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So I've been fooling around the the cleric seeing what i can do with it.
I can't go a strict combat cleric because until level 15 or so the warpriest is strictly better. So I realized you need to heavily focus on the casting aspect but no matter what i try could really only come up with 2 builds
One is a buffing focused support using the reach cleric concept as a base and exploiting AoO's and the other is a Summoning focused herald caller that doubles as a blaster using Burst of Radiance, Holy smite, flame strike, etc
Keep in mind this is assuming the cleric in question is good aligned, because i know the whole bad touch concept is a thing, but not only would i not know where to start, i want to make it a non lethal bad touch build and i dont know if i can do that while good aligned.
Is there any way to make this work?
Evangelist offers more options for buffing, and face spells. You can lean into save or suck offensive spells, eccleisiathrurge (or however it is really spelled) has good boosts to casting versatility, potentially helping many casting focused concepts.
Battlefield control isn't the easiest thing to do with a cleric, but I bet you could make a go of it with the right domains.
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Evangelist offers more options for buffing, and face spells. You can lean into save or suck offensive spells, eccleisiathrurge (or however it is really spelled) has good boosts to casting versatility, potentially helping many casting focused concepts.
Battlefield control isn't the easiest thing to do with a cleric, but I bet you could make a go of it with the right domains.
Yeah evangelist is the basis for my warrior cleric build and i know how good the eccleistiatheruge is its just i have no idea what to do with it given the god my builds focus on. Guess pure caster clerics and iomadae dont really mix?
It is going to depend on your deity. For Iomedea probably not a lot of options, but other deities may give better results.
For example, a cleric of Erastil could make a decent summoning cleric. Take the feather domain to get a bonus to perception and an animal companion. Take Spell Focus (Conjuration) and augmented summoning and at 5th level take spontaneous Nature’s Ally to allow you to spontaneously cast summon natures ally. Pick up boon companion at 7th level to get your animal companion up to full. The build takes a while to come online but once it is up seems to be pretty decent. You can convert any spell into either a cure spell or summon nature’s ally spell. Cure spells are conjuration so the spell focus will apply to that. Use the cure spells to damage undead and summons vs everything else. You also have a full animal companion and are proficient with the long bow. Your damage with the bow is not going to be great but it does give you a way to contribute to combat once you have summoned your creatures. This way you don’t have to memorize any summon spells but always have three options for every spell slot. Since clerics get summon monster spell on their list you can be summoning creatures from level 1.
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It is going to depend on your deity. For Iomedea probably not a lot of options, but other deities may give better results.
For example, a cleric of Erastil could make a decent summoning cleric. Take the feather domain to get a bonus to perception and an animal companion. Take Spell Focus (Conjuration) and augmented summoning and at 5th level take spontaneous Nature’s Ally to allow you to spontaneously cast summon natures ally. Pick up boon companion at 7th level to get your animal companion up to full. The build takes a while to come online but once it is up seems to be pretty decent. You can convert any spell into either a cure spell or summon nature’s ally spell. Cure spells are conjuration so the spell focus will apply to that. Use the cure spells to damage undead and summons vs everything else. You also have a full animal companion and are proficient with the long bow. Your damage with the bow is not going to be great but it does give you a way to contribute to combat once you have summoned your creatures. This way you don’t have to memorize any summon spells but always have three options for every spell slot. Since clerics get summon monster spell on their list you can be summoning creatures from level 1.
So if i worship iomadae it really is just either buff focus or archon summons huh?
Iomedae has "rulership" as an area of concern... Mmm, Dazing Channel... good, clean fun.
You also have War/Tactics in your Domain profile, so you kind of have access to a mini Martial Flexibility. You could VMC Cavalier, flex into different teamwork feats depending on the situation, and hand said teamwork feats out to your party.
Even if you don't want to use Iomedae's Crusader archetype, his Disciple of the Sword feat gives you Weapon Specialization, and access to Greater Weapon Focus/Specialization.
Pretty sure the Hubris subdomain gives you Intimidate as a class skill, which goes well with Iomedae's Inspiring Sword...
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I can't go a strict combat cleric because until level 15 or so the warpriest is strictly better.
Is there already a Warpriest in the party who is going to make everything you do redundant? If not then you absolutely can play a combat cleric, because for that campaign you will be the best at that thing.
Archer cleric works fine and you get both buff spells and domain abilities to boost it. You don’t even have to worship Erastil, as an elf is automatically proficient with bows and a half-elf can get it as a racial alternate ability. You just have to accept that your feats all go into the ‘archer’ part of your character and not the ‘full 9 level spellcaster’ bit.
Keep in mind this is assuming the cleric in question is good aligned, because i know the whole bad touch concept is a thing, but not only would i not know where to start, i want to make it a non lethal bad touch build and i dont know if i can do that while good aligned
Every CG deity offers the Chaos domain, with its bad touch available at level 1. Your PC will have to be CG himself.
Beyond that, you can always prepare inflict spells and combine them with metamagic. Merciful Spell is obvious if you want it to be nonlethal, you can add conditions with Sickening Spell or Fearsome Spell and at some point you might want Quicken Spell. The Magical Lineage (inflict light wounds) trait should be helpful. You won't win the powergaming prize 2023 with that, but it might be good enough for a given campaign.
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Keep in mind this is assuming the cleric in question is good aligned, because i know the whole bad touch concept is a thing, but not only would i not know where to start, i want to make it a non lethal bad touch build and i dont know if i can do that while good alignedEvery CG deity offers the Chaos domain, with its bad touch available at level 1. Your PC will have to be CG himself.
