3.5 Cleric with odd house-rules

[malachi]

My 3.5 group has some interesting house rules, most of which I still don't know, but here are a few:
1) DMM can be used to apply any metamagic effect (without requiring actually having the metamagic feat) to any spell a cleric casts for the spell adjust turn attempts.
2) Prepared casters know every spell on their list and are also spontaneous casters (clerics cannot cast domain spells, like Teleport, in regular slots, though).
3) (This one isn't always true, but it sometimes happens...) Casters can use x levels worth of spells to cast a level x spell (i.e. 3 lvl 1 spells for a lvl 3 spell), assuming they can cast level x spells.
4) Greater Magic Weapon stacks with existing enchantments on magic weapons (I'm pretty sure this is a houserule, although I'm not confident on the rulings).

I have a 9th lvl cloistered cleric with terrible physical stats, 19 Wis, 14 int, something like 16 cha. I believe I have 9 turning attempts.
My domains are Travel and Celerity.
I have access to most books (no Dragon Magazine stuff). We physically have PHB 1 & 2, Spell Compendium, and a few unrelated things.

The DM likes difficult encounters well beyond our level (for instance, 13 wraiths for a party of 4 lvl 6 characters, one of which was a rogue, another of which was an illusionist).

How should my cleric fight? I can work out fluff reasons for it, so give me suggestions. Also, I'd prefer that these strategies not require any sort of expensive equipment (the party has very little usable wealth kicking around).

[JKTrickster]

I'm sorry but with those house rules, it's impossible to lose as the PCs (assuming any competent casters at all).

Just wondering, how do Wizards fit under the "prepared casters know all their spells" houserule? Or is that divine only? If it was divine only though, it wouldn't make sense since Clerics already know their entire list...

What DMM without needing the feat? AND you can burn lower level spell slots for higher level spells?

...

If this can work: burn all your level 1 spells + Turning attempts to DMM: Persist all day buffs on the whole party, hoard extra turning attempts, and apply metamagic as vigorously as possible.

[Jack Zander]

Step 1: Own the spell compendium. Check.
Step 2: While in combat, find a spell that will win your encounter.
Step 3: Apply meta-magic to make it better/stronger/faster/longer.

There you go. You now have won at DnD using these broken houserules.

[Goonthegoof]

1) Grab extra turning and as many boosts as possible, your limited wealth should probably be spent on nightsticks. While the usual persist cheese will work, keep a list of metamagic effects handy and use them situationally. Oh and you can now apply any +0 metamagic effects for free, so grab stuff like invisible spell.
2) You are now pretty much unbeatable, you no longer need to prepare for fights. Have the spell compendium handy and pull out whatever you need based on the encounter
3) This one's less extreme than the above two, but obviously it'll come in useful in conjunction with your spontaneous casting
4) It's a house rule, they're both enhancement bonuses.

And really, what they said above. Direct nuking will be easy, so if you meet the BBEG just twin/empower/maximise a moon bolt or sound lance. In this type of situation persistent buffs actually become slightly less useful, as using up too many turn attempts means you can't god mode your spells later in the day.

All these rules are ridiculous, especially in conjunction with each other. As an example, using a three metamagics on a spell usually requires 6 feats but can now be achieved with 1. As the guy above me said, flick through the spell compendium until you find the spell that wins the encounter.

[malachi]

My first session as the cleric:

Teleported people around a lot, then fought a Rakshasa.
The way that battle went was:
Rakshasa cleric waves hand in air. Warlock's detect magic vision saw nothing. Cleric effects felt nothing.
Me: buff party saves and activate protection devotion
Barbarian: rage, then charge Rakshasa, crit with mercurial broadsword
Warlock: crit with eldritch blast while flying near the roof
Rogue: miss
Rakshasa: hit barbarian for over 50% of its health.
Me: move up to heal the barbarian. Discover that there's an anti-healing field.
Barbarian: crit one more time (really lucky night), then hit again.
Warlock: hit for almost max damage
Rogue: miss
Rakshasa: chain lightning from sword, taking barbarian and me (still at full health) to well below -10. Save DC was over 25.
We'd done over 250 dmg, and she wasn't even showing any pain.
The fight went on a while longer before ending because the rogue prayed to Olidammara.
He also revived the barbarian and myself.


And the next session went as follows:

We needed to do a prison break, so we come up with a plan involving bags of holding, an invisible flying warlock, and the teleport spell. After getting there, we find that the PC who broke out of here last time "forgot" to tell us about the anti-magic field that is formed by 10-ft thick steel built into the prison walls, which happen to be several miles long. So immediately, the cleric and warlock can't do anything useful in there, and the barbarian isn't there for the session, so its up to the rogue.
The DM later was disappointed that the changeling rogue avoided all conflict against the 300+ guards and however many nimble wights he saw [player happens to be deadly afraid of them].


I suppose I'm not asking the question correctly, because other than the thing about twin/empower/maximizing blasty spells (I'd forgotten about those metamagics), everything's too vague.
Edit: Just read Moon Bolt. 18, 27, or 36 str damage (based on creature's fort save) is crazy.

So, for reference (because I don't learn with vague generalities), what should I have done in the two situations above (or, at level 6, to deal with 13 wraiths)?

[NichG]

It's going to be hard to advise specifics because its clear there's a lot of reading the situation involved in this campaign. You can't assume your knowledge of standard D&D will apply in any situation you might get into because of the large amount of custom stuff. That's (probably) why other posters are telling you that there's no way you can lose with these houserules, because they're assuming the rest of the campaign plays like a normal D&D campaign.

