Post/Author/DateTime	Post
wackyears 01-01-08, 06:42 PM	I'm am making a backup cleric for our campaine just in case my party or myself die and i don't know much about clerics all i want to know is what skills and what feats should i have for a 7th level human cleric. thanks
Master_of_Rouges 01-01-08, 07:01 PM	Well if your making a cleric then you want to make sure you have buff spells ready for your tank. Make sure that you can be prepared to fight if need be. Take some feats that can help your caster level out, also get ranks in knowledges. lol wasup dude...
wackyears 01-01-08, 07:03 PM	Well if your making a cleric then you want to make sure you have buff spells ready for your tank. Make sure that you can be prepared to fight if need be. Take some feats that can help your caster level out, also get ranks in knowledges. lol wasup dude... Thanks for the help
Master_of_Rouges 01-01-08, 07:05 PM	Thanks for the help you know who this is dont you???
wackyears 01-01-08, 07:07 PM	andrew
Master_of_Rouges 01-01-08, 07:09 PM	andrew goodjob
Krusk 01-01-08, 07:27 PM	concentration, and knowledge religion are the two main skills recomended. Feats are really up to you, and how you play your cleric. Some good domains are war, and healing. So a combat-medic could be an interesting idea. Augment healing-i believe thats the name- is a good feat to take as it helps out your healing spells.
happy_fuzzy 01-01-08, 08:06 PM	what books do you have available? Though clerics don't get that much feat love outside core except for maybe DMM and general caster feats, In core you'll probably want combat casting, then possibly empower/maximize, and/or extend spell. Like everyone else said skills are know religion and concentration and maybe 1 or 2 more knowledges, also heal if you dont't want to use up too many cure spells.
wackyears 01-01-08, 08:34 PM	thanks for all the help
Einvaldurinn_mikli 01-01-08, 08:36 PM	Don't take Combat Casting. It's a trap you see. Take Skill Focus Concentration instead, if you feel that you really need the boost to the skill.
littlekid 01-01-08, 08:56 PM	Ein has it right, combat casting is only in combat, while skill focus: conc applies all the time. What kind of cleric do you want? Healer, tank, buffing, summoner? There are lots of ways to play a cleric. Healer: Pick up the Healing domain, and Augment healing, levels in Radiant Servant of Pelor will help. Human probably works best. I had an idea for a healer type, take Reach spell and Divine metamagic: reach spell, you can heal from 30 feet. Tank: War, Destruction and Strength domains are all good. Dwarf for extra hp. Fighter feats are good, but not necessary. Buffing: Planning domain wouldn't be bad for extend spell. Eh, I dunno what else to say here. Any race will work. Feats that would help are anything you can get to make your buffs work better/longer. Summoner: Again, Planning domain to make summons last longer, Augment summoning, Imbue summoning and divine metamagic:extend spell so you aren't wasting higher up spell slots on lower level summons. Human for extra feats early on will help.
Einvaldurinn_mikli 01-02-08, 12:05 AM	Don't take Healing mon,(unless it's a prereq for RSoP?) it kinda blows. Planning is quite good though, as is Time.(SpC)
LSMFT 01-02-08, 12:57 PM	The thing with the healing domain is that many of the spells you get for your domain slots are spells you can easily convert your regular spells to. Its plus side is that your +1 caster-level for the domain ability applies to a lot of spells when you’re a dedicated healer. In core you'll probably want combat casting, then possibly empower/maximize, and/or extend spell. As was said, Combat Casting is not a good choice, Skill Focus is better, but even that is really not that necessary. With good movement and 5’-steps, you’ll probably not really need to worry about that many Concentration checks to cast defensively. Empower and Maximize are really better if you are going a blaster route. They can be applied to healing spells, but an Empowered Cure Light Wounds averages less than a regular Cure Serious from the same slot. Cure Critical Wounds averages, at CL 7, 25 points of healing: far more than a Maximized CLW would do. Extend Spell can be a good choice to make some of your buffs last a bit longer. As for my own advice: Look at the various deities and domains in your campaign. Pick something with a flavor that fits your group and the campaign. I mean, the War and Strength domains are great, but if the party is a group of guys motivated by the idea of killing people and looting their dead bodies, you have to wonder why a cleric of Pelor is hanging out with them. You have to play this guy (probably) so work on a flavor that fits.
wackyears 01-02-08, 02:20 PM	thanks for the advice i will talk to my DM too.
