The 3.5 Cleric Handbook

[Shurien]

They're not all that bad. IIRC, these two were decent: Inquisition, Competition. Inquisition gives a +4 to dispel checks, I think. And I remember something good about Competition, but I forget what it was... It may have been a good one to take with Arcane Disciple, which means it probably sucks for a cleric.

And isn't there an adaptation section in the Ordained Champion writeup?

Thanks a bunch!! I didn't notice the adaptation section...XD.

Now that I know I'll probably choose the Red Knight as my deity, because it fits in the PrC and for the Planning domain.

BTW, I was thinking of getting Knowledge Devotion but if I do I'll probably have to choose Able Learner as well because If I dont I'll never have enough skill points. Is that a bad idea?

[GawainBS]

They're not all that bad. IIRC, these two were decent: Inquisition, Competition. Inquisition gives a +4 to dispel checks, I think. And I remember something good about Competition, but I forget what it was... It may have been a good one to take with Arcane Disciple, which means it probably sucks for a cleric.

And isn't there an adaptation section in the Ordained Champion writeup?

Thanks a bunch!! I didn't notice the adaptation section...XD.

Now that I know I'll probably choose the Red Knight as my deity, because it fits in the PrC and for the Planning domain.

BTW, I was thinking of getting Knowledge Devotion but if I do I'll probably have to choose Able Learner as well because If I dont I'll never have enough skill points. Is that a bad idea?

If you want to use Knowledge Devotion, use a Cloistered Cleric: Divine Power takes care of all your needs.

[Shurien]

Help!!

I dont know what deity to choose for my cleric. I just found out that we are banned from using FR or Eberron deities!

The only ones I can use are the ones that appear in the Deities and Demigods book.

I need a deity with a couple of good domains, plus the war domain (for ordained champion) and a good melee favored weapon.

My cleric is probably going to be LN or CN, but I can change the alignment if needed (I just dont wanna play a good aligned PC)

[Agita]

Can you worship an ideal? If so, that's the easiest way to get your favorite domains.
Hironeous gets longsword, which is decent, and is part of the original OC fluff. However, his domains suck. Athena gets Knowledge, I suppose, but the rest are meh, and her weapon is a shortspear. Re-Horakthy gets War plus Sun and Glory, in case you want to use your turn undead attempts for other things than Smiting (yeah... right). No idea what stats a khopesh has.
Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

[archangel.arcanis]

khopesh is stated out in the book. its basically a longsword with 18-20 threat range IIRC

[PhaedrusXY]

Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

wow...

[Shurien]

Can you worship an ideal? If so, that's the easiest way to get your favorite domains.
Hironeous gets longsword, which is decent, and is part of the original OC fluff. However, his domains suck. Athena gets Knowledge, I suppose, but the rest are meh, and her weapon is a shortspear. Re-Horakthy gets War plus Sun and Glory, in case you want to use your turn undead attempts for other things than Smiting (yeah... right). No idea what stats a khopesh has.
Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

The problem with worshiping an ideal is that you cant get into OC.

And Odin doesn't have the War domain. Besides, to be an OC you have to get Weap Focus with your god's weapon, which means that I'll probably use that weapon (or I'll be losing a feat).

BTW....how do you know if the domains in the spell compendium are in the list of domains of a god? Is there a list?
Anyway, thanks for answering.....I was getting a little nervous cause I thought we were going to start the campaign today (it's next week, cause the DM was not ready) and I didnt have my character finished. Weew....

[Akalsaris]

Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

wow...

That was my thought exactly. 

[Akkristor]

Thor?

[Agita]

Can you worship an ideal? If so, that's the easiest way to get your favorite domains.
Hironeous gets longsword, which is decent, and is part of the original OC fluff. However, his domains suck. Athena gets Knowledge, I suppose, but the rest are meh, and her weapon is a shortspear. Re-Horakthy gets War plus Sun and Glory, in case you want to use your turn undead attempts for other things than Smiting (yeah... right). No idea what stats a khopesh has.
Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

The problem with worshiping an ideal is that you cant get into OC.

