For first level i took barbarian and rest i went into cleric (1st level barbarian comes from background). No my character isn't evil, deity of my character is Obad-Hai
Campaign we are playing is Shackled City, mostly being done dungeons - so Storm Lord is not best solution, but i always wanted to give that prestige class a chance and this is as good of a one as i will get.
I am looking for combat/healing type of cleric - healing already covered duo to being able to spontaneously cast healing magic. So that ends with needing help with combat part.
As barbarian/cleric i wear mithril breast plate, so i move at 40 feet instead of 20 (being in full plate).
For a weapon, i will be mainly wielding long spears, with javelins being in second place.
Practically i am looking mainly for spells that boost my overall combat abilities /weapon damage (divine might/blade of blood) and some good or long term buffing spells (like animalistic power/crown of might).
My Domains being Wind Storm (Spell Compendium) and Animal
Other than that feats, combat feats having first place.
So far i took great fortitude, endurance, weapon focus spear (feats needed for prestige class),power attack and after long discussion we ruled out Divine Metamagic as an option.
Other thing i need help with are items, mostly my prestige class, magical weapon greater and magic vestment will do the trick with enchanting weapons and armor, so practically i need some items or armor/weapon abilities that my character could find useful, i.e. from amulet of health, boots of striding to adding holy to a weapon/
Sorry if i am asking too much, but i looked through most of the books searching for feats and spells but items are my real trouble, well not trouble but part where i am seriously lacking.
If you guys got some ideas on how to improve this mix, please do say
Thanks in advance if anyone will even help me, as i asked too much things at once.
Smrtac
Edit:
Oh about feats i was thinking of the following:
Short Haft (PHB2), Stand Still (Expanded PH), Leap Attack and Divine Justice (PHB2)
As for items, only item that popped in my mind is Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, as i talked with DM in my campaign and he would allow me to use Storm Lords Storm Ride ability with large or larger air elemental, when elemental is in whirlwind form
Thanks once again
I tried once, presented a build, for some reason people dont answer to threads on optimization on Storm Lord, and it ain't that they didnt liked me, I have seen like 3 other threads on this topic and for some reason people just ignore it. They dont even say why, it is not like you get some comment like
"It is a bad prestige class and cant be optimized" like what happens everytime someone wants to play an assassin around here you know?
it is hard to optimize, I tried and well, it is hard since most of the best abilities of that PrC need to be held inside of a storm.
what I recomend is this: there is a magic item in Draconomicon and Stronghold Builder's Handbook that is constantly surrounded by a Storm (with a mile radius or something like that), its a 4 ft sphere or something and (I aint sure about this) in might cost something like 20,000 gp
It aint good nor practical since it is really large and I seem to recall that a low CL check or a low level weather spell can supress its effects.
but... it might help
also, dont you need to worship Talos to be a Stormlord?
geez, I would like to consider the idea of making a Stomrlord Handbook, need Dictum mortum's guide to writing, need to find his signature around here...
hope that helps at least a little bit.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=939678
Edit:
Take a look at this thread where we went through quite a few options for optimizing a stormlord.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=939678
Well they are discussing there about javelin throwing Storm Lord, while i am long spear based one, thanks through
End of edit
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Next thing i believe i need to clarify before continuing is complete background of my character and my concept of the same.
My character is from forest tribe, where he started out as a barbarian and soon shamans of the village found potential in him and started to teach him divine magic, on their surprise he didn't turn out like them (druid) but he found other connection to the wilderness around him through a god named Obad-Hai.
So villagers started being afraid of him but on same hand respectful of him.
Few months later he left the village feeling uneasy about it, but even more uneasy cause of villagers relationship to him - they were always afraid of him and dared talk to him only when they needed his help which wasn't often.
In his adventures he found and made a party with half elf sorceress and later on they joined bard/rogue, barbarian and ranger (bow style) in Coldron (town in which campaign is happening).
If i continue with talking about past of my character i would be entering into adventure called Shackled City and i don't want to spoil it to anyone who might start playing it, whenever that would be.
