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Darwin
2009-06-07, 07:07 PM
Okay, now that I've got your attention let me get you into the details. I have been running a new campaign with my group for the past few sessions, and now they're standing on the doorstep of the first chapters conclusion. For this I have prepared an encounter featuring 5 Shadow Vipers (Fiend Folio), 2 Shadows and to lead them in a battle; an evil Cleric of Shar. The group is currently level 4, and consists of a knight, a sorcerer, an archer (homebrew from the playground), and a binder.

During playtests with my dummy group the encounter plays out well except for a minor detail, the cleric goes down within the first or second round. So now I need a little community help on beefing up the durability of my cleric. :smallamused:

Current build of the Cleric

CLERIC OF SHAR CR 6
Female Chondathan human – Cleric 6
NE Medium humanoid
Senses: Listen +4, Spot +4
Init: -1
Languages: Chondathan, Common, Draconic

AC: 21, touch 9, flat-footed 21
Hit Points: 49 HD: 6
Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +10

Speed: 20 ft.
Melee: +1 heavy mace +6 (1d8+2) or
Melee: spontaneous inflict serious wounds +6 touch (3d8+8, Will DC 17 half) or
Melee: spontaneous inflict moderate wounds +6 touch (2d8+8 Will DC 16 half) or
Melee: spontaneous inflict light wounds +6 touch (1d8+8 Will DC 15 half)
Ranged: 160 ft. searing light +3 touch (3d8)
Space: 5 Reach: 5
Base Atk: +4 Grapple: +5
Atk Options:
Special Actions: spontaneous casting (inflict spells)
Combat Gear: potion of cure moderate wounds

Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 6)
3rd (DC 17)—bestow curse, prayer, blacklightD, dispel magic
2nd (DC 16)—darkness, detect thoughtsD, hold person (2)
1st (DC 15)—obscuring mistD, bane, cause fear (2), sanctuary
0th (DC 14)—detect magic (2), ghost sound (2), guidance
Deity: Shar
Domains: Darkness, Knowledge

Str 12, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 13
Feats: Blind-FightD, Combat Casting, Speak Language (Draconic), Improved Toughness, Weapon Focus (touch spell), Touch Spell Specialization
Skills: Concentration +11, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +4, Knowledge (religion) +7, Listen +4, Spot +4,
Possessions: combat gear plus +1 heavy mace, +1 full plate, heavy steel shield, vest of resistance +1, periapt of Wisdom +2, holy symbol

holywhippet
2009-06-07, 08:09 PM
What exactly is taking him down? Direct attacks - give him better armour and a tower shield? Magic? Try the silence spell.

Use spells like armour of faith, sanctuary and protection from good to make the cleric harder to hit. Will the party take the cleric by surprise or vice versa? If the latter, the cleric can buff in advance.

One useful trick - cast summon monster 2/3 and call in some fiendish wolves. Move them next to the spellcasters (or all your opponents) and have them ready trip actions for anyone who tries to cast a spell.

Yahzi
2009-06-07, 08:16 PM
So now I need a little community help on beefing up the durability of my cleric.
Sell all that useless combat crap and spend the money on some dead bodies. Then animate them. Have your cleric hide behind a tower shield, in a closet, while his skeletons shoot arrows at the enemy. Or better yet, fight from behind a locked porticullis, where she can cast spells but not be killed by swords.

Obscuring Mist. Use it. Why should the Cleric even expose herself while she has undead minions alive? Mace-fighting is for chumps, or for the desperate. Smart clerics run away and raise more undead.

Darwin
2009-06-07, 08:17 PM
What exactly is taking him down? Direct attacks - give him better armour and a tower shield? Magic? Try the silence spell.

Use spells like armour of faith, sanctuary and protection from good to make the cleric harder to hit. Will the party take the cleric by surprise or vice versa? If the latter, the cleric can buff in advance.

One useful trick - cast summon monster 2/3 and call in some fiendish wolves. Move them next to the spellcasters (or all your opponents) and have them ready trip actions for anyone who tries to cast a spell.

The battle will start with the vipers and shadows, with the cleric in a seperate room giving her all the time she needs to buff, but on the other hand I'd really want her out there before the rest of the encounter is gone.

