Hello everyone. This is my first post here, as I'm really flat footed. Recently, my cleric, for story reasons, switched from the domains of Trickery and Madness to others due to a change of deity. This was not accounted by my side, however, I didn't mind: in fact, I like the idea storywise. My new available domains are Glory, Protection, good,law, nobility, strength, healing. My previous build was Bobo's, the bad touch cleric. I'd like to play a melee buffer cleric.
My current stats (which cannot be changed) are: 14 Strength, 14 Constitution, 12 Dexterity, 8 Intelligence, 8 Charisma, and 22 Wisdom. The character is a level 7 human. The feats I was thinking about (can be changed) for the new build so far are heavy armour proficiency, guided hand, channel smite, heighten spell and preferred spell
As for weapons, I use a bastard sword as my new deity's favored weapon and a shield. The other players are playing an Inquisitor, a Swashbuckler, a Wizard, and a Psionic.
There's a lot of damage dealt by both melee and ranged characters, however they lack protection, healing, debuffs and buffs. I would really need your help building a character that can keep up with more experienced players. Thanks in advance.
Ouch this is going to be fairly difficult to pull off. Clerics are an incredibly versatile class and can be built to do almost anything, but they cannot do everything. That is one reason that makes the class difficult for a beginner. In all honesty I normally recommend beginners avoid clerics. As a divine prepared caster they have access to every spell on their list they are high enough level to cast. Their spell list also has a lot of very situational spells. Those spells tend to be either incredibly useful or completely worthless depending on the situation. That means the player has to be familiar with all his spells which most beginners are not. But you are playing a cleric so the only thing to do is to make the best of it. I would recommend spending a lot of time going over all your spells especially the more obscure ones.
The most important thing when building a cleric is to figure out what you want the character to do and focus on that. If you try to do everything you end up doing nothing well. The role of a melee cleric can be done, but honestly a warpriest is much better at this than the cleric. You also focused mostly on WIS so that is going to make it even more difficult. With the constraints of your stats, I am not sure that is a wise choice. Guided Hand requires two feats and will boost your chance to hit but does nothing for your damage.
If you are going to go with a melee cleric you need to be able to do damage when you hit. Since your stats are already fixed, we need to look at other ways to get your damage up. Ditch Heightened Spell and Preferred spell and take power attack. Ditch the shield and use the sword two handed for the extra damage.
Since you are focusing on melee combat that means you will often be on the front line when casting spells. Casting spells provokes AoO unless you cast defensively which requires a concentration check. As it stands your chance of casting defensively will very low. You have a 15% chance to fail casting defensively when you cast a 1st level spell that goes up to a 45% chance for your 4th level spells. Take Combat Casting to reduce this so your character can actually cast spells on the front line. With Combat Casting you have no chance of failing on a 1st level spell, and only a 25% chance of failing on a 4th level spell. If you are using traits and they can be changed you can take a trait like focused mind to give you an additional +2 on your concentration to reduce those numbers by 10%. At that point you no chance of failure on a 1st or 2nd level spells, a 5% on a 3rd level spell and a 15% on a 4th level spell.
With your stats and the constraints on what you can change you might want to focus less on melee and more on casting. Even with this build you are probably going to fall behind the inquisitor and swashbuckler. That would require completely different feats, and your combat ability would be much less.
If your GM would allow you to swap to a warpriest we could do a lot better.
I have posted some examples;
→ Cleric-Varisian Pilgrim with Pal 2 Minette female human Pal 2 Clr-VPlgrm(Desna) 3.
→ Bard with Clr 1 Giselle Anisia Mariinsky Celje Povlova female human Cleric(Clr)1 (Reymenda CG) Bard(Brd)4 where you could go mostly cleric rather than bard.
→ Wizard-Diviner w Clr-VPlgrm 1 Thalevoh male human Clr-VPlgrm(Chaldira NG Dom: Luck, Trickery; Wpn: sht sword) 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 & Rouillé Hasarderth male aasimar Clr-VPlgrm 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 (with Bastard sword!). Again, you can go Cleric and limit Wiz to Lvl 1 -or- just use them as samples.
=== now to your case ===
You have a human with Ability scores [14, 12, 14, 8, 22, 8] at 7th level {hint-never a good idea to have scores below 10}. I will assume there's a +1 at 4th on Wis. Domains(Glory, Protection, Good, Law, Nobility, Strength, Healing), FvdWpn:Bastard sword (extc & mrtl prfc).
