Making an Untouchable Cleric [3.5]

[dark.sun.druid]

I am looking for ways to add as much as possible to the following stats for the Cleric build I am making:

AC
Spell Resistance
Bonuses to Saving Throws
Miss Chance
Bonus HP / Fast Healing
Immunity to Various Effects
Anything else you can think of along these lines (defensive)

Anything that doesn't use a non-renewable resource would be great if there is a way to do it that way.

UPDATE: What I'm looking for right now is a way to get my shield bonus to AC (and the ability to use the shield to take cover) without having to hold the shield in my hand. Animated would be great, but I don't have enough money left, and I would like to get it as soon as possible. If someone can find me a similar effect for less money (even if it only lasts for a round) I would love that. If not I'll wait and get dancing when I can pay for it.

Here is the build I have to far (this is all I can do for now, so unless you have a suggestion to replace one of these features any advice you can provide should be in the form of future things to do):

Gurrak Red-Jaw
Cleric of Gond
[Augmented Monsterous Humanoid (goblinoid), Fire]

Bugbear {+1 LA, 3d8HD} [MM 29] -- Ability Modifiers: {+4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, -2 CHA}; Medium Size; Land Speed 30; Drakvision 60'; +2 BAB +1 Fort; +3 Ref; +1 WIll; 6*(2+INT) skill points; Class skills: {Climb, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot}; 2 Bonus racial feats; +3 natural armor bonus; +4 racial bonus on Move Silently; Automatic Languages: {Common, Goblin}; Bonus Languages: {Draconic, Giant, Elven, Gnoll, Orc}
Dragonspawn, Red {+4 LA} [DL 222] -- Ability Modifiers: {+8 STR, +2 DEX, +6 CON, +2 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA}; Fly Speed 60 (Average); Gain 1d4+STRm Bite attack; Gain 2 1d4+(1/2 SRTm) Claw attacks at BAB - 5; +7 Natural Armor (replaces Bugbear natural armor); Gain Breath weapon (30' Cone of Fire 4d10 , Reflex DC (10+(1/2 HD)+CONm) Half, Usable Once per 2d4 rounds); Gain Death Throes (10' Radius 2d10, Reflex DC (10+(1/2 HD)+CONm) Half, Activated upon Death); Gain Spellcasting as 1st Level Sorcerer: {0: Detect Magic, Message, Prestigititation, Mending; 1st: Comprehend Language, Unseen Servant}; Has access to dragon feats;
Cleric {+1 HD) [PHB 30]

36,000 Starting Gold -- 35,407 gp Spent

+1 Adamantine Flaming Warhammer of Impact (Forgehammer) -- 12,012 gp -- 5 lbs -- 1d8 Bludgeoning damage; 1d6 Fire damage; 19-20 x3; Ignore hardness <20; +1 on Attack and Damage rolls; Worn in belt at all times
+1 Tower Shield -- 3,030 gp -- 45 lbs -- Don as a Move Action (Command Word: Accouter); +5 AC Bonus; -9 Armor Check Penalty; 50% ASF; Can be used to provide Total Cover instead of AC bonus (Cannot attack that round); Worn during daytime and set next to armor at night
+1 Easy Travel Full Plate of Retaliation -- 12,000 gp -- 60 lbs -- Can sleep in armor with no penalties; Can make listen checks at only -5 while asleep, and then choose to awake or stay asleep; +9 AC Bonus; -5 Armor Check Penalty; 35% ASF; Can only move up to 3x Speed; Speed reduced by 10'; Can carry up to a Medium Load as if it were a Light Load; Can walk for 10 hours per day before needing to make a Constitution check to avoid non-lethal damage; Each time wearer takes 10+ damage from a single attack, armor deals 1d6 damage back to attacker; If wearer is reduced to 0- HP from a single attack, armor deals 3d6 damage back to attacker; Worn during daytime and set out on ground at night
Everfull Mug -- 200 gp -- 1 lb -- Fills with 12 oz of Water, Cheap Ale, or Water Wine (user's choice) 3/day
Everlasting Rations -- 350 gp -- 2lbs -- Contains enough rations to feed 1 Medium creature for 1 day (refills at sunrise)
Magic Bedroll -- 500 gp -- 6lbs -- As long as user is in the bedroll, user gains Endure Elements; After 8 hours rest, heal 1 HP per character level in addition to all normally healed HP; Getting in to or out of bedroll is a Full-Round action; Currently worn below backpack
Masterwork Artisan's Tools -- 55 gp -- 5lbs -- +2 Circumstance bonus to Craft checks (-2 with improvised tools)
Healer's Kit -- 50 gp -- 1 lb -- +2 Circumstance bonus to Heal checks (10 uses)
Backpack -- 2 gp -- 2 lbs -- Stores items (Currently holding: {Everfull Mug, Everlasting Rations, Spool of Endless Rope, Masterwork Artisan's Tools, Healer's Kit, Magnifying Glass, Merchant's Scale, Cold Weather Outfit})
Brass Holy Symbol -- 25 gp -- 1 lb -- Divine Focus; Currently hanging around neck
Magnifying Glass -- 100 gp -- Weightless -- +2 Circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving small or highly detailed items; Can be used to start a fire in sunlight as a Full-Round action
Merchant's Scale -- 2 gp -- 1 lb -- +2 Circumstance bonus on Appraise checks involving items valued by weight
Periapt of Wisdom +2 -- 4,000 gp -- Weightless -- +2 Enchantment bonus to WIS; Currently worn around neck
Firmament Stone (Sun) -- 110 gp -- 1/2 lb -- Shows the location of the sun in the sky, even when indoors or underground with a small yellow light visible within stone (Alchemical); Currently hanging from belt
Firmament Stone (Moon) -- 110 gp -- 1/2 lb -- Shows the location and phase of the moon in the sky, even when indoors or underground with a small yellow light visible within stone (Alchemical); Currently hanging from belt
Cold Weather Outfit -- 8 gp -- 7 lbs -- Spare clothes; +5 circumstance bonus on Fort saves against cold weather exposure
Artisan's Clothes -- 1 gp -- 4 lbs -- Spare clothes
Ring of Arming -- 5,000 gp -- Activate to store weapons / armor / shield magically within the ring or to summon them instantly onto self (weapons equipped or on ground if no hands free); Currently worn on finger (Ring slot)
Dagger -- 2 gp -- 1 lb -- 1d4 piercing or slashing; 19-20 x2; Range Increment 10'