As for concept, my character is animalistic cleric who is strongly bounded by honor between warriors (well if you mix barbarian and cleric, you get some weird sort of paladin in my opinion) more than "following the rules", he wont kill helpless but if he think that anyone is direct danger to him or his companions he will make sure to any end that, that danger is taken care of (i.e. if evil spell caster is being helpess at the moment ,by hold hold person or in any other way, he would chop few fingers from his hands so that spell caster cant be a threat later on). Other concept of this character is that enchant to his spear and armor comes from his divine magic (magic weapon, greater and magic vestment) so its he who makes his equipment good not equipment that makes him good
Of course he is using long spear and javelins, spear being first as i mentioned in my above post.
As for why Storm Lord with such character concept, its all because of fluff story after campaign is finished - when campaign ends i wish to call near by forest my home, but literally my home, looking over all of its inhabitants and what better way to do that than by flying ? ;)
Next to it, Storm Lords are simply so cool, if they had more storm related abilities than weapons enchantments it would be best prestige class by far for me
Back to optimizing this character and sorry i didn't give full background in my first post, i was busy at the moment, listing through the books double and triple checking everything, topics on this part of forum and so on
Well, about using my abilities i talked with my DM (i believe i said that above, sorry for repeating myself) and with Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, he will allow me to use Storm Ride as long as air elemental is in whirlwind form, which is nice if you ask me
Censer of Controlling Air Elementals allows you to call upon Large Air Elemental and if you burn incense of meditation you get Elder Air Elemental. Sweetest thing about this is that Elemental doesn't have duration, he is there until he is killed
On Other hand about what Jaim said, combat reflexes is sweet, especially with Stand Still feat that allows you to stop people from charging you if they fail on their reflex saves. Problem with Combat Reflexes and its my fault, is that my character got dexterity of 12...
Also another item my character will definitely find useful is Strand of Prayer Beads as i plan on using my spells to enchant my armor and weapon, as you can guess i will be on big plus with gold than rest of my party that way.
So if possible, i would like if you guys and girls can help me with optimizing my equipment, spells and feats. Of course any other help with optimization of character is welcome and will be appreciated greatly
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One more Edit:
Complete Build so far
Notice: Character level so far is 6th, so everything written in here is my future plans.
Stats of my character:
My character stats are:
Str 16 (+1 at 4th level)
Dex 12
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 17(+1 at 8th, +1 at 12th)
Cha 13
(Still in doubt where rest of my bonus attributes to put)
Levels:
1)Barbarian
2)Cleric
3)Cleric
4)Cleric
5)Cleric
6)Cleric
7)Storm Lord
8)Storm Lord
9)Storm Lord
10)Storm Lord
11)Storm Lord
12)Storm Lord
13)Storm Lord
14)Storm Lord
15)Storm Lord
16)Storm Lord
17)Something
18)Something
19)Something
20)Something
Feats:
Human (Weapon Focus (Long Spear))
1st level:Great Fortitude
3rd level:Endurance
6th level:Power Attack
Possible feats so far:
Short Haft, Stand Still, Leap Attack, Divine justice and any other feats you guys/girls would recommend.
Equipment and Magical Items so far:
Adamantine Spear, Mithril Breastplate, Censer of controlling Air Elementals, Strand of Prayer Beads
Thanks once again and sorry for writing information from my first posts, if you guys need any more knowledge about my character feel free to ask
Sorry for editing my posts this much, but this is first time i am asking for help
Smrtac
As i am True Neutral, i can take Winter Wolf as my familiar ....
Thanks in advance for replies,
Smrtac
Also, if you aren't familiar with the whole Divine Metamagic thing you should check that out. Hopefully someone else will fill you in on that (if you need it), b/c it ain't my strongpoint.
I'm currently playing in a game with a stormlord, he's our tank/healer/melee beater, and he's pretty effective at all three roles.
One suggestion I would make: instead of taking Short Haft, use armor spikes to attack adjacent opponents. You can also use them in a grapple, and their damage isnt that much worse than your longspear's.