The_Shaman 01-02-08, 04:15 PM	Unless you really need the WF, I think Planning is much better than War as far as domains go. Travel isn't half bad either - teleportations and the like are an area where clerics are normally poor. Also, Magic isn't bad... at all. Using wizard items can be extremely nice, and the spell selection is quite tolerable. @Wackyears: I think it's very important to keep in mind what the rest of the party does and what characters your cleric will be adventuring with. Do you know what your buddies will be playing?
RobbyPants 01-02-08, 04:16 PM	It's amazing what feat and spell selection can do for a cleric. I'm running a game with two cleric PCs. Both worship Pelor and both have the Healing and Sun domain. Still, they're vastly different characters. One focuses primarily on casting, healing, and turning undead. He took the Radiant Servant of Pelor PrC to further this end. He also took the Firey Burst reserve feat from Complete Mage, which he uses more often than his flaming morningstar. Unless he's turning or casting an important spell, you can pretty much count on him to drop a 4d6 ball of fire on any near-by opponents. The other is a strong melee tank. Due to the group being small, I've allowed some powerful combos. So, he blew four feats on Extend Spell, Persistant Spell, Divine Metamagic, and Extra Turning. As you could guess, he tends to Persist Divine Power each day, making him a fighter who's swapped his bonus feats for spells. He's also running around with a flaming Goliath greathammer. Long story short, you can get a lot out of a cleric, depending on what you want. The good news is, if you feel your cleric is falling behind a bit, you can usually make up that differenc and more with a good spell selection for the day. ;)
Zombie_Babies 01-02-08, 04:32 PM	If you want a healer and do not encounter undead a lot there are some feats in the PHII that let you sack turn attempts for some neat abilities. You can do a little burst healing, add some life to your healing dice and even use touch healing spells at range. I played a Cleric of Lathander with these and Extra Turning and had a lot of ways to heal. It allowed me to be able to prep battle spells like Divine Power, Righteous Might, Divine Favor, etc. At the very least it makes Heal-Botting just a tiny bit more interesting
DwarvenLord77 01-02-08, 06:23 PM	Where is augment healing I can't seem to find it though it may be in a book I don't have.
Merestil Haye 01-02-08, 07:13 PM	Where is augment healing I can't seem to find it though it may be in a book I don't have.It's in Complete Divine.
DwarvenLord77 01-02-08, 07:32 PM	Yup don't have it but I can barrow from a friend (Something I have been meaning to do for a while). Thanks
BoringInfoGuy 01-02-08, 11:12 PM	Forget about feat selection for a moment. You are: A: Not familiar with clerics. B: Looking to make a 7th level cleric. Here is the single most important thing that you need to understand right now: Clerics can prepare any* spell on their spell list that is of a level that the cleric can cast. By 7th level, a cleric can prepare: 6 0 level spells 4 1st level spells 3 2nd level spells 2 3rd level spells 1 4th level spell. Plus 1 domain spell per spell level (excluding 0 level) and any bonus spells per day you get due to having a high wisdom bonus. That is at least 20 spells you will need to choose each day. There are 12 different zero level spells for you to choose from, after that you have something like 20+ to 30+ spells to choose from at each level. Here's the thing. To be able to effectively play a cleric, you need to know what all those spells do. For example, if you want to use Detect Magic (Clr 0), you may want to have ranks in the Spellcraft skill so that you can know what school of magic the detected items are from. If you find yourself hunting vampires, and your Knowledge Religion check lets you know that they have the ability to dominate you and your allies, then you may want to know that Protection From Evil (Clr 1) and Magic Circle against Evil (Clr 3) both prevent any evil creatures from exercising mental control over the warded ally. You also need to know what material components you need to have on hand to cast your spells. (Some DMs and players find Material components a bother and don't bother to keep track of them. However, you still should know what you need). Many spells also get better as you level. That is good. The bad part recalculating what the values for your current level are every time you cast the spell. A few notes on a separate sheet of paper or a 3x5 card can save a lot of duplicate work. Do not think that I am trying to discourage you from playing a cleric. But I am encouraging you to start learning the cleric spells now, instead of waiting for you current character to die. Nor am I trying to tell you that you need to have every spell memorized verbatim. Just that you need to be familiar enough with them to use them without having the game come to a screeching halt anytime your cleric casts a spell. ---------------- * Minus any spells that the cleric can not cast due to the alignment of cleric, or the cleric's deity.
