Caster Cleric - General Assistance

[barkswell]

Hello. It's been a while since I posted here, so I'll apologize in advance if this is the wrong section of the forum to ask for help with something like this. I initially started this character to be a more self reliant spellcaster, by which I mean a character that could survive as well as dish out some fun spells, specifically those in the Necromancy school. This plan seemed to work fine for a while, but I've recently started dying horribly, by a combination of not having that much Health and not really enough Spell Points to get me from place to place.

I actually chose Clerics in particular because I only play solo, so I'm wondering if I should just start a new character, with more focus on physical attacking, as I seem to mostly be doing that anyways. It pains me to think of starting over, but I'm told leveling is faster these days...

Character page here:

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Bemi Frankenstein
Level 9 Lawful Neutral Human Female
(9 Cleric) 
Hit Points: 131
Spell Points: 538 
BAB: 6\6\11
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 3
Will: 12

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(28 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 9)
Strength             10                    10
Dexterity            10                    10
Constitution         14                    14
Intelligence         10                    10
Wisdom               18                    22
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 9)
Balance               2                     6
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         6                    14
Diplomacy            -1                    -1
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  4                     6
Hide                  0                     0
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  2                     6
Listen                4                     6
Move Silently         0                     0
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                0                     0
Search                0                     0
Spot                  4                     6
Swim                  0                     0
Tumble                n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I


Level 2 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I


Level 4 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II


Level 5 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot II


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II


Level 7 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life II


Level 8 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic III


Level 9 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell

Criticism more than welcome, as I am trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

[AyumiAmakusa]

Your stats are horrible. Drop dex and int.

[phalaeo]

You don't need Heighten that early- save it for one of your last feats
Empower Healing is good- it's a pre-req for the PrE, which is essentially free healing.
True Neutral is a better alignment if you will not be meleeing- you take less alignment based damage.
Dump your Dex out.
Put starting INT at 9 and eat a +1 tome at level 3 to even you out for skill points.
Put the remaining points in CHA for more turns or STR for low-level meleeing to save SP.
More skill points in Balance if you can.
Take Extend early and Max or Empower later.

And lastly-
Your life will be much easier when you get Bladebarrier.

[barkswell]

Your stats are horrible. Drop dex and int.

That is... a good point. Should I be dropping so many of my points into Wisdom, though? I know it's our main stat, and hence my main focus, but are Strength and Constitution okay as low as they are?

You don't need Heighten that early- save it for one of your last feats
Empower Healing is good- it's a pre-req for the PrE, which is essentially free healing.
True Neutral is a better alignment if you will not be meleeing- you take less alignment based damage.
Dump your Dex out.
Put starting INT at 9 and eat a +1 tome at level 3 to even you out for skill points.
Put the remaining points in CHA for more turns or STR for low-level meleeing to save SP.
More skill points in Balance if you can.
Take Extend early and Max or Empower later.

And lastly-
Your life will be much easier when you get Bladebarrier.

Thank you, that is very helpful. Concerning getting a Tome in at level 3, can I correct my not doing that with a Greater Reincarnation (I've recently gained access to the 32 point builds), or am I looking at a fresh character?

Edit: And yes, I've heard Blade Barrier is a wonderful addition to the arsenal of a Solo Cleric. I heartily look forward to it.

[phalaeo]

That is... a good point. Should I be dropping so many of my points into Wisdom, though? I know it's our main stat, and hence my main focus, but are Strength and Constitution okay as low as they are?


Thank you, that is very helpful. Concerning getting a Tome in at level 3, can I correct my not doing that with a Greater Reincarnation (I've recently gained access to the 32 point builds), or am I looking at a fresh character?

Edit: And yes, I've heard Blade Barrier is a wonderful addition to the arsenal of a Solo Cleric. I heartily look forward to it.

Well, the whole point is to not have to spend skill points upon character creation- the more INT you have, the more skill points you get (at every even number). So, start at a 9, use the other skill point to beef up a more important stat, then eat a +1 tome as early as you can (level 3) to even out that stat to 10. That means, from every level after 3, you'll be getting one more skill point than you would have otherwise.