Strictly as written, you can't get into OC with anyone other than Hironeous or Hextor either.

And Odin doesn't have the War domain. Besides, to be an OC you have to get Weap Focus with your god's weapon, which means that I'll probably use that weapon (or I'll be losing a feat).

Unless I'm imagining thigs, yes he does. My Deities and Demigods says "Air, Knowledge, Magic, Travel, Trickery, and War". I didn't mention War because I only looked up War deities, so the war domain is an implicit trait of all gods on the mini-list I made. (And I didn't list Air because it's kinda meh unless you can use it to power Smitings with OC. If you can, it's sweet.)

EDIT: According to the book, you can also worship the Asgardian Pantheon as a whole. This means you get to pick and choose among all of its domains.

[Shurien]

Strictly as written, you can't get into OC with anyone other than Hironeous or Hextor either.

There's an adaptation text so yes you can.

Anyway, thanks a bunch. I'll have to study the worshiping of the pantheon, cause I like the idea! If I cant I'll probably worship Odin (even though I'll have to play a good aligned char and loose a feat )

Peace!

[snakeman830]

Strictly as written, you can't get into OC with anyone other than Hironeous or Hextor either.

There's an adaptation text so yes you can.

Anyway, thanks a bunch. I'll have to study the worshiping of the pantheon, cause I like the idea! If I cant I'll probably worship Odin (even though I'll have to play a good aligned char and loose a feat )

Peace!

Shortspears aren't the worst weapon.  They're one-handed, so you've got a free hand for casting or whatever and you can wield it in 2 for the 1.5*Str damage.  You can throw it, it's got a *3 crit multiplier, and you can set it against a charge.  It's actually a pretty decent weapon, althoughthe base damage isn't the greatest.

[PhaedrusXY]

It's actually a pretty decent weapon, althoughthe base damage isn't the greatest.

Eh, base damage doesn't usually matter that much. I do prefer a high crit range over a high crit multiplier, though.

[Sinfire Titan]

Fun Fact: Cloudy Conjuration from CM affects Cleric Healing Spells. You move up, cast the spell and heal your ally, and have the cloud appear in the enemy's space (sickening them).


Minor, but very fun to think about.

[Negative Zero]

Fun Fact: Cloudy Conjuration from CM affects Cleric Healing Spells. You move up, cast the spell and heal your ally, and have the cloud appear in the enemy's space (sickening them).


Minor, but very fun to think about.

Alternatively, you put the cloud in the space of the ally you're healing. Eventually, the negative reinforcement will convince them to buy a wand of CLW so you don't have to spend any more spell slots on them.

[Sinfire Titan]

Alternatively, you put the cloud in the space of the ally you're healing. Eventually, the negative reinforcement will convince them to buy a wand of CLW so you don't have to spend any more spell slots on them.

Or you use Cure Minor Wounds on yourself and center the cloud on the idiot attacking you (Arena use).

[awaken DM golem]

Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

wow...

That was my thought exactly.  

That's in there for 3e old-style balance ...  

[McPoyo]

Odin is probably best. He gets Travel, Trickery, Magic, and Knowledge. Bam. His favored weapon is bad (shortspear), but you can't have everything.

wow...

That was my thought exactly. 

That's in there for 3e old-style balance ... 

Yeah, but think of how strong the character would be if you used such a bad weapon! The rp would make you better than pun-pun! /sarcasm

[Nihilus]

Hey guys, so im following the super holy warrior build so far.
This is my first go at D&D, so i have been following the build closely.
We rolled for stats, so these are mine
STR 9
Dex 8
Con 11
Int 10
Wis 16
Cha 15

So, I guess i can switch those up a bit. Right now I'm about to turn level 5, and I boosted constitution one more, to make it +2.

I feel pretty lame right now, as i dont know how to really use it to much of an advantage. So far I have been just healing other party members/ even just feeding dead allies potions.
Am I doing something wrong?
I am not sure how Eldritch blast works yet. So what are the key functions of using it? I know it gets better as i become an Eldritch disciple, but I dont know how many times i can use it, its range, what i can do with it, etc.
Can someone explain to me why it is so good?
Also what is good about the devotion feats?
I still not picking up on that.
Actually, what is so good about the travel/knowledge domains anyway?
I have yet to use even a single spell from either of the domains. Am I missing something here?
What are the uses of turning as well?
I know it powers divine metamagic, but there are barely any undead we have come across.
Are there any suggestions for the last feat that can be taken as well?

