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Sarakos
2010-10-19, 10:44 AM
Hello all, I have been a lurker in the playground for a while before a new Pathfinder campaign coming up persuaded me to finally register and ask for some advice.

We are playing a level 3 Pathfinder Campaign using Core rules only. I've decided to try my hand at cleric and fulfill the melee damage dealing/buffing role. We are using the DM's own custom point buy system where we are given 82 points and every stat starts at zero, one point = one stat point. No stat lower than an 8 or higher than an 18 (before racial modifiers, stat boosting equipment, etc.)
This particular cleric was inspired by the War-Priest class from Warhammer online and I tried to reflect it in my current stat set up: (Note I am a Human and the +2 to one stat was put into strength)

Str: 16, Dex: 16, Con: 14, Int: 8, Wis: 16, Cha: 14

The DM allowed me to create my own custom weapon, the Greathammer, my human feat goes to being proficient in it. I took selective channeling and Power Attack as my next two feats. We also are beginning play with 5,000 gp of which I spent 4,000 on a strength boosting belt (bringing my Strength to an 18).

Essentially, I would like to know if there is anything I can improve on or change (I'm pretty set on being human and wielding that Greathammer but everything else is subject to change). I was also playing around with the idea of multi-classing with bard for additional buffing power, and RP it as my cleric singing hymns while he fights. Would that be viable?

Thanks in advance for the help :smallbiggrin:

Malbordeus
2010-10-19, 11:22 AM
hmm, what kind of energy are you channeling?

if its positive, then it might be better to drop selective channeling in favour of extra Channeling (additional channeling?).
if its negative, then selective channel, becomes a necesity, and is hideous.

next up is the minor abilities a cleric gets, you'll be able to use them 6 times depending on the specific ability, Bleeding touch is fun to play with (death domain) or if your going smack happy - then destruction has a smite power that looks ok at a glance, i mean, its minimal, but every point of damage counts. same for the good domain.

your only a point of bab down on a fighter atm, so it looks pretty solid.

(EDIT: your ac may suck a little though... just a warning)

Sarakos
2010-10-19, 12:02 PM
I'm a Chaotic Good cleric of Gorum, channeling positive energy with the Strength and War domains. I mainly took selective channeling to avoid healing enemies as well since I plan to be in the thick of the melée but extra channel was next on my list.

After looking at the destruction domain though I decided to swap out strength for destruction. Thank you it's a much better domain :D

Mongoose87
2010-10-19, 12:08 PM
Personally, I'd probably have put that Human +2 into Wisdom.

HunterOfJello
2010-10-19, 12:14 PM
If you're going to run around with a big hammer, then you're going to want to grab the Plant domain with the Growth subdomain. It has the awesome ability to let you use Enlarge on yourself as a swift action 3 + wis mod times per day. *This is assuming that the Pathfinder SRD or Advanced Players Guide counts as core. I don't know what counts as Core in Pathfinder.)

~

If you're using a Point-Buy system then I would switch your Dex and Str so that you have

Str 16+2 = 18 and Dex 14
instead of
Str 14+2 = 16 and Dex 16


I would also diversify your spending on magical items after the adjustment.

Sarakos
2010-10-19, 12:36 PM
Personally, I'd probably have put that Human +2 into Wisdom.

I did that originally but all I got was an extra 4th level spell I can't yet use. I plan to put all attribute points at 4th, 8th, and 12th level into wisdom so I can acess all my cleric spells and probably pick up more wisdom boosting items along the way.

HunterofJello, I would have done that in 3.5 but I found from flipping through the wondrous items section that magic items boosting physical abilities take up the belt slot. No more gloves of dexterity and belt of giant strength. Now I have to choose between belt of strength, belt of dexterity or belt of constitution. The same goes for the mental stats but with headbands. As I planned to grab a breastplate I put my dexterity at 16 to make maximum use of the Max dex bonus and just focus on strength for the belt and a headband of wisdom when I can afford it.

Powerfamiliar
2010-10-19, 12:43 PM
Very similar to a cleric build in my game. He has less dex as he took heavy armor proficiency. He's been very effective.

If you are using the hammer 2 handed power attack seems like a must.

Multi classing with bard would probably not work very well. You get better buffing from higher lvl cleric spells than low level bard abilities and spells.

Edit: My player actually started with a 14 wisdom. Wisdom is not really that important if you don'y use spells with DCs. With Items and stat bonuses its fairly simple to get that bonus spells for your highest level spell until you casting level 5 or 6 spells.

Dizlag
2010-10-19, 12:56 PM
I dunno if you've got the Advanced Player's Guide, but the Rage Subdomain seems like a pretty good one. You'll get "bull's strength" as a 2nd level domain spell and at 8th level be able to enter a rage like a barbarian and at 10th and 12th level be able to select rage powers.

Dizlag