Beyond that, you can always prepare inflict spells and combine them with metamagic. Merciful Spell is obvious if you want it to be nonlethal, you can add conditions with Sickening Spell or Fearsome Spell and at some point you might want Quicken Spell. The Magical Lineage (inflict light wounds) trait should be helpful. You won't win the powergaming prize 2023 with that, but it might be good enough for a given campaign.
Right. I keep forgetting inflict light wounds actually isn't an evil aligned spell....for some reason.
Why would you want to go strictly combat with a cleric? The strongest thing they have is that they are a full divine prepared caster. That means they have access to their entire spell list. A lot of the spells on their list are highly specialized. This often means that under normal circumstances the spells are not that good, but in the right circumstance they are incredible. Everyone seems to think that the wizard is the one with that advantage, but really it is the cleric. Wizards can theoretically know any spell but in reality they have limits on what they know. The cleric actually does know all their spells.
A cleric can most certainly focus on combat, but would be a fool to limit themselves to combat. They may not match the the warpreist but they can still be effective. Clerics increased magic more than makes up for having less combat ability than a warpreist. Both classes have a blend of combat and magic. The cleric focuses more on the magic, where the warpreist focus more on combat. The warpreists ability to buff as a swift action is a huge advantage so they will tend to focus on combat spells.
What a cleric can focus on is going to be heavily influenced by their deity. Iomeda is a warrior goddess so her followers tend to focus on those things related to war. She does have both Glory and Sun domains so in an undead focused campaign focusing on channel energy is always an option. But if the campaign does not have a lot of undead this will probably not be a good choice.
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Why would you want to go strictly combat with a cleric? The strongest thing they have is that they are a full divine prepared caster. That means they have access to their entire spell list. A lot of the spells on their list are highly specialized. This often means that under normal circumstances the spells are not that good, but in the right circumstance they are incredible. Everyone seems to think that the wizard is the one with that advantage, but really it is the cleric. Wizards can theoretically know any spell but in reality they have limits on what they know. The cleric actually does know all their spells.
A cleric can most certainly focus on combat, but would be a fool to limit themselves to combat. They may not match the the warpreist but they can still be effective. Clerics increased magic more than makes up for having less combat ability than a warpreist. Both classes have a blend of combat and magic. The cleric focuses more on the magic, where the warpreist focus more on combat. The warpreists ability to buff as a swift action is a huge advantage so they will tend to focus on combat spells.
What a cleric can focus on is going to be heavily influenced by their deity. Iomeda is a warrior goddess so her followers tend to focus on those things related to war. She does have both Glory and Sun domains so in an undead focused campaign focusing on channel energy is always an option. But if the campaign does not have a lot of undead this will probably not be a good choice.
Well i know iomadae has the tactics and heroism subdomain and those are useful even if you arent that much of a fighter. I do have a better idea what i want now but i want the cleric to have a focus on non lethal damage while still adhering to that warrior spirit. Which one of iomadaes domains would be good for that tho if any?
If you want to focus on non-lethal damage Sarenrae is your best bet as a deity. Her divine fighting technique allows you to deal non-lethal damage with spells with the fire, good or light descriptors. Being able to toss out a fireball that does non-lethal damage is pretty good.
Iomedea always seemed to be a somewhat unforgiving deity. Sure, she gives evildoers a chance to surrender, but if they don’t, she does not seem to mind cutting them down. Her focus seems to be more on fighting evil than helping people. Not to say she and her church don’t help people but the focus seems to be more on punishing evil, than anything else. In the Taboo section of Faiths of Purity, it lists her biggest taboo as failing to right a wrong. Sarenrae’s taboo is casual cruelty or thoughtlessness that harms another.
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If you want to focus on non-lethal damage Sarenrae is your best bet as a deity. Her divine fighting technique allows you to deal non-lethal damage with spells with the fire, good or light descriptors. Being able to toss out a fireball that does non-lethal damage is pretty good.
Iomedea always seemed to be a somewhat unforgiving deity. Sure, she gives evildoers a chance to surrender, but if they don’t, she does not seem to mind cutting them down. Her focus seems to be more on fighting evil than helping people. Not to say she and her church don’t help people but the focus seems to be more on punishing evil, than anything else. In the Taboo section of Faiths of Purity, it lists her biggest taboo as failing to right a wrong. Sarenrae’s taboo is casual cruelty or thoughtlessness that harms another.
Yeah thats kind of why im seriously considering the sepratist archtype because thats the middle ground i wanna hit. Someone who for the most part still believes in Iomadae's cause, but wants to adopt some of saranrae's teachings.
Not to change the subject, but there's a third-party class The Priest. Way more squishy, with greater spell casting and more skills. From a story perspective I can see this class having a different role than the Cleric, with the Cleric being an armored combat oriented hand of God and the Priest being more of a face with more skills.
Is anybody else here familiar with the priest class? I think it's a cool concept.
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Not to change the subject, but there's a third-party class The Priest. Way more squishy, with greater spell casting and more skills. From a story perspective I can see this class having a different role than the Cleric, with the Cleric being an armored combat oriented hand of God and the Priest being more of a face with more skills.
Is anybody else here familiar with the priest class? I think it's a cool concept.
There's actually a similar archetype known as the cardinal has 1/2 bab and only one domain but has must better skills
The Priest gets Three domains! I will have a look at this Cardinal.
Have you considered Inquisitor, if you want to go combat-focused? They can even get a domain, if you are so inclined. If channeling is not a big deal to you, and you want to do physical damage, it seems a little odd to insist upon a 9 level caster at the cost of all the rest you struggle to accomplish as stated goals.
Archery clerics can also be a strong combat-focused option. Especially with the hinterlander PrC or the deadye devotee variant of the arcane archer.