Post/Author/DateTime	Post
PATB 05-01-06, 07:21 PM	I am a newbie playing a human cleric (good/war domain) of Heironeous, and am aspiring to be a Shining Blade of Heironeous. What good 1st level feats do you suggest? Since most melee type feats require a BAB of +1, I just selected spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning as 1st level feats. I understand these are not "melee" feats but I can't seem to find anything worthwhile at 1st level, so chose summoning stuff for now! Am I missing any good melee-related feats for a character with a BAB of +0? Thanks in advance!
Lupo 05-01-06, 07:48 PM	I am a newbie playing a human cleric (good/war domain) of Heironeous, and am aspiring to be a Shining Blade of Heironeous. What good 1st level feats do you suggest? Since most melee type feats require a BAB of +1, I just selected spell focus (conjuration) and augment summoning as 1st level feats. I understand these are not "melee" feats but I can't seem to find anything worthwhile at 1st level, so chose summoning stuff for now! Am I missing any good melee-related feats for a character with a BAB of +0? Thanks in advance! skip "spell focus" and "augment summoning". shining blade has only 1 level of caster progression per two levels of prestige class, your summonings can't be anything chaotic or evil. altogether a total waste of feats. "shinig blade" is a melee orientated prestige class, so take "power attack" (ok, it is of no use at first level, but from than onwards usable) and you can take it without the dreaded +1 BAB requirement. and you might plan to take it anyway. without knowing HOW you distribute stats and HOW you are going to get to the prestige class, the second feat is a little bit complicated. look what "local feats" (from dragon # 315 and # 319) your home region offers. "blooded" might be usefull, as a cleric-fighter seldom gets other boosts to initiative, or "pureblood suel" or "noble soul". ciao martin m.
PATB 05-01-06, 08:41 PM	Thanks! Follow up question: Can I take Power Attack now at first level even if I don't qualify for it? In that case, can I take cleave too? I guess the general question is whether one can take a feat but not use it until later when the character qualifies for it. skip "spell focus" and "augment summoning". shining blade has only 1 level of caster progression per two levels of prestige class, your summonings can't be anything chaotic or evil. altogether a total waste of feats. "shinig blade" is a melee orientated prestige class, so take "power attack" (ok, it is of no use at first level, but from than onwards usable) and you can take it without the dreaded +1 BAB requirement. and you might plan to take it anyway. without knowing HOW you distribute stats and HOW you are going to get to the prestige class, the second feat is a little bit complicated. look what "local feats" (from dragon # 315 and # 319) your home region offers. "blooded" might be usefull, as a cleric-fighter seldom gets other boosts to initiative, or "pureblood suel" or "noble soul". ciao martin m.
Lupo 05-01-06, 09:15 PM	Thanks! Follow up question: Can I take Power Attack now at first level even if I don't qualify for it? In that case, can I take cleave too? I guess the general question is whether one can take a feat but not use it until later when the character qualifies for it. **************************************** ***************************** (from the srd) POWER ATTACK [GENERAL] Prerequisite: Str 13. Benefit: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all melee attack rolls and add the same number to all melee damage rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn. Special: If you attack with a two-handed weapon, or with a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands, instead add twice the number subtracted from your attack rolls. You can’t add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural weapon attacks), even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies. (Normally, you treat a double weapon as a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. If you choose to use a double weapon like a two-handed weapon, attacking with only one end of it in a round, you treat it as a two-handed weapon.) A fighter may select Power Attack as one of his fighter bonus feats. CLEAVE [GENERAL] Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack. Benefit: If you deal a creature enough damage to make it drop (typically by dropping it to below 0 hit points or killing it), you get an immediate, extra melee attack against another creature within reach. You cannot take a 5-foot step before making this extra attack. The extra attack is with the same weapon and at the same bonus as the attack that dropped the previous creature. You can use this ability once per round. Special: A fighter may select Cleave as one of his fighter bonus feats. **************************************** ***************************** none of these needs any BAB requirement. so you can take them, as long as your strenght is at least 13. ciao martin m. ps: are you only taking one to four levels of cleric? for power attack you need every point of BAB you can get :). "shining blade" is available at best at level 9 for you, with the BAB requirement of +7. cleric 4/fighter 4 and than "shining blade". your spellcasting and turning abilities are just decoration, so look for one of the divine feats from "complete warrior", i would suggest "sacred vengeance" (free action, adds 2d6 damage vs. undead for one round), all the other divine feats are either standard actions and/or require some charisma bonus, if your build sports some charisma bonus, go for "divine vigor" (standard action increase speed +10-ft. and give 2 temp hp/lvl for one minute per charisma bonus) .
