Warfored melee cleric advice

[boj0]

Hello Playground!
So my friend is running her first DM campaign and I kid you not, her and the other players want to see me break a character. :smallcool:
Normally, I'd just roll a wizard, druid, or a warblade (they thought that class was broken lol); but due to other characters (artificer, barbarian, rogue, illusionist) I have been asked to play a cleric.
Since this is her first campaign as DM and I don't know everyone in the group, I don't want to be That Guy and ruin everyone else's fun with a T1 caster. So I'm looking to play a character that is still powerful, but not ZOMGWTFBBQ!?!?!?

I have never actually played a cleric (don't bother (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19866830/The_Cleric_Handbook) linking handbooks (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0)), but I am dead set on playing a Warforged melee cleric.


http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp261/boj0/menoth_jack.jpg
Like this, but more zeal

The campaign starts at level 5, probably going to roll for stats.
This is what I'm thinking so far:
Alignment: LG
Deity: Heironeous
Domains: War + anything else big H offers
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks
Feats:
1. Adamantine Body
B. Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longsword)
B. Weapon Focus (Longsword)
3. Extend Spell

Then the plan is to go into Ordained Champion and then Fist of Raziel, becoming a literal Deorum Machine.

So really I have a general idea of what I want to do, I just want to make a cleric that can pound the living (or undead) daylights out of anything, I just want to make sure I do it right. Any advice is appreciated, thanks :smallbiggrin:

[Tvtyrant]

What domains have you looked at? Strength and War would work okay for a melee Cleric. Eventually Earth gets you Iron Body, which is much better on a Cleric than on an arcane caster.

[Greenish]

What domains have you looked at? Strength and War would work okay for a melee Cleric. Eventually Earth gets you Iron Body, which is much better on a Cleric than on an arcane caster.Eh, strength domain is pretty poor. The devotion is pretty nifty, though.

[Morbis Meh]

Well if you want to decimate undead and gain Martial Weapon proficiency in one go I would recommend Radiant Servant of Perlor, you can still take the strength domain but you have to take the sun domain, worship pelor and be NG. If you really want to be a battle oriented cleric, may I suggest: divine metamagic (you don't have to cheese it up with persist). This allows you to use turn attempts instead of increasing the spell level when you apply metamagic. You can break a cleric by taking Extend, Persist, then DMM: Persist, but you could instead choose a different metamagic to be less broken, like extend or heighten.

[Telonius]

What domains have you looked at? Strength and War would work okay for a melee Cleric. Eventually Earth gets you Iron Body, which is much better on a Cleric than on an arcane caster.

I know it still gives the bonus, but the idea of casting "Iron Body" on a Warforged always seemed kind of redundant to me. :smallbiggrin:

[boj0]

What domains have you looked at? Strength and War would work okay for a melee Cleric. Eventually Earth gets you Iron Body, which is much better on a Cleric than on an arcane caster.

Going with War and Glory (swapping it for Sun Devotion for a tasty extra turn attampt); Heironious doesn't get Strength, and the rest of his domains are decent at best, (after my first level of Ordained Champion, I'll probably grab Inquisition and swap it for Knowledge Devotion [p.53 CC])



Well if you want to decimate undead and gain Martial Weapon proficiency in one go I would recommend Radiant Servant of Perlor, you can still take the strength domain but you have to take the sun domain, worship pelor and be NG. If you really want to be a battle oriented cleric, may I suggest: divine metamagic (you don't have to cheese it up with persist). This allows you to use turn attempts instead of increasing the spell level when you apply metamagic. You can break a cleric by taking Extend, Persist, then DMM: Persist, but you could instead choose a different metamagic to be less broken, like extend or heighten.

No interest in Pelor, as I have to worship big H for Ordained Champion. Also, War domain already gives my Weapon Prof. and Focus with longsword; Sun domain is only good for Sun Devotion (which I can get from the Glory domain).
I'm for sure getting DMM: Persist (which is why my 3rd level feat is Extend Spell :smallwink:)

However, I am now have less of a problem going for the cheapness of Gate abuse and Nightsticks, the person playing the artificer is That Guy and believes that my character won't be able to do anything without him. I now wish to prove him very wrong. DMM: Persist channel greater celestial, get a Solar's powers :smallcool:

[riddles]

I prefer dmm: quicken. Seems less cheesy to most. As long as you don't rely on dmm, the artificier has no hold on you.

[Morbis Meh]

No interest in Pelor, as I have to worship big H for Ordained Champion. Also, War domain already gives my Weapon Prof. and Focus with longsword; Sun domain is only good for Sun Devotion (which I can get from the Glory domain).
I'm for sure getting DMM: Persist (which is why my 3rd level feat is Extend Spell :smallwink:)
:

If you want to break the cleric with DMM: Persist, why on earth are you going into ordained champion? It is not a full casting PrC so it will hurt you in the long run. If you do go back to full casting after you will not get level 9 spells until level 19.

[Kaeso]

If you want to break the cleric with DMM: Persist, why on earth are you going into ordained champion? It is not a full casting PrC so it will hurt you in the long run. If you do go back to full casting after you will not get level 9 spells until level 19.

I agree, but spontaneous war domain spells + holy warrior means you always get bonus damage equal to the highest level spellslot you have available.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Remember guys, this guy said he didn't want to be optimized, he just wants to play a good melee cleric.

My recommendation is use that DMM and extend spell to lengthen the time your buffs, you should use bull's strength and maybe cat's grace on yourself.

[Morbis Meh]

Remember guys, this guy said he didn't want to be optimized, he just wants to play a good melee cleric.

My recommendation is use that DMM and extend spell to lengthen the time your buffs, you should use bull's strength and maybe cat's grace on yourself.

He may have said it but his actions don't reflect that sentiment, if he is going for DMM: Persist he is headed for the cheese period. If he wanted to play a strong melee cleric without making his party seem weak he should forgo DMM persist because it will happen, if he does DMM: Extend he can at least buff his party more efficiently.

[Cog]

I agree, but spontaneous war domain spells + holy warrior means you always get bonus damage equal to the highest level spellslot you have available.
PHB 2 can handle this more simply, if you don't feel the need to be healbotting, with the Domain Spontaneity ACF.