tarinax 01-03-08, 12:32 AM	You also need to know what material components you need to have on hand to cast your spells. (Some DMs and players find Material components a bother and don't bother to keep track of them. However, you still should know what you need). If your DM is really going to nitpick it, and only if you care to, you can take the Eschew Materials Feat; that lets you cast some spells without Material Components. Generally, it's not worth it, but it's there. Still and Silent Spell can be very useful in a pinch, but watch yourself, since each feat eats up a spell slot one level higher. One feat that I really recommend is Domain Spontaneity, which lets you spend a turn/rebuke attempt to spontaneously cast a domain spell.
BoringInfoGuy 01-03-08, 02:10 AM	If your DM is really going to nitpick it, and only if you care to, you can take the Eschew Materials Feat; that lets you cast some spells without Material Components. Generally, it's not worth it, but it's there. Still and Silent Spell can be very useful in a pinch, but watch yourself, since each feat eats up a spell slot one level higher. One feat that I really recommend is Domain Spontaneity, which lets you spend a turn/rebuke attempt to spontaneously cast a domain spell. Eschew Materials only lets you skip using material components that cost 1 gold or less. Most of the spell components with a cost below that are the materials with negligible costs, which you don't need to track anyway. As you said, it's pretty much not worth it. Personally, I like keeping track of material components. Most of the DM's I've played with skipped it, but when I played in a game where I had to keep track of it, the process really seemed to add depth to the game. Of course, that could just be me. On a side note, my current DM wanted to make diamonds less valuable than emeralds and rubies, because the high cost of diamonds is supposedly only because of the major control of the diamond market by the De Beers corporation. Diamonds are not as rare as other jewels, but are priced higher due to De Beers' marketing. (Don't argue with me about it, this is hearsay on my part). But I was able to point out to him that diamonds and diamond dust are the material components of multiple spells. So, even in a DnD setting without the De Beers corporation, the price of diamonds could still be inflated above it's initial rarity. Not that it really matters one way or the other. If diamonds are less valuable, so what? A 100gp worth of diamonds would just be a larger pile of diamonds. The weight of gems compared to coins is still negligible.
weepingminotaur 01-03-08, 12:16 PM	The big piece of advice I have for playing a cleric is: don't let your fellow players turn you into a 24/7 Healbot that never closes and has no other function. If you want to be a healer, great. But if you have other ideas for your character -- and the cleric class, as others have already pointed out, gives you great flexibility in terms of customization and uniqueness -- don't be afraid to pursue those ideas, even if it means you aren't the safety net of healing that other players may be accustomed to taking for granted.
wackyears 01-03-08, 01:50 PM	Unless you really need the WF, I think Planning is much better than War as far as domains go. Travel isn't half bad either - teleportations and the like are an area where clerics are normally poor. Also, Magic isn't bad... at all. Using wizard items can be extremely nice, and the spell selection is quite tolerable. @Wackyears: I think it's very important to keep in mind what the rest of the party does and what characters your cleric will be adventuring with. Do you know what your buddies will be playing? We have a human fighter level 8 We have a rouge lvl 5/assassin lvl 3 we have a half gaint soulknife lvl 8 i think we have a 10 inch grimlin (don't know class some kind of magic class) level 8 we have a dwarf fighter level 8 (future dwarven def)
wackyears 01-03-08, 01:58 PM	Here are the str and all that i rolled up. str- 14 dex- 15 con-17 int-14 wis-18 cha-13 is that good? do i need to change that 17 to int?