I'd say optimize for versatility and survivability. Big numbers aren't going to help you, even if they're easily acquired with these house rules, since the stuff you face will have non-numeric advantages that you're going to have to piece out. Don't commit too many of your spell slots in advance if you can help it - being able to respond dynamically is a bigger advantage.

For example, with the wraiths, Incorporeal Nova and Chained (via DMM) Sheltered Vitality seem like an easy solution. You might not be able to threaten the wraiths much, but without ability damage they're just kobolds that are hard to hit. If it turns out the wraiths had some custom darkness-themed abilities, run with it and pull out Blinding Glory from Book of Exalted Deeds or one of the other super-light spells. If it turns out they drained levels, Death Ward is your answer, etc.

For the prison break, its harder. The DM was obviously going out of his way to shut down magic, so magic isn't going to have a solution unless you really stretch it. That said, there's a spell in Lords of Madness that lets you use other magic in an AMF (though its a Lv9 spell, and only lets you pull off one other casting, so you're paying a lot for the privelege). Alternately, you could've sat outside the prison and dropped Disjunctions until you ended the effect. Or you just live with it and let other classes shine there, focusing on non-magical tricks for that session.

For the Rakshasa, you could've possibly used divinations to figure out its special abilities ahead of time, but you would've had to know to expect it to some degree. In which case you could've had Energy Immunity (Electricity) chained to the entire party. Alternately, there are a number of immediate action spells that could've saved you. Delay Death, for example, will basically make someone with Diehard immune to death by damage for a number of rounds. I think there's a spell that lets you gain resistance to a specific type of energy you're hit with as an immediate action (you have to prebuff with the spell). Alter Fortune is a good way to turn around failed saves.

One trick you can do is, since you can burn low level spell slots to cast high level spells, go around with Death Pact on the entire party (Lv 8 spell). Everyone loses 2 Con but gets a free True Resurrection the moment they're dropped in battle. The Con can then be restored with Miracle later. Fortunate Fate is another good one to Chain before a fight, since its a free Heal on death.

[RTGoodman]

My first session as the cleric:

Teleported people around a lot, then fought a Rakshasa.
The way that battle went was:
Rakshasa cleric waves hand in air. Warlock's detect magic vision saw nothing. Cleric effects felt nothing.
Me: buff party saves and activate protection devotion
Barbarian: rage, then charge Rakshasa, crit with mercurial broadsword
Warlock: crit with eldritch blast while flying near the roof
Rogue: miss
Rakshasa: hit barbarian for over 50% of its health.
Me: move up to heal the barbarian. Discover that there's an anti-healing field.
Barbarian: crit one more time (really lucky night), then hit again.
Warlock: hit for almost max damage
Rogue: miss
Rakshasa: chain lightning from sword, taking barbarian and me (still at full health) to well below -10. Save DC was over 25.
We'd done over 250 dmg, and she wasn't even showing any pain.
The fight went on a while longer before ending because the rogue prayed to Olidammara.
He also revived the barbarian and myself.


And the next session went as follows:

We needed to do a prison break, so we come up with a plan involving bags of holding, an invisible flying warlock, and the teleport spell. After getting there, we find that the PC who broke out of here last time "forgot" to tell us about the anti-magic field that is formed by 10-ft thick steel built into the prison walls, which happen to be several miles long. So immediately, the cleric and warlock can't do anything useful in there, and the barbarian isn't there for the session, so its up to the rogue.
The DM later was disappointed that the changeling rogue avoided all conflict against the 300+ guards and however many nimble wights he saw [player happens to be deadly afraid of them].


I suppose I'm not asking the question correctly, because other than the thing about twin/empower/maximizing blasty spells (I'd forgotten about those metamagics), everything's too vague.
Edit: Just read Moon Bolt. 18, 27, or 36 str damage (based on creature's fort save) is crazy.

So, for reference (because I don't learn with vague generalities), what should I have done in the two situations above (or, at level 6, to deal with 13 wraiths)?


Honestly, if that's the way the DM is running this, then I don't think there's a way to "win." The houserules might help, but it seems like he's actively throwing you into unwinnable (and unsurvivable!) situations.

[stainboy]

It sounds like your DM is making everything up as he goes along. I doubt he had an actual number of HP for that rakshasa or a save DC for that chain lightning. Does he have a laptop or a notebook or anything? Like one that he actually looks at when he makes rolls?

[Tyndmyr]

It sounds like your DM is making everything up as he goes along. I doubt he had an actual number of HP for that rakshasa or a save DC for that chain lightning. Does he have a laptop or a notebook or anything? Like one that he actually looks at when he makes rolls?

This. Given the wild lack of balance in the above house rules, I'd suspect he doesn't actually know what he's doing.

[Darth Stabber]

It sounds more like you are playing calvin ball than D&D.

[Tvtyrant]

It sounds more like you are playing calvin ball than D&D.

Best game ever :D

[Tyndmyr]

Only if you are Calvin.

[Mystral]

My advice would be to bribe the DM with cookies. That should help you further then any tries to optimize your character.

[Darth Stabber]

I had a GM that let wizard players cast any spell in their book as long as they had an empty slot and cast defensively (ie full round). Sorcerer was seriously OP in the n00b heavy metagame.

[begooler]

Wow. Is the 5th houserule that clerics can spend a full round action to ascend to godhood?

[stainboy]

Only if you are Calvin.

I don't know, Hobbes usually seemed to have the upper hand.