Need some help with Cleric prestige classes.

[EndlessWrath]

Hi guys, Wrath again.
I'm currently dming a 3.5 game and need some help. it has 8 players, 2 are clerics. Cleric 1 is my brother.. he joined halfway through the last game i dmed and enjoyed it as a knight and a fighter/archer. (changed characters.) He doesn't know much about clerics.. since his party never had one. and since he's too lazy/non-interested in researching more.. he kinda asked me to give him a hand. The other cleric is a newbie who has just started playing (though his Roleplaying is awesome)..

They asked me to help look for a prestige class to go to for that extra kick with their characters... and since this game will be kinda tough.. I figure it would help alot. problem is.. i know very little about clerics and have little time to research. I got complete divine and phb 1&2. DMG 1&2. and complete miniature + deities book. I just can't look through them right now...

I'd Love suggestions. Both are clerics.. one N the other NG. both spontaneously heal. They focus on healing more than buffing, but they do both and a good amount of combat. I'm avoiding mystic theurge or any other classes that involve multi classing to get there. Currently they're 3rd level.. but want something to work to and stat up.

ALL SUGGESTIONS ARE APPRECIATED. Thank you playgrounders...i'll be up all night doing physics work and other such things. I'll be checking every 10-30 minutes. Please help if you can. Much obliged.
~Wrath

[RTGoodman]

Could you give us some more information? Like, what gods does each follow, what are their domains, what are the character's personalities (more into combat, spellcasting, whatever), and stuff?

Off-hand, I'd say the NG one, if he's interested in being a good healer and happens to worship Pelor or a similar god, should check the Radiant Servant of Pelor prestige class from Complete Divine. It's a pretty good one.

For the N Cleric, I'd have to know his god and what exactly his future plans are and what his current build is.

[Assassin89]

If the NG cleric has a patron deity of Pelor, he could qualify for Radiant servant of Pelor. There's also contemplative if the patron deity provides a domain that could be useful.

[Darrin]

I'd Love suggestions. Both are clerics.. one N the other NG. both spontaneously heal. They focus on healing more than buffing, but they do both and a good amount of combat. I'm avoiding mystic theurge or any other classes that involve multi classing to get there. Currently they're 3rd level.. but want something to work to and stat up.

The most common recommendation around here is stick with cleric. Cleric 20 is a top-tier powerhouse, any PrC or multiclassing generally makes them less effective. If you do go into a PrC, anything that doesn't have full caster levels is heavily discouraged.

That being said, it sounds like you want both players to have something interesting to do, and hopefully something different for each player. If that's the case... I guess I'd recommend you steer one of the clerics towards the Divine Powah! martial whoopass path, and the other one towards Buffbot, Battlefield Controller, or Thaumaturgist/Summoner.

[EndlessWrath]

XD soooo sorry. wasn't thinking straight!

In this game its all custom gods.. but i'll count dnd god specific things, just change them to current gods.

Brom (LG god.. NG cleric worships him) is kinda like Heironeous. offers Good/Law/Courage/Healing/War domains. Cleric chose war and good i think. NG cleric (Rurik is his name) is the epitomy of Pelor basically...So I'll look into the pelor prestige class. .can you give me a quick summary on it? is it in Complete divine?

the other cleric worships a Boccob-like deity. Magic and knowledge domains.. is more of a fighter then a caster.. but he is intuitive and brilliant strategically. In his kingdom, he is part of the military division, so he's not lawful...but he focuses on combat and uses more combat ready spells and fights rather than utility.. So one is combat / support. the other is utility support / heal.

any other questions feel free to ask

[RTGoodman]

You can read up on the Radiant Servant of Pelor a little bit HERE, but not the entire write-up. Basically, you're a healer on crack - you get several decent or good healing abilities, some anti-undead stuff, and stuff like that. It's also full spellcasting advancement, so it's actually better than going straight Cleric and not getting any sort of other class features.

For the N Cleric, I'm not sure. Mystic Theurge fits fluff-wise, but in practice, well, you know...

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I don't really know what to do for a Cleric of a god of magic. You can probably find some good stuff in Forgotten Realms books since Mystra's a popular magic-goddess. Besides that, I say check out the Contemplative or Divine Oracle prestige classes, both of which fit and (IIRC) offer full spellcasting PLUS other goodies; of course, they don't fit with the "fighter" aspect of your N Cleric. Maybe just a couple of levels of Fighter or something?


EDIT: OOH! If you're using Tome of Battle, your N Cleric just SCREAMS to be a Cleric/Crusader/Ruby Knight Vindicator. That's the way to go.

EDIT 2 @ \/: Yeah, I think the Crusader/RKV path is probably a good choice. Maybe change out some of the stealth parts for something else, but otherwise it's something I could definitely see working.

