The Cleric Handbook

[Bullet06320]

as originally posted on the WOTC boards by clerichandbook_dup on Aug 26, 2006
http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1076416
editor's note: the original poster is actually 2 people PhoenixInferno and carnivore


I. Introduction, Table of Contents, Overview of Clerics and Clerical Magic

A carnivore & PhoenixInferno production

Introduction
Welcome to the Cleric Handbook! As you can tell, this is a work in progress, but we will be trying to fill it up as best as we can.

We would also ask that you not post questions about a particular Cleric build - we would like to limit discussion to how the handbook itself can be improved.


1: Introduction and Basic Overview of Clerics and Divine Magic
2: Strengths and Weaknesses
3: Role in a Party
4: Races
5: Domains and Alternate Class Features
6: Feats and Skills
7: Primary Divine Spell Caster
8: Secondary Divine Spell Caster
9: Equipment
10: Spells
11: Epic Levels
12: Additional Systems

1: Introduction and Basic Overview of Clerics and Divine Magic
When making an optimized cleric, many think of simply using Divine Metamagic and creating a combat MONSTER. However when you start at 1st level, the reality is quite different. Only in some builds does DMM affect levels earlier than 7th lvl. Generally, the party looks to the Cleric...not as a source of combat strength, but for healing, restoration, neutralizing poision, turning undead, etc... Thus we were thinking of what a party REALLY needs from a Cleric.

At first glance, the Cleric may seem a bit lackluster - a mere healing machine whose medicinal spells provide vital party support, but not much excitement. First impressions often prove false, however, and dismissing the Cleric as the character someone has to play is a big mistake. A well-constructed Cleric, played with fervor and understanding is not only an asset to the party, but an immensely satisfying character as well.

Divine magic that the Cleric wields is tied to his spiritual link to the power he has dedicated himself to, whether that be a specific deity, a pantheon of deities, or a philosophy. Always remember that you are a representative of your power at all times and are a servant to that power.




The cleric has a bit of everything -- decent combat skills, a wide range of spells, the ability to wear armor, and a few special powers. As such, clerics can play many roles in an adventuring group.

Cleric Strengths

When you chose a cleric, you gain access to the all-important healing spells, but the class offers other potent spells and some useful powers as well. Below are several assets you have going for you when you play a cleric.

Power over the Undead: A good cleric can drive off or destroy undead creatures, and an evil cleric can make them stop in their tracks, or even obey his orders. A neutral cleric gets to choose between these effects - but once that choice is made, he can't change his mind. Comprehensive Guide to Turning is a good resource to improve your turning ability.

Good Fortitude and Will Saves: A cleric uses the best save progression in the game for Fortitude and Will saves (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). This natural mental and physical strength helps him resist most effects that fool his mind, assault his spirit, or attack his body -- including charms, compulsions, illusions, fear, polymorphing, poisons, and even disintegration. Furthermore, the high Wisdom score that a cleric needs for his spellcasting also gives his Will save a hefty boost. Few other classes can match a cleric's saving throw bonuses.

Good Spell Selection: The cleric spell list is packed with lifesaving spells such as slow poison, neutralize poison, remove disease, and the ever-popular cure spells. He also has access to potent attack spells such as spiritual weapon, searing light, and flame strike, as well as excellent defensive and utilitarian spells. Better yet, he has access to the whole clerical spell list, not just those that he can place in a spellbook or master for a personal spell list.

Spontaneous Spells: A cleric with a good alignment can spontaneously convert any spell he has prepared into a cure spell. This ability allows him to load up on flashier spells and then convert them to healing as his party needs it. Likewise, a cleric with an evil alignment can spontaneously convert any spell he has prepared into an inflict spell, so he always has a nasty surprise in store for his foes.

Domains: Your cleric can make two choices from a wide variety of clerical domains, each of which gives him a special ability and access to extra spells. Domains are a great tool for customizing your cleric.

Good Armor Class: A cleric has access to defensive spells that improve his Armor Class (such as shield of faith), as well as spells that can cause foes to miss him (such as entropic shield). Such spells combined with the fact that he can wear any kind of armor and use any kind of shield (except a tower shield) mean a cleric usually has quite an impressive Armor Class.

Good Hit Points: The cleric's 8-sided Hit Dice give him a fairly impressive hit point total.

Good Attack Bonus: A cleric's base attack bonus - +3 per four levels - is second only to that of the more martial classes, such as the fighter. So if your cleric decides to enter combat, he can make a pretty good showing.


Cleric Weaknesses
The cleric's many advantages come at a price. Here are a few of the disadvantages you should keep in mind if you're considering a cleric character.

Low Skill Points: At a mere two skill points per level, most clerics don't accumulate many skill ranks, even with quadruple skill points at 1st level.

Mediocre Weapon Selection: The cleric is proficient only with simple weapons. Most of the weapons in this category are fairly decent, but they're not the most deadly ones available.

Low Mobility: A cleric's reliance on heavy armor makes him a slow mover on the battlefield.

Poor Reflex Saving Throws: Clerics have the worst progression for Reflex saves in the game (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). Thus, they aren't so great at getting out of the way when things get rough.



During the Early Levels: 1st- 6th
To stay alive, parties rely on Clerics casting Cure spells. In addition to other mundane spells for protection, the cleric usually does not cast very many direct damage Spells.

During the Mid Levels: 7th-15th
You're still healing, but starting to become a stronger combat force because of feats (Divine Metamagic, etc) and spells (Divine Power)

During the High Levels: 16th-20th+
Now you're a respectable tank with the ability to cast direct damage spells, buff your allies, and cast important spells like Restoration, Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Greater Dispel, and Heal. At these levels, gameplay changes dramatically.

Great clerics usually use the following techniques. So if you're playing a cleric, try to build your strategy around these concepts.
•Thinking Ahead
As a cleric, you have to make many of your most important decisions before an adventure begins. Your daily spell preparation has a big effect on how you play your character and what your party can expect to accomplish on any given day. Thanks to the wide selection of spells available to you, you can function as a detective (by loading up on divination spells), a medic (by loading up on healing spells), a combatant (by loading up on spells that enhance your fighting abilities), a ranged attacker (by loading up on combat spells), or a force multiplier (by loading up on spells that make your allies stronger). At higher levels, you may have enough spells available to fill two or more of these roles simultaneously.

When you choose spells, it pays to know what your party expects from you. You are among your party's most versatile members, and quite possibly the only one who can stand between a fellow party member and an untimely death. If your party expects you to play the role of combat medic and you're not prepared to do so, be sure to let the rest of the players know so that they can plan accordingly.

In any case, plan to stay close to the action so that you can intervene with a spell or physical attack when necessary. You're fairly hardy compared with other characters, and your group can easily go down to defeat if you're timid when the going gets tough. On the other hand, your healing ability makes you invaluable to the others, so don't be the first one to rush into danger, or even into potential danger.

•Your Friends are Your Best Weapons
You can have a big impact on the game by working through others, so be prepared to lend your support whenever you can.

◦The Party's Main Fighter: Whoever has to stand in the front line and handle most of the fighting will look to you for healing and other kinds of cures from time to time. If you're stingy with your healing spells, the adventure could be over more quickly than you think. A single cure light wounds or cure moderate wounds spell can keep a fighting character going, ultimately dealing more damage to the enemy than any of your other spells can.

◦The Party's Scout: Stealthy characters such as rogues, rangers, and monks often get in over their heads, so plan to be part of the rescue party that moves in to save them. You're also the one who must piece the scout back together after a mishap involving a trap or some other unseen danger.

◦Other Spellcasters: You probably have more hit points and a better Armor Class than the other spellcasters in your group, so try to stay close to them so that you can protect them if a foe breaks through the front line.

Whenever possible, try to coordinate your daily spell choices with the other spellcasters in your group. Your spell selection is almost certainly broader than theirs, so be ready to fill any gaps. Useful spells such as detect magic and water breathing are probably best provided by you, especially if you're a good cleric, since you can swap them out for healing spells if they're not needed.

•Be Your Own Best Friend
Your support functions make you useful to any group, but the game can become a drag if you always put others first. So don't let the other players push you around -- always insist on making decisions for yourself. Like any other character, you do need to put the group's survival first, but don't let the others dictate how you should do it.



Races
Humans
With their bonus feat and extra skill points, Humans make excellent Clerics.

Dwarves
The stereotypical Dwarf does well as a Cleric, not hindered by wearing heavy armor. Their CON bonus helps them fight their enemies in close quarters. Dwarven Clerics have substitution levels available to them.

Elves
While their CON penalty is generally frowned upon, their proficiency with Longbows and Composite Longbows, Elven Clerics usually take up the bow and rain death on the infidel.

Gnomes
Their CON bonus makes them has hardy as Dwarves, and their natural affinity for Illusion magic can serve to mask their small stature.

Half-Elf
Gifted with "people skills", Half-Elven Clerics might be found prostelyzing, seeking to convert others to his way of thinking.

Half-Orc
The Half-Orc's STR bonus tends to lead them to the worship of more martial deities - whether they be the savage gods of the Orcs, or a more civilized deity.

Halfling
Clerical magic can be used to aid the Halfling with their larcenous streak, or to protect their communities.

Raptoran (Races of the Wild)
Take to the skies! Natural flight is a tremendous advantage - you shed your heavy armor and gain 3D mobility.

Dragonborn (Races of the Dragon)
By devoting yourself to Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, you become reborn in a sturdy new body.

Patrons
Pelor
Ehlonna (Complete Divine) NG celerity/good/animal/plant/Sun
Lathander (Player's Guide to Faerun) NG good/nobility/protection/renewal/strength/Sun
Horus Re
Obad Hai
Amaunator (Lost Empires of Faerun) LN law/nobility/planning/sun/time
Pholtus (Complete Divine)LG good/inquisition/knowledge/law/Sun
Taiia (Deities & Demigods)N Air,earth,fire,water,sun,etc…….
Artemis (Deities & Demigods) NG celerity/good/animal/plant/Sun
Apollo (Deities & Demigods) CG good/healing/knowledge/magic/Sun
Frey (Deities & Demigods) NG air/good/plant/Sun
Odur (Deities & Demigods) CG chaos/fire/Sun
Ayailla (Book of Exalted Deeds)
EleBrin Liothiel (Races of the Wild) Elf CG, chaos/good/plant/sun
Naki-Uthai (Races of Stone)Goliath N earth/strength/sun
Syeret (Races of Destiny)Illumian CG chaos/sun/travel
Nilthina (Races of the Wild) Raptorian N air/animal/plant/sun
Dol Arrah(Eberron) LG Glory/Good/Law/Sun/War....Wpn: Halberd

heres a very nice link of FR Deity & Domain list...... thanks to Dielzen
FR Deity & Domain list



Domains
Domains are used to represent a deity's specific interests in the world of mortals. They also provide useful abilities for their Clerics. Some domains' spells or abilities are very useful for optimization. The basic rules guiding the selection of domains are:

1) Gaining new abilities through your domain powers that aren't Cleric-level-related (like Pride or Luck).
2) Adding non-Cleric spells to your spells known (like Spell or Animal).
3) Granting feats that are worth something (like Planning or Undeath).
4) Adding Skills to Class Skill list (like Trickery or Kobold)

•War - The War domain grants Martial Weapon Proficiency for those martial minded Clerics

•Sun - The spells and unique power of the Sun domain give the Cleric an even greater advantage over the undead.

•Trickery - For trickster gods, the Trickery domain gives their Clerics additional powers of stealth and deception.

•Planning (Complete Warrior, Player's Guide to Faerun, Spell Compendium) - Gods who reward foresight provide the Planning domain to their Clerics, giving them Extend Spell and powerful magic (Haste, Time Stop). Note that the Planning domain published in the Player's Guide to Faerun is different from the ones published in Complete Warrior and the Spell Compendium.

•Undeath - (Player's Guide to Faerun, Libris Mortis, Spell Compendium) Clerics fascinated with the undead turn to the Undeath domain to find ways to control (Extra Turning) and create (Create Undead) the objects of their obsession. Note that the Undeath domain published in the Player's Guide to Faerun is different from the ones published in Libris Mortis and the Spell Compendium.

•Animal - Clerics interested in the natural world take up the Animal domain and are eventually able to become one with the animal world (Shapechange).

•Time - Improved mastery of the past (Legend Lore), the future (Improved Initiative, and the transition between them (Time Stop) are granted to these Clerics.

•Celerity (Complete Divine, Spell Compendium) - Motion in space (Haste) and motion through time (Time Stop) are yours to control.

•Luck - Clerics with the Luck domain are masters of their own destiny, and can refuse the whim of chance.

•Travel

•Strength

•Elf (Player's Guide to Faerun, Spell Compendium) - Gives the Cleric improved prowess with the bow.

•Spell (PLayer's Guide to Faerun, Spell Compendium)- Blur the lines between Arcane and Divine magic (Anyspell, Greater Anyspell)

•Shadow (Eberron Campaign Setting) - Gain mastery over the darkness (Shadow Conjuration, Shadow Evocation and Shades)

•Pride (Spell Compendium) - Refuse to give in to your weakness! (reroll natural 1s on saves)

•Destiny (Races of Destiny) - Gain access to an interesting and an otherwise unavailable spell list. (Warp Destiny, Choose Destiny)

•Artifice (Eberron Campaign Setting) - Use your powers to create...stuff. (True Creation, +4 to Craft checks, +1 CL to Conjuration(Creation))

•Kobold (WotC Web Enhancement) - Kurtulmak demands his Clerics be good at finding and disabling the traps his people are known for

•Gnome + Illusion and Domain Spontaneity make for interesting lead-ins to Shadowcraft Mage.

•Evil Domain+ Malign Spell is a neat little trick for boosting CL, but I think its not that great of a domain.
Transformation
Force has some nice spells

•Glory has some nice things also

•Kobold (web enhancement http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a).....the Kobold domain. Combined with Trickery (or, perhaps there is one that gives Hide AND Move Silently) you can effectively replace the party Rogue.

•Air domain ... not only gives extra types of Turning, it has some very effective tactical Combat spells

•Fire has a lot of combat oriented spells and even a summoning spell

•Madness has some nice Spells and the granted power really boosts the Spells you cast(quantity and Power)

•Water is usually Under-rated ...but it has some excellent Combat Spells and give Elemental Turning

Domains that add class skills

Animal
Arborea
Baator
Celestia
City
Dragon
Envy
Gem Dragon
Herald
Knowledge
Pact
Plant
Sky
The Abyss
Trickery
Travel
Wealth

Domains that grant a bonus feat added by darkdragoon
Craft Domain
Domination Domain
Drow Domain
Dwarf Domain
Elf Domain
Hunt Domain
Metal Domain
Planning Domain
Portal Domain (FRCS version)
Rune Domain
Seafolk Domain
Shadow Domain
The Dragon Below Domain
Time Domain
Undeath Domain
War Domain
Wealth Domain

Alternate Class Features
Some books have alternate class features for Clerics, in case you want something slightly different.

Races of Stone - Dwarven Cleric
•1st - Turn Undead -> Smite Giants, powered by CON instead of CHA.
•4th - 2nd level spell slot -> Martial Weapon Proficiency (Warhammer), +2 damage with Warhammers
•4th level spell slot -> +1 caster level to [Earth] spells and spells from the Earth domain

Planar Handbook
•4th - 3 effective Cleric levels for Turn Undead -> Planar Turning
•7th - both domains -> Planar domain

Races of the Wild - Raptoran Cleric
•1st - Heavy Armor proficiency -> Air Mastery, bonuses to interacting with Air creatures, bonuses to bolstering Air creatures
•3rd - cast [Earth] spells -> summon more powerful [Air] creatures through Summon Monster
•7th - add limitations to your Planar Ally spell -> call more powerful Air Elementals

Races of the Dragon - Dragonblood Cleric
•1st - Turn Undead -> grant energy resistance in a 30ft burst
•5th - 3rd level spell slot -> expend a Turn Energy (from 1st level) use to create a wall of energy
•9th - 5th level spell slot -> expend a Turn Energy to gain energy healing.

