Cleric Fighter class split question ...

[Kinnio]

Edit 7-5-10:
thank you ClericDude and Dawnsfire for the valuable info.
Since solo is my only play option, how would you compare the loss of 2 memorized spells to the gain of a feat by going Ftr-2 instead of Ftr-1, especially if I wait until after I have Blade Barrier to take the second fighter level?

Original Post:
I have a Cleric 4 / Fighter 1 started with 2HF.

Solo is my only play option.

I have read postings about Cl-19/Ftr-1 and Cl-18/Ftr-2 for hours.
The differences for the Fighter-2 build seem to be:
level ups in STR instead of WIS
Level 18 feat is Improved 2HF instead of Spell Penetration.

Since these differences can be done on the Fighter-1 build anyways, what would I get from the second fighter level?

Thank you.

[ClericDude]

I think the better question is what would you lose. You get 3 spells memorized at 9th level instead of 4 and you lose some spell points. You also lose a caster level for those spells which cap at or above 20 (i.e. mass heal, firestorm but not blade barrier) and slightly worse spell penetration. In exchange, you get an extra feat and access to 2nd level fighter enhancements. I'm not an expert in DDO builds, but I could easily see the feat overshadowing those losses.

You've got time to decide which of the options will be more important to you. If you take a second fighter level before you get 11 cleric levels, you can add delayed access to heal and blade barrier to the list of drawbacks for Ftr2.

[Dawnsfire]

I have a Cleric 4 / Fighter 1 started with 2HF.

Solo is my only play option.

I have read postings about Cl-19/Ftr-1 and Cl-18/Ftr-2 for hours.
The differences for the Fighter-2 build seem to be:
level ups in STR instead of WIS
Level 18 feat is Improved 2HF instead of Spell Penetration.

Since these differences can be done on the Fighter-1 build anyways, what would I get from the second fighter level?

Thank you.

Gains:

Fighter 1:
~Access to Intimidate at maximum ranks
~Access to Fighter Haste Boost I enhancement
~Proficiency with simple and martial weapons, shields and tower shields, and all armor
~Bonus feat
Fighter 2:
~Bonus feat
~Access to Fighter Strength I enhancement

Lose:

Cleric 20:
~Access to future Cleric capstone enhancements
~Access to 5th level 9 spell
~Access to 6th level 8 spell
Cleric 19:
~Access to 4th level 9 spell
~Access to 6th level 7 spell

The New Players' Guide to Multiclassing is here.

[Kinnio]

Edit 7-5-10:
thank you ClericDude and Dawnsfire for the valuable info.
Since solo is my only play option, how would you compare the loss of 2 memorized spells to the gain of a feat by going Ftr-2 instead of Ftr-1, especially if I wait until after I have Blade Barrier to take the second fighter level?

[Dawnsfire]

Edit 7-5-10:
thank you ClericDude and Dawnsfire for the valuable info.
Since solo is my only play option, how would you compare the loss of 2 memorized spells to the gain of a feat by going Ftr-2 instead of Ftr-1, especially if I wait until after I have Blade Barrier to take the second fighter level?

I am probably not the best to ask. My highest level cleric at the moment is 8c/1f. It seems there are several ways to look at it. I think you have to decide how you are going to play your cleric. Is it going to lean towards Offensive casting? Melee? Or a down the middle mix?

1) At ninth level there are only 5 spells. Of them 1 (heal mass) is pretty useless if you are exclusively solo. 1 (true resurrect) is probably not very helpful except to res a hireling. Summon Monster IX might be situationally useful as an aggro management tool but summoned creatures are far from an ideal use of sp in this game. Implosion and Energy Drain are largely for Offensive types. The more you multiclass the the harder it will be to get them to hit. Both get spell resist checks (1d20 + caster level + spell penetration bonuses) and those are harder to hit with 2 less caster levels.

2) At 7th level there are 11 spells. Of them 5 are mass type spells, 1 is a resurrect and 1 is a summon monster type spell. The 3 attack spells all use spell resist.

So if you are exclusively solo and lean more toward melee I do not think the spell losses will hurt you. If you lean towards Offensive Casting the spell resist probably will effect you somewhat.

Again I warn that my own cleric isn't that high a level yet so I may be missing a lot. if the wall of text is too much to read I will say I am leaning toward melee myself as a solo cleric because of Sirgog's cleric guide. If you read his Pure-classed Offensive Caster Cleric (second build down), he says:

In endgame content, these builds tend to be played as healbots, as endgame foes are mostly immune to (or in the case of elite Amrath, just highly resistant to) their most potent spells.

My solo cleric will probably never get to run elite end game stuff but Healbot would be totally useless for a solo toon. Best of luck to you!

[samho]

Edit 7-5-10:
thank you ClericDude and Dawnsfire for the valuable info.
Since solo is my only play option, how would you compare the loss of 2 memorized spells to the gain of a feat by going Ftr-2 instead of Ftr-1, especially if I wait until after I have Blade Barrier to take the second fighter level?

Currently, cleric only got 5 at level 9 spell -- SM X, True Res, Implosion, Mass Heal, Energy Drain. While all of them have their usage, only Implosion / Mass Heal / Energy Drain are unique enough that none of your old spell can replace their function. And when you solo, chance are you almost never need to cast True Res / Mass Heal beside some escort quest. So, spell slot wise, you will be fine with CLE18.

Unless you are going to play toward casting heavy style, 18 cleric level or even 17 won't really hurt you, especially in end game content.

[ThePrincipal]

Just putting this out there, if you're looking to replace 2 cleric lvls with a melee class, take a look at Paladin. The CHA modifier would provide needed defense for a solo'r.