So in my current game, I started play as a Merciful Healer for the ability to cast healing spells in battle while next to the enemy. I looked into Holy Vindicator recently, but it looks like about half of those abilities require me to be able to Channel in a way that can hurt my enemies to be useful. But Vindicator Shield is very helpful in that it gives a sacred bonus-which would also apply to touch ac based on the wording. Stigmata at the next level is another AC boost. My current AC is 21. With 2 levels of vindicator I could be at 31. My main reason for wanting these AC boats I'd that I'm often providing flaking for the rogue. My problem is that I have a strength of 10. Is it even with me taking those 2 levels? Should I go further, till at least 6 for the Move Acton Stigmata? Not too sure if it's worth it.
Rephrase-It's likely worth the first 2 levels. Should it just be a dip, or full multiclassing?
Also, let me know if that's a wall of text-typed it on my phone on my bask
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I'd stick with the dip. The 5th and 9th level abilities are useless to you, Faith Healer overlaps with the Healing domain, and I don't think the rest of it is worth losing two more levels of casting is you don't use weapons much.
I'm not sure how you're getting +10 AC from two levels. Stigmata's bonus is half class level, not half character level, so that's only +1, and if you're considering more than a dip you can't have 9 channel dice for vindicator's shield to grant +9.
For a Healadin it is very strong, for a full caster I would not even take 1 level personally as sacrificing CL is a no no. YMMV
I thought it was character level for Stigmata. Though vindicator doesn't slow changeling too, does it?
The channel energy ability for vindicator says that my vindicator class level stacks with my cleric class
With a strength score of 10, the answer is an emphatic no. You are not a melee character, you are a spellcaster. Giving up spellcasting progression is simply a deal-breaker for you. If you had a good strength score and really made use of your melee presence then that might be another matter, but if your party just needs an extra flanker you can prepare summon monster in a few of those spell slots. You'll have more spell slots and better spell slots by sticking straight Cleric.
I just took my first level of Holy Vindicator in the RotRL game I'm in; I'm a dwarf cleric of Abadar 8/Holy Vindicator 1. With some self-buffing my AC is 37 - 41 against giants - which so far has made it very difficult for things to hit me. I haven't decided how many levels of Holy Vindicator I'll be taking, but I'll at least be taking 4. Losing one level of spellcasting isn't so bad - just puts me on par with an oracle - but I'll have to think hard about sacrificing that 2nd level of spellcasting. We'll see how things play out over the next few levels.
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I thought it was character level for Stigmata. Though vindicator doesn't slow changeling too, does it?
The channel energy ability for vindicator says that my vindicator class level stacks with my cleric class
Vindicator doesn't require you to give up channel progression, but the lost spellcasting is significant for a cleric who does more casting than weapon-swinging. It's not a deal-breaker IMO but you should be looking for something very nice in exchange. Your original question was whether Holy Vindicator is worth it for the defenses alone if you're not going to be using the melee or destructive channeling abilities. The answer is: no, and it gets less worth it the more levels of spellcasting you lose.