Next Items to Buy (In Order):
Animated enchantment for Shield -- 9,000 gp -- N/A -- Shield floats within 2 ft of user, granting all normal shield effects (including penalties), but freeing up a hand.
+1 Smoking Netcutter Spikes -- 4,200 gp -- 10 lbs -- 1d6 Piercing damage; 20 x3; +1 on Attack and Damage rolls; On command fills user's space with noxious fumes as Stinking Cloud spell (user immune to effects, when cloud in use user gains 1/2 concealment (user can see through cloud), cloud dissipates when user leaves space and reforms when user stops moving in the new space)

Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency (Warhammer)[Free]; Weapon Focus (Warhammer)[Free]; Endurance; Hibernate; Divine Metamagic (persist); Armor Proficiency (Tower Shield)

Domains:
Fire: Turn/Destroy water creatures up to 4 times per day.
Metal: Gain feats (see feats, above)

[BIGMamaSloth]

Your probably going to get a lot of comments like this, but AC isn't all that useful. It's way better to pump up saves and hp because theres always save or die spells and someone rolling a natural 20 on you :smallwink:

[Morbis Meh]

What level are you and how high is your game going to go? Realistically if you want a melee cleric then focus on buffs, which can be put on you for 24 hours if you use Divine Metamagic: Persist Spell (Feat). So you need for your char is really high wisdom and a decent Charisma (16-18). As for your question about AC there aren't any that will give you AC while letting you progress in your caster level (there are PrC's like Fist of the Forest but you have to be unarmored). If you are playing a high level game then AC is all but useless because most of the time you will be hit regardless of your AC but what you really want is Spell Resistance (You can persist that spell!).

[tyckspoon]

What level are you and how high is your game going to go? Realistically if you want a melee cleric then focus on buffs, which can be put on you for 24 hours if you use Divine Metamagic: Persist Spell (Feat). So you need for your char is really high wisdom and a decent Charisma (16-18). As for your question about AC there aren't any that will give you AC while letting you progress in your caster level (there are PrC's like Fist of the Forest but you have to be unarmored). If you are playing a high level game then AC is all but useless because most of the time you will be hit regardless of your AC but what you really want is Spell Resistance (You can persist that spell!).

A Persist cleric can in fact layer enough buffs to have near-untouchable AC, as well as have enough other defenses to be largely untouchable if wanted.

To the original question: there a a few PrCs I know of that focus on buffing armor and/or shield use, but none of them give good spellcasting progression, which means you're almost certain to be better off just taking more Cleric levels.

