Advice on GRing?

[Qaliya]

Hey again everyone,

I've now been playing for three months or so and have been capped since about the middle of CC. I am an 18/1/1 cleric/rogue/fighter.

I made that build for a specific reason: when I started out I was almost exclusively soloing, and I still solo a fair bit. I like to be independent and the rogue and fighter levels let me deal with "roguish" stuff well into the mid-teens level-wise, as well as giving me more HP, access to various enhancements, and martial weapon proficiencies.

Now that I'm level 20, though, I am finding myself wishing I was a pure cleric. The main things I find myself missing are the extra SP, and the capstone, which seems very useful.

I plan to TR eventually, but I want to spend some time at level 20 gathering favor and experiencing epics and so forth. So I was considering GRing to a pure cleric. I would do this after unlocking 32-point builds, and use the opportunity to change some things around (such as dumping Int, which I had higher than a cleric needs because of my rogue level) and so forth.

I don't care much about losing the rogue level because at this point I can't do much with it anyway. But I am afraid I'll miss the fighter level. Even though I want to focus on casting now, I still will be meleeing a fair bit and I don't want to be too "gimped" in that regard.

Is there a viable way to deal with this? Maybe going half-elf with fighter delittante, or do I give up too much with this by not being human and thus losing a feat? WF has some nice fighting enhancements, but -2 Wis and Cha seems like a deal-breaker.

What feats and enhancements would you recommend to help maximize my spellcasting and healing? I do know the basics but am open to suggestions. Thanks. :)

[Qaliya]

Okay, it seems you can't change race when GRing, so there goes that idea!

How much will I be giving up melee damage wise by going sword and board? I'm just concerned about getting "bogged down" when soloing.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Maugrim101]

Just my 2 cents.

This is your first character and you would like to mainly focus on casting and healing. My suggestion would be to dump all melee capability when you Greater Riencarante and use the time you spend at lvl 20 this life honing your healing and casting skills.

It is possible for a Cleric to do quite well in all 3 areas, I just think that as your newish to the quests that a lvl 20 character will be running on a regualr basis, trying to do to much now will probably hurt more than it will help.

Definatley dump the Int, Max wisdom (including level ups) and only take enough str really that you won't be encumbered (Add a +6 str item to help here). Clerics reflex saves are notoriously poor so unless you have some decent gear to boost this save (Unlikely on your first character), dump dex as well and just learn to be carefull with things that demand a reflex save (You wil take full damage almost always).

Spare points left can be divided between Con and Cha. Good Hit points are always important, even on a character that maybe "At the back". With the horrible relfex save, a decent score (Starting 14, more with TR builds I'd recommend) will help when you do fail those saves as well as other damage that comes along. You can put the rest into Cha, which will give you more Turns (Auras/Bursts) and will help with UMD if you've invested in that at all.

When you do eventually TR, you will probably have played enough to have got used to the casting/healing side of things and you can make up your own mind then if you prefer to focus on that or switch over to melee. Most people generally pick 2 areas (1 Being healing), It's mainly down to personal preferance.

You could also TR into a Favoured Soul (If you buy it or unlock with favour). They have a lot more sp and are much more survivable if you develop your game to be more in the frontline (This even applies to caster based ones) as opposed to bringing up the rear.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Just my 2 cents.

This is your first character and you would like to mainly focus on casting and healing. My suggestion would be to dump all melee capability when you Greater Riencarante and use the time you spend at lvl 20 this life honing your healing and casting skills.

It is possible for a Cleric to do quite well in all 3 areas, I just think that as your newish to the quests that a lvl 20 character will be running on a regualr basis, trying to do to much now will probably hurt more than it will help.

Definatley dump the Int, Max wisdom (including level ups) and only take enough str really that you won't be encumbered (Add a +6 str item to help here). Clerics reflex saves are notoriously poor so unless you have some decent gear to boost this save (Unlikely on your first character), dump dex as well and just learn to be carefull with things that demand a reflex save (You wil take full damage almost always).

Spare points left can be divided between Con and Cha. Good Hit points are always important, even on a character that maybe "At the back". With the horrible relfex save, a decent score (Starting 14, more with TR builds I'd recommend) will help when you do fail those saves as well as other damage that comes along. You can put the rest into Cha, which will give you more Turns (Auras/Bursts) and will help with UMD if you've invested in that at all.

