Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Diffan Jun 03, 2015 6:13:22	Greetings!   So next Monday (6/8) I'm DM'ing the start of a new chapter in a continous adventure. The idea of the campaign was to run it mostly by modules and pre-made Adventures. It's also set in the Forgotten Realms (circa 1373-74 DR range) and placed in the Moonsea region. The group up to this point had completed the Burning Plague adventure (which was free on the now defunct download page) and advanced a few short encounters to the Sons of Gruumsh adventure. There, they completed that as well with a set-back of 3 PC deaths. The good news was that two were resurrected in time for the finalé at the end.    There was a long hiatus of this adventure, delving into 4E and 5E games with lots of fun to be had. But now the guy who's running 5E with us is going on a break I've decided to delve back into this adventure. Unfortuantely my wife isn't playing anymore (taking care of the little 5-month old one) and the other guy is gone. We have 3 other people (1 reoccurring PC and 2 new ones: a good friend who's recently returned and my 6-year old daughter who's been playing 5E with us for a few months).   So based on her character concept (half-vampire dread necromancer) and my buddies Scout / Ranger Zhentarim character, I'm thinking about running it as an Evil campaign. The adventure will continue as planned however the group is now working to end the threat so that the Zhentarim have a stronger base of influence in the Moonsea region. Thus I need a DMPC that can shore up the front-line tank and heal. Thing is, I've never really played an evil Cleric. I've played LOTS of good clerics and clerics of War and clerics of Knowledge, but never an evil one and I'm not sure how to properly go about it.   the TL;DR version - group is getting back together for a possible evil campaign, need help building an evil cleric.   So far what I have is an idea of a Banite Cleric who's also involved with the Zhentarim and is a sort of escort for the female half-vampire Dread Necromancer. They get involved along with the Zhentarim Scout / Ranger and the last PC (don't know race, class, yet). to venture into this quest to fight off the Cult of the Dragon.   So, my stats thus far: Human Cleric 6 (Bane) LE Medium humanoid   Scores Str 11 Dex 13 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 20 (started 17, bumped to 18 @ 4th, +2 enhancement) Cha 16   Feats Human: Extra Turning 1st: Quicken Spell Regional (free based on campaign): Thug [moonsea region] 3rd: Divine Meta Magic [Quicken Spell] 6th: Intuitive Attack (ruled to add Wis modifier to damage as well)   Domains Tyranny (+1 DC to Ench [compulsion]) spells) & Destruction (smite 1/day, +4 attack, +6 damage).   Skills Concentration 7 ranks Intimidate (allowed to be traded for Diplomacy) 7 ranks Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranks Spellcraft 8 ranks   Items (19,000 gp) Armor: +1 full plate Weapon: +1 morningstar Neck: periapt of Wisdom +2 Ring: ring of protection +1 Face: corsair's eyepatch Tools: wand of cure moderate wounds scroll of lesser restoration x2 scroll of find  traps Silver holy symbol (Bane) Shield: heavy steel shield   What I want to do is be a strong supportive role while de-buffing enemies with fear or dominating them. I DON'T want to steal the show, thus why I didn't go the DMM Persistant Spell route. I also find that way extremely boring even if it is a really strong way to play. I need suggestion on feats past 6th level or even re-working feats / Skills to do a better job of support / de-buff. Also, I'm looking at a LARGE list of prestige classes and I'm not sure which one to go into. I actually really like the Dreadmaster (Faiths and Pantheons) class which is build for Banite clerics but I'm not sure how good it actually is?   The other two characters are a Human Scout 4/ Ranger 2 with Swift Hunter feat. He is, I think, going with a homebrew Prestige Class we engineered together (Battlefield Sniper is what it's called) and my daughter is playinga half-Vampire/Human Dread Necromancer at 5th level. I'm practically building that for her to be uber-summon / control Undead and just let her have loads of fun with it. The last guy, I'm not sure, but the emphasis is primarily on us being "not" good so we'll see.     Thanks again and sorry for such a long post.
#2 Diffan Jun 04, 2015 12:56:47	So......no suggestions or ideas.   Well I decided that going Dreadmaster was probably worth it but had to re-arrange skills, abilitiy scores, and feats to meet the prerequistes for the Prestige Class. Further, the PrC requires a Cohort of at least 6th level yet everything else puts you at entering the PrC at 7th level. This is because it's a 3.0 Prestige Class (never updated) and in 3.0 you could have a Cohort be your level when you took the Leadership feat. With v3.5, however, no matter how high your Leadership score was, your Cohort could be no higher level than yours -2 (putting it at 4th). So with this change in rules, would a change to the prerequisite of Cohort level 4th be fine compared to now having to require at least 8 levels of Cleric? I'm thinking about just adjusting the Cohort requirement to 4th level instead but some feed back would be appreciated. Also, to qualify for the PrC by 7th level AND still get the required feats to DMM quicken spells, I took a Flaw so I could grab Skill Focus (Intimidation). Add in the change from Tyranny domain to Domination domain for the Spell Focus requirement too. Also swapped out Destruction (meh, overall) for Hatred domain. Plus I think the spell-list for both are better.   So with the new changes, here's the character:   Scores Str 14 Dex 11 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 20 (started 17, bumped to 18 @ 4th, +2 enhancement) Cha 16   Feats Human: Extra Turning 1st: Quicken Spell Regional (free based on campaign): Thug [moonsea region] Flaw: Skill Focus (Intimidation) 3rd: Divine Meta Magic [Quicken Spell] 6th: Leadership   Domains Domination (Spell Focus [enchantment]) & Hatred (1/day gain +2 to AC, Attacks, Damage, Saves, Skill, and Ability rolls against one opponent for 1-minute).   Skills Concentration 5 ranks Intimidate (allowed to be traded for Diplomacy) 5 ranks Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranks Sense Motive 4.0 cc Ranks Spellcraft 4 ranks
#3 Diffan Jun 05, 2015 10:54:28	Cool.......good chat.
#4 Slagger_the_Chuul Jun 05, 2015 22:10:11	I'll say hi, but I don't really have much to say about the build.  If you already know how to build clerics, you've got the necessary core of understanding and seem pretty clear on what you're trying to make.   Leadership is something I probably wouldn't have bothered with on a DMPC; if I want more support guys as a DM, I'll just add them (I've had a thrallherd effectively do the same thing, but that was part of some relevant flavour at the time).