Also, if you aren't familiar with the whole Divine Metamagic thing you should check that out. Hopefully someone else will fill you in on that (if you need it), b/c it ain't my strongpoint.
I'm currently playing in a game with a stormlord, he's our tank/healer/melee beater, and he's pretty effective at all three roles.
Thats completely nice idea with armor spikes
Thanks
Well if you guys got as much cave and dungeon parts in campaign as me and my friends i would suggest you speaking with your DM about allowing you to use Storm Ride when Air Elemental is in whirlwind form, as thats small tornado right there
Further so you have less troubles with healing, i would suggest you take belt of healing from Miniature Handbook or something like that is the name of the item - it gives you 4D8 heal once a day on yourself or some burst heal with nice healing and radius. Best thing of all is that you dont have to be able to cast divine magic to use item, so your party members can use it as well.
Also another thing that can help a lot if your party is good is holy weapon enchant and holy surge (DM2).
Dunno, what are you using as weapon, spear or long spear ?
If long spear, check Stand Still it allows you stop foe's charge and Reflex DC he have to pass is 10+ damage you dealt
Tell me about your build, so we can exchange tips, tactics and possible feats
As for Divine Metamagic, that feat is too broken especially on higher levels, as you can persist (spells works for 24 hours) 9th level spells like Visage of Deity, Greater or heck even Divine Might and such things. When wizard can cast persist spells of maximum 3rd level.
Valheru_Blade don't wizards, hexblade and sorcerer get familiar on first level ?
Thats completely nice idea with armor spikes
Thanks
Well if you guys got as much cave and dungeon parts in campaign as me and my friends i would suggest you speaking with your DM about allowing you to use Storm Ride when Air Elemental is in whirlwind form, as thats small tornado right there
Further so you have less troubles with healing, i would suggest you take belt of healing from Miniature Handbook or something like that is the name of the item - it gives you 4D8 heal once a day on yourself or some burst heal with nice healing and radius. Best thing of all is that you dont have to be able to cast divine magic to use item, so your party members can use it as well.
Also another thing that can help a lot if your party is good is holy weapon enchant and holy surge (DM2).
Dunno, what are you using as weapon, spear or long spear ?
If long spear, check Stand Still it allows you stop foe's charge and Reflex DC he have to pass is 10+ damage you dealt
Tell me about your build, so we can exchange tips, tactics and possible feats
As for Divine Metamagic, that feat is too broken especially on higher levels, as you can persist (spells works for 24 hours) 9th level spells like Visage of Deity, Greater or heck even Divine Might and such things. When wizard can cast persist spells of maximum 3rd level.
Valheru_Blade don't wizards, hexblade and sorcerer get familiar on first level ?
Armor spikes are awesome ... I tend to use them more when TWF than w/ a reach weapon though they work in each case.
Wizards and Sorcerers yes, Hexblade's get a familiar at 4th. There's a feat, Obtain Familiar(CA), that allows other people to get a familiar but you need to be an arcane caster so it won't help a cleric. I suppose you could take a one level dip into wiz or sorc for a familiar but I don't think it'd be worth it.
Yea i believe so too ... all through i dont know why i want to see this character with familiar/animal companion that much ... i thought about druid, but than it turned out we needed a healer and now it turns out my healing abilities are being replaced by a wand lol anyhow getting away from topic
Anyone know of anything except for persist dominate animal (domain spell) that will work and is not costing so much feats to get ?
Also spiked armor saves me a feat ... for which i can take divine justice or some other sick divine feat
Other than that, there're no really special tricks to the Stormlord, I think. Just a straightforward cleric, but instead of more turning, you get magic weapons. Your Javelins will be a bit better than your Longspear - so you might want to think about PBS, Precise Shot, Far Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot... not sure it's worth it, though. One thing that's really necessary for anybody relying on thrown weapons is Quick Draw.
Hmm... I'm just thinking about Master Thrower, which grants Quick Draw, a thrown weapon trick, and +1 BAB at first level. At second, it grants Evasion. Good save is Reflex, which would cover a glaring hole in your defenses. The prereqs are steep, though, and casting is right out... probably best not to go there.
