Going to be joining a new campaign soon. Need advice.

[KatoriaTheRed]

Im going to be joining a new 3.5 Ed campaign as a Cleric. I'm just curious on one thing, mostly. If I were to take a prestige class, such as Radiant Servant of Pelor, can I still gain Cleric levels as well, or am I stuck on only the new prestige class levels? I know when taking a prestige class as a Monk, such as Drunken Master, you can still gain Monk levels. But wasn't sure if I can do the same for the above mentioned cleric stuff. I plan to make an UberHealer with Sacred Boost, Augment Healing, Extra turning, Reach spell, and Divine Metamagic:Reach Spell. Any advice would be good, thanks.

[JeminiZero]

Cleric has no multiclassing restrictions (unlike Monk and Paladin), so you can take Cleric levels between and after levels in RSoP. You can even take other Cleric prestige classes (that you qualify for), and still continue to take RSoP (provided of course you still have levels available left to take), and otherwise take levels of multiple prestige classes as and when you wish.


What sources are allowed?

Healing while inside combat is generally considered suboptimal. The best Cleric-healer (like the best Cleric-everything else) uses DMM persist, to persist Mass Lesser Vigor across his party, so that they always recover to full HP between fights, and heal up slowly while inside a fight.

Other than that, if you take at least Cleric 3, consider the Divine Restoration ACF [Dungeonscape], so that you can spont-cast Restoration to remove ability damage/drain and energy drain.

[KatoriaTheRed]

Well, All I know is just the 3.5 books that I've read a bit of, like Complete Divine, and the main books. I haven't read them all to see the ideal things, but, I've taken a plain cleric, no prestige classes, with those same feats, up to level, 7 and was doing quite well. Heh, outdid even the fighter in the group while keeping the group healed. A few bad rolls is what did that one in. But it had been working well, and I was thinking the prestige to that Radiant Servant class would help it out a lot with the healing thing. I don't know much about the persist thingy, when casting stuff like Cure Light, Moderate, and Serious wounds. but i know the feats I listed above, can and WILL allow me to cast each of them for maximum points, including the bonus few per spell and caster levels, with Healing domain's ability added in, enough times per day that It can satisfy the healing component. I also plan on getting a Healing belt for Self-healing emergencies. Not to mention Full plate armor and a shield, with the armor, shield and helmet engraved with a Holy symbol so I never lose one. :P It might sound a bit extreme, but I think it'll be a decent build.

[Kazyan]

If you've done well with a no-frills healbot Cleric 7, then DMM:Persist Mass Lesser Vigor is probably above your group's min-max level. (Typically, the Mass Lesser Vigor trick is used to allow a cleric to do other things with its build.)

Go healy and never look back, if it's in line with your group. What do the others typically play? Are we talking Fighters, Lion Spirit Totem Chargebarians, or Incantatrixes?

[KatoriaTheRed]

Could be above my level, cause I've never heard of it in 3.5, core and few supplemental books. Still, we don't play anything too special as far as I know, definitly none of that last one you mentioned. fighters, rogues, normal classes, mostly, as far as I can tell, though we do use some of the classes from the books when we want to. Like after my cleric, I'm going to be making a Catfolk Monk, Drunken Master. :P But for now, I'm just doing this cleric. And thanks for letting me know that I can go through that prestige class and still add cleric.

[Heatwizard]

Do note that sticking around in Cleric doesn't really get you anything; after the first level, there's no more class features to be had. So you may want to consider hopping over to another prestige class once Radiant Servant finishes out. Any class that continues to give you spellcasting is basically Cleric +; a smaller hit die isn't as much of an issue, since you bleed positive energy, and a lower attack bonus is what Divine Power is for.

Church Inquisitor, Sacred Exorcist, stuff like that. Remember that you're not obligated to stick around in a prestige class; you can take just enough to get what you want and then hop out. Sometimes people like to take a single level of Contemplative without coming back for the rest, for example.

[Roguenewb]

I think you may want to try out DMM Lesser Mass Vigor anyway. Its a solid option, and will make the party run much better, and free up much more of his actions. You can do this while also still being a RSoP.

[KatoriaTheRed]

Another question that comes up... with Radiant servant getting the maximize healing ability at 6th level...does that one only mean for your domain spells only, or any spell FROM that domain? like your normal slotted Cure spells? I was planning on taking the following feats for this class. (Sacred Boost, Augment Healing, Extra Turning, Reach Spell, DMM:Reach Spell) which leaves me with some extra feats to take, being human I get two at first level. Well with that Radiant Servant Ability, do I need Sacred Boost, or should I keep Sacred Boost for your normal slots to be maximized for healing?

[animewatcha]

Do you plan on taking healing domain?

[KatoriaTheRed]

Speaking as a cleric, absolutely. Sun and Healing. Always take the healing domain as a cleric, myself. :P

[animewatcha]

Then go with the cleric ACF in phb2 page 37 ( was it? ) and don't worry about it?

[KatoriaTheRed]

What do you mean don't worry about it? I would like to know if Sacred boost is needed with the ability from the Radiant Servant. That was basically my question. Does the ability Maximize Healing from the Radiant Servant at 4th level mean all spells of healing, or just those you choose for your domain slots? The ability Sacred Boost is for ALL healing spells. if the class ability is as well, then i wouldn't need Sacred Boost.