Dragon Magic
•Heavy Armor proficiency -> natural armor and energy resistances
•Turn Undead -> Rebuke Dragons

Complete Mage
•Turn Undead -> Divine Counterspell (gain the ability to counterspell by channeling divine energies)
•1 domain -> Divine Magician (make up your own domain from the Abjuration, Divination, or Necromancy spells on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list)

Dungeonscape
•one Domain power -> spontaneously cast Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration



Feats
In no particular order, here are some feats that a Cleric might be interested in:

Mastery of Day and Night (Player's Guide to Eberron) Req: Knowledge(the Planes) 2 , Spellcraft 6, Maximize Spell, membership in manifest spellshapers
Spontaneously Maximize any Cure or Inflict spell you cast with NO spell level increase adjustment.

Light of Aurifar (Sandstorm) Req: Turn or Rebuke Undead, access to the Fire or Sun domain:
Undead turned also take 2d6 fire damage

Bane Magic (Heroes of Horror)
Damaging spells do extra 2d6 vs. specific creature types...with NO level increase....hmmm Undead bane and Evil Outsider Bane look very good to me.

Arctic Priest (Frostburn) Req: Cold or Winter domain:
Spontaneously cast: Control Weather, Create Food & Water, Endure Elements, Heroes' Feast, Hibernate, Protection from Energy, Resist Energy

Priest of the Waste (Sandstorm) Req: Access to one Fire, Summer, Sun, Travel, or Water domain
Spontaneously cast: Cloak of Shade, Control Weather, Create Food & Water, Endure Elements, Heroes' Feast, Hydrate, Protection from Energy, Protection from Dessication, Resist Energy

Judged by Aurifar (Sandstorm) Req: Aurifar Patron
+2 Sacred bonus to Concentration checks vs Thirst, +2 Sacred bonus to AC vs Undead affected by light, Cleric is an additional favored class

Sacred Healing (Complete Divine) Req: Heal 8, Turn Undead
Fast Healing 3 for 1+CHA rounds to all living creatures in a 60ft burst.

Augment Healing (Complete Divine) Req: Heal 4
Add +2 HP/spell level to every Conjuration [Healing] spell you cast

Divine Spell Power (Complete Divine) Req: Turn or Rebuke Undead, ability to cast 1st level Divine spells
Modify your caster level based on your turning check.

Domain Spontaneity (Complete Divine) Req: Turn or Rebuke Undead, domain access
Spend a turn attempt and spontaneously cast a spell from a domain

Elder Giant Magic (Secrets of Xen'drik) Req: Spellcraft 9, or Giant type
Increase casting time to gain +1 CL for each additional round spent casting the spell (max +3 CL)

Chosen of the Deathless (Magic of Eberron) Req: Aerenal Elf, Turn Undead
+2 to your Turn Check and Turn Damage, add +1 HP/spell level to every Conjuration [Healing] spell you cast

Initiate of Mystra (Player's Guide to Faerun)
The Faerunian goddess of magic grants to her most devout followers the ability to use their magic in anti-magic zones where all others could not.

Knowledge Devotion (Complete Champion)
Finally put those skill points to work! Use your Knowledge checks to gain combat bonuses against your opponents.

Holy Warrior (Complete Champion)
If you hold your War domain spells in reserve, you can gain +1 damage/level of the highest War domain spell you have currently prepared.

Touch of Healing (Complete Champion)
Heal all your allies up to half their HP! Never buy a Wand of Cure Light Wounds again!

Skills
Skills should never be overlooked since a large portion of time will be spent out of combat. The skills that a Cleric has can be quite powerful, even if simply used by themselves. The Diplomacy skill (Charisma Based) is very effective, and is a good match for the Cleric; who can be an effective party "face".

The Cleric is a Wisdom/Charisma driven character, so it is usually a good idea to maximize skills that use those attributes. Always remember to make the most out of skill synergies.

In particular, there are several skills that should always be considered:

•Balance- if at all possible, take 5 ranks in this skill

•Bluff - a good choice for a cleric with the Trickery Domain, but even if you don't have it, 5 ranks give you a synergy bonus to Diplomacy

•Concentration - always take some ranks in this - 10+ is usually good

•Diplomacy - great skill, always max this out if possible

•Heal - great skill, can help your party stay alive in the early levels

•Knowledge: - max out Religion, 5 ranks to get the synergy bonuses, and 1 rank in as many of the others as you can

•Listen - great, works well with your high Wisdom

•Search - always useful, even if you are only using the aid another action

•Sense Motive - always get 5 ranks for the synergy

•Spellcraft - as a spellcaster, you should max this out

•Spot - see Listen

•Use Magic Device - always get at least 1 rank, but as many as you can fit will work even better

Of particular interest is the Knowledge Skills:


Check: Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions).

In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s HD. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.

Action: Usually none. In most cases, making a Knowledge check doesn’t take an action—you simply know the answer or you don’t.

Try Again: No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (arcana), you get a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering), you get a +2 bonus on Search checks made to find secret doors or hidden compartments.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (geography), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made to keep from getting lost or to avoid natural hazards.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), you get a +2 bonus on bardic knowledge checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (local), you get a +2 bonus on Gather Information checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (nature), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made in aboveground natural environments (aquatic, desert, forest, hill, marsh, mountains, or plains).

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (nobility and royalty), you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (religion), you get a +2 bonus on turning checks against undead.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (the planes), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made while on other planes.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks made while underground.

If you have 5 or more ranks in Survival, you get a +2 bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks.

Divine Metamagic
This series of feats has become crucial to the design of most Clerics by allowing you to bypass the normal restrictions on what spells you can apply metamagic feats to. Some of the more popular ones include:

Persistent - the 500-pound gorilla. By trading 7 turn attempts, you can Persist such useful spells as Divine Power, Righteous Might and Shapechange. This version of the feat alone has given DMs cause to ban Divine Metamagic in its entirety.

Quicken - a lesser evil, instead of having the spell's effect available all day, you can call on a spell's power at a moment's notice.

Reach - the Cleric spell list has many nice touch range spells, but not all Clerics are willing to wade into melee to deliver them.
Since this is the Character Optimization boards, this should go without saying, but you want to keep the number of lost caster levels as close to zero as possible.

[Bullet06320]

7: The Primary Divine Spellcaster
Sample Builds:

Human Cloistered Cleric 5/ Combat Medic 5/ Celestial Mystic 10

Feats:
Dodge
Combat Casting
Servant of Heavens
Sacred Vow
Vow of Abstinance
Extend Spell
Persistant Spell
Divine Metamagic(Persistent)

Unearthed Arcana: Cloistered Cleric
Book of Exalted Deeds: Servant of the Heavens, Sacred Vow, Vow of Abstinence, Celestial Mystic
Complete Divine: Divine Metamagic
Complete Arcane: Persistent Spell



Human Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 2/Sunmaster 7/Divine Disciple 5/Church Inquisitor 3-5

Servant of the Fallen (Amaunator)

Lost Empires of Faerun: Sunmaster, Servant of the Fallen
Complete Divine: Church Inquisitor



Cleric 11/Sovereign Speaker 9

Worldly Focus

Faiths of Eberron: Worldly Focus, Sovereign Speaker


8: The Secondary Divine Spell Caster
The Secondary Divine caster has given up some spell power in order to get abilities he wouldn't normally have been able to acquire.

Sample Builds

Human
Cleric of Cyric 3/Human Paragon 3/Strifeleader 10/Black Flame Zealot 4

Feats:
Iron Will
Weapon Focus (Longsword)
Spell Focus (Illusion)
EWP (Kukri)
Divine Spell Power
Greater Spell Focus (Illusion)
Domain Spontaneity (Trickery)
Ability Focus (Death Attack)

Faiths & Pantheons: Strifeleader
Complete Divine: Black Flame Zealot, Divine Spell Power, Domain Spontaneity
Unearthed Arcana: Human Paragon



Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 4/Prestige Paladin 3/Fist of Raziel 10

Feats:
Power Attack
Mounted Combat
Servant of the Heavens
Divine Might
3 free feats

Unearthed Arcana: Prestige Paladin
Book of Exalted Deeds: Servant of the Heavens, Fist of Raziel
Complete Warrior: Divine Might
Complete Divine: Church Inquisitor



Illumian (NaenKrau)
Warlock 1 / Cloistered Cleric of Lirr 4/Eldritch Disciple 8/Knight of the Raven 7

Feats:
(none required)
Knowledge Devotion

Why It's Cool - +16 BAB, cast as a 17th level Cleric, use invocations as a 9th level Warlock, Healing Blast, Eldritch Glaive

Complete Mage: Eldritch Disciple
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: Knight of the Raven
Races of Destiny: Illumian
Complete Divine: Lirr
Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion
Dragon Magic: Eldritch Glaive



A cleric's gear is nearly as important to him as his spells, so don't neglect it. Below are some essential pieces to pack.

Armor: Plan to buy the best armor you can afford, and carry a heavy shield as well -- you'll never regret having a formidable Armor Class. And don't overlook other defensive items you can wear, such as rings of protection and amulets of natural armor. Several lesser items whose benefits stack give you better protection, and at a cheaper price, than one big item.

If you do a lot of wilderness adventuring, consider some backup armor, such as a suit of studded leather (or a mithral chain shirt if you can afford it) to wear at night. If you try to sleep in heavy armor, you'll have penalties the next day. But if you sleep in your skivvies, you'll be in trouble if you're attacked during the night.

Melee Weapon: You're pretty good in combat, so be prepared to fight. A heavy mace or morningstar packs the most punch. Alternatively, if you have the War domain and the right deity, you can get access to a martial weapon, which may be much better than any of the simple ones.

Ranged Weapon: A light crossbow can prove as effective as a low-level attack spell against some opponents. Use it when the opposition isn't threatening enough to merit the use of your spells. You might also consider a heavy crossbow -- a deadly weapon, even though reloading it is a slow process. That reload time might not bother you too much, though, because you might find that casting a spell or entering melee is more worthwhile than taking a second shot.

Backup Spells: You never know when you'll run out of spells. Furthermore, you never know when you'll need a particular spell -- and need it very badly. So it pays to keep some spellcasting power in reserve via a collection of scrolls, wands, or both. Scrolls are a great way to carry along useful spells (such as remove blindness/deafness, dispel magic, or remove disease) that you might not use in every adventure. Best of all, if you have the Scribe Scroll feat, you can make scrolls yourself, though doing so uses up time, money, and experience points. Wands are useful for bread-and-butter spells that you use often, especially healing spells such as cure light wounds.

Important Equipment for any Cleric

Nightstick (Libris Mortis)
The Nightstick is a potent item that grants its owner additional turning attempts. It is typically used to fuel Divine Metamagic. It is unclear whether multiple Nightsticks grant multiple attempts.

Strand of Prayer Beads
Of particular note is the Bead of Karma that boosts your caster level. Its a powerful effect that is hard to duplicate.

Ankh of Ascension (Races of Faerun)
This gives +4 to your caster level for all numeric aspects related to Caster level when you cast a spell

Ring of Sustenance
This ring continually provides its wearer with life-sustaining nourishment. The ring also refreshes the body and mind, so that its wearer needs only sleep 2 hours per day to gain the benefit of 8 hours of sleep. The ring must be worn for a full week before it begins to work. If it is removed, the owner must wear it for another week to reattune it to himself.

Metamagic Rods
These awesome rods duplicate the effect of certain metamagic feats. There are additional rods in Complete Arcane.

Useful Equipment for Some Clerics

Monk's Belt
If for some reason you forgo the use of your heavy armor, you'll want to pick this up for WIS to AC.



Szatany's Ultimate Spell List has a very complete list of Divine Spells and in what book it was published.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?469874-Ultimate-Spell-List&p=6720604#post6720604

1st Level
Blessed Aim (Spell Compendium)
Conviction (Spell Compendium)
Divine Favor
Foundation of Stone (Spell Compendium)
Inhibit (Spell Compendium)
Lantern Light (Spell Compendium)....1 Ray/2 CL...ranged touch, 1d6 damage, No Save/SR yes
Resurgance (Spell Compendium)
Sign (Miniatures Handbook) shows foes initiative results of all foes in your line of sight ...and gives you a 20 roll IIRC
Vigor, Lesser (Spell Compendium)

2nd Level
Aid
Align Weapon
Bull's Strength
Close Wounds (Spell Compendium) 1d4 +1/CL damage healed as an immediate action - can be Chained!
Dark Way (Spell Compendium)
Divine Insight (Spell Compendium)
Light of Mercuria (Book of Exalted Deeds, Spell Compendium)
Substitute Domain (Complete Champion) - need one of your deity's other domains for a while? Swap the spell lists!
Sun Bolt (Shining South) 2d6 damage, x2 vs undead, x3 vs undead damaged by sun

3rd Level
Aid, Mass
Align Weapon, Mass (Spell Compendium)
Blindsight (Spell Compendium)
Clutch of Orcus (Spell Compendium)
Conviction (Spell Compendium)
Darkfire (Spell Compendium)
Downdraft (Spell Compendium)
Divine Retaliation (Player's Handbook II) No Save/ No SR....make a force weapon attacks anyone who Hits you with a Melee attack each time you are hit(unlimited number of times/round),BAB= CL+(Str or Wis bonus), Damage = Dieties Fav weapon + 1.5x(Str or Wis bonus)Size = your Current size
Irians Light (Races of Eberron) 1-3 rays...ranged touch Healing or damage, no save / SR yes
Knight's Move (Spell Compendium)
Know Vulnerabilities (Spell Compendium)
Light of Venya (Book of Exalted Deeds, Spell Compendium) 3d6 vs undead, ranged healing (1d4+1/cl)
Mantle of Good/Evil/Law/Chaos (Spell Compendium)
Magic Vestment
Resurgance, Mass (Spell Compendium)
Sonorous Hum (Spell Compendium)
Spikes (Spell Compendium)
Vigor, Mass Lesser (Spell Compendium)

4th Level
Assay Spell Resistance (Spell Compendium)
Aura of the Sun (Lost Empires of Faerun) No save/ No SR,..10' Emanation, persistable.....1d6 positive energy damage to undead each round in area
Blindsight, Greater (Spell Compendium)
Celestial Brilliance (Book of Exalted Deeds, Spell Compendium) Duration..1DAY/CL, NO Save/ NO SR, 60' Rad undead(damaged by light) and Evil Outsiders..take 2d6/Round, other undead take 1d6/round
Consumptive Field (Spell Compendium)
Contingent Energy Resistance (Spell Compendium)
Delay Death (Spell Compendium)
Divine Power
Doomtide
Magic Weapon, Greater
Moon Bolt (Spell Compendium)
Panacea (Spell Compendium)
Resistance, Greater (Spell Compendium)
Revenance (Spell Compendium)
Shield of Faith, Mass
Spell Vulnerabilitiy

5th Level
Aura of Evasion (Spell Compendium)
Divine Agility (Spell Compendium)
Divine Retribution (Complete Champion)
Dragon Breath (Spell Compendium)
Light of Xymor (Dragons of Faerun)....object radiates light that is considered Daylight to creatures harmed by it..otherwise:same as daylight spell(also damages dragons and dragon type 2d6/round)
Revivify (Spell Compendium)
Righteous Might
Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (Spell Compendium)
Stone Shape, Greater (Spell Compendium)
Surge of Fortune (Complete Champion) - persistable!
Triadspell (Spell Compendium) Triplicate a spell you've prepared or 3rd level or lower - good to get lots of single-target buffs like Magic Vestment

6th Level
Crown Of Brilliance (Book of Exalted Deeds) 20' Rad Emanation, 1rnd/CL, undead take 1d6/rnd in area
Energy Immunity (Spell Compendium)
Fiery Vision (Shining South) ,Short ranged,2 rays/ round for 1 rnd/CL No Save/ SR yes,...FREE Action to target and fire rays, ranged touch attack,4d6 damage each
Heal
Resistance, Superior (Spell Compendium)
Sunscepter (Lost Empires of Faerun)personal,1 rnd/cl.....form a mace of light, does 2d6 damage as a melee touch attack, with Axiomatic, Disruption, and Flaming Burst attributes!!!!!!!....persistable (but if you put it down the spell is lost....so don't drop it!)

