Please help me with my Cleric and Artificer

[metalbear]

Hi everyone, my buddy has decided to give DMing a try and let me play a PC for once, and because we will be having a small group he will even be letting myself and the two other players play two separate PCs!
I have decided that the two classes that I want to play are a Cleric and an Artificer. I've played a cleric before, but I've never played an artificer before.

I was wondering if the playground would help me not so much power game my PC, but help me optimize them some more. In particular, I would like some guidance as to what feats, spells, items and tactics that would help me with making my PCs.
I'm not sure what race I want to play for my cleric yet, but I want to play a warforged for my Artificer. I've heard great things about the warforged racial substitution levels for Artificer, but unfortunately I don't have access to Races of Eberron.

[Temp.]

Cleric and Artificer are both quite versatile, so we'll probably need to know what you want to do with your characters. Also, if you can tell us the sources available now, it will save you the trouble of sifting through irrelevant responses later.

[BobVosh]

Gotta give us more...what do you want to do with the characters? Self-buff and beat? Party buff? Healbot?


*first time ninja'd...it hurts, it hurts reel bad man*

[Eldariel]

Artificer wants Extraordinary and Legendary Artisan for sure. Since your best ability is making everything, getting price cutoffs is just awesome. Other than that, get metamagic (Extend > Persistent Spell, Quicken Spell, Twin Spell, Split Ray, Chain Spell, etc. all depending on how offensive/defensive you wanna go), and get Craft Construct as a bonus feat (one of the replacement levels replaces your ability to build Homunculi, which are very useful and are Constructs so you get it right back by picking Craft Construct - then you can build a Greater Stone Golem on level 12). The substitution levels are good.

1st level one is totally free, adds 1 to the Caster Level of all Infusions you use on yourself.

4th level one replaces Craft Homunculus with the ability to heal all Constructs, Living Constructs, Weapons and Armor for your Charisma-mod when infusing them (meh), and doubles the value of your craft pool points used for making the said items. That means you effectively get double Exp for making weapons, armor and constructs. It's just superb - I'd always take this and pick up Craft Construct as a bonus feat.

5th level one is a toughie: You lose the awesome Retain Essence-ability which allows you to convert useless magic items into XP for crafting, but you get a Weapon Familiar, which is basically just a Familiar you can smash people with. I always liked Weapon Familiars, but Retain Essence is probably better in the long run.

[ocato]

5th level one is a toughie: You lose the awesome Retain Essence-ability which allows you to convert useless magic items into XP for crafting, but you get a Weapon Familiar, which is basically just a Familiar you can smash people with. I always liked Weapon Familiars, but Retain Essence is probably better in the long run.

In my experience, Retain Essence is almost vital to playing an Artificer. The trick is to fill your extra crafting with dozens of small scrolls in your off time (helps if your DM isn't very stringent on crafting time rules). Then, you eat them after you level and roll your craft reserve over to the next level, so you can make things that are actually useful at levels they'd be useful at. So if you don't use 30 crafting XP at a level, blow 300gp to turn it into scrolls of cure light wounds or something, level, then eat them and your next level has craft reserve +30.

[metalbear]

Okay, I see myself play the cleric as a self buffer then smashing down the monsters and such. I'm not sure on how to build this though, I've only recently gotten my hands on the Complete Divine and I am still trying to get the hang of Divine Metamagic.

As for the Warforged, I have never really played an Artificer before, and I am not so sure how I can play it. I don't think I'll need to focus to greatly on buffing my party members up, and I would like to have an impact on combat. Also, I am interested in the building of constructs.

[metalbear]

In my experience, Retain Essence is almost vital to playing an Artificer. The trick is to fill your extra crafting with dozens of small scrolls in your off time (helps if your DM isn't very stringent on crafting time rules). Then, you eat them after you level and roll your craft reserve over to the next level, so you can make things that are actually useful at levels they'd be useful at. So if you don't use 30 crafting XP at a level, blow 300gp to turn it into scrolls of cure light wounds or something, level, then eat them and your next level has craft reserve +30.

