Fighting a duel as a Cleric

[Cozod]

I'm a lvl 9 cleric (spellwise at least) and I have a duel with an NPC next week. I have 3 spells I can persist; was planning on righteous wrath of the faithful, divine power and recitation, and casting righteous might and ice axe, greater mage armor (wand), magic vestment on armor and shield (+2) and greater magic weapon (+2). Anything else I ,caan cast to help? NPCfouses on tripping. The spells I'm persisting are my normal spells I persist. Domains are magic, trickery and oracle. I have knowledge devotion as well. Sorry for the block of text, from my phone.

[Toliudar]

What domains do you have open to you?

Foundation of Stone (Spell Compendium) is a 1st level spell that will help out a bit against the tripping.

As an alternative, of course, if the arena in which you're fighting permits some movement in three dimensions, you could do everything that you've described, add in Air Walk and some ranged attack spells and start by making your opponent find a way to come to you - sixty feet in the air.

[Kelb_Panthera]

What are the terms of the duel and who is it with?

[Cozod]

What domains do you have open to you?

Foundation of Stone (Spell Compendium) is a 1st level spell that will help out a bit against the tripping.

As an alternative, of course, if the arena in which you're fighting permits some movement in three dimensions, you could do everything that you've described, add in Air Walk and some ranged attack spells and start by making your opponent find a way to come to you - sixty feet in the air.

I have Magic, Trickery and Oracle as available domains. Foundation of Stone seems like it will be a big help, both the extra AC and bonus to resist trip. If I have enough slots I'll prepare Air Walk in case i need a breather to heal up.


As far as the Terms and such are concerned; Not necessarily to the death, but most likely. If the enemy combatant wins he gets the magic item everyone is after and puts the village of 30 houses to the torch. If I win he still takes the item, but doesn't burn the town down.

[Red Fel]

I have Magic, Trickery and Oracle as available domains. Foundation of Stone seems like it will be a big help, both the extra AC and bonus to resist trip. If I have enough slots I'll prepare Air Walk in case i need a breather to heal up.


As far as the Terms and such are concerned; Not necessarily to the death, but most likely. If the enemy combatant wins he gets the magic item everyone is after and puts the village of 30 houses to the torch. If I win he still takes the item, but doesn't burn the town down.

What if you win him to death? Does his corpse plan to take the magic item, or is it up for grabs?

[Cozod]

What if you win him to death? Does his corpse plan to take the magic item, or is it up for grabs?

...I just woke up. Great point, lol.

[Callin]

Summon a Latern Archon with SM4 and diplomancy it to go back and bring back a Solar.

[Diarmuid]

Greater Mage Armor and then Magic Vestments on armor worn will not stack together. You will get whichever effect grants a higher Armor bonus.

Do you really think the other guy is going to just sit there and let you cast all of those buffs without trying to impeded you? The persisted stuff, sure as you can put those on first thing in the morning but if you think you'll have all that time to buff, then it's probably safe to assume the other guy will as well and you may want to have some kind of plan for buff stripping him.

If you're especially worried about trickery, true seeing couldnt hurt to have available as well.

[Studoku]

Do you know how powerful the other guy is/what resources he has?

The thing you most need to worry about is the enemy deciding the duel has a no buffs rule and/or dropping a Dispel Magic on you. Even evil monologuing for a minute would be enough to end your 1 round/lvl durations.

[Zanos]

Greater Mage Armor and then Magic Vestments on armor worn will not stack together. You will get whichever effect grants a higher Armor bonus.

Do you really think the other guy is going to just sit there and let you cast all of those buffs without trying to impeded you? The persisted stuff, sure as you can put those on first thing in the morning but if you think you'll have all that time to buff, then it's probably safe to assume the other guy will as well and you may want to have some kind of plan for buff stripping him.

If you're especially worried about trickery, true seeing couldnt hurt to have available as well.
If he knows the time of the duel he can easily buff before going out to meet the guy.

Also, mage armor and magic vestment do stack. Magic vestment applies an enhancement bonus to AC, while mage armor gives regular armor AC. The base value of the enchanted armor won't stack, so doing it with something with 6 or more AC is pretty pointless. GMA itself won't stack with armor worn.

[Cozod]

Greater Mage Armor and then Magic Vestments on armor worn will not stack together. You will get whichever effect grants a higher Armor bonus.

