Best feats for a melee cleric? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best feats for a melee cleric? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Sir_Maximus
05-13-06, 03:09 PM What are the best feats for a melee cleric to take and why?
swindy
05-13-06, 04:12 PM Uhh, Weapon proficiency bastard sword? Just a nice weapon that i love.
Power atack, cleave and great cleave. With all the buff spells you can chomp you're way through hordes of gobbos in minutes.

Just my lil ideas.
PhoenixInferno
05-13-06, 05:08 PM Uhh, Weapon proficiency bastard sword? Just a nice weapon that i love.
Power atack, cleave and great cleave. With all the buff spells you can chomp you're way through hordes of gobbos in minutes.

Just my lil ideas.Fully half of which are garbage.

You really need Exotic Weapon Master's Uncanny Blow to make Bastard Sword/Dwarven Waraxe work well. Great Cleave is trash once you stop fighting goblins, kobolds and skeletons after say...I don't know...5th level?
copper_wyrmling
05-13-06, 11:31 PM It depends on what books you have access to.

From the PHB, I'd say Power Attack and Quicken Spell, plus maybe Extend Spell (metamagic rods of Extend Spell are fairly cheap, however). Use Extend Spell on your buff spells with durations of 10 minutes / level or longer (Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon, Freedom of Movement, Heroes' Feast, etc), use Quicken Spell to get low-level buffs like Divine Favour and Shield of Faith up without spending combat actions. Craft Wondrous Item or Craft Arms and Armour could be good as well, but that depends a lot on the campaign. At low levels, Skill Focus (Concentration) is very nice, since you'll be casting in combat a *lot*, but its usefulness goes down at high levels.

If you have Complete Divine, then all the divine feats open up. Divine Spell Power is nice for making your buffs more powerful, longer-lasting and harder to dispel. Divine Metamagic (Quicken) will let you cast two high-level spells / round, at the cost of a bunch of turn attempts (the classic example is Divine Power + Righteous Might, but I don't think Righteous Might is actually worth it post-errata...) If Persistent Spell is allowed, then Divine Metamagic (Persistent) will eat through your feat slots and turn attempts rather quickly, but will let you have Divine Power etc up all day. (At that point you might want to consider investing in a couple of rings of counterspells containing Dispel Magic / Greater Dispel Magic.)

If you have Complete Warrior, there are some nice tactical feats for any power-attacking melee character (Shock Trooper, Combat Brute, etc). However, they have high prerequisites, and clerics tend to be a bit too feat-starved to take advantage of them, especially if the divine feats are available. If you have a very high Charisma, Divine Might could be worthwhile. I've heard people say that Divine Vigor is good, but I think it's a bit of a waste of a standard action at higher levels.

If you're making a lot of difficult Concentration checks, then you may want to consider Steady Concentration from Races of Stone (allows you to take 10 on Concentration checks). There are some good divine feats in Libris Mortis, but not so much for a melee-focused cleric. I'm not that familiar with the books beyond Core + Completes, so I may be missing some gems.
Arem_K
05-14-06, 01:20 AM Uh, Phoenix Inferno I agree that swindy did not have the best suggestions, but I think you kinda crossed a line there. You might want to edit yourself.

I would suggest going the power attack/leap attack chargher route. Power attack is pretty much a given anyway, and it is the only prerequisite for leap attack. That should make you pretty decent and leaves you with plenty of feats open. If you are using the divine feats from complete divine, you should take persistent divine metamagic. If you are not using the broken divine feats, it is pretty easy to qualify for combat brute and that should help you out. I would not suggest taking quicken, because a rod of metamagic (quicken) will be more effective in my experience.
BeerMan5000
05-14-06, 04:51 AM I think nobody posted this already but make sure to take the War Domain. It gives you martial weapon profiency and weapon focus of your dieties preferred weapon (unless you don't have a diety, which is optional in any Greyhawk game since not all clerics worship just one god or even a god, in which case you just pick the weapon... that's two feats for free at first lvl!)
copper_wyrmling
05-14-06, 05:49 AM Uh, Phoenix Inferno I agree that swindy did not have the best suggestions, but I think you kinda crossed a line there. You might want to edit yourself.

I would suggest going the power attack/leap attack chargher route. Power attack is pretty much a given anyway, and it is the only prerequisite for leap attack. That should make you pretty decent and leaves you with plenty of feats open.

Yeah, I missed that one, I normally play Living Greyhawk where Leap Attack is banned. However, it does require 8 ranks in Jump. As a single-class cleric, you won't be able to pick it up until L15. If you're dipping fighter or barbarian (or something else with Jump as a class skill), then it's a good feat.

If you are using the divine feats from complete divine, you should take persistent divine metamagic. If you are not using the broken divine feats, it is pretty easy to qualify for combat brute and that should help you out. I would not suggest taking quicken, because a rod of metamagic (quicken) will be more effective in my experience.

Before spending lots of money on a rod of quicken, check with your GM and see if they require you to be *holding* the metamagic rod when you use it. If not, the lesser rod of quicken is well worth the money. If so, you'll waste almost as many actions as you save, just juggling the rod and your weapon (one hand to cast + one hand for the rod => no hands free for weapon, unless you take Still Spell).

