I'm putting aside my SLA build for now since I'm having trouble coming to a decision with the classes. Instead I'm going back to my family party. The next member I need to do is my drow cleric.
This character is the older brother of my half-drow monk that has a level of cleric. She's a part of the Green Faith, although I'm leaning more towards Erastil for my full drow. It's the closest to the Green Faith while being an actual deity so I can use him in multiple settings without any problems. (If I put my monk into a game where the GM doesn't allow Green Faith clerics, I can just drop that for her without any problems.)
For the domains, I like Good and Plant. Other than that, I'm not entirely sure what to do. I've never made a cleric before. I do have two warpriests, but I had a clear concept in mind about how those characters fought so I knew what features I wanted. Here, all I know is that I want him to be more than just a heal-bot. Although I do want him to be able to efficiently heal.
Anyone have any suggestions?
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Personally, I like the Evangelist archetype for Inspire Courage. As a Drow, I would be mighty temtped to have at least a secondary focus on summoning... Drow have a racial feat called Spider Summoner, which is just fun.
Evangelist makes a good summoner, too, giving Inspire Courage to everything you summon is pretty legit.
Worship Erastil, shoot stuff with a bow, Inspire Courage, and pollute the battlefield with summons. You always have something you can do.
I would take Deific Obedience and Diverse Obedience for the 1st Evangelist Boon, 2nd Sentinel Boon, and 3rd Evangelist Boon. Wear some sort of hide/leather armor.
Don't Drow have Poison Use? Maybe play around with Toxic Spell? Probably not something a Good Cleric would use, nevermind.
Hm. Being a buffer and summoner could be pretty fun.
I probably wouldn't invest too much into the archery side of things... PBS and Precise Shot would probably be it, honestly. Whenever you can, pick up (or craft) a Tuned Bowstring to help conserve rounds of Performance. But other than that, I would only enchant the bow with base number increases, no stupid effects.
Depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go for summoning... as a Cleric, you have access to Sacred Summons. As a Drow you have access to Spider Summoner. And the usual Spell Focus/Augment Summons feats.
Obviously still going to want Divine Interference at 11. Probably taking Lingering Performance, too... earlier the better.
Something like:
1. Point Blank Shot
3. Lingering Performance
5. Precise Shot
7. Deific Obedience
9. Diverse Obedience
11. Divine Interference
Can just as easily swap in some summoning feats instead of Deific Obedience... it's all just how you prioritize different aspects of the build.
Could also play up the whole Drow thing... go Demonic Apostle, pretty sure it stacks with Crusader. Get a creepy Quasit familiar.
I don't really see it fitting your Erastil/Green Faith vision, though.
Yeah, it definitely wouldn't fit. Sounds pretty cool though. Maybe another character.
There's ways to make a cleric of Erastil into a good archer, especially with a prestige class (hinterlander, deadeye devotee or sentinel) but it requires quite a bit of focus on that. A summoner/buffer who carries a bow for use when spells aren't justified is a lot easier to make as a cleric.
When I think of a Drow Cleric, I immediately think of a Bad Touch build. I know that's kinda cliche but hear me out. You can be way more than a Heal-bot, because now you're a primary damage dealer, debuffer, and Crowd Controller (with Swarms, see below).
You would have to channel negative energy to get the most bang for your buck, so instead of Good & Plant domains, a Chaos (or Madness) and Vermin Domains (focus on Spiders) would be pretty cool. Also, ask your DM to change any ability/spell that specifically calls out a vermin type like ant/centipede/insect/etc. and turn it into a spider. No mechanical benefit, just for flavor because you're Drow.
I would make liberal use of summoning Swarms with Vomit Swarm for AoE Distract. <--- This is amazing Crowd Control/Debuffing.
Pro-Tip: You can also let your Familiar deliver Touch Spells for you whilst having it protected by the Swarm.
As far as a Deity, Groetus (Heavy Flail 1d10) or Gorum (Greatsword 2d6) would be good for this. A Deity that has Chaos Domain and a Reach weapon would be ideal, but I can't think of one atm.
Lvl 13 Cleric of Gorum/Groetus: Chaos and Vermin Domains
25 pt buy:
10 or 13 Str (13 if Power Attack)
12 Dex (10 + 2 Racial)
10 or 13 Con (12 or 15 -2 Racial) (13 if Improved Initiative)
8 Int
18 Wis
16 Cha (14 + 2 Racial)
Drow Cleric FCB: Select one domain power granted at 1st level that is normally usable a number of times per day equal to 3 + the cleric’s Wisdom modifier. The cleric adds +1/2 to the number of uses per day of that domain power.
^---- This gives you some extra Touch of Chaos uses per day.