Do you really think the other guy is going to just sit there and let you cast all of those buffs without trying to impeded you? The persisted stuff, sure as you can put those on first thing in the morning but if you think you'll have all that time to buff, then it's probably safe to assume the other guy will as well and you may want to have some kind of plan for buff stripping him.

I don't have any physical armor, even then GMA and MV don't stack? Gotcha. Still works on my shield though, right?

Greater magic weapon, and magic vestments last 1 hour/lvl, sorry should have put them in a better order. Only ones I would cast in combat would be Ice axe and RM. You have a valid point though, those are 2 rounds he'll be attacking or debuffing me, etc.



Do you know how powerful the other guy is/what resources he has?


I don't know exactly how powerful he is, he's a higher lvl with some NPC PRC the DM made that improves upon the High Sword Low Axe fighting style.

Resource wise, he's fairly well connected. Was able to locate us even with False vision, obscure object and non detection on us, within a few hours after we teleported halfway across the world.

[Cozod]

If he knows the time of the duel he can easily buff before going out to meet the guy.

Also, mage armor and magic vestment do stack. Magic vestment applies an enhancement bonus to AC, while mage armor gives regular armor AC. The base value of the enchanted armor won't stack, so doing it with something with 6 or more AC is pretty pointless. GMA itself won't stack with armor worn.

I'll talk to my DM about the GMA and MV stacking.

[Diarmuid]

The target for Magic Vestment is "Armor or shield touched". The protection granted by Greater Mage Armor would not qualify as a legal target. Your DM would be silly to allow them to stack.

Magic Vestment will apply to your shield, but it will replace any existing enhancement bonus less than +2 on the shield and have no effect if the existing shield has an enhancement bonus of 2 or higher.

[Zanos]

The target for Magic Vestment is "Armor or shield touched". The protection granted by Greater Mage Armor would not qualify as a legal target. Your DM would be silly to allow them to stack.

Magic Vestment will apply to your shield, but it will replace any existing enhancement bonus less than +2 on the shield and have no effect if the existing shield has an enhancement bonus of 2 or higher.
You can't cast it on GMA itself, but you could cast it on, say, gnome twistcloth or just regular old leather armor. The bonuses certainly stack.

[Scow2]

Actually, you CAN cast it on the Greater Mage Armor: The Mage Armor line is a conjuration effect, not Abjuration. It actually creates a suit of armor for you to wear (That happens to weigh nothing, not encumber you, has no ACP and an ACF of 0%... not that those should matter). You actually have a physical, tangible object on your body.

[Oko and Qailee]

Are you good aligned? If so, and you don't have better, use Greater Luminous Armor (+8 AC, -4 to enemy melee attacks). The sacrifice of 1d3 strenght damage happens AFTER the spell runs out.

I would pre-buff as much as possible, keep in mind that fight only last a few seconds, so if you have Bull's S, Bears Endurance, etc, they'll probably last until past the duel and then some.

SInce it's a tripper build you certainly want to be stable and strong, Bull's Strength is useful here, or even better, Divine power. Foundation of stone gives a +4 v being tripped, but prevents you from moving, you can always hit the guy with ranged spells.

Edit: Seriously though, Greater Luminous Armor if you can get it

[Scow2]

A better way to avoid being Tripped is to be able to Fly.

[Oko and Qailee]

A better way to avoid being Tripped is to be able to Fly.

That too, but Fly isn't normally on the cleric list and he didn't mention a domain with it. I'm jut throwing out ideas and then he can pick what he thinks works best.

[Cozod]

Are you good aligned? If so, and you don't have better, use Greater Luminous Armor (+8 AC, -4 to enemy melee attacks). The sacrifice of 1d3 strenght damage happens AFTER the spell runs out.

I would pre-buff as much as possible, keep in mind that fight only last a few seconds, so if you have Bull's S, Bears Endurance, etc, they'll probably last until past the duel and then some.

SInce it's a tripper build you certainly want to be stable and strong, Bull's Strength is useful here, or even better, Divine power. Foundation of stone gives a +4 v being tripped, but prevents you from moving, you can always hit the guy with ranged spells.

Edit: Seriously though, Greater Luminous Armor if you can get it

I'm Neutral, so GLA is out. I'll already have an enhancement bonus of +6 to str from Divine Power, so Bull's Strength won't help. Foundation of stone will be helpful, combined with Righteous Might I should have +12 to trip resist.

And I just realized Ice Axe and Greater Magic Weapon might not stack. Even if they do, I'd have to have Ice Axe cast first..hm

[Slipperychicken]

Which domains can you Substitute Domain (Cleric 2) into? That is, which ones are in your god's domain list?

