PF Dwarf Cleric Help

[Fecar]

My fiance and I will be playing in a PF game next week, no details known yet about the setting, and both of us are new to the system.

I have not started on rolling my character but my fiance has created hers and I was hoping to get a sanity check on it. The character does not need to be highly optimized, just as long as there are no big mistakes. She was interested in playing a wizard at first but decided against it since she likes to run into fights instead of staying back. The cleric sounded like a decent alternative - cast spells and can fight in melee.

We rolled for her stats, 4d6b3 and got the following: 17,16,13,13,11,10. With dwarf adjustments, she selected 16 str, 11 dex, 15 con, 13 int, 19 wis, 8 cha. The int over dex was selected to get some extra skills. Choosen skills: Heal, Knowledge (History) and Spellcraft.

Alignment is Chatoic Neutral, worships Gorum.

Equiped with longsword, light shield, scalemail.

Spells selected are Sanctuary and Cause Fear.



Comments, suggestions? Again, this does not have to be the most optimized cleric, just as long as it is reasonably built.

[Ailowynn]

That doesn't look like enough spells...are there orisons? Domain spells? And for that matter, what are her domains?

Aside from that, it looks pretty good. I might suggest putting that rank in something other than Heal, which is essentially useless by fourth or fifth level in my experience, and maybe looking at the Oracle instead (found in the Advanced Players Guide), as (apparently) you can make a much better battle-caster type with that class.

Oh, and the build you have here is completely insane. Why? Because you have a dwarf who isn't wielding an axe or hammer. :smallyuk:

[VexingFool]

As a Cleric of Gorum with a good STR and decent CON, I would use a Greatsword (Gorum's favored weapon). Pathfinder clerics get proficiency in their deities favored weapons.

For domains I would go with Glory and Ferocity. Those should give some nice buffs for melee and a few spells not on the cleric list.

At some point I would think about picking up Heavy Armor prof to make up for the low DEX and no shield if you decide to go with the greatsword.

[Fecar]

I should have mentioned that the only hard copies I have access to is the starter box so I assumed that there were no options for domain and orison spells. I probably should check the srd after work.

The info I looked at indicated that Gorum's favoured weapon was the longsword but I am probably wrong about that.

For orison's there are: Detect Magic, Light, Read Magic, Stabilize. Worshiping Gorum gave Battle Rage +1 (7/day) and Strength Surge +1 (7/day).

We might switch out to a 2h weapon on the build.

Lastly, any suggestions for feats? We did not see many options so ended up with Improved Initiative.

[Dapple Birch]

Always cool to see more people playing dwarves. :)

just to clarify on spells: you get 3 level0 spells(also called orisons), and 3 level1 spells(1 from being lvl1, 1 from your 19wisdom, and 1 chosen from your domains). I think domain choices are a bit personal for me to offer advice on without knowing more about who your character is. Though I will point out that if you're using the Advanced Player Guide there are subdomains available if you find the regular ones for Gorum don't give you what you're looking for.

As a CN cleric of a CN deity(defy those dwarven stereotypes!) you can choose to channel positive or negative energy and spontaniously convert your spells into either cure spells or inflict spells. Most good adventuring parties prefer to channel positive for the extra healing it offers but you have the choice.

You mention the favored weapon and it is indeed a greatsword for Gorum though as a dwarf you've also got access to the warhammer and battle axe by default. Just by the numbers the greatsword is better unless you want the option to switch between two-handing your weapon and holding a shield in your off-hand. Also if you do decide you want a shield talk to your DM about how casting spells(and using divine foci) with a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other will work in their game. I've heard several different opinions on the matter though bucklers are usually safe.

As for feats(PF changed how often you get them from 3.5) you've got serveral good options:


improved initiative- A solid choice for character, though I feel a little less so for clerics than other classes since healing is reactive. That being said you've still got lots of spells with crowd control and a big sword should you succeed in winning initiative.

extra channel- Your low charisma will reduce how many uses of channel energy you have per day as well as the DC's to resist it if used offensively. It still heals just as well though and depending on how many fights you have each day and how many healing items your party acquires(potions, wands, etc) you may find a few extra group heals to be quite handy.

armor proficiency, heavy- With a low dexterity and the dwarven racial, slow and steady, there's pretty much no reason not to pick this up as soon as you can afford to start wearing full plate(probably lvl3 at the earliest)

combat casting- Casting spells in melee can be tricky, especially at lower levels. If you think that's something you'll be doing alot then this feat would be a solid choice.

toughness/great fortitude/lightning reflexes/iron will- all of these make you harder to kill, disable, or control but between being a cleric and a dwarf you're already pretty good against such effects.

power attack- while you can't pick it up at lvl1 it's worth considering for later as it opens up many of the combat maneuver feats

combat expertise- also opens up several combat maneuver feats. Not something usually thought of with clerics but your 13int lets you qualify and, unlikely most "nerdy cleric" types, you'll be sturdy enough to stand in melee using it.


For skills, if you haven't done so already, you might look at diplomacy and sense motive. How valuable either of them is could depend alot on the rest of your party as well.


If you've played 3.x before you might find paizo's conversion document useful as it goes over alot of the less obvious rule changes that would catch a 3.x player off-guard(also it's free): http://paizo.com/products/btpy89m6?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Conversion-Guide
some other online resources for new pathfinder players:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Religion

[Fecar]

Always cool to see more people playing dwarves. :)

just to clarify on spells: you get 3 level0 spells(also called orisons), and 3 level1 spells(1 from being lvl1, 1 from your 19wisdom, and 1 chosen from your domains). I think domain choices are a bit personal for me to offer advice on without knowing more about who your character is. Though I will point out that if you're using the Advanced Player Guide there are subdomains available if you find the regular ones for Gorum don't give you what you're looking for.

Ok, we over looked the domain spell and have an extra orison.

As a CN cleric of a CN deity(defy those dwarven stereotypes!) you can choose to channel positive or negative energy and spontaniously convert your spells into either cure spells or inflict spells. Most good adventuring parties prefer to channel positive for the extra healing it offers but you have the choice. I was a little unsure if you had to select wether you channelled positive energy at character creation and had to stick with that from then on or if you can choose positive/negitive energy at each channelling/spell conversion.

You mention the favored weapon and it is indeed a greatsword for Gorum though as a dwarf you've also got access to the warhammer and battle axe by default. Just by the numbers the greatsword is better unless you want the option to switch between two-handing your weapon and holding a shield in your off-hand. Also if you do decide you want a shield talk to your DM about how casting spells(and using divine foci) with a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other will work in their game. I've heard several different opinions on the matter though bucklers are usually safe. It appears that the starter box information is wrong/out of date as it does list the longsword as being the favoured weapon. I did happen to ask the DM prior about holy symbols and he will not require being able to wield the holy symbol to use it.

As for feats(PF changed how often you get them from 3.5) you've got serveral good options:

improved initiative- A solid choice for character, though I feel a little less so for clerics than other classes since healing is reactive. That being said you've still got lots of spells with crowd control and a big sword should you succeed in winning initiative.

extra channel- Your low charisma will reduce how many uses of channel energy you have per day as well as the DC's to resist it if used offensively. It still heals just as well though and depending on how many fights you have each day and how many healing items your party acquires(potions, wands, etc) you may find a few extra group heals to be quite handy.

armor proficiency, heavy- With a low dexterity and the dwarven racial, slow and steady, there's pretty much no reason not to pick this up as soon as you can afford to start wearing full plate(probably lvl3 at the earliest)

combat casting- Casting spells in melee can be tricky, especially at lower levels. If you think that's something you'll be doing alot then this feat would be a solid choice.

toughness/great fortitude/lightning reflexes/iron will- all of these make you harder to kill, disable, or control but between being a cleric and a dwarf you're already pretty good against such effects.

power attack- while you can't pick it up at lvl1 it's worth considering for later as it opens up many of the combat maneuver feats

combat expertise- also opens up several combat maneuver feats. Not something usually thought of with clerics but your 13int lets you qualify and, unlikely most "nerdy cleric" types, you'll be sturdy enough to stand in melee using it.
Armour proficieny and extra channelling were on our list of things to take. Combat casting I totally over looked. More options here then I thought there was. I was also thinking about power attack and some more melee focused feats but I do not know if that is a mistake instead of taking more casting centric feats.

For skills, if you haven't done so already, you might look at diplomacy and sense motive. How valuable either of them is could depend alot on the rest of your party as well. I am thinking about dropping the heal skill for either diplomacy or sense motive. Not sure yet.

If you've played 3.x before you might find paizo's conversion document useful as it goes over alot of the less obvious rule changes that would catch a 3.x player off-guard(also it's free): http://paizo.com/products/btpy89m6?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Conversion-Guide
some other online resources for new pathfinder players:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/
http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Religion

Both of us have very little experience with 3.x so the conversion document I will only skim. The rest of the links are great, thank you.