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[unbongwah]

I'm looking to roll a War or strength domain Battle Cleric as a first lifer

Downside to Strength domain is it doesn't provide any crit bonuses like Holy Sword; and Warpriest didn't get crit bonuses the way War Soul did. So unless you're either multiclassing or using Vistani Knife Fighter, your melee DPS is significantly worse than War domain, despite the STR bonus.

Str 15
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 10
Wisdom 17-I'm planning on using the human adaptability to boost this 18
Cha 10

So the first question is: are you focusing on melee or spellcasting? Because if it's melee, your STR & CHA are too low and your WIS is too high (you'll use gear to boost it); and if it's spells, then you should max WIS even if it means lowering other stats.

Deity Ontar Feats so I can get access to Warhammers

If you take either War domain or half-elf fighter dilettante feat, you will gain access to all martial weapons and aren't restricted to warhammers. So then your deity choice becomes about which level 6 ability you want.

Stunning blow
Shield mastery
Toughness
Combat Casting

Toughness and Combat Casting are just bad feats - drop them. S&B cleric is doable, but it's by far the weakest DPS option, so ask yourself if the little bit of extra survivability is worth it on a battlecleric. [Hint: it's not.] Stunning Blow can be good, but it's a lot less important than other feats would be.

Axel's build is far from F2P-friendly, but there's a lot of good info about how to play a battlecleric as well as what they can and can't do well.

[Nimnor]

Downside to Strength domain is it doesn't provide any crit bonuses like Holy Sword; and Warpriest didn't get crit bonuses the way War Soul did. So unless you're either multiclassing or using Vistani Knife Fighter, your melee DPS is significantly worse than War domain, despite the STR bonus.

So the first question is: are you focusing on melee or spellcasting? Because if it's melee, your STR & CHA are too low and your WIS is too high (you'll use gear to boost it); and if it's spells, then you should max WIS even if it means lowering other stats.

If you take either War domain or half-elf fighter dilettante feat, you will gain access to all martial weapons and aren't restricted to warhammers. So then your deity choice becomes about which level 6 ability you want.

Toughness and Combat Casting are just bad feats - drop them. S&B cleric is doable, but it's by far the weakest DPS option, so ask yourself if the little bit of extra survivability is worth it on a battlecleric. [Hint: it's not.] Stunning Blow can be good, but it's a lot less important than other feats would be.

Axel's build is far from F2P-friendly, but there's a lot of good info about how to play a battlecleric as well as what they can and can't do well.

Then a Melee Cleric them how and how do these stats look for a battle cleric

Str 16
Dex 8
Con 14
Wisdom 12
Int 10
Cha 16

would this be better or should I drop the Cha to 14 and bump the Int to 12?

[unbongwah]

would this be better or should I drop the Cha to 14 and bump the Int to 12?

INT is just for skill points so it's up to you. INT 10 (or INT 8 on human) is enough for max Concentration and Heal which are the two vital skills for a battlecleric IMO.

With the improvements to 2H weapons (Strikethrough etc.), now is probably a good time to update a newbie battlecleric build.

F2P Battlecleric
Cleric 20
Lawful Good Human


Stats
               28pt     32pt     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength        16       16       4: STR
Dexterity        8        8       8: STR
Constitution    14       16      12: STR
Intelligence     8        8      16: STR
Wisdom          10       10      20: STR
Charisma        16       16      24: STR
                                 28: STR

Skills
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Concent   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Heal      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
         ------------------------------------------------------------
          8  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2


Feats

 1        : Two Handed Fighting
 1 Human  : Maximize Spell
 3        : Power Attack OR Empower Spell
 6        : Empower Healing Spell
 9        : Improved Two Handed Fighting
12        : Improved Critical: Slashing
15        : Greater Two Handed Fighting
18        : Quicken Spell
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Intensify Spell
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic   : Stunning Blow OR Empower Spell
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge OR Deific Warding
30 Epic   : Epic Damage Reduction OR Empower Spell
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Celestia

 2 Cleric : War Domain

 1 Deity  : Follower of: Onatar
 6 Deity  : Onatar's Forge


Enhancements (80 AP)

Radiant Servant (41 AP)
Healing Domain, Pacifism, Positive Energy Burst, Improved Empower Healing, Positive Energy Shield, Radiant Servant
Extra Turning III, Wand Mastery III
Improved Turning III
Intense Healing III, Unyielding Sovereignty
Endless Turning III, Incredible Healing III, Divine Health
Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Warpriest (31 AP)
Smite Foe: Melee, Resilience of Battle, Sanctuary, Blur, Haste
Divine Might III, Sacred Touch III
Smite Weakness, Wall of Steel III, Inflame III, Melee/Ranged Power Boost III
Greater Inflame III
Ameliorating Strike, Silence the Wicked: Melee I, Holy Striker: Doublestrike III