That is just plain awesome :smallsmile:

[Eldariel]

Get Extend Spell and Persistent Spell. Get Stone Fist and Divine Power on yourself. Craft Monk's Belt. Use your pair of Slams and Unarmed Strikes and go to town. Oh yeah, and Alter Self/Polymorph obviously kicks ass (Warforged Charger is a fine form, for example). You'll mostly use Wands for these spells, Eternal Wands when applicable. Oh yeah, and you can Infuse yourself, so pick Infusions with that in mind (although buffing allies' weapons and such is handy too). Do remember to max out Int as it's your primary stat. And craft that Greater Stone Golem on level 12 - those things really kick ass.

Also, get a Dedicated Wright as soon as you qualify. It's in Eberron Campaign Settings I think - it can craft stuff while you adventure. One of those Scout Homunculi is handy too. And you can build Warforged Components, so take a good luck throughout those. Battle Fist is fairly good, for example.

[metalbear]

Okay, pardon my ignorance, but what is an eternal wand?


Oh, and by the way. I have access to all of the Races of books, all of the Complete books, PHB2, DMG2, Eberron Campaign Setting, Player's Guide to Eberron, all of the environment books (stormwrack and such), Spell Compendium, Magic Item compendium, BoED, BoVD, Dragon Magic, Draconomicon, Explorers Handbook, Heroes of Battle, Lords of Madness, Manual of the Planes, Miniatures Handbook, Oriental Adventures, MM 1-5, Unearthed Arcana, Heroes of Valor, Heroes of Horror, and Libris Mortis.

[Temp.]

Okay, pardon my ignorance, but what is an eternal wand?MIC pg.159. Basically it's a wand that instead of having a set number of charges has two activations per day.

Some basic Cleric Feat options:

Power Attack--Basic Melee combat Feat. This is where a good deal of your damage is coming from.
Quicken Spell--Basic spellcaster feat. More spells mean you get to bash things harder and more quickly.
Extend Spell/Persistant Spell (CArc)/Divine Metamagic (Persist)--This will keep your buffs up all day.
Extra Turning/Craft Rod--Extra Turning helps you fuel divine feats, Craft Rod lets you craft Nightsticks (LM pg.78). Nightsticks are where Turn attempts come from.
Divine Might (CW)--Burn a Turning attempt to add your Charisma to damage for a round
Improved Bull Rush/Shock Trooper (CW)--Melee charger feats. Fuel Power Attack with your AC while Charging, Bull Rush Diagonally and Gain Trip Attempts when you push enemies into each other.
Leap Attack (CAd)--Basic Charger feat, 3:1 return for Power Attack on a charge.
Improved Sunder/Combat Brute (CW)--A fun set of melee combat feats. Get an extra attack after a successful sunder, get 3:1 Power Attack returns on the turn after a charge and attack/damage bonuses against enemies you Bull Rush.
Combat Focus/Combat Stability/Combat Vigor (PHB2)--Gain Will save bonuses, bonuses against Strength Checks and Grapples, Fast Healing during combat.
Holy Warrior (CC)--+1 Damage per level of the highest level Force Spell you have prepared, +1 CL for Force spells
Devotion Feats (CC)--Some of these are pretty good and they all scale nicely, but they're only useable once per day. It's up to you, really.


Some Cleric Prestige Classes that migh interest you:

Fist of Raziel (BoED)--Exalted class, 9/10 casting, full BAB, very powerful smiting ability
Ordained Champion (CC)--3/5 spellcasting, full BAB, a heap of melee combat abilities that may make up for lost caster levels
Contemplative (CD)--10/10 casting, 3/4 BAB, at higher levels this can get you an extra Domain or two. It has a few handy defensive abilities. For what it's worth, it beats Cleric levels
Radiant Servant (CD)--10/10 casting, 3/4 BAB, Healing/Turning specialist
Stormlord (CD)--10/10 casting, 3/4 BAB, rough prerequisites, free weapon enchantments and some fairly nifty Storm-based abilities.