If you can swap a domain into Moon, you could cast Moon Blade (Moon 3, SpC). It deals less damage than Ice Axe (1d8 instead of 2d12, so 8.5 less on average), and has to deal with spell resistance, but disrupts spellcasting and SLAs like a boss. You could theoretically switch off between Ice Axe and Moon Blade, since each only takes one hand, and Ice Axe disappears when you want to use something else in the same hand.

Holy Transformation, Lesser (Clr 4, SpC) gets you a fly speed of 60ft, and also +2 sacred to Strength and Con. Also changes your size to medium, so cast it before your size-increasing buffs. If he doesn't have reach, this might let you sit 10ft over him and pommel him from outside his reach. Flight laughs at tripping. A rules of the game article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20060321a) said that reatures flying with wings can be tripped, although creatures flying via magic cannot be tripped.

For Knowledge Devotion, Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) (Clr 2) on your Knowledge check will significantly improve your bonus.

If this jerk didn't specify whether the battle was to the death or not, just kill him and let his god sort it out.

EDIT: To fight against trippage, I would suggest having Fly cast on you (maybe the party wizard can do it? Or domain swap into Travel?). Since it's magical flight, it makes you immune to being tripped.

EDIT 2: Casting Spell Resistance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spellResistance.htm) on yourself will be handy if this NPC likes spellcasting. Bear in mind that a creature's spell resistance doesn't apply to its own spells, items, or abilities.

[Cozod]

Which domains can you Substitute Domain (Cleric 2) into? That is, which ones are in your god's domain list?

If you can swap a domain into Moon, you could cast Moon Blade (Moon 3, SpC). It deals less damage than Ice Axe (1d8 instead of 2d12, so 8.5 less on average), and has to deal with spell resistance, but disrupts spellcasting and SLAs like a boss. You could theoretically switch off between Ice Axe and Moon Blade, since each only takes one hand, and Ice Axe disappears when you want to use something else in the same hand.

Holy Transformation, Lesser (Clr 4, SpC) gets you a fly speed of 60ft, and also +2 sacred to Strength and Con. Also changes your size to medium, so cast it before your size-increasing buffs. If he doesn't have reach, this might let you sit 10ft over him and pommel him from outside his reach. Flight laughs at tripping. A rules of the game article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20060321a) said that reatures flying with wings can be tripped, although creatures flying via magic cannot be tripped.

For Knowledge Devotion, Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) (Clr 2) on your Knowledge check will significantly improve your bonus.

If this jerk didn't specify whether the battle was to the death or not, just kill him and let his god sort it out.

EDIT: To fight against trippage, I would suggest having Fly cast on you. Since it's magical flight, it makes you immune to being tripped.

Sorry, Cleric of Boccob (long story why I'm the one fighting this duel).

Holy transformation sounds like a great idea, I may persist it instead of recitation so it's one less spell I have to cast. If he can't reach me, I don't need the extra 3 AC. He doesn't cast spells, so I won't need the +3 to saves. For this fight at least.


Edit: Saw your Edit 2, he doesn't cast spells (that I'm aware of)

[Warior4356]

Panzu, panzu, panzu?

[Scow2]

When the duel occurs, do remember to use a quote along the lines of "You came here expecting to fight a (dismissive term that applies to your character), and instead you found a GOD!?"

[Cozod]

Panzu, panzu, panzu?

Say what now?



When the duel occurs, do remember to use a quote along the lines of "You came here expecting to fight a (dismissive term that applies to your character), and instead you found a GOD!?"

Great idea, love it.


Thanks for all of the help everyone!

[Kelb_Panthera]

There's a demon lord named Pazuzu. Whenever his name is spoken thrice, he instantly becomes aware of who spoke it and can immediately appear before them. For creatures that are not chaotic evil he will offer to grant them a wish. He doesn't -usually- twist the first wish a creature makes of him but accepting his offer moves your alignment one step toward chaotic or one step toward evil.

[Slipperychicken]

When the duel occurs, do remember to use a quote along the lines of "You came here expecting to fight a (dismissive term that applies to your character), and instead you found a GOD!?"

You could also see how far you get through this passage before your GM catches on:


The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

It actually fits fairly well since your PC is a cleric and the NPC wants to burn down a town.

[Warior4356]

For a totally different quote



“I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”

― Genghis Khan

[Particle_Man]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0456.html

It seems vital to make sure that you have good saving throw bonuses. :smallbiggrin: