Advice on character progression [Archive] - Wizards Community

Advice on character progression [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
GilaMonster
08-28-05, 04:56 PM Hi all

I'm creating a 4rd level character for a forgotten realms game. I decided to play an cleric archer. I have read through all the threads I could find and got a lot of interesting ideas.

Human Fighter 1/Cleric 2
Deity: The Red Knight
Stats: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 17, Chr 13
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, ???
Skills: Mainly know(rel), know(hist), know(nobility), diplomacy, ride and climb from the fighter level. Still deciding here.
Domains: Planning and either Nobility or War

I don't want to go the persistant spell route. From what I know the campaign will not be combat focused.
Only the core rulebooks are automatically permitted. Feats from the forgotten realms books and the complete series will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

My current plans are to take multishot and maybe leadership (DM premitting) and to go straight cleric from this point onwards. Also on the list of feats under consideration are improved rapid shot and zen archery
4th level attribute increase will go to con, 8th level to chr and everything after to wis.

Does anyone have advice on other feats that would fit? Should I add a second level of fighter or just go pure cleric. Any PrCs that would fit?

Thanks in advance.
PonTelon
08-28-05, 05:15 PM Hi all

I'm creating a 4rd level character for a forgotten realms game. I decided to play an cleric archer. I have read through all the threads I could find and got a lot of interesting ideas.

Human Fighter 1/Cleric 2
Deity: The Red Knight
Stats: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 17, Chr 13
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, ???
Skills: Mainly know(rel), know(hist), know(nobility), diplomacy, ride and climb from the fighter level. Still deciding here.
Domains: Planning and either Nobility or War

I don't want to go the persistant spell route. From what I know the campaign will not be combat focused.
Only the core rulebooks are automatically permitted. Feats from the forgotten realms books and the complete series will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

My current plans are to take multishot and maybe leadership (DM premitting) and to go straight cleric from this point onwards. Also on the list of feats under consideration are improved rapid shot and zen archery
4th level attribute increase will go to con, 8th level to chr and everything after to wis.

Does anyone have advice on other feats that would fit? Should I add a second level of fighter or just go pure cleric. Any PrCs that would fit?

Thanks in advance.
I'm no expert on archery(I have never played one), but it seems you'd get tons of synergy for ranged touch spells. Thus I would go Reach Spell. Inflict Wounds as a ranged touch attack seems fun to me. Higher levels range touch Harm. Yes, that monster has 500 HP, but one failed save later they have 1d4 HP. =) Another fun one to combine with Reach Spell would be Chain spell. level 10 Cleric can cast level 5 spells, right? so Cure Light Wounds(normally level 1) uses a level 5 slot(+1 Reach Spell +3 Chain) and hits one person at full healing and 10 other people at 1/2 healing. Not too shabby for mass healing, I don't think. Also fun for buffing people. Higher level Bull's Str, ect are nice to chain. Though the mass versions of them might be better, not sure. Chain spell is almost better offensively though. Charm monster on one, and up to Caster level others with their saves only being +4 from the original.

Now I've babbled and probably not even addressed the situation much. Though, I'm not a big cleric nor an archer type person. ^^;; Sorry.
GilaMonster
08-28-05, 05:21 PM Now I've babbled and probably not even addressed the situation much. Though, I'm not a big cleric nor an archer type person. ^^;; Sorry.

It's fine. You've given me ideas and something to think about. For some reason I discounted reach spell without even looking at it properly.
Chain spell sounds fun.... *g*

Hmmm, Divine Metamagic (Reach Spell) :D
Christman
08-28-05, 06:00 PM You'll definately want Zen Achery for the spell power/attack synergy. Reach Spell and Manyshot/Greater Manyshot might be good ideas as well. If you get Reach Spell, Twin Spell or Chain Spell would work well too.
kalstrand
08-28-05, 07:16 PM Where is reach spell?
ccubed
08-28-05, 08:29 PM Complete Divine for Reach Spell metamagic. You can also get it on all spells with 1 level of Hierophant from DMG, but that loses a level of caster progression, but not caster level, and can't be obtained until later levels.

