PDK Caster Cleric

[PNellesen]

I saw a PDK Melee Cleric here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422290-Post-Expansion-Build-The-Lead-Cleric-(up-front-melee-Healer), wanted to take a look at a caster Cleric as well. Would be along the lines of a Half-Elf with Fighter Dilettante, able to equip any martial weapon, but using Charisma instead of STR for damage/attack. The focus would be on good/light damage and Turn Undead (since there's a lot of undead in the Forgotten Realms content). Came up with the following 32pt build:

STR:10, DEX:8, CON:14, INT:10, WIS:18 (all level ups here), CHA:14. This is assuming a first-life with no tomes at all.

Skills would be split between Heal and Spellcraft, with some spread out in Balance and then Concentration. Level 1 feats would be Toughness, Shield Mastery, and Augment Summons. The rest would be the usual Cleric metas - Emp. Heal, Max, SF:Evo, GSF:Evo, Heighten, Quicken (at 18, since you won't get Mass Heal till then anyway). Haven't gotten too far into Enhancements yet, but would get to Burst/Aura in Radiant Servant, damage boost/healing amp/PDK boosts in racial, heavy blade spec/haste boost from Kensai, Toughness from Protection, and then boosts to light/good spell power in Divine Disciple. Seems like it should be a pretty solid first-timer soloing build, along with being a good healbot when needed as well.

Note: The starter gear set for PDKs is actually pretty solid - all the important stuff covered, but no WIS item (no surprise though - PDKs are SUPPOSED to be fighters :p). Ran some GH walkups on elite and some of the new Forgotten Realms stuff on Hard with some guildies and had no problems with offensive casting, and melee is acceptable when using Greatswords. So far it seems to be a decent Cleric build for a first-lifer.

[Lanhelin]

Deleted

[unbongwah]

I don't believe PDKs are allowed to take Dragonmark feats. :(

[PNellesen]

I don't believe PDKs are allowed to take Dragonmark feats. :(

Argh - yeah, that's right. Updated.

[FranOhmsford]

I saw a PDK Melee Cleric here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422290-Post-Expansion-Build-The-Lead-Cleric-(up-front-melee-Healer), wanted to take a look at a caster Cleric as well. Would be along the lines of a Half-Elf with Fighter Dilettante, able to equip any martial weapon, but using Charisma instead of STR for damage/attack. The focus would be on good/light damage and Turn Undead (since there's a lot of undead in the Forgotten Realms content). Came up with the following 32pt build:

STR:10, DEX:8, CON:14, INT:12 (for spellcraft), WIS:18 (all level ups here), CHA:12. This is assuming a first-life with no tomes at all. I would drop INT to 10 and raise CHA to 14 if I had a +2 INT tome to use at level 7.

Skills would be split between Heal and Spellcraft, with some spread out in Balance and then Concentration. Level 1 feats would be Toughness, Shield Mastery, and then possibly a skill focus feat (Heal, maybe). The rest would be the usual Cleric metas - Emp. Heal, Max, SF:Evo, GSF:Evo, Heighten, Quicken (at 18, since you won't get Mass Heal till then anyway). Haven't gotten too far into Enhancements yet, but would get to Burst/Aura in Radiant Servant, healing amp/PDK boosts in racial, haste boost from Kensai, Toughness from Protection, and then boosts to light/good spell power in Divine Disciple. Seems like it should be a pretty solid first-timer soloing build, along with being a good healbot when needed as well.

Drop Wis to 16 - Put the Points into Charisma!

Toughness is no longer mandatory - There are other feats that could be taken as Human Bonus.

Imp and Extra Turning are extremely useful - Don't think these will be available as a First Lvl Fighter though.

[PNellesen]

Toughness is no longer mandatory - There are other feats that could be taken as Human Bonus.

Imp and Extra Turning are extremely useful - Don't think these will be available as a First Lvl Fighter though.

Yeah, that's the thing with the PDKs - you start as Fighter, so you're pretty limited in feat selection, at least as far as any kind of synergy with Cleric goes. Hence Toughness - I really couldn't find anything else better for a Cleric in the list of feats available. For fighter splash with any other race, I would have taken Cleric at level 1, then probably fighter at level 2. In this case, though, that's not an option.

[unbongwah]

STR:10, DEX:8, CON:14, INT:12 (for spellcraft), WIS:18 (all level ups here), CHA:12. This is assuming a first-life with no tomes at all. I would drop INT to 10 and raise CHA to 14 if I had a +2 INT tome to use at level 7.
If you're not going for Power Atk, why not dump STR for more CHA? Or alternatively, start STR 13 WIS 17 so you can pick up PA. Although at that point, it's debatable whether you're getting anything out of PDK CHA dmg at all...

Level 1 feats would be Toughness, Shield Mastery, and then possibly a skill focus feat (Heal, maybe).
Other possibilities for that third feat (other than PA): b.sword, Augment Summons, one of the saves bonuses. I agree, though, not much is good here to this build.

[FranOhmsford]

Other possibilities for that third feat (other than PA): b.sword, Augment Summons, one of the saves bonuses. I agree, though, not much is good here to this build.

Augment Summons is a superb feat for a soloer - It makes hirelings much more useful!

The OP is talking about a Caster Cleric so B-Swords and PA are probably out BUT how about:
-Precision
-Zen Archery

Honestly though I'd go for a full on Charisma Turn Specced Cleric Build if I was gonna use PDK as a base and go for Melee over Casting.

Max 14 Wisdom - More likely 12+2 tome +5 item at Lvl 9 = 19 Wis. {won't need that much that early but it's available}.

Soloing Non-Undead quests would be a challenge but Undead are Everywhere and you'll be wiping the floor with em!

[PNellesen]

My main motivation with this is to try and compare to a Half-Elf pure max-wis Cleric with fighter Dilettante. I played one to 25 not long ago and loved it. (He's a Wizard now, but will be TRing at some point back to pure Cleric). I'm not much of a fan of S&B melee - I like my Clerics (melee or caster) to be in the middle of the action, playing with big-boy toys such as Greataxes and Greatswords, and I like the fact that with PDK you get the CHA attack/dmg enhancement for Greatswords, which meshes well with Cleric CHA requirements. Combine that with the Tier 1 Kensai Heavy Blade enhancements (I assume those stack, would hate to hear they don't) and I'd think you'd at least hit what you're swinging at more often than not. I certainly don't expect his melee damage to be "substantial", but "non-zero" is ok for my purposes ;)

[For raid healing I normally go Healbot/buffbot/DPbot mode, but anywhere else I'm right there with the meatshields]

[FranOhmsford]

My main motivation with this is to try and compare to a Half-Elf pure max-wis Cleric with fighter Dilettante. I played one to 25 not long ago and loved it. (He's a Wizard now, but will be TRing at some point back to pure Cleric). I'm not much of a fan of S&B melee - I like my Clerics (melee or caster) to be in the middle of the action, playing with big-boy toys such as Greataxes and Greatswords, and I like the fact that with PDK you get the CHA attack/dmg enhancement for Greatswords, which meshes well with Cleric CHA requirements. Combine that with the Tier 1 Kensai Heavy Blade enhancements (I assume those stack, would hate to hear they don't) and I'd think you'd at least hit what you're swinging at more often than not. I certainly don't expect his melee damage to be "substantial", but "non-zero" is ok for my purposes ;)

[For raid healing I normally go Healbot/buffbot/DPbot mode, but anywhere else I'm right there with the meatshields]

Warforged Lord of Blades Cleric may suit you - Test it out with a Bladeforged with 2 Pally Levels.

[unbongwah]

The OP is talking about a Caster Cleric so B-Swords and PA are probably out BUT how about:
-Precision
-Zen Archery
Precision req's base DEX 13, so that's out. ZA is doable, but w/out any other ranged feats, what would be the point? And if he did invest more in ranged DPS...well, he's not really a caster spec anymore, is he?

If it weren't for the darn spell cooldown penalty, I'd suggest Resilience; +4 to all saves would've been nice.

[FranOhmsford]

Precision req's base DEX 13, so that's out. ZA is doable, but w/out any other ranged feats, what would be the point? And if he did invest more in ranged DPS...well, he's not really a caster spec anymore, is he?

If it weren't for the darn spell cooldown penalty, I'd suggest Resilience; +4 to all saves would've been nice.

Aye Resilience is one of my new favourite Feats!
Such a Pity about that Spell Cooldown pen!

Wasn't sure about the 13 Dex on Precision - Thought perhaps it was an either/or with +1 BAB - But even so - Pushing DEX up to 13 is no less viable than pushing STR to 13 for PA is it?


Zen Archery is for the times when you don't want to waste Spell Points firing at Archers with insane HP totals isn't it?

He could take Zen Archery, Precision and Point Blank Shot as his first 3 Feats instead of Toughness, Shield Mastery and Skill Focu Heal - None of which are required for a Caster Cleric OR for Two Handed Melee Dmg for that matter.

He could push his STR to 13 and take PA, Cleave and Toughness.

Seems he's planning on 19/1 But could also go 18/2 and take Great Cleave or Rapid Shot as his 2nd Lvl Fighter Feat.

[unbongwah]

Zen Archery is for the times when you don't want to waste Spell Points firing at Archers with insane HP totals isn't it?
Divine Disciple Nimbus / Searing Light SLAs are what you want on a caster cleric, IMHO.

Given OP's stated goals, I think Shield Mastery, Toughness, and Augment Summons are the least bad options. Then again, I don't see much incentive with going PDK for a caster cleric in the first place (apart from starting @ lvl 15, ofc).

[PNellesen]

I don't see much incentive with going PDK for a caster cleric in the first place (apart from starting @ lvl 15, ofc).

Yeah, I'm gonna keep going with it just to see, but I'm not going to get my expectations up too much. Let's just say I won't be buying any BtC stuff from the store for him any time soon ;)