Clerics - Battlefield Control and Save or Suck

[Fawsto]

Sup, Guys.

I am here asking a few more questions about clerics and their builds.

Now, Ive been playing a Cleric in a scenario where there is no DMM. Not even consider this on your toughts while posting here... =P

But yeah, my character is a melee focused cleric that does the classic "pre-fight" buffing. His domains are Weather and War. Mostly due to flavour, I was not aiming for nothing more especific than the Stormlord prc (that has been houseruled to apply the bonuses to hammers instead of spears... You know, Thor and that stuff...). Currently level 5.

I've been using the good and old buffs, such as Divine Favor, Magic Weapon, etc... Hoping to achieve level 7, so I will start to use the "better" buffs.

But my character is facing a problem... Lately, due to the "death" of his former partner, a Barbarian, and the split of the group, he has been walking all for himself in a snowcovered wasteland.

When he faces something fierce, his basic strategy has been buffing his AC and HP regen (via Vigor, or extended lesser vigor) and smiting the critter with anything he gets. This takes too many resources. Specially when he faces groups of enemies.

So I really need some battlefield control spells and save or sucks. All possible to a level 5 cleric. Also, if you could, list a few spells that will be availble in higher levels.

Please, stick to core, completes and spell compendium. These are mostly reliable in my table.

Also, if you have the time to spare, which should be my feats in a no DMM, low charisma (10) scenario? Do Scribe scroll and Craft Wands help trought this, or I should just blast it and go total melee?

Also, can a cleric relly on Girallon's blessing to help him in a fight?

Thanks in advance. Any help will be rewarded... I think :smalltongue:

[Saintjebus]

Girallon's blessing, IIRC, lets you essentially hold things with the extra two arms. Therefore, you can wield a shield and a two handed weapon. Or a one handed weapon, a shield, and two scrolls. Or a wand and a scroll. I would use the Girallon's blessing w/ scribe scroll and create wand. I am not up to speed on good cleric spells, but I would put a range spell on the wand, a last resort blasty spell on the scroll, and the highest damage one hand weapon you can use(would be mace, but you get weapon prof. and weapon focus w/ your deity's favored weapon from War Domain. I don't know what your Deity has.)

[Fawsto]

Thor's - Mjolnir enters the building - Warhammer. 1d8 x3 on crit... Good enough as a weapon. I was considering into 2 handing it with Girallon's while double profiting from Magic Vest with enchanted armor and shield. After I get a floting shield I will just fuse arms and net myself a +4 nameless bonus to strenght. What you think?

[HamsterOfTheGod]

As a Clr 5, you have limited but useful choices for Save or Suck and Control. There is always Blindness and Hold Person. And Summon Monster can be used for Battlefield Control, sorta. In addition to summoning critters to tie up your opponent, you can summon a dretch to cast Stinking Cloud.

If you are wandering alone, Animate Dead can give you some new "partners". And Meld into Stone might save your butt that one time you run into something you can't outfight.

Otherwise check here http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Spells-Cleric.pdf or here http://www.imarvintpa.com/DnDLive/FindSpell.php.

For ex, Complete Arcane Ring of Blades is a 3rd level spell that creates a damaging area around you that moves with you. And from complete Divine Divine, Wave of Grief gives opponents a -3 on all actions on failed Will save.

At higher levels when you can start to cast 5th or 6th level spells, your Save or Die and Battlefield Control choices become quite good (Plane Shift, Slay Living, Wall of Stone, Anti-Life Shell, Blade Barrier, Harm, etc.)

[olentu]

I think blood snow from frostburn is an alright spell since you are in an icy environment. I remembering it doing repeated con drain and nauseating on a failed save.

[Woot Spitum]

Obscuring Mist, Darkness, Deeper Darkness, and Wind Wall are good ways to limit enemy ranged attacks, or to simply make yourself harder to hit. Bestow Curse can mess up an enemy pretty bad.

[Fawsto]

Hmm.. I had forgotten frostburn. Good book to consult. I checked it and some spells are pretty good.

How can I overcome the lack of DMM? I want my spells to be availble for longer! I've been using extend spell to ease this matter.

Please, continue, this is being helpfull.

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Hmm.. I had forgotten frostburn. Good book to consult. I checked it and some spells are pretty good.

How can I overcome the lack of DMM? I want my spells to be availble for longer! I've been using extend spell to ease this matter.

Please, continue, this is being helpfull.

Blinding Snow and Obscuring Snow (Frostburn) lasts 6 hours. Deeper Darkness 1 day/level. Endure Elements lasts 1 day.

Short of a metamagic rod of extend, (if your DM allows) you can also use metamagic components (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/metamagicComponents.htm) though those are unlikely to help you in your current situation and can get quite expensive.

[Quietus]

If you can make it to 9th, you could pick up Quicken, and prepare a Quickened Divine Favor + Divine Power in the first round of combat. +6 strength, +1 HP/level, full BAB, and +3 to hit/damage. Of course, that's a ways off - but it's something I intend to use next time I get a melee cleric to 9th, since we don't use DMM either.

[HamsterOfTheGod]

And then there's always persistent spell...but you have to be able to cast 7th level spells, so not before level 13.