7th Level
Brilliant Blade (Spell Compendium)
Bestow Curse, Greater (Spell Compendium)
Consumptive Field, Greater (Spell Compendium)
Holy Star (Spell Compendium)
Holy Word/Blasphemy/Dictum/Word of Chaos
Spell Resistance, Mass (Spell Compendium)
Withering Palm (Spell Compendium)

8th Level
Antimagic Field
Brilliant Aura (Spell Compendium)
Death Ward, Mass (Spell Compendium)
Stormrage (Spell Compendium)
Visions of the Future (Player's Handbook II) 1hr/CL..+2 Sacred to all saves, +2 Dodge to AC

9th Level
Miracle
Visage of the Deity, Greater (Spell Compendium)


Sanctified Spells
Sanctified spells, introduced in the Book of Exalted Deeds and expanded upon in Champions of Valor, are spells that have powerful effects but require the caster to be devoted to the cause of Good. These spells are of particular use to Clerics because they can spontaneously cast them, just as Clerics can spontaneously cast Cure/Inflict spells.



Martial Adepts
Tome of Battle has given melee combatants a breath of fresh air. It also introduced the Ruby Knight Vindicator - a 8/10 divine spellcaster and a full initiator levels. See here and here for more optimization ideas

Human Crusader 1/Cleric 4/Ruby Knight Vindicator 10/Church Inquisitor 5

Tome of Battle: Crusader, Ruby Knight Vindicator
Complete Divine: Church Inquisitor


Armor & Shield properties

Healing(MIC) +8000gp ... 1/day heal 2d8+5 ... will Automatically function if you go below -1hp

Healing Greater(MIC) +24000gp ... as above, but 2/day heals 3d8+15

Heartning(Shield only)(MIC) +2000gp ..... 2/day gives 5 Temp hp, 5 min duration

Styptic(MIC) +1 bonus ..... Autostabilize, 25% chance to be UNaffected by Blood Draining Con Attacks(Vampire or Stirge or Wounding weapons)

Specific Armors and Shields

Milleneal Chainmail(Relic)(MIC) 8150gp +1 Mithral Chain, Light Armor,+8 max Dex, Armor chk -2, ASF 15% ....... Incredible armor ..... Gives Fast Healing 3 , in light brighter than Shadowy

Shield of Mercy(MIC) 2170gp ....+1 Hvy Steel Shield .... use Smite to Heal Damage = Smite Damage

Weapon Abilities

Vampiric(MIC) +2 bonus ..... 1d6 extra damage and you heal whatever you roll with that 1d6 extra damage..... not a lot, but works with EVERY HIT, and that adds up quickly, if you have a lot of hits .... even with only 2 hits, it gives 2d6 back to you(in effect a Variable Fast Healing based on how many times you hit and how good you roll with the extra d6's)

Wondrous Items and Tools

Augment Crystals:Crystal of Life Drinking(MIC)
Least 400gp .... heal +1 hp with every hit(10 hp max gained)
Lesser 1500gp .... heal +3 hp with every hit(30 hp max gained)
Greater 6000gp .... heal +5 hp with every hit(50 hp max gained)
the best way to use these .... buy several, as soon as you use up one, un-clip it from your weapon(after the battle if possible) and clip on a fresh on, each day they renew thier ability.... if you had enough and enough actions you can get a lot of healing with these.

Amulet of Emergency Healing(MIC) 6000gp ...3/day heal self or others at 30' range, 1d4+5hp

Amulet of Retributive Healing(MIC) 2000gp ... 3/day, when you heal someone else first, you gain same effect on yourself

Amulet of Tears(MIC) 2300gp ...3 charges, 10 min duration, recharges every day:
1chg ... give 12 Temp hp
2chgs ... gives 18 temp hp
3chgs ... gives 24 temp hp

Amulet of Toxin Delay(MIC) 400gp .. 1/day delay poison duration 2 rounds can be activated before you roll save

Angel Helm(MIC) 10000gp .... Melee attacks= Good vs DR, and:
1/day Cure Critical
1/day Dispel Evil(DC17)
1/day Resist Energy(Acid & Cold only)
user must be Good

Armband of Maximized Healing(MIC) 7200gp ....3/day Maximize Healing Spell(6th lvl and under) ........ a lot cheaper than rod

Circlet of Solace(MIC) 3000gp ..3/day when casting healing spells, 1 creature gains +5 Morale Saves vs Disease, Fear, Poison ...duration 1 min ......great to use on Rogue before he tries to open a treasure chest or disarm a tough trap

Eternal Wand(MIC) 2/day cast a single spell:
820gp ... 1st lvl spl, 1st lvl caster
4420gp ... 2nd lvl spl, 3rd lvl caster
10900gp ... 3rd lvl spl, 5th lvl caster
pick a nice useful healing spell, or remove Blindness,deafness, remove Curse or Santurary or something else that is not needed a lot, but is handy to have

Goodberry Braclet(MIC) 2000gp ...5/day can give a goodbery to a single person(must be different person each time)

Hair Shirt of Suffering(MIC) 3400gp ...+1 enhancement to NA, heal someone else 3d8+9hp 1/day

Orb of Mental Renewal 3100gp ...3 charges, recharges every day:
1chg ... heal 4 pts Int,Wis or Cha damage, or 2 pt to ALL
2chgs ... heal 6 pts Int,Wis or Cha damage, or 3 pt to ALL
3chgs ... heal 8 pts Int,Wis or Cha damage, or 4 pt to ALL

Rod of Bodily Restoration 3100gp ...3 charges, recharges every day:
1chg ... heal 4 pts Str,Dex, or Con damage, or 2 pt to ALL
2chgs ... heal 6 pts Str,Dex, or Con damage, or 3 pt to ALL
3chgs ... heal 8 pts Str,Dex, or Con damage, or 4 pt to ALL

Unicorn Pendant(MIC) 6000gp ... gives:
1/day Cure Moderate 2d8+10
1/day Neutralize Poison
if Paladin...add 4 to Cha for Lay on of Hands

Vampiric Torc(MIC) 5000gp ... 2/day swift action, next successful attack, you heal 1/2 damage

Healing Salve(MIC) 2250gp




A Section with some Low Level Optimization would also be useful. For example, the following two level 1 clerics are fun

Race: Human
Cleric 1
Domains: Undeath, DeathBound
Feats: Fell Animate, Divine Metamagic:Fell Animate

At level one, you can control up to 6 HD of Zombies that you create. Very Fun

Race: Human
Cleric 1
Domains: Planning, *Undeath*
Feats: Persistent Spell, Divine Metamagic: Persistent Spell

At level one, you can persist the spell Blessed Aim, from Spell Compendium. Every Party Member within 50 ft. including yourself gets a +2 morale bonus to ranged attacks.
* If allowed in conjunction



I recommend adding to your Cleric Spells section the following must-have power-up for all Forgotten Realms clerics:

Champions of Valor - Pg. 52 ... Sanctified Magic

Per the last paragraph of the Sanctified Magic description, FR clerics of all stripes can cast all 6 of these spells *SPONTANEOUSLY* as long as they meet the CL requirements.

That's just totally nuts. Talk about a versatility power-up for a class that clearly doesn't need it. Still, the spells are all pretty good and the Sacrifice Component drawback is completely worth it for certain emergency uses of these spells.



Just noticed the Azurin cleric 1 substitution level (Magic of Incarnum, p.43) which gives you "Channel Incarnum" in place of turn undead. The thing is, you can spend your "Channel Inarnum" uses to power divine feats. Now, couldn't we then also go into a prestige class that grants us turn undead (Master of Radiance (LM) or Sacred Exorcist (CD) come to mind), effectively giving us 2*(3+ChaMod) charges to spend on divine metamagic?



That's sweet!

An Azurin Cleric 3/Incarnate 2/Sapphire hierarch 10/Master of radiance 5 with the feat Midnight metamagic would kick some serious ass! And doesn't need a dozens of Nightsticks, which is a big plus. Let's see, a charisma of 24 (14 to start, +4 tome, +6 cloak) with Extra turning and one Nightstick couls persist 6 spells (4 with Divine metamagic, 2 with Midnight metamagic).

Unfortunately Azurin substitution level Clerics and Incarnates have alignment restrictions, I would have liked the build to get either Sacred exorcist for Turn undead without sacrificing caster levels (though the build still has 9th level spells) or Mother cyst for persistent Necrotic empowerment.

[Bullet06320]

which attribute is most important depends on what you want to do(but a cleric is known for being able to Buff himself):

all clerics need a Wisdom of 19 by the time they get to 17th level.....or they wont be able to cast 9th level spells, any higher than that only gives a few Bonus Spells and Boosts the DC of thier spells.........but it also Boosts Will Saves(which a cleric already has a Good Will Save), and it boosts Wisdom based Skills:

Heal: you only need 5 ranks in this ,unless you need more to qualify for a PrC
Listen: if you already have a good skill monkey in the party....usually you dont need to spend any points here...as it can be used untrained
Proffession:....depending on the RP that your game includes....this may not be necessary....but a few ranks dont hurt(as it is a Trained only skill)
Sense Motive:as Heal above....for Synergy with Diplomacy
Spot:as Listen above
Survivalas Proffession above....but it will be cross classed unless you have the right Domain(Travel)

For Melee combat:
Str
Con
Dex
Cha
Int

for Ranged Combat:
Dex
Con
Cha
Str
Int

for General Purpose:
Con
Cha
Int
Dex
Str

generally you dont want to have any Attribute below 10.....and with a 32 point buy:

16,16,14,10,10,10

or

16,14,14,14,10,10

these work well for most builds

:D




As for the magician type, obviously the spell domain of the forgotten realms setting is useful for the presence of anyspell, yet the only improvement who seems worth taking is divine metamagic, but aside from persistent spell, maybe quicken, i don't see another useful metamagic feat to "divinize" and those are common builts (so nothing original about that).

Divine Spellpower is great....Also Domain Spontaneity..exa: Celerity Domain....gives Time Stop,Improved Blink,Haste......it is really nice to cast them more than 1/day from a domain slot....especially if you use the domain slot for something else(Domains:Animal,Celertiy:....Domain slot: Shapechange...use Domain Spontaneity to cast Time Stop several times later in day

Domain spontaneity and the variant from Player's handbook II that allows to convert into domain spells are maybe a good way to personalize the built but i did not found how

this is an incrediblely POWERFUL variant....just do this:

Pick the Healing Domain....notice this: what a normal cleric can do=

Spontaneous Casting: A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that the cleric did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name).

An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric of an evil deity), can’t convert prepared spells to cure spells but can convert them to inflict spells (an inflict spell is one with “inflict” in its name).

A cleric who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can convert spells to either cure spells or inflict spells (player’s choice). Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed. This choice also determines whether the cleric turns or commands undead (see below).

what a Spontaneous Domain(Healing) caster can do=
HEALING DOMAIN
Granted Power: You cast healing spells at +1 caster level.

Healing Domain Spells
Spell Name Brief Description
1 Cure Light Wounds: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +5).
2 Cure Moderate Wounds: Cures 2d8 damage +1/level (max +10).
3 Cure Serious Wounds: Cures 3d8 damage +1/level (max +15).
4 Cure Critical Wounds: Cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +20).
5 Cure Light Wounds, Mass: Cures 1d8 damage +1/level (max +25) for many creatures.
6 Heal: Cures 10 points/level of damage, all diseases and mental conditions.
7 Regenerate: Subject’s severed limbs grow back, cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +35).
8 Cure Critical Wounds, Mass: Cures 4d8 damage +1/level (max +40) for many creatures.
9 Heal, Mass: As heal, but with several subjects.

it allows to to Spontaneously cast Heal, Regenerate, Mass Heal....in addition to Cures



So, some verbiage from Complete Divine caught my eye.

The wording of most of the Divine feats says only 'a turn or rebuke attempt.' Divine Metamagic is an exception, clearly stating 'the energy from turning or rebuking *undead.*'

Elemental Healing and Elemental Smiting have a special section clarifying that turn or rebuke *undead* attempts cannot be used to power them, only turn or rebuke (appropriate) elemental atttempts.

So, this being all said and done, most of the Divine feats, save, sadly, Divine Metamagic, *do* seem to be power-able with Turn / Rebuke 'Other' attempts, with 'other' being Elementals (from Air, Earth, Fire or Water), Plant creatures (from Plant), Retilian creatures or snakes (from Scalykind), Oozes (from Slime), Cold creatures (from Cold), Constructs (from Warforged) or Spiders (from Spider). [At least one Moon Domain write-up allows Turning (but not Commanding) of Lycanthropes as well! Toss that on the pile.]

So, a Core Cleric of Obad-Hai could start with the standard Undead Turning ability as a class ability (or even Rebuke Undead, if he's an *evil* Cleric of Obad-Hai), and choose any two of Air, Earth, Fire or Water as his Domains (and possibly pick up more through PrCs, such as the Contemplative), giving him *many* more Turn / Rebuke attempts per day to fuel his various Divine feats (or, yanno, build himself up a miniature army of Thoqqua or something...). If he took Improved Turning as a feat (making him count as +1 level for Turning purposes), he could use the Earth and Fire Domains to Command, for instance, four 3 HD Thoqqua, at 5th level (up to 3 HD critters, up to 6 HD total, and with seperate 'control pools' for the Earth and Fire Domains), completely seperate from any Undead he's got under his Command, if he's naughty that way...

A follower of Lolth with Improved Turning and the Spider Domain could have a pair of 2 HD Spider Swarms following her around at 3rd level. I'm not real impressed with the selection of Spiders available in core.

Slimes and Plants don't do much for me either, although if there are some low HD humanoid Plant creatures I've missed, I could change my mind. Scalykind looked exciting, until someone clued me to the fact that it only commands Reptilian *animals* and not just critters with the Reptilian subtype. Gah.

Ah, and the Ebberon Cleric, with that lovely Warforged Domain, gets to join all of his other over-powered Eberron kin by Commanding a few low HD Warforged to serve as bodyguards and meatless meat-shields. With Improved Turning, he can have a pair of 1 HD Warforged bodyguards at 1st level, and at 3rd can upgrade them to 2 HD each. And if his DM has the Fiend Folio, and is amenable to bribery, he might even manage to find a couple 2 HD Maugs, merely the butt-kickingest low-HD Constructs one could ever possibly find! Note that at 1st level, with Improved Turning, you will be able to Command any 1st level Warforged in the party. Don't do this. While their character might roll over and do your character's bidding, the *player* might just smack you about the head and shoulders with heavy gaming books.

But stealing the enemy Artificers Homonculi? That's just good clean fun. Bon appetit.

For that Neutral or, shudder, *Good* Cleric who doesn't feel quite right about having a horde of soul-devouring defiled dead folk following him about, there are *ten* other Domains that can fill up your 'turn' with dozens of bizarre attacks. Between open-ended Command options like 'Cold creatures' or 'Fire creatures' or 'Constructs,' you've got tons of options.

At higher level, it all falls down, but it's a terribly effective thing at the painful low levels (and even at the mid-levels, some expendable bodies can help to set up flanking conditions, or use Aid Other, or just run forward to set off traps...). The HD cap doesn't keep up, and even artificial means of bumping that effective Turn / Command level isn't going to let you Command some of the purtier 'Fire creatures,' like the Great Wyrm Red Dragon you've had your eyes on through the window. (Unless you can bump that Turn / Command level up to 80th level, anyway...)

Note that the Feat List up on the WotC site includes the Ghost Walk feat Divine Energy Focus, which treats the users as *two* levels higher for the purposes of Destroying / Commanding Undead, and gives +2 to Turn checks and damage rolls, making it insanely better for the Undead General. Sadly it is Undead-specific, and would not apply to someone Commanding Thoqqua via the Earth (or Fire) Domain. It does mean that a Cleric able to Rebuke / Command Undead, with Improved Turning and Divine Energy Focus, would be able to Command Undead as a Cleric 3 levels higher than his current level. At 1st level, he could have a pair of 2 HD undead following him around!



Divine Religious Characters (Core+PHB II+Complete Divine without DMM)
In the Cleric Handbook, there was a request to see some Cleric builds without Divine Metamagic.
So I am posting one.

There are two types of divine characters, the nature type and the religious type.
This character build is about the religious divine characters.
The druid makes an excellent nature type with its many variations but is not discussed here at all.
The Spirit Shaman is considered a druid type and will not be discussed here either.

Base Class Cleric
Why did I choose this one?
Well, I like it and that’s the best reason in the world to play a class.

Here is my opinion of the other options:
(This is a role-playing game, so please play what makes you happy, not what makes me happy.)

