Tuoni is the finnish God of Death ruling the Tuonela (finnish underworld) and in the AD&D 1st edition incarnation he has the club as his symbol. His priests were known to be eager to administer final rites to the seriously wounded (or not so seriously either) on the battlefields actually helping them reaching the realm beyond thanks to the persuasive power of a broken skull. The belongings tha those they "helped" carried with themselves became theirs, of course, as a reward for their help in reaching the realm of their master. Interesting cult, ain't it?
Tuoni is a CN god with evil tendencies in AD&D 1e, btw.
Tales related to the Tuonela can be found in the Kalevala, a (the?) finnish epic poem.
***********
We've got a highlevel Cleric here, in two variants: battlepriest (STR route) and imploder (WIS route). Bard's in to help with singing the hymns and also with tumble and UMD. Fighter's in purely for the club exploit which is at the heart of this build, so, please, do not suggest dropping it
Because of the restricted choice of the Cleric's bonus feats the STR variant has got a higher than usual WIS for a battlepriest. It means more spell slots and a higher will save, so no harm comes from it.
Domains, theme wise, should include Death. Powerwise I'd go for Trickery and War, but pick whatever you prefer. Anyhow, anything that helps the priest administer death should be fine with Tuoni
In the WIS build you could go with STR 10, DEX 8, WIS 18 starting for -2 AB/dmg, -1 ref save (AC will be covered by Cat's Grace/AoV) but +1 Implosion DC and extra spellslots. I wouldn't do it though.
Enough ranting, here we go with the build.
*********************
Tuoni's Minister of Death - WIS build - Cleric(38), Fighter(1), Bard(1) Human, any non lawful (CN theme wise) PvM, Playable 1-40
LEVELING GUIDE 01: Cleric(1): Blind Fight, Knockdown, Domain Trickery, Domain War 02: Cleric(2) 03: Cleric(3): Weapon Focus: Club 04: Cleric(4): WIS+1, (WIS=16) 05: Cleric(5) 06: Cleric(6): Extend Spell 07: Cleric(7) 08: Cleric(8): WIS+1, (WIS=17) 09: Cleric(9): Empower Spell 10: Cleric(10) 11: Cleric(11) 12: Cleric(12): WIS+1, Improved Critical: Club, (WIS=18) 13: Cleric(13) 14: Cleric(14) 15: Cleric(15): Improved Knockdown 16: Cleric(16): WIS+1, (WIS=19) 17: Cleric(17) 18: Cleric(18): Toughness 19: Cleric(19) 20: Cleric(20): STR+1, (STR=17) 21: Cleric(21): Epic Weapon Focus: Club 22: Cleric(22) 23: Cleric(23): Armor Skin 24: Fighter(1): STR+1, WS: Club, EWS: Club, (STR=18) 25: Cleric(24) 26: Cleric(25) 27: Cleric(26): Epic Prowess, Great Wisdom I, (WIS=20) 28: Cleric(27): STR+1, (STR=19) 29: Cleric(28) 30: Cleric(29): Great Strength I, Great Wisdom II, (STR=20), (WIS=21) 31: Cleric(30) 32: Cleric(31): STR+1, (STR=21) 33: Cleric(32): Great Strength II, Great Wisdom III, (STR=22), (WIS=22) 34: Cleric(33) 35: Cleric(34) 36: Cleric(35): STR+1, Great Strength III, Great Wisdom IV, (STR=24), (WIS=23) 37: Cleric(36) 38: Bard(1) 39: Cleric(37): Great Strength IV, (STR=25) 40: Cleric(38): STR+1, Great Wisdom V, (STR=26), (WIS=24)
*********************
Feedback and constructive criticism are, as usual, gladly appreciated.
Cheers, Kail _________________ Unto to the darkness I commend my soul Never shall I repent Never shall I be saved
I'll go into the House of Death Before my last breath My enemies all shall die!
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 08/05/06 09:39
I think you should make use of magic domain , a 38 lvl icestom is very handy. Or nature domain for creeping doom , at least one domain should be used to get some dmg spells.
For the Wis version I would suggest to take zen archery.I see the build is based around the club and the bug that you can pick up EWS with only 1 fighter lvl, but theres not much use for dmg when you dont hit.Sling or throwing axe can both be used with shield, and if you go halfing you could raise your ab even further, by 12points if I am not mistaken.