When you do eventually TR, you will probably have played enough to have got used to the casting/healing side of things and you can make up your own mind then if you prefer to focus on that or switch over to melee. Most people generally pick 2 areas (1 Being healing), It's mainly down to personal preferance.

You could also TR into a Favoured Soul (If you buy it or unlock with favour). They have a lot more sp and are much more survivable if you develop your game to be more in the frontline (This even applies to caster based ones) as opposed to bringing up the rear.

This sounds pretty spot on. Melee combat even on your build you must notice is pretty marginal at level 20 unless you've invested heavily in it (and sacrificed casting). Just go full caster, even 8 strength is fine at level 20 as you can use a +6 strength item and not worry about encumberence.

[sheepface]

If you plan to TR then there is no point wasting points / plat / whatever on getting a heart of wood to swap out those levels. 2 extra levels of cleric will not be that game changing.

[Mrmorphling]

I would personally play the toon as it is gathering experience in various raids/quests as you'll be capable of raid healing with your split without problems.

If you have a TR planned down the road i would not GR this toon but start another one so you have an high lvl char (preferably capped) to keep playing hi lvl contents while you TR; in my opinion i won't TR until i have a second char to 20.

If you still plan to GR i will dump melee for good and focus on spellcasting as it is easier to blend with raid healing imho; blade barriers plus max wisdom insta kill like slay living, destruction and implosion can be way faster than avg melee to solo contents.

Key feats will be:

Maximize and Empower for blade barrier and divine punishment
Empower healing for Prestige
Quicken for casting time and to avoid failing that crucial Conc check ;)
Toughness to stay alive as dead caster is bad caster
Heighten to increase DC of all non implosion do or die

This leave us with 2 more feats to choose (if human), to focus on spellcasting i would pick:
Spell penetration
and either
Spell focus necro for destruction and slay living
or
Greater Spell penetration

[LoveNeverFails]

Okay, I am starting to think the advice given here about not GRing but rather going straight to a TR is the way to go. I'm not enjoying level 20 as much as I thought. Also, grinding for favor is a gigantic bore -- if I'm going to redo low level quests, I'd rather just do it with a new character.

Questions:


1. Am I correct that if I TR the whole 28/32 point business becomes moot, since I become a 34 point character?

2. If I TR and I already have an epic token will I be able to get a level 20 Mabar item when it reopens?

3. If I do this, I want to be a wizard, probably a Pale Master... I want to be self-sufficient and deal lots of damage. :) Can anyone suggest races/feats/builds/etc?

Thanks. :)

1. yes.

2. I'm not sure, didn't mess with mabar.

3. apparently i could only answer #1...

hope that helps even a smidge

[Qaliya]

Okay, I am starting to think the advice given here about not GRing but rather going straight to a TR is the way to go. I'm not enjoying level 20 as much as I thought. Also, grinding for favor is a gigantic bore -- if I'm going to redo low level quests, I'd rather just do it with a new character.

Questions:


1. Am I correct that if I TR the whole 28/32 point business becomes moot, since I become a 34 point character?

2. If I TR and I already have an epic token will I be able to get a level 20 Mabar item when it reopens?

3. If I do this, I want to be a wizard, probably a Pale Master... I want to be self-sufficient and deal lots of damage. :) Can anyone suggest races/feats/builds/etc?

Thanks. :)

[LoveNeverFails]

ooo. ninja post. fantastic. This is what the forums were down for two hours to fix, huh?

[gloopygloop]

A Quarterstaff is certainly not the best weapon in the world, but it's not the worst thing you could possibly swing.

You will still be able to melee on your Cleric even if you drop all of your non-Cleric levels. Especially since you'll only have to beat up enemies that have Evasion once you'v imploded/cometfall'd the casters and kited the melee type enemies through a Blade Barrier.

If you're going to TR, though, the first thing that I would reccomend is gathering up some gear that your next life will want. If you are going to TR into a Wizard of some sort, then you'll want a Napkin from Reaver's Fate and a Torc from Zawabi's Revenge as well as either a Greensteel SP or HP item (or both).

There are a variety of other lovely items that you can gather up before a TR as well. I'm thinking in particular about the Mabar docent/robe if you decide to head toward Pale Master. You might want to get several different levels of that docent so that you can wear it as you level. In fact, even if you decide to TR into a Fighter or something that doesn't have a blue bar, you might still want to make a level 8 Mabar docent/robe just for the Nightshield clicky.