Sneaky Divine Caster

[Ignis6669]

Hey guys,
I'm going to start a campaign soon, and one of my player's is brand new to D&D. He has expressed an interest in playing a character that casts divine magic, but is very sneaky. Does anyone have any race/feat/class/spell/etc. suggestions for this? I know that given the right selections a Cleric can do most things, but I honestly normally play my on Clerics as "Heal Bots". They will probably start around level 3 or 5.

Available sources: Everything that isn't 3rd Party.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I was open to class suggestions.

[Pentagon]

Fluff wise you've got tons of possible gods, Shar, mask etc comes to mind from FR. Domain darkness ability lets you have blind fighting for free so you can cast darkness spells and then run in.

Taking 1st level rogue for the ridiculous skill points is another option, so lvl 1 rogue, lvl 4 cleric...

[Auramis]

You could adapt the Shadowbane Stalker (Complete Adventurer) to fit in a setting that doesn't necessarily involve the Order of Illumination.

[thethird]

Cloistered cleric with Kobold, Trickery and Knowledge Devotion. With domain spontaneity Trickery can be a good option. But only do this if there aren't other mundane sneakers, because it can blow them out of the water pretty fast.

There is also ranger, that can be sneaky and cast divine spells. If you want spells earlier I personally like Illumian Mystic Rangers with the Shooting Star ACF and the Sword of the Arcane Order feat.

[Piggy Knowles]

It doesn't get much attention, but I absolutely love halfling druids, with the RotW racial substitution levels, as scouts. Extra skills (including the necessary stealth skills), the ability to turn into tiny animals at level 5, and eventually camouflage. It's a lot of fun.

There's also the classic, kobold cloistered cleric with Kobold and Trickery domains. Use the expanded kobold stats from the RotD web enhancement for slight build (so you can treat yourself as a tiny character). Kobold domain gives you trapfinding and Search as a class skill, Trickery domain gives you Hide and Bluff (plus some very nice spells). Enjoy being a super sneaky cleric.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch on the kobold. Ah, well. Like I said, it's a classic.

[Ignis6669]

You could adapt the Shadowbane Stalker (Complete Adventurer) to fit in a setting that doesn't necessarily involve the Order of Illumination.

That seems like a great Idea. I vaguely remember the class. I'll have to look it back up.


There is also ranger, that can be sneaky and cast divine spells. If you want spells earlier I personally like Illumian Mystic Rangers with the Shooting Star ACF and the Sword of the Arcane Order feat.

I forgot all about the Ranger! I can't believe I did that!


It doesn't get much attention, but I absolutely love halfling druids, with the RotW racial substitution levels, as scouts. Extra skills (including the necessary stealth skills), the ability to turn into tiny animals at level 5, and eventually camouflage. It's a lot of fun.

For some reason I could totally see this guy playing a halfling...

[Ignis6669]

Fluff wise you've got tons of possible gods, Shar, mask etc comes to mind from FR. Domain darkness ability lets you have blind fighting for free so you can cast darkness spells and then run in.

Taking 1st level rogue for the ridiculous skill points is another option, so lvl 1 rogue, lvl 4 cleric...

I like this. I wonder what his backstory looks like. Maybe we can play up the whole "thief into worshiper of a tricky deity" bit...

[gorfnab]

Rogue/ Cloistered Cleric into Divine Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9623145#post9623145)
Nightstalker - Dragonlance: Races of Ansalon

[Vaz]

Ruby Knight Vindicator gets Armoured Stealth. You can run around in Full Plate Armour (if you wish) and still be hidden semi-effectively.

[Ignis6669]

Rogue/ Cloistered Cleric into Divine Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9623145#post9623145)
Nightstalker - Dragonlance: Races of Ansalon

I've never used dragonlance before. How does it balance?


Ruby Knight Vindicator gets Armoured Stealth. You can run around in Full Plate Armour (if you wish) and still be hidden semi-effectively.

That seems nifty. I can't help but think that this could be interesting...