[dark.sun.druid]

What level are you and how high is your game going to go? Realistically if you want a melee cleric then focus on buffs, which can be put on you for 24 hours if you use Divine Metamagic: Persist Spell (Feat). So you need for your char is really high wisdom and a decent Charisma (16-18). As for your question about AC there aren't any that will give you AC while letting you progress in your caster level (there are PrC's like Fist of the Forest but you have to be unarmored). If you are playing a high level game then AC is all but useless because most of the time you will be hit regardless of your AC but what you really want is Spell Resistance (You can persist that spell!).

Okay, along these lines, do you know of any PrCs that would allow me to gain spell resistance and continue in my divine casting? Turn/rebuke isn't that important to me, as there are relatively few undead in my game.

The game is run at starting ECL 9th, but most of our characters have progressed between 2-5 levels beyond that. I will focus on spell resistance and boosting my saves, as you suggested.

[herrhauptmann]

To help specifically in melee, you would want miss chances. A lot of your melee enemies at higher levels will be able to hit you unless you put an inordinate amount of your resources into a high AC. And if they can't hit your AC, they'll switch to your touch AC, or things which ignore armor (most spells).
Perhaps the best and easiest way to get a miss chance is to have a smoking weapon (I prefer +1 smoking armor spikes), it gives you concealment (prevents sneak attacks) and 50% miss chance. There's other ways to get a miss chance, though the flat rule is that miss chances don't stack (even for things like mirror image which requires a roll to attack the right figure).

PrC which boost AC, dwarven defender, devoted defender (Sword an Fist), FotF (requires unarmored). There's a whole lot more, but I don't think any benefit casters, let alone divine casters.
What race are you playing? The more we know, the more someone here is likely to know that extra tidbit of information that will make you uber-awesome (more than a Tier 1 cleric already can be). Also, what books are available to you?


Okay, along these lines, do you know of any PrCs that would allow me to gain spell resistance and continue in my divine casting? Turn/rebuke isn't that important to me, as there are relatively few undead in my game.

The game is run at starting ECL 9th, but most of our characters have progressed between 2-5 levels beyond that. I will focus on spell resistance and boosting my saves, as you suggested.

No. There's a reason why turn undead is one of the clerics few class features.
1)The benefit to turn undead is when you get the feats Divine Metamagic. With that, by spending a few turn undead attempts, you can suddenly apply a metamagic to your highest level spells, rather than waiting another 4-6 levels.
2)The second bonus of turn undead, is to power devotion feats from Complete Champion. Without turning, you're required to take the devotion once for each time per day you want to use it. With turning, you spend an extra turn undead for each time you want to use it, as a free action.
3)Devotions can be gained by giving up a domain of the same name. And many devotion powers are better than the domain and its special powers, especially if you're maxing out cleric casting.

As if that's not already awesome, you can BUY an item that boosts your turn undead attempts (nightstick). Unlimited stacking of nightsticks will result in you getting a book to the forehead by your DM.

So what level is your character actually starting at? You say ECL 9, then say that most peoples characters are 2-5 levels past that, which puts you at ECL 11-14.

[faceroll]

Two spells can get you a lot of mileage:
persisted Divine Agility for +10 enhancement bonus to Dex
greater luminous armor (no max dex or ACP) for +8 armor bonus and -4 penalty on enemies' melee attacks.

Throw on a monk's belt for wisdom to AC, and you're looking at a high AC. Note with this set up you're going to have quite a high touch AC.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't want to ignore your AC at higher levels, as monsters are going to have roughly 2x your level in BAB, which means a ton of extra damage if they're landing hits. Furthermore, the number of enemies that pose a real threat will have a myriad of ways of penetrating your miss chance, largely true seeing and blindsight. More AC means the enemies power attack less. This is a good thing, as your HP will never be that high.

[gbprime]

Mystic Wanderer (Magic of Faerun) gives +CHA to AC (if unarmored) as it's first level ability. it's also a full caster, though it's abilities are more eclectic than powerful. But combined with a +WIS to AC build and adding in magic Vestment, Bracers of Armor, or Mage Armor, it can be quite a hard spellcaster to hit.

Druid 5 - Cloistered Cleric 1 - Mystic Wanderer 4 - Holt Warden 10. No Wildshape gives +WIS to AC, Mystic Wanderer give +CHA to AC, and take Air and Plant Devotions for the Sacred and Natural Armor bonuses.

The other thing you need for it, of course, is good scores in both WIS and CHA. That's tough under a point-buy system.

[Zaq]

Thief-Acrobat (Complete Adventurer) gives a permanent +1 and eventual +2 to AC (which increases when fighting defensively or using total defense), but it's not very appropriate for clerics.