Human (8 AP)
Damage Boost, Strength
Improved Recovery
Great Weapon Aptitude III

Leveling Guide
War0 Smite Foe: Melee; War1 Divine Might I, II, III
Hum0 Damage Boost; War1 Sacred Touch I; War2 Smite Weakness
War0 Resilience of Battle; War2 Wall of Steel I, II, III
Rad0 Healing Domain; Rad1 Wand Mastery I, II, III
Rad1 Extra Turning I; Rad0 Pacifism; Rad2 Improved Turning I; Rad1 Extra Turning II
Rad2 Improved Turning II; Rad1 Extra Turning III; Rad0 Positive Energy Burst; War0 Sanctuary
Hum0 Strength; Hum1 Improved Recovery
Hum2 Great Weapon Aptitude I, II, III; Rad2 Improved Turning III
Rad3 Unyielding Sovereignty; War2 Inflame I, II
War2 Inflame III; War3 Greater Inflame I, II, III
War1 Sacred Touch II, III; War4 Ameliorating Strike
Reset Warpriest
Radiant Servant: Improved Empower Healing
(none)
(none)
Intense Healing III
Endless Turning III, Incredible Healing I, Divine Health
Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Warpriest: Smite Foe: Melee
Divine Might III, Sacred Touch I
War0 Resilience of Battle; War2 Wall of Steel I, II, III
War2 Smite Weakness; War0 Sanctuary; War2 Inflame I
War2 Inflame II, III; War3 Greater Inflame I, II
War3 Greater Inflame III; War1 Sacred Touch II, III; War0 Blur
War4 Ameliorating Strike; Rad4 Incredible Healing II
Rad0 Positive Energy Shield; War4 Silence the Wicked: Melee I; War4 Holy Striker: Doublestrike I, II
War4 Holy Striker: Doublestrike III; War2 Melee/Ranged Power Boost I, II, III
War0 Haste; Rad4 Incredible Healing III; Rad0 Radiant Servant


Destiny (24 AP)

Divine Crusader
Endless Turning III, Purge the Wicked
Confront Any Foe, Consecration III
Sacred Ground, Empyrean Magic, Blessed Blades
Crusade
Castigation, Heavenly Presence, Celestial Champion
Strike Down

Wisdom: you need WIS 10 + <spell level> to cast cleric spells. Early on, you can use Owl's Wisdom wands or potions until you have sufficient +WIS gear. But if you don't want to deal with the hassle at low levels, you can start WIS 12 CHA 15 instead. We'll be using gear or enhancements to even out our stats regardless.

Race: I went human for the extra feat and skill points, plus the racial Enhancements. Damage Boost, +1 STR, heal amp, and +20 Strikethrough for only 8 APs is a pretty good ROI compared to a lot of races. Non-humans lose a feat and have to decide between either dropping a skill or bumping INT to 10. Half-elf is less optimal, although I suppose you could invest in Diplomacy and take Diplomatic Immunity; not sure which dilettante feat I would take, though, since War domain renders fighter dilettante moot and the other options aren't appealing.

Deity: like I said earlier, since War domain grants all weapon proficiencies at level 5, your deity choice is mostly about which level 6 ability you want. I went with Onatar mostly for the Melee Power bonus, but Olladra or Sovereign Host is also fine.

Weapons: At early levels (1-4), just go with quarterstaves or S&B. At level 5, you switch to regular 2H weapons; Carnifex is still the best option at that level IMO, but use what you like or have available. We take Improved Critical Slashing weapons at level 12, at which point you focus on greatswords, greataxes, or falchions. In epics, you have the option of switching to greatswords and taking The Book of War from Divine Crusader, which turns them into one of your favored weapons; that in turn lets you take advantage of favored weapon bonuses like Warpriest's Righteous Weapons and Wrath of the Divine.

[SpartanKiller13]

INT is just for skill points so it's up to you. INT 10 (or INT 8 on human) is enough for max Concentration and Heal which are the two vital skills for a battlecleric IMO.

Race: I went human for the extra feat and skill points, plus the racial Enhancements. Damage Boost, +1 STR, heal amp, and +20 Strikethrough for only 8 APs is a pretty good ROI compared to a lot of races. Non-humans lose a feat and have to decide between either dropping a skill or bumping INT to 10. Half-elf is less optimal, although I suppose you could invest in Diplomacy and take Diplomatic Immunity; not sure which dilettante feat I would take, though, since War domain renders fighter dilettante moot and the other options aren't appealing.

Deity: like I said earlier, since War domain grants all weapon proficiencies at level 5, your deity choice is mostly about which level 6 ability you want. I went with Onatar mostly for the Melee Power bonus, but Olladra or Sovereign Host is also fine.

As always, great stuff from Unbongwah.

Extra skill points can always grab Jump, it's pretty great for melee fighters in particular

If you go HElf, I'd probably go Rogue if you have the Dex 13 (SA damage is nice when partying), otherwise Warlock (a bit extra spell damage, esp for Blade Barrier; and a lil extra melee damage, b/c why not).

I'd recommend Sovereign Host for a new player, the level 6 ability is super useful. Instead of having to worry about "is that a curse, a disease, some stat penalty, whatever" you can solve anything short of death + full-heal in one button-push once/rest, which is pretty awesome.

[Waveclaw]

I'm thinking of reincarnating into a paladin, but have not yet found the perfect build for me.

I'm thinking of a f2p human paladin (32 pt build and 36 pt build) using longswords dual-wielding and lots of light damage plus smites. Will be using pally spells. DPS and survivability is preferred. Not a lot of clicking and using skills in combat (I'm just not great at that...)


What I have on my reincarnating char:
+2 Dex tome
+1 Spellcraft tome
+3 Heal tome
+1 Haggle tome


If it's not clear enough let me know! I'm still pretty new to this game, but I'm enjoying it a lot

[unbongwah]

TWF Knight
Paladin 20
Lawful Good Human


Stats
               28pt     32pt     34pt     36pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     ----     ----     ----     --------
Strength        15       16       16       16                4: STR
Dexterity       15       15       15       15       +2       8: STR
Constitution    14       14       14       15               12: STR
Intelligence     8        8        8        8               16: STR
Wisdom           8        8        8        8               20: STR
Charisma        14       15       16       16               24: STR
                                                            28: STR

Feats

 1        : Two Handed Fighting
 1 Human  : Precision
 3        : Stunning Blow
 6        : Improved Two Weapon Fighting
 6 Swap   : Two Weapon Fighting replaces Two Handed Fighting
 9        : Improved Critical: Slashing
12        : Greater Two Weapon Fighting
15        : Quicken Spell
18        : Empower Healing Spell
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Bulwark of Defense OR Two Weapon Defense
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic   : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: First Blood OR Elusive Target
29 Destiny: Dire Charge OR Deific Warding
30 Epic   : Epic Reflexes
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Ethereal Plane

 1 Deity  : Follower of: Onatar OR Sovereign Host
 6 Deity  : Onatar's Forge


Enhancements (80 AP)

Knight of the Chalice (41 AP)
Slayer of Evil, Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil II, Improved Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil III, Champion of Good
Holy Combatant, Extra Smite III
Adept Combatant, Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave, Action Boost: Power III
Holy Combatant, Sacrificial Strike I, Lead the Charge III, Exalted Strike I
Knight's Training, Censure Demons, Vigor of Life
Ascendency, Censure Outsiders, Vigor of Life, Avenging Cleave, Retributive Strike

Sacred Defender (31 AP)
Holy Bastion, Sacred Defense, Divine Righteousness, Redemption, Glorious Stand
Extra Lay On Hands III, Durable Defense III
Bulwark Aura III
Resistance Aura III, Strong Defense III, Charisma
Spellshield Aura III, Swift Defense, Hardy Defense III, Charisma

Human (8 AP)
Damage Boost
Action Surge: Strength II, Improved Recovery, Don't Count Me Out III

Leveling Guide
KoC0 Slayer of Evil; KoC1 Improved Second Strikes I, II, III
Hum0 Damage Boost; Hum1 Improved Recovery; Hum1 Action Surge: Strength I
Hum1 Action Surge: Strength II; Hum2 Great Weapon Aptitude I, II, III
SD0 Holy Bastion; SD1 Extra Lay On Hands I, II, III
SD1 Durable Defense I; SD0 Sacred Defense; SD1 Durable Defense II, III
Reset All Trees
Knight of the Chalice: Slayer of Evil, Courage of Heaven, Slayer of Evil II
Holy Combatant, Extra Smite II
Adept Combatant, Divine Might III, Exalted Cleave
Holy Combatant, Sacrificial Strike I, Lead the Charge III
Knight's Training, Censure Demons

Human: Damage Boost
SD0 Holy Bastion; SD1 Extra Lay On Hands I, II, III
SD1 Durable Defense I; SD0 Sacred Defense; SD1 Durable Defense II, III
SD2 Bulwark Aura I, II; SD3 Strong Defense I, II
SD3 Strong Defense III; KoC2 Action Boost: Power I, II, III
KoC3 Exalted Strike I; KoC4 Vigor of Life
KoC0 Improved Courage of Heaven; KoC5 Ascendency; KoC5 Censure Outsiders; KoC5 Retributive Strike
KoC5 Avenging Cleave; SD0 Divine Righteousness; SD2 Bulwark Aura III
SD3 Charisma; SD3 Resistance Aura I, II
SD3 Resistance Aura III; SD0 Redemption; SD4 Swift Defense; SD4 Hardy Defense I
SD4 Hardy Defense II, III; Hum1 Improved Recovery
KoC5 Vigor of Life; Hum1 Action Surge: Strength I, II
KoC0 Slayer of Evil III; SD4 Spellshield Aura I, II, III
SD4 Charisma; SD0 Glorious Stand; KoC1 Extra Smite III
KoC0 Champion of Good; Hum1 Don't Count Me Out I, II, III

