Rolling a Cleric, Need Advice

[Bones400]

So I'm going to roll a Cleric. I'm still pretty new to the game, I have a level 9 as my highest level, and a couple of level 7's. I want an offensive casting cleric that will be able to melee decently at lower levels to solo through the low level stuff until I can start soloing with my spells (I'll group when I can/need, but will be soloing mostly).

Human seems to be the obvious choice but I would prefer to go Dwarf because I don't have one yet, and I would like to wield an axe instead of a heavy mace for aesthetics and for the better melee performance at low levels. I don't want to gimp my late game build too bad for early game convenience so I thought I'd ask for some advice. The starting stats would be the same for both races.

Str 14
Dex 8
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 18
Cha 12

Is the human bonus feat that big of a deal?

For feats as a human I was thinking:
Extend
Toughness
Empower Healing
Maximize
Heighten
Quicken
Spell Penetration
Improved Spell Pen

First question, does that look pretty standard? Anything I'm overlooking?

Second question, if I go with Dwarf, which feat should I drop? At first glance I suppose it would be Improved spell Pen...maybe add it in later when I need it instead of quicken or extend?

Any advice would be appreciated regarding the feats as well as the starting ability stats.

[PNellesen]

Comments in yellow

First question, does that look pretty standard? Anything I'm overlooking? Looks like you've got the main bases covered for a caster

Second question, if I go with Dwarf, which feat should I drop? At first glance I suppose it would be Improved spell Pen...maybe add it in later when I need it instead of quicken or extend? If you plan to stay pure cleric, and max your WIS, then yeah, I'd probably lose Improved Spell Pen. You MIGHT want to also consider swapping Extend for one of the Spell Focus feats, such as Necromancy to boost things like Destruction and Slay Living (thanks for that insight, Samulas ) or Enchantment

Have fun! I love playing a caster-cleric, nothing like wading into a quest full of Beholders and one-shotting them with Destruction before anyone loses their buffs

[Bones400]

Thanks for the repy!

One more question, I was just looking at the character planner and going over enhancements, and I was wondering what conventional wisdom says about the pre-reqs for RSII. For requires one of: Silver Flame Exorcism, Unyielding Sovereignty, Undying Call, Bladesworn Transformation, Vulkoor's Avatar, Cleric Charisma II.

Which one should I get as a Dwarf?

[Pape_27]

Thanks for the repy!

One more question, I was just looking at the character planner and going over enhancements, and I was wondering what conventional wisdom says about the pre-reqs for RSII. For requires one of: Silver Flame Exorcism, Unyielding Sovereignty, Undying Call, Bladesworn Transformation, Vulkoor's Avatar, Cleric Charisma II.

Which one should I get as a Dwarf?

unyielding sov gives you a one shot 1000 pt heal. its what i took on my cleric.

[DeafeningWhisper]

unyielding sov gives you a one shot 1000 pt heal. its what i took on my cleric.

What he said, it removes a ton of de-buffs as well and in long quests that 10 minute cooldown means multiple uses. It's pretty much the most taken religion for a cleric, Undying I've seen a few times (on Paladins only) and Vulkoor once (again on a Paladin), it's that good.

Extend is pretty useless later on, trade it in since your buffs will have a good lasting time on their own. Personaly I'm a fan of Extra Turning, those 4 Aura/Bursts save me a lot of SP.

[good_ole_corwin]

The most exceptional quality of Unyielding Sovereignty is that its the only way in the game (or maybe theres a DDO store item, but who the hell cares about that) that removes death penalties. I once cleared 5 death penalties from myself with it. Dont ask.

Exorcism sounds nice thanks to the high DC on it, but if the cooldown really is 10 minutes like the wiki claims, not really worth it. Plus has anybody tested whether spell resistance affects it?

Charisma II would only get you an extra turn really, and you can get that cheaper with enhancements, and the other options (Bladesworn, Undying, Vulkoor) dont come for humans/dwarves.

[joneb1999]

My first cleric was a dwarf and I enjoyed playing him. Dwarves get a faith sp bonus which is nice, stacks with the clerics zeal bonus sp and Dwarves get bonus constitution too for help to get healthy hp. However I would probably pick human next time if i was only premium otherwise as a vet I would take a half elf maybe or drow possibly if favor is unlocked.

First I would advise you to up your intelligence to 10 and your charisma to 14 reduce your strength to 10.

The reason is this.

In regards to intelligence 2 skill points a level makes a big difference to 1. Its good to put some into balance and jump that can be bumped up to great and useful effect later with an item. When you want to kite things through Blade Barriers you want to be as agile and sturdy on your feet as possible. Concentration is useful to save spell points even when you have the quicken feat and may not always need to use that feat. At early levels I would invest in concentration to make casting/healing more of a definite success but at end game it will be useless.

Charisma 14 lets you get divine might 2 if you feel you want it for combat so even though you have dropped 2 damage over 4 strength points you can achieve it with this feat if you so wish. DM also is a requisite you can use for RS. It also gets you 1 extra turn, and increases your turn abilities which you will find pretty fun up until level 9 or possibly 10. Its fun worth having.

You can dump strength to 10 as at early levels combat is relatively easy for a cleric especially if you can get decent equipment. At the higher levels combat will be a no no in general as you will be putting all your bonus attribute points into wisdom to get spell dcs high enough. So by that account you will be avoiding combat and Blade Barrier is powerful enough for you to do that.

You should take the toughness feat first.

It will help significantly with the con you have.

You should go mace and shield to start with and if you want to multi class as a fighter do it later but it isnt advisable as you will hurt your spell dcs so you wont really be able to afford the feat for axes/dwarven axes as you need all your feats otherwise.

Maces are pretty good weapons especially at lower levels and as said you wont be too bothered at higher levels.

You will also want full plate and with dr on it if you can get it. Your dex is low so tho you can have an ok ac at lower levels without it using plate it will be noticeably useless ac as you get to higher levels. All dr is good at lower levels.

[Ungood]

I am playing a Clonk (Cleric/Monk) and I have to say the high wisdom + Destruction = Fun Times!

Duo with a Arcane and watch the death and destruction fly, as Fire Walls, BB's and insta death spells rain horror upon your victims.

oh yah.. and you can heal the melee's too

[rayworks]

I currently have a 12th lvl Human Cleric specced out for healing and support/offensive casting. I put STR at 10 and was able to use a mace and shield and soloed up to 6th lvl with no problems. Summon monster and the occasional hireling worked very well. I jacked WIS up to 18 and CHA to 14 initially for the SP and turns. Once I got to 6th and got radiant servant I started grouping and pretty much stopped swinging the mace. I think my last melee kill was two levels ago (lol). Radiant servant is very effective at healing and killing undead if you have empower heal on. Just make sure you turn off empower heal before you start casting heals. It can waste spell points real fast.

For feats I took toughness, empower heal, extra turning, spell pen and maximize. I didn't take extend because most buffs last long enough anyway, and it turns out that blade barrier doesn't take advantage of extend like it used to. I'll take quicken next and spell focus after that.

For gear, get the best armor you can if you're gonna swing a weapon. But once I got to 10th I got robes and outfits and have been happy with that. I don't get hit much by melees and the effects on the robes can be lifesavers.

[Tsuarok]

My first cleric was a dwarf and I enjoyed playing him. Dwarves get a faith sp bonus which is nice, stacks with the clerics zeal bonus sp and Dwarves get bonus constitution too for help to get healthy hp. However I would probably pick human next time if i was only premium otherwise as a vet I would take a half elf maybe or drow possibly if favor is unlocked.

First I would advise you to up your intelligence to 10 and your charisma to 14 reduce your strength to 10.

The reason is this.

In regards to intelligence 2 skill points a level makes a big difference to 1. Its good to put some into balance and jump that can be bumped up to great and useful effect later with an item. When you want to kite things through Blade Barriers you want to be as agile and sturdy on your feet as possible. Concentration is useful to save spell points even when you have the quicken feat and may not always need to use that feat. At early levels I would invest in concentration to make casting/healing more of a definite success but at end game it will be useless.

Charisma 14 lets you get divine might 2 if you feel you want it for combat so even though you have dropped 2 damage over 4 strength points you can achieve it with this feat if you so wish. DM also is a requisite you can use for RS. It also gets you 1 extra turn, and increases your turn abilities which you will find pretty fun up until level 9 or possibly 10. Its fun worth having.

You can dump strength to 10 as at early levels combat is relatively easy for a cleric especially if you can get decent equipment. At the higher levels combat will be a no no in general as you will be putting all your bonus attribute points into wisdom to get spell dcs high enough. So by that account you will be avoiding combat and Blade Barrier is powerful enough for you to do that.

You should take the toughness feat first.

It will help significantly with the con you have.

You should go mace and shield to start with and if you want to multi class as a fighter do it later but it isnt advisable as you will hurt your spell dcs so you wont really be able to afford the feat for axes/dwarven axes as you need all your feats otherwise.

Maces are pretty good weapons especially at lower levels and as said you wont be too bothered at higher levels.

You will also want full plate and with dr on it if you can get it. Your dex is low so tho you can have an ok ac at lower levels without it using plate it will be noticeably useless ac as you get to higher levels. All dr is good at lower levels.

There is a lot of good advice in here, but a few things that I would advise against. Sword & boarding will get you through the early levels fantastically with the lowered str, if a touch slower. And really, once you hit level 11, you'll find the points in str. to be much less useful. The stat changes are really solid advise, as is the play strategy.

Please take concentration. Quicken is amazing and I almost never turn it off, but at some poinnt you will be scroll healing. And at this point, things will probably be going poorly, and quicken will not help you. But concentration will.

A level of fighter will do nothing to your DCs. Your DC's are based solely on your wisdom, and taking a level of fighter will not reduce your wisdom. That said, if you have monk, there is a strong case for slashing monks into clerics. The loss of a lackluster capstone and a few spell points allows you to get a higher DC than a pure cleric (via water stance), and provides extra feats which can allow room for another spell penetration feat, making up for the loss of spell pen to the monk levels. Add to that evasion (if you go 2 levels) and the option of achieving useful AC if desired, and it seems a no-brainer (at least to me). But of course, you have to have monk.

As to your choice in RSII prereqs, I personlly went, like others, with the host. Until I got Heal. After that I switched it out for the Cha enhancements, which are 2 points cheaper.

[joneb1999]

There is a lot of good advice in here, but a few things that I would advise against. Sword & boarding will get you through the early levels fantastically with the lowered str, if a touch slower. And really, once you hit level 11, you'll find the points in str. to be much less useful. The stat changes are really solid advise, as is the play strategy.

Please take concentration. Quicken is amazing and I almost never turn it off, but at some poinnt you will be scroll healing. And at this point, things will probably be going poorly, and quicken will not help you. But concentration will.

A level of fighter will do nothing to your DCs. Your DC's are based solely on your wisdom, and taking a level of fighter will not reduce your wisdom. That said, if you have monk, there is a strong case for slashing monks into clerics. The loss of a lackluster capstone and a few spell points allows you to get a higher DC than a pure cleric (via water stance), and provides extra feats which can allow room for another spell penetration feat, making up for the loss of spell pen to the monk levels. Add to that evasion (if you go 2 levels) and the option of achieving useful AC if desired, and it seems a no-brainer (at least to me). But of course, you have to have monk.

As to your choice in RSII prereqs, I personlly went, like others, with the host. Until I got Heal. After that I switched it out for the Cha enhancements, which are 2 points cheaper.

Wow for some reason I thought cleric level counted lol. Got spell level, caster level class level all confused.