The main issue is the archer, he packs a mean punch paired with good precision. A tower shield would actually be a wonderfully easy solution, I can't believe why I hadn't already thought of that :smallwink:

holywhippet
2009-06-07, 10:14 PM
The main issue is the archer, he packs a mean punch paired with good precision. A tower shield would actually be a wonderfully easy solution, I can't believe why I hadn't already thought of that :smallwink:

Possibly throw in entropic shield as well to make some of those arrows fail. Sound burst is also a good spell to toss amongst your opposition. Remember some of these spells might be as potions to save spell slots.

d13
2009-06-07, 11:38 PM
May I suggest, to synergyze (sp?) with the shadow minions stuff, something like...

Conjurer 1 (ACF Abrupt Jaunt)/Cleric (Spontaneous Domain Casting) 2/Master of Shrouds 3?

Or, for even more fluff (and a little less survailability -> (sp?)):
Necromancer 1/Cleric 2/Master of Shrouds 3

Maybe not that great, but at least has way too much fluff =P

Curmudgeon
2009-06-07, 11:58 PM
There are some niche cases in the rules that allow beefing up a Cleric's AC. Magic Item Compendium rules allow you to add AC enhancement bonuses to body items, including robes (which are treated as +0 AC "armor"). Magic Vestment allows the Cleric to boost that +0 AC up temporarily. Armor bonuses and armor enhancement bonuses stack. You can also cast Magic Vestment on a shield for a shield enhancement bonus. Shield of Faith grants a deflection bonus to AC. Entropic Shield grants a 20% miss chance against ranged attacks; it's not a concealment effect, so it stacks with concealment.

Put enough of these protections together and that archer should be majorly frustrated.

Darwin
2009-06-08, 06:20 AM
Looking at the ideas given here I decided to add a few elements of the battle.

First and foremost, i made the combat area twice as big. With all the things going on in the fight the area would quickly get crowded.

Entropic Shield is now prepared, and the cleric will also be holding a scroll of magic vestment with 3 charges to use on her armor and shield. (As compensation I got rid of the +1 armor and replaced it with a normal one). Another thing I forgot to mention was that the room will be dark (for obvious reasons), so as long as the cleric stays out of range of the PC's torches she will now have a 40% chance of not being hit, along with an AC of 24 under optimal circumstances.

The room already contained a large pile of bones I decided could be used to raise a Serpentir (MM5) with an animate dead spell once the PCs make their way through the shadows and vipers. Having the cleric throw a handful of onyx gems into the pile followed by a serpentir slowly rising will have a great scenic effect :smallbiggrin:.

I'm a bit worried this might be too much for the PCs to handle now, I'll post the results of my playtests later today.

Roupe
2009-06-08, 03:52 PM
The room can have black painted walls...

Have the cleric cast darkness, then detect thoughts before initiating contact. The priest listen in on their thoughts and gather Intel about his opposition.

He can cast hold person on a target with low will save,-he would know what targets that have bad saves from detect thoughts. preventing that victim from moving and speaking.

With ghost sound and his bluff skill he can "assume" that character in the pitch black darkness. A darkness that torches nor dark-vision works in.

Use ghost sound and bluff to bluff the party into attacking each other. They don't seem to have good defense against bluff & deception.

Since he has blind fighting he can assist players and attack opportune targets.

Spells like silence and glyph of warding makes a fight in the dark a terryfying experience - especially against a foe that has blind fight.

Yahzi
2009-06-08, 08:24 PM
Lholding a scroll of magic vestment with 3 charges to use on her armor and shield.
I don't think it will work on the shield.

Also, its duration is hours per level. Put a pair of lowly human skeletons with a brass gong outside the doors. While the party is killing them all they do is bang their gong. Then when the party gets inside, your cleric is holding a used-up scroll of Magic Vestment.


Another thing I forgot to mention was that the room will be dark (for obvious reasons), so as long as the cleric stays out of range of the PC's torches she will now have a 40% chance of not being hit, along with an AC of 24 under optimal circumstances.
Can they even see her to shoot at all? If so, hang a blanket from the ceiling and let her hide behind it. She can look out through tiny slits - if the blanket covers 4 squares, that makes the archer pick a square to attack, and then grants a 50% chance of miss (with another 20% for the Entropic Shield).

And when the players charge her, she can pull a rope and drop the blanket on them. It won't do anything, of course, but I bet your players freak out and start making DC 15 reflex saves "not to be touched by the foul, black cloth."


I'm a bit worried this might be too much for the PCs to handle now
Worrying about the PCs isn't your job. Worrying about your cleric is your job. The PCs can take care of themselves. And if they can't, then they should roll better.

:smallbiggrin: