"Babies" first Cleric

[Shockwave]

So, there is a first* time roleplayer in my group, and she has picked a Dwarven Cleric as her character.
* she's play a session or two with other DM's, but this is the first time she's "understood" and enjoyed herself.

Now, we've played a couple of sessions and there is the future now to "plan". Changes to what the character currently has can change, if the ability has not yet been used.

One of the things we've found is that, as a Dwarven Cleric 1, the loss of Turning undead for Earth creatures, hurts the character more than we first thought, so really looking at changing the character to just a Cleric 1.

The character in question "has to" use a two handed Hammer, Currently has just a Warhammer, but a Maul (or other two handed hammer)is a must, This requires EWP in the same way as Bastard Sword, which can't be brought till lvl2 due to the BaB requirement (# of Feats is a little more flexible, as I use a 1-3 feat cost homebrew system)

Now the character in question has you typical dwarven levels of Charisma, so Turn attempts etc are limited in number. But I have seen a Feat (Name and Location forgotten) that requires Divine Grace (Paladin 2) and changes Cha to Will for Turn, Lay, Smite etc.

The pantheon is Custom, and the Domains are Water, Plant, Feast (used), Community and Charity. Technically, the have spontaneously cast Cures, but only once, so not a huge issue. Originally, Community was Healing, but with Spon healing spells, that seemed pointless.

Now, Ordained Champion PrC is really interesting. Gaining Smite fits within the Character, continued (limited) spell advancement, the "loss" of being able to level 9 spells, isn't a huge as it is unlikely that we will get that far along.



So, some help with ideas and direction for the next couple of levels (2-5) would be great.

[NontheistCleric]

As a first level Dwarf Cleric, how is this character gaining proficiency in warhammers? Is there any way to use the same method to be proficient in mauls? Or you could just handwave it. A maul is not a massively overpowered upgrade compared to a warhamner.

I wouldn't bother with Paladin just to get that feat (Serenity, I believe, from Dragon Magazine). If she only has two or so turn attempts a day, simply wait for Ordained Champion where the smites are fueled by turn attempts (by RAW, though, they must be turn undead attempts).

[thethird]

Hey glad your friend is enjoying her time!


The character in question "has to" use a two handed Hammer, Currently has just a Warhammer, but a Maul (or other two handed hammer)is a must, This requires EWP in the same way as Bastard Sword, which can't be brought till lvl2 due to the BaB requirement (# of Feats is a little more flexible, as I use a 1-3 feat cost homebrew system)

Now the character in question has you typical dwarven levels of Charisma, so Turn attempts etc are limited in number. But I have seen a Feat (Name and Location forgotten) that requires Divine Grace (Paladin 2) and changes Cha to Will for Turn, Lay, Smite etc.

The pantheon is Custom, and the Domains are Water, Plant, Feast (used), Community and Charity. Technically, the have spontaneously cast Cures, but only once, so not a huge issue. Originally, Community was Healing, but with Spon healing spells, that seemed pointless.

Now, Ordained Champion PrC is really interesting. Gaining Smite fits within the Character, continued (limited) spell advancement, the "loss" of being able to level 9 spells, isn't a huge as it is unlikely that we will get that far along.

So, some help with ideas and direction for the next couple of levels (2-5) would be great.

I added some underlining.

The feat you are thinking about is Serenity, from Dragon Compendium. While you are there check the Lucerne hammer (a two handed martial hammer). See if the custom pantheon would enjoy having a Lucerne Hammer as it's favored weapon ;).

On Ordained Champion (and later fitting serenity in). Ordained Champion leads really well into Prestige Paladin (from SRD (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm), or unearthed arcana). Two levels would lets you grab Serenity.

So something along the lines of Cleric 3 / Ordained Champion 2 / Prestige Paladin 2 gets you the important bits and pieces you wanted (losing only two caster levels).

From there you've got options, like completing ordained champion. Taking a level of crusader and jumping into ruby knight vindicator (tome of 9 swords). Going into bone knight (five nations). Going into knight of the raven (expedition to castle ravenloft).

[Eladrinblade]

as a Dwarven Cleric 1, the loss of Turning undead for Earth creatures

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[Shockwave]

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Apologies, Dwarven Cleric 1 changes Turn Undead to Smite Giants.

[Gnaeus]

Unless your group is REALLY optimized, Cleric is one of the best classes in the game. And smite is one of the worst powers in the game, being way limited in uses per day. My suggestion for pretty much any player, especially a new player, is:
Cleric 1-5.
If you want to "smite". Rather than making a worse, more complicated, character by spending 2 paladin levels and also some feats, take a third level spell like "Flame of Faith" or "Crown of Smiting", which is both better and easier. You don't have to be looking for 9th level spells for a loss of 2 caster levels to be a real hurt.

[Anthrowhale]

I'd suggest the spontaneous domain ACF. If you choose to start with the Plant domain, you'll be able to cast Entangle which is one of the best level 1 spells available. You lose the ability to spontaneously cast cure light wounds, but you can prepare Faith Healing or Lesser Vigor to greater effect anyways.

Once you reach level 3, you can cast Substitute Domain to swap which domain is spontaneous.