You might also look into being an Elf or Half-Elf and worshipping Labelas Enoreth. You can get Elf and Time Domains for free Point Blank Shot and Improved Initiative. And Time domain gives spells like haste, permanency, contingency and time stop. They'll both also give you access to True Strike which can come in handy for an Archer. You can also dip briefly into Divine Disciple from Player's Guide to Faerun in order to get Survival so you can more easily take Seeker of the Misty Isle from Complete Divine for the potential of 2 bonus domains (Travel and Magic, although gaining Magic will cost you a caster progression.) The Seeker option can also boost your low Reflex save if that is something your campaign runs into very often. Also, if you fully progress Divine Disciple you become an Outsider so if you have someone who can cast the Polymorph spells on you, you can gain extremely powerful bonuses.

Featwise, if you don't want Divine Metamagic Persistent, you can always go the Divine Metamagic Quicken route. In a pinch it can have a similar effect of not having to waste a round activating your key buff spell. This also gives you some more versatility during critical situations. Being able to suddenly launch two spells in a round without having to prepare for it in advance can be very beneficial.

Zen Archery is definitely a great choice, although you do have a pretty good Dex already which would be even higher with an Elf, so that might not be as important.

You've rekindled my interest in the Cleric Archer, so I'll probably be obsessing over this stuff once more. I'll be checking back on this thread. Hopefully some more kind folks will provide some new insights.
GilaMonster
08-29-05, 03:44 AM Thanks for the suggestions ccubed.

I'm aware that human is a sub-optimal choice for a cleric archer. I've played nothing but elves and half-elves for the last 2 campaigns and I fancy a change :)

Quicken does sound like something to consider, along with reach, twin and chain. Advantage of quicken over persistant is that I won't need extra turnng.

Zen archery I'll keep under consideration, esp if my wis gets significantly higher than my dex.

Improved Rapid shot or manyshot at 6th, depending on how things go until then.

Where's Greater Manyshot from? I don't recall the feat offhand.
ccubed
08-29-05, 05:17 AM I believe Greater Manyshot is from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, but I'm not sure. We don't play Psionics, but I think that's where I've read it was from.
GilaMonster
08-30-05, 04:12 PM We don't play psionics either. That's probably why I didn't recall the feat. No matter.