Was thinking about few other PrC's like faith scion, but my DM find it difficult to make hole faith weapon if i am only to go 4 levels in that PrC, another obstacle in that would be that Grumsh is only one with spear as deity weapon ...
Other PrC i had in mind was War Priest, but i dont have war, protection ? nor destruction domains, so that options fails miserably as well ...
Dunno ...if anyone got any nice ideas do tell me
Don't know, probably i will just do 4 more levels of cleric as if i take fighter i won't have 9th level spells in exchange for weapon spec
The Lord of Lightning
Male Human, 5th-Level Cleric, 10th-Level StormLord
Size/Type: Medium Humanoid (Human)
Hit Dice: 15d8+1 (93 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares),
Armor Class: 10 (+ armor, +0 Dex, +0 natural armor), touch 10, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+12
Full Attack: Gauntlet +12/+7 melee (1d3+2/x2) or Thundering, Shocking Burst Spear +12/+7 melee (1d8+3+1d6/x3; 20ft.) Thundering, Shocking Burst +3 Javelin +14/+9 ranged (1d6+5+1d6/x2; 30 ft.)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Domains (War & Weather), Turn Undead (5/day; +4), Enhanced Javelins (+3), Shock Weapon, Thundering Weapon, Shocking Burst Weapon, Storm Walk, Storm Ride, Storm of Elemental Fury (1/day, CL 17)
Resistances: Immunity to Electricity,
Spells (per day): 6 0-level (DC 14), 6+1 1st-level (DC 15), 6+1 2nd-level (DC 16), 6+1 3rd-level (DC 17), 5+1 4th-Level (DC 18), 4+1 5th-Level (DC 19), 3+1 6th-Level (DC 20), 2+1 7th-Level (DC 21), 1+1 8th-Level (DC 22)
Spells Known (CL 15): 0-Level: Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, ; 1st-Level: Command, Comprehend Languages, Detect Chaos, Doom, Protection from Chaos, Scholar’s Touch; 2nd-Level: Calm Emotions, Enthrall, Lesser Restoration, Summon Monster II, Undetectable Alignment, Zone of Truth; 3rd-Level: Bestow Curse, Create Food and Drink, Dispel Magic, Grace, Know Opponent, Lesser Visage of the Deity ; 4th-Level: Deathward, Divination, Divine Power, Freedom of Movement, Restoration ; 5th-Level: Raise Dead, Scrying, Summon Monster V, True Seeing; 6th-Level: Cometfall, Heroes’ Feast, Planar Ally; 7th-Level: Destruction, Greater Bestow Curse; 8th-Level: Stormrage;
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +4, Will +15
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 19, Cha 14
Skills: Concentration +20, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +5, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (Arcana) +6, Knowledge (History) +6, Knowledge (Nature) +5, Knowledge (Religion) +11, Knowledge (The Planes) +4, Spellcraft +5
Feats: Endurance [H], Great Fortitude [1st], Weapon Focus (Javelin) [C], Extend Spell [3rd], Persistent Spell [6th], QuickDraw [9th], Extra Turning [12th], Divine Metamagic [15th],
Languages: Common, Celestial
Alignment: Lawfully Neutral
Challenge Rating: 15
Well sorry i didnt answer sooner Empirate
But i dont like javelins cause of low range increment (20 or 30 ft, dont have books with me at the moment). And in party we already got Ranger, Bard and Sorcerer that will stay behind most of the time, so our Barb need some help up front.
Is there a feat that allow you to pin someone with melee weapon instead of grapple ? There is Ranged Pin that much i know.
Also what do you think of following feats Endurance, Great Fort, Weap Focus (Longspear) (those are needed for PrC) than 6th level power attack, 9th level stand still (i would like to know your opinions about stand still feat from XPHB), 12th level leap attack, 15th level Divine Justice (tricky but if timed right it can be deadly) and i seriously don't know about any other feat i could take that would improve my melee combat abilities
To the OP: Stand Still is very good, but needs a focused build to work well. You desperately need Combat Reflexes for Stand Still to work well, and a high Dex. Also, get your Sorcerer to frequently Enlarge you (or cast Righteous Might yourself) to increase your reach.
