Best domains to grab with a 1 level cleric dip for arcane caster.

[Voidstar01]

I'm looking to get into the silverflame pyromancer PrC (for fireball reasons), one of it's requirements is the ability to turn undead. I figure it's best to pick that up with a 1 level cloistered cleric dip, what domains (or domain feats) do you think have the most benefit?

[AvatarVecna]

Planning Domain gives "Extend Spell" as a bonus feat. Time Domain gives "Improved Initiative" as a bonus feat. Good Domain lets you cast [Good] spells at +1 CL, which is great if you can find a way to get lots of your spells counting as [Good]. Since you're picking up Knowledge Domain as part of Cloistered anyway, you could pick up Oracle (+2 CL for divinations) and Truth (+1 Sense Motive, +1 CL for divinations). Truth Domain is even one of the Silver Flame domains so that's cool, although the Sense Motive bonus equal to your cleric level is essentially wasted.

[ViperMagnum357]

I am a big fan of the Luck and Pride domains for dips. Rerolls, especially general ones, are rare and expensive to gain; and rerolling the inevitable 1's on your saves will never go out of style.

[Silvercrys]

Trickery Devotion is pretty okay, though you can't use it as the origin point for spells until level 15.

Knowledge Domain's power gives +1 CL for Divinations and all Knowledge skills as class skills (mostly serves to uncap them for your Wizard levels, I suppose).

Travel Domain gives 1 round of Freedom of Movement you can use as a "get out of grapple free" card.

I don't play a lot of non-core casters though, I'm sure there's better stuff than that in non-core domains.

[Anthrowhale]

If you wait a little bit, you can enter via Sacred Exorcist instead to avoid losing another level of spell advancement.

Edit: I hadn't noticed how well Silver Pyromancer and Sacred Exorcist combine. If you go Wizard 7/Sacred Exorcist 1/Silver Pyromancer 3/Sacred Exorcist 9 your "effective cleric turning level" for purge undead is 10+19 = 29. Hence, undead creatures in 30' take 29d6 damage with a DC 24+Cha Will save for 1/2.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Magic domain allows you to use wands, staffs, and scrolls of spells from prohibited schools if you’re a specialist Wizard.

The Inquisition domain gives a +4 bonus to dispel checks. This is in addition to the max caster level bonus the spell can use.

You could instead dip one level of Sacred Exorcist, and not lose any levels of your primary class’s spellcasting.

[Voidstar01]

undead creatures in 30' take 29d6 damage with a DC 24+Cha Will save for 1/2.

Now I need to weigh the pros an cons of both builds, my original idea was to do Domain(fire) wizard 5/cloistered cleric 1/silver pyromancer 5/ incantrix 10 (we're in epic level), This build also qualifies me for war wizard of cormyr, but I happen to know we're facing an interplanar undead army so big damage vs. undead might come in handy. thoughts?

[Biggus]

If you're facing an army of undead, it might be worth boosting your turning ability: the Sun and Glory domains both help with that. If you're interested in going that route, there was a recent thread about boosting turning checks for a character with only one Cleric level: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?596392-maxing-out-turn-level-with-cleric-level-1

If you just want generally useful domains, I'd second Pride and Inquisition as both excellent, or Time if you don't already have Improved Initiative.

[Ramza00]

I am a big fan of the Luck and Pride domains for dips. Rerolls, especially general ones, are rare and expensive to gain; and rerolling the inevitable 1's on your saves will never go out of style.

Second this. Also the wizard should invest into a wand of Tyche Touch. +4, +3, +2, +1 sacred bonus to all saves for 24 hours, once you make a save it goes down by 1. It is a bargain as a 2nd level Cleric Spell that lasts for 24 hours. A cleric dip allows you to use that wand without UMD.

And it can be shared with an ally instead of being used on yourself for it is Touch instead of Personal.

[And if your DM allows you to create your own eternal wands with cleric spells this spell is great to put into an eternal wand. Boost to saves that can be used on yourself and 1 additional ally for 4420 gp. Or 2,210 gp, 176 XP if you craft it.]

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Luck and Pride domains synergize well with this spell. Saving your bacon but also kind of making you untouchable to certain types of magic / monster effect if you can boost your saves high enough.

[Anthrowhale]

Now I need to weigh the pros an cons of both builds, my original idea was to do Domain(fire) wizard 5/cloistered cleric 1/silver pyromancer 5/ incantrix 10 (we're in epic level), This build also qualifies me for war wizard of cormyr, but I happen to know we're facing an interplanar undead army so big damage vs. undead might come in handy. thoughts?