[EndlessWrath]

keep in mind, he is a combat mech. more St. cuthbert but with weird domains. Dunno why he took him.. he's really combat oriented. *shrugs*

[Telonius]

Normally people shy away from Hospitaler and Warpriest (Complete Divine) since they're not full-casting PrC's. But if your player is more interested in combat than in healing they could be good options.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Radiant Servant of Pelor is a great prestige class, but it requires the Sun domain to qualify. I probably wouldn't take more than five levels of it, though.

Dweomerkeeper would be fitting for the other one, most people will use the feat Magical Training to meet the arcane spellcasting prerequisite without multiclassing. It's found in Player's Guide to Faerun, but you can also get it at Crystalkeep (page 143). That's worth taking all ten levels of, though the later you take the class the higher level your Mantle of Spells can be.

Divine Oracle is another good one, most people take only four levels of it. It's also in Complete Divine. At the back of Complete Scoundrel are some magical locations that grant a benefit if you do something at it, the Frog God's Fane can grant the feat Skill Focus: Knowledge (Religion) required for Divine Oracle without having to spend a feat on it.

Contemplative is what most people will use to finish out the last half of a Cleric build, it's also in Complete Divine.

Sacred Exorcist is another decent prestige class, especially since it continues advancing your Turn Undead ability, also in Complete Divine.

Morninglord of Lathander from Player's Guide to Faerun is often taken with Radiant Servant (adapted).


For the NG Cleric I'd probably recommend he go Cleric 6/ Radiant Servant 5/ Morninglord 9, and let him repick his domains to get Sun. For his Radiant Servant 5 domain I'd recommend Glory. He could get a Circlet of Persuasion to boost his turning checks, a and Phylactery of Undead Turning to boost his level for turning. There's also the Scepter of the Netherworld, Rod of Defiance, and Ephod of Authority in the Magic Item Compendium, and the Night Stick in Libris Mortis. A character who stacks items that boost Turn Undead can usually destroy them outright, making such encounters extremely easy.

The Neutral Cleric should probably go Cleric 5/ Divine Oracle 4/ Dweomerkeeper 1/ Contemplative 1/ Dweomerkeeper 9, using Magical Training to get the arcane spellcasting prerequisite, and the Frog God's Fane to get Skill Focus. Maybe suggest he switch to Cloistered Cleric, which would allow him to get another domain. With the Rune domain he'll get Scribe Scroll, which helps qualify for Dweomerkeeper, plus creating a scroll meets its special prerequisite. His Contemplative 1 domain should be Spell, both that and the Rune domain are found in the Spell Compendium. Just houserule that the Supernatural Spell ability granted by Dweomerkeeper can't be used to remove a costly material or XP component from a spell, otherwise he'll be casting free Resurrections and Miracles.

[Douglas]

Normally people shy away from Hospitaler and Warpriest (Complete Divine) since they're not full-casting PrC's. But if your player is more interested in combat than in healing they could be good options.

Except those classes are actually worse at combat than pure cleric.

[Telonius]

Except those classes are actually worse at combat than pure cleric.

So is everything else but a full casting PrC, most of which have been ruled out for flavor reasons.

Dweomerkeeper would be ideal - I hadn't seen that particular web enhancement until just now.

[Assassin89]

Except those classes are actually worse at combat than pure cleric.

One question though. Doe a pure cleric get access to a weapon that deals a maximum of 12 damage per round without buffing and taking a feat or the war domain? Warpriest provides martial weapon proficiency, meaning that one could use a greataxe or greatsword without penalty. Warpriest also helps against fear effects, provided that the cleric is not suffering from a fear effect. A d10 for hit points might also help the cleric survive some attacks. If one is playing a cloistered cleric, the armor proficiencies might also help.

[Ladorak]

I like Church Inquisitor, it has a low entry requirement and a couple of nice abilities (Worth taking two levels in, I think) adds a domain, full casting, open to all gods.

Are you using ToB or not? Because any 'more intrested in fighting then X' players should just default to that book, Ruby Knight Vindicator's not that good, but it's a better war priest then the war priest

[Ladorak]

One question though. Doe a pure cleric get access to a weapon that deals a maximum of 12 damage per round without buffing and taking a feat or the war domain? Warpriest provides martial weapon proficiency, meaning that one could use a greataxe or greatsword without penalty. Warpriest also helps against fear effects, provided that the cleric is not suffering from a fear effect. A d10 for hit points might also help the cleric survive some attacks. If one is playing a cloistered cleric, the armor proficiencies might also help.

Just go a Dwarf, there's a D10 one-handed weapon. Give him a large spiked (Spiked large?) shield of bashing, that's a D12 one-handed weapon.

[Eldariel]

Cleric can get just about any proficiency (along with free Weapon Focus) with the War-domain. That said, Weapon Damage is such a miniscule part of your total damage output (Strx2, Divine Favor, size modifiers, etc.) that it's rarely worth it regardless. Generally the best weapon deals 2d4 damage anyways (Greatsword deals an average of 2 points more damage, but you lose out on reach, tripping, etc.).

[Gorbash]

So is everything else but a full casting PrC, most of which have been ruled out for flavor reasons.

Think again. Ordained Champion!