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I looking to put together an Iomedaean Battle Cleric for PFS.
Heavily focused on melee, and use of the Longsword.
So far, I am looking at the Mendevian Priest, and Crusader archetypes.
I hoping to go Human, but open to suggestions.
I am a bit concerned on how to distribute stats, and feat selection.
Any advice for this build is welcome.
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I don't know if I would recommend either of the two archetypes. I'm not sure you can even take both. I would just take the proficiency feats as regular feats.
I assume you're aware of the Disciple of the Sword feat. I'd try to pick up that, most definitely. If you're going to be casting a lot of divine favor, the Fate's Favored trait is great.
If Unchained multiclassing is PFS-legal, you could see what paladin brings.
Just some basic thoughts - I'd go deeper, but I have to be up in five hours. :)
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Not both. Just one, or the other.
Disciple of the Sword is on my possible list.
I suppose I could just grab Heavy Armor Proficiency.
I also know the Deity-specific spell rules are PFS legal.
So, Holy Sword can be prepared as a 8th-level spell
Good Hope can be prepared as a 4th-level spell
Mark of Justice can be prepared as a 4th-level spell
I thought of Fate's Favored, and will likely take it.
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If you're making a battle-focused cleric, is there a particular reason you're not making a Warpriest instead?
My brother played a Iomedaen battle cleric, and he was a big fan of the Heroism subdomain.
Crusader archetype is probably worth it if you don't plan on doing much spellcasting in combat.
As for traits, Fate's Favored is a must. I'd also suggest Divine Warrior, which gives you a +1 trait bonus to damage on any weapon affected by one of your divine spells. My Oracle uses that with reinforce armaments for the 10 minutes/level duration to hand out to other party members. Or hand out continual flame to other people, so they get permanently flaming swords with damage boosts.
So off the top of my head, I'd go with something like:
Half-Orc Cleric (Crusader) of Iomedae
16/12/14/10/16/8
Alt. racial trait: Sacred Tattoo
Traits: Fate's Favored, Divine Warrior
1: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Weapon Focus
2:
3: Power Attack
4: +1 Str
5: Shield Focus, Disciple of the Sword
6:
7: Heighten Spell (to hand out deeper darkness-busting, damage boosting continual flames to allies.)
8: +1 Str
9: Shield Specialization
10: Greater Weapon Focus
11: Divine Interference
I mean, sure, you could make him Human and pick up Improved Initiative or Toughness or whatever with your bonus feat, but if you have Fate's Favored already, the Sacred Tattoo racial trait is absolutely redonkulous.
If you don't want to do a Warpriest, then I'd suggest leveraging the one advantage you have (which all comes down to superior spellcasting) and drop the archetype. With Disciple of the Sword and the human bonus feat, you don't really need the bonus feats the archetype gives you.
Human Cleric of Iomedae
16/12/14/10/16/8
Traits: Fate's Favored, Divine Warrior
1: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Improved Initiative
2:
3: Weapon Focus
4: +1 Str
5: Disciple of the Sword
6:
7: Power Attack
8: +1 Str
9: Heighten Spell (to hand out deeper darkness-busting, damage boosting continual flames to allies.)
10:
11: Divine Interference
I've run a Cleric with the Crusader archetype with good success. At mid to high levels I focused on getting the best AC possible, the armor was adamantine for good measure. Going this route makes a freaking hard to kill tank that provides support, and deals moderate front line damage.
The fight went like this, my pc went straight into the Shoggoth lair, not suspecting such a thing would have been there. I lost initiative, got grappled; and that was all she wrote. My poor guy was Shoggoth lunch.
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Is the Divine Warrior trait better than the Armor Expert trait, for this?
Also, I already have a Half-Orc Inquisitor with Fate's Favored, and though it's awesome, I was just looking to change things up a bit.
Could I stick the 8 in Intelligence, instead of Charisma?
This is all good by the way. Thank you for the help!
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Look over this character. 9th level human Iomedean battle cleric, played with good success when everyone else isn't over cheesed and killing baddies in one round.
All details in profile as he is used for online play.
Overall, I should have started with 16 strength. And if I had access to Fates favored I'd have it, along with heroism sub domain.
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Contributor
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Is the Divine Warrior trait better than the Armor Expert trait, for this?
Also, I already have a Half-Orc Inquisitor with Fate's Favored, and though it's awesome, I was just looking to change things up a bit.
Could I stick the 8 in Intelligence, instead of Charisma?
This is all good by the way. Thank you for the help!
8 Int basically means no skills. On the other hand, some channel energy might be useful. Up to you. :)
As for Armor Expert, do you expect those skill checks to come up? As mentioned, you'll have very few skill points to work with (either way, really).
