However, I want them to actually be in line with the other Obediences and Boons, and not ridiculous.
(For quick reference, Feronia is a Neutral Goddess with the domains of Destruction, Fire, Liberation, and Protection. Favored weapon is a bastard sword; areas of concern are fertility, sacred fires, and either wildfires or wildlife -- I'm seeing both, and while wildlife makes more sense to me given the derivation of the goddess and the redundancy with sacred fire, wildfire isn't that odd there, either.)
The reward for performing the obedience seems fairly straightforward; typically +4 on a specific kind of check, or +2 on two different checks. However, the Exalted boons are a different matter, since they balance A) for the PrC being mostly for full casters, B) take into account alignment and ability to heal, C) also take into account domain powers, and D) account for the earliest level you're likely to acquire them. For example, Asmodeus's exalted gets a delayed blast fireball (with damage properties like an unholy version of flamestrike) as their third boon, which is amazing... but you'll never be a healer as a cleric of Asmodeus, which allows the boons to be a lot stronger offensively and still be balanced. I'm having a hard time navigating all this to pick out boons that match the flavor of the goddess but aren't OP given her alignment, domains, and weapon. Something like a creature from Summon Nature's Ally VII might be a solid lock for the third boon, if one of her areas of concern is actually wildlife; that'd line up cleanly with the other third-tier boons. I've got no clue for the other two, though.
As per the build advice part:
I'm looking at this for a cleric that's doubling as a blaster for a party with no other full caster (arcane or divine) in a campaign that'll go to 17 or 18. She's a Human Theologian with the Fire domain, with the following stats:
STR 7
DEX 10
CON 10
INT 14
WIS 20
CHA 12L1 feats are Spell Focus (Evocation) and Spell Specialization (Burning Hands); she does also have Magical Lineage (Fireball), and one campaign trait that doesn't do a whole lot for the build.
The character is still at level one right now, so things are fairly open in terms of where to go from here. I know the character's build will start falling off extremely hard around ten or twelve (if not earlier) if they level only in cleric, which is why I'm looking into having them prestige (probably starting at L7 instead of L5, so they can pick up fire resistance from their domain and not have awkward extra levels in cleric at the end of the campaign). They'll probably have to backseat and turn into more of a utility caster at that point regardless of whether they prestige or not, but I'm trying to make it easier on them.
Anyone have any advice on how to smooth out the build? Would going straight Theologian make more sense than prestiging -- that is, should she just stick to being a dazing fireball dispenser at higher levels, or do you think there's anything to be gained from picking up a PrC? Does the build benefit enough from heighten spell/preferred spell to just grab them at 3 and 5, respectively? Would having to pick up Deific Obedience and Skill Focus on this build be too much to make Exalted worth it? etc.
(Keep in mind, the build won't technically be optimal -- it's filling a niche it really shouldn't be forced to fill -- but I'm trying to do the best with what's available. Also, note that the campaign -won't- allow retraining.)
Thanks!