Optimize the Ogre Cleric!

[Babale]

One of my players in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214283) wants to play an Ogre. This being a high-powered Monstrous campaign, being an Ogre is much less painful then normal games: Only one racial hit die, and only one LA if he plays most classes, 2 if he plays a class that Ogres are specialized for. He will later be able to buy off the LA. He is considering an Ogre Battlecleric.

Both of us are very interested in Battleclerics, so I decided to post an optimization thread, more for my own curiosity than for his benefit. Here are his stats:

(4d6b3)[18]
(4d6b3)[9]
(4d6b3)[14]
(4d6b3)[10]
(4d6b3)[15]
(4d6b3)[13]

If he goes Cleric, he'd be at level 4, meaning he gets 1 bonus point.
My suggestion to him was to go 28 Strength, 15 Wis, 18 Con. Self-buff his Strength and Con to ridiculous levels and go to town with a large-sized Greatsword. What would you Playgrounders recommend to him, if he were to build a Battle Cleric within these parameters? No super multiclass cheese-I figure I already let enough cheese in with the modified Ogre :wink:

[Gwendol]

I thought the ogre had 4 racial hit die?

[Babale]

And 2 LA, yes, but I reduced that because this campaign is filled with moster characters.

[Cieyrin]

Since you have 1 RHD, 1 LA and 4 class levels, he could have bought off that LA already. In any case, assuming ECL 5-6, he's a little bit behind the power curve atm but no more so than spontaneous casters are. Not sure what a Battle Cleric is supposed to be but assuming melee cleric type, you probably want to pursue Warpriest (CD) and Ordained Champion (CCh), as well as Devotions like Animal, Chaos, Destruction and Strength, as well as Holy Warrior, Divine Might, Divine Vigor, Profane Boost and Holy Potency.

Spell-wise, Divine Favor, Bull's Strength will serve well, I recommend picking up War domain for a good martial weapon and you should work fine for the time being. You'll really get going once you get to 4th level and Divine Power but, till then, self-buff and smash the enemy with a big stick. :smallbiggrin:

[Eldariel]

Since you have 1 RHD, 1 LA and 4 class levels, he could have bought off that LA already. In any case, assuming ECL 5-6, he's a little bit behind the power curve atm but no more so than spontaneous casters are. Not sure what a Battle Cleric is supposed to be but assuming melee cleric type, you probably want to pursue Warpriest (CD) and Ordained Champion (CCh), as well as Devotions like Animal, Chaos, Destruction and Strength, as well as Holy Warrior, Divine Might, Divine Vigor, Profane Boost and Holy Potency.

Spell-wise, Divine Favor, Bull's Strength will serve well, I recommend picking up War domain for a good martial weapon and you should work fine for the time being. You'll really get going once you get to 4th level and Divine Power but, till then, self-buff and smash the enemy with a big stick. :smallbiggrin:

Warpriest? Ordained Champion is good but Warpriest has half spellcasting advancement for no significant gain. Though frankly, no multiclassing is necessary. Clerics are very competent frontliners in their core chassis.

And yeah, 18 base Str, 15 base Wis might work out tho it'll cost in terms of spells per day on higher levels. As of yet tho (with the level-up put to Wis) it'll work out pretty decently. The other obvious option is 18 Wis, 15 Str; warrior Cleric or not, Cleric is still a spellcaster and spellcasters' casting stats tend to be the first to max.


Domains...depend. There's a lot you could do. Of course, only so much works for the character. But e.g. Spell-domain has lots of good Arcane buffs, War-domain gives you a decent martial weapon (provided you worship some non-chump deity), Strength has Enlarge Person which is a great low level buff (falters later tho), Pride is great for avoiding death through unluck, Luck is good for just tipping the odds in your favor, Metal is nice for Goliath Greathammer, Knowledge is awesome in conjunction with Knowledge Devotion (not all that good otherwise), Retribution's ability is sorta decent and Travel is good for adding a bunch of superuseful spells to your portfolio. Planning gives you Extend Spell which is convenient.

The obvious route for a melee Cleric is Divine Metamagic: Persistent Spell and sinking lots of feats into Extra Turning/getting Nightsticks. This allows keeping a few buffs up all day, which is convenient for obvious reasons (especially once you hit Cleric 7; Divine Power makes you full BAB). Cleric 9 is where the real fun lies tho; full Divine Favor (which you can Quicken), Righteous Might, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful [Spell Compendium] and so on. Using some wooden weapon and using Brambles/Spikes [Spell Compendium] is another option to picking up a martial weapon. Obviously, Greater Magic Weapon is a good spell once you get to level 8 or so.

Other interesting feats for a melee Cleric:
- Holy Warrior [Complete Champion]
- Power Attack [PHB]
- Devotions [Complete Champion]
- Divine Spell Power [Complete Divine] (only if you aren't doing Divine Metamagic)
- Quicken Spell (Quicken Divine Favor on level 9; +3 to hit and damage right off the bat for one swift action)
- Extend Spell

EDIT: Oh yeah, Ogre is an illegal target for Enlarge Person. Nevermind Strength-domain then; it's just not all that impressive otherwise. Just wait for your Righteous Might then. Also, their inherent Martial Weapon Profs make War mediocre.

And -4 Cha and Int is gonna be a pain. Prolly want to put the 14 to Cha if you intend on using Divine Metamagic, then. You really don't want too many penalties in either. Tho if you ignore Divine feats, you could get to 10 Int giving you actual skillpoints.

[Cieyrin]

Warpriest? Ordained Champion is good but Warpriest has half spellcasting advancement for no significant gain. Though frankly, no multiclassing is necessary. Clerics are very competent frontliners in their core chassis.

I probably should of said dipping Warpriest to pick up a domain and then going elsewhere. I'm just a sucker for Glory domain, I guess. Pally spells! :smallwink:

[ericgrau]

The high strength and large size are useful for tripping and breaking down doors/walls. Also a nice base number to be multiplied on crits. Consider a scythe, guisarme or spiked chain. Add a crowbar and/or portable ram. Once he hits 40 strength he can start taking out some walls. He'll have to take a 20 to do it, but between combat you have the time. Later I would prepare many copies of find traps then get goggles of minute seeing for a bonus to search checks. Alternatively dip rogue if you need more than that. Why? "<rolls> Door am trapped! <rolls> Wall next to door not am trapped! <slam> <slam> <slam> <slam> Me find passageway through wall!! Am good rogue."

[Cieyrin]

The high strength and large size are useful for tripping and breaking down doors/walls. Also a nice base number to be multiplied on crits. Consider a scythe, guisarme or spiked chain. Add a crowbar and/or portable ram. Once he hits 40 strength he can start taking out some walls. He'll have to take a 20 to do it, but between combat you have the time. Later I would prepare many copies of find traps then get goggles of minute seeing for a bonus to search checks. Alternatively dip rogue if you need more than that. Why? "<rolls> Door am trapped! <rolls> Wall next to door not am trapped! <slam> <slam> <slam> <slam> Me find passageway through wall!! Am good rogue."

Reminds me of a Barbarian/Rogue NPC in a game I played who had an adamantine greatsword named Lockpick. :smallwink: