat. Choose a domain that will give you a useful touch range offensive spell. Does any domain offer shocking grasp?
Oh, yeah. Damn. That wont work then, or at least wont be very good.
Probably have to rely on the list Stuart Haffenden made. Still, it would be interesting if it could be made to work.
I would be all for a divine version of the Magus. Though, I think the War Priest is pretty close in feel, it's the lack of Spell Combat and focus more of buffing than offensive spells (which is a trademark of divine spellcasters) that leaves me...not satisfied.
Hmm... Dwarven Survivor Druid, in Stoneplate with a warhammer spellstriking with druid spells and able to make ranger traps and throw them.
This might be a future character.
Might as well virtually get rid of Wild Shape if you're going to focus on this. Is there something that gives up Wild Shape? Or gives you something useful in reutrn?
I guess maybe it could retain usefulness if you wildhape into something that could use weapons. Can you use weapons as an ape? As an earth elemental?
Actually, how b%*+!in' would it be to to be a earth elemental with a big stone warhammer just going to town on people and delivering spells through the weapon. That sounds pretty damn awesome.
Yeah I'm really digging the Druid idea...Druid is also nice for society play due to decent skills and a nasty AC.
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Hmm... Dwarven Survivor Druid, in Stoneplate with a warhammer spellstriking with druid spells and able to make ranger traps and throw them.
This might be a future character.
Might as well virtually get rid of Wild Shape if you're going to focus on this. Is there something that gives up Wild Shape? Or gives you something useful in reutrn?
Survivor druid trades wild shape for Ranger Traps, complete with the ability to shoot the traps like a trapper ranger. I like the looks of the traps, but have never actually played a trapper because of the loss of spells. This would be a good opportunity to do so.
So, Divine Spellstrike?
It still doesn't let you deliver it with a free action melee attack, you would have to find a way to make that melee attack action to deliver your spell.
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So, Divine Spellstrike?It still doesn't let you deliver it with a free action melee attack, you would have to find a way to make that melee attack action to deliver your spell.
It does as a swift action, though.
Furthermore, as a swift action when you cast a divine touch spell, you can choose to have the warhammer carry the charge of the spell instead of your hand. When you deliver a touch spell with your warhammer you can do so as part of melee attack made with the warhammer. If you drop the warhammer or the warhammer is disarmed while carrying a charge, the charge is lost.
It does eat your swift action economy, but the trade off is worth it.
So, Slay Living?
Sepratist Cleric of Torag? You would have to spend proficiency on warhammer (unless you were a dwarf).
So Dwarven Sepratist Cleric of Torag, with this feat. Choose a domain that will give you a useful touch range offensive spell. Does any domain offer shocking grasp?
It realy dose not matter what domain spells you get.... You can only cast that domain spell once per day because you one have one domain spell slot per level. So great if can find a domain that has Shocking Grasp you still can only cast it once.
Ie in our Legacy of Fire Group We have a Cleric of Sarenrae with the Fire domain so she can cast fire ball once per day, that in no way step on my Elemant Sorcrer toes who can cast it all day long.
You need to look at spell list. Ie Druid, Cleric or Inquistor
As always there's Heirloom weapon which is sorta risky but will fly in PFS due to masterwork transformation.
Dwarves automatically gain proficiency in the warhammer.
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Is there any way of obtaining proficiency with a warhammer as a trait?
Heirloom Weapon works even using the nerfed version. Dwarves are automatically proficient, humans can take the adopted alternate race trait to get a dwarf weapon familiarity, and Gnomes can be proficient in any weapon they craft themselves.
Take the social trait Adopted: http://archivesofnethys.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Adopted
and you can be a half-orc or whatever with dwarven weapon proficiencies.
Nope. Adopted merely allows you to take a Trait with the race descriptor.
How can the Life Shaman add wisdom to attack? Didn't find that in the playtest.
Inquisitors are generally starved for swift actions. Still, an Inquisitor of Torag could employ this feat with Brand all day long for a little extra damage when a full attack isn’t possible.
Inquisitors might also use the feat for bashing Cure spells into undead or Inflicts into the living, or for the spells Interrogate, Touch of Combustion, Banish Seeming, Cast Out, and Greater Brand, among others.
Note that Major Curse has a range, and so doesn’t work with this feat.
Sepratist Cleric of Torag? You would have to spend proficiency on warhammer (unless you were a dwarf).
So Dwarven Sepratist Cleric of Torag, with this feat. Choose a domain that will give you a useful touch range offensive spell. Does any domain offer shocking grasp?
It realy dose not matter what domain spells you get.... You can only cast that domain spell once per day because you one have one domain spell slot per level. So great if can find a domain that has Shocking Grasp you still can only cast it once.
