I'm really confused when it comes to clerics. They addressed key words and adding modifiers with holy symbols. I'm so confused so:
1) do you pick your key words or are they assigned? And what happens if the keyword is in the spell you are casting?
2) is there any benefit to having a holy symbol if most of the time you are healing?
Thanks for any help in advance.
Hi guys,
I'm really confused when it comes to clerics. They addressed key words and adding modifiers with holy symbols. I'm so confused so:
1) do you pick your key words or are they assigned? And what happens if the keyword is in the spell you are casting?
2) is there any benefit to having a holy symbol if most of the time you are healing?
Thanks for any help in advance.
1) You don't pick keywords, each power has keywords telling you how frequently the power can be used (at-will, encounter, daily) and defining the fundamental effect of the power. Some keywords describe the power source (such as arcane or divine), the damage type (such as acid, or thunder), the effect (like charm or teleportation) or accessories: the implement keyword means you can use an implement's bonuses (if any) with the power, while the weapon keyword indicates that you must use a weapon with that power. For example, the keywords for Righteous Brand are At-Will - Divine, Weapon - - in other words, an at will power, with the divine power source, that requires a weapon (including an unarmed strike) to activate.
There are also feats and class feautures that work with certain specific keywords. For example, the Healer's Lore cleric class feature allows a cleric to add his or her wisdom modifier when determining how many hit points a spell with the healing keyword restores, while the Raging Storm feat allows a spellcaster to add +1 to damage rolls with any spell that has the lightning or thunder keywords.
2) Though must of the lower level healing spells don't have the implement keyword, there are a number of usefull spells that do, not to mention Turn Undead. Even clerics who mostly hang back and heal can find themselves in melee, so it never hurts to have a magical holy symbol to add a little power to those implement keyword spells. And from a roleplaying point of view, no self respecting cleric is going to run around without his diety's holy symbol.
Two examples:
- The feat Astral Fire adds damage to any power possessing the Radiant or Fire keywords.
- "Healer's Lore", a class feature unique to the Cleric class, adds your Wisdom modifier to the number of hit points granted to the recipient of any cleric power possessing the Healing keyword.
Applying this to clerics:
The cleric at-will power Sacred Flame has the following keywords: Divine, Implement, Radiant. If you possess the feat Astral Fire, damage inflicted by this power increases by +1 while your character is in the Heroic Tier (that is, Levels 1-10). I'll discuss the Implement keyword in a bit.
Similarly, your cleric power Healing Word has the keywords Divine and Healing. When using a Healing Word to heal an ally, the bonus from your Healer's Lore class feature increases the amount healed as noted above.
is there any benefit to having a holy symbol if most of the time you are healing?
In short, yes.
You don't have enough powers with the Healing keyword to heal all the time, and there will be times when healing isn't necessary or doesn't make sense. Since the best way to not have to heal your allies is to kill your enemies as quickly as possible, you'll want to make use of the time when healing isn't necessary to lay some smack down.
A magical holy symbol will help with that. (Clerics don't get any special benefit from using non-magical symbols.) Your holy symbol is an Implement. As such, you can use it in conjunction with any Cleric power possessing the Implement keyword to increase the effectiveness of that power. Basically, you add the implement's enhancement bonus to the attack and damage rolls for those powers.
If you have a +1 holy symbol, for example, you add 1 to the attack and damage rolls whenever you use a power (like Sacred Flame) that has the Implement keyword. Additionally, some magical symbols have additional powers you can use to help your allies ... or hinder your enemies.