Help: Battle Cleric build

[Galiphile]

First things first: I'm not jumping on these forums and blindly posting for help; I have read numerous build guides for battle clerics, and frankly I just don't understand all of the nuances and acronyms that are being used. I have done some reading of the compendium and wiki sites, but even so I'm very much a newbie. I understand that creating a build for me and explaining it will be an undertaking.

That being said, I'd like to make a dual wielding dwarf battle cleric. The consensus seems to be 17 cleric/2 monk/1 fighter or 19 cleric/1 fighter. What are the benefits of taking those 2 monk levels? Does it matter at what level I "splash" into the other classes?

I thank anyone willing to offer me an assistance, and doubly so for anyone willing to explain. I have played a lot of WoW if that will help you explain.

P.S. I do not have access to 32 point builds.

Thanks in advance.

[voxson5]

Hi there, what are some of the acronyms you're wanting to find out?

Firstly...Why do you want to run a battlecleric? whats the main purpose? (soloist/a challenge/ its a kick ass melee that can heal)

Ok, first off, a 28pt dwarven twf BC is going to be very restrictive in terms of stats, & thus hp, sp pool, combat ability & in turn, how PUG friendly you are.

You'll need 15 DEX at least to start (twf requirement), good STR, good CON, good WIS (for DC's & SP), maybe 10 or 12 INT for skills & some CHA to help with your bursts/auras

Your melee will (could) be sucky until you get the spell Divine Power (cleric lv 7), and if you multiclass, thats going to take a while. If your Melee is good, your WIS and/or your CON will suffer.

The class splashes are there for good reason, extra feats & extra fluff. The minumum lv 17 Cleric is for access to the best healing spell in the game (Mass Heal). A Fighter level gets you all martial weapons proficencies (and gives you access to dwarven axes because of that), a free weapons/combat feat, extra hp's, haste boost etc. 2 monk levels give 2 more feats (martial arts feats), evasion, nice saves boost & stances (that wont work with DA's).

It doesn't really matter what class you splash, fighter &/or ftr + monk variants are tried & tested because of the benefits from each class.

If you *must* build a BC, a 19/1 Cleric/Fighter THF provides a nice easy way to get nice melee, use your racial ax enhancements and still be welcome in raids (how you play also modifies this quite a lot).

IMHO, you will be spreading yourself way too thin with a 28pt twf BC, but remember - its *your* toon

Have a read of the Great Samulas' "Path to Enlightenment" (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=202343) for all things clericie - there is good explination on the 3 type of cleric, the various levels of playing a cleric & the limitations of multiclassing and being pure.

Also, you could check out the other builds (as you have mentioned you have) to see what others are doing to get their BC to work.

As a comparisson:
My own BC build ->http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=302196

It looks nice on paper, & he plays good, but thats 5 +2 tomes & a lot of twinking to get him to work how i want. at current, level 11 (8/2/1 cleric/monk/fighter, 268hp's, 637sp <- thats the killer, really not enough SP for the level, but my playstyle relies more on boosted bursts from the RS PrE, and using SP as backup healing for the party)

Good luck!

[Galiphile]

Thanks for the response. I'll peruse the link you posted to see if that gives me a better understanding of class/game mechanics.