Druid
Powerful and interesting, but I have not played and studied this class enough to discuss it on the boards. Having used Handle Animal with the Healer class, I know how powerful that skill is without any spell support.

Spirit Shaman
Looks interesting, but I have not played or studied this class.

Healer
This class is not commonly accepted by Game Masters. It is expensive and difficult to give this character good armor and it never can use a shield. Cure spells are not spontaneous which hurts the character very much. The unicorn will have trouble in tight spaces much like the Paladin’s warhorse. The spell selection is very limited. The Player’s Handbook II did not mention it and increased the amount a cleric can heal if you want a maximized healing character. (Sacred Healing PHB II + Augment Healing + Sacred Healing Complete Divine + Sacred Boost Complete Divine is a lot of healing feats available) A Healer must take Spontaneous Heal and even then it is not enough time per day. A Healer needs a super high CHA stat of 18 to keep up with the cleric’s ability to convert turn undead attempts into healing. This results in reduced stat scores elsewhere which hurts the character as a whole.

Shugenja
No armor at all, d6 hit dice, limited spell known, limited spells to select from, Oriental theme type character unlikely to have official spell updates without game master approval, some arcane type spells and good skill points. An interesting class and challenging class to play that is maybe better off as a secondary divine caster if a party already has a cleric or a druid.

Favored Soul
Less good defense in combat (light armor and shields but energy resistance, wings and DR) but slightly better offense in combat in character abilities (Deity weapon feats,). Spell casting is split among two abilities (WIS and CHA) instead of one, leaving less points for other skills., which means the Deity weapon feats could be canceled out by a possible lower STR score. Knowledge (religion) is cross classed which causes major problems at epic levels. But the most and biggest problem with this class is limited amount of spells known. There are way too many good cleric spells out there. You cannot even cover the basics of what I consider a Divine spell caster should be able to cast with this character. The problem is increased if the party’s arcane caster is a sorcerer instead of a wizard, because they too have limited spell selections.

Bard
Really an arcane caster, but I’ll include it anyway.
Heal skill is cross classed, no cure minor wounds which means no curing at all till level 2, one cure moderate wounds spell per day at level 3, light armor, and limited spells known. An interesting and strong class if you let it do what it is suppose to do and not try to make it something it is not (such as being the main healer in a party).

Books
Core Rules, Complete Divine, and Player’s Handbook II
Why? Because if you can only buy two extra book these have more to offer and are more likely to be accepted by a Game Master than any others. The build I am posting actually mostly uses Complete Divine. It does not feature Divine Metamagic since many Game Master do not allow that Feat.

Starting level 1
Why? Because most campaigns start low and a build for an epic character is going to look different than a low level build. Sometimes you need a feat or skill working best now, not several levels later. So this build is not quite as efficient to make maximum power at high levels as some in order to keep the character alive at earlier levels.

Race--Human
Why? Because Clerics lack essential skill points, and there are no Charisma or Constitution penalties. Movement is 30 feet, and the extra feat is nice to have. Consider buying “night vision goggles”?

32 point buy is commonly used:

12 STR +1 (4 pts)
This gives the Cleric enough carry capacity to carry more than just your basic equipment. (43/86/130 lbs) This way you are not dependent on other people to carry extra equipment that you feel is essential, but they want to ignore. The bonus to melee combat is also quite welcome. If the point buy is above 32 increase this to 14.

10 DEX +0 (2 pts)
This keeps the cleric from having a negative penalty on balance checks or armor class. If the point buy is above 32 increase this to 12.

14 CON +2 (6 pts)
This gives the cleric better concentration scores and better health. Buying a stat above 14 is too expensive to make this higher, and anything lower is counterproductive to this build.

12 INT +1 (4 pts)
This gives the human cleric just enough skill points to cover all the necessary skill that a cleric should have.

16 WIS +3 (10 pts)
This is the ideal wisdom score for a cleric to start with. Anything higher is too expensive and anything lower slows down the bonus spells you obtain later on. If the point buy is below 32 decrease this to 15.

14 CHA +2 (6 pts)
This gives the cleric good turning power, diplomacy, and extra turning attempts which our feats will take advantage of. Like the Con stat buying this above 14 is too expensive and anything lower is counterproductive to the build.

Skills

Concentration
Start at level 1 with 4 ranks. Keep increasing this skill every level until you reach the point where your total bonus is +(15+the level of the highest spell you can cast-1). This amount does change, so keep track of it. This allow you to use any concentration action on the defensive without provoking an attack of opportunity. The heal skill requires a total bonus of +14 to use defensively. For a cleric this is important because you will be in the middle of battles. People get hurt most often where the most danger lies.

Heal
Start at level 1 with 4 ranks. Keep increasing this skill until you have 12 ranks in it. This will allow you to defeat every type of known poison and disease without your healer’s kit or spells. Remove disease is a very expensive spell for a low level character to buy. Having a Healer’s Kit is always a wise idea for a healer. A healer’s kit only has 10 uses, so be careful not to use it when you do not need it. Outside of combat, taking 10 makes first aid automatically successful.

Diplomacy
Start at level 1 with 3 ranks. Keeping increasing this skill 1 skill point per level each level. This starts the game with a +5 bonus which allows you to turn unfriendly NPC to indifferent 100% of the time by taking 10 on the roll. This is a powerful skill, so even if your party has a bard or paladin keep increasing this anyway. The other character might die, leave the campaign or not be around when you need to use this skill. An aid another roll will help the bard or paladin out, and a cooperative party member could give you an aid another roll to help you out.

Spellcraft
Start at level 1 with 1 rank. Keep increasing this skill with excessive skill points as they become available. This starts the game with you being able to use Spellcraft a little bit. The arcane spell caster should be covering this skill already so you can afford to be lax on this one. It is a handy skill to have, and once you gain epic levels, you must have this skill at high ranks, so eventually expect to raise this skill up. If you are planning to enter the Sacred Exorcist, place this skill point in Knowledge (the planes) instead.

Knowledge (Religion)
Start at level 1 with 4 ranks. Keep increasing this skill to 5, 7, or 9 ranks. The first 5 ranks are essential for undead turning. More than that meets the requirements for the Radiant Servant of Pelor (or other sun god) and the Sacred Exorcist Prestige classes. By taking 10, you can make good knowledge checks with your +10 bonus.

Knowledge (Arcana, History, and the Planes)
Start at level 1 with 0 ranks. Increase these skills to 1 rank or more with excessive skill points as they become available. The Sacred Exorcist Prestige class requires 10 ranks of Knowledge (the Planes), so plan ahead if you are heading for that class.

Feats

Augment Healing gained as a first level feat.
Found in the complete divine, this is probably the best feat a cleric can take.

Sacred Boost gained as a human bonus feat.
Found in the complete divine.
At low levels, this is a great feat. You gain a maximized cure spell for only 1 feat and 1 turn undead attempt per use. Combined with Augment Healing, the cleric can keep up with the healing and start each day with fresh spells. This prevents the party from taking time off for healing. Now, why am I focuses on healing when a cleric already is a good healer? Simply put, healing has to be done, and the better your character can heal, the more time and energy you can devote to other things. This also frees up the possibility of not having the healing domain as one of your two domains. Better healing means spells left over for other things.

Extra Turning gained as a third level feat.
Found in the Player’s Handbook
This makes sure the cleric has a few turn attempts left for dealing with undead and helps power up the next feat.

Sacred Healing gained as a sixth level feat.
Found in the complete divine.
This really, really helps free your spells up. The entire party gets Fast Healing 3 for 3 rounds (more if you are wearing a cloak of charisma). Use this right before you open or kick a door in to give the party some free healing on early wounds, or after moving off the battlefield to heal everybody back up. A party of six people will get 9 hp cured each for a total of 54 hp. Save your silent spell for that evil wizard instead of using it on healing the party.

Skill Focus (Concentration) gained as a ninth level feat.
Found in the player’s handbook.
At ninth level your concentration will be:
+17 Concentration 12 ranks + 2 CON +3 Skill Focus
Casting on the defensive suddenly becomes a possibility. Clerics really need to be able to do this because often there put themselves in the way of harm to protect the wizard or heal the rogue. This is a need now not later feat, but it also helps later on to give us some extra skill points to put into other skills.
Casting on the defensive failure % at 9th level:
Orisons -- 0%
Level 1 -- 0%
Level 2 -- 0%
Level 3 -- 0%
Level 4 -- 5%
Level 5 -- 10%


Silent Spell gained as an twelfth level feat.
Found in the player’s handbook.
This helps protect against silence which is a big threat to spell casters and enables a cleric to stealth some if necessary. You can now convert spontaneous silent cure spells as a full round casting as well as memorizing silent spells.

Leadership gained as a fifteenth level feat
Found in the player’s handbook and the dungeon master’s guide.
This feat is about having some purpose in life. At this point in the campaign, you need a party headquarters and an influential place in society. Claim or build a place of your own, decided what to do with it as a theme, set up the followers to staff it and put your cohort in charge of it. The dungeon master will easily approve it if they see this is not about power, it is about driving the campaign forward at a time when most campaigns winds down to a close. Clerics can afford to give a feat away more than most classes can, so you are the one to do it.

Still Spell gained as an eighteenth level feat.
Found in the player’s handbook.
This complements silent spell and prepares for epic levels.

Domains:

This is a place to coordinate with your deity and give your cleric flavor.

Some good choices are:

Sun and Healing with Pelor as a deity leads to the Radiant Servant of Pelor (or other sun god) Prestige class which is one of the most popular Prestige Classes available. (See Prestige Classes for details.)

Air and Water with Obad-Hai as a deity is good if you are not planning on any Prestige Classes. Turning Giants and Dragons will be rare due to their high hit points, other creature will turn fairly well. Try to speak Auran and Aquan to communicate with creatures you command. Spells are good, mostly using the water domain except for 2nd and 4th spells coming from the Air domain.

Luck and Travel with Fharlanghn as a deity is also good. All Travel spells are good, some are great, and Luck spells easily fill when needed. Both granted powers are very good as well.

If you have the healing domain, and can use the Player’s Handbook II, be sure and take the spontaneous domain option and choose the healing domain. This allows you to convert to Healing Domain Spells instead of cure spells and would prepares you for the Radiant Servant of Pelor Prestige class.

If you are playing Eberron, the Community Domain is very good with the 4th level spell Greater Status and a free 2nd level spell as a granted power.

Prestige Classes

Radiant Servant of Pelor (or other sun god) and the Sacred Exorcist Prestige classes (both found in Complete Divine) are among the very few prestige classes that do not drop clerical turning levels. Like spell levels, Clerical turning levels are something that should not be dropped lightly. Undead are all to common in the D&D world and their challenge rating assumes that the party has a cleric with them.

It is possible to combine both the Radiant Servant of Pelor and the Sacred Exorcist classes:
Cleric 6/Radiant Servant of Pelor 3/Sacred Exorcist 10

The reason to consider doing this is that empowered cure spells are equal or better than Maximized cure spells at higher levels and you can already maximize cure spells anyway. It seems about the time that Empower is starting to get better than Maximize is when the Radiant Servant Class switches from Empowered to Maximized.

The reason this happens is that empower spells multiply the whole spell amount not just the dice. So, cure serious wounds at twelfth level is 4d8+12= average of 30 hp x 1.5 = 45 hp. The same spell maximized is 44 hp. This is does not include Augment Healing which would make empowering a spell much better, but I am uncertain how a Game Master would rule on that subject.

Playing in Eberron.

Vigor spells used on Warforged only cure half of the Augment Healing bonus, but the fast healing should be completely unaffected by the Warforged’s resistance to cure spells.

Example, a 9th level cleric with the healing domain casts Vigor cast on a war forged. It would first heal 6/2=3 hp for the augment healing immediately then on each of the Warforged’s next 20 turns the Warforged has a ability like natural healing granted to it by the spell to heal 2 hp each turn. At the end of the spell, the Warforged has been healed of 43 damage by a third level spell. A Game Master might disagree with this, but it is an important point, so I would ask gently discuss the matter. Fast Healing affects vampires much different than cure spells, which gives you an example to discuss.
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Divine Religious Characters
In the Cleric Handbook, there was a request to see some Cleric builds without Divine Metamagic.
So I am posting another one.

Object of build:
Making a solid melee character using only core rules and not sacrificing anything clerical in nature. In other words, a player having access only to core rules wants to have a fighter type character, but the party needs a cleric, so he builds one without augmenting or decreasing anything in the cleric class.

Base Class Cleric
Why? Because that particular party needed one.

Books--Core Rules,
Why? Because sometimes that is all you are allowed to use.

Starting level 1 Why? Because most campaigns start low and a build for an epic character is going to look different than a low level build.

Race--Half Orc
Why? Because of the strength bonus and night vision

32 point buy is commonly used:

18 STR +4 (10 pts)
This gives the Cleric what this build needs the most, high melee damage. The extra carry capacity (100/200/300 lbs) is also quite welcome. If the point buy is below 32 decrease this to 16.

10 DEX +0 (2 pts)
This keeps the cleric from having a negative penalty on balance checks or armor class. If the point buy is above 32 increase this to 12.

14 CON +2 (6 pts)
This gives the cleric better concentration scores and better health. Buying a stat above 14 is too expensive to make this higher, and anything lower is counterproductive to this build.

10 INT +0 (4 pts)
Some skill points are essential, even if it is less than desired.

14 WIS +2 (6 pts)
This is an low as a wisdom score for a cleric should ever start with. At high levels you will be dependant on your Periapt of Wisdom to cast your highest spells.
1st -- 14 (level 1 spells) (+2 to spell DC)
4th -- 15 (level 2 spells) (ditto)
8th -- 16 (level 4 spells) (+3 to spell DC)
12th -- 17 (level 6 spells) (ditto)
15th -- 17 (cannot cast level 8 spells without a periapt of wisdom, but you certainly can afford)
16th -- 18 (level 8 spells) (+4 to spell DC)
17th -- 18 (cannot cast level 9 spells without a periapt of wisdom)
20th -- 19 (level 9 spells)

10 CHA +0 (4 pts)
Having a penalty in CHA or INT is never good for a cleric.

Skills

Concentration
Start at level 1 with 4 ranks. Keep increasing this skill every level until you reach the point where your total bonus is +(15+the level of the highest spell you can cast-1). This amount does change, so keep track of it. This allow you to use any concentration action on the defensive without provoking an attack of opportunity. The heal skill requires a total bonus of +14 to use defensively. For a cleric this is important because you will be in the middle of battles. People get hurt most often where the most danger lies.

Heal
Start at level 1 with 4 ranks. Keep increasing this skill until you have 12 ranks in it. This will allow you to defeat every type of known poison and disease without your healer’s kit or spells. Remove disease is a very expensive spell for a low level character to buy. Having a Healer’s Kit is always a wise idea for a healer. A healer’s kit only has 10 uses, so be careful not to use it when you do not need it. Outside of combat, taking 10 makes first aid automatically successful.

Knowledge (Religion)
Start at level 1 with 0 ranks. Use excessive skill points to increase this skill to 5 ranks. The first 5 ranks are essential for undead turning.

Feats

Martial Weapon Proficiency (Greatsword) gained as a first level feat.
This is probably the best weapon you can own. You could wait till 7th level and get this weapon as a Radiant Servant of Pelor, but that is a rather long time to wait and I am not using Complete Divine.

Power Attack gained as a third level feat.
Giving us the option to convert accuracy into damage which may not be wise at low levels. Would prefer to take Weapon Focus Greatsword first, but that delays Great Cleave for another 3 levels.

Cleave gained as a sixth level feat.
Heading towards Great Cleave

Great Cleave gained as an ninth level feat.
Now we can attack multiple opponents adjacent to us.

Quicken Spell gained as an twelfth level feat.
Quicker Buffs and spells while we melee fight.

Improved Critical (Greatsword) gained as a fifteenth level feat
By this time, we have a very expensive Greatsword
17-20, X2

Extend spell gained as an eighteenth level feat.
Making those great spells last a little bit longer

Domains:

This is a place to coordinate with your deity and give your cleric flavor.

Some good choices are:

Strength and Luck with Kord who favored weapon is the great sword.

Luck and Travel with Fharlanghn as a deity is also good. All Travel spells are good, some are great, and Luck spells easily fill when needed. Both granted powers are very good as well.

