Cleric/fighter

[Micki]

Hello. I'm a newbe, been playing sine July (2011). My main char is a cleric elf lvl 11 (atm). When I started a friend of mine told me what ability scores to get, feats and skill went more randomly (and I wanted an elf because I thought they were cool, silly me). Slowly after learning more I've tried to improve my char by changing feats and enhancements. I wanted a spell casting melee char, so I guess that is what I have, but I'm not quite happy with her. Anyway, my friend also suggested I get the tower shield feat to up my AC, which I did. But since an elf doesn't get that many feats, and after reading wiki, I'm wondering if it would be better to add one level of fighter at this point? For tower shield proficiency and free feats (and I could exchange the bought tower shield feat for something else). Would it do me any good to do it this late (at level 11 --> 12) or should I just stick to a pure cleric?

Thank you for your advice.

[Clayness]

I wouldn't worry too much about my AC, on a cleric you will not be able to get an AC that is useful no matter what feats and gear you get. Focus more on getting good hit points and potentially some damage reduction, that will serve you much better in the long run than AC.

Personally I love clerics, and I take advantage of the fact that they can use heavy armor to find a heavy adamantine armor on the auction house, that will give you DR 3/-. Once you hit level 12, if you've picked your feats and enhancements carefully, you will get Radiant Servant 2 which will give you the healing aura which should keep you topped up in virtually all quests without needing additional heals. Only in harder raids will you find that you need to heal yourself beyond what the aura gives.

Heres my list of feats that I take on a cleric, mixes a bit of offensive power with good healing power.

1. Toughness
3. Empower Healing
6. Mental Toughness
9. Maximize Spell
12. Quicken Spell
15. Extend Spell
18. Either Improved Mental Toughness or another Toughness, depending on how my character looks

About taking a fighter level, I would only consider it if you have good starting Strength. Otherwise you will loose spellcasting power without gaining any decent melee power to make up for it. If I was going to mix cleric and fighter I would only do so if I could get at least 14 starting Strength, preferably 16.

[C-Dog]

I've been down this road just this week - here are some tried-and-true builds that have been recommended for inspiration...

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=75

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=223253

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...&postcount=305

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660

From what little I know (from what little I've read), yes, AC is a lost cause for Clerics at higher levels (which you are only just entering). Heavy Plate will pro'ly still be useful for a short while, then it's just go with the best armor/robe of X that you can find.

The advantage of a Tower Shield is in game play - if you can learn to hold down the <shift> key when being hit, that doubles(?) the TS's damage reduction, which (so I read) is huge - if you can master the twitch (and learn to read the animation of your opponents, when that attack is coming in!) (Sim w/ dodging spells/webs/etc.) But others can speak better to this than me.

Also, as an elf, look at the various (racial?) enhancements that are available - that's often where the make/break diff comes in. Radiant Servant, Follwer of the Sov'n Host - both highly recommended and often. For those of us used to 3.5, enchancements (and the magic-heavy gear environment) are a huge paradigm shift. DDO characters are far, far more than their stats and feats.

[Micki]

I started out with these ability scores (28 p build):

Strength 14
Dexterity 14
Constitution 12
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 14
Charisma 14

(and of skills I maxed out concentration)

And the feats I have atm are: Tower shield proficiency, Empower Healing Spell (required for radiant servant), Mental Toughness and Extra Turning.

With current gear, without guild ship buffs my ability scores are:

Strength 18
Dexterity 17
Constitution 13
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 19
Charisma 16

My cleric is Lawful good and I am using the infested armor (http://ddowiki.com/page/Infested_Armor) atm. I have a +5 heavy armor as well, but I feel the infested is still better. My AC is currently 30.

I have radiant servant 1 and am getting 2 when I level. And I have Follwer of the Sov'n Host. But I'm still wondering if I should change the tower shield for another feat... and if I should add a level of Fighter. What would the benefits/disadvantages be of doing so?

Btw. my friend also said I need the mobility feat, so I put it through crafting on the boots I currently use. But I'm not sure what good it is doing?

Thanks again.

[Pape_27]

Based on what you have here, melee is definately the way to go. Your high level dc based spells will land infrequently because of your low starting wisdom. Just out of curosity, where have you been putting your level ups?

Feats you might consider would be Shield Mastery. Helps mitigate incoming damage. If I were you I would not bother with Improved Mental Toughness, it only adds 105 sp. Its not worth a feat. Others to consider would be Weapons Focus(slashing), Extend, Empower (very good for your DoT and BB), and improved shield mastery.


As for multi-classing, the rule of thumb is usually this - If you have not planned for a multiclass, dont do it. But, if you decide to do it, fighter would be the way to go. The benefits - If you add a level of fighter, you can pick up two additional feats. If you add two levels of fighter, its a total of four additional feats you get to choose.

_

[Micki]

Just out of curosity, where have you been putting your level ups?

I don't remember, but I'm guessing I put them in charisma, since I was getting annoyed that my turn undeads were more or less useless.

As for multi-classing, the rule of thumb is usually this - If you have not planned for a multiclass, dont do it. But, if you decide to do it, fighter would be the way to go. The benefits - If you add a level of fighter, you can pick up two additional feats. If you add two levels of fighter, its a total of four additional feats you get to choose.

My problem is that this was a poorly planned char from the start, but I wish play her to lvl 20 (playing all or almost all quests for favor) and leave her there (for favor and crafting xp - which will benefit my other chars). I feel she's not as good of a melee as I would wish and she is taking damage a bit too easy (better since I got the ac raised a bit.)

I was basically thinking I could add a level of Fighter for the tower shield proficiency and additional feats, but I don't want to do it if it will weaken my char in any way.

