Cleric armada

[Balor01]

My PCs are eventually to meet a rather OP encoutner. Every enemy will have cleric levels. I am wondering, however, what should I pay attention to, when building these clerics?

I will build lvl 1, 3, 6 and 9 clerics. My limitation is: core+single splatbook to take material from.

So, cleric army: How should it be shaped?

thanks

[Daftendirekt]

What level will the PCs be at? Is the party good or evil (thus, are the clerics evil or good?)

[Balor01]

Things are a bit specific. WBL will not be in play, so it will be mostly mundane items. Party is mainly ToB material, lvl 6. (Warblade, Barbarian, beguiler).

So they will be lvl 6 but will probably be facing lvl 3 (Evil) clerics who will also have acess only to mundane items.

[Ducklord]

How many clerics will there be? If all equipment is mundane Shatter can make your PCs cry.

[Balor01]

If I see this correctly ... Shatter can destroy swords? And all other weapons? Wow.

Anyway five or six clerics of lvl 3 vs three pre-mentioned guys.

[nedz]

Lots of Hold Persons is traditional — YMMV.

What domains do the clerics have ?
Showcase these instead for flavour.

[Balor01]

Domains: Sun and Magic. (Reptilians)

[nedz]

Level 3 clerics with these domains — tricky.

Heat metal from the Sun domain should be splashed around a lot — assuming your PCs wear metal armour/carry metal weapons.

Magic domain is trickier at this level. Dispel Magic would be good, but only for the High Priest I guess. Arcane Scrolls are cheap, though not mundane. Interesting treasure too — if the party win.

[Balor01]

Lol, I have forgotten to include my own, homebrewed domain. Voila:



Serpent Magic domain

Prerequisites: Pray to the Serpent, promote Serpents’s agenda

Granted power: Once per day, you can cast one spell as quickened without the quickened spell using up a spell slot four levels higher than the spell’s actual level.

1 – Giant reptiles (as enlarge person, reptiles only)
2 – Hypnotic Pattern
3- Snake Rune (as Explosive Runes, acid dmg instead of force dmg)
4 – Magic circle against non-reptiles
5- Swarming snakes (as Black tentacles, 1d8+6 constrict dmg added to normal Balck tentacles effects )

So I guess Sun or Magic and Serpent magic.

[Gnome Alone]

Man, I thought this thread was gonna be about awakened ships with cleric levels or clerics turning into ships or something. I may have to steal that -uh, steal what I thought it was. Carry on.

[nedz]

Man, I thought this thread was gonna be about awakened ships with cleric levels or clerics turning into ships or something. I may have to steal that -uh, steal what I thought it was. Carry on.

Hey, I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition Armada. :smallbiggrin:

[Balor01]

Nah, just a whole nation where everyone is a Cleric. Poorly armed and with little equipment, but bristling with divine magic. I wonder what sort of trouble could this mean for neighboring nations.

[8wGremlin]

Nah, just a whole nation where everyone is a Cleric. Poorly armed and with little equipment, but bristling with divine magic. I wonder what sort of trouble could this mean for neighboring nations.

What like a nation of Forest Gnome who worship Galaeros, have circle magic feat, and aren't to happy that you've used all that wood on building your armada...

[Randomguy]

Do you want all your clerics to be uniform (just one cleric build that'll be repeated often) or more versatile?

For a more versatile army you'd want Unearthed Arcana as your splatbook, so that some of the clerics can be Cloistered Clerics.

Otherwise, maybe the Spell Compedium for more spells to choose from.

[Balor01]

I think clerics will be uniform. Just lvl 3, 6 and 9.

[Mongrel]

Granted power: Once per day, you can cast one spell as quickened without the quickened spell using up a spell slot four levels higher than the spell’s actual level.


This is an incredible granted power, I'd even argue it's super OP. I guess it doesn't matter too much since it's not available to the PCs, but damn. That's essentially a free Sudden Quicken feat, a feat that normally requires the Quicken Spell, Sudden Empower, Sudden Extend, Sudden Maximize, Sudden Silent, and Sudden Still feats before you can take it (so normally you have to be really high level to have that ability). If your cleric armada is performing to its maximum efficiency this could easily spell doom for the party (since on the first round each cleric could cast two spells, or cast a spell and attack, essentially giving them an entire free round of casting). If you want to make it a little less balls to the wall broken you could say they can only quicken their Domain spells, which wouldn't be too bad.

About building your clerics, I guess it depends on preference. Are you looking for spell suggestions? Feat suggestions? If they only have access to mundane equipment they could still conceivably have alchemists fire or tanglefoot bags or something. As for spells, I'd look up a cleric guide and find the spells that are generally considered good. Or if you think this fight might be really tough for your players and don't want to risk a TPK you could pick more flavorful spells that may not be the most optimal. Check out supplement books if the PHB spells don't do it for you. These are lizardfolk clerics right? You might want to check out Races of the Dragon and maybe Races of the Wild. I think Savage Species might have some spells in it as well, and it should have some stuff for lizardfolk too, maybe even some special feats for them.

[Balor01]

Good advice on the nerf regarding the domain. I like it and will use it. As for advice, I was thinking this: We have a mono-cleric army. Would such an army have any weaknessess? (At lvl 3, 6 and 9)

[Gwendol]

Clerics typically have low touch AC, and not stellar HP. Your low level clerics will suffer from their BAB and can't really go ClericZilla on your adventurers (but the level 9 ones will). Also, clerics don't get many skillpoints, and so typically have mediocre spot and listen checks (somewhat mitigated from good WIS though).

Summons will still be a factor though: cleric 6 gives access to some good ones. Give the summoners rods of extend spell to have their beasts last a little longer.

[Balor01]

So, generally, summoner clerics would be ok? Like to have low lvl summoner clerics as standard "staple warriors".

[Mongrel]

Clerics are good at a variety of things. Healing and buffing spells are probably their biggest strength, but they get plenty of debuffing and utility spells as well as a few damage dealing ones (though generally their damage dealing spells are not as good as the sorcerer/wizard ones, not until later levels at least). They also can hold their own pretty well in combat given that they have can wear all types of armor and have no penalty for doing so.

The way I'd probably run the encounter is that the level 6 clerics are the frontline, with the level 3's using basic buffing spells (like Bless, Aid, or Bull's Strength) on the level 6 clerics, and the level 9 cleric(s) hanging back and dropping the more powerful cleric spells (such as Flame Strike as a nice AoE blasting spell, or a high level Summon Monster spell or two, or Righteous Might and Divine Power to make them into a melee powerhouse). If you have access to non PHB books with spells in them I'd check those out too, never know when you'll find some nice cleric spells to include. As far as feats, Combat Casting is always nice. Depending on how weapon oriented or magic oriented you want your guys you could go power attack -> cleave or possibly some spell focus type feats. Again, sourcebooks will probably expand the feats available to your clerics making them a little more interesting.

[8wGremlin]

Wands of Faith Healing (restricted to clerics of x alignment) are great.
cheap too 525gp



Item Requires Specific Class or Alignment to Use
Even more restrictive than requiring a skill, this limitation cuts the cost by 30%.

[nedz]

Wands of Faith Healing (restricted to clerics of x alignment) are great. cheap too 525gp

Faith Healing [SpC] is restricted to followers of the same deity.
It's a mean trick though. :smallamused:

[Acanous]

Everyone has Divine Metamagic and Quicken Spell.

They won't have a bucket of turn attempts, so just one quickened thing per cleric this combat. That's still pretty huge.
*Entire Cleric armada* Casts Hold Person on your party, followed by Quickened Shatter. /encounter