Need Advice On Gearing A Cleric Lvl. 6

[Eric Saxon]

Ok, I've got about 3,500gp to buy my next item.

Here's what I've got:
Mithral Agile BP +1 5,500gp
Darkwood Shield +2 3,500gp
Ring of Protection +1 2,000gp
Cloak of Resistance +1 1,000gp
Headband of Int +2 4,000gp
+ some expendables (potion+wand+scroll)

Was about to spend the last 3,500gp on a 2,500gp gloves of healing. Now I'm a Kickbuttowski Cleric who can channel heal and harm EVIL outsiders with his channels, however I'm feeling pretty naked everytime we meet a BBEG. Last game I played I got fire breathed on me and it dropped my hp. to less than 20% in the first shot by a bad doggie (some sort of a Hellhound) and I had to run away crying like a little girl, because I failed a FORT save, which is not that hard since the S4 BBEGs have some heavy hitters and my base FORT save is only +6 or 7, not sure since I'm at work.

So, what exactly does my build need now? What equipment should I be buying to make my PC semi-durable where I don't get rocked with the first hit in future scenarios. I can save for decent items but my saves blow and I'm thinking anything at a higher level is going to chew me right up.

Now sure, I saw a lot of folks saving against their FORT save at 28+ but even with a 20+ my 6 or 7 FORT save I might have made it but a 20 on a 1d20 is only a 5% chance and I think my total save was a 20 and it wasn't enough to get 1/2 damage, so I'm thinking that save just blows no matter what or is a Tier 5-6 supposed to be that hard?

Any advice would be welcome.

[Khazrandir]

A level 6 Cleric has a base FORT save of +5. With your Cloak of Resistance it will increase to +6. Your CON mod will increase this, so I'd guess you have a +7 FORT save.

This is a good save. Clerics get good Fortitude saves. The most basic ways to increase it are to increase your CON, or to get a +2 Cloak of Resistance.

Let's say you did both, and got up to a +9 save, which is *excellent* at that level... You'd still almost always fail against a 28 Fortitude save DC. So, this save DC seems way too high for someone at your level to save against!

Was it the Nessian Hell Hound? It has a breath weapon that does 10d6 damage, which is halved on a DC 21 Reflex save!

[Silbeg]

I am a little curious as to why you went with a Mithral Agile Breastplate, as for about 1250 less you could have gone with a +2 Breastplate.

I am guessing you are going for maneuverability (something I don't usually worry too much about with a cleric, since I rarely have a cleric with a DEX higher than 12). This may be picking nits (and you may already have it bought), but I was just asking.

Also, any reason why you got a Headband of Intellect vs Wisdom? THat seems counter-intuitive for a Cleric.

If you are worried about your HP and/or Fort Saves, why not get a belt of Constitution +2 for 4K? This is easily affordable with the savings from the breastplate, and your current 3500gp :P

[Eric Saxon]

@Khazrandir Yeah, it was the Nessian Hell Hound, I guess I missed it at 20 save. As for the save, yeah it was a Reflex save, sorry, my memory is not perfect if I'm at work and not looking at my sheet. Thanks for catching it. Still need to fix my reflexes though, anything that will help with that?

@Silbeg, the reason I went with the Mithral and Darkwood is because I've got an STR of 10, so I can't carry too much. With both of them being at 50% weight and Mithral being one weight class lower. I'm wearing 'light armor' and I'm under my max weight capacity, so I can move at 30' per round. :D So, its really just to keep me alive and be able to GTH out of Dodge, in case I'm a sole survivor.

[Khazrandir]

Unfortunately, Clerics have bad Reflex saves. At level 6, your base save is +2. With a 14 DEX and a Cloak of Resistance +1, you would get a grand total of +5. With this, you'd have a 25% chance to save against the breath of a Nessian Hell Hound. This low chance is not because you are a bad player, nor is it because you made any poor choices. I'd say this is a result of:

1) Nessian Hell Hounds are tough for level 6 PCs
2) Clerics have low Reflex saves
3) Clerics have to worry about boosting many abilities, and can't always boost DEX much

If you were incredibly worried about saves, you could invest in a better Cloak of Resistance, a belt of dexterity, or even the Lightning Reflexes feat (+2 to Reflex saves). However, I would not recommend spending much time or resources worrying about this.

The simple truth, unfortunately, is that any level 6 cleric will have a very difficult time making that Reflex save.

[The Tiger Lord]

You can also prepare Resist energy or Protection from energy spells. It's very usefull against those type of attacks. If you are caught by surprise it will not be that usefull because you have to cast it in advance but it's pretty cheaper to prepare those spells than investing in all that magic gear that'll only give you a small boost

[WerePox47]

I would swap ur +2 int headband for a +2 wisdom one... Upgrade the cloak to +2.. save the rest..

[Rory]

Khazrandir wrote:

The simple truth, unfortunately, is that any level 6 cleric will have a very difficult time making that Reflex save.

A lot of reflex saves are simple damage avoidance saves.

A +2 CON belt not only ups your fort save by +1, but the added hitpoints help negate the need to must-make that reflex save. Since you are a cleric, you can play the game "you hit me, I heal me" quite a lot better than most other classes. Healing is a great tool to have in your back pocket for those emergency situations.

At level 6, it would take a total of 8 more damage (+6 hitpoints gained from CON + 2 higher CON in itself) to be outright killed.

Also, the feat to allow you to channel as a move action would plow a lot of hitpoints back into the party after one of those nasty breaths.