Sudden extend can help you extend your top level spells. And if you want to stretch things, you could have a divine thesis similar to arcane thesis.

[lsfreak]

Unless you regularly drop down to very low levels of health, the time casting vigor pre-combat could probably be better used to just flat-out attack. Also, I wouldn't bother extending much - hours/lvl spells you might as well recast at 2 lower levels, mins/level already lasts entire combats but would hardly ever last multiple ones even extended... rnd/lvl I would only really extend if you anticipate fairly long combats, though with only 1 person I guess combat can drag on longer.

Nauseating Cone (Spell Compendium) does just that, and is the best save-or-x that I could find quickly glancing through, 3rd level. There's also a spell in Serpent Kingdoms that's basically Stinking Cloud but a cone.

Conjure Ice Beast/Summon Monster/Summon Undead are control of sorts, especially if you know what to summon.

[Curmudgeon]

Also, I wouldn't bother extending much - hours/lvl spells you might as well recast at 2 lower levels Uh, I think you're misremembering the cost of Extend Spell:
An extended spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.

[lsfreak]

Uh, I think you're misremembering the cost of Extend Spell:

So I did. In which case I'd extend rounds/level and hours/level, but minutes/level is probably just a waste of slots since it already lasts 1 and probably wont' ever hit 2 different encounters.

[Fawsto]

Should I stock on wands and scrolls made by myself? Or should I just go ahead and trust my normal amount of spells/day? Any more spells that I should note? I will require some control/sos for the next 2 spell levels.

I had to spend 2 feats to qualify into Stormlord (and the way I achieved that last "shocky" pre-req was quite epic, indeed!), Endurance and Great Fortitude. I also got Extend Spell, which I am using a lot with Lesser Vigor. My character is alone most of the times, if not only with a single partner. Vigor has saved my ass more than I can count (I had some "post mortem" glory by killing foes that tought I was dead).

I know, the Cleric is an already solid class. I'd be totaly dead if I was not one. The lack of DMM simply makes hard for the Cleric to totally whipe the encounters out. But since I survive from buffs, I need to keep them running for a while.

Since DMM is out, I simply blew Charisma out of my way (Cha score: 10). My character's Wis is 16, his con and str are 14 each, dex and int are also 10 (I hate dumb characters). I want to find ways to have access to my spells whenever I need 'em.

[HamsterOfTheGod]

Should I stock on wands and scrolls made by myself? Or should I just go ahead and trust my normal amount of spells/day? Any more spells that I should note? I will require some control/sos for the next 2 spell levels.

I had to spend 2 feats to qualify into Stormlord (and the way I achieved that last "shocky" pre-req was quite epic, indeed!), Endurance and Great Fortitude. I also got Extend Spell, which I am using a lot with Lesser Vigor. My character is alone most of the times, if not only with a single partner. Vigor has saved my ass more than I can count (I had some "post mortem" glory by killing foes that tought I was dead).

I know, the Cleric is an already solid class. I'd be totaly dead if I was not one. The lack of DMM simply makes hard for the Cleric to totally whipe the encounters out. But since I survive from buffs, I need to keep them running for a while.

Since DMM is out, I simply blew Charisma out of my way (Cha score: 10). My character's Wis is 16, his con and str are 14 each, dex and int are also 10 (I hate dumb characters). I want to find ways to have access to my spells whenever I need 'em.

Scrolls and wands are a cheap way to go but before spending a feat next level to make them yourslef ask the dm whther you will have the downtime and resources to make magic items.

That being said, if you want to cast 1 or 2 spells over and over. Like divine favor, then a wand is the way to go. If you want to have a cheap backup for when you run out of spells or a way to have ready access to utility spells, then scrolls are better.

But maybe the best feat for you at level 6 is leadership. You can get a 4th level cohort and almost any other class like fighter, rogue, wizard or even bard would fit well with your character.

You have to discuss with your dm how the cohort gets recruited but if the dm let's you pick, I think rogue synergizes best with your cleric. Take rog3/wiz1 and you get scribe scroll for free :)

[Fawsto]

That is indeed, an issue... Really... I am at level 5 right now. My only magic item is a wand of silence. Only. And I have no (not even a single pinch of dust of) gold. Serves us well, since we were arrested and lost all money and equip (got the equip back) and are wandering in a barren frozen wasteland... God help me if I go too far from the only village spoted...

Another thing is that, until the past sessions, the adventure was held in a very fast pace... Almost no time to rest, the group's beatstick was surviving on my account, since I had to cure him almost everyday and we had no time to rest.

I must seek other alternatives.

[Gnaeus]

I hate to suggest that your character make friends with the next adventurer he encounters, but isn't the dead barbarian's player making another character?

[Fawsto]

The thing is... He is dead indead, with all that goes with it, traped in the Hellheim, etc.. But my character received a quest to go and ressurect it. Obviously due to DM plot, since my character found a Phoenix's Feather which carries the power to ressurect a single person. In the world, ressurection magic is not known to the general public of casters, but in the other hand, there are some artifacts and items that can bring people from the dead.

How rare is a ressurection magic? Let's just say that a level 18 necromancer that my friend met at Hellheim never heard of a way to bring people back from the dead... with a soul attached.