For levels 1-5, you're better off with 2H weapons IMO to take advantage of Strikethrough bonuses from THF+Second Strikes+GWA. Then just before taking level 6, we swap THF for TWF+ITWF and switch to longswords with Knight's Training.

Also you might prefer Tenacious Defense (+20% HPs) instead of Hardy Defense (+6 CON) in heroics, then swap once you start using Epic Defensive Fighting.

[Waveclaw]

Wow, thanks! Will surely try that out!

[stryker7]

I'm just returning to the game after 2-3 years off and realized I'm in the middle of my FVS life, the problem here is that this was started before the update that seems to have wrecked my build plan for this guy. He is currently level 10 (with 11 banked) as a warforged FVS. I have past lives of fighter, barbarian, and monk.

The original goal of this guy was to be a THF and just cleave his way to 20 pretty quickly so I can keep going through the TR cycle. From what I've read that isn't a viable strategy at this point and I'm really just looking for a way to salvage this build so I can get to 20 without tearing my eyes out. I do have a heart to redo all my levels (obviously at least 10 need to stay FVS). Any help that you can provide me would be super appreciated!

I'd like something that I can play through to 20 relatively quickly though keeping in mind that I am a bit out of date and out of practice.

[SpartanKiller13]

I'm just returning to the game after 2-3 years off and realized I'm in the middle of my FVS life, the problem here is that this was started before the update that seems to have wrecked my build plan for this guy. He is currently level 10 (with 11 banked) as a warforged FVS. I have past lives of fighter, barbarian, and monk.

The original goal of this guy was to be a THF and just cleave his way to 20 pretty quickly so I can keep going through the TR cycle. From what I've read that isn't a viable strategy at this point and I'm really just looking for a way to salvage this build so I can get to 20 without tearing my eyes out. I do have a heart to redo all my levels (obviously at least 10 need to stay FVS). Any help that you can provide me would be super appreciated!

I'd like something that I can play through to 20 relatively quickly though keeping in mind that I am a bit out of date and out of practice.

I'm not sure why you couldn't keep going as a THF FvS? It's not "optimal" but you shouldn't have a problem cleaving to 20 or frankly probably even 30. Cha/Wis-based allows you full spellcasting as well, which is pretty neat (and leaves Divine Will/Might as a fantastic melee buff).

THF is in a great spot right now. Where are you reading otherwise? U45 revamped THF, and it went from the weakest melee style to the strongest. Cleaves can now Doublestrike as well, so they got a neat buff to boot.

War Soul isn't an amazing melee DPS tree, but it's not a bad one either. You get +1/+1 crits (although that takes til level 12/18), 15% Doublestrike is great, and Ameliorating Strike is pretty nice. Also obviously Divine Will/Might is fantastic. I'd also recommend Magical Backlash (it's really fun) and of course grab the Favored Weapon line. Even the cores are decent, and the capstone is crazy good for boss-killing (mediocre if soloing, but still not bad).

I assume you're running Mithral body? If you're running Adamantine I'd Fred swap that, otherwise you can probs just pick it up at 12. My understanding is that Divine Vessel T5 is hot garbage, but the rest of the T5 seems solid.

I'd run War Soul + Warforged and only go into other trees later. Warforged tree is pretty awesome (Weapon Attachment, Memories of the Last War x2, Great Weapon Aptitude, Healer's Friend, Tactics), so it's pretty easy to spend most of your points between those two trees. Later on you can spend a few points in Beacon of Hope for the Core 2's cheap AoE heal (and some Healamp) and then go wherever (Falconry ideally, Sprint Boosts & 5% HP).

-----

I really don't think you'd have any problem getting to 20 as a THF Warforged FvS. You can out-heal Reaper self-healing penalty up through mid-skulls, and you should have solid casting in heroics without too much difficulty. Max Cha or Wis, use it for melee DPS and crowd control, and then go ham

I've definitely considered a THF WF FvS life, on a bunch of occasions, FWIW. Just never got around to it yet, as I want to farm more Greatswords first :P

Level 12 is where you'll get a lot of power all at once, so I'd play it at least a bit past 12 before deciding too much. You get T5 War Soul, another feat, Blade Barrier, permablur, etc.