RobbyPants 01-03-08, 03:07 PM	Here are the str and all that i rolled up. str- 14 dex- 15 con-17 int-14 wis-18 cha-13 is that good? do i need to change that 17 to int? For a Cleric? With those base rolls, I'd probably do: str- 15 dex- 14 con-17 int-13 wis-18 cha-14 Depending on your build, you could perhaps switch the 15 and 17 between Str and Con, but a solid Con is only a good thing for a cleric. The two scores you'll need the least are Int and Dex. Once you've gotten fullplate (with a max Dex of +1), you have relatively little need for a Dex above 12 or 13. Int only gets you skill points, and all you really need are Concentration and Knowledge (Religion). Spellcraft can be nice if you have the extra skills.
Krusk 01-03-08, 03:31 PM	I would either do 14, 15, 17, 18, 14, 13 str- 14 dex-15 con-17 int- 13 wis-18 cha- 14 if i were sure i could find some form of mithril or other full plate with high max dex. Then i would also play a more combat oriented cleric. or str- 14 dex- 13 con- 15 int-14 wis- 18 cha-17 And i would attempt to focus mostly on destruction of undead.
BoringInfoGuy 01-03-08, 08:16 PM	Here are the str and all that i rolled up. str- 14 dex- 15 con-17 int-14 wis-18 cha-13 is that good? do i need to change that 17 to int? Depends on what you want to do. Here's my thoughts. Highest stat Wisdom. Natural and best choice. The more spells you can cast per day, and the higher the DC of your spells, the better. Not to mention that Willpower saves become increasingly important as you level. High Con. Another good choice. It looks like you are the only character with any healing abilities. You want to make certain that you don't drop easily. That will also help with the Concentration skill checks you are likely to make. (As a healer, you are more likely to need to cast spells while threatened by foes). 13 Charisma. A little bit iffy. You may want this higher. Your Turn Undead ability uses Charisma as it's base stat. Undead have some of the nastier abilities that they can use on your party, such as level drain. Depending on your DM, Turn undead could be a vital ability that you bring to the table, or a complete waste. (I played with a DM once who really liked undead. Any time we came across some, they always had feats and abilities that would make them impossible for my cleric to turn). Also, your party could need a face, someone with good charisma and the Diplomacy skill to deal with the non violent encounters. Someone else may already be filling that role, so that is up to your discretion. 15 Dex. Also on the iffy side. Dex doesn't do much for you. You don't have any class skills that use dex. The bonus to Ranged attack rolls won't help much when you are running into melee range to heal your allies. At low levels, the Dex bonus to AC is nice, but once you start putting on heavy armor, you lose most of that bonus. Not every DM hands out Mithral for the asking. The bonus to Reflex saves is nice, but as a Cleric, that is going to be a weak point for you with or without the bonus. Dex is a common dump stat for Clerics. That 13 may be better in here. 14 Int. How many skills do you need? As a human, that 14 gets you 5 max rank skills. That should be fine. I'd suggest Concentration, Knowledge Religion and Spellcraft. After that, see what skills the rest of the party brings. You'll better serve the party if you bring different skills to the table with your character than if you repeat what others are doing. Possibly Diplomacy and Knowledge Planes or Arcana. 14 Str. Not bad. With your group, combat is already well covered. They don't need another heavy hitter, so this is not a vital stat for you to have high. With your particular group, I'd even consider making Str my low score instead of Dex. BTW, did you remember to add the Ability Score increase that your character would have gotten at 4th level? Pretty much, I would keep what you've got, but swap the Dex and Cha scores.