Traits:
Reactionary
Feats:
Lvl1: Improved Initiative OR Power Attack
1 Dex + Imp Init + Greensting Familiar + Reactionary = +11 Initiative
It's super important for a Bad Touch Cleric to go first, or high in the Init order. Get those debuffs out as soon as possible. Alternatively, get Power Attack for more damage. If you get Imp Initiative, put Str down to 10 and Con to 13. If you get Power Attack, put Str at 13 and Con to 10. I would recommend going Imp Initiative though.
Lvl2:
Lvl3: Channeling Smite
Lvl4: +1 Wis
Lvl5: Guided Hand
Lvl6:
Lvl7: Quick Channel
Lvl8: +1 Wis
Lvl9: Selective Channel
Lvl10:
Lvl11: Vital Strike
Lvl12: +1 Wis
Lvl13: Dreamed Secrets (Add 2 Wiz/Sorc spells to Spells Known for 24 hours)
Get a +X Conductive Spell Storing Greatsword/Heavy Flail and a Phylactery of Negative Channeling, and put Bestow Curse in your Spell Storing.
Round 1:
Use Move Action either Move Into Position to Attack, OR, to Negative Channel with Quick Channel 7d6 + 2d6 (Cost: 2 Channels)
Use a Swift Action to Channel Smite for 7d6 (+2d6 Phylactery of NegChan) (Cost: 1 Channel)
Use Standard Action for Attack Action (Vital Strike): 2d10 or 4d6 weapon damage for Heavy Flail or Greatsword
Causes Bestow Curse (Free)
Conductive: Touch of Chaos: Roll twice, Keep Worse Result (Cost: 2 Touch of Chaos)
That's a lot of damage and debuffing if you really want to go Ham on a group of unfortunate souls.
I know you said you want to be able to heal, but I'd say just get a Wand of CLW for out-of-combat and let them buy potions for in-combat healing.
so instead of Good & Plant domains, a Chaos (or Madness) and Vermin Domains (focus on Spiders) would be pretty cool. Also, ask your DM to change any ability/spell that specifically calls out a vermin type like ant/centipede/insect/etc. and turn it into a spider. No mechanical benefit, just for flavor because you're Drow.
I would make liberal use of summoning Swarms with Vomit Swarm for AoE Distract. <--- This is amazing Crowd Control/Debuffing.
Pro-Tip: You can also let your Familiar deliver Touch Spells for you whilst having it protected by the Swarm.As far as a Deity, Groetus (Heavy Flail 1d10) or Gorum (Greatsword 2d6) would be good for this. A Deity that has Chaos Domain and a Reach weapon would be ideal, but I can't think of one atm.
Calistria is a Chaos-deity with the Whip. And the Vermin or Insect domains fit The Savored Sting perfectly as well (even though she doesn't have them o_0). Calistria would also allow upgrading the Greensting Familiar with Wasp Familiar: flying Greensting Scorpion with Imp statistics.
There are others like Abraxas (Whip), Baphomet (Glaive), Bokrug & Shiggarreb (Ranseur), and some special weapon deities like Mazmezz (Net), Yhidothrus (Spiked Chain), and Nocticula* (Hand Crossbow).
Since Drow have a racial +2 CHA bonus, the Eldritch Heritage feats might be viable to improve (touch) capabilities; useful bloodlines can be Aberrant, Abyssal, Scorpion, or even Shadow (if Poison Use is replaced with Shadow Sorcery). The 1st-level bloodline power can be traded for a bloodline familiar.
If Unarmed Strikes are desired, a 1-level dip into Oracle (Ascetic mystery) allows the Magus' Spellstrike ability but for cleric spells.
Hm. Being able to damage and heal with channel sounds pretty good. I know my current GM is good with Green Faith clerics. I guess if I get into a game where the GM isn't good with it, I'll play another character.
Green Faith gets Druid weapon proficiency, which includes Scimitar. I can go Dex or Str with that pretty easily.
I definitely don't want an evil cleric for this character. It just doesn't fit with his backstory.
Green Faith still has the Plant domain, so I can keep that. I think the Earth domain would be fitting for the other.
Ok. Since drows have a dex boost, I think I'll go Dex based. I'll need Weapon Finesse and Dervish Dance, but it's a lot faster than other dex to damage feat chains. This is the best stat spread I could come up with.
10 Str, 15 Dex, 11 Con, 12 Int, 16 Wis, 14 Cha.
So... Dervish Dance? Melee, huh?
Did you decide on an archetype? Evangelist still makes sense with the dancing prerequisites of Dervish Dance.
I still think an Evangelist Cleric archer/summoner would be more beneficial 99% of the time. Use Perfom Oratory, and grab Discordant Voice to buff everyone with Sonic Damage whilst you safely plink away with your bow...
Even if I go with a bow instead of the Scimitar, the stats would be about the same. So I don't need to change anything there.
Does your Dark Elf Cleric have a name? Male, right? Older brother...