-----

I mean if all you want is melee cleaves and FvS PL, you could 8/6/6 FvS/Barbarian/Fighter (take Fighter 6, then Barbarian 6, then FvS 8) using Kensei Core 3 for +1 crit multiplier and Ravanger T5 for +2 crit threat range. You'll have Blood Strength & Blood Tribute for sustain, and you'll be fine to 20. Way less fun without Silvanus IMO, but it works well enough and has respectable melee DPS.

Just make sure you killsteal for Blood Strength, and spam Blood Tribute a lot.

[stryker7]

I'm not sure why you couldn't keep going as a THF FvS? It's not "optimal" but you shouldn't have a problem cleaving to 20 or frankly probably even 30. Cha/Wis-based allows you full spellcasting as well, which is pretty neat (and leaves Divine Will/Might as a fantastic melee buff).

THF is in a great spot right now. Where are you reading otherwise? U45 revamped THF, and it went from the weakest melee style to the strongest. Cleaves can now Doublestrike as well, so they got a neat buff to boot.

War Soul isn't an amazing melee DPS tree, but it's not a bad one either. You get +1/+1 crits (although that takes til level 12/18), 15% Doublestrike is great, and Ameliorating Strike is pretty nice. Also obviously Divine Will/Might is fantastic. I'd also recommend Magical Backlash (it's really fun) and of course grab the Favored Weapon line. Even the cores are decent, and the capstone is crazy good for boss-killing (mediocre if soloing, but still not bad).

I assume you're running Mithral body? If you're running Adamantine I'd Fred swap that, otherwise you can probs just pick it up at 12. My understanding is that Divine Vessel T5 is hot garbage, but the rest of the T5 seems solid.

I'd run War Soul + Warforged and only go into other trees later. Warforged tree is pretty awesome (Weapon Attachment, Memories of the Last War x2, Great Weapon Aptitude, Healer's Friend, Tactics), so it's pretty easy to spend most of your points between those two trees. Later on you can spend a few points in Beacon of Hope for the Core 2's cheap AoE heal (and some Healamp) and then go wherever (Falconry ideally, Sprint Boosts & 5% HP).

-----

I really don't think you'd have any problem getting to 20 as a THF Warforged FvS. You can out-heal Reaper self-healing penalty up through mid-skulls, and you should have solid casting in heroics without too much difficulty. Max Cha or Wis, use it for melee DPS and crowd control, and then go ham

I've definitely considered a THF WF FvS life, on a bunch of occasions, FWIW. Just never got around to it yet, as I want to farm more Greatswords first :P

Level 12 is where you'll get a lot of power all at once, so I'd play it at least a bit past 12 before deciding too much. You get T5 War Soul, another feat, Blade Barrier, permablur, etc.

-----

I mean if all you want is melee cleaves and FvS PL, you could 8/6/6 FvS/Barbarian/Fighter (take Fighter 6, then Barbarian 6, then FvS 8) using Kensei Core 3 for +1 crit multiplier and Ravanger T5 for +2 crit threat range. You'll have Blood Strength & Blood Tribute for sustain, and you'll be fine to 20. Way less fun without Silvanus IMO, but it works well enough and has respectable melee DPS.

Just make sure you killsteal for Blood Strength, and spam Blood Tribute a lot.

This is actually very reassuring to me, I feel like it will be easier relearning the game by finishing a more melee centric run. This guy was started before WIS/CHA melee bonus for FVS was a thing though so I have something like 32 STR, 16 or 18 WIS and I think CHA was dumped. I did see a couple other builds on the forums from 2018-2019 though that seemed to mirror a lot of what you are saying here, so I may just be tweak my stats to follow that.

[SpartanKiller13]

This is actually very reassuring to me, I feel like it will be easier relearning the game by finishing a more melee centric run. This guy was started before WIS/CHA melee bonus for FVS was a thing though so I have something like 32 STR, 16 or 18 WIS and I think CHA was dumped. I did see a couple other builds on the forums from 2018-2019 though that seemed to mirror a lot of what you are saying here, so I may just be tweak my stats to follow that.

Since you're Str-based, there's no need to worry about DC casting. Just buff up, throw heals as needed, and use Blade Barrier at level 12+ for your offensive spell (just kite enemies across the edge of it when fighting groups). Divine Will gets you a DPS/Tactics bonus, but it'll matter more the higher your Wis gets as you level up.

At level 10ish, I'd probably try to farm up a Ravenloft set (it's free until August) and then throw on Str/Wis/Con items and the usual melee stuff like Seeker/Deadly and call it a day :P

Make sure you grab THF feats whenever possible, otherwise get Improved Critical and then whatever you want (PA > Cleave > GCleave?). Pretty straightforward

[Murzo]

INT is just for skill points so it's up to you. INT 10 (or INT 8 on human) is enough for max Concentration and Heal which are the two vital skills for a battlecleric IMO.

With the improvements to 2H weapons (Strikethrough etc.), now is probably a good time to update a newbie battlecleric build.

F2P Battlecleric
Cleric 20
Lawful Good Human


Stats
               28pt     32pt     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength        16       16       4: STR
Dexterity        8        8       8: STR
Constitution    14       16      12: STR
Intelligence     8        8      16: STR
Wisdom          10       10      20: STR
Charisma        16       16      24: STR
                                 28: STR

Skills
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Concent   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Heal      4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
         ------------------------------------------------------------
          8  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2


Feats

 1        : Two Handed Fighting
 1 Human  : Power Attack
 3        : Maximize Spell
 6        : Empower Healing Spell
 9        : Improved Two Handed Fighting
12        : Improved Critical: Slashing
15        : Greater Two Handed Fighting
18        : Quicken Spell
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Intensify Spell
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic   : Stunning Blow OR Empower Spell
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge OR Deific Warding
30 Epic   : Epic Damage Reduction OR Empower Spell
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Celestia

 2 Cleric : War Domain

 1 Deity  : Follower of: Onatar
 6 Deity  : Onatar's Forge


Enhancements (80 AP)

Radiant Servant (41 AP)
Healing Domain, Pacifism, Positive Energy Burst, Improved Empower Healing, Positive Energy Shield, Radiant Servant
Extra Turning III, Wand Mastery III
Improved Turning III
Intense Healing III, Unyielding Sovereignty
Endless Turning III, Incredible Healing III, Divine Health
Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Warpriest (31 AP)
Smite Foe: Melee, Resilience of Battle, Sanctuary, Blur, Haste
Divine Might III, Sacred Touch III
Smite Weakness, Wall of Steel III, Inflame III, Melee/Ranged Power Boost III
Greater Inflame III
Ameliorating Strike, Silence the Wicked: Melee I, Holy Striker: Doublestrike III

Human (8 AP)
Damage Boost, Strength
Improved Recovery
Great Weapon Aptitude III

Leveling Guide
War0 Smite Foe: Melee; War1 Divine Might I, II, III
Hum0 Damage Boost; War1 Sacred Touch I; War2 Smite Weakness
War0 Resilience of Battle; War2 Wall of Steel I, II, III
Rad0 Healing Domain; Rad1 Wand Mastery I, II, III
Rad1 Extra Turning I; Rad0 Pacifism; Rad2 Improved Turning I; Rad1 Extra Turning II
Rad2 Improved Turning II; Rad1 Extra Turning III; Rad0 Positive Energy Burst; War0 Sanctuary
Hum0 Strength; Hum1 Improved Recovery
Hum2 Great Weapon Aptitude I, II, III; Rad2 Improved Turning III
Rad3 Unyielding Sovereignty; War2 Inflame I, II
War2 Inflame III; War3 Greater Inflame I, II, III
War1 Sacred Touch II, III; War4 Ameliorating Strike
Reset Warpriest
Radiant Servant: Improved Empower Healing
(none)
(none)
Intense Healing III
Endless Turning III, Incredible Healing I, Divine Health
Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Warpriest: Smite Foe: Melee
Divine Might III, Sacred Touch I
War0 Resilience of Battle; War2 Wall of Steel I, II, III
War2 Smite Weakness; War0 Sanctuary; War2 Inflame I
War2 Inflame II, III; War3 Greater Inflame I, II
War3 Greater Inflame III; War1 Sacred Touch II, III; War0 Blur
War4 Ameliorating Strike; Rad4 Incredible Healing II
Rad0 Positive Energy Shield; War4 Silence the Wicked: Melee I; War4 Holy Striker: Doublestrike I, II
War4 Holy Striker: Doublestrike III; War2 Melee/Ranged Power Boost I, II, III
War0 Haste; Rad4 Incredible Healing III; Rad0 Radiant Servant


Destiny (24 AP)

Divine Crusader
Endless Turning III, Purge the Wicked
Confront Any Foe, Consecration III
Sacred Ground, Empyrean Magic, Blessed Blades
Crusade
Castigation, Heavenly Presence, Celestial Champion
Strike Down

Wisdom: you need WIS 10 + <spell level> to cast cleric spells. Early on, you can use Owl's Wisdom wands or potions until you have sufficient +WIS gear. But if you don't want to deal with the hassle at low levels, you can start WIS 12 CHA 15 instead. We'll be using gear or enhancements to even out our stats regardless.

Race: I went human for the extra feat and skill points, plus the racial Enhancements. Damage Boost, +1 STR, heal amp, and +20 Strikethrough for only 8 APs is a pretty good ROI compared to a lot of races. Non-humans lose a feat and have to decide between either dropping a skill or bumping INT to 10. Half-elf is less optimal, although I suppose you could invest in Diplomacy and take Diplomatic Immunity; not sure which dilettante feat I would take, though, since War domain renders fighter dilettante moot and the other options aren't appealing.

