valepu
2016-10-27, 09:36 AM
Hello,
I have recently started a new character at level 12 and i decided to make a cleric archer. Although i know (even though i'm not a cleric expert) clerics are much better in melee rather than with ranged weapons i wanted to try one nonetheless but i feel it being a bit lackluster at the moment.
Let me say in advance i read some posts here and there, such as the cleric archer quickstart guide and The Absolute Guide to Cleric Prestige Classes, plus other posts from here about clerics and what are the best spells
We have very strict rules in our game:
- No custom items (Weapons and armors are upgradable as usual though)
- No PrC can go over level 10 (not even once epic)
- Max 3 base classes and 2 PrCs
- No exceptions on the manuals (so no asking something outside the used manuals)
- No Relics
- No Variants (Such as the Martial Ranger or The elf paladin substitution levels)
- In general we don't use MIC and SPC for everything but if a spell exists in both one of the manuals we use and in the SPC then we use the SPC version (for example Hunter's Mercy which is in Magic of Faerun, Player's Guide to Faerun and Spell Compendium, we use the SPC version), same for items in the MIC
To make up for this we have a lot of freedom on the magic items we can get
The manuals we use are:
- DM Guide
- Player's Guide to Faerun
- PhB
- PhB 2 (only feats)
- FR Campaign Setting
- Champions of Ruin
- Monters of Faerun
- Faiths and Pantheons
- Lost Empires of Faerun
- Unapproachable Est
- Magic of Faerun
- Silver Marches
- Races of Faerun
- Serpent Kingdoms
- Lords of Darkness
- The Underdark (The Faerun manual, not Drows of the Underdark)
- Shining South
- Champions of Valor
- Waterdeep City of Splendor
- Complete Mage
- Complete Scoundrel
- Frostburn
- MM 1, 2, 3
- Complete Arcane
- Complete Adventurer
- Complete Warrior
- Complete Divine
- Races of Destiny
- Races of Wild
- Races of Stone
- Stormwrack
My current build is:
Alignment: CG
Race: Moon Elf
Abilities:
STR: 10 0
DEX: 20 +5 (+4 From Bracers)
CON: 12 +1 (+2 From Ioun Stone)
INT: 10 0
WIS: 25 +7 (+4 From Amulet)
CHA: 18 +4 (+4 From Mantle)
Classes: Ranger 2 (Archery, Favored Enemy: Orcs)/Cleric 3 (Solonor Thelandira)/Seeker of the Misty Isle 7 (We agreed it gives full caster level)
Domains: Elf, War, Travel, Magic (Travel and Magic are from the PrC)
Other Equipment:
Vest of Resistance +1
Moonstone Mask (+5 Spot and Listen, Darkvision)
Monk's belt
Quiver of Ehlonna
Ring of Armor (light fortification, +1 AC)
Boots of Speed
Bracers of Archery, Greater
+1 Splitting Elvencraft Composite Longbow (Max Str +5, which i get from divine power and righteous might), one of the quarterstaff part of the elvencraft bow is +1 and Warning
Feats:
Track (Bonus Ranger)
Rapid Shot (Bonus Ranger)
Quicken Spell
Point Blank Shot (From Elf Domain)
Weapon Focus Longbow (From War Domain)
Zen Archery
Divine Metamagic (Quicken Spell)
Domain Spontaneity (Travel)
Precise Shot
The spells i use most to buff myself are
Divine Favor
Greater Magic Weapon
Righteous Might
Divine Might
Cold Weapon (From Frostburn)
Righteous Wrath of the Faithful
in addition to the other long lasting spells like Endure Elements, Tyche's Touch, Divine Intuition, Delay Poison and Magic Vestment
Of course, i'm not always able to cast them all, sadly (and at the moment i have enough TU to cast only 1 rapid spell).
When fully buffed my damage becomes:
3d6 (1d8 => 2d6 for size, 1d6 from cold weapon) +5 (Str from RM and DM) +2 (Greater Magic Weapon) +3 (Divine Favor) +3 (Righteous Wrath) +1 (Bracers of Archery) +1 (Point Blank Shot)
Which means my average damage is 25 per arrow (at Point Blank range, 24.5 otherwise), and even though i'm doing 10 attacks thanks to splitting i think it's not really that much.
