[PF] Cleric (or other party healer) build help

[The Cat Goddess]

I am so used to AD&D3.5 (and all that splat support) that I'm troubled.

The GM isn't know for optimization, but the others in our group are... so I'm expecting a mess, and the GM is paying close attention to the character submissions. I'm known for building characters that follow a story (I build Mystic Theurges & Invisible Blades!) rather than optimized characters so I can probably get away with sneaking something in under the radar.

The downside is, I know exactly where to look for cool feats, ACFs. Prestige classes, etc. in 3.5... but not in PF.

We're limited to the core classes & Prestige classes, so I don't see getting a Prestige class...

We've got a 20 point build for stats, and I was thinking Dwarf for the race (partially to avoid getting hit on by half the NPCs and 2/3 of the party!).

I want to be the party healer... but after a few levels be able to really surprise everyone with what I can do.

For Domains, I was thinking of being a non-denominational Cleric so I can pick any two.

Lastly, the Favored Class bonus...

Select one domain power granted at 1st level that is normally usable for a number of times per day equal to 3 + the cleric's Wisdom modifier. The cleric adds 1/2 to the number of uses per day of that domain power.
What does this mean, exactly? Does it mean I have to pick it twice to get one extra use?

Suggestions?

Edit: The Pathfinder SRD (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races), for "Other Races" shows (xxRP) beside most of them... I see that it's "Race Points", but what does that mean? We've been told that most of the Featured Races are available... and part of me wants to say "hey, if Ian can be an Aasimar (15RP), then I should get..." what?

[Firechanter]

If you don't have a Bard in the Party, look at the Evangelist archetype. Swap 1 Domain for Inspire Courage.

[khachaturian]

obligatory link

http://zenithgames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-comprehensive-pathfinder-guides.html

in my current campaign, i have been having fun with a cleric of abadar with travel and leadership domains, with alternate negative channeling to daze the opposition

[Pex]

Oracle of Life is the supreme healer of Pathfinder, in my opinion

You get:

Channel Energy, like a cleric, which is efficient multi-character range healing.

Energy Body allowing you to heal someone while moving and still do a standard action. You also get the elemental subtype giving you a lot of immunities, such as flanking, critical hits, nausea, sleep, etc.

Not my cup of tea but another ability many people like is Life Link. You effectively give people fast healing 5 at a cost of taking the damage yourself. However, since you can also be in Energy Body the idea is to heal yourself as a move action and still be able to cast spells.

Combat Healer, allowing you to cast Cure Wounds spells as a swift action a few times per day, useful to use during combat.

As a spontaneous divine caster you can be a terrific buffer. Take the cleric spells you want and spam away. I remember one particular combat where I buffed all three warriors of the party with Bull's Strength and Shield of Faith, something a cleric technically could but really can't do because no one is going to prepare that many of the same spell. However, spontaneous casting gives you that flexibility for when you need it. You can cast your favorite spells over and over. Prepare casting has the advantage of being able to change spells prepared as new situations require, but you will not suffer for lacking it.

Feats you'd want: Extra Channeling, Selective Channeling, Quick Channeling.

[Nihilarian]

Oracle isn't core, so no dice.

As far as the Racial Points go, they're related to an optional system for creating races in the rules somewhere.

[Löwenohr]

As far as the Racial Points go, they're related to an optional system for creating races in the rules somewhere.
And if you can use them, my god you can break things...

[Bigbeefie]

We're limited to the core classes & Prestige classes, so I don't see getting a Prestige class...

We've got a 20 point build for stats, and I was thinking Dwarf for the race (partially to avoid getting hit on by half the NPCs and 2/3 of the party!).

I want to be the party healer... but after a few levels be able to really surprise everyone with what I can do.

For Domains, I was thinking of being a non-denominational Cleric so I can pick any two.

Suggestions?

Firstly Welcome to Pathfinder.
Secondly Throw the Idea of being a battle healer out the window.

In pathfinder Combat tends to favor Offense over Defense/healing. The Idea of Combat should be thought of in this Manner...Kill it before it Kills you.

A typical Party in pathfinder Will consist of 2 hammers, 1 Anvil, and 1 Arm.