Pathfinder is very front loaded so many optimal decisions have to be planned for at the start.
hmmm... options are; Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk(unarmored), Shaman, Warpriest. For buffing it is hard to beat Cleric-Varisian Priest but you have to watch your Domains and your listed domains don't match, and the archetype is not worth losing a domain! *dang*. With Cleric as the main class only Fighter and Monk(unarmored) remain as others are duplicative. The low Int & Cha limit your choices.
With your ability scores I'm going to suggest Monk-Flowing 2 then Cleric-Ecclesitheurge X Dom:(healing, {whatever}). It means you will have to give up armor & shield but gain saves, AC, domain flexibility.
Otherwise Cleric, or Ftr 2 Cleric X.
→ Cleric-Varisian Pilgrim with Pal 2 Minette female human Pal 2 Clr-VPlgrm(Desna) 3.
→ Bard with Clr 1 Giselle Anisia Mariinsky Celje Povlova female human Cleric(Clr)1 (Reymenda CG) Bard(Brd)4 where you could go mostly cleric rather than bard.
→ Wizard-Diviner w Clr-VPlgrm 1 Thalevoh male human Clr-VPlgrm(Chaldira NG Dom: Luck, Trickery; Wpn: sht sword) 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 & Rouillé Hasarderth male aasimar Clr-VPlgrm 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 (with Bastard sword!). Again, you can go Cleric and limit Wiz to Lvl 1 -or- just use them as samples.
=== now to your case ===
You have a human with Ability scores [14, 12, 14, 8, 22, 8] at 7th level {hint-never a good idea to have scores below 10}. I will assume there's a +1 at 4th on Wis. Domains(Glory, Protection, Good, Law, Nobility, Strength, Healing), FvdWpn:Bastard sword (extc & mrtl prfc).
Pathfinder is very front loaded so many optimal decisions have to be planned for at the start.
hmmm... options are; Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk(unarmored), Shaman, Warpriest. For buffing it is hard to beat Cleric-Varisian Priest but you have to watch your Domains and your listed domains don't match, and the archetype is not worth losing a domain! *dang*. With Cleric as the main class only Fighter and Monk(unarmored) remain as others are duplicative. The low Int & Cha limit your choices.
With your ability scores I'm going to suggest Monk-Flowing 2 then Cleric-Ecclesitheurge X Dom:(healing, {whatever}). It means you will have to give up armor & shield but gain saves, AC, domain flexibility.
Otherwise Cleric, or Ftr 2 Cleric X.
Thanks again for your response. Say I could switch to a warpriest (which is actually viable storywise). What would you suggest?
Unfortunately, due to plot reasons, I cannot ditch the shield (for now), and by next session I shall come with a new build.
Traits
Exemplar-Curator of Mystic Secrets:Spon cast w metamagic at no time increase [2+trait(Mag)/d]
Magical Lineage(Mag) ummm... cure mod wounds:C2(for the spell option below as Undead will get saves and your channeling is in the toilet) or shackle:C2.
Feats
Weapon Focus (Gnrl; Wpn Prfc, BAB +1) Bstrd swd.
Power Attack(Gnrl; Str 13, BAB +1)
range opt: Precise & Point Blank shot. Weapon Focus Bow {now they're sacred!}.
spell opt: Spell Focus Conj +1 DC & Varisian Tattoo (Gnl; SplFcs) Conj +1CL, acid splash 0@Lvl [3/d]. Reach Spl MM(MM) (+1 to +3 for Rng[Tch, Cls, Med, Lng]) for ranged cures. Also Augment Summoning is an option.
overall - you've pumped A LOT into Wisdom and that means spellcasting. Warpriest plays down that investment. Ftr2 Clr 5 might be a better path to use that investment. Fighter nets you 2 feats but yes - it thunks spellcasting.
Cleric 7: BAB+5, F+5 R+2 W+5, ChnlEnrg 4d6, Spellcasting(Clr list, SA:Wis) 0:4, 1:4+1, 2:3+1, 4:2+1, 5:1+1 and wisdom will only increase those.
Fighter 2: BAB+2, F+3 R+0 W+0, Bns Feat, Bns Feat.
Cleric 5: BAB+3, F+4 R+1 W+4, ChnlEnrg 3d6, Spellcasting(Clr list, SA:Wis) 0:4, 1:3+1, 2:2+1, 4:1+1 and wisdom will only increase those.
You lose Fifth level spells and 1 Reflex (Will is a don't care due to Wisdom) but pick up weapons(*pfft*) and 2 feats.
Spellcasting is powerful, the divine list not so much but it's better than swinging a sword. So for me Clr-Eccl really plays on Wisdom and Monk added the defense. Clr7 is better than Ftr2+Clr5. But the Ftr/Clr has better spell growth than the WarPrst7. They're all decent and playable builds and each of the four has their strengths.
Monk-Flow 2 Clr-Eccl 5 build:
Classes
Monk - Flowing Monk arch 2: BAB+1, F+3 R+3 W+3, FoB +0/0, UnDmg 1d6, AC+0+5, FstMov+0; BnsF:Impvd Reposition +2 CM Repstn no AoO & +2 vs CM Repstn, FoB(Ex), Redirct(Ex) immd actn CM {+2 PwrAtk, +2 Chrg} repostn/trip then Rflx16 else sick 1r, F:UnStrk, UnblncCntr(Ex) w AoO Rflx16 else flat footed until Monks turn, Evasion(Ex). Prfc: club, crssbws, dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, qtrstaff, sai, shtspear, sht swd, shuriken, siangham, sling, spear.
Cleric - Ecclesitheurge 5 Dom:Healing, Nobility, Fvd Wpn: Bstrd swd. Bond Obj: amulet. BAB+3, F+4 R+1 W+4, ChnlEnrg 2d6, Aura(Ex), ChnlEnrg(Pos) Will 11 [2/d], Dom: Healing, Nobility, Spon Cast "cure" for prp'd SplLvl, Vow:no armr/shld else lose BoF, Dom pwrs, BoF: std actn ally in Cls Rng +2 sacrd Atks, Skl chks, Abil chks, or Saves, or AC until Eclth next turn + expended ChnlEnrg(dice) rnds, Dom Mstry, Cast Clr spls, Bond Holy Symbol(amulet), Spls(Divn Clr List, SA:Wis):4, 3+1, 2+1, 1+1. Prfc: no changes, plus Bastard sword(extc & mrtl).
Trait
Exemplar-Curator of Mystic Secrets:Spon cast w metamagic at no time increase [2+trait(Mag)/d]
Magical Knack(Mag)
Feats
H: Spell Focus(Gnrl) Evok +1 DC.
1: Varisian Tattoo (Gnl; SplFcs) Evok +1CL, dancing lights 0@Lvl [3/d].
3: Weapon Focus (Gnrl; Wpn Prfc, BAB +1) Bstrd swd.
5: Power Attack(Gnrl; Str 13, BAB +1)
7: Reach Spl MM(MM) (+1 to +3 for Rng[Tch, Cls, Med, Lng])
Persistent Spl MM(MM) (+2) targets must make 2 sv.
=== end ===
(I'm a heavy editor - so you might want to delete some of your posts or condense them into 1 post)
→ Cleric-Varisian Pilgrim with Pal 2 Minette female human Pal 2 Clr-VPlgrm(Desna) 3.
→ Bard with Clr 1 Giselle Anisia Mariinsky Celje Povlova female human Cleric(Clr)1 (Reymenda CG) Bard(Brd)4 where you could go mostly cleric rather than bard.
→ Wizard-Diviner w Clr-VPlgrm 1 Thalevoh male human Clr-VPlgrm(Chaldira NG Dom: Luck, Trickery; Wpn: sht sword) 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 & Rouillé Hasarderth male aasimar Clr-VPlgrm 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 (with Bastard sword!). Again, you can go Cleric and limit Wiz to Lvl 1 -or- just use them as samples.
=== now to your case ===
You have a human with Ability scores [14, 12, 14, 8, 22, 8] at 7th level {hint-never a good idea to have scores below 10}. I will assume there's a +1 at 4th on Wis. Domains(Glory, Protection, Good, Law, Nobility, Strength, Healing), FvdWpn:Bastard sword (extc & mrtl prfc).
Pathfinder is very front loaded so many optimal decisions have to be planned for at the start.
hmmm... options are; Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk(unarmored), Shaman, Warpriest. For buffing it is hard to beat Cleric-Varisian Priest but you have to watch your Domains and your listed domains don't match, and the archetype is not worth losing a domain! *dang*. With Cleric as the main class only Fighter and Monk(unarmored) remain as others are duplicative. The low Int & Cha limit your choices.