For spell resistance, eh, I guess you could take Sapphire Hierarch and use the Spellward Shirt, but you're probably better off just casting the spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spellResistance.htm), since it's already on your list.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you want to use Reach Spell shenanigans you can just cast Spell Resistance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spellResistance.htm) and DMM: Persist it. With a Bead of Karma that will give you SR 16+level.

Contemplative in Complete Divine grants SR 15 + class level. You can't start taking it sooner than your 11th character level, and it grants SR at the 7th level so no sooner than character level 17. Probably the best route to go, though. I'd actually make the build something like Cleric 6/ Divine Oracle 4/ Contemplative 10, since Divine Oracle gives Evasion and Uncanny Dodge. Use the Frog God's Fane detailed in Complete Scoundrel to get the feat prerequisite for Divine Oracle without having to spend a feat on it.

Get a Lesser Rod of Extend and use it to cast Magic Vestment on your armor and shield every day. If you're good aligned cast (Greater) Luminous Armor every day, and you can cast Magic Vestment on that to grant an enhancement bonus to the armor bonus it provides. If you have the Spell domain you can use Anyspell to cast DMM: Persist Shield, and cast Magic Vestment on that to grant an enhancement bonus to the shield bonus it provides. You can then get a Monk's Belt to add your Wisdom bonus to your AC, since with those buffs you can go unarmored and without an actual shield. Get a standard Strand of Prayer Beads which has had the Bead of Smiting removed, it should cost 9,000 gp total as per the DMG, and you can use the Bead of Karma to get +4 CL before you buff for an extra +1 from Magic Vestment.

Get a standard Metamagic Rod of Extend and a 6th level Pearl of Power. Every other day cast Energy Immunity three times with the rod, using the pearl to recover one so you only spend two spell slots. That will give you immunity to three energy types for 48 hours. On the days in between cast Energy Immunity twice and Superior Resistance, again using the rod, and again using the pearl to spend only two spell slots. That will give you constant immunity to all five energy types and a +6 Resistance bonus to saving throws, for the cost of those two items and two 6th level spell slots each day.

[tyckspoon]

No. There's a reason why turn undead is one of the clerics few class features.
1)The benefit to turn undead is when you get the feats Divine Metamagic. With that, by spending a few turn undead attempts, you can suddenly apply a metamagic to your highest level spells, rather than waiting another 4-6 levels.
2)The second bonus of turn undead, is to power devotion feats from Complete Champion. Without turning, you're required to take the devotion once for each time per day you want to use it. With turning, you spend an extra turn undead for each time you want to use it, as a free action.
3)Devotions can be gained by giving up a domain of the same name. And many devotion powers are better than the domain and its special powers, especially if you're maxing out cleric casting.

As if that's not already awesome, you can BUY an item that boosts your turn undead attempts (nightstick). Unlimited stacking of nightsticks will result in you getting a book to the forehead by your DM.


He didn't suggest giving up Turn Undead altogether, just that he's not concerned about continuing to advance it with his PrC choice. Which is fine, because all those things you mentioned operate purely on expending Turn Undead uses and don't care how effective you actually are at Turning Undead. Which is the only thing 'advancing Turn Undead' does in a PrC; it doesn't give you any extra uses.

[dark.sun.druid]

To help specifically in melee, you would want miss chances. A lot of your melee enemies at higher levels will be able to hit you unless you put an inordinate amount of your resources into a high AC. And if they can't hit your AC, they'll switch to your touch AC, or things which ignore armor (most spells).
Perhaps the best and easiest way to get a miss chance is to have a smoking weapon (I prefer +1 smoking armor spikes), it gives you concealment (prevents sneak attacks) and 50% miss chance. There's other ways to get a miss chance, though the flat rule is that miss chances don't stack (even for things like mirror image which requires a roll to attack the right figure).

PrC which boost AC, dwarven defender, devoted defender (Sword an Fist), FotF (requires unarmored). There's a whole lot more, but I don't think any benefit casters, let alone divine casters.
What race are you playing? The more we know, the more someone here is likely to know that extra tidbit of information that will make you uber-awesome (more than a Tier 1 cleric already can be). Also, what books are available to you?



