So not long ago, I played as a cleric who had a spirit bound to him. For reasons, I retired the character, but I may be bringing him back with a slight rebuild. My DM has said if I do, he needs at least 1 level of cleric (I convinced him to allow warpriest too). But I'm stumped as how to get the the 2 classes to synergize. I'd be level 10, 11, or 12,depending on when my current character dies. Any suggestions?
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See if you can convince your GM to let your character come back as an Onmyoji Spiritualist. It's an archetype that changes the spiritualist's spell casting so that it is divine rather than psychic. Your character would still cast divine spells, it's just that the nature of those spells changed when he had a spirit bound to him.
They don't synergize at all.
A level 1 cleric tacked to a spiritualist is pretty much useless. When I look at it you get:
- two domains, of which you can use the 1st level abilities and spells
- use of 1st level cleric spells, but no more, and that at CL 1
- armor & weapon proficiences, whatever they are worth to a spiritualist
- channeling for 1d6 (only good for variant channeling effects)
None of that is going to grow in power when you level the spiritualist.
Warpriest is the same. You are sitting on level 1 class features which don't get better and help you very little with the other class.
I cannot think of a PRC which would make good use of the combination either.
Using a higher level of cleric isn't a really good idea to me either. A cleric 6/spiritualist 6 is a mascot for a level 12 party, not an effective member. For a caster he has a negligible CL and dabbles still with level 3 spells while others sling 6th level. And I have not yet started on the pet :)
Since you are practically a Summoner with a different name, the rules for that class apply to the spiritualist as well. One of the cardinal rules is "thou shalt not multiclass".
It would be best to either accept the level tax for playing a spiritualist and leave the cleric/warpriest at level 1 or to convince your DM to be merciful ;)
What about 9 cleric, 3 spiritualist? This was my level 12 idea because I think I can cast my touch spells through the spirit. That was my original thought.
Onmyoji is interesting, but doesn't really have a deity link, which is why I'd need to keep the cleric or warpriest levels.
That or just take the one level of spiritualist essentially turning me into an oracle in terms of spell progression, except i have a pet/hell of a boost to saves and diplomacy (devotion spirit) and then go melee like I kind of originally did. Which was why I'd consisted warpriest initially
War priest gives you Free weapon focus.
Domains can get you swift action enlarge or +10 to movespeed.
I think cleric is your better choice.
Sarenrae for deity btw
My DM has said if I do, he needs at least 1 level of cleric (I convinced him to allow warpriest too).
I am extremely curious as to why. Does the GM force arbitrary multiclass demands on any other player?
That said, there exists a feat that allows your phantom to scale up by +4 up to your character level, in the spirit of Boon Companion, so even a short dip won't cripple your partner.
No, but if I were to bring back the same character with a completely different high level skill set, it would be odd. Combine that his belief that a deity would be upset to lose a patron of hers like that, he has said that's what it would take to bring him back. Which is fine by me. In just trying to figure out the most effective use of my abilities, clash as they may
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If the backstory is that you were a divine caster who had a spirit bound to him, have you considered the Spirit Guide oracle archetype? The signature feature of the archetype is literally "Bonded Spirit" - and as an oracle, you're still a divine caster with the cleric spell list. You could even go with, say, the Haunted curse to further expand on your spirit-bound theme.
EDIT: Of course, if the real goal here is that you're looking to play a spiritualist, then obviously my suggestion doesn't help you - there's been some good advice otherwise, though.
As mentioned, there's a feat to progress you phantom with up to four levels of multiclassing. That will help a lot- your Spiritualist spells aren't too big of a deal.
Take Evangelist Cleric if you have decent Charisma, since performance is actually useful- extra buffing for your phantom. Grab the Extra Performance feat, and leave it at a one level dip that gets you a total of 10 + Cha rounds of performance.
What feat is that?
That mandatory Cleric level is incredibly dumb. An Onmyoji is exactly what you're looking for, and there's no reason that you can't flavour your character in order to fit. The GM can even house rule that you have the clerical alignment and faith restrictions because of your character's backstory. By the way, your GM knows that you don't have to receive spells from your deity in order to worship a deity, right?
If the backstory is that you were a divine caster who had a spirit bound to him, have you considered the Spirit Guide oracle archetype? The signature feature of the archetype is literally "Bonded Spirit" - and as an oracle, you're still a divine caster with the cleric spell list. You could even go with, say, the Haunted curse to further expand on your spirit-bound theme.
EDIT: Of course, if the real goal here is that you're looking to play a spiritualist, then obviously my suggestion doesn't help you - there's been some good advice otherwise, though.
I think their GM is focusing on how Clerics and Warpriests get spells directly through praying to their deity and lose their abilities if they do something wrong, so Oracle wouldn't cut it if Onmyoji wouldn't.
I don't mind doing it though. It's an interesting thing for my character to have happen to him. In not going for optimized,just mildly effective.
Also, I can't find the Boon Companion but for spiritualists. Anyone know what it's called?
The Death Druid from Horror Adventures seems to be what you want, except it casts Druid spells and not Cleric ones. Still, it's a druid that gets a phantom in exchange for its animal companion, wild shape, and gets spooky replacements for some of the minor abilities, so it's hardly recognizable as a Druid, really.
Maybe talk to your GM to see if that would work or you could tweak it a bit to have it make sense?
I don't mind doing it though. It's an interesting thing for my character to have happen to him. In not going for optimized,just mildly effective.
You shouldn't be punished for it, though.
I WOULD suggest the Deific Obedience feat to satisfy the GM's need for a direct mechanical link to your deity, but Sarenrae's boons for that feat are awful.What makes him think that Sarenrae of all deities would be upset by changing classes, by the way? Depending on what this spirit is like, it may even be exactly what she would expect of a devotee. She's literally the goddess of second chances.
a cleric dip for domains isn't that much of punishment
Thanks chess pwn!
I don't mind doing it though. It's an interesting thing for my character to have happen to him. In not going for optimized,just mildly effective.You shouldn't be punished for it, though.
I WOULD suggest the Deific Obedience feat to satisfy the GM's need for a direct mechanical link to your deity, but Sarenrae's boons for that feat are awful.
What makes him think that Sarenrae of all deities would be upset by changing classes, by the way? Depending on what this spirit is like, it may even be exactly what she would expect of a devotee. She's literally the goddess of second chances.
Well my character hasn't been away from the group for long, and coming back with a whole new set of powers would be weird. It's to keep a sense of realism? Plus he was an old man cleric. Him suddenly changing would be odd.
Might be able to work with onmyoji, didn't think of really using it because the flavor doesn't work as well, but I'll have to look at it closer
The Spiritualist and Cleric spell lists have a lot of things in common, and Onmyoji can even cherry pick spells directly from the Cleric list with the ability it gets. The two classes overlap enough for it to be believable, especially given the circumstances (it's not like you're just randomly reclassing; there's story reason for this change).
Just make sure your former Cleric doesn't spontaneously stop doing clerical things simply because there's no mechanical link in the class. What has happened is that he has gained something new and adapted his Cleric knowledge and experience to work with it. Unless something has changed drastically, he should still have the same faith and devotion to his deity.