I guess most importantly, when does this build start getting good and
are there any key things I should know as being a cleric? (Items, armor, abilities, etc?)
I know these are a lot of questions, so thanks in advance!!!

[PhaedrusXY]

We rolled for stats, so these are mine
STR 9
Dex 8
Con 11
Int 10
Wis 16
Cha 15

Wow... those are some pretty bad stats... I'd have probably suggested picking a race with a Con boost, like dwarf. I guess once you get Divine Power it will be tolerable, though. Are you going with the Divine Metamagic: Persistent, route? It looks like you won't get that till level 9 with this build.

I feel pretty lame right now, as i dont know how to really use it to much of an advantage. So far I have been just healing other party members/ even just feeding dead allies potions.
Am I doing something wrong?

Will cover this at the end.

I am not sure how Eldritch blast works yet. So what are the key functions of using it? I know it gets better as i become an Eldritch disciple, but I dont know how many times i can use it, its range, what i can do with it, etc.
Can someone explain to me why it is so good?

Did you look at the actual warlock class? It tells you the range there...

You can use it as many times as you want. It has unlimited uses. I'd say it's not all that good, but later on in this build as I understand it, you'll be able to use it to deliver spells. So it's not about the damage, it's about using it for that. Of course... you can't do that yet.

Also what is good about the devotion feats?
I still not picking up on that.

They all have very different abilities. So you can't just say what's good about all of them. It's like trying to say what's good about 50 random people in a room.

Knowledge Devotion is good because it is basically free bonuses to attack and damage, as long as you put at least one rank in the relevant knowledge skill for a creature.

Actually, what is so good about the travel/knowledge domains anyway?
I have yet to use even a single spell from either of the domains. Am I missing something here?

Why would you not at least cast Longstrider? It lasts 1 hr/level, and boosts your speed. Why would you not cast that? I don't understand... It doesn't take up a normal spell slot, so you're losing nothing from casting it, except the ability to cast one of your other domain spells... And if you ever get grappled, hit with an Entangle spell, or anything like that, you'll see what's so good about the Travel domain. (Hint: Go read the special ability)

Also, if you cast Identify from the cloistered cleric spell list, you don't have to use the material component (the 100 gp pearl that wizards/sorcerers have to use). I also find Unseen Servant to be quite useful. It lasts 1 hr/lvl, and you can have it drag around a dummy/mannequin in front of your party to set off traps, lure out hiding monsters, etc. It can also open doors to set off traps, etc.

I would suggest trading out the knowledge domain from this build for the Knowledge Devotion feat for free. The knowledge domain itself isn't all that great. So the free feat is probably better. I think you'll have most or all of the knowledge skills as class skills from your other classes, anyway. Right? (I didn't check)

What are the uses of turning as well?
I know it powers divine metamagic, but there are barely any undead we have come across.

None. If you don't encounter undead, and don't have DMM or other divine feats yet, it is useless.

I guess most importantly, when does this build start getting good and
are there any key things I should know as being a cleric? (Items, armor, abilities, etc?)
I know these are a lot of questions, so thanks in advance!!!

From looking at it, I'd say it starts getting good at 9th level. That's when you'll have Divine Metamagic (Persistent) and Eldritch Glaive. That's the meat of the build right there it seems.

Right now, I'd focus on casting spells, since your physical abilities are craptastic. You have a good Wisdom, though. So your save DCs should be decent. So you might try Hold Person when you're fighting humanoids. That's basically a "save or die", as long as one of your party members is nearby to deliver a Coup De Grace to the target if they fail the save. Command is a so-so "save or die", also as you can command someone to give you their weapons/holy symbols/spell components/etc, basically making them useless afterward. Protection from Evil is like "immunity to enchantment effects" at 1st level.