A Hammer is someone who can do 1/3-2/3 the creatures health on their turn.
A typical Hammer is a Fighter, Paladin, Rogue, Ninja, Ranger, Barbarian....You know the "heavy Hitters" Blaster Mages can also fit here.

A Anvil is someone that shapes the Field. He will alter the Battlefield to force the enemies to go straight on the defensive. Another way to Anvil is to Deal with numbers....Taking away numbers...Things like Enervation giving Negative Levels.
A typical Anvil is a Wizard, Witch, Sorcerer, Bard

A Arm is the person who gets the Hammers to the Targets. They provide Buffs to make the Hammer Hit harder and easier. They also provide out of Combat healing between skirmishes. Making sure the group has a Arm to lean on after the fight to fix their problems.
A typical Arm is a Cleric, Bard, or anything that buffs and can use a wand of Cure light wounds.



Lastly, the Favored Class bonus...
Quote:
Select one domain power granted at 1st level that is normally usable for a number of times per day equal to 3 + the cleric's Wisdom modifier. The cleric adds 1/2 to the number of uses per day of that domain power.
What does this mean, exactly? Does it mean I have to pick it twice to get one extra use?
This means that if you Don't want to take the +1 skill or Health you can get Half a use of a 1st level domain power. 2 levels means you can use it 1 time. But you have to pick the Domain when you take it and it is the only domain you can get the ability from. You cant get 1 use from 4 different domains or something. It just adds a little flavor to your cleric.



We've got a 20 point build for stats, and I was thinking Dwarf for the race (partially to avoid getting hit on by half the NPCs and 2/3 of the party!).

20 points is a good enough Buy. Though I highly recommend Human as the extra feat and skill point is amazing on a cleric. Dwarf isnt bad but the CHA hit really hurts. You typically want a positive CHA.

Being hit on can be avoided or even welcomed. Play the hard to get and impress....If they want to be flirty and pursue your In game character make her want fine things or something that they can't fulfill.

If you want to stop all Flirtation attempts play a guy character or Just play a girl who values chastity and will shut down anyone she thinks is even hinting at anything un-pure....you know super virgin and prude.

Its just like dealing with it in real life....except you can act out all the crap you normally wouldn't say or do.

Barbarian hitting on you....say you prefer a man who doesn't need a big weapon to compensate for smaller IQs and cod pieces. After a good Burn like that the rest might be weary to flirt.




I highly recommend focus on your casting. Firechanter mentioned the Evangelist Archetype....I tend to agree with that Archetype as Bardic performance is STRONG.

I recommend if you take Evanglist you take spell focus Enchantment and after you start a performance then use a spell like command, hold person, suggestion...Just lock someone down. Your main job is to Buff...with Bardic performances and a few choice spells you can focus your spell list on other spells to really show people a Cleric can do more then JUST buff.

First 3 feats I recommend are Improved Initiative, Spell focus-enchant, Scribe Scroll.

Scribe scrolls of things like lesser restoration and focus your daily list on spells that make you feel like you are contributing to the party more then just Fixing problems and Healing.

Domain suggestions: Luck, Travel Tend to be top picks and the strongest rated
I like Madness, Darkness, and Trickery (deception) myself
Chaos, Good, Law, Liberation, and Protection are all Solid Choices as well
Animal (feather) gives you a Animal companion if your into big Fluffy flavor Cleric.

The rest are kinda all Meh.

[The Cat Goddess]

Okay, how about Aasimar for the race then? +2 Wis & Cha, and I can give up my Daylight power to roll randomly and possibly get another +2 to a stat!

Since the GM is allowing traits, I was thinking "Rich Parents", to start with 900gp & "Outcast" to get +2 Initiative.

[BWR]

Secondly Throw the Idea of being a battle healer out the window.

In pathfinder Combat tends to favor Offense over Defense/healing. The Idea of Combat should be thought of in this Manner...Kill it before it Kills you.

This is not necessarily correct. It depends very much on how people build characters, what sort of encounters your DM throws at you and how much he's willing to go for allowing you to play the sort of character you want versus optimized encounters.

I run a PF game and one of my players wanted to be a battle healer. So I often throw encounters at them that deal a lot of damage so that the cleric pretty much needs to keep people on their feet rather than doing anything fancy.
Another player wanted to play a high AC dwarf tank. Sure, there aren't very many mechanics, especially at low levels, that support this but for some reason most enemies tended to target the dwarf first.
So talk to your DM about what you want to play and ask if it will be useful to the sort of game s/he runs.