Thanks to all for the advice. I've got a few more ideas now on what to look at.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GilaMonster 08-28-05, 04:56 PM	Hi all I'm creating a 4rd level character for a forgotten realms game. I decided to play an cleric archer. I have read through all the threads I could find and got a lot of interesting ideas. Human Fighter 1/Cleric 2 Deity: The Red Knight Stats: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 17, Chr 13 Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, ??? Skills: Mainly know(rel), know(hist), know(nobility), diplomacy, ride and climb from the fighter level. Still deciding here. Domains: Planning and either Nobility or War I don't want to go the persistant spell route. From what I know the campaign will not be combat focused. Only the core rulebooks are automatically permitted. Feats from the forgotten realms books and the complete series will be considered on a case-by-case basis. My current plans are to take multishot and maybe leadership (DM premitting) and to go straight cleric from this point onwards. Also on the list of feats under consideration are improved rapid shot and zen archery 4th level attribute increase will go to con, 8th level to chr and everything after to wis. Does anyone have advice on other feats that would fit? Should I add a second level of fighter or just go pure cleric. Any PrCs that would fit? Thanks in advance.
PonTelon 08-28-05, 05:15 PM	Hi all I'm creating a 4rd level character for a forgotten realms game. I decided to play an cleric archer. I have read through all the threads I could find and got a lot of interesting ideas. Human Fighter 1/Cleric 2 Deity: The Red Knight Stats: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 17, Chr 13 Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, ??? Skills: Mainly know(rel), know(hist), know(nobility), diplomacy, ride and climb from the fighter level. Still deciding here. Domains: Planning and either Nobility or War I don't want to go the persistant spell route. From what I know the campaign will not be combat focused. Only the core rulebooks are automatically permitted. Feats from the forgotten realms books and the complete series will be considered on a case-by-case basis. My current plans are to take multishot and maybe leadership (DM premitting) and to go straight cleric from this point onwards. Also on the list of feats under consideration are improved rapid shot and zen archery 4th level attribute increase will go to con, 8th level to chr and everything after to wis. Does anyone have advice on other feats that would fit? Should I add a second level of fighter or just go pure cleric. Any PrCs that would fit? Thanks in advance. I'm no expert on archery(I have never played one), but it seems you'd get tons of synergy for ranged touch spells. Thus I would go Reach Spell. Inflict Wounds as a ranged touch attack seems fun to me. Higher levels range touch Harm. Yes, that monster has 500 HP, but one failed save later they have 1d4 HP. =) Another fun one to combine with Reach Spell would be Chain spell. level 10 Cleric can cast level 5 spells, right? so Cure Light Wounds(normally level 1) uses a level 5 slot(+1 Reach Spell +3 Chain) and hits one person at full healing and 10 other people at 1/2 healing. Not too shabby for mass healing, I don't think. Also fun for buffing people. Higher level Bull's Str, ect are nice to chain. Though the mass versions of them might be better, not sure. Chain spell is almost better offensively though. Charm monster on one, and up to Caster level others with their saves only being +4 from the original. Now I've babbled and probably not even addressed the situation much. Though, I'm not a big cleric nor an archer type person. ^^;; Sorry.
GilaMonster 08-28-05, 05:21 PM	Now I've babbled and probably not even addressed the situation much. Though, I'm not a big cleric nor an archer type person. ^^;; Sorry. It's fine. You've given me ideas and something to think about. For some reason I discounted reach spell without even looking at it properly. Chain spell sounds fun.... g Hmmm, Divine Metamagic (Reach Spell) :D
Christman 08-28-05, 06:00 PM	You'll definately want Zen Achery for the spell power/attack synergy. Reach Spell and Manyshot/Greater Manyshot might be good ideas as well. If you get Reach Spell, Twin Spell or Chain Spell would work well too.
kalstrand 08-28-05, 07:16 PM	Where is reach spell?
ccubed 08-28-05, 08:29 PM	Complete Divine for Reach Spell metamagic. You can also get it on all spells with 1 level of Hierophant from DMG, but that loses a level of caster progression, but not caster level, and can't be obtained until later levels. You might also look into being an Elf or Half-Elf and worshipping Labelas Enoreth. You can get Elf and Time Domains for free Point Blank Shot and Improved Initiative. And Time domain gives spells like haste, permanency, contingency and time stop. They'll both also give you access to True Strike which can come in handy for an Archer. You can also dip briefly into Divine Disciple from Player's Guide to Faerun in order to get Survival so you can more easily take Seeker of the Misty Isle from Complete Divine for the potential of 2 bonus domains (Travel and Magic, although gaining Magic will cost you a caster progression.) The Seeker option can also boost your low Reflex save if that is something your campaign runs into very often. Also, if you fully progress Divine Disciple you become an Outsider so if you have someone who can cast the Polymorph spells on you, you can gain extremely powerful bonuses. Featwise, if you don't want Divine Metamagic Persistent, you can always go the Divine Metamagic Quicken route. In a pinch it can have a similar effect of not having to waste a round activating your key buff spell. This also gives you some more versatility during critical situations. Being able to suddenly launch two spells in a round without having to prepare for it in advance can be very beneficial. Zen Archery is definitely a great choice, although you do have a pretty good Dex already which would be even higher with an Elf, so that might not be as important. You've rekindled my interest in the Cleric Archer, so I'll probably be obsessing over this stuff once more. I'll be checking back on this thread. Hopefully some more kind folks will provide some new insights.
GilaMonster 08-29-05, 03:44 AM	Thanks for the suggestions ccubed. I'm aware that human is a sub-optimal choice for a cleric archer. I've played nothing but elves and half-elves for the last 2 campaigns and I fancy a change :) Quicken does sound like something to consider, along with reach, twin and chain. Advantage of quicken over persistant is that I won't need extra turnng. Zen archery I'll keep under consideration, esp if my wis gets significantly higher than my dex. Improved Rapid shot or manyshot at 6th, depending on how things go until then. Where's Greater Manyshot from? I don't recall the feat offhand.
ccubed 08-29-05, 05:17 AM	I believe Greater Manyshot is from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, but I'm not sure. We don't play Psionics, but I think that's where I've read it was from.
GilaMonster 08-30-05, 04:12 PM	We don't play psionics either. That's probably why I didn't recall the feat. No matter. Thanks to all for the advice. I've got a few more ideas now on what to look at.