And loosing the capstone enhancement I don't think is that big of a deal.

[Pape_27]

any chance of getting a lesser heart of wood and redistributing your stat points?

and stop putting your level ups into charisma. If you continue with this character as-is, put the remaining ones into strength.

[Micki]

any chance of getting a lesser heart of wood and redistributing your stat points?

I didn't even think of that. I'm gonna consider that. If I do that, which would be the best ability scores for an elf cleric (preferably still melee and spell caster)?

Or maybe a cleric is still useless at melee at that this level, so maybe I should just change her into an offensive caster?

[Pape_27]

I didn't even think of that. I'm gonna consider that. If I do that, which would be the best ability scores for an elf cleric (preferably still melee and spell caster)?

If you do get a heart, post up a new thread before you use it. Ask for advice from the community on the forums. There are a lot of knowledgeable ppl here who love to help. Im sure somebody will be able to help you with a build you will like and can manage properly.

One other thing I would like to add. Do yourself a favor and download the ddo character generator. Once you figure it out, you can create characters on it and get the feel of what building a toon is all about. In addition, you can post those builds on the forums and get feedback.

There are several versions out there. The one that I use was made by a poster named Ron on these boards. The download link can be found in his signature.

forum post --> http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=938831&postcount=1

direct link to download --> http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/DDOCharGen.html




_

[unbongwah]

My first suggestion - and I don't mean to be (too) mean - would be to stop taking build advice from your friend. The build-in-progress you posted is suboptimal in several ways, IMHO:

• STR is a bit too low for a good battle-cleric (BC)
• DEX is too low for dual-wielding and AC is unfortunately a real PITA at higher lvls for pure clerics
• WIS is a bit too low for a good offensive caster and a bit higher than necessary for heal-n-melee-focused BC.
• High CHA for extra Turn Undeads and possibly Divine Might is kinda nice, but usually too expensive in terms of stat pts for a 28-pt cleric.
• Apart from Empower Heal, your feats are pretty weak; Toughness would be a no-brainer, as would other metamagics (Empower, Maximize, Quicken)

No single flaw is that bad, but the cumulative weight of them holds your character back.

If you are willing to LR or reroll, have a look at the threads mentioned earlier; you can also check out my battle cleric builds in my sig for some ideas.

[Micki]

My first suggestion - and I don't mean to be (too) mean - would be to stop taking build advice from your friend. The build-in-progress you posted is suboptimal in several ways, IMHO:

• STR is a bit too low for a good battle-cleric (BC)
• DEX is too low for dual-wielding and AC is unfortunately a real PITA at higher lvls for pure clerics
• WIS is a bit too low for a good offensive caster and a bit higher than necessary for heal-n-melee-focused BC.
• High CHA for extra Turn Undeads and possibly Divine Might is kinda nice, but usually too expensive in terms of stat pts for a 28-pt cleric.
• Apart from Empower Heal, your feats are pretty weak; Toughness would be a no-brainer, as would other metamagics (Empower, Maximize, Quicken)

No single flaw is that bad, but the cumulative weight of them holds your character back.

If you are willing to LR or reroll, have a look at the threads mentioned earlier; you can also check out my battle cleric builds in my sig for some ideas.

thank you. Yes, I already decided to stop taking advice from him. He's not playing a cleric (only tried one at lower levels), so he really doesn't know what he's talking about.

I am willing to lr and I posted a new thread about it here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=357590

[Dendrix]

You are 11th level. You have just gained access to blade barrier and heal. These 2 spells mean you can solo quests very easily.

Unless you focus on AC very heavily it means almost nothing. In the desert of mechanstrum you want AC of about 35 to get most things to miss most of the time (+5 for elite quests). In gianthold you want AC of 45 (+5 for elite). Those are the AC's that monsters need a 20 to hit on. Your AC is about to become irrelevant.

Kite mobs through blade barriers to kill them, mobs who aren't hitting you do no damage no matter what your AC is. The only things to fight in melee are casters and archers - and use vorpal weapons on those (living) or disrupting weapons (undead).

Stay pure cleric. Use a Lesser Heart and re-create yourself. Better Stats IMO are Int=8. Dex=8. Con=14.

[Micki]

You are 11th level. You have just gained access to blade barrier and heal. These 2 spells mean you can solo quests very easily.

Unless you focus on AC very heavily it means almost nothing. In the desert of mechanstrum you want AC of about 35 to get most things to miss most of the time (+5 for elite quests). In gianthold you want AC of 45 (+5 for elite). Those are the AC's that monsters need a 20 to hit on. Your AC is about to become irrelevant.

Kite mobs through blade barriers to kill them, mobs who aren't hitting you do no damage no matter what your AC is. The only things to fight in melee are casters and archers - and use vorpal weapons on those (living) or disrupting weapons (undead).

Alright.

Stay pure cleric. Use a Lesser Heart and re-create yourself. Better Stats IMO are Int=8. Dex=8. Con=14.

I will (stay pure cleric and lr). Still considering the stats.

[Crann]

Don't be discouraged....no one gets it right the first time, or the second, or the third

This game has a relatively high learning curve, but you are on the right track asking for advice in here.

I'm half tempted to suggest that you just reroll and save your points for other things, but if you aren't that strapped for cash, then you are at a great level to do a lesser TR.

I would suggest you stay pure, always go pure your you first caster character. It gives you more powerful casting ability, which will give you good healing ability, backed with solid casting for cc and dps.

It also gives you your spells on time, meaning you don't have to wait a level, or levels for your key Divine spells like you would if you splashed.