I'm picturing spiked breastplate over a robe... spikes on the shoulders as tall as your pointed ears... your armor is glossy black, it matches your hair... your long black hair flows like a stain over you shimmering minor Cloak of Displacement.
The rhythmic TWANG of your Tuned Bowstring provides an encouraging battle tempo for your many allies... those of your party, AND those you manifest yourself.
If you have an out of combat Domain Power to apply your FCB to, that would help round out the character quite a bit...
14 Cha on a cleric suggests that you see channeling as important for some reason. Yes I know it's 12+2, it's still an investment. That being so you need to shovel as many feats as possible into channeling to make it worthwhile; channeling wants either no investment or a lot, moderation is wasted.
Hm. Being able to damage and heal with channel sounds pretty good. I know my current GM is good with Green Faith clerics. I guess if I get into a game where the GM isn't good with it, I'll play another character.
Green Faith gets Druid weapon proficiency, which includes Scimitar. I can go Dex or Str with that pretty easily.
I definitely don't want an evil cleric for this character. It just doesn't fit with his backstory.
Green Faith still has the Plant domain, so I can keep that. I think the Earth domain would be fitting for the other.
You don't need to be "evil" to channel negative energy, you can mechanically be neutral but thematically lean towards Good. Let's just say your character is a Good person but has a Dark Side when pissed off :)
Bows on a Drow seems like blasphemy. What's wrong with the Hand Crossbow? And being a neutral follower of Nocticula is fun! :D
And Voodist Monk is right to suggest the Toxic Spell metamagic. Combine it with the Flare cantrip and the Magical Lineage (/Wayang Spellhunter) trait and you can poison people with magic! Also works with Touch of Fatigue, Blinding Ray, Blood of the Martyr or the [non-Cleric spells] Dust of Twilight, Piercing Shriek, Accelerate Poison.
It's plain awesome for arcane casters (False Focus + Oil of Taggit + spell DC bonuses) but still very thematic for all Drow.
I don't have a name for him yet. Though I do have a bit of an image in mind. Long silver hair and ruby eyes.
I know I only have to be neutral to channel negative energy. I just don't want this guy to be actually evil.
I like the Versatile Channeler idea. Being able to switch back and forth from healing and hurting with the same ability is neat. And the summoning idea mentioned fairly early in the thread. The Herald Caller archetype gives the ability to sacrifice a prepared spell to use a Summon Monster spell. And since it doesn't call out losing the ability to do the same for Cure or Inflict spells, I can still do that.
Plus, I don't think I want to do an archer that uses Bardic Performances. I've already got a character that does exactly that. So I want to do something different.
The only problem is that I lose a domain. So I'd have to choose between Plant or Earth. I like the domain spells in Plant better, but I prefer Earth's first level domain power.
F!ck... you do have the Orc Bard archer...
Go full, gross Drow Demonic Apostle... you get to Channel Negative Energy regardless of your deity... be Good, if you must... lol.
Herald caller gives the necessary feats for summoning so you can use the others on channeling. That seems like it should work.
Specifically you need selective channeling and versatile channeling, and channel variance and/or quick channel could be useful, and once you're using 3+ feats on channeling then extra channel seems like a no-brainer.
Shooting acid darts for minimal damage isn't useful IMO. Go for plant.
Herald Caller Cleic it is. And Plant domain as well. I'll leave off on taking dex to damage feats and just stay out of melee. I can buy a kunai for if I get forced into melee and a crossbow or shortbow for when I need to attack between spells normally.
Does Versatile Summon Nature's Ally work with the Summon Monster spell at all? I don't know if I'm going to take it, I'm mostly just wondering.
Well, no. You take versatile summon monster to use with summon monster spells.
Ok.
So, I'll need Versatile Channeler to be able to use both positive and negative energy. Selective Channeling to be able to exclude people I don't want to hit when I channel.
I also found a couple that look kinda neat. Purifying Channel will let me deal fire damage to one target that I exclude when channeling positive energy to heal everyone else.
Wild Growth Channel requires two extra uses of channeling, but it causes vines to grow that can cause targets to become stuck to the square. Sounds pretty handy for keeping enemies from being able to move around if needed.
You don't get that many uses of channel energy. 3+Cha = 5/day for you. This means you could use wild growth channel only once per day with two uses left over for other things. Marginal already, but then you might get quick channel...channeling variance is better.
Purifying channel is fine.
Well, the only variant channeling that the Green Faith gets are Air, Earth, and Fire. Doing less damage for a chance to catch foes on fire isn't really worth it and I doubt there's going to be an abundance of fire subtypes among allies.
Air's bonus is pretty situational and it doesn't say what the penalty to ranged attacks would be.
I guess getting DR/Adamantine is decent, though it's not much of it.
Negative earth is decent battlefield control. Your party will want feather step or flight if you get that though. Selective channeling helps a bit, as do means of changing the shape of the channeling area.