No. There's a reason why turn undead is one of the clerics few class features.
1)The benefit to turn undead is when you get the feats Divine Metamagic. With that, by spending a few turn undead attempts, you can suddenly apply a metamagic to your highest level spells, rather than waiting another 4-6 levels.
2)The second bonus of turn undead, is to power devotion feats from Complete Champion. Without turning, you're required to take the devotion once for each time per day you want to use it. With turning, you spend an extra turn undead for each time you want to use it, as a free action.
3)Devotions can be gained by giving up a domain of the same name. And many devotion powers are better than the domain and its special powers, especially if you're maxing out cleric casting.

As if that's not already awesome, you can BUY an item that boosts your turn undead attempts (nightstick). Unlimited stacking of nightsticks will result in you getting a book to the forehead by your DM.

So what level is your character actually starting at? You say ECL 9, then say that most peoples characters are 2-5 levels past that, which puts you at ECL 11-14.

Okay, the way it looks now I'm going to go straight Cleric and forgo the PrC. I like the idea of a smoking weapon, but I've used all of my money (36,000 gp for starting at ECL 9). I'll probably do the +1 Smoking armor spikes, because I already have put quite a few enchantments on my weapon.

I like the idea of using Turn Undead attempts to add Divine Metamagic, I was unaware that was how that worked (I've only ever played non-caster melee characters before, but I wanted to try something new). I will get as many attempts as I can.

I do agree that I should get some extra class levels to work with in the ECL because everyone else is leveled up, but my DM is hard on these sorts of things and I don't think he'll let me have extra ECLs. Also, he only lets us have one ECL from a class, all of the other have to be from races / templates.

I will put my entire build so far in the first post when I update my question in a moment. I have all 3.x books available to me, and I can use 2.0 with DM permission.


Two spells can get you a lot of mileage:
persisted Divine Agility for +10 enhancement bonus to Dex
greater luminous armor (no max dex or ACP) for +8 armor bonus and -4 penalty on enemies' melee attacks.

Throw on a monk's belt for wisdom to AC, and you're looking at a high AC. Note with this set up you're going to have quite a high touch AC.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't want to ignore your AC at higher levels, as monsters are going to have roughly 2x your level in BAB, which means a ton of extra damage if they're landing hits. Furthermore, the number of enemies that pose a real threat will have a myriad of ways of penetrating your miss chance, largely true seeing and blindsight. More AC means the enemies power attack less. This is a good thing, as your HP will never be that high.

I will probably spend for the Monk's belt when I earn some GPs. That will help a lot. I wear full plate with a tower shield, so adding to my DEX is next to useless for this build, but I will take a look at luminous armor and see if it will work for me.


Mystic Wanderer (Magic of Faerun) gives +CHA to AC (if unarmored) as it's first level ability. it's also a full caster, though it's abilities are more eclectic than powerful. But combined with a +WIS to AC build and adding in magic Vestment, Bracers of Armor, or Mage Armor, it can be quite a hard spellcaster to hit.

Druid 5 - Cloistered Cleric 1 - Mystic Wanderer 4 - Holt Warden 10. No Wildshape gives +WIS to AC, Mystic Wanderer give +CHA to AC, and take Air and Plant Devotions for the Sacred and Natural Armor bonuses.

The other thing you need for it, of course, is good scores in both WIS and CHA. That's tough under a point-buy system.

Thanks for the assistance, but as I said earlier in this post I think I will forgo the PrC and focus on Cleric. And we use a roll system for our abilities (4d6, drop the lowest, assign them where you want).

[Ryu_Bonkosi]

A few things that can help. First the 1 level dip into monk/monk belt. Not the best option but it does add your casting stat to AC, but you have to be unarmored (duh).
Then there is the Saint template. It also adds Wis to your AC but it is a two ECL increase and costs you 3 feats. The bonuses are great, think about grabbing this and if LA buy off is allowed take it immediately. Also side note on Saint, you can wear armor with it.
And last but not least the Mystic Wanderer. This sexy Prc comes with full casting progression and your Cha to AC at first level, the saves (besides Fort) are good and it gets some good abilities at the early levels including a familiar of your very own. The only drawback to this is that you have to be unarmored to get your AC bonus.
A combo of Saint and Mystic Wanderer can do wonders to your AC.

Monk from Players Handbook
Monk Belt from Dungeon Master's Guide
Saint from Book of Exalted Deeds
Mystic Wanderer from Forgotten Realms: Magic of Fearun

EDIT: That Ninja's work is good...

