spell penetration

[painkiller3]

what spell penetration should an endgame cleric be shooting for? I have maxed out wizard and favoured soul lives, and was wondering if I would be able to try something like an 18/2 monk and still be able to instakill (most) drow etc. the plan is max DC with extra wisdom from the grandmaster stance and deep gnome trees...unfortunately the stances take three feats, so I was thinking the spell penetration would probably be the feats to sacrifice. thoughts?

[Feralthyrtiaq]

You really will not be satified with your Spell Pen results unless you go all out. You already have the HPLs.

Any/All Spell Pen from Enhs (Don't think there are any in Cleric Trees or DGnome Tree)
Spell Pen +2
Greater Spell Pen +2
Epic Spell Pen +4
EA + 5
EA Piercing Spell Craft +3
Spell Craft Twist from Draconic or Magister +3 (I couldn't take both I was somehow locked out of taking Piercing Spell from 1 of the 2 trees)

= +19

Include +7 Spell Pen item (maybe as high as +8)
+4 Insightful Spell Pen
+2 Quality Spell Pen

= +13

You got a d20 roll (probably a "1") + Caster level (18 Cleric) = 19

You got a 51 right there.

Further debuffing from...

Improved Shattermantle Item +6
Shattermantle Shot for +3/shot that stacks up to 100x

Probably something I missed but /shrug

[slarden]

You want 60 for LE raids. You will not even fail much against the drow in LE TS with a 60 - gains are minimal above 60.

Getting this will be much easier with U32 as their is a new ring (7 spell pen) and a new orb (+4 insightful spell pen).

Here an example of how to get to 63 with your past lifes and 18 levels of cleric .

Spell Penetration:
Cleric Levels: 18
Feat: Spell Penetration: 2
Feat: Greater Spell Penetration: 2
Feat: Epic Spell Penetration: 4
Feat: Past Life Wizard and Favored Soul: 9
Item: Enhancement Bonus (U32 ring): 7
Item: Insightful Bonus (U32 orb): 4
Enhancement Tree: Divine Disciple: 3
Epic Destiny: 3
Epic Destiny Caster Levels (Exalted Angel): 5
Epic Destiny Twists: 5
Ship Buff: 1
Total: 63

63 is nearly no fail, but you can easily drop a few things to go down to 60 here -you will hardly notice the difference. You can get 2 more from the DOJ gloves if you are willing to sac the gear slot for just 2 spell pen.

I don't think the orb will work with your stance- but without it you are still 59 which is fine for LE raids.

Going deep gnome might also be an option 19 cleric / 1 wizard gives you a bonus feat which gives you 1 dc making up for the loss of the capstone but you get 20 wis and 2 in racial tree from deep gnome.

[unbongwah]

the plan is max DC with extra wisdom from the grandmaster stance and deep gnome trees...unfortunately the stances take three feats, so I was thinking the spell penetration would probably be the feats to sacrifice.

I think clonks have been obsolete since the armor revamps. GM Ocean stance is +4 WIS and (as you say) costs three feats on a 18/2 split. Pure cleric gains +2 Spell Pen and +2 WIS (DiDi capstone); it also doesn't restrict your gear options like a splash build does (hvy armor for PRR, orb or shield for caster or defensive perks, respectively). I have a hard time believing +1 DCs is worth the sacrifices of being a clonk, esp. when you could just take extra Spell Focuses instead of Forms feats.

If I was gonna splash anything on a cleric, it would be FvS for the usual AoV bonuses; otherwise I'd stay pure.

[SirValentine]

You can get 2 more from the DOJ gloves if you are willing to sac the gear slot for just 2 spell pen.

Arcane Augmentation (what's on those gloves) is Sorc/Wiz augmentation. It doesn't help Cleric spells that aren't also on the Sorc/Wiz list.

Other classes don't have such a caster level boost available. I've been suggesting for years they just make it universal augmentation instead of Sorc/Wiz only.

[slarden]

Arcane Augmentation (what's on those gloves) is Sorc/Wiz augmentation. It doesn't help Cleric spells that aren't also on the Sorc/Wiz list.

Other classes don't have such a caster level boost available. I've been suggesting for years they just make it universal augmentation instead of Sorc/Wiz only.

Yeah I agree although I don't really understand the D&D lore behind it.

I would think it would at least apply to bards and warlocks, but I never tested it.

[Tlorrd]

Yeah I agree although I don't really understand the D&D lore behind it.

I would think it would at least apply to bards and warlocks, but I never tested it.

I think it does apply to those spells that are sorc/wiz spells regardless of class that casts that spell.