Ie in our Legacy of Fire Group We have a Cleric of Sarenrae with the Fire domain so she can cast fire ball once per day, that in no way step on my Elemant Sorcrer toes who can cast it all day long.
You need to look at spell list. Ie Druid, Cleric or Inquistor
Yeah, we covered that. It's not useful enough. A Theologian Cleric would have potential if Torag had a domain that had offensive spells that met the need, but I don't think thats the case.
Checking his domains, none of them have any spells that would be useful for this. So cleric is probably the least effective.
Druid or possibly Oracle would do alright. Dwarf druid probably has the best bet. As Dwarf gets you warhammer proficiency, and a bonus to con and wis, which as a Druid is your casting stat.
So, Divine Spellstrike?It still doesn't let you deliver it with a free action melee attack, you would have to find a way to make that melee attack action to deliver your spell.
It replaces the touch attack with a melee attack in that casting of the spell so the round that you cast it you only get one attack or you could get I guese a full attack it you wait till the next round or later.
The big draw back in this that you have to hit Real AC and get 1d8+(what ever)extra damage + spell efect vs hitting Touch AC and geting Spell effect.
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They gain channel so they can get channel smite and guided hand.
How can the Life Shaman add wisdom to attack? Didn't find that in the playtest.
A Druid with the right terrain domain can do that too.
Guided hand is generally a trap though. It has a generally useless prerequisite, and it doesn't add to damage.
It does let you have a high DC on wisdom based effects and hit when applying them, so It works for specialized builds at the cost of damage and carrying capacity.
I don't really think you want guided hand here, you simply don't have two feats to spare. Anyways Dwarves can muster the following stats under 20 Pt buy which should ensure semi decent to hit and good save DCs.
STR 16
DEX 12
CON 14
WIS 18
INT 10
CHA 5
However the nice thing about druid is that a number of debuffing touch spells are no save :)
Urban Druid loses animal companion however. The big downside of druid compared to Cleric is that it lacks access to divine favor and thus will have more trouble hitting.
Edit: Actually Urban Druid (as well as lion Shaman) can have access to divine favor via the nobility domain.
Any reason why we could not use pearls of power to recast domain spells?
None except that cost for higher level pearls might be prohibitive.
A level 13+ Construct Theologian cleric of Torag could fill her high-level slots with Limited Wish and use it to cast, say, Corrosive Consumption or Wind Blades using this feat. That’s the same level that a magus would get access to those spells.
It would cost the cleric a fortune, of course, and the magus would probably be wreaking more havok by using those 5th level spell slots for supercharged Shocking Grasps. But it’s kind of interesting.
Many thanks for all the good ideas proposed. I've come up with a build I'll likely be trying for PFS. A Dwarven Urban Druid sporting the nobility domain. This is prolly a bit weaker than a standard druid but for PFS I like the versatility it provides thanks to the combination of good skills, combat viability and full spell casting. Planning on rocking Mountain plate, Shield and Warhammer in Combat. Here's my planned progression.
Gustav Gartenbauer
LN Dwarven Urban Druid
Traits:
Magical Lineage (Frostbite)
Fate’s Favored
Feats:
1 Heavy Armor Proficiency
3 Rhyme Spell
5 Blesssed Hammer
7 ???/Additional Traits
9 ???
11
Any suggestions for feats? Also I'm having a few problem deciding on my point buy. I really like the below but an 18 WIS would be swell for the save or suck spells which I'd like to have access to.
STR 16 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 12 WIS 16 CHA 5
An alternative would be to skimp on STR, but even with access to divine favor STR 14 and medium BAB make me nervous as I'm gonna want to be hitting stuff in combat.
STR 14 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 12 WIS 18 CHA 5
Or, skimping on DEX and CON I could go for the following:
STR 16 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 12 WIS 18 CHA 5
I'd use the 3rd array - has points where you most need them but without screwing yourself elsewhere.
Power attack, steel soul + glory of Old trait, natural spell.
Yeah I've been inclined to go with the third array. Don't like the 10 DEX but with heavy armor and no DEX based skills to speak of it'll have to do, I could try int 10 also but I have a lot of skills and knowledge skills at that.
I'm not planning on doing combat wildshaped as it's pretty gimped for urban druids and doesn't come online before 8th, does natural spell still make sense even if wildshape is only used for utility?
Power Attack doesn't seem that strong as I'm planning to wield my hammer in one hand and Blessed hammer will be used to buff damage.
Steel Soul and Glory of Old (via additional traits) are kind of a given as is Wayang spellhunter at some point. However I would consider alternatives as I'm gonna have strong saves anyhow.