[dark.sun.druid]

A few things that can help. First the 1 level dip into monk/monk belt. Not the best option but it does add your casting stat to AC, but you have to be unarmored (duh).
Then there is the Saint template. It also adds Wis to your AC but it is a two ECL increase and costs you 3 feats. The bonuses are great, think about grabbing this and if LA buy off is allowed take it immediately. Also side note on Saint, you can wear armor with it.
And last but not least the Mystic Wanderer. This sexy Prc comes with full casting progression and your Cha to AC at first level, the saves (besides Fort) are good and it gets some good abilities at the early levels including a familiar of your very own. The only drawback to this is that you have to be unarmored to get your AC bonus.
A combo of Saint and Mystic Wanderer can do wonders to your AC.

Monk from Players Handbook
Monk Belt from Dungeon Master's Guide
Saint from Book of Exalted Deeds
Mystic Wanderer from Forgotten Realms: Magic of Fearun

EDIT: That Ninja's work is good...

Saint sounds interesting. I will look into perhaps working off that LA. I really don't want to go unarmored, so I think I will have to skip Mystic Wanderer, although a familiar sounds amazing. Does the Monk's Belt require being unarmored (obviously the Monk class does) to gain the AC bonus?

EDIT: Answered my own question about the belt.

[ericgrau]

I am looking for ways to add as much as possible to the following stats for the Cleric build I am making:

AC
Spell Resistance
Bonuses to Saving Throws
Miss Chance
Bonus HP / Fast Healing
Immunity to Various Effects
Anything else you can think of along these lines (defensive)


AC: between +5 from each of armor, shield, amulet of natural armor, ring of protection and misc +1's (ioun stone, haste, mithril, etc.), it's cheap and easy to scale AC 1.25 per level same as monster AB. Don't mind the rumors. Buffs or crafting are great ways to get these
Spell Resistance: You're best off getting this from a race. Items are overpriced for SR and it's hard to get from classes. Being able to heal yourself nearly removes the only minor drawback. So I'd consider drow or another race with SR.
Save: If you can get the magic domain and wait 5 levels then protection from magic is awesome here. Until then crafting and/or a save boosting class/PrC is your best bet.
Miss Chance: Pretty lousy and overpriced at your level. Get AC for now, it's much cheaper for a much greater benefit. Around level 15 start looking for miss chance like a cloak of minor displacement. Some spells may help if you have a buffing round, otherwise it may not be worth the time.
Bonus / temp HP: Dunno much. Some cleric buffs and hero's feast help a little.
Immunity to various effects: Cleric spells are the all star here. Read the spell lists and expect multiple at every level. Also grab a bunch of low level remove X scrolls and so on for the unexpected.
Other: Energy damage prevention, such as protection from energy.

[herrhauptmann]

36,000 Starting Gold -- 36,000 gp Spent
+1 Adamantine Flaming Warhammer of Impact (Forgehammer) -- 12,012 gp -- 5 lbs -- 1d8 Bludgeoning damage; 1d6 Fire damage; 19-20 x3; Ignore hardness <20; +1 on Attack and Damage rolls; Worn in belt at all times
+1 Called Tower Shield -- 3,030 gp -- 45 lbs -- Don as a Move Action (Command Word: Accouter); +5 AC Bonus; -9 Armor Check Penalty; 50% ASF; Can be used to provide Total Cover instead of AC bonus (Cannot attack that round); Worn during daytime and set next to armor at night
+1 Called Easy Travel Full Plate of Retaliation -- 14,000 gp -- 60 lbs -- Don as a Move Action (Command Word: Accouter); +9 AC Bonus; -5 Armor Check Penalty; 35% ASF; Can only move up to 3x Speed; Speed reduced by 10'; Can carry up to a Medium Load as if it were a Light Load; Can walk for 10 hours per day before needing to make a Constitution check to avoid non-lethal damage; Each time wearer takes 10+ damage from a single attack, armor deals 1d6 damage back to attacker; If wearer is reduced to 0- HP from a single attack, armor deals 3d6 damage back to attacker; Worn during daytime and set out on ground at night

Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency (Warhammer)[Free]; Weapon Focus (Warhammer)[Free]; Endurance; Hibernate; Quick Draw; Armor Proficiency (Tower Shield)

Domains:
Fire: Turn/Destroy water creatures up to 4 times per day.
Metal: Gain feats (see feats, above)

Items questions/suggestions:
1) Why called armor and shield? I take it's so that you can 'be ready at a moments notice'? If you buy a restful armor crystal you can sleep in your armor. Perhaps a 'dancing' shield instead of called. Now you can hold your weapon in two hands. Or hold a weapon and cast while retaining shield bonuses. (Can't hold a heavy or tower shield, AND a weapon, and cast at the same time. Gotta drop something)

2)Now that your weapon is 2 handed, get teh steadfast boots (MiC,139). Whenever you're charged, you get a FREE attack against the charger if you have a weapon held 2handed, as if you readied your weapon, including double damage. That includes weapons you can't normally set against a charge. Does not eat up your AOOs.

