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ladditude
2008-01-28, 12:11 AM
So I need a little help with my cleric...

I'm an 8th level Cleric in a party of four. We have a sword and board fighter, an Elven Initiate of the Bow and a broken-to-hell enlarged knight with a huge spiked chain who standstills anything that gets within 30ft.

So, I'm really wanting to be able to use my more useful touch attacks in battle against BBEGs, such as Bestow Curse or Poison. My questions are, how do I get a higher AC so I can get in close, or how do I deliver said touch attacks via range. I know about the Heirophant(sp?), but I would rather not loose caster levels.

BTW, my feats are Power Attack, Craft Wondrous Items, Craft Magical Arms and Armor, one undecided feat and I'm about to be level 10.

I already have Full Plate +1, Animated Heavy Shield +1, Natural Armor +1, Ring of Protection +1, Cloak of Resistance +2 w/ +2 Cha. I think thats everything affecting my AC, so yeah.

NO TOB and I'm a cleric, so my character does not need to be anymore broken...

deathbyhokie
2008-01-28, 12:18 AM
So I need a little help with my cleric...

I'm an 8th level Cleric in a party of four. We have a sword and board fighter, an Elven Initiate of the Bow and a broken-to-hell enlarged knight with a huge spiked chain who standstills anything that gets within 30ft.

So, I'm really wanting to be able to use my more useful touch attacks in battle against BBEGs, such as Bestow Curse or Poison. My questions are, how do I get a higher AC so I can get in close, or how do I deliver said touch attacks via range. I know about the Heirophant(sp?), but I would rather not loose caster levels.

BTW, my feats are Power Attack, Craft Wondrous Items, Craft Magical Arms and Armor, one undecided feat and I'm about to be level 10.

I already have Full Plate +1, Animated Heavy Shield +1, Natural Armor +1, Ring of Protection +1, Cloak of Resistance +2 w/ +2 Cha. I think thats everything affecting my AC, so yeah.

NO TOB and I'm a cleric, so my character does not need to be anymore broken...

Two ways I can think of right off, both metamagic.

Reach Spell (Complete Divine) lets you turn touch spells into 30 yard rays. I think it's +2 to the spell level.

Smiting Spell (PHB II) lets you put a touch spell on a weapon (or ammunition), and the next time you hit someone with the weapon, the spell discharges. Use it with a bow for best ranged effect. +1 spell level for this one, i think.

sonofzeal
2008-01-28, 12:25 AM
AC is one of those things that requires large amounts of gp to fix. One commonly overlooked method is Armor Spikes of Defending. You'll need about 8,000 gp to get them going, but they stack with the enhancement bonus of your armor.

It sounds to me like your party really doesn't need another front-line character though. Have you considered "Zen Archery" from Complete Warrior (lets you use Wis for ranged attacks)? That feat should be enough to turn you into a reasonable plinker, and there's a few decent Ray spells for Clerics you can use it with as well.

As to delivering touch spells at range, I've seen a spell for that but I can't remember the name.... "spectral hand" maybe? Sorry.....

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-01-28, 12:32 AM
As to delivering touch spells at range, I've seen a spell for that but I can't remember the name.... "spectral hand" maybe? Sorry.....Spectral hand. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spectralHand.htm)
Sadly, it's only a sor/wiz spell. I recommend the metamagic, or maybe Obtain Familiar to let the owl take the risks for you.

Quellian-dyrae
2008-01-28, 02:20 AM
Clerics have access to some pretty solid defense boosting spells. At your current level, Shield of Faith gives +2 over and above your current deflection bonus, Magic Vestment can bolster your armor and shield by another +1 a piece. If you have Spell Compendium, then applying Shield of Warding to your Animated Shield will grant +2 sacred to AC (and Reflex saves) and drop a Divine Protection for +1 morale to AC and saves (also helps allies). Best part is, those are all minute/level at the minimum, so they can potentially last several encounters. Just be careful of dispellers.

Cuddly
2008-01-28, 02:23 AM
Upgrade that plate to mithral, drop the +1 bonus (for now, use magic vestment), and hit yourself with a cat's grace.

ladditude
2008-01-28, 02:33 AM
Cat's grace is arcane only.