If you want to be a battle healer, you will do best being a cleric with the Healing Domain. Whatever other domain you want is pretty open, but something like Liberation can be very useful.
Battle healing will often focus on Channel Energy as well as spells, so a high Charisma score is a must. Charisma may even be more important than Wisdom (so long as it's high enough to cast all spells - just avoid throwing spells with STs at enemies).
Feats: Selective Channeling (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#_selective-channeling) so you can heal your friends in combat without healing the enemy. Quick Channel (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/ultimateMagicFeats.html) isn't core, but will be very useful - you might want to see if you can take it.

As for surprising people with what you can do later, you're a cleric: you have really nice spells and can almost always have something useful in any situation, especially given a day to prepare. Healing, buffs, utility, control, whatever, you can usually find something.

[Psyren]

If traits are allowed, consider Birthmark and Magical Lineage.

If you want a caster cleric, Theologian is a great choice - you only get one domain, but you can prepare domain spells in your non-domain slots, letting you pick a blasty or controlly domain and use it more frequently.

To answer your earlier question - domain powers are special abilities (usually SLAs, sometimes Su) that your domain gives you at specific levels. For example, a Cleric with the Fire Domain would be able to shoot a ray of fire a few times/day. For most of them, 3+Wis/day is more than enough, so that favored class bonus won't be needed.

[subject42]

Are you allowed to use DSP's psionics material? If you can, the Vitalist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/vitalist) makes an excellent healer because you can do a lot of healing outside the action economy.

[Bigbeefie]

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[Bigbeefie]

Okay, how about Aasimar for the race then? +2 Wis & Cha, and I can give up my Daylight power to roll randomly and possibly get another +2 to a stat!

Since the GM is allowing traits, I was thinking "Rich Parents", to start with 900gp & "Outcast" to get +2 Initiative.

Aasimar is a good Cleric race...one of the best. You can forgo the daylight if you want and take a chance to roll. But daylight is a good 3rd level spell you learn at level 1. It can help against all undead. So you decide what you want on that end. But remember SLA are considered Arcane unless otherwise noted....An aasimar can actually take a feat like Arcane strike that no other cleric can because of their SLA.

Now Outcast is a good trait for ANY character. But rich parents is BAD...you start with 900g...yay but once it is spent at level 1 you no longer get any use out of your trait. A trait is roughly Half a feat. As Outcast is roughly Half Improved Initiative. You will use the trait every time you roll an initiative.

There are better Traits then Rich parents....About 70% of all the traits are better. For a cleric I recommend the following traits:

Magical Lineage, Birthmark, Anything that ups saves by +1, Anything that gives +2 concentration, or the Of the Society trait that gives 1 extra channel per day.

You will get longer use out of any of those suggestion over rich parents which is spent at level 1.

[watchwood]

Another player wanted to play a high AC dwarf tank. Sure, there aren't very many mechanics, especially at low levels, that support this but for some reason most enemies tended to target the dwarf first.

Sir, I must disagree with this. See my signature for details.

[BWR]

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I'm a bit insulted at the insinuation that I allow my players to autowin, as you put it. I'm the DM: I can do whatever the **** I want to with my game. I could instakill every PC and all their families and drop giant space rocks on the setting if I wanted to. What I want to do is make sure everyone has fun, and in our definition of fun is a challenge and having a character that does what you want them to. The level of challenge and optimization is quite a bit lower than seems to be the norm on these boards but that isn't the point - the point is that whatever level of optimization people choose, the PCs are challanged but capable of overcoming most of the challenges.

So I tailor a large number of encounters to allow the PC's strengths to be userful. I don't always do this, because the enemy doesn't always play nicely but if players build characters to do X and I always try to bypass their powers or build enemies to take out them specifically, I'm being a bad DM.
I don't think any of my players would claim I let them win easily, considering we have about one death a session (or more in adventures like Death's Ride) - there's a reason I allowed Ultimate Mercy in the game, and many other near deaths that are averted only because of things like Paladin's Sacrifice, Hero's Defiance or Breath of Life and Heal+Quick Channel.

[Bigbeefie]

Im offended your offended.