Playing a CRB only game, thought I'd try a cleric aimed at dishing out damage with spells. (Ideally i'd have played an oracle for divine blasting, but what can you do.)
1) So, what CRB domains would you recommend for a cleric attempting blasting?
2) Is channel negative energy worth attention? (or investing in charisma?)
3) Any other advice you could give me? (Keeping in mind CRB only)
(Bonus Question: If i have a -3 penalty to charisma, can I never channel energy?)
Playing a CRB only game, thought I'd try a cleric aimed at dishing out damage with spells. (Ideally i'd have played an oracle for divine blasting, but what can you do.)
1) So, what CRB domains would you recommend for a cleric attempting blasting?
2) Is channel negative energy worth attention? (or investing in charisma?)
3) Any other advice you could give me? (Keeping in mind CRB only)
(Bonus Question: If i have a -3 penalty to charisma, can I never channel energy?)
1) Weather and Fire seem to be best bet for core only
2) It's a trap typically. Core only I believe to be a sever trap. No good Variant channeling ability. I feel it is a trap.
3) Good Low level spells:
Command- Can use it to stop incoming attacks and force them to fall to the ground or Halt. If they fall to the ground they have to get up giving the fighter an AoO. Just as good as blasting them yourself IMHO.
Spiritual weapon- You mentioned "Blasting" while not a full on blast spell it has it's uses. One it is recurring damage, It is Force damage so full damage verse incorporeal. Where most blasts are single shot spells this gives you round after round of fun.
Silence- Great to cast...only downside is you can't hear the screams of your victims as they die.
Sound Burst- If your DC is high enough, Stun is a great condition.
Summon monster 3- This is where they start getting sweet. They bring damage and a Body that can take a hit for you or your team that you need not heal. They can flank for you or the front liners.
Invisibility Purge- Buy a scroll of this...Seriously have it on hand for emergencies. Can not preach it's usefulness enough since Invisibility is a common tactic from both sides of the table.
Blasting is considered to be a sub-par strategy for wizards, and clerics are worse at it than wizards. The only exception is when dealing with undead and outsiders.
Don’t count on your domain spells for damage. Unless your domain spells are normal cleric spells you can only memorize them in domain slots. Since you only get one domain slot per spell level this means you get on domain spell per spell level. Most of the offensive domain abilities are not really that strong especially at higher level. At first level having a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 points of damage is not bad, but at 10th level it is only 1d6+5 points of damage.
Channeling negative energy can be useful, but only if you are going to devote resources to it. You only get 3 + CHA modifier channels per day and there is no minimum. This means that with a -3 penalty you have 0 uses per day. Since you still have the class feature you could use the feat extra channel to bring it up to a positive number thereby allowing you to actually use it. Don’t bother with this because the saving throw is still based on CHA which you take the penalty on the saving throws DC.
Channeling negative energy also means that you spontaneously convert spells to inflict instead of cure. Inflict spells belong to the school of necromancy with also includes curses and other decent offensive spells. This is probably your best bet if you want to focus on casting offensive spells.
Since many necromancy spells are all or nothing you are going to want to boost up your saving throw. Take spell focus necromancy and latter greater spell focus necromancy. Since inflect spells belong to the school of necromancy this boost them as well. Make sure you have a decent CHA and consider taking command undead. Death is a good domain your first domain power gives you a continuing attack and at 8th level you can heal yourself with negative energy.
Hmmm, I appreciate the feedback and opinions on a CRB only blasting cleric and I'll have a think about what I want out of the cleric given the limited options.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the most out of a cleric with only the CRB options? I'd like to be able to do something well compared to the other crb classes i'll be playing alongside. (Other than healing, i mean, I know i wont be able to out-fight the fighter or out-cast the wizard, but it'd be good to excel at something)
Summoning
Reach cleric
There are some exceptions of course, but in general clerics don't have access to good damage dealing spells. There are some decent ones at higher level though. You'd have an easier time investing a Strength and wailing on people with a giant weapon. You can use your spells to buff yourself just before combat or in the first round.
A good CRB build would be
Human 20pb
STR:15, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 10
(You can be extra dumpy if you want and throw the points somewhere.)
Feats:
Human: Combat Reflexes
1: Improved Initative
3: Power Attack
5: Spell Focus Conjuration
7: Augmented Summoning
Basic build for a reach cleric. You go round 1 buff or summon then move to position to poke with your reach.
Domains:
Strength- Domain spells are good for this style of play. The powers are more gravy. This domain covers anything you need for staying relevant in combat. So make your 2nd domain about adding to what you can not do and have a nice rounded character.
(Pick one)- Luck, travel, trickery, liberation, animal or protection.
Or you can just go pure caster with Summoning as a major focus.