3)Why the flaming weapon? Flavor/fluff? If so, then nevermind. If to deal extra damage, skip it. 3.5 damage per hit, for several thousand gold. Might be worthwhile now, but in 3 levels, not so much. And you'll be paying for it in the future still because it affects the cost of the weapon being upgraded. That +1 could be better spent in ensuring you can deal damage more reliably, or getting you one step closer to that Greater weapon crystal. Besides, fire damage is probably the most commonly resisted damage type in the game.

4)What's the cost and effect of that easy travel on your armor?

5)Least or lesser crystal of arming on your warhammer will let you draw as a free action, without quickdraw. Granted, that doesn't help with your backup weapons, (which you don't have anyway)

6)Really recommend getting a backup weapon that doesn't deal bludgeoning. Even if it's not magic.

7)Durable armor (Dungeonscape) and everbright weapon (MiC). Flat cost enchantments. With them, you can laugh at rust monsters that go after your precious equipment. Without them, be prepared to run away at level 15, from a CR 8 animal. Also helps with certain oozes. Don't need them depending on your DM. I always recommend these things.

8)Back to your called armor. If it's on the ground, it could be stolen while you sleep. A ring of arming would fix that, storing armor and shield in extradimensional space. And you won't have to pay for it again if you ever upgrade to an entirely new suit/shield (possible). But costs slightly more than calling x2, and takes up an item slot.

9)You're a cleric, so your skill points and skill selection is poor, but look into the Complete scoundrel skill tricks anyway. Some are more useful than others, but which ones you prefer can change how your character contributes in/out of combat. Twisted/tumbling charge, and the 'stand without AOO' ones are my favorites.

[herrhauptmann]

Miss Chance: Pretty lousy and overpriced at your level. Get AC for now, it's much cheaper for a much greater benefit. Around level 15 start looking for miss chance like a cloak of minor displacement. Some spells may help if you have a buffing round, otherwise it may not be worth the time.

I'm gonna disagree here. The smoking weapon gives a respectable miss chance for a reasonable price. Cloak of displacement and similar items however, ehh not so much.

Oh yes, fast healing.
Easy answer is usually a DMM:persist Lesser Vigor (SC). Expect the DM to shut that down.

[Vknight]

Ah Lesser Vigor the bane of Dm's not prepared for power gamers

[arguskos]

Ah Lesser Vigor the bane of Dm's not prepared for power gamers
...lesser vigor isn't a "power gamer" spell. It's not even that amazing. It's slow healing that's only marginally better than cure light wounds.

DMM(Persist) is the culprit here. Want to rail against something? Rail against that, not the spell.

[Vknight]

Thats the point the 2in conjunction are overpowered. The Dm reads it goes oh its nothing. 15minutes later, crap, crap, crap!!

[faceroll]

I will probably spend for the Monk's belt when I earn some GPs. That will help a lot. I wear full plate with a tower shield, so adding to my DEX is next to useless for this build, but I will take a look at luminous armor and see if it will work for me.

Monk's belt is incompatible with a tower shield and full plate. Luminous armor requires you be good, but it offers all the mechanical benefits of full plate (and then some), but none of the drawbacks. Which means you can have a monk's belt, high dex, AND the benefits of a full suit of armor. Pretty good deal.


Thats the point the 2in conjunction are overpowered. The Dm reads it goes oh its nothing. 15minutes later, crap, crap, crap!!

Yeah, my old school DM thought it was overpowered when he first saw PCs with fast healing (like a feral X or persisted lesser vigor), but in actual play, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a convenient out of combat way to heal, instead of springing for a wand or something. Trying to balance the game around HP is silly.

[arguskos]

Yeah, my old school DM thought it was overpowered when he first saw PCs with fast healing (like a feral X or persisted lesser vigor), but in actual play, it doesn't mean anything. It's just a convenient out of combat way to heal, instead of springing for a wand or something. Trying to balance the game around HP is silly.
Bingo. faceroll's got this one. Out of combat healing is just nice. DMM (persist) is broken for all but the highest op games, but not because of this.

[dark.sun.druid]

Going to try to respond to this all.


