I had an idea I thought would be a fun concept, a half-orc who, after surviving an unpleasant childhood found solace in Cayden Cailean; via drinking, being merry, and enjoying the rush of a good scrap, or a just cause to defend others' freedom. Thing is... warpriest looks pretty difficult to bring together. That said I am pretty committed to trying to make it work so I'd like some advice and feedback. I'd also prefer not to go into archetype feats but I'm also not adamantly opposed.
Ancestry: Human/Half-Orc
Background: Laborer
Class: Cleric
Deity: Cayden Cailean
01st: STR: 16 (+3) DEX: 12 (+1); CON: 10 (+0); INT: 10 (+0); WIS: 18 (+4); CHA: 12 (+1)
05th: STR: 18 (+4) DEX: 12 (+1); CON: 12 (+1); INT: 10 (+0); WIS: 19 (+4); CHA: 14 (+2)
10th: STR: 19 (+4) DEX: 12 (+1); CON: 14 (+2); INT: 10 (+0); WIS: 20 (+5); CHA: 16 (+3)
15th: STR: 20 (+5) DEX: 12 (+1); CON: 16 (+3); INT: 10 (+0); WIS: 21 (+5); CHA: 18 (+4)
20th: STR: 20 (+5) DEX: 14 (+2); CON: 18 (+4); INT: 12 (+1); WIS: 22 (+6); CHA: 18 (+4)
Level 01: Healing Font, Warpriest Doctrine, General Training (Toughness), Trained Skills (Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Labor Lore, Medicine, Religion)
Level 02: Emblazon Armament, Battle Medicine
Level 03: Incredible Initiative, Increase Medicine to Expert
Level 04: Domain Initiate (Might), Continual Recovery
Level 05: Ancestry Feat, Increase Religion to Expert
Level 06: Divine Weapon, Titan Wrestler
Level 07: Fleet, Increase Religion to Master
Level 08: Channeled Succor, Battle Prayer
Level 09: Ancestry Feat, Increase Medicine to Master
Level 10: Replenishment of War, Sacred Defense
Level 11: General Feat, Increase Athletics to Expert
Level 12: Emblazon Antimagic, Robust Recovery
Level 13: Ancestry Feat, Increase Athletics to Master
Level 14: Advanced Domain, Skill Feat
Level 15: General Feat, Increase Medicine to Legendary
Level 16: Eternal Blessing or Shield of Faith, Skill Feat
Level 17: Ancestry Feat, Increase Athletics to Legendary
Level 18: Cleric Feat, Skill Feat
Level 19: Shield of Faith or Domain Focus, Increase Religion to Legendary
Level 20: Maker of Miracles, Skill Feat
That's the extent of what I've come up with so far, ancestry feats and latter skill feats I haven't decided; and admittedly some of this could shift depending on the type of campaign. General gist is I want him to attack, or disarm, with a rapier and a block with a shield in melee, while favoring WIS so that he can make use out of Cayden Cailean's granted spells plus any save/attack spells on the divine list as needed.
Even though you did write that would not like to get into an archetype... but to be honest? I think that you gain a lot going into Bastion or Sentinel or actually even both.
With Bastion you could pick disarming block, that would attempt to disarm the target as a free action during your block and then even the success effect of disarm would give the enemy -2 to further attacks against you and on your turn you would gain +2 to actively disarm the opponent.
Sentinel take advantage of Warpriest natural medium armor making it heavy, making your reflex saving throws better, gaining the armor specialization or even mighty bulwark if you wish.
You're right, Warpriest is pretty difficult to bring together.
So tough I wouldn't recommend it.
10 Con on an 8 h.p./level class (even with early Toughness) w/ average AC means many of your Heal spells will be cast on yourself. That's assuming from the description that you'll want to scrap. Bastion & Sentinel can aid the "average AC" part, but you'll still need to skirmish more than stand your ground.
As your build goes, you'll be a second-tier melee participant and second-tier caster* (though both will fluctuate by level, by late game it's pretty set). Your Heal spells will be your most significant contribution in tougher battles and eventually you'll need Heroism simply to maintain viability (not to actually catch up to any dedicated martials). If that suffices, go for it.
*when it comes to offense or counteracting. If casting mainly defense/utility spells, your PC will be as good as any, but then you can also afford to have less Wis so you can get some Con.
Yet if you want a scrapper whose primary role is scrapping, then you'll need to change classes. That full casting has a lot of hidden costs and it takes a lot of investment & spells to catch up to where martials begin. For a "warpriest" that emphasizes the war part, you'd need to go with a Champion or maybe a different martial w/ MCD Cleric or maybe Blessed to show your devotion.
For emphasis on the priest part, then Cloistered w/ Sentinel (and maybe Shield Block). Your PC would be able to dabble in melee then have the full proficiency when using spells offensively during boss battles.
Warpriests are limited. At risk of just piling on another archetype bonanza, have you considered just going Swashbuckler with a Cleric dedication, or maybe Blessed One?
I also think a Champion with the Duelist or Swashbuckler archetypes could be fun, and then you'd get the actual anathema/edicts powers over the swashbuckling prowess. I've had a very successful Champion of Cayden Cailean in one of my games, and he seems to be pretty fun and has a lot of options in combat the way he's built. Half-orc to boot.
If you haven't seen it, I recently had a warpriest build and some discussion about it here.
I basically went with Sentinel for heavy armor and Bastion for Reactive Shield and Quick Shield block. Switched around some feats eventually so the first post doenst have the "final" build.
Continue with Wisdom 18 and Constitution 10, at low lvls the impact of CON is more for saving throws than HP to be honest. Just buy one or two anti poison that is what is dangerous at low lvls for the CON problems.
Thanks for the input all! I can definitely see the merit in an archetype that grants heavy armor proficiency.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My advise, don’t boost Wisdom much/at all and focus on supporting spells rather than offensive spells. Use your stat increases on your physical stats as you would with a fighter, with just a nod towards Wisdom and Charisma as Will saves are still important and Divine Font is great. Expect to supplement your Divine Font by preparing Heal in your spell slots now and again.
Then, mindset check: you are not a fighter, and you are not a high tier caster. You are a support character. You stand on the front to help block for the wizard and to take some of the hits for the fighter and rogue. You move to provide flanking so the rogue and fihter don’t blow their actions doing so and can attack more. You can cast some but mainly to give an edge to your fellows. Bless and Heal are bread and butter spells, aside from that you are jabbing with your rapier and raising your shield.
The support lifestyle isn’t for everybody, but it really makes a difference. Consider the impact of flanking with the rogue while Bless also effects the rogue... the rogue now has +3 to attack and gets Sneak Attack. Yes that took 2 out of your 3 actions to set up, and maybe you Raised Shield for your 3rd so “you didn’t do anything” but if the rogue can hit twice? Shoot, that was a well spent turn by you. And you can also attack instead of raising a shield and you get effectively a +3 to your attack as well.
This is the “classic” cleric build from past editions of D&D of old. It isn’t often flashy, but man everybody loves having one around. You are part healer, part tank, part striker, part buffer. Everybody's best friend and a great enabler.
If the party doesn’t have another character who can Treat Wounds, invest in Assurance.
Yeah... you're right. I envisioned him primarily as a supporting melee in the first place, he doesn't need that much WIS, I'll shift as much of that as I can to CHA.