Please help me build a Cleric :P

[Sugarbear007]

Howdy all :P and Happy Easter.

It’s been a while since I’ve asked some obscure questions on this forum. So right now I’m building a cleric. I’ve been building him for a while but I keep getting side tract. I’d really appreciate help with the build progression. I’d like to see (if you’ve got the time) some different build progressions and or feat suggestions within the bounds I’ve listed below.


So joined a game, then became a DM. I read dozens of books retained probably around 70% of it. Helped other players build characters with my own research and asking for clarification on this lovely forum (like the update btw). My stint as DM was supposed to end a while back but crap happened, nobody could make games for almost two months and then we had slow progress nights. Finally killed a player (dark side points) and now I’ve got a spectacular huge end game planned for this coming Saturday, (lets hope that works out). Right now I’m so burned out on rules and crafting terrain and painting mini’s I have run out of time for finally building my character. When this section of the campaign ends we’ll rotate DM’s whose character will ride off into the sunset and they’ll meet my own.

Relative information and things set in stone.

I’ve read lots and lots of cleric guide’s and they pointed me to some of the information below.

So this is what I’ve got so far piecing my guy together.

Race: regular ol’ human

My stats (great rolls)
STR 15 DEX 14 CON 16 INT 14 WIS 18 CHA 16 (level 4 attribute point added to wisdom)

Character starts at level 5 with the standard 9k gold.

Set in the Forgotten Realms.

Alignment: Lawful good or lawful neutral (probably good).

Country of origin: Sembia

Deity: Hoar

Domains taken: I want travel for sure but I’m debating over Fate and Envy for the second choice. I like the debuffing nature of the Envy domain. I’m not sure if the Fate domains uncanny dodge ability would work for me in heavy armor.

ACF’s: Destroy undead.

Prestige Classes would like to use: Church Inquisitor. Sacred Exorcist. Divine Oracle.

Wanted feats: Vampire hunter (immunity to the gaze ability is part of his back story). Divine Defiance (think that’s what its called, lets you use turn attempts to throw out immediate action counter spell which I think will work great with the Inquisition domain I'd get from Church Inquisitor).

Available books: Everything 3.5, no dragon magazine.

Nightsticks: Do not stack (which is why I went with two types of turning that say they work with divine metamagic. if you can shoe horn more in show me what you’ve got).

Flaws: One is available to me and I’m taking it for the bonus feat, but they are much worse than the official ones. They are basically homebrewed and meant to suck. So it’s more like a GURPS disadvantage.

Traits: I could take one if I didn’t see any that interested me. We use the official ones for this subject.

So I was going to go with a support role with the option of being a holy vengeful juggernaut as needed. I will be partying with a Druid (who does a lot of summoning), a rogue / scout (swift ambusher in a level), a duskblade, and a dragon shaman (as far as I know the player who I offed last game is leaning this way).

I believe DMM clerics are usually melee but our party is extremely melee heavy. We also will be lacking in arcane magic besides some UMD from the rogue and the offensive channel spells from the duskblade. I’m quite content to sit in the back row and do the buff / debuff type of style. Can someone possibly elaborate on how to use DMM to that effect (if you can that is)?

As far as powering the DMM, I’ll have destroy undead and turn undead (from sacred exorcist) that’s 6 attempts each, plus whatever I get for extra turning and the one allowable nightstick when I can afford it. Is there a way for me to get rebuke undead as well? Seems very Hoar to me to turn someone’s minions on themselves (thought probably couldn’t use it that way effectively anyway).

Fighting style: I’ll go melee if I need too. I don’t know if I’d have enough feats to be able to do range. If I went range It would work best if it involved Javelins since they are a preferred weapon for Hoar. If someone can shoehorn range combat in that would be cool. However A morning star and shield for when spells aren’t needed would be adequate.


Story wise my character’s own personal quest is to find and lay to rest his sister who was turned by a powerful vampire when they were teenagers. Also of course to slay the vampire who did the deed. He’s humble and kind to good folk but is instant focused and determined when faced with injustice, he travels alone and is often found helping farmers and villagers in need even with something so small as manual labor. Basically the Hoar tenants about rewarding good with good and evil with evil. He’s got a special hatred for vampires and has pulled enough of them into running waters to be nicknamed “the Baptist.” He is plagued by visions of the future, which is what his homebrew flaw is about. He has the gift of forsight, could see it kind of like Christopher Walken in the dead zone, but mostly focused in dreams. Most of the party are selfish neutral characters so he’ll provide interesting dynamics to the group I think.

I’d really appreciate any builds you all can throw my way. I want this guy to be like super powerful, but restrained. Maybe I’ve seen too many anime or read too much superman. I want the rest of the party to be able to contribute and have a good time. So the buffing up the party and debuffing the enemies works great. When we need it though I’d like him to be able to just flip the switch and become vengeance incarnate. Lol, I think it sounds cool anyway.

Thanks ahead of time to anyone who contributes to the build / discussion.


Edit

This character will last a really long time. Will definitely go up to 20 and considering the frequency of our games that could be a long time indeed. It's one reason I've got so much information. The other being I never know enough to stop when it comes to back story.

