Starting a Cleric

Starting a cleric means that you have to get insync with your temperament. Do you want to be a selfsufficient butt-kicking melee fighter or a laid back lifesaver that consistently pulls the group from deaths grip? Do you want to be the absolute scourge of all undead or do you want to be an allrounder?

The choice is yours..

Here are some examples of cleric builds that hopefully will get you an idea on what to expect.

Suggested Feats
The following feats are strong for clerics, and might be considered in any build:
 * Combat Casting (more likely to successfully cast spells while in combat/getting hit)
 * Mental Toughness (more spell points)
 * Extra Turning (more turning / divine vitality per day)
 * Improved Turning (more effective turning)
 * Empower Healing Spell (for more effective healing)
 * Extend Spell (for clerics' many buff spells)

Race
There is a lot of debate over what races make the best cleric. To endorse one is to enter a religious debate (pun intended). That being said, following are the pros and cons of each of the various races:
 * Dwarf:
 * Pros: additional spell points through racial enhancements.
 * Cons: -2 charisma can be harmful to turning
 * Elf:
 * Pros:Free longbow and longsword proficiency.
 * Cons:
 * Halfling:
 * Pros: all around good saves, bonus to armor class, bonus to hit with thrown weapons, better starting stats if you don't care about strength.
 * Cons:
 * Human:
 * Pros: Bonus feat at 1st level, +4 skill points for 1st level and +1 per level afterwards. Improved Recovery enhancement allows for better self-healing.
 * Cons:
 * Warforged:
 * Pros: Racial abilities provide more melee durability
 * Cons: -2 wisdom, -2 charisma, both of which are primary statistics for a cleric. Diminished self-healing ability as divine healing spells only work at half effectiveness on warforged.

All around (General)
Race: Human

STATS: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 14


 * FEATS:

Mental Toughness

Improved Turning


 * STATS:

Str at 14 makes you actually usefull in melee with +2 to hit / damage. A nice perk is getting +2 to strength based skills like swimming. With a 1d8 Morningstar or Heavy Mace you can add some decent damage output for your party (Even better with Bane Weapons). I find myself with opportunities for battle quite a bit, and it's nice to be able to "off-tank" something for your fighter or be able to draw something off your Wizard / Sorcerer without too much worry. I've been complimented often by Fighters who are pleasantly suprised with my melee ability.

Dex at 12 gives the +1 AC bonus in Full Plate.

Con at 12 gives +1 hp/level (an extra +10 HP at lvl 10 vs. a CON of 10) and reasonable fortitude saves. Of course a CON of 14 would be nice, since it gives +2 hp/level and +20 HP at lvl 10 vs. CON of 10, but I feel it's too much too sacrifice something else for 2 more points here.

Int at 8 gives -1 skill points/level... One of the main reasons I went human, as the +1 Skill/lvl cancels this out. It also frees up 2 more skill points which can be used to start STR at 14.

Wis at 15. Use the Cleric's Wisdom Action Point at lvl 2 to bump this up to 16. I'll also be putting my extra points into WIS to bring it up to a base of 18 (I think that's right). Wisdom is what determines which level of spells a cleric can use, with 15 in wisdom you can use all possible cleric spells from higher levels. Wisdom is also used to add to the success rate of your spells on enemies such as command on a kobold or something.

Cha at 14 gives +2 turning attempts (5 total), and as previously stated, is 33% more effective than a CHA 12. You also get a +2 on diplomacy and haggle, among other CHA based skills). Charisma is used to determine the amount of turns or divine vitality you can use. Note that for an all healer and turner cleric this is ideal but if melee cleric then this is one stat that can be lowered to 10 or 12 depending on what you see fit.


 * Race:

I went Human for the extra feat at lvl 1 and +4 skill points at lvl 1 and +1 each additional lvl (which helps to counter the -1 per lvl the INT 8 gives). I really wanted to play another race, like Elf, but the lack of the extra feat and skill points is a noticable drawback.


 * Feats:

As far as feats go, I've chosen to go with Mental Toughness (+10 Spell points at lvl 1, +5 spell points each additional lvl), and Improved Turning. I noticed a significant difference in my turning ability verses not having this feat in my build.

I'm not really sure what to take for additional feats. Some that look really interesting are:
 * Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons (+1 Base Attack Bonus w/ Bludgeoning Weapons)
 * Extra Turning: (+4 Turns per day)
 * Improved Mental Toughness (but this requries you be able to cast lvl 3 spells)

I'm also confused if the metamagical feats are worth it. It seems like they take a lot of extra spells points, when the standard spells are just fine and efficient enough.