And my group doesn't do well with minute/level spells because we have no rogue and we end up taking tons of twenties...

Rachel Lorelei
2008-01-28, 02:34 AM
Your DM should probably know that a Huge-sized spiked chain has the exact same reach as a Large-sized spiked chain.

Cuddly
2008-01-28, 02:47 AM
Cat's grace is arcane only.

And my group doesn't do well with minute/level spells because we have no rogue and we end up taking tons of twenties...

Alright, so the wizard or druid does it.

Ted_Stryker
2008-01-28, 02:56 AM
Spell Storing arrows can hold the Cleric version of Bestow Curse. This is something you can do in concert with the elf archer, just make sure the curse effects the two archers are shooting are different.

EDIT -- Just saw that you have Craft Magic Arms and Armor, so you can even make the curse arrows yourself. Zen Archery would be a nice feat to take if you decided to go this route.

EDIT 2 -- No, forgot about the CL 12 requirement...

Quellian-dyrae
2008-01-28, 02:58 AM
Oh! Use your undecided feat to pick up Mobile Spellcasting (CAdv), and find some way to get your movement boosted. Maybe pick up a custom item to boost Concentration checks just to be safe. Move in and cast as a standard action, move back into the Spiked Chain Circle of Safety as a move action.

Also remember that if you're preparing for BBEG's, the durations of your buffs do not need to exceed the single encounter.

Lord Lorac Silvanos
2008-01-28, 03:28 AM
Spell Storing arrows...

The Spell Storing enhancement cannot be used with ammunition. You need to wield the weapon at the time of the attack.

ladditude
2008-01-28, 04:49 AM
Alright, so the wizard or druid does it.

Alas, my group has no other casters.

Mobile Casting sounds really good.

The problem with buffing is that my DM throws lots of surprises at us in order to get his enemies inside the Spike Chain Umbrella, which is huge for extra damage btw. Thats why I'm wary of needing to cast 4 buffs in order to wade into combat, by then the whole deal is over.

So any advice other than Full Plate, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, etc. that apply a static bonus to AC?

daggaz
2008-01-28, 05:17 AM
AC is one of those things that requires large amounts of gp to fix. One commonly overlooked method is Armor Spikes of Defending. You'll need about 8,000 gp to get them going, but they stack with the enhancement bonus of your armor.


Nice cheese, but the SRD states of defending weapons:

"As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn."

So to get the bonus, you have to use the weapon. Which means you are wasting your turn each round using your worthless armor spikes (and I doubt as a cleric that you have either improved grapple or weapon prof: armor spikes, so welcome to AoO and -4 land) instead of striking with a normal weapon or casting with a spell.

BTW OP, cloak of resistance affects your saves, not your AC.

Keld Denar
2008-01-28, 07:49 AM
If you can get ahold of a Bead of Karma which is part of a Strand of Prayer Beads, you can pop it in the morning when you do all your hrs/lv buffs such as Magic Vestaments. This would increase you CL by 4 which takes you into the next tier for that spell (currently, you can cast +2 MV which lasts 10 hours, with a BoKarma you'd cast +3 MV which last 14 hours). An Orange Ioun Stone would net you another +1CL which means at level 11, you could cast +4 MVs that last 16 hours. If you take Divine Spell Power from CD, you could also burn a turn attempt to bump your CL by up to +4. That means that at level 11, you could cast a (11+1+4+4=20) CL20 MV for a +5 bonus to both armor and shield. Then add a bunch of other enhancements to your armor such as Deathward and Energy Immunity from MIC.

A couple short duration buff spells are great for getting your armor up. Recitation is one of the best IMO. It gives everyone +2 armor, +2 all saves, +2 hit. If they worship your god, that increases to +3 all. You always get +3 because you worship your own god. If you have the purification domain, you can cast Recitation as a 3rd level domain spell, which means you can use a Rod of Lesser Quicken on it to make it a swift action. Get a couple of Pearl of Powers to recall your Recitations and use it every battle.