Items questions/suggestions:
1) Why called armor and shield? I take it's so that you can 'be ready at a moments notice'? If you buy a restful armor crystal you can sleep in your armor. Perhaps a 'dancing' shield instead of called. Now you can hold your weapon in two hands. Or hold a weapon and cast while retaining shield bonuses. (Can't hold a heavy or tower shield, AND a weapon, and cast at the same time. Gotta drop something)

2)Now that your weapon is 2 handed, get teh steadfast boots (MiC,139). Whenever you're charged, you get a FREE attack against the charger if you have a weapon held 2handed, as if you readied your weapon, including double damage. That includes weapons you can't normally set against a charge. Does not eat up your AOOs.

3)Why the flaming weapon? Flavor/fluff? If so, then nevermind. If to deal extra damage, skip it. 3.5 damage per hit, for several thousand gold. Might be worthwhile now, but in 3 levels, not so much. And you'll be paying for it in the future still because it affects the cost of the weapon being upgraded. That +1 could be better spent in ensuring you can deal damage more reliably, or getting you one step closer to that Greater weapon crystal. Besides, fire damage is probably the most commonly resisted damage type in the game.

4)What's the cost and effect of that easy travel on your armor?

5)Least or lesser crystal of arming on your warhammer will let you draw as a free action, without quickdraw. Granted, that doesn't help with your backup weapons, (which you don't have anyway)

6)Really recommend getting a backup weapon that doesn't deal bludgeoning. Even if it's not magic.

7)Durable armor (Dungeonscape) and everbright weapon (MiC). Flat cost enchantments. With them, you can laugh at rust monsters that go after your precious equipment. Without them, be prepared to run away at level 15, from a CR 8 animal. Also helps with certain oozes. Don't need them depending on your DM. I always recommend these things.

8)Back to your called armor. If it's on the ground, it could be stolen while you sleep. A ring of arming would fix that, storing armor and shield in extradimensional space. And you won't have to pay for it again if you ever upgrade to an entirely new suit/shield (possible). But costs slightly more than calling x2, and takes up an item slot.

9)You're a cleric, so your skill points and skill selection is poor, but look into the Complete scoundrel skill tricks anyway. Some are more useful than others, but which ones you prefer can change how your character contributes in/out of combat. Twisted/tumbling charge, and the 'stand without AOO' ones are my favorites.

Called armor/shield was so that I could "be ready at a moment's notice", as you said. If dancing is less expensive that called (or the same amount) I will get that instead (I don't have any money left to work with if it's more). Same applies to restful armor. I think that one's in Dungeonscape, if I remember right. I'll look into that replacement.

I'll read about steadfast boots, but I probably won't buy them for a few levels (depending on the price).

The fire damage is "fluff". I know it's not a very useful enchantment, but I want it for the weapon nonetheless. I might change from the +1 Flaming to a fixed-price enchantment (I think there's one in MiC) so that I don't have to pay the extra +1 later.

Easy travel is a +1,500 fixed price. Extremely useful in my game (the DM has a penchant for making the party travel long distances at a time. We spent over a week in-game trudging through a desert. When out utility cleric* told us that he couldn't come for a few weeks due to grade issues we almost all died from exposure. Hence the magic bedroll. But that's another story).

What book are the arming crystals in? Those sound amazing, and I love to spend the feat elsewhere.

I can forgo a couple of small items and grab a kukri (my favorite for a backup slashing weapon, as it works well as a field knife for hacking brush and such).

I'll put durable and everbright on my list of things to get. My DM has never used a rust monster or anything of that ilk on our party, but that doesn't mean he won't. Better safe than sorry.

I don't have the money to get that right now, and I can't afford to wait to get a "ready at a moment's notice" enchantment / item, as my DM also has a penchant for springing random encounters on us in the night. Our last one was something (I knew what it was but forgot) that could use Finger of Death as a standard action.

I was going to get skill tricks. The utility cleric I mentioned earlier introduced me to them, and I've been spending points on them ever since.

* As an interesting side note, this player is probably the most challenging to our DM at the moment. He enjoys using all of the free / swift actions he can to do crazy things in one round. I don't even know where he gets all of them, but he has references for them all. He usually takes 2-4 free / swift actions in a round, and then takes his standard / move actions. :smallbiggrin:

[herrhauptmann]

Weapon and armor crystals are in magic item compendium, at the back of the weapon and armor sections respectively.

Since flaming is a fluff choice, ignore what all I said about it.

Dancing is a +1 cost on your shield. But like I said, it opens you up to a lot of little things. Of course, you still take an ACP for it.

To the other cleric, I'm pretty sure that you can only take one swift or immediate action a turn.

Regarding everbright, it also has a blinding effect, Ref save DC 14. I'd suggest against ever actually using that part of it. In my experience, only the party ever fails that save. :(