[Raendyn]

There is the divine (and good at the same time) version of Assasin, its called Avenger (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070401a) and his casting is Wis based.

Also, Black Flame Zealot is hybrid rogue/cleric though not as powerfull opt-wise. But the flavor at least in FR is Boss!

[A_S]

There is the divine (and good at the same time) version of Assasin, its called Avenger (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070401a) and his casting is Wis based.
Not sure where you're getting this from; the page you linked indicates that Avenger's casting is arcane and int-based, just like Assassin.

[Piggy Knowles]

There IS a divine version of the assassin, though - the Slayer of Domiel, from Book of Exalted Deeds. (There are also a few other assassin-y divine classes such as the Black Flame Zealot, but Slayer of Domiel is a more straightforward divine assassin analogue.)

[Vaz]

I've never used dragonlance before. How does it balance?



That seems nifty. I can't help but think that this could be interesting...

It is only the Hide skill ignoring ACP, but with hellforged Mithral Blue Shined Nimbleness armour treated with Armor Soft has -6 to it, rendering that pointless.

[Ignis6669]

I like the suggestions. Anyone have any spell suggestions? I know that stuff changes a bit depending on the class selected, but I wonder if Anyone knows of any good spells for sneaking.

[Thanatosia]

There's lots of blindingly obviously good spells out there for sneaking, but most of them tend to be arcane rather then divine... but domains (particularly trickery, Darkness, Gnome, or Illusion) helps get around that. THere are other methods to get arcane spells onto divine classes as well.

Invisibility, Silence, etc.

Divine Insight can turn any Cleric into a tremendously powerful skill monkey allowing him a huge bonus to a single Move silently, open doors, hide, etc check.

Share Talents lets you extend your stealthyness to your party to a rather limited degree.

Also, Sneakiness is more then just hiding... any spell that lets you move in ways normaly not possible, or any divination that gets you information otherwise not readily available can be a great sneak tool.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Whisper Gnome from Races of Stone is the race to use for sneaking.

Get Hidden Talent (XPH): Chameleon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/chameleon.htm), and he can use a Dorje (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/dorjes.htm) (psionic wand) of that. This would give him +10 hide for 10 minutes at a time at 15 gp per use.

Take Druid or Ranger (preferably Druid) and get a Wand of Camouflage, in Spell Compendium. That also gives +10 hide of a different bonus type for 10 minutes at a time at 15 gp per use.

Get the feat Darkstalker in Lords of Madness.

If starting 4th level or higher, get the Dark Creature template in Tome of Magic and buy off the +1 LA (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm).

[Ignis6669]

Whisper Gnome from Races of Stone is the race to use for sneaking.

Get the feat Darkstalker in Lords of Madness.


I can't believe I didn't think of the whisper gnome! And they lend themselves so well to this idea...

Darkstalker seems fun too.

[Curmudgeon]

Rogue + Cloistered Cleric is a good fit, when you add the Sacred Outlaw multiclassing feat (Dragon # 357): that stacks R+C levels for both sneak attack and undead turning. You need 2d6 sneak attack as a prerequisite, so you might as well stagger your 3 Rogue levels to maximize some non-Cleric sneaky skills.

[gorfnab]

I've never used dragonlance before. How does it balance?
Nightstalker - gets 6th level spells with casting progression similar to Bard. Spells are mostly Divination, Conjuration (Healing), and Necromancy. Trapfinding, most of the Rogue and Cleric skills, and three ghost cohorts. Fairly balanced high tier 4 or low end tier 3.

[Amphetryon]

Air focused Shugenja can do a sort of faux Beguiler shtick, if that's sneaky enough for you. Sneak Attack and the like would need to come from Feat selection and other sources, though.

[Beleron]

I once made a rogue/archivist/spellwarp sniper build (having noted that quite a number of the better spellwarpable spells are druidic). Of course it wasn't optimal, but it was loads of fun. You get access to all sorts of great sneakster spells like Greater Invisibility, (which is on the Slayer of Domiel list). Fluffwise it also tends to be more flexible than cleric, as you don't have to be tied to a particular deity.