So when building characters like battle clerics, warpriests, bloodragers,etc, which is more important to advance,the strength stat or the casting stat? And what would you recommend focusing on for a cleric/monk, the wisdom (casting and ac) or the strength (to hit and damage)?
For melee focused characters, the strength stat is more important. The casting stat is mostly to increase DCs and the give a few extra spells. If you aren't casting spells on enemies and will be attacking most rounds anyway, an INT just high enough to cast all your spells (typically 15 for full casters but you can go lower) is enough.
Monk gains a lot more from strength than wisdom and doesn't change the above equation at all.
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If your going for a casting cleric. With a few monk levels. Wisdom.
If your going for a monk that can cure. Strength.
I will recommend you look at the Sensei archetype for monks for the first one. With a two level dip. You get the following based on wisdom.
Will Save
Cleric Casting DC
Cleric Domain Power
Monk Wis Mod to AC
Monk stunning fist DC
Sensei Wis Mod to hit with unarmed strikes.
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I find that it all depends on what you want to do with the character. Do you want them to be more of a caster or more of a front line fighter? If you want them more as a caster then high casting stats are needed for high DCs and extra spells. If you want to go with a front line fighter then higher strength is needed. 14 is sort of my basic stat point for the secondary stat and i like to get my primary to 18. Though getting both to 16 could work well if you want to do both front line and cast competently. It is really all about what you want your character to focus on.
So I'd be better off with, say, 18 Wis 20 Str vs 18 Str 20 Wis? Still wanna be a decent caster. This is with a headband and a belt.
I'm intending to take only 1 level dip of monk for Wis to AC, the extra attack, and the unarmed strike. Mixing with ecclesitheurge for the versatility in the casting. I'd like to be competent at both
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If your going for a casting cleric. With a few monk levels. Wisdom.
If you've taken a few monk levels (or even one), you aren't a casting cleric anymore. Nothing the monk gives is worth the loss of caster levels to a casting cleric.
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So I'd be better off with, say, 18 Wis 20 Str vs 18 Str 20 Wis? Still wanna be a decent caster. This is with a headband and a belt.
Are you dumping everything for these high stats? With a basic belt and headband of +2 you are pouring a lot of points into just those stats. Are you planning to tank Dex, or Con? What about the other mental skills? I have tanked Cha before and Int on occasions but never more than one stat. Sorry if I am misunderstanding, I just think of all this starting at level 1. But if you want both casting and front line go with 18 Str and 16 Casting stat if you can and only dumoing one stat at most.
Sorry. Level 10. Human. 25 pt buy. Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 14. One of the belts/headbandS is a +4
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Sorry. Level 10. Human. 25 pt buy. Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 14. One of the belts/headbandS is a +4
Okay well with a 20 Wis as your casting stat I would not worry about bringing that up any more and go with just more Str. And if you are going battle Cleric do not go any levels into monk. It is not worth it.
So I'd be better off with, say, 18 Wis 20 Str vs 18 Str 20 Wis? Still wanna be a decent caster. This is with a headband and a belt.
Sorry. Level 10. Human. 25 pt buy. Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 14. One of the belts/headbandS is a +4
Umm... are you sure on the stats? Presuming +2 headband and belt, and +2 Wis from Human, with level bumps split between Str and Wis, that's 15/14/14/10/15/14, which is 29 point buy. I guess if headband was +4 it could work out...
In any case, as someone said, just depends on what you want to do.
My first PFS character was a Cleric X/Monk 1 (until 11th and took Monk 2). Mostly buff/inflict casting, but some offensive casting. I wanted high AC first, as well as my Stun DC high though, so went Dex/Wis/Str.
Honestly though? 20 Str/18 Wis vs. 18 Str/20 Wis... you'll never notice the difference.
Well its a spell difference, plus I'm trying to figure out which one to advance for the future. And the +4 is to strength. To get the stays I got, give 5pts across the 5 stats I boosted, then Str went down to 3 pts and Wis up. Human bonus to Wis, then the band and belt.
It comes down to what do you see yourself doing most standard actions. You can only do one thing with them, so what is it? If you plan on casting spells most rounds spells are most important. If you plan on hitting things most rounds then combat stats are most important.
Yeah, with those two stats you can do both relatively well. Just decide which one you want to do more often and make that the higher one.
I tend to focus on either casting or melee.
If melee is the focus, I keep my casting stat at the minimum to allow for casting whatever buff spells I use and jack STR up.
If a caster where DCs matter, I tend to ignore STR.
Hybrid builds are just bad at two things, IMO.
You may want to consider a sacred fist warpriest instead of multiclassing. You don’t lose caster levels and also get swift action casting for self-buffing. You get scaling AC bonus and damage as well as flurry of blows and Ki pool. All your abilities are based on WIS so CHA can be a dump stat. Getting WIS to AC is not going to do you much good at higher levels without some way to make it scale.
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As a casting cleric using bad touch spells. Diping in to monk is not a bad idea. The over all gain in AC, and other ability's is something you have a loss in caster level for. I can tell you that I don't feel bad about losing two caster levels to pick up what I gained.
My cleric (divine strategist)6/Monk (Sensei) 2. Dose a few things most normal clerics can not.
1: Has a normal AC of 20. Combat buffed AC of 34. Along with really good save fort 13 ref 9 will 17 (+3 save vs spell, spell like ability's, and poison.)
2: Has a good to hit bonus with unarmed strike for hitting. This includes my favorite tactic. +13 to hit with unarmed strike.
3: Sacrificed nothing for spell DC. due to every thing being based off Wis Mod.
Me: (well before combat) I cast bestow curse. I touch nothing you must open all doors for me. And before I touch any of you make sure I dismiss the spell, or touch something else first.
Me: (Start of combat) I stunning fist that guy and that will discharge my bestow curse if I hit. First fort save vs. sunning fist DC 21. Second will save vs. bestow curse DC 20(50/50 curse). Now there are some monsters with both good fort and will saves. However forcing two save or suck right out the gate normally don't turn out to well for the one making the saves.
My other go to spells are.
1st Murderous Command, and Command
2nd Spiritual Weapon Hold Person, and Burst of Radiance
3rd Bestow Curse, and Blindness-Deafness