With your ability scores I'm going to suggest Monk-Flowing 2 then Cleric-Ecclesitheurge X Dom:(healing, {whatever}). It means you will have to give up armor & shield but gain saves, AC, domain flexibility.
Otherwise
...
I gave a quick look at the guide. Intreesting. However my stats are the main constraint. I'd like to have more details about the build you were suggesting, if you'd be so kind.
Traits
Exemplar-Curator of Mystic Secrets:Spon cast w metamagic at no time increase [2+trait(Mag)/d]
Magical Lineage(Mag) ummm... cure mod wounds:C2(for the spell option below as Undead will get saves and your channeling is in the toilet) or shackle:C2.
Feats
Weapon Focus (Gnrl; Wpn Prfc, BAB +1) Bstrd swd.
Power Attack(Gnrl; Str 13, BAB +1)
range opt: Precise & Point Blank shot. Weapon Focus Bow {now they're sacred!}.
spell opt: Spell Focus Conj +1 DC & Varisian Tattoo (Gnl; SplFcs) Conj +1CL, acid splash 0@Lvl [3/d]. Reach Spl MM(MM) (+1 to +3 for Rng[Tch, Cls, Med, Lng]) for ranged cures. Also Augment Summoning is an option.
done. you can go Ranged, more Martial(not detailed), or spellcasting.
Monk-Flow 2 Clr-Eccl 5: 5 feats +1&1 monk feats
the spoiler above. Note the focus on Combat Maneuvers.
Clr 7: 5 feats
pretty much 2 martial feats(Wpn Fcs, Pwr Atk) and 3 Spell option feats(Spl Fcs, Var Tatt, Range MM). Low CHA means avoid channeling feats.
Clr 5/ Ftr 2: 5 feats + 2 combat feats
pretty much the same as the warpriest.
the trick is most of your feats have to boltser spellcasting or combat. You can do 2 combat feats but more than that eats into spellcasting feats. Your CHA means channeling is not that important. IMO you want to be a martial PC but your ability scores say caster. So you can be a caster with some martial ability. Cleric and Warpriest classes are martial spellcasters. Clr/Ftr & warpriest are on the more martial side. Clr-Eccl/Monk is in the middle. Clr7 is a caster.
Within those 4 it's really a matter of taste.
Warpriest would work even with the WIS focus. Normally I would not recommend guided hand, but it can work on this build. Your high WIS gives you enough bonus to hit you can afford the penalty for power attack even if you are using it one handed it still boost your damage. That and the extra feats warpriest gets make for a better melee focused character. Make sure to pick up weapon specialization and latter get greater weapon focus and weapon specialization. If you are human, the FCB of warpriest will give you and extra feat ever 6 levels.
WIS also gives you more uses of Fervor and that allows more uses of channel energy More Fervor also allows you to cast self-buffs on yourself as a swift action. This reduces the need for combat casting.
Take Fates Favored and load up on divine favor. Being able to get a +4 to hit and damage as a swift action is really good. This might even be worth taking heightened spell and preferred spell for.
If your GM will let you take Fey Foundling as one of your 1st level feats. It works really well with Fervor when healing yourself. Your GM might not go for it, but it does not hurt to ask. The fact you are not starting at 1st level means you can don’t have to sit through waiting for your build to become functional.
Warpriest would work even with the WIS focus. Normally I would not recommend guided hand, but it can work on this build. Your high WIS gives you enough bonus to hit you can afford the penalty for power attack even if you are using it one handed it still boost your damage. That and the extra feats warpriest gets make for a better melee focused character. Make sure to pick up weapon specialization and latter get greater weapon focus and weapon specialization. If you are human, the FCB of warpriest will give you and extra feat ever 6 levels.
WIS also gives you more uses of Fervor and that allows more uses of channel energy More Fervor also allows you to cast self-buffs on yourself as a swift action. This reduces the need for combat casting.
Take Fates Favored and load up on divine favor. Being able to get a +4 to hit and damage as a swift action is really good. This might even be worth taking heightened spell and preferred spell for.
If your GM will let you take Fey Foundling as one of your 1st level feats. It works really well with Fervor when healing yourself. Your GM might not go for it, but it does not hurt to ask. The fact you are not starting at 1st level means you can don’t have to sit through waiting for your build to become functional.
DO NOT MULTICLASS.
Hmm...I think I'll go warpriest (my GM says I can). Any last advice, especially for the upcoming levels? (Thank you anyways, I really appreciate your guidance)