Prestige Classes

None

[Bullet06320]

Cleric Handbook FAQ


Q:If a cleric’s turning check results in a “Most Powerful Undead Affected” Hit dice of 0 or less, does that mean the cleric’s turn attempt failed, or is 1 HD always the minimum?
A:There is no minimum HD result of a turning check. If a 1st level cleric rolls a total turning check of 9 or less, he can’t turn any undead (since the most powerful undead affected would be 0 HD). In general, unless the rules specifically state that a minimum value exists, it doesn’t.

Q:How do I know when my cleric can prepare spells? Does he need to rest first?
A:Divine spellcasters who prepare spells (such as clerics and druids) choose and prepare their spells at a particular time of day. Unless the character’s deity or faith specifies a particular time, the character may choose his spell preparation time when he first gains the ability to cast divine spells. Dawn, dusk, noon, and midnight are common choices. If something prevents the character from praying for his spells at the proper time, he must
do so as soon as possible or else wait until the next day to prepare his spells. Unlike wizards, divine spellcasters need not rest before preparing spells.

Q:My DM says that my cleric has to drop his morningstar
to cast spells. Is he right?
A:Yes and no. To cast a spell with a somatic (S) component,you must gesture freely with at least one hand. (Player’s Handbook, page 140) A cleric (or any caster, for that matter) who holds a weapon in one hand and wears a heavy shield on the other arm doesn’t have a hand free to cast a spell with a
somatic component (which includes most spells in the game).To cast such a spell, the character must either drop or sheathe his weapon. Another simple option is for the cleric to carry a buckler or light shield instead of a heavy shield. The buckler leaves one hand free for spellcasting, and you don’t even lose the buckler’s shield bonus to AC when casting with that hand. The
light shield doesn’t give you a free hand for spellcasting, but since you can hold an item in the same hand that holds the light shield, you could switch your weapon to that hand to free up a hand for spellcasting. (You can’t use the weapon while it’s held in the same hand as your shield, of course.) The rules don’t state what type of action is required to switch hands on a
weapon, but it seems reasonable to assume that it’s the equivalent of drawing a weapon (a move action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity).

Q:Can a cleric Turn undead while under the effects of greater invisibility? Page 159 of the Player’s Handbook says only that the cleric must present his holy weapon to attempt to turn undead. Does “present” imply that the holy symbol must be visible or just held forth?
A:Concealment is irrelevant when determining whether a creature is affected by a turning check: “You don’t need line of sight to a target” (Player’s Handbook, page 159). Just as an invisible lich could be affected by a visible cleric, a visible vampire could be turned by an invisible cleric. It bears mentioning that turning or rebuking undead counts as an attack for the purpose of ending an invisibility spell. Of course, using a turn/rebuke attempt for some other purpose— such as powering a divine feat (see some examples in Complete Divine)—may or may not count as an attack, depending on the
effect of the feat.

Q:I assume that my lawful good cleric of a lawful neutral deity must opt to turn undead and not rebuke. If he later becomes lawful neutral, can he opt to start rebuking instead of turning? What if he then becomes lawful evil? What if he is a lawful good cleric of Wee Jas who becomes lawful neutral?
A:You can’t voluntarily change whether your character turns or rebukes undead. If your new alignment would require a change—such as a turning cleric who becomes evil, or a LG cleric of Wee Jas who becomes LN—the change is applied automatically.

Q:When a cleric has a temporary bonus to his Charisma score, does it affect his turning check or turning damage? Does it change the number of times he can turn or rebuke per day?
A:Unless otherwise stated, a temporary bonus to an ability score has the same effect as a permanent one. For example, a cleric with a temporary +4 enhancement bonus to Charisma (such as from eagle’s splendor) adds 2 to his turning check and D&D FAQ v.3.5 12 Update Version: 06/15/07 to his turning damage while the spell was in effect, since his Charisma modifier is 2 points higher than it was before. Things get a little stickier when talking about powers with daily limits, such as turn/rebuke undead or lay on hands. (Hold on, because this gets worse before it gets better.) In this case, a
change to the key ability score indeed affects the daily limit—in the example above, the cleric would gain 2 additional turn/rebuke attempts per day—but these aren’t just “free” uses. Here’s why:

Assume the cleric above has a normal Charisma score of 12, granting him 4 turn attempts per day (3 + 1 for Cha bonus). Casting eagle’s splendor increases his Charisma to 16, which would grant 6 attempts per day. At the end of the spell, however, his daily limit would drop back down to 4 attempts.
At that point, the player must compare the number of daily uses expended to the daily limit to see if any still remain.Here’s how that might work in play.
Our cleric turns undead twice, then casts eagle’s splendor right before a big fight with a horde of zombies. During the duration of the spell,
he makes four more turning checks. When the spell ends, he compares his new daily limit (4) to the number of attempts used (6)—whoops, no turns left. Hope all the undead have been destroyed, because even if the cleric cast eagle’s splendor again, he wouldn’t have any more turning attempts available, since he’s already used all 6 of his allotted attempts. If he could
increase his Charisma to 18, he’d “gain” one more turning attempt (since he has now used 6 out of his allotted 7 daily attempts), usable only during the duration of the Charismaboosting effect.
The same is true of the paladin’s lay on hands ability. If the paladin gains a temporary Charisma boost, her total capacity of healing via lay on hands improves accordingly, but she must keep track of the healing “used up” to see if any remains after the boost ends. Temporary ability reductions (such as penalties or damage) work similarly. When applying a reduction, do the math as if a bonus had just elapsed to see if any daily uses are left, and
reverse that when the reduction goes away to see what (if anything) the character regains. If our cleric above is hit by touch of idiocy and suffers a –4 penalty to Charisma, his daily limit of turning attempts is reduced from 4 to 2; if he’s already used 2 or more, he has none available as long as the spell’s
effect lasts. This seems more complicated than it actually is. As long as
you remember that the important number to track is not uses remaining, but uses expended, everything else should fall into place.

Q:Can a cleric/wizard lose a prepared wizard spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell?
A:No. The cleric or druid’s spontaneous casting option applies only to spells from the same class.

Q:Does the +1 caster level bonus from such domains as Good, Knowledge, and Law apply to all spells (of the appropriate school, subschool, or descriptor), to divine spells, or only to cleric spells?
A:Unless the domain’s granted power specifically states that it applies only to a limited range of spells, the bonus applies to all spells the cleric casts, regardless of their source.

Q:If a cleric commands a shadow, and that shadow then spawns other shadows, is the cleric also in control of the newly spawned shadows?
A:Strictly speaking, the cleric does not have “mental control” over any shadows spawned by the one he commands (and so on down the chain), since he didn’t use rebuke undead to command them. He can indirectly control these undead by issuing instructions to the one he does command, but if that creature isn’t present, the cleric would have no influence over
the newly spawned shadows. This trick shouldn’t allow a cleric to bypass the normal limits for commanded undead. The Sage sees two reasonable house rules for handling this situation:


1. Count these indirectly influenced undead toward the cleric’s limit of HD commanded (PH 159); relinquishing command of such a creature renders it no longer under control of its creator.
2. Rule that newly created spawn aren’t under the control of the commanded undead; they’re immediately free-willed.


Q:Is the Sacred Fist (a prestige class found in Complete Divine) supposed to wear armor? None of the class abilities are inhibited by wearing light armor, and as long as he’s wearing armor he might as well carry a shield, too, since he’d be losing his AC bonus only.
A:You’ve correctly determined that the sacred fist is allowed (even encouraged) to wear light armor. Whether or not a specific sacred fist wears light armor probably depends on what class features he might have from other classes. For instance, a sacred fist with monk levels (a strong likelihood) gives up his AC bonuses (including his Wis bonus to AC), his flurry of blows, and his fast movement. Still, for a sacred fist with only one or two monk levels, that might be worthwhile—his light armor’s AC bonus might make up for the lost AC bonuses from the monk class, and he hasn’t yet gained a speed bonus. As to whether the sacred fist might as well carry a shield, that’s
up to the character. Some sacred fists might prefer having their off hand free (such as for climbing). Also, a sacred fist’s AC bonus applies even against touch attacks, which is more than can be said for a shield’s bonus to AC.

Q:The text for synergy under the Diplomacy skill on page 72 of the Player’s Handbook states: “If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.” I’m assuming that means if a character has 5 ranks in Bluff,
Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Sense Motive that the character would receive only a +2 synergy bonus on Diplomacy checks. Or would the character receive a +6 synergy bonus (+2 for each)?
A:The bonuses listed in the synergy section of a skill description are unnamed and so they stack. (There’s no such thing as a synergy bonus in the current edition of the D&D game.) The character in your example would receive a +6 bonus on Diplomacy checks.

Q:What effect does the Augment Healing feat (Complete Divine, page 79) have on lesser vigor (Complete Divine, page 186) and similar spells?
A:Augment Healing adds twice the spell’s level to the total healing it provides. The simplest method is to have the spell apply the extra healing to the first round of fast healing. Thus, lesser vigor (a 1st-level spell) would cure an extra 2 hp of damage in the first round, for a total of 3 hit points. Each round thereafter it would heal the normal 1 hp of damage. Mass lesser
vigor (a 3rd-level spell) would cure an extra 6 hp of damage to each target in the first round (for a total of 7 hit points), and would heal 1 hp of damage each round thereafter as normal.

Q:Does the ability to spontaneously cast domain spells granted by the Domain Spontaneity feat (Complete Divine) fulfill the spell requirement of the reserve feats from Complete Mage?
A:Not technically. Since you don’t have a list of spells known, only a list of spells prepared and the ability to cast some spells spontaneously, having the ability to spontaneously cast domain spells that fulfill the requirements for reserve feats does not fulfill the reserve feat requirements.
That said, there’s probably no harm in allowing it, and an unflinching DM confident in his ability to challenge you at every turn may have no problem hand-waving the technicality away.

Q:Does the bonus to caster level from the Practiced Spellcaster feat (from Complete Arcane and Complete Divine) apply before or after other caster level bonuses (such as those from the Good or Healing domains)?
A:The bonus from Practiced Spellcaster applies whenever it would be most beneficial to the caster. A 4th-level cleric/4th level fighter with the Healing domain and Practiced Spellcaster would cast Conjuration (Healing) spells as a 9th-level caster (base caster level 4th, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +1 from the Healing domain). A 4th-level cleric/4th-level rogue with Practiced Spellcaster who activates a bead of karma (from a
strand of prayer beads) would cast her spells as a 12th-level caster (base 4, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +4 from bead of karma).

every few days someone need help to improve the Healing ability of his/her Cleric .... so here are some suggestions:


Tactics:

One solution that might help is to convince all these light-melee types to invest in vampiric weapons... They do an extra 1d6 damage, and heal their wielder for that amount. Extra damage and a bit of healing every round. It's not a complete solution, but it should slow down the rate they accumulate damage.

There's a reserve feat in Complete Champions that works with healing. I think it's 3 points of healing per level of the spell, or something like that. It only works as long as their below half their total, though. But, it's more or less unlimited healing. Keep your Heal in reserve and that's 18 hp per use.

In the PHB 2 there's two divine feats that provide healing. The first gives you a bonus per die of healing, the second just heals everyone in the area a small amount. It'll cost you feats, and turn attempts, but it's still a bit more healing.

As for items, there's lots that provide healing but the higher-end ones would get expensive. Like, a wand of Cure Critical Wounds is 21,000 gp, and that'd be the one most useful in-battle at your level. But, a wand of Cure Light Wounds is only 750, 375 if you make it yourself. That's a much better gp to hp ratio, but at that level is best used between battles... Maybe get the reserve feat for during, then the wand to finish patching up between.

An assortment of good, general-purpose buffs for the party would probably do wonders. Cast by you, cast by the other casters, or in the form of potions and/or defensive items. Less damage taken = less healing necessary.

Tactics are a good and cheap option. Limit the damage dealers' movement so they can be engaged at will. Tanglefoot bags work great on dragons and other low-dex creatures; anyone can throw them as long as they're not in melee. Dogpiling one of several opponents will often eliminate one source of damage quickly, thus reducing the total damage suffered. Slow spells and effects can shut down full-attackers.

AC buffs for those skirmishers are probably a good idea. Prayer and Recitation (CDiv) are good, since they penalize enemies and buff your allies. Haste from the wizard of course for offensive punch (especially when dogpiling) and slight AC bonus. Miss chances help too, but clerics don't usually get these.

And of course you can always cast save-or-suck spells on the bad guys. Blindness, Bestow Curse(touch), Blistering Radiance (CDiv), etc., are all pretty good.

BTW The Rod of Chain Spell for healing spells doesn't work, because the chained spell has to be ranged.
Chaining does not work on touch spells, so that one is out.

One idea that is a bit feat intensive: there is a feat in Complete Divine that lets you burn a turn undead attempt to maximize all cure spells cast for the next round. If you take quicken turning too, you can do that as a free action, then your cure spell both this round and next will be maximized.

Another idea is to cast stalwart pact so that the party members get temporary hit points, plus I think some damage reduction and save bonuses when their hit points drop below half.

Step one: Cast Shield Other on everyone (optionally, perhaps your DM would let you create a Ring of Friendship that links to multiple people rather than just one other).

Step two: Cast Delay Death or Fortunate Fate on yourself.

Step three: Cast your most powerful Vigor on yourself and be ready to go through a lot of healing spells.

You have effectively doubled the party's Hit Points and hopefully won't die in the process. If your DM allows the Ring of Mass Friendship idea then for goodness sakes DO NOT wear the master ring yourself. Let some other rear area party member (do you have an archer or someone who isn't in melee that you can stand next to and heal all battle long?) wear it and do steps two and three to them so that you, the cleric, doesn't go down if something unexpected happens (like the Delay Death from step two being dispelled when your at currently at -175 HPs).

Divine Metamagic (Chain or Reach Spell) + Metamagic Rod (Divine or Reach Spell). Add some way to maximize your Cure spells, like what Carnivore suggested. That lets you Chain a Maximized Cure spell 3/day. It is fairly expensive as far as feats and gold, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MadWand
In-combat healing is a completely different thing than out-of-combat healing. For in-combat, your best options are Heal and Insignia of Healing. Out of combat, a few Lesser Vigors, or perhaps a Mass Lesser Vigor, are very efficient. Buy several Pearls of Power 1 -- the entire party should chip in -- to cast Lesser Vigor as many times as you need. If you want a less flexible option, several Belts of Healing from Magic Item Compendium can help. For emergencies, a few wands of Cure Light Wounds or Lesser Vigor can provide cheap healing.

In combat healing is the most inefficient way to use your spell slots. If a party member is heavily injured he should flee and let the heavily buffed cleric step in.
Buff, buff like crazy and never heal. There is time for healing after combat is over (and use wands for that!).

I played in a group with no cleric, just a druid (me). I summoned, buffed (everyone) and tanked in combat, I never healed, and it worked like charm. Wands of CLW/vigor after combat would take care of the wounds.

If a maximized cone of cold puts down half of the group, smirk and buff yourself. A heavily buffed cleric can take the encounter on his own

Well, when the Triad asked CustServ about this, they said it applies as normal to the Fast Healing, but this is what the FAQ says.

What effect does the Augment Healing feat (Complete
Divine, page 79) have on lesser vigor (Complete Divine, page
186) and similar spells?
Augment Healing adds twice the spell’s level to the total
healing it provides. The simplest method is to have the spell
apply the extra healing to the first round of fast healing. Thus,
lesser vigor (a 1st-level spell) would cure an extra 2 hp of
damage in the first round, for a total of 3 hit points. Each round
thereafter it would heal the normal 1 hp of damage. Mass lesser
vigor (a 3rd-level spell) would cure an extra 6 hp of damage to
each target in the first round (for a total of 7 hit points), and
would heal 1 hp of damage each round thereafter as normal.

Could always use the same principle as I posted with a Healer, and with Magic of the Land, Augment Healing and Healing Hands with Cha 30, you could do a Heightened 9th Persistent Vigourous Circle that cures 18 (Augment) + 18 (MotL) + 10 (HH) + 6 (Fast + HR) for 52 Healing the first round and 6 for every round after that. It's still alot of Healing, but the feats are a waste if you're casting this every morning, or every night while you're on watch or whatever.
Prestige Classes:

Radient Servant of Pelor(CD)
Combat Medic(Heros of Battle)
Celestial Mystic(BoED)

Feats:

Mastery of Day and Night (Player's Guide to Eberron) Req: Knowledge(the Planes) 2 , Spellcraft 6, Maximize Spell, membership in manifest spellshapers
Spontaneously Maximize any Cure or Inflict spell you cast with NO spell level increase adjustment.

