Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 RKVM Aug 29, 2014 16:20:13	I'll be rolling a human Life Cleric with the variant racial bonus. For the feat, I'm considering taking Weapon Master to get martial weapons (longsword, battleaxe, warhammer, heavy crossbow) and the extra 1 Strength to get me the statline 16STR 16CON 10DEX 8INT 14WIS 10CHA from pointbuy. I'm curious, however, if that upgrade from a d6 mace to a d8 is really worth it over something like Toughness or Durability which will greatly improve my survivability?
#2 Brightmantle Aug 29, 2014 16:48:28	I personally would put  16 in Wisdom and  the14 in Str.or Con.as it will matter both for prepared spells and Spell attack and save D.C.'s. Kind of gimping your spells a bit as is. To each his own I suppose. Sentinel is a great feat. Will be useful very often in melee, can stop a foe in his tracks for the rest of a round, and will grant you extra attacks with a reaction as often as you enter melee with your buddy and he''s getting targeted and is 5 feet away. I.E. tons. Rolling the dice more = more damage= dead enemy faster. If you want to utilize those melee weapons you mentioned and prefer the extra 2 damage and Versitile as a option for d10 then Weapon master works. Of course you could just take War domain instead of Life and Use whatever you wanted in weapons and armor, attack more often ( dependant on wis mod.), get +10 to one attack via channel divinity ; guided strike, heal less  and blow the feat on toughness or durability if you like. Are you married to Life domain? I ask because it looks like you are focusing on combat for your build as is.
#3 RKVM Aug 29, 2014 17:14:31	I'm focused on combat, but I like the Life Domain for the extra healing potential. That's the point of putting the 16 in STR over WIS, I don't need the extra 1 point on my Cures and HWs. The loss to Spell DC is certainly relevant, especially at level 5 when I get the amazing Spiritual Guardians spell, but I think its worth it. With Divine Strike instead of Potent Spellcasting it seems more important to have reliable melee attacks.   I am indeed married to the Life Domain, being a Cleric of Selune the only other option is Knowledge and I don't care for that. I have a War Cleric in another campaign and he's a lot of fun, but it seems to me that the Life Cleric could be near as capable a front-line warrior. Less damage potential, sure, and that's why I'm looking at Weapon Master to try and close that gap a bit.   I'm considering other builds as well; 14STR/WIS and 16CON with Toughness for HP comparable to a Fighter. The primary goal is to be a survivable melee warrior (or tank in gamer terms). 14STR/CON with 16WIS is definitely an option, and would suit the character well, perhaps with Toughness again to beef up the survivability, but again the fact that Life has Divine Strike makes me think that extra 1 WIS mod isn't so important.   I have to admit something though; I did not notice that WIS was now tied to prepared spells. That does have a considerable affect on my decision here...
#4 mellored Aug 29, 2014 17:25:31	For a cleric, no.  Most of your weapon damage scaling comes in the form of a 1/turn bonus.  Not from weapon damage size.  But it's not the worst choice.   Though i'd suggest paladin for a melee tanky/healer.  Clerics are more tanky/casters.
#5 Lady_Auralla Aug 29, 2014 17:50:14	Ask if you can use downtime rules to learn a weapon proficiency.
#6 mellored Aug 29, 2014 17:53:08	You could also be a dwarf, or elf.
#7 demon_idol Aug 29, 2014 19:02:51	I think its OK. I would pick different weapons though. longsword, battleaxe, and warhammer, are basically the same. I would make 1 something like greatsword or maul, one something with reach, and leave one as longsword or warhammer. There are more magic longswords out there, usually.   You would probably be better off with heavy armor master, and then just use a mace (as that is selune's sacred weapon traditionally). You will be at -1 damage, but big whoop. You will be invincible at 1st level with the -3 to damge vs. most attacks. Its also really good for the adventuring party as a whole if the cleric is invincible.
#8 Zardnaar Aug 29, 2014 19:09:54	Upgrading your weapon size is likely not worth it for the price of a feat. The difference between d6 and d8 is really marginal. In all versions of D&D it what comes adfter the dice that matters more. The healer feat would even be better than weapon master. Heavy Armor Mastery would be the best one for a human cleric at level 1 IMHO.
#9 RKVM Aug 29, 2014 23:25:41	Thanks for the responses guys! I don't think I'll be taking the Weapon Master feat anymore. :P   If you will humor me, I have a few more questions:   The mace is Selune's favored weapon, but it seems to me that the hand axe is just plain better. Light, so I can dual wield if I want to, and Thrown 20/60 so I have a ready ranged attack without having to fumble around the draw/stow rules. The only thing the mace has is bludgeoning, which is a situational perk at best. Thoughts?   Given Divine Strike, I still think the extra +1 to hit/damage from STR is better than the +1 prepared spell per day, +1 hit/healing/damage and +1 spell save DC from WIS, but I'm eager to hear more opinions. Where do the rest of you stand on the matter, and why?   Heavy Armor Master definitely seems strong in the early game, but I also LOVE Durable for making my Hit Dice really count. With 16 CON that's a guaranteed 6-8 HP per die. Which would be better in the long run?
#10 THEMNGMNT Aug 29, 2014 23:37:50	Have you looked at the Tempest domain? It's pretty awesome.
#11 RKVM Aug 29, 2014 23:43:20	THEMNGMNT wrote: