Help with dwarf cleric

[KadTalon]

Hi everyone! I'm kind of new to D&D and I've been reading some of the topics here and found a lot of useful tips on building characters. Me and my friends just started a new campaing (D&D 3.5) and I was hoping you guys could give me some tips.

Right now our party has:

-A lizardfolk barbarian lv1
-An aasimar paladin lv.1
-A tiefling rougue lv.1
-An elf ranger lv.2
-And myself, a dwarf cleric lv.2

My character is a cleric of Hanseath (from Races of Stone) with the Travel and War domains, wields a two-handed greataxe (which is the deity's weapon) and wears a splint mail. His only feat is "Skill Focus: Concentration", and the attributes are: STR 14; DEX 10; CON 18 (16+2); INT 14; WIS 18; CHA 8 (10-2).

I want him to be primarily a melee-fighter but still be able to heal the party when needed. Any tips on how I should proceed with my build? What feats I should pick up, prestige classes and etc...?

We're not power-playing and we have a few house rules that limit the options:

1. The only type of shield that can be used while casting is the buckler (for the others, but your hand is considered occupied for the purpose of somatic components). He allows casting while wielding a dual-handed weapon (like the greataxe) without causing an attack of oportunity, but you need to "sacrifice" the 5-foot step.

2. Although our DM allows the use of supplements, he strongly favours the use of the standard feats in the player's handbook.

3. We're allowed only 1 other class for the character, be it a multi-class or prestige class.

Thanks in advance for any tips or help you guys can offer. Sorry for any "bad english", it's not my primary language.

[Yajirobe]

Only one? Does your DM allows you to take PrCs from specific settings? If so, I'd reccomend the Bone Knight from Five Nations. Hanseath is Neutral, so the requirement for rebuke only won't create any problems with your deity.

9/10 casting, Medium BAB, lots of useful immunities, and you are a bone-armored knight that rides a skeletal steed. What's not to like? IF you can convince your DM to allow a 5-level PrC, place Ordained Champion on top of it and be the sexiest melee cleric in town.

[BerronBrightaxe]

Yajirobe's choices are solid.. Bone Knight and Ordained Champion are good.

DnD is as much about prestige classes as it is about background. A sound background gives your character aim about which direction you want to develop it. What are your char's goals, what is his drive, etc? Some thoughts about the background will give you direction towards you (lvl)development. Powerplay is nice, but it is about having fun with your char (and having a drinks with your friends)..
This all IMHO, of course...

Cheers,
Berron

[J-H]

Skill Focus: Concentration is not a great feat choice, sorry.

If you plan to do a lot of melee, you may want to pick up Power Attack. It's a good way to really boost your damage output.

[KadTalon]

Thanks for the help. Bone Knight seems an interesting choice... the only "problem" would be taking the ride ranks. If my math is correct, I would achieve 6 ranks by lv.10 (since I'm already lv.2)... is that right?

I forgot posting about the character's background... sorry. It's an original scenario created by our DM, so there's not much connection with more traditional settings. Here it goes:


The character's name is Rogal Dorn (yes, I'm a Warhammer fan and horrible at creating with names for characters :P). He lived in a small city/outpost in the fringes of the dwarven kingdom, he was an orphan that was left at the doorsteps of the temple. The clerics there brought him up and teached him the ways of the gods. Over the time he showed more inclination for the "teachings" of Hanseath and so became one of his clerics.

Along with his clerical training, he also served with the military in the front-line units, where he would fight alogside other dwarves (mostly berserkers) and act as healer/medic (that being the War domain reference).

One time his patrol got ambushed while scouting some "deep roads" (like the ones in Dragon Age). After the fighting was over, he was the only survivor... not by skill or strenght, but mostly luck. When he went back to his city, when he told the elders what happened they didn't believe him. They thought he was a coward who used his healing abilities to keep himself alive instead of helping his brothers and, in turn, causing their deaths. The truth is the they were only looking for a scapegoat for the situation instead of admiting that the enemy was actually getting stronger.