Sacred Healing (Complete Divine) Req: Heal 8, Turn Undead
Fast Healing 3 for 1+CHA rounds to all living creatures in a 60ft burst.

Augment Healing (Complete Divine) Req: Heal 4
Add +2 HP/spell level to every Conjuration [Healing] spell you cast

Elder Giant Magic (Secrets of Xen'drik) Req: Spellcraft 9, or Giant type
Increase casting time to gain +1 CL for each additional round spent casting the spell (max +3 CL)

Chosen of the Deathless (Magic of Eberron) Req: Aerenal Elf, Turn Undead
+2 to your Turn Check and Turn Damage, add +1 HP/spell level to every Conjuration [Healing] spell you cast

Touch of Healing(reserve feat) (Complete Champion)
Heal all your allies up to half their HP! Never buy a Wand of Cure Light Wounds again!

Smiting Spell(Lost Empires of Faerun)(+1spl lvl)...allows you to imbue any touch spell into a Weapon(even Amunition.. like Blunt Arrows(do non-lethal damage) ... then use Heal on a Blunt Arrow... and Shoot your buddy on the other side of the Battlefield .... he could even pretend that it hurt him even more(but in reality it would Heal Him)

Divine Ward which is pretty much Reach Spell at the cost of Turning attempts.

Spells:

Positive Energy Aura (Spell Compendium)
4th lvl Divine Spell
Personal Spell....thus it is Persistable
10' Rad Emanation
No Save/No Sr

All Living Creatures Gain +1 Hp/ 3Caster lvls(+5 Max) / Round
Undead take 2 Hp damage/round
this aura does not affect the caster

for ranged healing... try these:

Light of Venya3rd lvl (Book of Exalted Deeds, Spell Compendium) 3d6 vs undead, ranged healing (1d4+1/cl)

Light of Mercuria 2nd lvl (Book of Exalted Deeds, Spell Compendium)..lesser ranged healing and damage to undead

Close Wounds (Spell Compendium) 1d4 +1/CL damage healed as an immediate action - can be Chained!

[Bullet06320]

Healing stuff from another Thread A Player's Guide to Healing (And, why you will be Just Fine without a Cleric to heal):
http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1127121 thanks to LudicSavant for finding it
reposted below

originally posted by OneWinged4ngel
Healin'. Patchin' up the wounds. Sewing the Fighter's larynx back in after he took an arrow through the neck and lived and wanted to tell about it. Every player knows the drill. But oddly, a lot of players just use really... silly methods of going about healing themselves, and have some wild misconceptions about how to do it effectively and even how much of a priority it should be.

The Problems

Some players think they *have* to have a cleric or druid to cover the healing role, and place healing as an extremely high priority, even in combat, and even if they don't. Many even spend inordinate amounts of money on extremely inefficient healing items that may hurt them more than help them.

To summarize a few common issues:

•Players overprioritize healing in combat when there are more effective options available to them.

•Players spend too much money on healing, often spending wads of cash on things like potions of Cure Moderate Wounds.

•Players believe they can't heal efficiently without a Cleric or Druid or similar class in the party, and view such as an essential role, to the point where some even *force* others to play a Cleric or Druid just so that they can have a dedicated healer, and then downplay the extraordinary talents of those classes and belittle them to a mere healing role, making for an unenjoyable experience for the victim of this treatment.

•Many players just don't know how to get the best healing for their buck.

Some Information and Comparisons

1) an effort at dispelling some of the myths. First off, you should probably never be buying healing potions, perhaps with the exception of Cure Light Wounds or a similar level 1 spell. The reason for this is simple. The cost is exorbitant, and it's really not worth it. A Cure Serious Wounds potion will heal, on average, 18.5 hp, and it will cost you 750gp, and it will take either a standard or a full round action to use, and it will provoke AoOs unless you did some further investment to prevent that, and on top of that it probably smells bad and tastes bitter. Yuck. For the same price, you could have gotten a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (275hp total instead of 18.5hp), a Wand of Lesser Vigor (550hp total instead of 18.5gp), or a Healing Belt (Either 6d8 hp (average 27 hp) a day, or 18 hp (same as the potion!) per day if you burst heal, usable as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.)) Would you rather get 18 hp, or 18 hp per day? Now would you rather use a standard or full action that provokes AoOs, *and* need to draw the item, or would you rather use a standard action that doesn't provoke AoOs? And hey, wouldn't you like the option to heal even more for efficiency, outside of battle? There's even another option, this one for artificers, that costs a mere 50 gp a pop: Infuse an ally with Greater Healing armor. This will give them 6d8+30 total healing (3d8+15 as a swift action, usable twice). As an added bonus, it will even automatically heal you if you get knocked unconscious. The point is... potions are bad. Potions are inefficient. So are scrolls of Cure Moderate Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds, and so forth.

2) a dedicated healer is not a necessary combat role. Seriously.

3) healing often does not outpace damage. Moreover, removing an enemy a threat can often be much more effective at saving your allies' necks than going up and poking them with Cure X Wounds. If an enemy were to deal 50 damage to an ally, and you can take that enemy out by either disabling or killing them, then you've "healed" that ally of the 50 damage he would have taken. Additionally, as healing often does not keep up the pace with damage, even if you can't disable the enemy, healing the ally might not be good enough to save them. Instead, you might want to use an ability to help the ally escape, or block the enemy from attacking them (this can be something as simple as Benign Transposition, really). In fact, healing in combat is only situationally a good choice, and is often a subpar tactical option.

4) you can get very efficient out-of-combat healing quite easily without a Cleric or Druid, and indeed a Rogue, Artificer, Paladin, Ranger, Factotum, Warlock, or Bard could fill the healing role with a wand of Cure Light Wounds or Lesser Vigor. In fact, you can even get good, cheap burst healing comparable to the Cleric or Druid's ability at low levels with items like the Healing Belt.

5) the Artificer can prove to be a fantastic healer, cheaply (we're talking 37.5% market price here) turning out healing belts, wands of lesser vigor, and providing Greater Healing armor infusions (a mere second level infusion) at an early level. The Paladin and Ranger can use wands of Cure Light Wounds without penalty, and the others can use UMD to master the efficient wands. On top of that, members of *any* class can easily chip in with the very efficient Healing Belt.

These things considered, you really can get by without a Cleric or Druid. In fact, if you do have a Cleric or Druid, they're probably going to be more useful in most combats if they are doing something OTHER than healing, since they have considerable talents in many regards.

How to Heal Effectively
(Author's note: I have excluded a few very potent and efficient means of healing because things like the infinite-healing-for-cheap trap and other such things are just plain abusive, and few sane DMs will allow them)

•Blessed Bandages (10gp, MiC page 152): 10gp to automatically succeed to stabilize an ally. Can definitely save a friend at very low levels.

•Wands of Cure Light Wounds (750gp, Core): The hallmark of efficiency. These wands will dish out an average of 5.5hp a pop, and with 50 charges that will add up to 275 total healing. This wand gains an advantage over Lesser Vigor in two respects: Speed of use, and the fact that Lesser Vigor is a Cleric and Druid only spell, and thus is only available to those classes and UMD users, while Paladins and Rangers and the like will stick to Cure Light Wounds.

•Wands of Lesser Vigor (750gp, Spell Compendium Page 229): These are the most efficient healing wands around! You get 11 hp per pop (though it takes a full minute to gain that 11 hp), and you get a total of 550hp of healing for your 750gp.

•Healing Belts (750gp, MiC page 110): For 750gp, *anyone* can heal 6d8 hp a day, and even burst heal for 4d8 hp as a Standard action with a Touch range, and does not provoke attacks of opportunity like spells and scrolls. Also, with the MiC rules for adding common effects, you don't even need to worry about "keeping the slot free" anymore. You can actually just say, give one of these to everyone in a party of 5 for 30d8 healing per day, and just subsidize your healing costs. This is a great way to keep everyone alive at low levels. As if this weren't good enough, you get feel-good +2 bonus to Heal checks as a bonus.

•Artificers can heal very effectively with Greater Healing Armor (MiC page 12), dishing out 3d8+15 healing *twice* usable as a swift action, and even automatically healing a character should they fall unconscious. Best of all, this only costs you 50gp for a total of 6d8+30hp healing, and is available at a very low level.

•Wand of Faith Healing (Spell Compendium): It's kinda cheesy, but it's worth mentioning if your DM allows it. It's exactly the same as Cure Light Wounds, except maximized and only usable on people who share your faith (which can easily just be everyone in your party). I personally don't allow this spell as a DM.

•Touch of Healing (Reserve Feat, Complete Champion pg 62): This one is for the actual "healers." As long as you have a healing spell of second level or higher ready to cast, you can heal anyone up to half their total hp (but no higher, meaning you have to use more abilities to fully heal them) for free. Basically, for the cost of a feat, you get a lot of free healing.

•Summon Nature's Ally IV (Core): Summoning a Unicorn nets you a free set of 3 CLWs, 1 CMW, and a Neutralize Poison. It has a caster level of 5th, so that'll total 5d8+20 points of healing (and a neutralize poison). It's even something a druid can cast spontaneously. Not bad.

•Revivify (Cleric 5, Spell Compendium page 176): Revive your dead buddy for 1000gp as a standard action instead of for 5000gp as a much longer action, and best of all *no level loss.* A no brainer really. You just need to be quick about it, acting within 1 round of the victim's death!

•Revenance (Cleric 4, Paladin 4, Bard 6): This spell can target any character that died within 1 round / caster level of casting. The subject comes back to life (as if by Raise Dead except with no penalties) and is able to fight (with a +1 morale bonus on attack, damage, and saves against the person who killer her) for 1 minute per level, at the end of which the character dies again. The real seller here is that it has a wider window to cast than Revivify (1 round / level), and moreover the ally will die at the end of the spell (or after being killed again), often allowing you to use Revivify when it would otherwise be impossible (window passed) or too dangerous (in the middle of combat).

•Delay Death (Cleric 4, Spell Compendium page 63): As an *Immediate Action*, the ally becomes unable to die from hit point damage (they'll still fall unconscious, they just won't die.) This means that you can instantaneously cast this spell when a buddy takes their final hit, and they won't die for 1 round/level (during which time you can finish the encounter, then heal them up.) Can definitely be a lifesaver.

•Tomb Tainted Soul (Feat, Libris Mortis): This handy feat allows you to be healed by negative energy. This means that a living Dread Necromancer can heal you to full as much as she likes with Charnel Touch, and that you can heal yourself with things like Uttercold metamagiced spells and the like.

•Amulet of Retributive Healing (2000gp, MiC Page 69): This handy little doodad lets you double up on your healing 3 times per day. When activated (as a swift action) this amulet allows you to cure yourself of an amount of damage equal to however much you cured your buddy of. So, if you cast Heal on your ally, you can activate this item to use a free quickened Heal on yourself. Works with scrolls and everything, too.

•Collar of Healing (5000gp, MiC page 90): As an *Immediate action* once per day, heal your animal companion of 50hp and cures the Fatigued or Exhausted conditions. Keep your little buddy going. As an added bonus, it works at any range (as long as you're on the same plane), and lets you know your companion's exact hit point total at all times.

•Heal (Core): Heal is a great spell. It really is. It's the healing spell you actually might want to use in fights fairly often. It heals a ton of damage, and it takes away ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, sickened, stunned, and poisoned. A laundry list of status effects, some of which are quite deadly in their own right! However, Heal is not a necessary party role in and of itself! Again, you don't actually need *any* in-combat healing to have a highly effective party. Still, when you *do* have a Cleric or Druid around, there's no reason they shouldn't have this ready. If you don't have a Cleric or Druid around, you may want to consider a scroll or two of this for those few situations where you really do want a Heal (i.e., your buddy just got blasted for 100 damage and got stunned to boot).

•Divine Ward (Feat, PHB II): This feat will help out the "true healers," allowing them to use Close Range instead of Touch Range for their healing spells on one ally by spending your Turning attempts. You can get a similar results with Divine Metamagic (Reach Spell) (Which happens to be doubly useful for, say, a ranged Slay Living).

•Augment Healing (Feat, Complete Divine): Add +2 healing per level of the healing spell cast. Simple and effective for a dedicated healer, should you choose to get one.

•False Life (Sor/Wiz 2, Core):
Instead of taking up an action to heal during combat, take an action to heal up to 1 hour / level before combat ever happens! See also, Aid (Cleric 2, PHB)

•Empathic Transfer (Egoist 2, Psychic Warrior 2, XPH): This useful power is the standy of healing as a Psionic character. The method is a little unique as opposed to standard methods of healing, but it works just as well. You eliminate anywhere from 2d10 to 10d10 (depending on augment) hp of damage from an ally, and transfer half of that damage onto yourself. Combined with Vigor (Psion 1, Psychic Warrior 1, XPH), and Share Pain (Psion 2, XPH) both shared to your psicrystal through Share Powers, the temporary hit points will absorb all of the damage.

•Vigor (Psion 1, Psychic Warrior 1, XPH): This power giives you 5 temporary hit points per power point spent, lasting for a minute per level. It's like healing *before* you ever take damage, and lets you buff beforehand in order to avoid the need to heal in combat.

•Amulet of Tears (2300gp, MiC page 70): Another source of temporary hit points, this handy item stores 3 charges per day and grants temporary hit points lasting for 10 minutes based on the number of charges spent. For 1 charge, you gain 12 tmporary hit points, and for 3 charges grants 24 temporary hit points.

•Share Pain (Psion 2, XPH): This power transfers half of the damage dealt to you to a willing subject, and thus helps a good deal with damage mitigation. It lasts for an hour per level, so can last for a full day's worth of encounters, and a popular use is to combine it with a Vigor (Psion 1, Psychic Warrior 1, XPH) power shared with your psicrystal and make your psicrystal the subject, effectively doubling the effect of vigor and transferring a good deal of hp damage onto a target that is often a noncombatant.

•Shield Other (Cleric 2, Paladin 2, Core): This is much like Share Pain, except it deals half of an ally's damage to you, helping you to protect them. It also adds a +1 resistance bonus to saves and a +1 deflection bonus to AC for the target, as an added plus.

•Vampiric Touch (Sor/Wiz 3, Duskblade 3, Core): 1d6 damage per two levels, and gain temporary hp equal to the damage dealt. This spell is notable for combining offensive abilities and effective in-combat "healing" into the same attack. This spell is useful in spell storing weapons, or channeled through a Duskblade's "Arcane Channelling" ability. It is generally *not* a good idea for the average mage to run up into melee and try to touch an enemy with it, because the damage will be low and the temporary hp probably won't save you from a world of pain (unless you have other protective spells and such up).

•Bloodstone weapon enhancement (+1, page 29 MiC): Stores and casts Vampiric Touch just like a spell storing weapon, except that it's automatically empowered. Basically, this will deal extra damage on attacks equal to (1d6 per two caster levels)*1.5, *and* give the wielder of the weapon temporary hp equal to the damage dealt. Thus, you're adding to damage and to healing at the same time!

•Bodyfeeder weapon enhancement (+3 bonus, XPH): This handy enhancement will grant its wielder temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt by any critical hit he dishes out. With an expanded critical hit range, you can expect this to give a steady stream of temporary hp. This enhancement can be granted by an artificer spending a 3rd level infusion and a small amount of gp. (Note: Though "Wrathful Healing" is almost certainly more effective, it's much less likely to be allowed)


Good clerics, paladins and some neutral clerics can channel positive energy, which can halt, drive off (rout), or destroy undead. Evil clerics, and some neutral clerics, can channel negative energy which can halt, awe (rebuke), control (command), or bolster undead. Regardless of the effect, the general term for the activity is “turning.” When attempting to exercise their divine control over these creatures, characters make turning checks.

Turning Checks: Turning undead is a supernatural ability that a character can perform as a standard action. It does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You must present your holy symbol to turn undead.Turning is considered an attack.

Times per Day: You may attempt to turn undead a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. You can increase this number by taking the Extra Turning feat.

