|
So toying around with what to bring to an impending game of Emerald Spire, and I'm wanting some opinions on one of the options I am considering. What I'd kind of like to do it make a dex-based Cleric of Sarenrae using the Dervish Dance feat and a scimitar. Support focused, melee secondary, eventually using Mithral Kikko armor. This would be as the only 9-level caster in the group. Does this sound workable? If so, would you recommend using Evangelist for the extra support capability, or would I be better off sticking with straight Cleric and focusing more on channeling?
I will tell you- dervish dance is the inferior feat. You cannot use shields while using it. As such, it is worse than slashing grace.
The only advantage it has is that it takes less feats to come online, and it doesn't require a swashbuckler dip to do dex to attack.
I know this can be rather round about for your build (my argument sounded much stronger before actually writing out what it takes; c'est la vie)...but that is +1-+7 extra AC. And remember, a +2 armor and a +2 shield cost less than a +3 armor.
Anyway....Evangelist seems like a fantastic choice. Losing the spontaneous cure spells can be a bit of a problem, but generally, a nice solid buff to the whole party helps prevent that damage in the first place.
|
@OP: That seems like a totally reasonable choice. Your martial allies will adore you. Keep in mind you will mostly be casting a spell each round in the important early rounds of combat. You'll rarely have time in combat for blade work after the early levels. It sounds like you have plenty of martial allies. Of course, you'll often join in melee after the 'swing', when the battle in decided and it's time to conserve resources. If you are in melee very much before the swing moment your team may be in trouble, as they should not generally permit this. You will be the beating heart of your party, as your beating heart also keeps their hearts beating.
Consider going pretty light on your melee investment, and put most of your feats into support tools. Here's some chatter about Evangelist Clerics. Full Disclosure: Magda is an Evangelist Cleric
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
An Evangelist Sarenrae Cleric can put up a very nice offense with Heroism and Inspire Courage added to the usual buffs, so it's quite workable even if you aren't martial focused. On a more martial level, a single level of Sohei Monk can work well with Crusader's Flurry since you've got no 1.5xSTR bonus to lose, and Wisdom+Bracers will pump your armor beyond anything you could wear without losing dex bonus. That's really more a Battle Cleric thing, although it makes it possible to use Ecclesitheurge painlessly...
If you're planning to really put Wisdom first and Dexterity a distant second, you're probably better off using Guided Hand and wielding a Scimitar two-handed with Power Attack and 1.5xSTR, rather than investing in Dervish Dance just to utilize a middling dexterity score. Also a candidate for one level of Monk, Ecclesitheurge and flurry.
At high levels, a dex based cleric is not going to contribute much to DPR.
To be fair, how much relative damage you can do compared to a dedicated melee depends on how much you're willing to put into it in ability scores and other resources. Just for a comparison against a heavy-hitting martial:
Generic Scimitar Barbarian 9, 24STR
1d6+2Scimitar +13STR +9Powerattack = 27.5; 2/3attacks (55/82.5)
AB: 9BAB +9STR +2Weapon, -3Powerattack = 17AB.
Scimitar Dervish Sarenrae Cleric 8/ Monk 1, 24DEX
1d6+2Scimitar +7DEX +4Powerattack +4Divinefavor/power = 20.5; 3/4attacks (61.5/82)
AB: 6BAB +7DEX +2Weapon +4Divinefavor/power +2Heroism +1Focus, -2Powerattack -2Flurry = 18AB.
It's not a totally fair comparison considering it's a generic Barbarian against a seriously focused Battle Cleric, but by any measure that Dex Cleric is doing fine. Not to mention that in a situation where nobody can - or will - spend their time and resources hasting the Barbarian, it's actually kind of a landslide.
Personally, Sarenea is not a good deity mechanically. There are better ways to use dervish and still be a cleric without ever even dipping into another class. Hope whatever you choose works for you and good luck.
Sarenrae works just fine for an Evangelist Cleric because the Evangelist only gets one domain, and Sarenrae happens to only get one domain that is really good (Heroism subdomain).
Channeling is typically weak as far as support clerics go. Best bet is to go for something with the healing domain for the free empower on your heals, and to make sure you have reach spell. Focus on wisdom, get all the spells you can.
Since charisma is a secondary stat anyway, take the Eldritch heritage feat chain for Arcane, and pick up a bonded item or familiar, then pick up improved for metamagic adept allowing you to spont cast a few times per day without increasing the casting time.
Don't forget Divine Protection for Char to saves.
True but heroism has too much redundancy with bardic performances for me. Obviously this is not so for others but I feel we could do better.
The only redundancy is in saves vs charm and fear. The attack and damage bonus from Bardic Performance is competence, so you can benefit from both that way.