About the str version I dont like that you end up with a wis of 24 , but cant be done much about that unless you want to lvl up without having all higher spell slots available till 32. But you should post a lvl 40 (or lvl 32+) with only 20 wis , the ab will be higher and for easy lvling servers its not that bad to have no high lvl spells for some time.
Could you post buffed ac /ab too , since you get alot of buffs to increase those too.
I think you should make use of magic domain , a 38 lvl icestom is very handy. Or nature domain for creeping doom , at least one domain should be used to get some dmg spells.
As I said, domains are subject to personal preference and Magic domain is indeed quite a good choice for the WIS build.
Quote: For the Wis version I would suggest to take zen archery.I see the build is based around the club and the bug that you can pick up EWS with only 1 fighter lvl, but theres not much use for dmg when you dont hit.Sling or throwing axe can both be used with shield, and if you go halfing you could raise your ab even further, by 12points if I am not mistaken.
Can't hit? With a self buffed AB ranging from 54 to 56 (and capping at 57) you should be hitting without too much trouble. When you can't hit because of real high AC, implode them, harm them, ice storm them... you'll have the means to get rid of them
Anyhow, build wise Zen Archery is definitely a good feat to pick, although theme wise I don't see it fitting in. This guy likes to get his hands dirty (with blood), definitely.
Halfling would net +1 AC, +2 ranged AB but -1 dmg, -43 skillpoints, one less feat, less carrying capacity and a XP penalty 24th lvl onwards (can be offset by moving the FTR lvl to the end of the career). I'd rather stick with human in this case.
Quote: About the str version I dont like that you end up with a wis of 24 , but cant be done much about that unless you want to lvl up without having all higher spell slots available till 32. But you should post a lvl 40 (or lvl 32+) with only 20 wis , the ab will be higher and for easy lvling servers its not that bad to have no high lvl spells for some time.
Not much can be done about it indeed apart delaying higher lvl spells which I'd rather not. Especially since it means 6th lvl spell access at 23rd lvl, 7th lvl spells at 27th lvl, 8th lvl spells at 30th lvl and 9th lvl spells at 33rd lvl and moving up AS at 36th lvl.
Anyhow, there's no need for further posting, just change the WIS increments to STR ones and you end with +2 AB/dmg (Final STR 30, WIS 20).
Quote: Could you post buffed ac /ab too , since you get alot of buffs to increase those too.
Easy enough:
AB: +20 (Bless, Aid, Prayer, Divine Favour, Divine Power, Battletide, GMW) STR: +2 to +10 depending on luck/domains (empowered BS+AoV can net up to +10)
AB (fully self buffed): +21 to +25
***
AC
General buffs
+5 Armor (Magic Vestment) +5 Shield (Magic Vestment) +5 Deflection (Shield of Faith) +4 Dodge (UEF... actually you can go up to +20 by stacking them)
Buffs potentially available, depending on chosen domains:
As you can see +20 AC is easily reachable and +40 AC is there for you with plant domain and UEF stacking (maybe helped by haste) Keep present we are talking of no magic item whatsoever here.
BTW, it's worth considering putting points in Taunt, effective AB can be raised by up to +6.
Thanks for the feedback!
Cheers, Kail _________________ Looking for a realm of adventure? Check out World of Greyhawk, you won't regret it.
Playable and self-sufficient and ready to deal with anyone or anything at least in PvM, but to a large degree also in PvP. That's what Clerics are all about. The club exploit largely helps your damage so you don't have to buff every time you need to whack some monsters by taking just a single fighter-level. Pure builds can be quite fun, a tiny bit of multi-classing makes them even better, skillfully proven here.
Interesting thing about a Finnish god, not what you hear the most about. Finneous should like this. I like the skullcrasher name very much too. _________________ Dragonlance ROH is back, better than before! and I spend a little time here WoG
Cool builds, Kail (and concept, too: Finnish Lore -- NICE!!! Yeah, gotta love dem clerics: awesome buffs, so self-sufficient; and with a hint of a song here, for the chanting (and skills), too ~ Chant and Club on!
and also with tumble and UMD. Fighter's in purely for the club exploit which is at the heart of this build, so, please, do not suggest dropping it 