Range: You turn the closest turnable undead first, and you can’t turn undead that are more than 60 feet away or that have total cover relative to you. You don’t need line of sight to a target, but you do need line of effect.

Turning Check: The first thing you do is roll a turning check to see how powerful an undead creature you can turn. This is a Charisma check (1d20 + your Charisma modifier) that gives you the Hit Dice of the most powerful undead you can affect, relative to your level. On a given turning attempt, you can turn no undead creature whose Hit Dice exceed the result on this table.

Turning Check: 1d20+Cha Modifier
0 or lower Cleric’s level – 4
1–3 Cleric’s level – 3
4–6 Cleric’s level – 2
7–9 Cleric’s level – 1
10–12 Cleric’s level
13–15 Cleric’s level + 1
16–18 Cleric’s level + 2
19–21 Cleric’s level + 3
22 or higher Cleric’s level + 4

Turning Damage: If your result on the above table is high enough to let you turn at least some of the undead within 60 feet, roll 2d6 + your cleric level + your Charisma modifier for turning damage. That’s how many total Hit Dice of undead you can turn, starting with the undead nearest you. You may skip over already turned undead that are still within range.

Effect and Duration of Turning: Turned undead flee from you by the best and fastest means available to them for 10 rounds (1 minute). If they cannot flee, they cower (giving any attack rolls against them a +2 bonus). If you approach within 10 feet of them, however, they overcome being turned and act normally. (You can stand within 10 feet without breaking the turning effect—you just can’t approach them.) You can attack them with ranged attacks (from at least 10 feet away), and others can attack them in any fashion, without breaking the turning effect.

Destroying Undead: If you have twice as many levels (or more) as a turned undead has hit dice, you destroy that undead.[/INDENT]

what this means:
Skips Rules of the Game found here
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20050412a

Ways to Optimize Turning:

Some items give bonuses to the turn check, others increase your effective turning level ……there is a big difference. From the chart, you can see that once you can guarantee that you will get a 22 + on the turn check, it simply means that you will be able to turn something +4 lvls higher than your effective cleric level. Items that improve Cha checks will help this check.

However an item that grants +levels of effective turning affects the turn check and the turn damage.

The turn damage is affected by the effective cleric level, turn damage dice(generally 2d6), and only the Cha modifier itself. Items that improve Cha skills or Cha check do not affect this damage, certain items that increase the Cha score or spells that do …will help increase this damage.

Knowledge (religion)5 ranks gives a character a +2 unnamed bonus to Turning Checks.

When a domain gives the cleric a special turning ability (such as the ability to affect certain elemental creatures), his daily uses of that ability are in addition to any undead turning he can use for the day. He can use the Extra Turning feat to gain extra uses of both his special turning ability and his ability to affect undead (see the Extra Turning feat description). For example, if you have a cleric with a Charisma score of 14 and the Air domain, he can effect undead five times a day (3 + his Charisma modifier of +2) and he can affect earth or air creatures five times a day. If he takes the Extra Turning feat, he can affect undead nine times a day and he can affect earth or air creatures nine times a day. The greater turning ability from the Sun domain isn't an extra turning attempt (it simply changes how the cleric's undead turning ability works), and it's not subject to the Extra Turning feat.



Positive-energy channeling Cleric - Turn / Destroy Undead

Air Domain - Turn / Destroy Earth creatures
Earth Domain - Turn / Destroy Air creatures
Fire Domain - Turn / Destroy Water creatures
Water Domain - Turn / Destroy Fire creatures

Cold Domain (SC) - Turn / Destroy Fire creatures
Moon Domain (SC) - Turn / Destroy Lycanthropes

Different types of Rebuke / Command
Negative-energy channeling Cleric - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Undead
Dread Necromancer - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Undead

Air Domain - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Air creatures
Earth Domain - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Earth creatures
Fire Domain - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Fire creatures
Water Domain - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Water creatures
Plant Domain - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Plant creatures

Cold Domain (SC) - Rebuke / Command Cold (not Bolster) creatures
Scalykind Domain (SC) - Rebuke / Command (not Bolster) animals (reptilian creatures and snakes only)
Slime Domain (SC) - Rebuke / Command (not Bolster) Oozes
Spider Domain (SC) - Rebuke / Command (not Bolster) Spiders

Warforged Domain (FoE) - Rebuke / Command / Bolster Constructs

Initiate of Nature feat (PGtF) - Rebuke / Command Animals or Plant creatures


Deathless Domain (ECS) - 1/day Greater Rebuke (Command) a creature with the Deathless type

Cleric 1 substitution level (Dragon Magic) - replaces Turn/Rebuke Undead with Rebuke / Command Dragons, some restrictions apply, based on alignment compatibilities

Paladin 4 substitution level (Dragon Magic) - replaces Turn/Rebuke Undead with Rebuke / Command Dragons, some restrictions apply, based on alignment compatibilities

Note that certain templates *greatly* open up potential for Command abuse.

For instance, low-level Constructs are pretty thin on the ground. A 1st level Cleric with Improved Turning (and thus able to Command a 1 HD Construct) is limited to Commanding up to 2 Small Animated Objects, 4 Tiny Animated Objects, 2 Tatterdemanimals* (MMII), 2 Half-Golems (Flesh, Clay, Stone or Iron) 1st level Warriors (MMII), 2 Warforged Scouts (MM3), 2 Warforged (MM3), 2 Crawling Claws (MoF), 2 Dedicated Wrights (ECS), 4 Expeditious Messengers (ECS) or 2 Furtive Filchers (ECS).

But note that you can add the Construct type to just about any living creature via the Elder Eidolon (LoM) or Half-Golem (MMII) templates, which are insanely expensive, so don't even think about it! Much more acceptable is to use the Dustform (Sandstorm) or Raggomoffyn 'Captured One' templates (MMII)! Tatterdemanimals and Raggomoffyns are especially fun, since they can take over and 'Constructify' different creatures, depending on your needs.

Similarly, if you have the Plant Domain, or the Initiate of Nature feat, you will be underwhelmed by the selection of Plant-based critters, with the Yellow Musk Creeper (FF) coming to your rescue, allowing you to add the Plant sub-type to all sorts of critters. Unfortunately, Yellow Musk Zombie template creatures don't live long, so the effects are, in the words of Beaker, sadly temporary.

Finally, if you can Rebuke / Command Dragons, the Half-Dragon template changes the base creature to the Dragon type, so your Dragon Command Cleric (w/ Improved Turning) isn't limited to waiting until 3rd level to try his luck with Pseudodragons and Crested Felldrakes (MMII), the only 2 HD Dragon type critters around. By 5th level (assuming Improved Turning, and the right alignment), you should be able to Command Wyrmling White, Fang (Draconomicon) or Sand (Sandstorm) Dragons, and who knows if a Wyrmling Dragon is old enough to knock up a Hobgoblin. Good luck with that. One or both of them is gonna have to be pretty drunk...

Even 'loser' Command Domains, like Scalykind and Spiders can benefit from template goodness. Magebred (ECS) goes nicely on any reptilian animal or snake, and Warbeast (MMII) can be applied to reptilian animals, snakes and even spiders. If you are going to be stuck with Vipers for minions, they might as well be top of the line Faerunian Two-Headed (MoF) Magebred Warbeast Vipers!

And theres the stuff I like to call 'broken;'

Got the fluffy Air Domain? Sure, your 5th level (Improved Turning) Command Cleric could make do with a pair of Juvenile Arrowhawks, or Dust or Air Mephits, or even Sulphur Mephits (Sandstorm), but you could also Command a Sylph or two (MMII) *each of which is also a 7th level Sorcerer!* Oh, and they can cast Summon Monster VI 1/day to summon a Large Air, Earth, Fire or Water Elemental, 'cause that's what your 5th level Cleric needs, some 8 HD Elementals to pinch-hit during a crisis.

How about those Slime (FRCS or SC) or Thirst (Sandstorm) Domains? Ooh, you can Rebuke / Command Oozes. Quiver before my terrible Gray Oozes or Aballin (MoF) that I can't get before 5th level anyway, even with Improved Turning. Oh wait, Living Spells (MM3) are Oozes... HD based on CL means that a 1st level spell, cast at 1st CL, would be a 1 HD Ooze, and with Improved Turning, I could Command a couple of them, such as the 1 HD Sickening Sleep listed in the book or one based off of Burning Hands or Color Spray or something. Suddenly, Slimes are fun!

With the right Domain(s) and Improved Turning your 1st level Cleric can have a pair of 1 HD 'companions' that will make the Druid green with envy. With Rebuke / Command Undead and Divine Energy Focus, he could even have a pair of 2 HD undead as well!


Disciple of the Sun (Complete Divine)
Divine MetaMagic (Complete Divine)
Divine spell Power (Complete Divine)
Divine Shield (Complete Warrior)
Divine SpellShield (Races of Stone)
Divine Cleansing (Complete Warrior)
Divine Damage Reduction (Races of Stone)
Divine Energy Focus (Ghostwalk)
Divine Might (Complete Warrior)
Divine Resistance (Complete Warrior)
Divine Vigor (Complete Warrior)
Domain Spontaneity(Complete Divine)
Elemental Healing (Complete Divine)
Elemental Smiting (Complete Divine)
Empower Turning (Complete Divine)
Extra Turning (Player's Handbook)
Faith in the Frost (Frostburn)
Glorious Weapons (Complete Divine)
Heighten Turning (Player's Handbook)
Improved Turning (Player's Handbook)
LightBringer (Player's Guide to Faerun)
Profane Boost (Complete Divine)
Profane lifeleech (Libris Mortis)
Profane Vigor (Libris Mortis)
Quicken Turning (Complete Divine)
Roots of the Mountain (Races of Stone)
Sacred Boost (Complete Divine)
Sacred Vengence (Libris Mortis)
Sacred Vitality (Libris Mortis)
Sacred Healing (Complete Divine)
Serenity(Dragon 306) It requires the Divine Grace ability, and allows (among other things) a character to use Wisdom instead of Charisma for turn attempts
Spurn Deaths touch (Libris Mortis)

Epic Divine/Turning Feats
Divine Infusion (Epic Insights)
Enhance Turning (Epic Insights)
Epic Divine Might (Epic Insights)
Epic Divine Resistance (Epic Insights)
Epic Divine Vengeance (Epic Insights)
Epic Divine Vigor (Epic Insights)
Ignore Turn Resistance (Epic Insights)
Intensify Turning (Epic Insights)
Invoke Divine Wrath (Epic Insights)
Multiturning (Epic Insights)
Negative Energy Burst (Epic Level Handbook, CD)
Planar Turning (Epic Level Handbook)
Positive Energy Aura (Epic Level Handbook, CD)
Spellchanneling (Epic Insights)
Spell Siphoning (Epic Insights)
Undead Mastery (Epic Level Handbook, CD)
Zone of Animation (Epic Level Handbook, CD)
epic insights archive link
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ei

[Bullet06320]

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=605481

Cleric 1

Not much to choose from at this level. There is Light of Lunia and Lantern Light. Both tend to do 1d6 damage, and have multiple rays, with ranged touch attacks. They're okay... Lantern Light can be fired immediately, and Light of Lunia is more a provisional thing that you cast before combat. Neither one really scales to do a lot of damage.

However ...... Lantern Light has a far longer duration, and can do damage as a Ranged touch Attack each round, thus at higher levels this 1st lvl spell can even do 20d6 total over 20 rounds

Cleric 2

Spirtual Weapon: The core choice, also in a few domains have this. not really all that great... 1d8 force damage + 1 per three caster levels... ugh, very low damage.

Sound Burst: also core, is like a 1d8 damage soundball that is resisted by spell resistance, and fortitude save prevents them from being stunned.. not all that great either.

Deific Vengeance: Not bad at all... 1d6 per two caster levels up to 5d6, or 1d6 per caster level up to 10d6 if the target is undead. Autohits one enemy too! Nice spell.

frost breath: a cone spell at level two thats not bad. 1d4 per two caster levels up to 5d4, with an extra ability too. the serpent spell is better

light of mercuria: a good way to do a quick sorta-buff ahead of a combat that also gives light and can do damage. ranged touch attack

alicorn lance: nice spell for very low levels. 3d6, and a secondary effect, no matter what, as a ranged touch attack! Nice!

lava missile: like a divine magic fire-based missile, always hits. 1d4, plus one missile more every two caster levels. maximum of 5 missiles, and has a save for half damage. not bad for that cloistered cleric who can't make the ranged touch attacks easily. versus one creature.

boneblast: an evil spell that breaks bones, doing a low amount of constitution damage, with a save. not bad if you want to really lower the con of something and dont mind being evil. vs. one creature.

dessicate: 1d6 per two caster levels up to 5d6, and also does dehydration damage! woohoo, AWESOME spell, since dehydration damage is so difficult to cure.. does great damage, too! a winner. autohit one creature.

knife spray: a really crappy cone spell that only does 1d6 + 1 to 1d6+ 5 damage. ugh.

spores of vrock: a really gross spell that isn't all that useful... does damage to things around the caster, a 1d8 immediately, and 1d2 over the next few rounds. ehhh...

darkbolt: this is a really powerful spell.. an evil spell worth being evil to use! 1d8 per two levels up to 5d8, with a secondary effect as well? ranged touch attack. yes please!

sun bolt: a pretty nice spell. does 2d6 damage, and more to a many types of creatures, and has better secondary effects than Alicorn Lance. ranged touch attack vs. one creature.

venemous volley: a nice 1d6 per two caster levels up to 5d6 spell, in the shape of a cone, which means it can hit multiple targets. Especially good if you are going to follow up with some sort of poison.

Cloud of knives: your first persistable "do damage every round" spell... this one, as written, can last for 24 hours if you persist it, even if it might seem a little wierd. Intimidate people by having knives point in whatever direction you look! plus, you can launch one each round as a *free action*. Neato! It only does 1d6 damage + 1 per three levels, maxing at +5, but thats still free damage you wouldn't otherwise get! edit: now in phb II

What wins? Cloud of knives if you can persist it, Darkbolt if you are evil, venemous volley if you want to do a cone, alicorn lance if you are about level 3 or want a cheap wand, deific vengeance if you are up against undead, dessicate if you want something that autohits one enemy and makes them easier to fight.

Cleric three spells...

Alright. lots to figure out -- which is best? we'll see as I go through them then edit this post.

Searing light... 1d8/two levels, more against undead. Not bad. great core spell

Darkfire... THIS IS PERSISTABLE!!! great fire attack, great for a cloistered cleric that has low BAB, and wants to get a lot of touch attacks, ranged or melee, out of a single spell... Kinda like snilloc's snowball, but clerical and much, much more powerful. a good choice. The first of a nice series of persistable spells that completely unbalances a cleric versus say, a warlock...

Energy vortex... eh... it could be useful IF you are willing to take the damage it does... in that situation, and especially if you need to do elemental type of damage, its okay, but on its own, not really.

Light of venya can be used to attack one round AFTER you cast it... and, because of that, it gets low marks for me. I want to do damage immediately, not a round later... tahts why I dont like the light series of spells... if, however, you know you will get into combat in the next few minutes, or you can extend it and have it last a nice long time and THEN be used in combat, its good..

Slashing darkness... like searing light, but negative rather than positive energy, and heals undead. good spell, you should choose either it or searing light, but usually not both -- ones to harm undead, the other to heal..

energize potion: god this spell sucks. never use it.

sword stream suffers from not rolling enough dice to do a lot of damage... i think this spell could have been written better...

clutch of orcus... does lots of damage, now that it got reprinted. very evil though, and they get lots of saves.

mystic lash... a ranged touch attack but a close ranged attack... not what we are looking for... and the damage isnt great either...

axiomatic/anarchic/holy/unholy storm: this does 2d6 damage against the opposed alignment per round, up to the caster level of rounds, with a few other effects... not bad, if you can keep the enemy creatures in the storm and dont mind the other, minor effects.

Rockburst is interesting because it has tactical use on the battlefield, so that's one you should keep a scroll of, but for actual damage, its pretty low...

Ring of blades is okay, it does damage to all the creatures around you... put it on a scroll, its only useful if you are in a war situation where you are going up against a lot of mooks... in that situation, persist it and run around the battlefield dealing death to loads and loads of mooks!

Spiritual Charger is interesting, in that it's critical hit can deal triple damage, and it is a ranged attack, not a ranged touch attack... if you have divine power (and thus have a high bab) up, you might want to consider it... it doesn't have a saving throw... its of limited utility...

