lvl 4 NPC Core cleric

[Balor01]

I'd like your opinion on this NPC cleric. It is not equipped yet ... It is a cleric of Nerul and the idea behind it is the following:
- fight starts
- goes invisible (luckily fast due to improved init.)
- BUFF allies
- use last buffs on self, then go melee.

Material allowed is core only.


Male LE Human Cleric 4, HD 4d8+4, hp 29, Init +5, Spd 20 ft; AC 20/18, touch 11, flat-footed 20/18 (+1 Dex,+8 armor,+2 shield) BAB +3; Melee heavy mace +5 one-handed (1d6+2/x3); Ranged Heavy crossbow +4 (1d10) javelin +4 (1d6+2) SA Rebuke Undead (2x/day), Death touch (1x per day), Protective ward (1x per day) SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +7; Str 14(+2), Dex 12(+1), Con 13(+1), Int 10(+0), Wis 16(+3), Cha 8(-1)
Skills and Feats:
Appraise +0, Balance -7, Bluff -1, Climb -5, Concentration +11, Diplomacy -1, Disguise -1, Escape Artist -6, Forgery +0, Gather Information -1, Heal +10, Hide -6, Intimidate -1, Jump -11, Knowledge (religion) +1, Listen +3, Move Silently - 6, Ride +1, Search +0, Sense Motive +3, Spot +3, Survival +3, Swim -5, Use Rope +,1Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Concentration), Empower Spell
Clr Spells Prepared: (5/4+1/3+1) (DC = 13 + spell level) 0--Guidance(5), 1--Cause Fear(1),Bless, Protection from Good, Shield of Faith, Cure Light wounds, 2--Invisibility(2), Cure Moderate Wounds, Bull's Strenght (2)
Domain Spells: (death, trickery): 1--Cause Fear, Sanctuary; 2--Disguise self, Invisibility.

Equiptment: Heavy mace, Heavy crossbow, javelin (3), full plate armor, heavy steel shield

[inexorabletruth]

Hm.

It's a bit hard to judge, since you say he's not finished being equipped. You've got 3300 GP (NPC Gear Value WBL) to 5400 GP (NPC Gear Value WBL) to work with, so magic items and special material items are definitely up for grabs, and that can change how you prepare your spells quite a bit.

Still I have a few notes:
From an optimizing stand point, why +10 to Heal? It doesn't restore HP like a low level Cure spell can, so it won't help much in battle, because you can't bring an ally back into the fight with it. Might I suggest UMD, Spellcraft, Tumble (if he's getting into melee a lot), or Intimidate? Most of these will be cross-class skills, but some functioning ranks in these may help keep your mini-boss alive longer.

Why Guidance 5x? The bonus doesn't stack. How many allies do you have? I know that core offers a pretty weak selection of 0-level spells, but don't forget Resistance or Cure Minor Wounds. CMinW will do far more to keeping minions alive and kicking than that heal check will. Also, I'd reconsider Bless in favor of Divine Favor, or Doom. Divine Favor is just a better buffer spell and Doom is nice and fluffy for an evil cleric. Protection from Good is nice, but I would recommend considering Summon Monster 1, Obscuring Mist, or Command, if making you harder to hit is the goal. A summoned monster can protect you while attacking for you, Obscuring Mist makes attacking super hard for the level, and Command is great for making your enemies drop all their equipment, or just turn tail and run for the hills. They can't hit you from a full run away, unless they're willing to try to thread an arrow through that Obscuring Mist.

Your Feats:

Improved Init (Always a good one)
Skill Focus: Concentration (Meh)
Empower Spell (Nice... not great... nice)


Adding +3 to Concentration is ok, but you're not really fighting with your spells, and your strategy suggests that you'll be doing most of your casting while your minions are still out creating a defensive wall in front of you, so you won't need to cast defensively. You only have to worry about counterspells and being attacked while casting. But as far as I can tell, you only selected spells that take up on action. High Concentration isn't nearly as important for this Cleric than it would for a PC cleric.

Empower Spell is usually a great choice for a feat, but a lot of your spells have fixed buffs, not variable effects. Lets take a look:

Guidance: +1
Cause Fear: Shaken
Bless: +1
Prot/Good: +2/+2
Shield of Faith: +2
Cure Lt Wnds: 1d8+1
Invisibility: Invisible
Cure Mod Wnds: 2d8+1
Bulls Str: +4

The only times Empower Spell comes in handy is with your Cure Spells, of which you've only prepared 1 each.

Picking metamagic feats are a good way to go; how about Extend Spell so your spell durations have some more staying power. A lot of your spells have a fairly short duration, so this could be a nice boost. Otherwise, I suggest picking combat themed feats.