But if you really want to go that route, why not play something more warrior-based? You'll be very feat-starved, so you can't do much to improve your magic with feats. You'll also need some buffing to go on before every combat since being feat-starved means you won't be able to fit in DMM: Persist.
Still, with a Ranger (archer, I presume), Bard and Sorcerer in the group, getting the enemy to stay wherever they enter your threatened area might be enough to win the battle. Being able to cast some helpful spells plus keeping the enemy at bay might prove very powerful. However, your virtual fly speed from Storm Ride won't be much use then.
I have to ask about your build ... but why craft (weaponsmith). Wouldnt those rank be better of in Knowledge (Religion) ?
So that he can crank out Thunder Bolts!!! a.k.a. cheap javelins to throw...
Also about air elemental summons ... no need for such thing as i plan on buying Censer of Controlling Air Elementals (DM dunno which page) it does cost 100k, but i have summon all the time with me and it cost me additional 2,5k to summon Elder Air Elemental which otherwise i can only get for 20 rounds by expanding 9th level spell.
Also Storm Lord is in CD around page 65
Well, as i said, we needed healer and someone good in hand to hand combat at the same time ...
Combat Reflexes are still good to take as long as i get my hands on some gloves of dexterity
Well, you do have Divine agility for +10 enhancement bonus to dexterity.
I know this will sound like i am lazy ... but where ?!
So that he can crank out Thunder Bolts!!! a.k.a. cheap javelins to throw...
Dude, javelins cost 1gp ... most battles last for like 10 rounds, javelins don't break like arrows do ... so i really don't think it will ever be a problem spending 10 gp for javelins ...
Sweet holy cat ... level 5 spell +10 dexterity :D well imagine that persisted ... now i understand why Divine Metamagic is banned in so many games lol
Next to Stand Still is there any other feat that exploits weapons with reach ?
Dude, javelins cost 1gp ... most battles last for like 10 rounds, javelins don't break like arrows do ... so i really don't think it will ever be a problem spending 10 gp for javelins ...
Well Dude, for a cheap five skill point investment you will almost always be able to resupply yourself for a large scale battle (what else does a stormlord really do?). Sure you can reuse one javelin for battle but I envisioned this guy raining down huge amounts of "lightning bolts" across a battle.
As to why I chose the investment, easy, it adds more flavor to the build.
Well Dude, for a cheap five skill point investment you will almost always be able to resupply yourself for a large scale battle (what else does a stormlord really do?). Sure you can reuse one javelin for battle but I envisioned this guy raining down huge amounts of "lightning bolts" across a battle.
As to why I chose the investment, easy, it adds more flavor to the build.
Hehe, don't get me wrong
but after level 15th you should than dip into one level of fighter to get some extra feats and get yourself brutal throw and power throw With one level fighter that should be all feats you can take, but than you use your strength instead of your dexterity for attack bonus and you can power attack with javelins
Also with counting in that you will buy Nightstick and/or Cloak of Charisma +4 (without any of those two items you cant even use Divine Metamagic persist), you will be able to persist one or two spells, which ones would you choose ? Not asking to critique, just interested
I am thinking of making Storm Lord walkthrough, with probably 4 possible builds, 2 for javelins from which one would be DMM and other Non-DMM, same for melee Storm Lords, all through i am having trouble finishing my own Non-DMM melee Storm Lord so we will see XD
I am thinking of making Storm Lord walkthrough, with probably 4 possible builds, 2 for javelins from which one would be DMM and other Non-DMM, same for melee Storm Lords, all through i am having trouble finishing my own Non-DMM melee Storm Lord so we will see XD
You want some help?
You want some help?
Sure thing
We will use this thread to sum it all up, than we will put final builds in new topic ? Or you got a better idea ?