I know that being a cleric is more than just dealing damage and that anything that doesn't increase caster level is an extremely bad choice but i can't seem to find any way to greatly improve my ranged damage without getting a few levels into other non caster classes
What i thought can be done to improve my character:
1) Get Quick Draw at 15th to use wands drawn from Quiver of Ehlonna (we already agreed it's a free action as per FAQ), since i can use both Ranger and Wizard (as per the magic domain) wands. Some spells i was considering:
Hunter's Mercy
Fire Arrows
Disobedience
Greater Invisibility
2) get 4 Fighter levels to get Weapon Specialization and Ranged Weapon Mastery
3) Get Power attack and divine might (it doesn't specify melee weapons) so i can add my CHA to bow damage (i'll satisfy the str prereq somehow, probably with a Manual of Gainful Exercise).
The irony is that with Power Attack and the Spikes spell i think i might be able to do more damage with the quarterstaff portion of my elvencraft bow than with my actual bow :smalleek:
4) Get 3 levels of peerless archer in order to get Ranged power attack. Combined with Manyshot i could fire 4 arrows (when i get to 16th level) with the same attack bonus at full Power Attack and cover the penalty with a rapid precise shot (from the elf domain) though that'd leave the other 4 arrows generated from the splitting bow with a huge penalty on damage.
Still ranged power attack could be a nice addition even without manyshot, since i'll be able to fire 12 arrows using Haste + Rapid Shot + Full Attack (with divine might) and splitting. Considering i'm not lacking on the attack bonus department i think i could easily get a +5 or +7 per arrow without much sweat
5) Just keep going as a cleric once i get all the 10 Seeker of the misty isle levels, get Many Extra Turning and DMM Persist. I might need help on what spells are the best to chose for my role then.
I'd actually love to find a class that gave me some benefits on ranged combat and increased my caster level but i can't seem to find one in the available manuals so i feel i really need some advice on this (even brand new builds from scratch will do). Too bad we can't use complete champion, i've seen a lot of interesting things there
Thanks in advance to anyone patient enough to read all this and answer me!
I have recently started a new character at level 12 and i decided to make a cleric archer. Although i know (even though i'm not a cleric expert) clerics are much better in melee rather than with ranged weapons i wanted to try one nonetheless but i feel it being a bit lackluster at the moment.
Let me say in advance i read some posts here and there, such as the cleric archer quickstart guide and The Absolute Guide to Cleric Prestige Classes, plus other posts from here about clerics and what are the best spells
We have very strict rules in our game:
- No custom items (Weapons and armors are upgradable as usual though)
- No PrC can go over level 10 (not even once epic)
- Max 3 base classes and 2 PrCs
- No exceptions on the manuals (so no asking something outside the used manuals)
- No Relics
- No Variants (Such as the Martial Ranger or The elf paladin substitution levels)
- In general we don't use MIC and SPC for everything but if a spell exists in both one of the manuals we use and in the SPC then we use the SPC version (for example Hunter's Mercy which is in Magic of Faerun, Player's Guide to Faerun and Spell Compendium, we use the SPC version), same for items in the MIC
To make up for this we have a lot of freedom on the magic items we can get
The manuals we use are:
- DM Guide
- Player's Guide to Faerun
- PhB
- PhB 2 (only feats)
- FR Campaign Setting
- Champions of Ruin
- Monters of Faerun
- Faiths and Pantheons
- Lost Empires of Faerun
- Unapproachable Est
- Magic of Faerun
- Silver Marches
- Races of Faerun
- Serpent Kingdoms
- Lords of Darkness
- The Underdark (The Faerun manual, not Drows of the Underdark)
- Shining South
- Champions of Valor
- Waterdeep City of Splendor
- Complete Mage
- Complete Scoundrel
- Frostburn
- MM 1, 2, 3
- Complete Arcane
- Complete Adventurer
- Complete Warrior
- Complete Divine
- Races of Destiny