After this he was branded as a coward and senteced to exile for life. Instead of being enraged by that decision he saw that as some sort of 'divine providence'... a way of Hanseath to tell him that he should travel the 'world above' and see things for himself (the Travel domain).

He left the town and never looked back, his goal is to travel the world and participate in as much adventures as possible and meet new people and places.

Thanks again o/

[The Bandicoot]

One of the finest characters I ever played with was a dwarven cleric of Hanseath. My advice for you is really play up the drinking and carousing. Our cleric was an alcoholic by dwarven standards and every healing spell he gave us required both us and him to take a shot of whiskey. I remember the one time that he healed me from -9 to 1 health he just poured out the bottle on me and told me to get up.

Aahhh Dworak....

[Yajirobe]

Thanks for the help. Bone Knight seems an interesting choice... the only "problem" would be taking the ride ranks. If my math is correct, I would achieve 6 ranks by lv.10 (since I'm already lv.2)... is that right?

I forgot posting about the character's background... sorry. It's an original scenario created by our DM, so there's not much connection with more traditional settings. Here it goes:



Thanks again o/

Even though I personally don't like them, you could try and ask the DM to allow the skill retraining as per the rules of PHB II. That way, you could get the PrC one level earlier. (As a CC, you can only attain 6 ranks on it on lv 9.). Otherwise, delaying the PrC one level won't cripple you.

[GilesTheCleric]

One of the finest characters I ever played with was a dwarven cleric of Hanseath. My advice for you is really play up the drinking and carousing. Our cleric was an alcoholic by dwarven standards and every healing spell he gave us required both us and him to take a shot of whiskey. I remember the one time that he healed me from -9 to 1 health he just poured out the bottle on me and told me to get up.

Aahhh Dworak....

Wasn't it the truth, they told you, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_Wake) lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake (http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Finnegan+s+Wake/3KjE4A?src=5)!

@OP: If you're looking for tips in terms of which spells to prepare, try this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284509). Let me know if you're looking for something more specific; however, as a melee/healing-oriented cleric, you'll probably want to focus on buffs and negation rather than blasting spells.

If you want to check out a few other PrCs, here's a quick list of some of the ones I like.


Ardent Dilettante PlH 55
Church Inquisitor CoD 26
Contemplative DMG
Demonwrecker EttDP 168
Divine Disciple PGtF 51
Dweomerkeeper CoD WE
Eye of (Horus-Re) PGtF 55
Hierophant DMG
Luckstealer RotW 118
Mage-Killer MoF 32
Master of Radiance LM45
Morninglord of (Lathander) PGtF 67
Radiant Servant of (Pelor) CoD 52
Sacred Exorcist CoD 56
Solar Channeler SGoS 9
Soulguard FCII 96
Sovereign Speaker FoE 32
Thaumaturgist DMG
Walker in the Waste Ss 89

And some others that are neat, but I don't use as often:
Bone Knight 5N 117
Celesial Mystic BoED 55
Death Delver HoH 93
Dragonslayer Dra 125
Effigy Master CAr 30
Evangelist CoD 39
Justicar of (Tyr) PGtF 63
Lion of (Talsid) BoED 65
Master of Shrouds LM 46
Mythic Exemplar CC 86
Ordained Champion CC 90
Singer of Concordance RotD 93
Skypledged RotW 126
Soldier of Light DaD 208
Stormcaster St 72
Talontar Blightlord UE 34
Thrall of Demogorgon BoVD 67
True Necromancer LM 52
Wavekeeper St 76
Wonderworker BoED 92

[EyethatBinds]

Skill Focus: Concentration is not a great feat choice, sorry.

If you plan to do a lot of melee, you may want to pick up Power Attack. It's a good way to really boost your damage output.

Actually PA is a pretty poor feat at first level, given that at first he couldn't even use the feat, and 2nd he'd only get a +2 to damage for a -1 (which really can matter at this level) to hit. Best option for a melee focused character is Weapon Focus X at first level. 3rd you can choose power attack, every level after 3rd the feat will become more useful, before then it's really a waste of your time.

