On a party based server, in my opinion, a cleric needs to be the last character standing if a fight goes poorly. Recently, to encourage balanced parties, the server on which I play has enacted an xp penalty if you are raised by any means other than a memorized spell. Because of this, there has been a rash of new cleric builds coming through, designed to be survivable. It seems that most of the character builders (and we have some good ones) have been doing variations on a cleric/pale master/(bard or sorceror) template for the immunity to crits. Those are fine, but I have never really gotten into the whole bone arm thing. I wanted to to something different. Since several of our high lvl monsters do have dev crit, I did still want to have some method of combatting that. Having played several rogues at high lvl, I decided to try and make a cleric with Epic Dodge, as Epic Dodge combined with improved invisibility and a high AC goes a long way to combat instadeath. This is what I came up with.
Race: Human initial stats Str 10 Dex 16 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 16 Chr 8
1 Monk dodge mobility 2 cleric trickery and str domain 3 cleric weapon finesse 4 cleric WIS +1 5 cleric 6 cleric extend spell 7 monk 8 cleric WIS +1 9 cleric silent spell 10 cleric 11 cleric 12 monk weapon focus kama DEX +1 13 cleric 14 cleric 15 cleric Maximized Spell 16 cleric DEX +1 17 monk 18 cleric empowered spell 19 cleric 20 cleric WIS +1 21 cleric Great Wis I 22 Shadowdancer 23 cleric 24 cleric Great Dex I Dex +1 25 cleric 26 shadowdancer 27 monk Great Dex II 28 shadowdancer dex +1 29 shadowdancer 30 shadowdancer Great Dex III 31 monk 32 monk dex +1 33 cleric Armor Skin 34 cleric 35 cleric great wis II 36 cleric Epic weapon focus kama dex +1 37 monk 38 cleric 39 monk. Epic Dodge 40 cleric Great Wis III dex +1
Final stats for a 26 cleric/9 monk/5 shadowdancer Str 10 Dex 26 Con 10 Wis 22 Int 14 Chr 8
Low str and all, but he would live to res the fallen comrades.
He does not have improved crit for the kama, but I wanted to have silent spell for another lvl of harm spells, extend spell to extend my Divine Favors, Divine Powers, and other buffs, and empower and maximize spell to be able to fully use my spells. Every spell except 9th will be able to be cast on 2-4 spell lvls.
I considered dropping weapon focus kama for either expertise, toughness, or great fortitude and swapping epic weapon focus kama for either improved expertise or epic prowess. Then I could choose my weapon (kama or unarmed) based on opponent. Depends on what you want to do.
Spell penetrations or focii might come in handy as well.
Since I needed so much dex and wis, I made a conscious decision to drop the Divine Might and Shield.
Since I did not take any Epic Spells, I would consider the spellcraft optional. That frees up 2 ability points from intelligence that could be moved to Constitution or Strength if you desire. I decided I wanted the +8 to saves against spells vs the 40 hps. Once again, personal choice. _________________ Click Here
This appears to be an excellent build and one of my favorite types. Great job, will be trying this very soon.
This build has a good potential flavor too it.
My thoughts, to add more of that wonderfullness, is to drop silent spell, maximize spell, and empowered spell to take weapon proficiancy exotic, spell focus Necromancy, and greater spell focus necromancy. Instead of kamas, use a whip (still does nice damage with cleric buffs). Focus on deathly evil spells and wisdom to be more evil.
In epic levels, drop 1 Great Dex feat for Epic Spell Focus Necromancy.
Of course, this looses some spell flexibility. And it does make the build more evil....but it's what I would do.
Of course, it might not do that well on your server. But it would be evil and shadowy...and evil...
Great concept and interesting build!
Why did you stick with the kama as weapon of choice? For Flurry of Blows? Did you consider focusing in Rapier with it's extended crit range and greater damage potential?