Deity: like I said earlier, since War domain grants all weapon proficiencies at level 5, your deity choice is mostly about which level 6 ability you want. I went with Onatar mostly for the Melee Power bonus, but Olladra or Sovereign Host is also fine.

Weapons: At early levels (1-4), just go with quarterstaves or S&B. At level 5, you switch to regular 2H weapons; Carnifex is still the best option at that level IMO, but use what you like or have available. We take Improved Critical Slashing weapons at level 12, at which point you focus on greatswords, greataxes, or falchions. In epics, you have the option of switching to greatswords and taking The Book of War from Divine Crusader, which turns them into one of your favored weapons; that in turn lets you take advantage of favored weapon bonuses like Warpriest's Righteous Weapons and Wrath of the Divine.

Can you please tell me how to adapt this for a dwarf battlecleric? I have a level 1 one from 2006 and got a +20 Lesser heart of wood in his inventory. I would like to keep it if I can.

By the way it is good to be back after 14 years

[stryker7]

Since you're Str-based, there's no need to worry about DC casting. Just buff up, throw heals as needed, and use Blade Barrier at level 12+ for your offensive spell (just kite enemies across the edge of it when fighting groups). Divine Will gets you a DPS/Tactics bonus, but it'll matter more the higher your Wis gets as you level up.

At level 10ish, I'd probably try to farm up a Ravenloft set (it's free until August) and then throw on Str/Wis/Con items and the usual melee stuff like Seeker/Deadly and call it a day :P

Make sure you grab THF feats whenever possible, otherwise get Improved Critical and then whatever you want (PA > Cleave > GCleave?). Pretty straightforward

Thank you! I feel much better knowing this will still be at least viable enough to get me to 20! What I was reading elsewhere kind of had me worried that melee FVS was trash and it shouldn't be done.

[sacredguyver]

I haven't played for several years now and would like to get back in.

I've been looking at other builds and trying to figure out how to change them, but there's been so many changes since I last played (especially to Enhancements), that I feel I'm not just shooting myself in the foot when I do that, but taking a chainsaw to it.

So with that said, what I'm looking for in a build in order of priority is the following:

1. Dragonborn - Aasimar, Gnome, Tiefling, and Wood Elves don't interest me enough to purchase them
2. Bastard Swords - I got a small pile of these things from my current life, so I'd like to be able to continue using them
3. Solo-capable - Mainly this means being able to self-heal and disable locks and traps, up to Reaper 3 if possible.

This would be the 5th life for the character (3 Monk past lives and 1 Paladin) and has +5 STR/CON/WIS tomes and +4 DEX/INT/CHA tomes.

The only races and classes I do not own are Aasimar, Dragonborn (plan to purchase), Wood Elf, Gnome, Tiefling, Deep Gnome (Iconic), Aasimar Scourge (Iconic), Tiefling Scoundrel (Iconic), Alchemist, and Warlock.


Thanks all for the help.

[SpartanKiller13]

Can you please tell me how to adapt this for a dwarf battlecleric? I have a level 1 one from 2006 and got a +20 Lesser heart of wood in his inventory. I would like to keep it if I can.

By the way it is good to be back after 14 years

I don't think you need to change much? Just push back the feats by one slot and instead of Human enhancements go for Dwarf ones (make sure you get Child of the Mountain). 41/31/8 AP split still works just fine, and you get 5% Competence HP bonus from Dwarf which stacks nicely with Warpriest's 10% Sacred HP bonus.

If you have low Int (and thus less skill points) I'd just max Concentration and not worry about Heal.

Is there anything else that doesn't make sense etc?

Welcome back

[SpartanKiller13]

Thank you! I feel much better knowing this will still be at least viable enough to get me to 20! What I was reading elsewhere kind of had me worried that melee FVS was trash and it shouldn't be done.

I mean it's not Barbarian, and you won't blow up rooms like a Sorc, but being 70% of top-tier doesn't mean it's useless even if it's trash to the optimizers

My first time getting to 20 was on a S&B Paladin with a vorpal handaxe lol. That's about as suboptimal as it gets :P I guarantee you'll be a lot stronger than my toon, especially if you pick up one of them newfangled Ravenloft sets :P

[Murzo]

I don't think you need to change much? Just push back the feats by one slot and instead of Human enhancements go for Dwarf ones (make sure you get Child of the Mountain). 41/31/8 AP split still works just fine, and you get 5% Competence HP bonus from Dwarf which stacks nicely with Warpriest's 10% Sacred HP bonus.