[KadTalon]

Skill Focus: Concentration is not a great feat choice, sorry.

If you plan to do a lot of melee, you may want to pick up Power Attack. It's a good way to really boost your damage output.

One of the things I thought was that being a melee-oriented character, I would often find myself casting in the middle of combat (casting defensively). Reading some other topics, their advice was to take Skill Focus over Combat Casting becaus SF had a broader range of applications.

I was thinking about taking PA in the 3rd or 6th level... in order to take advantage of the higher BAB (since I wouldn't be able to use it properly in the 1st and 2nd lvs.). Since my character has the war domain, he already has Weapon Focus the deity's weapon.

@GilesTheCleric: I was also looking for tips on wich feats/skills would be best to focus on. Btw, Divine Metamagic is off the table =/

[Fax Celestis]

Question: why do you have a fourth level character in you second level party?

Lizardfolk are third level minimum creatures: they are LA+1 and have two levels in Monstrous Humanoid.

[KadTalon]

Question: why do you have a fourth level character in you second level party?

Lizardfolk are third level minimum creatures: they are LA+1 and have two levels in Monstrous Humanoid.

In his case, our DM decided to "remove" the racial levels (losing their hit dice and skill bonuses) and keep the other racial bonuses (like natural AC and etc...). Since the player had a good backstory for the character, none of us complained about his "ruling".

[GilesTheCleric]

@GilesTheCleric: I was also looking for tips on wich feats/skills would be best to focus on. Btw, Divine Metamagic is off the table =/

DMM is not necessary for a cleric, although it makes things easier. I'm sorry to hear that, though =(. In terms of skills and feats, here's a list of what I usually take. If you're doing more melee stuff, then taking one or two of those feats first would probably be the best course of action: Power Attack, Shock Trooper, Combat Reflexes, Goad, Animal Devotion, Leap Attack, Intuitive Attack, Divine Might, etc. Goad and Intuitive Attack are my favourites.

In terms of cleric feats, there are few that actually boost power other than MM, but there are plenty that increase your versatility or focus. Metamagic feats are always useful for casters; for more interesting feats, think about some of these:


Augment Healing
Celestial Summoning Specialist
Chaotic Spell Recall
Clap of Thunder
Consecrate Spell
Divine Defiance
Divine Ward
Domain Spontaneity
Drift Magic
Eyes of the Abyss
Holy Warrior
Imbued Healing
Initiate of Ilmater
Initiate of Lathander
Initiate of Mystra
Initiate of Selune
Magical Training
Mastery of Day and Night
Mitigate Suffering
Mysterious Magic
Persistent Refusal
Pious Defiance
Retrieve Spell
Sacred Healing
Shielded Casting (talk to your DM about swapping this for SF: conc)
Spontaneous Domains
Spontaneous Healer
Spontaneous Wounder
Spontaneous Summoner
Stalwart Planar Ally
Summon Elemental
Touch of Healing
Umbral Shroud


If you would like a list of fun metamagic, let me know. However, unless you're planning on going into higher levels, metamagic feats are generally not as useful.

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In terms of skills, you're pretty limited because you're a cleric. However, if you're not multiclassing, then you don't need to take Cosmopolitan, Education, or Able Learner, which is nice.

Keeping your knowledge:x skills up is always useful (make sure to put at least one point into each); arcana is arguably the best of the ones available to clerics. I personally like to put points into Diplomacy even if I'm mostly rping for diplomacy situations, but you've got a paladin for that. 5 ranks in heal are useful, as are 5 in spellcraft. If nobody else in your party is ranking up spellcraft, then it's important that you grab more/max ranks. Prioritize that over know:x.

[ArcturusV]

Well, depending on campaign particulars with Clerics I also tend to pick up Item Creation feats quite often. You might want to consider Wondrous Items at next level, as those are almost always useful and it's such a wide grab bag. Of course if you got some Monty Haul campaign, or one where the DM just lets you buy anything you could imagine, not as useful to get. Still, it's an option to consider, depending on your particular group's dynamics.