Clericzilla without Divine Power?

[Dusk Eclipse]

After debating with myself a lot, I finally decided to play a cleric in my friend's upcoming campaign. Since we start at level 1 and clerics are nothing if not flexible I am thinking I don't have to choose my specialization right now, the thing is that I am leaning towards a melee cleric, but I don't want to go the DMM Persist route which means I won't be able to have Divine Power all the time, now my first instinct is to go with a full BAB prestige class, but the only ones I remember from the top of my head are Knight of the Raven and Ordained champion, but none of them seem to fit in with my planned deity (Xan Yae).

Any other class I don't remember that might fit?

My main reason to worship Xan Yae is that she is the "neutral-est" deity which has the war domain and falchion as favoured weapon, but it is giving me a hard time selecting my second domain. She has the Celerity, Trickery and Knowledge domains and all of them are quite useful in their own right.

[Grayson01]

Knowledge Devotion! And (Reserve Feat) Holy Warrior oh and collector Of Stories Skill trick. Those will help! Power Attack and Divine Might extra Turning those are nice as well.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Knowledge devotion is really SP heavy and I'm going normal cleric so I would have 3+int SP per level at most if I'm going human (which is not decided yet) Holy warrior is definitely in, but it will have to wait till level 9-ish since it requires 4th level casting IIRC. Power attack is a given at 3rd level, but completely useless at level 1.

To be honest I was hoping for advice on prestige classes and domain selection.

[Miranius]

Go Human cloistered Cleric and see if you can`t retrain the feats/get them psychic reformated ASAP. Should look like this then:


lvl 1
human: persist spell
Domain1: planning -> extend spell
Domain2: war: 2 feats for weapons that should be retrained as:
....feat 1: DMM persist Spell
...feat 2: DMM extent Spell
Domain 2: Knowledge Domain: trade for Knowledge devotion


Personally, have always preferred travel devotion or trickery devotion to the knowledge-one, just for versatility and usefullness. So if you use flaws, in my opinion you should get both fo these

[Dusk Eclipse]

There is a reason the title of the thread is: Clericzilla without Divine power, I do not want to use DMM Persist, it is too powerful for the group I'll be playing with (flaws are also iffy, my DM doesn't like them, but he has approved them before so who knows).

[Vath_The_Spooky]

How Neutralish are you planning?

If Lawful neutral is an option look into Sacred Fist(Complete Div) which makes awesome Divine Gish. Full Bab and as long as text trumps table full casting progression. You need just 1 level of Monk to get in, though 2 can make it easier. If you do the Celerity domain is best since you will be unarmored. Also Sacred Fist is 4 skill points which makes Knowledge Devotion a more tempting option.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Lawful Neutral is my normal go to, but I was thinking on maybe neutral good (mostly for Knight of the Raven if I don't find another prestige class that fits better).

[Jeff the Green]

Knowledge devotion is really SP heavy and I'm going normal cleric so I would have 3+int SP per level at most if I'm going human (which is not decided yet) Holy warrior is definitely in, but it will have to wait till level 9-ish since it requires 4th level casting IIRC. Power attack is a given at 3rd level, but completely useless at level 1.

To be honest I was hoping for advice on prestige classes and domain selection.

It's not that bad. Be a dwarf and pick up Ancestral Knowledge. Be sure to worship a deity that gives the Knowledge domain, and be sure your buffs include lore of the gods (CC). Assuming a 16 in Wisdom, that's +13 right there. Add on magic items and you can reliably hit the higher DCs with minimal investment of skill ranks.

[Vath_The_Spooky]

I don't have the Ravenloft book so I cannot comment on it. If you are looking for other prc to add on though...

Well you mentioned Ordained Champion, have you thought of asking your DM to adapt the PRC for your god? Nothing in the PRC itself is very flavor countering as long as your Deity has the War domain.

I also did some google fu and found this: List of Cleric PRCs. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1344.0)

[Dusk Eclipse]

I'll consiser Dwarf +ancestral lore, it hadn't occurred to me; thanks for the idea.

I'll have to check with me for the adaptation of Ordained champion, but I'd prefer other less reliant options.

[Mnemnosyne]

Ordained Champion is definitely nice to adapt, since it lets you quicken War domain spells for free. Another great adaptation, of course, would be Ruby Knight Vindicator.

Instead of DMM Persist, consider DMM Quicken, also. It's a good option. Instead of persisting buffs all-day, you can quicken them when you get into combat so that you can buff up without losing standard actions, at least as long as you have enough turning attempts left.

With either Ordained Champion or DMM Quicken, you should be able to cast a quickened Divine Power a few times a day, so you can buff up with it when you get into fights, as long as you have spell slots/turning attempts left.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Law Devotion is extremely good if you want to make up BAB. For a melee Cleric without DMM: Persist, maybe consider going LN and worshiping Zarus (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20041203a&page=1), starting with the Strength and War domains plus Law Devotion. I'd get the Spontaneous Domain Casting ACF in PH2 for one of those instead of spontaneously casting inflict spells. I'd also trade the Strength domain's lackluster granted power for the Divine Restoration ACF in Dungeonscape. I'd still pick up Extra Turning at least once with a Reliquary Holy Symbol and a Night Stick to power Law Devotion. For flaws on such a character, I'd include Bravado (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258440#30).