One more note, if you have access to Libris Mortis and can use nightsticks, then the divine metamagic feats become much more usable as you can boost your turn attempts / day to ridiculous numbers.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sir_Maximus 05-13-06, 03:09 PM	What are the best feats for a melee cleric to take and why?
swindy 05-13-06, 04:12 PM	Uhh, Weapon proficiency bastard sword? Just a nice weapon that i love. Power atack, cleave and great cleave. With all the buff spells you can chomp you're way through hordes of gobbos in minutes. Just my lil ideas.
PhoenixInferno 05-13-06, 05:08 PM	Uhh, Weapon proficiency bastard sword? Just a nice weapon that i love. Power atack, cleave and great cleave. With all the buff spells you can chomp you're way through hordes of gobbos in minutes. Just my lil ideas.Fully half of which are garbage. You really need Exotic Weapon Master's Uncanny Blow to make Bastard Sword/Dwarven Waraxe work well. Great Cleave is trash once you stop fighting goblins, kobolds and skeletons after say...I don't know...5th level?
copper_wyrmling 05-13-06, 11:31 PM	It depends on what books you have access to. From the PHB, I'd say Power Attack and Quicken Spell, plus maybe Extend Spell (metamagic rods of Extend Spell are fairly cheap, however). Use Extend Spell on your buff spells with durations of 10 minutes / level or longer (Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon, Freedom of Movement, Heroes' Feast, etc), use Quicken Spell to get low-level buffs like Divine Favour and Shield of Faith up without spending combat actions. Craft Wondrous Item or Craft Arms and Armour could be good as well, but that depends a lot on the campaign. At low levels, Skill Focus (Concentration) is very nice, since you'll be casting in combat a lot, but its usefulness goes down at high levels. If you have Complete Divine, then all the divine feats open up. Divine Spell Power is nice for making your buffs more powerful, longer-lasting and harder to dispel. Divine Metamagic (Quicken) will let you cast two high-level spells / round, at the cost of a bunch of turn attempts (the classic example is Divine Power + Righteous Might, but I don't think Righteous Might is actually worth it post-errata...) If Persistent Spell is allowed, then Divine Metamagic (Persistent) will eat through your feat slots and turn attempts rather quickly, but will let you have Divine Power etc up all day. (At that point you might want to consider investing in a couple of rings of counterspells containing Dispel Magic / Greater Dispel Magic.) If you have Complete Warrior, there are some nice tactical feats for any power-attacking melee character (Shock Trooper, Combat Brute, etc). However, they have high prerequisites, and clerics tend to be a bit too feat-starved to take advantage of them, especially if the divine feats are available. If you have a very high Charisma, Divine Might could be worthwhile. I've heard people say that Divine Vigor is good, but I think it's a bit of a waste of a standard action at higher levels. If you're making a lot of difficult Concentration checks, then you may want to consider Steady Concentration from Races of Stone (allows you to take 10 on Concentration checks). There are some good divine feats in Libris Mortis, but not so much for a melee-focused cleric. I'm not that familiar with the books beyond Core + Completes, so I may be missing some gems.
Arem_K 05-14-06, 01:20 AM	Uh, Phoenix Inferno I agree that swindy did not have the best suggestions, but I think you kinda crossed a line there. You might want to edit yourself. I would suggest going the power attack/leap attack chargher route. Power attack is pretty much a given anyway, and it is the only prerequisite for leap attack. That should make you pretty decent and leaves you with plenty of feats open. If you are using the divine feats from complete divine, you should take persistent divine metamagic. If you are not using the broken divine feats, it is pretty easy to qualify for combat brute and that should help you out. I would not suggest taking quicken, because a rod of metamagic (quicken) will be more effective in my experience.
BeerMan5000 05-14-06, 04:51 AM	I think nobody posted this already but make sure to take the War Domain. It gives you martial weapon profiency and weapon focus of your dieties preferred weapon (unless you don't have a diety, which is optional in any Greyhawk game since not all clerics worship just one god or even a god, in which case you just pick the weapon... that's two feats for free at first lvl!)
copper_wyrmling 05-14-06, 05:49 AM	Uh, Phoenix Inferno I agree that swindy did not have the best suggestions, but I think you kinda crossed a line there. You might want to edit yourself. I would suggest going the power attack/leap attack chargher route. Power attack is pretty much a given anyway, and it is the only prerequisite for leap attack. That should make you pretty decent and leaves you with plenty of feats open. Yeah, I missed that one, I normally play Living Greyhawk where Leap Attack is banned. However, it does require 8 ranks in Jump. As a single-class cleric, you won't be able to pick it up until L15. If you're dipping fighter or barbarian (or something else with Jump as a class skill), then it's a good feat. If you are using the divine feats from complete divine, you should take persistent divine metamagic. If you are not using the broken divine feats, it is pretty easy to qualify for combat brute and that should help you out. I would not suggest taking quicken, because a rod of metamagic (quicken) will be more effective in my experience. Before spending lots of money on a rod of quicken, check with your GM and see if they require you to be holding the metamagic rod when you use it. If not, the lesser rod of quicken is well worth the money. If so, you'll waste almost as many actions as you save, just juggling the rod and your weapon (one hand to cast + one hand for the rod => no hands free for weapon, unless you take Still Spell). One more note, if you have access to Libris Mortis and can use nightsticks, then the divine metamagic feats become much more usable as you can boost your turn attempts / day to ridiculous numbers.