Cleric's Wisdom (+1 WIS at lvl 2)
 * Extra Feats:

Devotion (+% to Heal Spells, +20% at lvl 2, +30% at lvl 3, etc)

Energy of the Zealot (+ to spell points, +20 at lvl 2, +30 at lvl 3, etc)

Divine Vitality (able to recharge a little bit of spell points to a friendly. Uses a Turn Undead. I'm not quite sure, but I think the recharge is a 1d8 at lvl 2)- at lvl 3 in beta its 19-21 spellpoints pr cast

I felt this was has been a great all-around melee / casting cleric build so far. I tried some of the Ranged Cleric builds, but always found myself wanting to jump in and beat on monsters. There's also something about the way ranged combat works that doesn't sit well with me. The DEX 16 was nice, and gives +3 AC bonus, but you can only wear medium armor to not lose the bonus. With DEX of 12, you get the +1 AC in Full Plate and I think you end up having 1 more AC then you would with the DEX 16 bonuses.

Healer #1
RACE: Human

STATS: STR 8, DEX 8, CON 10, INT 8, WIS 18, CHA 16

Combat Casting
 * FEATS:

Mental Toughness


 * STATS:

STR at 8 gives a -1 modifier to hit and damage, but this is a healer build and it doesn't hurt you too much. The main weakness is that your swimming skill is not too good, this is the reason I went for human was to use 1 skill/lvl to increase swimming until it is a decent amount.

DEX at 8 gives a -1 AC bonus. This is a plate build cleric and not a ranged one, so expect to be wearing full plate and carry a shield.

CON at 10 gives a +1 to hit points per turn. There were 2 extra stat points left after increasing charisma and wisdom to max, and this is the best one to put them into.

INT at 8 gives a -1 skill point per level. Going human gives you a +1 skill point per level bonus so it evens out pretty well.

WIS at 18. This is a healer build, so we want to maximize our healing and spells. I also put the extra points into WIS to bring it up to 20.

CHA at 16. This is the max you can raise charisma once WIS is maxed out at 18. Some may want it to be higher for turning undead, but expect to use the cleric spell Eagle’s Splendor to give it a temporary boost to Turn Undead better.

To be able to raise swimming so you are not at too much of a disadvantage in the early levels, going human was best.
 * RACE:


 * FEATS:

For the initial feats I selected Mental Toughness for the extra spell points and Combat Casting so that I can cast better in combat.

For future feats look at picking up [[Extra Turning (to make Divine Vitality that much better), Iron Will, and Discipline]]. If you find yourself having problems swimming you may need to just pick up the Skill: Swimming to make it easier, even in place of the starter feats.

The enhancements that you want to end up with when you get to level 3+ look like the following:
 * ACTION POINTS:

Devotion (level X)

Devotion (level X + 1)

Energy of the Zealot

Divine Vitality

It appears that devotion at different levels stack, for example, at level 3 get Devotion II and also Improved Devotion I. This will make casting Level 1 heal spells give you almost the same heal amount as a Level 2 heal spell, but with 33% less spell points and faster cast recharge time.

Energy of the Zealot is chosen to get extra energy and Divine Vitality allows you to recharge the spell points of other healers or spell casters.


 * SUMMARY:

With this build you will be more efficient on spell points by casting your maxlevel-1 heal spells, you get a ton of spell points, and you can also recharge other healers and spellcasters. I have played a melee cleric, but I like to play this one a bit better. With heavy armor and a shield you can go in and get aggro off of a squishee and keep your shield up to block and also be able to just sit back in heal and buff everyone.


 * Alternative:

To maximize spell points, try making a multiclass character. With at least a 16 charisma a Cleric 9 / Sorcerer 1 will have more spell points then a Cleric 10 and both builds will still be able to cast level 5 cleric spells. The only drawback is that the multiclass cleric will be able to memorize 1 less level 4 and level 5 cleric spell.

Healer #2
Dwarf Cleric:
 * 14 str
 * 12 dex
 * 16 con
 * 16 wis
 * 10 int
 * 6 cha

Bonus points into wisdom.

Feats:
 * 1 Mental Toughness
 * 3 Luck of Heroes
 * 6 Improved Mental Toughness
 * 9 Empower Healing

Enhancements:
 * Cleric's wis
 * +40% healing
 * improved empower heal
 * cleric's spell points

Skills:
 * concentration
 * diplomacy

Mana battery
Human Cleric:
 * 10 str
 * 12 dex
 * 14 con
 * 16 wis
 * 8 int
 * 14 cha

Bonus points into wisdom.