If you decide to dip fighter, Magical Knack could be good. Transmuter of Korada will automatically extend a bull's strength once per day, and increases the caster level of all your transmutation spells. Focused Mind is basic but solid. And there's always Reactionary.
Have you decided on one or more domains yet? The Revelation subdomain grants Perception as a class skill, among other benefits.
I'm always a big fan of guided hand, prereq channel smite, add your wis to attack (not damage) with your deity's favored weapon. This would allow you to actually have a high wis despite being a battle cleric. Your damage output is hurt due to lowered strength, but the advantages are huge. There are other ways to boost your damage output. If you want heavy armor that's fine, just understand that you are restricting your options. for your domain I'd pick either heroism or tactics. heroism is great for a lot of reasons, but tactics will grant you a better initiative, which you will sorely want, the extra feat that you can pick on the fly is also great.
Go crusader if you need to take one of those archetypes.
As for stats I'd go with something like this:
str14 dex12 con14 int8or10 wis18 cha8or10
feats:
1:channel smite, guided hand, heavy armor proficiency
3:power attack
5:weapon focus longsword,disciple of the sword
7:furious focus
9:improved initiative
10: greater weapon focus longsword
11: divine interference.
This assumes you two hand your longsword. If you go for a sheild replace furious focus with tower sheild proficiency.
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I hadn't recommended Guided Hand due to feat-heaviness and low-damage issues. The inquisitor in my WotR group has the Mythic version for Wis to damage, at least.
If you don't take Revelation, then the Seeker trait goes on the list of traits to consider. Between that and Wisdom, your Perception should be pretty massive. :)
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If I went with 7 Int, wouldn't it be better to bring Str to 17?
Do you plan to increase it to 18?
Do you plan to use a light shield or buckler, or two-hand the longsword?
Unless you plan to go to 18 and two-hand, I think I'd go with the channeling. :)
What are your current planned ability scores, anyway?
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I like two handing the Longsword.
Letting go with one hand to cast, regrip as a free action, to two hand it.
I figure going 17 for Str would be a better use of points, and could up it at 4th.
If I really wanted a shield, I figure I could nab Quick Draw, and a Quickdraw Shield, so I can put away the shield as a free action, then attack two handed, then pull it out as a free action, for AC off my turn.
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Contributor
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I like two handing the Longsword.
Letting go with one hand to cast, regrip as a free action, to two hand it.
I figure going 17 for Str would be a better use of points, and could up it at 4th.
If I really wanted a shield, I figure I could nab Quick Draw, and a Quickdraw Shield, so I can put away the shield as a free action, then attack two handed, then pull it out as a free action, for AC off my turn.
This sounds like a pretty solid plan.
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I realize this likely isn't the kind of feedback you were looking for, but this seems like the kind of simple, straight-forward concept that would play well in a Core Campaign group.
Food for thought.
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I thought when you retrained you had to meet the requirements for the feat at the time of retraining, ie you would still have 0 bab when you retrained your level 1 feats
Given how everyone talks about retraining into the Dimensional Assault line, I'm assuming that's not the case. Too lazy to go confirm from text, though. :)
EDIT: OP's cleric has ninja variant multiclassing.
You could consider the Ancestral Weapon trait over Divine Warrior (from people of the river) - it gives a free MW weapon up to 500 gp made out of either cold iron or silver, abd a +1 trait bonus to attack rolls with weapons of the selected material.
The 500 gp should be enough to make it a consecrated weapon, so you can get your pseudo-channel smite going on for when you want it to be.
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Ancestral Weapon is not PFS legal.
Now, interestedly enough, this trait is available:
Chosen of Iomedae
Category: Basic (Faith)
At your birth, your parents dedicated your soul to Iomedae to mold into a sword of her light. The goddess blessed you, granting you a gift of light to brighten your path through darkness and a fine sword with which to spread her will. You may cast light once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level 1st), and you begin play with a masterwork longsword. In addition, whenever light is cast upon this sword, the radius of light and its duration is doubled.
Of course, that makes Fate's Favored unavailable.
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Well, Crusader gets me Disciple of the Sword two levels early, and Heavy Armor Proficiency for free at 5th.
So, if going Crusader:
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 10
Feats: Improved Initiative, Tribal Scars, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Traits: divine warrior, fate's favored
Domain: Tactics
How about that?
A lot of people will tell you Crusader is bad. It's not,as long as you can manage to conserve your spells,the extra feats more than make up for the loss for a melee Cleric. Yes, spells are often the most powerful thing available, but the Crusader matches your concept, and I can positively say it works well.