A channel bonus or penalty is +/- 1 per die of channeling you have. 3d6 means a +3 bonus or -3 penalty.
I will keep that in mind then.
Does the Vestments of War work for a Green Faith cleric?
No reason why not. It works regardless of your faith.
Oh good. That's a likely item on this character's buy list then.
Anyway, I've finished looking through the traits. Reactionary is always good, of course. Indomitable Faith for the Will save boost. There are 3 traits that give a boost to Fort in different categories.
Civilized can net Knowledge Local as a class skill. And Know the Land will give either Knowledge Nature or Survival as one.
Distance Aptitude treats my caster level as one higher to determine spell range.
I'm liking Know the Land as having Knowledge Nature fits the theme of a nature-worshipping cleric.
Ok, after thinking about it for a while, I think I'm going to drop the channeling stuff and concentrate on summoning. I think I'll grab a level of druid or hunter to get an animal companion as well. Here's a quick build.
LV1 Extra Channel, LV3 Wild Growth Channel, LV4 Augment Summoning (bonus), LV5 druid dip and Sacred Summons, LV7 Boon Companion, LV9 Superior Summoning (bonus) and Evolved Summoned Monster.
I know Wild Growth Channel isn't mechanically great, but it's very thematic.
Since I plan to take a level in either druid or hunter, I'll be getting both Knowledge Nature and Survival as class skills. So I don't think I'll need the Know The Land trait after all. I think I'll go with Distance Aptitude for the spell range boost.
A friend pointed out that an animal companion that doesn't scale up in level would end up pretty useless. And he's not wrong. So I'm dropping the level of druid and have moved some feats around. Here's what I'm thinking.
Traits: Reactionary and Know The Land.
Feats: LV1: Sacred Summons
LV3: Nature Soul
LV4: Augment Summoning (Bonus)
LV5: Animal Ally - Looking at either a cat for melee fighting alongside the summons or an owl for scouting.
LV7: Wild Growth Channel
LV8: Superior Summoning (Bonus)
LV9: Evolved Summon Monster
LV11: Boon Companion
LV13: Extra Channel
There's also the option of getting a familiar using Iron Will and Familiar Bond. I could go either way, depending on whether I want it fighting or possibly casting spells for me.
You probably want boon companion fairly soon after animal ally. A 4 HD kitty when you're 7th level, or 6HD when you're 9th is kind of like having a non-spellcasting wizard as your tank.
Good point. I'll put it at 7 and move everything else back a slot.
I was just informed that Sacred Summons doesn't work for clerics with true neutral deities. So I'm going to have to drop it. I'll just move everything up.
Ok. Here's what I got.
LV1: Nature Soul
LV3: Animal Ally
LV4: Augment Summoning (Bonus)
LV5: Boon Companion
LV7: Wild Growth Channel
LV8: Superior Summoning (Bonus)
LV9: Evolved Companion
LV11: Extra Channel
LV13: Evolved Summon Monster
I'm looking at the evolutions that give extra attacks for the companion and improving the natural armor for the summons.
The Wing Buffet evolution says that the eidolon needs the flight evolution first. Would that apply when using the Evolved Companion feat on an animal companion that has natural flight? I'm torn between an owl or a big cat.
He's a member of the Green Faith. He's the brother of a previous character who's also a member of the Green Faith. It's very important to her backstory which makes it important to his as well. I did consider Erastil at first since it's very close to the Green Faith. I switch to Green Faith completely when I thought about going with Versatile Channeling.
Although now that I'm not doing the Versatile Channeling, maybe I should go back to Erastil and grab Sacred Summons. I'd still be able to use the Plant domain and I'd have Longbow proficiency.
Ok, I'm switching to Erastil. RP-wise, that's similar enough to the Green Faith. I'll still have the Plant domain and will be able to use Sacred Summons. So here's what I'm thinking now:
LV1: Sacred Summons
LV3: Nature Soul
LV4: Augment Summoning (Bonus)
LV5: Animal Ally
LV7: Boon Companion
LV8: Superior Summoning (Bonus)
LV9: Wild Growth Channel
LV11: Evolved Companion - I'm looking at Wing Buffet on a Owl or Improved Damage if I go with a big cat.
LV13: Extra Channel
LV15: Evolved Summon Monster - Improved Damage here.
LV17: Evolved Companion - Either Improved Damage if using Wing Buffet earlier or Improved Natural Armor.
LV19: Evolved Summon Companion - Slam. Pretty sure most of what I'll be summoning won't have this attack.
Now I have to figure out whether or not to get both Knowledge Nature and Perception as class skills through traits, or only one of them to take Reactionary.
Perception is a heavily needed skill while Knowledge Nature is more for the theme. And as a summon-focused character, getting high on the initiative order is pretty important.