If you are starting at epic levels the lost spell advancement matters relatively little. But, you might consider Wizard 3/Cloistered Cleric 1/Silver Pyromancer 2/Incantatrix 4/Hathran 11.

You can qualify for Silver Pyromancer early via Sanctum Spell (for example).

Sha'ir is tempting instead of Wizard for the Cha focus, but the many skills a Wizard can pick up are also great.

Silver Pyromancer 1 gives you Purge Undead.
Silver Pyromancer 2 gives you Sacred Flame.
Incantatrix 2,3 gives you persistent spells.

Hathran gives you several things:
1) Spontaneous casting of known spells, see discussion here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?595869-3-5-Hathran-Rashemi-Spirit-Magic).
2) Circle magic. Your spells can be cast at caster level 40 with spell level up to 20. That's enough to blow though the SR and saves of many epic creatures.
3) The PURGE! Circle Magic appears to work with Purge Undead, so you would put out 41d6 damage (Will DC 30+Cha for 1/2) to undead within 30' . That's an average of 143.5 so really good against an army, but not overwhelming against powerful single opponents.
4) A bonus epic feat every other level starting at Hathran 12---the best written progression.

Halruaan Elder is an alternative approach to Circle Magic although it misses out on (1) and maybe (4) (requires DM adjudication).

[bean illus]

If you are starting ... matters relatively little. But, you might consider ...

Cloistered Cleric 1/Wizard 3/Silver Pyromancer 2/Incantatrix 4/Hathran 11.


There. Fixed that.

[Anthrowhale]

I spent some time considering this for no particular reason. The best fire spell in the game is Erupt, which is a cleric spell. How do you make a really good source of Erupt at character level 21?

Here's an approach: Cloistered Cleric 1/Wizard 3/Silver Pyromancer 5/Spellguard of Silverymoon 5/Halruaan Elder 5/Wyrm Wizard 2

Human. Halruaan Adept //prereq
Wizard 1: Scribe Scroll
1. Blistering Spell //more fire damage
3. Sanctum Spell //early entry
6. Spell Thematics //prereq
9. Combat Casting //prereq
SoS 2: Energy Substitution[Fire] //prereq + metamagic reducer
SoS 3: Selective Spell
12. Invisible Spell //metamagic reducer
SoS 4: Energy Admixture[Fire] //more fire damage
HE 1: Adroit[Energy Admixture[Fire]]
15. Twin Spell
18. Easy Metamagic[Twin] //double metamagic reducer
HE 4: Adroit[Twin Spell]
21. Arcane Thesis[Erupt]

1) Memorize Invisible Easy Twin Energy Admixture[Fire] Energy Substitution[Fire] Blistering Erupt in a level 9 slot.
2) Use Circle Magic to heighten to level 20 and increase caster level to 40.
3) Cast the spell using Sacred Energy and Selective Spell. Every creature and unattended object in a 4000' radius burst is subject to 880=(400+40(Blistering))*2(Admixture[Fire]) sacred energy damage with a Fort save for 1/2 at DC 30+Int modifier. This applies to or excludes one type of creature.
4) The same thing immediately happens again as the Twin spell strikes.

One disadvantage is the 1 minute casting time. You could drop Twin Spell for Uncanny Forethought to cast it as a standard action.

[Ramza00]

I spent some time considering this for no particular reason. The best fire spell in the game is Erupt, which is a cleric spell. How do you make a really good source of Erupt at character level 21?

Erupt has a casting time of 1 minute. Sure it may do 10 damage per caster level and affect a burst of 2000 feet at CL 20 but often there are far better surgical spells that are more effective in practice.

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

Domains I dont see mentioned (and I'll agree Luck, Trickery, Travel, Time are some of the better ones)
Renewal gives you a 1/day oops button (if you drop to -1 to -9 hp you automatically gain 1d8+cha and become stable)
War is a popular one, but the spell list is probably better than just the granted power (proficiency w/deity's favored weapon)

[Anthrowhale]

Erupt has a casting time of 1 minute.
It does indeed---see the last sentence :smallsmile:

Sure it may do 10 damage per caster level and affect a burst of 2000 feet at CL 20 but often there are far better surgical spells that are more effective in practice.
The build would indeed have many other spells as well, but it sounded like the OP wanted the joy of kill-it-with-fire to be on the table.

[RNightstalker]

There's a Wizard ACF out there that lets you get access to a domain or two. If you take the healing domain, now your wizard has access to healing spells as well.

[Particle_Man]

If you into crafting the good domain gives you access to the spell that is needed to make holy weapons. Melee types will love you.