If you have low Int (and thus less skill points) I'd just max Concentration and not worry about Heal.

Is there anything else that doesn't make sense etc?

Welcome back

Thank you very much SpartanKiller

[SpartanKiller13]

So with that said, what I'm looking for in a build in order of priority is the following:

1. Dragonborn - Aasimar, Gnome, Tiefling, and Wood Elves don't interest me enough to purchase them
2. Bastard Swords - I got a small pile of these things from my current life, so I'd like to be able to continue using them
3. Solo-capable - Mainly this means being able to self-heal and disable locks and traps, up to Reaper 3 if possible.

This would be the 5th life for the character (3 Monk past lives and 1 Paladin) and has +5 STR/CON/WIS tomes and +4 DEX/INT/CHA tomes.

The only races and classes I do not own are Aasimar, Dragonborn (plan to purchase), Wood Elf, Gnome, Tiefling, Deep Gnome (Iconic), Aasimar Scourge (Iconic), Tiefling Scoundrel (Iconic), Alchemist, and Warlock.

How about a melee Artificer? Covers traps, has Bastard Sword enhancements, and can self-Repair (non-Warforged past level 3) for solo-ability. Works best with Warforged, but it's certainly not a requirement and Dragonborn works just fine.

I'm not sure I'd say it's top-tier, but it's quite flexible and leaves you a lot of options. You could probably even spellcast offensively, although I definitely didn't consider that when writing the build below (so feel free to swap stuff around to better facilitate that).

FYI, THF was just reworked (and thus Bastard Swords). Glancing Blows were replaced by Strikethrough. I'd recommend you spend a few minutes reading about that before embarking on your quest XD

Something like:

Dragonborn Artificer 20



Make sure you start with Strength 13 (you only have +4 of your tome applied by level 9 when you need 17 for ITHF), otherwise max Int > Con > else. You'll be using Insightful Damage (Artificer spell) plus Harper's Strategic Combat so you have Int for to-hit and damage, as well as trapping etc

AP split like:
41 AP Battle Engineer (Capstone, full T5, Hand & a Half x4, Haste Boost)
31 AP Renegade Mastermaker (Core 5, active attacks, Reconstruct, Embed Component
8 AP Harper (Strategic Combat I, Know the Angles)

Grab a runearm, drag the toggle from your feats tab to a hotbar, and let it auto-charge mid-combat (I think there's a checkbox for runearm audio now?). It's free damage, hard to pass up

You have a decent amount of active attacks that all Strikethrough (I think the Battle Engineer ones mostly suck, but the RMM ones are pretty great). Throw a spell or three, wade in, hit stuff, then Reconstruct!

Here's Strimtom's melee Artificer from 2016; it's a bit dated, but has some good info especially w/regards to runearms.

[unbongwah]

Can you please tell me how to adapt this for a dwarf battlecleric? I have a level 1 one from 2006 and got a +20 Lesser heart of wood in his inventory.

You should have a lot more freebies on your toon, including at least one Raider's Box. CitW weapons are considered obsolete these days, but a free Cleaver is still a solid ML:23 weapon until you replace it with something better like Riftmaker.

Anyway, a non-human variant would drop a feat - I would probably skip Power Attack or at least delay it - and would have to start INT 10 to max Concentration and Heal. So base stats are something like 16/8/16/10/10/13 on a 28-pt build. Otherwise it's basically identical, so I'm not gonna bother with a repost.

A dwarf would also have the option of Single Weapon Fighting (SWF) with a dwarven axe and investing in their racial enhancements. SWF combat style means your offhand doesn't hold a shield (unless you're a Swashbuckler) or another weapon; for a SWF caster, you'd usually equip an orb. 12 APs into the dwarf racial tree would get +15 Strikethrough with dwarven axes and make them a favored weapon, so they would benefit from Warpriest bonuses like Righteous Weapons. SWF vs 2H weapons is basically higher attack speed vs higher base damage and more Strikethrough.

[unbongwah]

So with that said, what I'm looking for in a build in order of priority is the following:

1. Dragonborn - Aasimar, Gnome, Tiefling, and Wood Elves don't interest me enough to purchase them
2. Bastard Swords - I got a small pile of these things from my current life, so I'd like to be able to continue using them
3. Solo-capable - Mainly this means being able to self-heal and disable locks and traps, up to Reaper 3 if possible.

You've already posted to the Maverick Hunter threat so I know you have melee Artificer on your list. So my first thought is paladin Vanguard. S&B with hand-and-a-half weapons (bastard sword or dwarven axe) benefit from the buffs to THF: i.e., higher damage mod and Strikethrough bonuses. Dragonborn paladins don't have the same synergies as PDK Helm, but there is some benefit from DB bonuses (+STR/CHA, Hard Scales). But adding trap skills means losing the VG capstone.