kenobi65 05-01-06, 09:18 PM	Follow up question: Can I take Power Attack now at first level even if I don't qualify for it? In that case, can I take cleave too? I guess the general question is whether one can take a feat but not use it until later when the character qualifies for it. You have to meet the prerequisites when you take the feat. But, note that Power Attack does not have a prereq of BAB +1; it only requires a Str of 13+. And, Cleave requires Str 13 and Power Attack. Now, you can't use Power Attack as a Cleric 1, because your BAB is only +0 (and you can only apply your BAB to Power Attack), but at least you can take the feat now (assuming your Strength is high enough).
zigspatty 05-01-06, 09:41 PM	A different tack to take is to begin taking some of the magic enhancing feats that you will need at later levels to make up for your lower caster level. Extend Spell won't help much at 1st or 2nd level, but when you're 11th level with a much lower caster level it'll help out a lot with the duration of the buff spells you can cast. Widen spell, still spell or reach spell are also potentially quite useful - especially if coupled with divine metamagic. At 3rd level+, augment healing is pretty good no matter what path you follow. As a shining blade, you'll want to be able to enhance your battle prowess for yourself and your buddies as well as provide some healing afterwards. You can use your feats to directly enhance your melee fighting ability or to power up some of your magic to more useful levels. Both are reasonable options. But I really don't see a devout follower of the Arch Paladin as someone who'd specialize in summonings to fight his battles.... Patty
PATB 05-01-06, 09:55 PM	Thanks for the info! My character has the following ability scores: STR 14 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 16 CHA 10 What I want to do is provide healing plus melee attacking. With a STR of 14, I guess I can take Power Attack and Cleave. I am not planning on doing lots of summoning or turning. I just want to be a front line combat paramedic with attacks.
Iswald 05-02-06, 12:42 AM	You could also consider shield feats to alternate between blunt damage from bashes and slashing from longsword or battleaxe (depending upon your region's outlook).
Sieylianna 05-02-06, 07:21 AM	I'd go for power attack and extra turning. Then use the turning attempts to power divine melee feats. Ed
Lupo 05-02-06, 09:20 AM	I'd go for power attack and extra turning. Then use the turning attempts to power divine melee feats. Ed always check the divine melee feats carefully, most of them need some charisma bonus to work at all. and putting "extra turning" into it, might not be worth it. when you have three turnings per day it should be sufficient for everything you might need or have the time to pull off. divine feats that require a STANDARD ACTION and than only run for ONE round are usually not effective in the middle of combat. ciao martin m.
PaulH 05-03-06, 06:56 PM	Hi Just out of interest, why Shining Blade? Why not Storm Lord? Cleric of Velnius, Travel/Windstorm domains. OK, it's spears/javelins only, but the magical, shocking, thundering, shocking burst last as long as you're holing the weapon. Personally I think it's far superior. 1) Cleric, Endurance, Gt Fortitude 2) Cleric 3) Cleric, Wpn Focus (any spear) 4) Cleric 5) Cleric 6) StormLord, Enhance Javelins (javelins become magical +1), Elec resist 5, Spontaneous Domain (Travel for Fly, Windstorm for Call Lightning, etc) 7) StormLord, Shock Wpn, (any spear/javelin gains shock ability) 8) StormLord, Storm Walk (ignore many effects of storms) etc.etc. You still have full spell progression, and you weapons have elemental damage. Munchkin: You could hand enhanced javelins to party member, who throws them on their action. The javelins lose powers 1 rnd after you let go. At 7th lvl you buy longspear for 5 gp, it instantly acts as +1 shocking spear for you, saving you 8,300gp. As 14th Lvl char you've got javelin +3 thundering, shocking burst. Value (to buy only) 72,305! Bit of a saving. You need Spontaneous Domain because you don't want to decide between Fly (Travel), & Call Lightning (Windstorm). It's probably better than Shining Blade, you even get all 10 lvls before retiring. Only drawback is cleric BAB. +6 at 10 lvl char. Cheers Paul H