Which one of these cleric builds would you say is better?

[Malik Gyan Daumantas]

OK....after finally working my mind through this, i divided my ideas into 2 separate builds once again, which one do you guys like better? I made sure to take the info i got from the people who replied to my previous posts into account(Much appreciated by the way)

Fire Domain
Fire Bolt
Fire Resist

Domain Spells:
1st Burning Hands(Intensified)
2nd Produce Flame
3rd Fireball(Intensified)
4th Wall of fire
5th Fire shield
6th Fire seeds

1.Burning Amplification
3.Deific Obediance(Saranrae)
5.Energy Channel(Fire)
7.Heightened Spell
9.Maximize Spell
11.Prefered Spell(Flame Blade)
13.Dazing Spell

OR

Fire Domain
Fire Bolt
Fire Resist

Domain Spells:
1st Burning Hands
2nd Produce Flame
3rd Fireball
4th Wall of fire
5th Fire shield
6th Fire seeds

1.Sacred Summons
3.Deific Obediance(Saranrae)
Bonus Feat:Augment Summoning
5.Summon Good Monster
7.Merciful Spell
Bonus Feat:Superior Summoning
9.Heightened Spell
11.Prefered Spell(Flame Blade)
13.Dazing Spell

The second one has more of a focus on summoning with fire and flame blade as secondary options

the first one however goes all in on the fire, and makes them so hot and unbearable that only those with flat out immunity can bear it

[Meirril]

The first build will be easier to play. Summoning builds have a few problems.

The first problem is Summoning spells are Full Round Casting. That means no summoning during a surprise round, and you give the GM an opportunity to ruin your summons.

The second problem is summoned creatures make your round take longer. Not only do you have to keep track of what your summons can do, how much damage it takes, and what attacks it can perform, that all changes when you summon a different creature. While this is very flexable and should offer you a wide range of attacks and special abilities...it comes at a cost that annoys other people around your table. That might annoy you too.

The third problem with summoned creatures is they are weak. Compared to what you will be facing, the summoned creature is a cream puff. Don't be surprised when they are ineffective. You'll probably need to depend on buffs or tricks to make your summons effective (like summoning a horde of lantern archons + bard song + Blessings of Fervor).

Also instead of taking Merciful Spell, consider taking Saranrae's Divine Fighting Technique. Most of your offensive spells will be fire, light or good. Mercy has to be applied when the spell is prepared, Saranrae's DFT can be applied as the spell is cast. Also Saranrae's DFT can be applied to scimitar attacks.

[MrCharisma]

Meirril wrote:

The first build will be easier to play. Summoning builds have a few problems.

The first problem is Summoning spells are Full Round Casting. That means no summoning during a surprise round, and you give the GM an opportunity to ruin your summons.

SACRED SUMMONS solves that problem, and the 2nd build has Sacred Summons

Quote:

The second problem is summoned creatures make your round take longer. Not only do you have to keep track of what your summons can do, how much damage it takes, and what attacks it can perform, that all changes when you summon a different creature. While this is very flexable and should offer you a wide range of attacks and special abilities...it comes at a cost that annoys other people around your table. That might annoy you too.

This on the other hand is a huge problem. I would never recommend a summoning build for new players because unless you really know what you're doing it'll slow everything down too much.

Summons are strong, but they're complicated and time consuming.

[avr]

Sacred summons isn't usable until the character gets summon good monster. If you have to play from level 1 that's a pain, but not necessarily a dealbreaker.

Deific obedience is just +2 perception until level 12. I'm not sure I'd spend a feat on it much before then if at all; +2 perception is nice but not worth a feat, and as a cleric you do not need SLAs of way underleveled spells.

I don't see flame blade dervish anywhere, which is a surprise.

Maximize spell is overpriced relative to empower spell.

That said? I'd go with the first. Setting people on fire can be fun.

[Malik Gyan Daumantas]

I forgot to mention in both cases the idea is to prestige into evangelist