Hope I explained that well enough- it's 5am here and the neighbours have been keeping me up.

[barkswell]

Ah, yes, that does makes sense, thank you.

Made some adjustments to the build based on thread advice, so hopefully this looks a little better. The previous one was 28, with this one being a 32 point, so I dropped 6 points (the four more, plus the two taken from Dex) into Charisma, as Radiant Servant seems to make Turn Attempts a bit more useful (especially if I ever do an Enhancement Reset at some point to go healbot for a while), and in the odd event that I manage to land a +3 tome, it'll give me access to Divine Might III, which, while not especially useful for a Caster Cleric, still doesn't look like it'd hurt to have around. Not sure if this is wise, so someone please stop me if the points would be better invested elsewhere.

Cleric Heal II taken solely because requirement for Radiant Servant.

Edit: Made a mistake, as I'd need to be at 15 Charisma for a +3 Tome to land me Divine Might 3. I could get it to 15 by starting at Intelligence 8, which would mean giving up that extra skill point. Is Constitution simply much more important? I could push that to 16, and lower Charisma to 11...


EditEdit: Info removed because above.

[FlyingTurtle]

I actually chose Clerics in particular because I only play solo, so I'm wondering if I should just start a new character, with more focus on physical attacking, as I seem to mostly be doing that anyways. It pains me to think of starting over, but I'm told leveling is faster these days...

It depends on how close you are to level 11. Once you get BB your caster will be fine relative to the battle-cleric. It's a long way for a new character though.

For low levels my dwarf melee-capable cleric is waaaaay easier to play than my human offensive caster. The dwarf solos regularly: the human really prefers not to. The dwarf tends to lead the kills in a below-average PUG: this is without casting any direct-damage spells. The problem is that you can totally rock the house with soundburst, command, and hold, but at the end of the day someone needs to get in there with a real weapon and chop these guys to pieces. If you're solo, that somebody gotta be you. You just won't have enough SP to hold everyone or direct-damage everything, so melee damage matters.

[DinoBaggio]

Well, the whole point is to not have to spend skill points upon character creation- the more INT you have, the more skill points you get (at every even number). So, start at a 9, use the other skill point to beef up a more important stat, then eat a +1 tome as early as you can (level 3) to even out that stat to 10. That means, from every level after 3, you'll be getting one more skill point than you would have otherwise.

I'm quite new, so please excuse my stupidity if I've missed something very obvious here, but wouldn't it make sense to keep the INT at 10, as it nets you 4 extra skill points at lvl 1?

[barkswell]

It depends on how close you are to level 11. Once you get BB your caster will be fine relative to the battle-cleric. It's a long way for a new character though.

I've been considering buying a greater reincarnation, as yes, climbing back up 9 levels tends to slow things, but I'm not sure I'd still be able to use the trick phalaeo recommended, as I'm not sure if it would allow me to use a tome during the restat.

For low levels my dwarf melee-capable cleric is waaaaay easier to play than my human offensive caster. The dwarf solos regularly: the human really prefers not to. The dwarf tends to lead the kills in a below-average PUG: this is without casting any direct-damage spells. The problem is that you can totally rock the house with soundburst, command, and hold, but at the end of the day someone needs to get in there with a real weapon and chop these guys to pieces. If you're solo, that somebody gotta be you. You just won't have enough SP to hold everyone or direct-damage everything, so melee damage matters.

Yeah, I had mostly been depending on buffs to raise my Strength up to reasonable until now, though no, it hasn't been cutting it lately. I'm not sure what goes into a melee focused Cleric, but given that I've yet to make a serious Dwarven character, this might be a good chance to roll one up.

[FlyingTurtle]

I've yet to make a serious Dwarven character, this might be a good chance to roll one up.

Of course, you know, if you have the TP or are VIP, ... *cough* half-orc *cough*