Swash! Buckle! Heal? Help me make a Swashbuckling Cleric

[FocusWolf413]

I have this idea for a rogue cleric. Some casting, some sneaking, lots of piracy. 3.5, level 12.

How do I do it?

[Inevitability]

I suggest this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6832.0) link for some ways to get the skills you want.

Also: go Cloistered Cleric. At level 12 you'll be able to persist Divine Power, making the lack of BAB a minor annoyance. At the same time, sixty extra skill points tend to help most skillful characters, and heavy armor doesn't fit the character you're going for anyway.

[gorfnab]

Rogue 3/ Cloistered Cleric (UA) 3/ Divine Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?172910-Articles-Previously-Appearing-on-GiantITP-com&p=9623145#post9623145) 10/ Divine Oracle (CD) 4

Take the feat Sacred Outlaw (Drg #357) and Craven (CoR) to boost sneak attack damage.

Hopefully your DM will allow you to use the Divine Trickster prestige class, considering it was made by "The Giant" himself Rich Burlew (a noted D&D 3.5 source book author).

[Thurbane]

You could re-fluff a Ninja as a Swashbuckler and go Ninja 1 (Wis to AC, skills, weapon proficiencies)/Cloistered Cleric X/PrC X. Able Learner is preferred for skills.

[Metahuman1]

Cloistered cleric. Domains: Trickery, Knowledge and Planning. (Cause most good swashbucklers know how to be tricky, know a thing or two about the world, and know how to make a plan, and then when the plan doesn't work how to improvise a plan B.).

Take 2 Flaws. Whatever you think fit's the character and that you can live with.

Feats: Persist Spell. Divine Metamagic Persist Spell. Travel Devotion. *Knowledge Devotion. Improved Initiative. Invisible Spell. Extra Spell. Extra Turning**.

If trapfinding is somehow critically important, at 9th character level, take 1 level of Rogue. Maybe pick a skill trick or a couple of fluff skills to spend the extra 2 skill ranks on. If needed retrain some skill ranks over to Search and Disable Device.

If it is not, at around the same level, take 1-2 Levels in Swordsage.

Invest in Summon Nature's Ally 3 and find a crap CR plant or vermin creature you can summon with it with Extra Spell. Buy a lesser metamagic Rod of Maximize Spell, and a Lesser rod of Extend Spell. Prepair summon natures ally daily, and use one charge of each of the two rods at the start of the day when you cast it. Cast Persisted Circle of Death (It's in the spell compendium, I'm away form books so I could be misremembering the name ATM. It's a 4th level cleric spell. ) At the start of the day and used the summoned mooks form summoned natures ally as fuel. Then persist Divine Power and extend Greater Luminous Armor, and cast 1-2 castings of Lesser restoration to recover form the previous days casting of greater luminous armor. Make all the effects invisible, and fluff the circle kills on enemy's as you finding an opening and getting a quick decisive thrust or cut in that finished them. Or just choose not to effect them at all. Put magic vestments extended on your Luminous armor casting.

Prepare most buffs with the Invisible spell feat and wield a sword of your choosing. Other useful and flavor full buffs are things like Energy Immunity, Freedom of Movement, True Seeing the Visage of the Deity line, and Death Ward. Your Strength should be so high that you can freely rely on it and your BAB and greater magic weapon + some good weapon property's on your sword for bonuses to hit and damage. And knowledge devotion if you take it.

You'll have plenty of AC, plenty of Immunity's and tricks, plenty of combat offensive options, and plenty of skills.

* If your not going to invest in making sure you can consistently make the checks to use the feat to best effect, which can be a bit resource intensive if your not already a knowledge monkey, don't take this feat. Take one of the below suggestions.

** If your DM will let you both stock up on and stack Night Sticks, don't take this feat. If he won't but will let you take True Believer and use Reliquary Holy Symbols and stack those, take True Believer in it's place and stock up on those. If he will only allow one Reliquary Holy Symbol and/or one Nightstick, then take it, and take it again at 15th and again at 18th level.


Alternative feat options if your not going to bother with knowledge devotion and your DM is not going to allow lot's of use of Nightsticks and Reliquary Holy Symbols: Extra turning. Just take it, you need it.

Alternative feat options if he will allow one or both of those, as well as if Turn Undead isn't needed at level 12 for reasons above.:

Power Attack. Stone Power. Evasive Reflexes. Adaptive Style (Only if you took Swordsage.). Luck Devotion.

[ATHATH]

If you don't want to do the Persist Spell shenanigans, may I suggest the Golarion Cleric ACF? It trades away both of your domains for proficiency in your deity's favored weapon, Full BAB, and a d10 Hit Die.

The Pool of Healing ACF (trades a 4th level spell slot for a Lay On Hands-esque ability) is also nice, although it's less pirate-y.

If you try reaaaaally hard, you might be able to convince your DM to allow you to define "the ocean(s)" (or some specific body of water) as your homeland for the purposes of the 9th level Purple Staff Cleric substitution level (fluff the turning as people fearing you/your reputation). I think it's legal, but it's iffy (and by that logic, why not take "the multiverse" or "the Prime Material Plane" as your homeland?). I'm pretty sure that waters (and other regions) claimed by (other) nations won't count as your homeland, so you'd only be able to use that ability on the open sea, if that helps balance it. Keep in mind that the turning will still only work on "hostile monsters or enemies of the Holy Realm"... which is pretty much anything that you'd want to turn, so that's not much of a downside.

[Thurbane]

I suggest this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=6832.0) link for some ways to get the skills you want.

This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491181) is a more expansive list.

[weckar]

It always bugged me that the official divine analogue to the Trickster, the Prankster, is bard based rather than Rogue based.

That said, any reason you chose Rogue rather than, you know, the Swashbuckler?

(And, wth is up with the Swashbuckler not being able to use bucklers?)