Furnace within: this is a nice spell.. have it prepared and you get + 1 fire damage all day, until you cast it. Not bad! It does a good bit of damage too, and, unlike most fire spells... actually damages stuff and sets combustibles on fire! woohoo! Turn yourself into a nice little fireball!

Irian's Light is of limited use. It's basically a Searing Light that does a bit less damage to undead, can fire at multiple undead, and heals instead of harming people. Eh, unless I need the multiple targeting or the ranged healing, I'd go with Searing Light.

what is the winner at this level? DARKFIRE, if you persist it! That gives your cleric a ranged touch attack and a touch attack usable ALL DAY LONG! Woohoo! Next is Furnace Within, but you have to be a dwarf. good thing is, for many cleric builds, that is not a problem!

Fourth Level

Hopefully some of those will be somewhat fireball-ish, cause the cleric is really needing something like that...

Hypothermia is nice, like Sound Lance, but can't be dispelled by silence and also fatigues the enemy... also has fortitude for half damage. Does less damage than Sound Lance, though.

Moon Bolt is nice in that it does *strength damage* and autohits, which is very, very nice.

Sound Lance: A good spell to put on a wand, great 'attack one enemy' spell, does 1d8 per caster level up to 10d8. not bad. An update to the 3rd level "Sonic Lance".

Divine Storm is an interesting concept, but is a bit low damage... its a spell that causes a certain area to continuously do damage to beings within it... useful as a deterrant to keep beings from entering an area you don't want them to go, which is nice battlefield control. Pity that its duration is concentration. It can be persisted, though, so if your cleric wants to create some no-mans-land, it will work for that, just do a few castings of that rather than your normal persistant stuff..

Venom bolt... here we go... a nice tactical spell that can affect a large group of beings... just try to do something to get them all in a line, and you'll be golden...its also got a nice secondary effect...

Damning Darkness: If you are evil, cast it on a stone or something and throw the stone in the middle of your enemies, and you have an anti-neutral and anti-good fireball that lasts quite a long time. Pity there isnt a good version of this with light at cleric 4. Celestial brilliance is sort of it, but that only works against undead and evil outsiders, which means its much too narrow for most use.

Stars of Arvandor are okay -- its a spell that, like snilloc's snowball, can do damage over time with multiple ranged touch attacks. Unfortunately, for a level 4 spell, the damage is *pitiful*.. even if you spend 3 stars a round. And its not really worth persisting like the 3rd level ones or other ones either...

Shark Bolt is just a silly spell. It has a description that lasts forever and doesn't seem to do ranged touch attacks, and the idea of floating sharks made of water is just kinda silly to me. Ehhh...

Boccob's Rolling Cloud... ahh... pay dirt... A NICE fireball alternative, that does loads of damage and of great types too!

Primal Lightning affects multiple undead, and deals good damage to them... but it ONLY affects undead... however, if you need a good undead damaging spell at this level, Primal Lightning is where its at.

Ice cloud can only be used on an existing cloud, and is really only good for flight-based encounters, or *maybe* making an existinc "cloud of ___" that's been cast more deadly.

Bleakness is a very evil spell that does 1d6 damage per round to living things, and helps undead... its great if you want to put undead in a room and have them be stronger while they are in the room, if you have it persisted... unfortunately, you can't have this effect *move with you*, which limits its offensive use being persisted. still, its a nice deterrant to have anything living not want to go into a particular area...

What wins here? Boccob's Rolling Cloud, hands down... the cleric finally has a major area of effect big damage spell that can be put on a wand... Muahahahah! Plus, it can be made by a wizard at the same level as a fireball, so it follows the same prices as, say, a wand of fireball... but a cleric can use it! Unfortunately, it, and the 5th level spell, Disk of Concordant Opposition, while great spells, depending on your DM, may only be available to clerics of Boccob. Check with your DM for answers. The cleric also has great spells to put on a wand at high level for blasting one enemy at a time -- hypothermia and sound lance. Finally, for a very evil cleric, bleakness has some nice tactical options...

Fifth Level...

Flame Strike, Mass Inflict Light Wounds, Dragon Breath, Earth Reaver, Boreal Wind, Frostbite, flaywind burst, parboil, blight, Stonefire, Streamers, Spiritual Cavalry, Lava Splash, and Disk of Concordant Opposition.

Flame strike: What a wonderful core spell we have here. Finally something not from Dragon that can be considered a decent, high-damage fireball. 1d6/caster level up to 15d6.

Mass Inflict Light Wounds: Very low damage for this level, but it is an attack to use on mooks... I would use other, lower level spells to do the same thing, however.

Dragon Breath: OH DEAR LORD, THIS IS PERSISTABLE. nice nice *nice*... a 5th level spell slot and 7 turn attempts to be able to breathe a 15 foot cone of fire (1d8/2 levels up to 10d8, reflex save for half) once every 1d4 rounds? SOLD!! ... I found an interesting combo with this in Dragon 308. There is a cleric 3 spell, also persistable, called "Deadly Spray", that lets you use lightning bolt spells and breath weapons either as the line or as a cone, increasing their tactical utility... with this spell, and using dragon breath as a bronze, black, or blue dragon, you can use cone or line, your choice... VERY nice... unfortunately, you need a feat to be able to get this spell, but the DM might waive that..

Earth Reaver: A good, easy to get spell thats a 'point at a spot and creatures in a 20 radius spread take damage' spell, making it a nice fireball-type. Solid, and a bigger radius than flame strike. Both are good. This doesnt scale.

Boreal Wind: A good scaling spell that does many 1d4 per caster level of damage, and lasts more than one round, continuing to do that damage to any creatures in the area of effect.

Frostbite: A powerful "do lots of damage to one creature" spell... but needs clarification, it says fortitude half, but the text description doesn't mention that. also, though powerful, it doesnt scale. It does ability damage, though.

Flaywind Burst: Good direct damage cone spell, more pure damage than Dragon Breath, and scales better per level than that. Only one big attack, though. Doesnt scale as much or do as much damage as flame strike or disc of concordant opposition.

Parboil: Almost exactly like Frostbite, and offers an insight into what Frostbite should read like... Frostbite should probably read that creatures inside take half ice damage and no ability damage... Parboil and Frostbite are two sides of the same coin, great non-scaling spells that have a chance to do a large amount of ability damage.

Blight: Useful only for attacking plant creatures if used as an attack spell. Good at that, though. 1d6/level up to 15d6.

Stonefire: Burns away stone and does damage to things near to it... eh... tactically good, if you need to cause a cave in, but not for direct damage.

Streamer: This is okay if you have Divine Power up to get a full BAB, since it isnt a touch attack spell -- its useful to make enemies either stop doing anything, making you get free hits in on them, or do them direct damage via the streamers. I wouldnt use it if I didnt have Divine Power up, though, and only if I can get at least two streamers on one thing...

Spiritual Calvalry: A better version of Spiritual Charger, can also knock prone and trample... if I had divine Power up, I would consider using this. I think this is better than Streamer.

Lava Splash: The other side of the coin to Boreal Wind. Both are good. They do about the same thing.

Disk of Concordant Opposition: The only spell other than Flame Strike at this level to do 1d6/caster level up to 15d6. Nice.

Winner: This one depends a bit on what you want to do... Some of the spells scale, some of them don't. In my opinion, most of the scaling ones are probably ultimately better, since they retain their utility. Its surprising that the spells that do the highest damage that scale the most is the core spell. Hmmm... I would suggest sticking with the 1d6/caster level up to 15d6 as well as the ones that do something else, like ability damage or knocking something prone. However, persisting Dragon Breath gets you a WHOLE LOT, and that should definitely be done! Especially if you can persist Deadly Spray and then choose the breath of a Bronze Dragon, for example.

Sixth Level

Blade Barrier is a good spell that does stuff similar to knife spray and sword stream, but actually REALLY GOOD damage this time, instead of being crappy, and plus, it has more description of the spell, so it can help you figure out how the other spells work.

Mass Inflict Moderate Wounds: Eh, okay, but doesnt deal enough damage to be really good.

Bolt of Glory: Hell yea, scales up to 15d12 damage against the right thing! WOOHOO, talk about all that damage!

Cometfall: A higher level version of Flame Strike, as near as I can tell. As such, that is a good thing.

Ice Flower: Like Earth Reaver, but scales! Woohoo!

Lucent Lance: NICE spell... not just does damage, but also gives a secondary effect... which is important at this level.. it needs a focus of a crystal rod to be cast, so what do you do? Simply put Continual Flame on that crystal rod! does 1d6 per caster level up to 15d6 in bright light, and 1d4 per caster level up to 15d4 in shadowy light...

Mass Frostburn: Only 3d12 + 1/level up to 20... eh, useful for curing cold subtype, but not much else

Mass Dessicate: Good if you want your enemies to be dessicated, which is always useful, but it doesnt do much damage by this level.

Whirl of Fangs: An interesting take on Blade Barrier, with newer rules for it. Nice.

Cloud of the achaierai: Difficult component, but long lasting and causes confusion. Evil, of course.

Thousand Needles: Lasts a long time, gives a pretty big penalty for a while, but does low damage. Evil, of course.

Fiery Vision: THIS IS PERSISTABLE... hehehehe... another damage spell that you can have on all day! Woohoo, with persistant divine metamagic, you can BREATHE ELECTRICITY AND HAVE EYE RAY BEAMS ALL DAY LONG!!!

Serpent Storm: Nice fireball-ish spell that lasts a while, does 1d6 per 2 levels, presumably up to 10d6...

Persistant Fiery Vision + Persistant Holy Star + Persistant Dragon Breath = mobile artillery platform... dear god... I've made Godzilla... just need to polymorph into a Dragon Turtle...

Seventh Level

Distruction, Blood to Water, Holy Star, Wretched Blight, Righteous Smite, Plague, Pulse of Hate, and Righteous Burst. Let's take a look at these spells...

Destruction: Oooh, a save or die spell. Finally we have one of those! Use it against things that won't make a fortitude save easily.

Blood to Water: Nice for dealing constitution damage. It's been a while since we had a spell that dealt ability damage, and constitution is always nice.

Holy Star: A wonderful persistable spell! It can do lots of things, including an attack that can be done as a free action.

Wretched Blight: Does a LOT of damage... 1d8 per caster level up to 15d8 is nothing to sneeze at! evil, of course

Righteous Smite: I like the good version of this better than the evil version, Wretched Blight... The good version does 1d6 per caster level up to a massive 20d6, and, against some creatures, does 1d8 up to a heroic 20d8!! WOOHOO!! It's good to be good!!

Plague: You give something a disease unless they make a fortitude save. How delicously evil! It can do all sorts of ability damage, which is very useful.

Pulse of Hate: This very evil emanation is centered on you! And it can be persisted! there is a will save for it and spell resistance works for it, but it does 2d6 points of unholy damage per round specifically to enemies.

Righteous Burst: This is a very useful spell! It heals your allies a fair amount and damages your enemies for a good amount too! its a good spell that doesnt do a whole lot of damage or healing for the level, but its good that it does both.

What wins: Holy star or pulse of hate for persistable stuff, and the wretched blight or righteous smite set of spells for doing direct damage.

Eighth Level

earthquake, fire storm, bodak's glare, heat drain, lion's roar, and stormrage

Earthquake: Made for doing damage to structures, made for causing massive changes to landscape, or killing a lot of mooks... not great for direct damage of high level characters unless you can trigger something special as part of the story, as a DM may very well do.

fire storm: for creating a LARGE amount of flame that scales up to 20d6... nice nice spell. Finally something that goes up to 20d6 for a large area. Though, if you have lots of metamagic, some level-increased lower level spells may do more damage.

bodak's glare: very evil save or die spell that can create a bodak as the being raises. the enemy would need to make a fortitude save to resist.

heat drain: causes a big cold burst that only hurts the living thats centered on you that scales up to 20d6 that gives you temporary hit points . Not a bad spell, if you find yourself surrounded.

lion's roar: huuuuuuuuuge area of effect... this is made to use in the middle of a large scale battle, and it does a wonderful job in that case

stormrage: THIS CAN BE PERSISTED. woohoo!! this is an *awesome* spell, and is great to add to your list of attack spells that can be persisted. unfortunately, it will need a DM's ruling for speed and manueverability.. the old version said it gave you speed and manueverability as the fly spell, but the DM could just say that you cant fly with this, in which case you use one of your OTHER persistant spells to fly...

Ninth level!

implosion, miracle, and storm of vengeance, end to strife

implosion: a nice fortitude-save-or die spell

miracle: ahh, miracle. What is there to say but troll for the most powerful 7th level spells available to anything whatsoever and use it with that if you want an attack spell

end to strife: What a spell! It's not even an especially good spell or exalted spell or anything... just get your allies something that prevents them from being affected by mind affecting spells, like mind blank, and go to town, knowing that any enemy that tries to attack takes 20d6... its even persistable!! just have your wizard cast a mind blank on the greatest damage doer while you cast a persistant end to strife... he follows you around, killing everyone that doesnt attack that's your enemy!



Divine Defiance
( Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, p. 83)
for those wanting better divine counterspelling


I just emailed Customer Service about Divine Defiance, and apparently its automatically counterspells any spell or spell-like ability, they also said you can use Greater Dispel Magic in conjunction with the feat.


Discussion Thread
Response (Support Agent) 11/17/2007 12:18 PM
XXXX,

Thank you for writing. The spell is automatically dispelled by this feat when used. Logically a prepared Greater Dispel Magic would qualify you for using this feat, but in the end any other dispels would have to be cleared by your DM.

Please let me know if you need anymore help!

Good Gaming!

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Rob
Customer Service Representative
Wizards of the Coast
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Customer (XXXX) 11/16/2007 02:56 PM
Does this divine feat require you to roll a counter spell check in order for it to work? Or it is automatically counterspell when the feat is activated?

Also does this feat work in conjunction with Greater Dispel Magic? and other Dispel Magic spells such as Slash Dispel and so on?

********************
Page Number: 83
Book Name: Fiendish Codex II




originally posted by darkdragoon

Why settle for a wooden one when you can have enough bling to make Pelor ask for sunglasses?

Reliquary Holy Symbol , MIC:
Gain up to 3 turn attempts.

Flametouched Iron Holy Symbol , Eberron CS:
+1 to turning level

Greater Holy Symbol, Defenders of the Faith:
Empower Turning

True Holy Symbol, Planar Handbook
+2 sacred to turn check


Deity-specific Holy Symbols, Complete Champ
Ruby Skull of Wee Jas etc: +1 CL to certain spells, may have other bonuses depending on deity.


Devoted Spirit Amulet, ToB
According to the description, "Some double as holy symbols"


Sanctify Armor, Shield and Sanctify Armor , Dungeonscape:
Turns your shield or armor into a divine focus.


Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, Expedition to Castle Ravencroft:

Legacy item; bonuses to turning etc.

Eberron Shard Holy symbol, Magic of Eberron:

rebuke beings of a chosen plane


Khyber Shard Holy Symbol, Magic of Eberron:

gives you elemental turning (pick one)


WOW, that thread was a mess, cleaned it up a bit too, found a few of the broken links, but its still hap hazard a little

[LudicSavant]

You should make sure to credit all of the people who wrote the threads. Some of the sections don't have attributions. At least one credits the person who "saved" the thread instead of the person who wrote it.

[Bullet06320]

I see one spot where I need to do that, the original poster was actually 2 people, carnivore and PhoenixInferno, I did notice that, thanks for reminding me, and as far the one that saved the link, there wasn't a name attached to it, just a broken link, if you know the original author let me know, I will credit him

made a note at the top, and I believe I did give everyone proper credit after double checking, anything not specifically quoted is from the OP

[LudicSavant]

I believe I did give everyone proper credit after double checking, anything not specifically quoted is from the OP

I haven't checked the whole thread, but the one that jumped out at me is that you didn't credit the Player's Guide to Healing. Searching "Player's Guide to Healing" on google gives this as the first result:

http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1127121

Instead you have it listed as "saved by carnivore."

[Bullet06320]

I listed it as saved, because it was a broken link attached in the original thread I was working from, I forgot to try searching for that one
but I changed it to reposted by carnivore, and credited the original author, thanks for finding that one, also means one more post saved with out having to try, lol