Help with Cleric Build.

[vbriza]

This is my first try at DDO, my first character.

I’ve joined the game to play with a couple of friends, which are playing fighter and rogue, so I decided to go for a cleric.
Since we basically only play together, occasionally with another friend (wizard) I wanted to add something to the party other then just heals. We play just for fun, we have no intention on doing high end stuff.

On the character creation I took the Font of Healing path (8str/10dex/14con/8int/18wis/12cha). By reading some of the forum threads I figure, by his starting stats, that there’s no way I could make him a Battle Cleric.

Ok, I’m at lvl 5 by now, human male (28 points). These are my feats and enhancements:
Feats: Mental Toughness; Extended Spell; Toughness (human)
Enhancements:
Human Improved recovery
Cleric Prayer of Life I
Cleric Life Magic I and II
Cleric Energy of the Zealot I and II
Cleric Wisdom
Cleric Devine Vitality
Cleric Extra Turning I and II
Cleric Wand Mastery I

Is there anything I could do so I wouldn’t be just a heal bot? Splashing another class, idk.
I would prefer focusing on CC and melee damage, if there’s any way I could deal some melee damage (just wanna be able to help out with trash mobs as stuff) it’d be nice, but if the 8 base points of str makes it impossible… *** any help would be welcome.
I just don’t want to reroll, we play very little, so getting another char to lvl 5 would take me a few weeks.

I appreciate any help.

[moretoth]

This is my first try at DDO, my first character.

I’ve joined the game to play with a couple of friends, which are playing fighter and rogue, so I decided to go for a cleric.
Since we basically only play together, occasionally with another friend (wizard) I wanted to add something to the party other then just heals. We play just for fun, we have no intention on doing high end stuff.

On the character creation I took the Font of Healing path (8str/10dex/14con/8int/18wis/12cha). By reading some of the forum threads I figure, by his starting stats, that there’s no way I could make him a Battle Cleric.

Ok, I’m at lvl 5 by now, human male (28 points). These are my feats and enhancements:
Feats: Mental Toughness; Extended Spell; Toughness (human)
Enhancements:
Human Improved recovery
Cleric Prayer of Life I
Cleric Life Magic I and II
Cleric Energy of the Zealot I and II
Cleric Wisdom
Cleric Devine Vitality
Cleric Extra Turning I and II
Cleric Wand Mastery I

Is there anything I could do so I wouldn’t be just a heal bot? Splashing another class, idk.
I would prefer focusing on CC and melee damage, if there’s any way I could deal some melee damage (just wanna be able to help out with trash mobs as stuff) it’d be nice, but if the 8 base points of str makes it impossible… *** any help would be welcome.
I just don’t want to reroll, we play very little, so getting another char to lvl 5 would take me a few weeks.

I appreciate any help.

I would suggest using the spells command and soundburst stun to help with CC. Your melee ability is going to suffer from poor starting stats, but you can use divine favor, bless and when you get it divine power to make up a bit of that. You will be able to hit stuff at least until you level a bit more and get better cleric offensive spells which will likely cause you to stop meleeing since it will not a strong point for you.

Basicly use your buffs to get some melee to hit and use the CC spells a cleric has to help the group. Maybe for now buy a wand of bulls strength and give yourself a +4 to strength. Every little bit helps at this point.

[tihocan]

By reading some of the forum threads I figure, by his starting stats, that there’s no way I could make him a Battle Cleric.
Correct, this is pretty much a no-go with this kind of stats. Splashing some melee-oriented class won't really help. You'll be missing a lot and dealing very little damage, which isn't going to be much fun.
That being said, nothing prevents you from buffing as much as you can and meleing a bit, taking advantage of the +2 to-hit bonus when flanking. Use weapons with highest + you can get (bane weapons may be useful too to be able to hit more).

Besides this, it's probably best that you focus on your offensive casting abilities. Your feats so far as fine, but you may want to go away from the path at L6. Take maximize instead of empower healing spell. This will allow you to boost your damage spells.
Then make sure you have fun with CC spells like command, soundburst, etc.

As a side note, if you don't mind spending some $$$, you can buy veteran status and start a L4 character.

[Ricgard]

You've opted to play a support healer, based on your attributes, feats, and enhancements. As a support healer you can still contribute offensively, not with fighting or damage-dealing, but just hotkey the spell "Hold Person" and cast that on everything that moves. Tell your friends to attack anything that glows blue, and it's dead in 3-5 hits because every hit automatically lands *and* automatically crits. Hold Person works on more than just people, works on all humanoids (kobolds, hobgoblins, dorfs, all kinds of funky stuff). Doesn't work on animals, monstrous humanoids, or undead though. But still, if you get in the habit of casting hold person on everything, you will in effect be the biggest damage-dealer in the group, without dealing any actual damage at all. Just watch the SP's so you have enough left to heal.

[vbriza]

Thank you for the help.

I gaven up de idea of trying to melee stuff =P. We have met met a few ppl and started doing some elite quests, things got a lot more interesting, and I decided to focus completely on healing and CC.

Now, concerning CC and my spells landing with little resistance, how much spell penetration should I get? All feats and enhancements?

I played a bit with the character creation tool and came up with this build. Is it decent?
Should I trade Improved Mental Toughness (or any other Feat) for Greater Spell Penetration?

I’m about to hit lvl 6 and didn’t want to mess up my character.


Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.14
DDO Character Planner Home Page (http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO)

Ginkgo
Level 20 Lawful Good Human Male
(20 Cleric)
Hit Points: 242
Spell Points: 1757
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 14
Reflex: 6
Will: 20

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(28 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 8 8
Dexterity 10 10
Constitution 14 14
Intelligence 8 8
Wisdom 18 27
Charisma 12 12

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 0 4
Bluff 1 1
Concentration 2 19
Diplomacy 1 14
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle 1 1
Heal 4 8
Hide 0 0
Intimidate 1 1
Jump -1 -1
Listen 4 8
Move Silently 0 0
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform n/a n/a
Repair -1 -1
Search -1 -1
Spot 4 8
Swim -1 -1
Tumble n/a n/a
Use Magic Device n/a n/a

Level 1 (Cleric)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Mental Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 2 (Cleric)


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell


Level 4 (Cleric)


Level 5 (Cleric)


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Empower Healing I
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Empower Healing II
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery I


Level 7 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life II
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic III


Level 8 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II


Level 9 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot III


Level 10 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Empower Healing III


Level 11 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic IV


Level 12 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life III


Level 13 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot IV


Level 14 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life II


Level 15 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom III


Level 16 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration II


Level 17 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery II


Level 18 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration III


Level 19 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life III


Level 20 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery III

[tihocan]

At L12, replace IMT by maximize (makes a big difference with blade barriers). Then at L18 you can pick greater spell penetration (for CC/insta-kill) or empower (for even more deadly blade barriers).

[Ricgard]

Personally I would trade those points in Diplomacy for Heal instead. I for one never ever use Diplomacy... just isn't really needed. Maybe I'm alone in this. Heal is more useful for the simple fact that it helps those fighters and barbs get more HP back when they rest at shrines.

[Kralgnax]

Welcome to DDO!

Your stats and feats look fine overall - I didn't read enhancements too closely - though those look reasonable -as they're cheap and easy to change.

Skills - Concentration #1, then any combo of balance (to avoid trips) , diplomacy, jump with leftovers is fine. Do NOT take HEAL - it is useless except when shrining, and has only very limited utility there. Clerics always have higher priorities than Heal for their limited skills.

You might wish to reconsider your feat sequence:
Impr. Mental Toughness is a gift that keeps on giving,
I think Maximize is more useful for you than either Empower

Maybe lvl6 Impr. MT
9 Maximize
12 Quicken
15 Spell Pen
18 Empower

You can shuffle the order around multiple ways, but that might work fairly smoothly for you, as you get Quicken around when the hits start to get really nasty.

Some people also suggest swapping out Extend at some point, though I'm a big fan of long duration buffs.

Good hunting!

[Ricgard]

To my knowledge, balance does not help you avoid being tripped. That's a reflex save. Balance simply determines how long it takes you to get back up.

This is why it's so easy to knock people with low reflex saves down using grease (which I firmly believe is a group buff).

[Renvar]

The feat thing is an area of debate, but keep in mind that Maximize does not enhance Heal. Only the Cure spells. At endgame your healing is a combination of individual Heal casts and Cure Mass Serious/Cure Mass Critical. But Maximize increases the effectiveness of all your damage spells as well, so both are needed.

Quicken is also important as mob and boss ability to deal massive damage rises at the higher levels. Fast heals are critical in these situations. You also need to be able to drop a BB in a hurry sometimes...

Go with Maximize, Empower Healing, Quicken, and then what happens next depends on if you want to be an offensive/CC caster or just a healbot. If you want offensive casting you will need Spell Penetration and Heighten to land your instadeath and CC. Extend is optional after level 15 (fifteen minute buffs are plenty, really. Recitation and Prayer are the only ones that really need extending). MT and IMT are great and are better if you are the healbot role or to fill out the last feat or two on a CC/Offensive caster/Healer.

Another idea would be to splash two levels of Monk since you are lawful good. Not for the melee capability, but for the stances, the AC, two bonus feats and the evasion. Evasion will help with survivability and the bonus feats can get toughness (another big help for survival). There is a a stance that gives +2 to wisdom which will help with SP, Spell DC. You would lose some spell points and spell slots, so there is a trade off here. Staying pure might be better for your first character. But I wanted to offer all the options. If you are interested in this, there are some good builds posted on the forums. Do some research before talking to that monk trainer.

Good luck and welcome to Ebberon.

[tihocan]

Extend is optional after level 15 (fifteen minute buffs are plenty, really. Recitation and Prayer are the only ones that really need extending).
You forgot Blade Barrier. Extending them can be very useful in some situations.

[moretoth]

Personally I would trade those points in Diplomacy for Heal instead. I for one never ever use Diplomacy... just isn't really needed. Maybe I'm alone in this. Heal is more useful for the simple fact that it helps those fighters and barbs get more HP back when they rest at shrines.

I would say skip heal as a skill. It is wasted skill points. The small boost in HP at a shrine is not offset by the benefits you could get putting that point into almost any other skill. Shrines simply are not used that often to restore HPs compared to every other possible source of HPs.

[vbriza]

Much thks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it.

DDOTalk71, Kralgnax and tihocan, I'll consider your tips on my feat sequence.
The glance at the priority of spells at endgame was really enlightning.

I think I have a good idea of what to do now.

Ginkgo Biloba @ Canith, if you ever need a healbot =P.