Do you have a lot of experience playing clerics? If so, can you give me some advice on optimizing my cleric?
It seems no matter which direction I take it, the results are underwhelming.
An AC of 14 feels like a death sentence, but going Warpriest and wearing armor for higher AC means that I'm now slow-as-molasses with only 15 speed. Every time I look at the pitiful physical attacks, I just think "why even bother?"
I even tried the new remaster oracle class, but that was a non-starter.
I've tried moving the attributes around, but that -2 Intelligence really hurts for someone who reveres a clever trickster goddess. Everything just seems spread too thin.
I really want to go Swarmkeeper, but the abilities for that are lackluster, and generally better for martials than for a caster (the archetype's action economy is not great for a caster).
Is this generally an issue for all clerics, or am I just doing something wrong? It seems like, to play a giant spider, I have to be subpar at being anything else. Just seems weird.
Really, any advice at all would be most appreciated.
I would move those two int boosts over to dex.
With this cleric you might benefit from focusing on the stealthy aspect of a spider.
Next pick a different weapon than the bola, your spider doesn't have athletics and strength to really do anything with them.
Maybe find the room to change a skill over to thievery and pick up dirty trick. Reflavor it as you spinning web and tangling it around a creatures legs or something like that.
Begin fights with avoid notice, come in with a dirty trick, then throw out a heal.
If that gets you heat, create a distraction or find cover and sneak off.
|
I would also suggest that you change int to dex, this gives you more AC and the option to take a ranged attack. Getting martial AC is not possible without investing into armor proficiency or dragonblood heritate, but a 16 might feel better than a 14.
You could use the alternate stat distribution with dex+wis and end up with wis+4, dex+3, int +1, con +1
You will lose a skill proficiency, but maybe having all the social skills with a meager +3 is trying a bit hard to be everything.
The bola is indeed not a good option without strength and athletics, you throw it once and that's it. Maybe use a shortbow for the first levels.
With your climb speed you can probably keep yourself safe from melee from time to time.
Dirty trick requires you to be in melee, not a place where i would see a cloistered cleric.
The cleric is optimized around picking an optimal deity for spells and focus spells. If you pick a suboptimal deity, the cleric will likely be suboptimal. So if you're doing something to have fun, you just build the best you can and enjoy the concept.
That being said there are a few ways to build a cleric that is optimal:
1. Go full caster cleric taking Nethys or some deity with decent blasting ability, then build to blast.
2. Two-hander channel smiting smasher. Pick a deity with a big weapon and some decent focus smells for hitting like Weapon Surge which I think is on mighty, then build to up channel smite. Stats should be Str, Dex, Con, and Wis. Get heavy armor when you can and maybe Mauler archetype for Slam Down. Beat stuff down, buff up, heal and be tough.
You need harm font to make the channel smite work.
3. Archer cleric. Pick a class with a bow as a weapon and decent focus spells. Be cloistered. Choose the archer archetype. Combine archery and blasting. Dex, Con, Wis main stats. Then whatever you want.
Cleric's strength comes from building a decent attack sequence with versatile casting ability and powerful healing. They can't give the cleric too much offense or it would break the game with all the healing they have.
Then judiciously use casting well. You're overall presence in a group will feel powerful with spells like bless if you are in melee or powerful healing mixed in with some offense.
I will try to keep the character concept as best as I can
Maybe use Anadi instead of Awakened animal for the giant spider thing? The human form can also be used as a form of trickery.
That also makes easier to keep having the Int and have a stats spread of 0STR/1CON/4WIS/2DEX/2INT/0CHA. Then prepare mystic armor for the lvls 1 and 2 for AC and at lvl 3 pick the armor general feat, and use something like trick magical item for tailwind.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks everyone! :D
I want to keep to the hideous-giant-spider-who-births-swarms-of-nasty-baby spiders concept. I just love the juxtaposition of something so horrifying to so many being called "Mother" which is typically someone we hold dear in our hearts. I'm also not too interested in the Anadi; I know I can reflavor it into a hideous spider monster and might even end better off mechanically, but the fact of the matter is that the people I play with (PFS randoms) won't ever see it that way. They'll just go "oh, an Anadi, eh?" and move on. There's also the size issue. There's a big difference in player reactions from a Medium Anadi piece on the board and having a large hideous spider mini on the board. The former might garner an "oh that's cute" while the latter might require that I ask new players if they suffer from arachnophobia prior to play.
GMs, in my experience, often won't acknowledge flavor changes either. I once had a little goblin inventor in a big mech suit, but the GM refused to (even if only conceptually) acknowledge his mech suit as being anything other than Small.
Everything else about Mother is fairly mutable though. I will certainly try swapping the attributes around. I hate to lose the Intelligence, but maybe it will be for the best. I picked the bola since it's the deity's favored weapon, and because I intend to take Athletics early on (a spider that can't climb well can't really be called a spider). I'll take a look at other weapons though to see what they offer. I also love the idea of using Dirty Trick as webbing.
Also, I certainly don't mind more general advice for other cleric characters. Please do keep it coming! :)
Nice but also please consider a more defensive role for a cleric.
Using a Shield and being a tough melee character is also an effective option
An AC of 14 feels like a death sentence, but going Warpriest and wearing armor for higher AC means that I'm now slow-as-molasses with only 15 speed. Every time I look at the pitiful physical attacks, I just think "why even bother?"
If you want the heavy armour then your options are:
1) invest in a mount OR2) invest in strength OR
3) accept the low base move
You could give up on spell casting for a while and use a battleform.
I've tried moving the attributes around, but that -2 Intelligence really hurts for someone who reveres a clever trickster goddess. Everything just seems spread too thin.
That you can't do everything is by design. Choosing not to invest in Dexterity means you need armour to have a reasonable AC. I know you want Intelligence for your concept, but getting it requires sacifices elsewhere. It is extremely hard to do for a gish character with another casting ability stat.
1) invest in a mount
Ooh, I hadn't considered that! A swarm of spiders riding a giant spider riding a gigantic spider. XD
Nice but also please consider a more defensive role for a cleric.
Using a Shield and being a tough melee character is also an effective option
I do usually use a shield with my caster clerics.
Archery seems like it would be practical for this kind of religious order.
If you are going to hang around giant spiders, the first thing you learn is how not to get caught in a web. And the simplest method is to never get close to it in the first place.
You can use the ranged attacks to finish off prey to help your new Insect regular Arachnid Overlords. The less damage to the web, the less they have to repair it. The less they have to work on repairs, the less likely they are going to eye you up as desert.
You can also turn this into you standard tactic- learn immobilizing spells like web, and then fire away. You can specialize your spell list to crowd control and debuffs.