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 scrapper 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.

=Cleric Builds=

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/turn (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/turn 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 pt for 1/lvl... 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, I used to start STR at 14.

Wis at 15. I use the Ceric'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). While this is a Clerics most important stat, I'm still a little confused how WIS effects the cleric build. As far as I understand, at 15, I'm able to maximize my spell's power(?), use as many high level spells as possible (?). As I said, I'm still confused how WIS works, but this seems to be a respectable amount of points, while keeping other stats high too.

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). I'm a little confused also if this is the skill that makes it more difficult for your spells to be resisted(?). Some clerification would be appreciated.


 * 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)

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
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.