Cool build! K. _________________ Check out the Epic Character Builders Guild Click Here Test your new builds in this mod: Click Here
The 8 attacks a round when Divine Powered, hasted, and with flurry of blows vs. 5 attacks a round with a rapier (or whip) under the same conditions. I do not have to take any weapon proficiencies either. _________________ Click Here
Edited By Yar Stardawg on 03/01/05 04:26
I'm not really sure how useful Strength domain would be to this character. Sure you get Divine Power on two levels, and Stoneskin, but you won't be able to use the Strength bonus ability it gives. Divine Power's good, but it's not THAT good, and you'll still be able to cast it without the Strength domain. Also, I can't see Stoneskin doing much after level 13-14 or so; at least, it doesn't on my PW.
If you really want to be able to benefit your party with healing, the Healing domain really shines at lower levels, with empowered Cure Serious Wounds available so early on, and Heal available on two different levels. Magic domain is also good for a Cha-nerfing Cleric, even ones without high Wis, as Ice Storm scales all the way up and has no save, Stoneskin is available on a lower spell level than Strength domain, and Mage Armour is a great buff for the whole party. Just remember to get your tanks to fall back before you unleash an Ice Storm.
Plus, 22 Wis isn't doing you much more good than 20. Put the other 2 points into Dex, you'll get the same AC but your AB will be one point higher. Your spell save DC will lose 1 point but most Cleric spells are buffs or saveless spells anyway. In theory, you should also be able to get Epic Dodge earlier this way too. I hate having to wait around for a build to gain key abilities, the earlier the better for me.
All in all though, a really decent build.
Edited By Herbie Shimmer on 03/01/05 13:53
I had to wait on Epic Dodge because I want to get my tumble and discipline to at least 40. Since 39 is the only feat lvl 37 or above (can't take it with an Cleric Bonus feat) I am pretty much locked in to taking it at lvl 39 unless I sacrifice a Cleric Bonus feat. I am pretty sure that both of the Wisdom points above 20 are taken with a Cleric Bonus feat. Since I always want to be able to cast a spell lvl if I am high enough in lvl, I do not see any other way to do it.
I did seriously consider Heal domain. I decided that I prefered the flexibility of where I memorized my Divine Power more, though. To be honest, stone skin did not even enter into the equation, though. By the time I would get it, most of the creatures on the PW I play have weapons that overcome the DR it gives already. On a low magic world, though, it would be very handy. I also considered magic domain. Trickery was definite, though. _________________ Click Here
Ah yes, of course, the lack of options that Cleric bonus feats give is really annoying. Forgot about that. Now I remember why I was thinking of going 23 Cleric / 10 Monk / 7 Shadowdancer when I last contemplated a Dex-based Cleric.
I like this build a lot
However as someone else said I wouldn't take the Strength domain - you gain little as a non CHA based cleric from that.
Personally I would pick the Magic domain - you get to keep stoneskin and you gain the awesome Ice Storm spell, well at least I always find it extremely usefull since it's a no save spell. Also at low levels Mage armor can be a lifesaver.
The PW I play on used to have no Permanent Haste Items. If that was still the case, I would have probably went trickery and travel. Like I said, trickery is the one Domain that is essential to what I was going for. All of the suggested feats are good and add usefulness to the build.
I have played this char up to 17th lvl on my PW. He is doing quite well. I am glad I took strength Domain though. The reason is that, instead of having to use my 5th lvl spells for extended Divine Powers, I can do it at 4th lvl. My 5th lvl spell slots are full of some rather important spells, buffs for both myself and my party, not to mention raise dead. Since 6th lvl is harm and heal, there is no way I want to silence or extend my 5th lvl spells to make room for extended 4th lvl Divine Powers. _________________ Click Here
Good point, and it shows that it depends a lot on what items are available on the server you play on.
The one I play on at the moment is very action based and you can get a lot of items early on - haste boots, belts with DR and ring of improved evasion all before level 8.
Edited By MartinJHolm on 03/04/05 22:17
Str domain with low cha and having the extend spell feat is great, it allows extended divine power with some 10+ uses/day.
I saw someone using something like this yesterday and very impressive. Can you post what the AC, Attack Bonus and saving throws you get without equipemnt and then with Buffs?
I like this build a lot 