Herald Caller with or without Divine Paragon? (Build Advice)

[Johanas]

Hi everyone! My life got really, really crazy, and now I am finally able to sit down and be in a game again. I am looking at a summon-focused cleric, so I am thinking Herald Caller. Basically any non-evil Pathfinder deity is available, subdomains are okay, and we will likely go all the way to, or just before 20. A 20-point buy Curse of the Crimson Throne (no spoilers please!). I’ll be with a skill-heavy Rogue, a healer/battle Cleric of Iomedae, a straight Barbarian or Bloodrager, and an Arcanist who goes into Eldritch Knight. I’m pretty much free to do whatever I want, as long as I stay in a party face capacity. Here is where I could use some help.

1. First off, I am fascinated by the Divine Paragon archetype. Is having my alignment the same as my deities going to limit me too much? The DM said they would work together; I would essentially just have the domain spells from one domain. Is it too much? What domain/subdomains should I be looking at? Any deity suggestions?

2. I’ll be taking a few other summoning feats than what is granted for free from Herald Caller, but not more than a few. Probably Summon Guardian Spirit, Versatile Summon Monster, maybe Expanded Summon Monster or Preferred Spell later on for something like Heal or Harm. What should I do? I know reach cleric is a popular addition, but what suggestions have you got for me?

3. Any items or spells I should look out for?

Thank you in advance!

[Florian]

You know, Crimson Throne pretty much limits the choice of deities that are a natural fit to the story. Calistria, Sheyln, Milani.

Divine Paragon is free entry to the Evangelist PrC and you actually want to do this.

If your gm is ok with it, try a human Angefire Adept / Divine Herald / Herald Caller of Shelyn.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Florian
Divine Paragon is free entry to the Evangelist PrC and you actually want to do this.

Why is Evangelist a good thing?

You lose a caster level going into it, and the other class features seem a little meh. What makes Evangelist better than plain cleric?

[Florian]

Why is Evangelist a good thing?

You lose a caster level going into it, and the other class features seem a little meh. What makes Evangelist better than plain cleric?

*Shrugs*

Take a look at Prestigious Spellcaster. Than think about why you build clerics differently from other T1 casters,

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Florian
Take a look at Prestigious Spellcaster. Than think about why you build clerics differently from other T1 casters,

…?

Was there another phrase you meant to include? Otherwise this is too cryptic to be much help in answering my question.

“Build clerics differently” makes absolutely no sense to me. Can someone else clarify?

[Florian]

…?

Was there another phrase you meant to include? Otherwise this is too cryptic to be much help in answering my question.

“Build clerics differently” makes absolutely no sense to me. Can someone else clarify?

Yep, that came over pretty cryptic.

Due to their role and spell list, you´ll want to build clerics around having something to do besides spell casting. Optimally, that build should work using as few spells as possible. So "Build clerics differently" is short for "build your cleric to function as another class".

This brings us back to Evangelist. Clerics have the tendency to simply run out of things to do and use, as nearly all their class features are centered around limited resources. So anything that adds more and varying resources is a boon.

[Johanas]

Thank you for the advice Florian! I was actually looking at Shelyn as one of my top contenders. I will need to do a little research in to what summons I have available, sure, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for her.

Thanks!

[Florian]

Thank you for the advice Florian! I was actually looking at Shelyn as one of my top contenders. I will need to do a little research in to what summons I have available, sure, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for her.

Thanks!

Sheyln is quite easy to role-play, has a great favored weapon and offers access to some very interesting unique spells and alterations to the spell list. NG means you get access to Agathions, Devas and Foo creatures (And treants). Not the worst options, but also not really the best.

Should your gm greenlight it, then use all three archetypes: Angelfire Apostle, Divine Paragon, Herald Caller. Keep in mind that Divine Paragon gives access to divine boons but does not prevent you from going into Evangelist to get the second set of boons.

Normally, I´m against going the dex2dmg route, but Herald Caller drops medium armor proficiency and you have a reach weapon, so why not? Bladed Brush allows you to use a glaive as a one handed weapon, apply weapon finesse and slashing grace to it.