Feats:
 * 1 Mental Toughness
 * 1 Extra Turning
 * 3 Luck of Heroes
 * 6 Improved Mental Toughness
 * 9 Extra Turning

Enhancements:
 * Cleric's wis
 * +40% healing
 * Divine Vitality
 * cleric's spell points

Skills:
 * concentration
 * diplomacy

Melee
Stats: Str 16 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 8

This is for a Human Cleric, but for the pure melee Cleric, you may want to consider Dwarf. Same stat placement, but the difference is that you get 16 Con, and 6 Cha Or, a popular idea is to switch Str and Con, giving you 18 Con as a dwarf. Hp-o-riffic!

Wait...What?

The Cleric class is about a couple things. Primary is being able to toss off healing spells, either on yourself or on your buddies (or that undead mob). Having 16 Wis allows for a healthy spell pool. Clerics also have full plate armor, a shield, and defensive spells. By all means, use 'em! You can have similar AC to a fighter, and, fully buffed, enough attack power to hit whatever you want to. Bull's Strength, Divine Favor, these spells give hefty bonuses to your ability to make that kobold chewing on your armored leg die faster.

Feats: Mental Toughness (1st level) This is a melee build, but if your spell points run dry, you're just a fighter with a poor BAB.

Others to consider: Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning +1 to attack isn't bad

Weapon Focus: Slashing If you're an elf or decided that you'd look badass with a Bastard Sword, you'll want the focus for a slashing weapon.

Dodge: If you go with 13 dex, having a flat +1 AC isn't bad if you're planning to mix it up on the front lines. You have to sacrifice some Con or Str in order to get the necessary Dex, and I don't find it worth it

Empower Healing Spell: If I recall correctly, Empower does 150% effect, for 130% SP. If you're on the front-line, you may need to be able to toss off a few large heals on yourself, the fighter, or the undead archer shooting you from above. I found the feat unused, but others may have more effect with it.

Enhancements: These tend to be less melee-oriented, so you can use them to your advantage to round out your healing ability, or your abysmal cha score with extra turn undead (which will be used for Divine Vitality...).

Closing Remarks I played a human cleric for my time in Beta, and the entire time I found absolutely no use for turn undead. I ran though many undead-filled dungeons (well, a few...there aren't all that many) and watched as turn after turn had no effect or just made one of the four undead in the area a little woozy for a few seconds. In reading the general forums, apparently turn undead faced a nerf in the past, and has become pretty useless. Quite frankly, I found it such. Turn Undead is essentially just Divine Vitality. You can either make the undead woozy, or give the wizard some SP to burn them to a crisp. This cleric's healing ability is directly based on the amount of Wis he has, which governs the amount of SP. So go ahead, heal your friends, and still get to beat ten types of cr*p out of anything that looks at you funny!

Variations: you may also start with 15 Wis and raise your Dex to 12, in order to get a +1 bonus to AC. With the cleric's enhancement to Wis and the absence of bonus spell slots in DDO, 15 Wis is considered a high enough starting value. It is even possible to drop it to 14 and raise your Int in order to be able to maximize both the heal and concentration skills. Also, as noted above, Turn Undead will be almost useless with the low Cha in this build. However it can be very efficient with 14-16 Cha.

Dwarf fighter/healer
An alternate dwarf fighter/pure healer build Str 14 Dex 12 Con 16 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 6

I believe that dwarves are one of the best cleric races. Statistics are probably a wash, but they have excellent racial enhancements (+spell points, +save against spells).

The concept behind this build is to maximize healing efficiency with enhancements rather than using enhancements to increase turn undead usage. Going with 6 charisma, you are pretty much writing off using turn-undead uses for either healing or regenerating spell points for party members.

Starting Feat: Empower healing This feat doubles the effectiveness of healing spells for a 50% increase in spell points. Enhancements can further low this cost to 33% (level 2) and lower at high levels. I leave this feat on constantly.

Enhancements:
 * Cleric spell points
 * Dwarven spell points
 * Improved Empower healing (reduce cost of empower healing)
 * Devotion (makes healing more efficient).

This healer has a ton of spell points from enhancements, and gets a lot of 'bang for the buck' out of each heal. I have found it to be highly effective and a good alternative to using enhancements to take more +turn chances, and other enhancement slots to turn->spell points, and turn->heal enhancements. At level 3, this build has 236 spell points, and light heals fix about 18 hits/13 mana.

The level 3 feat that I recommend is 'extend spell'. This will double the duration of all buffs for 50% more mana. This allows first level buffs (prayer) last 6 minutes for 15 spell points. With 3-4 buffs up, the 'battle cleric' is a soloing monster. He is equally useful in groups with a large power pool and extremely efficient heal spells and power efficient buff spells.