[JusticeZero]

What's the rest of the group like? Because I found that an UN-optimized Cleric is more than enough to disrupt the game by being overpowered compared to the rest of the group. Brought the whole game to a screeching halt and wasn't fun. I mean, sure we can step it up, but just spell selection can already obsolete people.
Specifically, the character ended up just like you said, not because I wanted it to be but because it's a CLERIC, I just left a couple of nice spells stashed away. As soon as I had to step up, every encounter was keyed to destroying the Cleric, and was far above the rest of the party's pay grade.

[Sugarbear007]

Well the Druid is good by the sheer amount of summons, but also with clever usage of spells. This is probably the same category you were wondering about my own character with.

The party works well together for the rogue. He almost always gets his bonus damage. He also is clever with the RP'ing, does a great job with the traps, and is building to be good with UMD. He's good about using his bluff skills in social interaction. Some of his planned build comes from Tempest_Stormwind's build, i can't recall its name exactly. I want to say quiet murderer, something on that line. He's looking into ways to get himself flight so he can contribute more often.

I linked Dictum_Mortuum's duskblade guide to the group duskblade and they have taken it too heart. If it wasn't for their cursed rolls (seriously bad rolls) they'd be really devastating in combat. This character started out as a marshal for rp'ing reasons and is a very skilled diplomat outside of combat.

The dragon shaman (if he goes that way) hasn't seen the table yet. The previous character was a fighter. He smashed things. That was pretty much it, but he does have unorthodox ideas and that can work out well in the parties favor. I gave him a link to a guide that just stacked meta-breath feats, but I can't tell you specifically what he'll do.

When I get done on Saturday (hopefully) my replacement's character will head off into the sunset. When his stint is done he'll return and one of the above party will leave for a while probably the duskblade or the druid. He is playing a Sorcerer. At low levels his spells are on the blasty side, lots of direct damage. I am not exactly sure what prestige classes he's going for but I want to say incantrix is somewhere in the making.

It doesn't bother me to hold back (at least for this character) it fits along with how his personality is. I'd consider it wipe insurance. Besides if everyone is trying to kill my cleric they aren't killing my friends. I tank in any MMORPG (yeah I know theirs no real tanking of that type in D&D 3.5, i mean it sounds similar) I play. Kill the cleric sounds close enough.

[drack]

domain: I'd go fate, not sure why it wouldn't work in armor. =\ You might want I think it's sun domain though for greater turning if this is just supposed to kill undeads well.

Church Inquisitor is fun

"which is why I went with two types of turning that say they work with divine metamagic. if you can shoe horn more in show me what you’ve got" Specifies "turn?rebuke undead", so you gotta just get several classes with turn undead, else no ciggars.

traits: slow gives you decent HP if you're not too far away, and there are countless ways to go faster when you're super-slow.

Fighting style: buckler as shield. 50 extra GP adds a holy symbol to it since you need one to cast, and you can cast with that hand, loosing the AC bonus each round that you choose to do so.

Anywho I'd suggest quicken/reach/twin/repeating spell feats and DMM for em (pick and choose) along with some spells like lesser viggor, close wounds, healing spirit, delay death, darts of life, and revify to be able to give a ton of health to the party so that you can throw more ugly things at them while they power through with their awesome health.

[Sugarbear007]

domain: I'd go fate, not sure why it wouldn't work in armor.

Oh I was thinking of evasion on the rogue not uncanny dodge, durr moment.


You might want I think it's sun domain though for greater turning if this is just supposed to kill undeads well.


It's definitely got to be Hoar, someone else on the board helped me find that deity and it works entirely too perfectly to change. I wanted destroy undead because I thought it was a separate "pool" of turning attempts I could use to fuel DMM, but also because it fits the character quite well in and of itself.

The use of a buckler is a good idea, I was just going to slap a heavy shield on him and figured I'd have to keep his weapon sheathed at most points so he could cast. I was going to get a least or lesser returning weapon crystal for him so he could quick draw and drop his morning star whenever he needed to.

[drack]

evasion I think works in armor too, doesn't it?

Ah. No, destroy undead is another use of turn undead. If your cleric level is twice their HD+turn resistance, then they're destroyed instead of turned. same pool.

[Sugarbear007]

You mentioned multiple turning classes. If I had a normal Cleric with his turn undead ability and then I took the PRC Sacred Exorcist which also grants turn undead, would I have 3+Cha for my cleric levels and 3+cha for my exorcist levels as well? Or is it a waste because I've already got turn undead?

On that note, if its not a waste are the pools considered different so that extra turning would give more attempts for each set or would it simply be one big pool?

I read about a PRC called death delver(i think) that gives rebuke like an evil cleric. Though I don't think it gives cleric casting so that probably wouldn't be worth it. Are there any cleric PRC's that give more turning attempts or turning like abilities that can be used as fuel for DMM?

I'm sure I don't have to have DMM to be a potent cleric, its just nice to be able to persist or quicken easily.

[drack]

Yes, some GMs may allow them to stack, (and therefore let you add your levels in the two classes with one 3+cha pool), else it's two pools each at the level of the class. Extra turning can be read to give 4 to each pool, but I'd interpret it as only applying to one pool.

If your GM rules that they must stack and sum the levels with only one 3+cha pool, then yes a common alternative is to get rebuke undead too.