- Races of Wild
- Races of Stone
- Stormwrack
My current build is:
Alignment: CG
Race: Moon Elf
Abilities:
STR: 10 0
DEX: 20 +5 (+4 From Bracers)
CON: 12 +1 (+2 From Ioun Stone)
INT: 10 0
WIS: 25 +7 (+4 From Amulet)
CHA: 18 +4 (+4 From Mantle)
Classes: Ranger 2 (Archery, Favored Enemy: Orcs)/Cleric 3 (Solonor Thelandira)/Seeker of the Misty Isle 7 (We agreed it gives full caster level)
Domains: Elf, War, Travel, Magic (Travel and Magic are from the PrC)
Other Equipment:
Vest of Resistance +1
Moonstone Mask (+5 Spot and Listen, Darkvision)
Monk's belt
Quiver of Ehlonna
Ring of Armor (light fortification, +1 AC)
Boots of Speed
Bracers of Archery, Greater
+1 Splitting Elvencraft Composite Longbow (Max Str +5, which i get from divine power and righteous might), one of the quarterstaff part of the elvencraft bow is +1 and Warning
Feats:
Track (Bonus Ranger)
Rapid Shot (Bonus Ranger)
Quicken Spell
Point Blank Shot (From Elf Domain)
Weapon Focus Longbow (From War Domain)
Zen Archery
Divine Metamagic (Quicken Spell)
Domain Spontaneity (Travel)
Precise Shot
The spells i use most to buff myself are
Divine Favor
Greater Magic Weapon
Righteous Might
Divine Might
Cold Weapon (From Frostburn)
Righteous Wrath of the Faithful
in addition to the other long lasting spells like Endure Elements, Tyche's Touch, Divine Intuition, Delay Poison and Magic Vestment
Of course, i'm not always able to cast them all, sadly (and at the moment i have enough TU to cast only 1 rapid spell).
When fully buffed my damage becomes:
3d6 (1d8 => 2d6 for size, 1d6 from cold weapon) +5 (Str from RM and DM) +2 (Greater Magic Weapon) +3 (Divine Favor) +3 (Righteous Wrath) +1 (Bracers of Archery) +1 (Point Blank Shot)
Which means my average damage is 25 per arrow (at Point Blank range, 24.5 otherwise), and even though i'm doing 10 attacks thanks to splitting i think it's not really that much.
I know that being a cleric is more than just dealing damage and that anything that doesn't increase caster level is an extremely bad choice but i can't seem to find any way to greatly improve my ranged damage without getting a few levels into other non caster classes
What i thought can be done to improve my character:
1) Get Quick Draw at 15th to use wands drawn from Quiver of Ehlonna (we already agreed it's a free action as per FAQ), since i can use both Ranger and Wizard (as per the magic domain) wands. Some spells i was considering:
Hunter's Mercy
Fire Arrows
Disobedience
Greater Invisibility
2) get 4 Fighter levels to get Weapon Specialization and Ranged Weapon Mastery
3) Get Power attack and divine might (it doesn't specify melee weapons) so i can add my CHA to bow damage (i'll satisfy the str prereq somehow, probably with a Manual of Gainful Exercise).
The irony is that with Power Attack and the Spikes spell i think i might be able to do more damage with the quarterstaff portion of my elvencraft bow than with my actual bow :smalleek:
4) Get 3 levels of peerless archer in order to get Ranged power attack. Combined with Manyshot i could fire 4 arrows (when i get to 16th level) with the same attack bonus at full Power Attack and cover the penalty with a rapid precise shot (from the elf domain) though that'd leave the other 4 arrows generated from the splitting bow with a huge penalty on damage.
Still ranged power attack could be a nice addition even without manyshot, since i'll be able to fire 12 arrows using Haste + Rapid Shot + Full Attack (with divine might) and splitting. Considering i'm not lacking on the attack bonus department i think i could easily get a +5 or +7 per arrow without much sweat
5) Just keep going as a cleric once i get all the 10 Seeker of the misty isle levels, get Many Extra Turning and DMM Persist. I might need help on what spells are the best to chose for my role then.
I'd actually love to find a class that gave me some benefits on ranged combat and increased my caster level but i can't seem to find one in the available manuals so i feel i really need some advice on this (even brand new builds from scratch will do). Too bad we can't use complete champion, i've seen a lot of interesting things there
Thanks in advance to anyone patient enough to read all this and answer me!