Returning player looking for Cleric advice.

[Vandos]

Hi all, just resubbed after a long break. Last update for me was Half Orcs.

I'm looking to play a pure offensive casting/healing babysitter. I believe that spell power has changed the game as far as metamagics go so could someone explain spell power and what metamagics are worth taking now?

Also spell pen and tr'ing, how is spell pen at end game and is 3 wiz past lives still a huge deal for clerics spell pen?

Maybe someone could post an updated build?
Thanks.

[Eilierie]

Still trying to figure out new spell power system in its entirety myself, sorry can't help ya there.

Just wanted to say welcome back !

and based on what you want to build, have you considered Flavored Soul ? I ran Shroud on hard with FvS that solo healed the raid, we most likely could have done Elite at least the FvS said they had solo healed elite Shroud before.

[ArgentMage]

Hi all, just resubbed after a long break. Last update for me was Half Orcs.

I'm looking to play a pure offensive casting/healing babysitter. I believe that spell power has changed the game as far as metamagics go so could someone explain spell power and what metamagics are worth taking now?

In a lot of ways, spell power makes it easier to figure out your output.
Instead of having named steps (e.g. Potency, Greater Potency, Superior Potency)
with those steps attached to spell levels, you now just have a power number
that increases the effectiveness of all relevant spell levels (e.g. Potency +36,
Devotion +60). As you equip and unequip items, you'll see the spellpower values
change in your character sheet. So you can see for sure what stacks and what doesn't.

You still want all the usual metamagics: Empower Healing, Maximize, (and probably
for your build regular Empower). But now when you turn them on and off, you
can see them directly change the spellpower values in your character sheet.

Also spell pen and tr'ing, how is spell pen at end game and is 3 wiz past lives still a huge deal for clerics spell pen?

There's a huge upside to the new Epic format, as Spell Pen is no longer an
all-or-nothing proposition. On Epic Normal my no-Spell-Pen-feats cleric can
now land Destruction and Implosion often enough to make them worth using.
I haven't done any Epic Elites, but they're supposed to be pretty much as hard
as the previous "only" Elites, so it's then that you'd need the massive SpellPen
available from past lives, presumably.

But other than that, the regular spell DC and spell pen DC mechanisms really
haven't changed, we just have much more reasonable targets to hit for Epic
Normal and Epic Hard. So you still want Heighten.

[ArgentMage]

Oh, one more thing. They changed the Kinetic and Impulse spellpower categories
to include untyped damage, so you can now get a healthy boost to your blade
barrier damage from those items.

Potency got a pretty serious power cap from what I can see, where I haven't
seen too many potency items larger than +48, but I pulled a Devotion +90 item
and an Impulse +72 (or something like that), so keep an eye out.

[firemedium_jt]

Thought Kinetic lore does not work for Blade Barrier?????????


As for Caster there is lots of builds on here and recent too.

Max Wis.

Average Con of like 14-16 or 12-14 elf

STR or CHR?

What kinda caster??? Insta Killa or just Blades and Divine Punishment? Crowd Control?


Feats for caster:

Must have:
Toughness (Most Divines have it)
Empower heal
Maximize

Recommended by most:
Heighten
Empower
Quicken

What's your flavor:
SFocus or SPen or Melee feats

Min lvls for Raid healing is CLR17

For Mass Heal/Tru Rez for Raids and Implosion/Neg Energy for 6 man/solo or you can mix it depending on group.

[unbongwah]

Also spell pen and tr'ing, how is spell pen at end game and is 3 wiz past lives still a huge deal for clerics spell pen?

The addition of Epic Destinies means you can amp up your Spell Pen & DCs without TRing multiple times. I mean, if you're really trying to minmax your build, you'll still want those PLs; and you could spend a lot of time working on EDs, depending on how many Twists you want to unlock. But you don't have to hop on the TR Train to be effective at endgame.

The Spellpower changes can be summed up by saying bonuses stack additively rather than multiplicatively; which means (among other things) the output-boosting metamagics (Emp / Emp Heal / Max) are less SP-efficient than they used to be. You're still going to want all three on an offensive / healing-specced cleric, though.

[ArgentMage]

Thought Kinetic lore does not work for Blade Barrier?????????

From a quick search it appears that this is true. Not sure if that is WAI.
The Artificer Kinetic Spellcasting Enhancements do say they affect blade barrier,
so mores the pity.

[unbongwah]

For a DC-&-heals-focused first-life cleric, I would do something like this:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.14.02
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 True Neutral Human Female
(19 Cleric \ 1 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 278
Spell Points: 1379 
BAB: 14\14\19\24
Fortitude: 14
Reflex: 5
Will: 21

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             14                    14
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         16                    16
Intelligence          8                     8
Wisdom               18                    27
Charisma              8                     8

Level 1 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell
Feat: (Human Bonus) Maximize Spell


Level 2 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 4 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 5 (Cleric)


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extra Turning (swap for Spell Penetration later)


Level 7 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant I
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Heal I
Enhancement: Improved Heal II
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Smiting I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting I
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting II
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Turning I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery I
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery II


Level 8 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS


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


Level 10 (Cleric)


Level 11 (Cleric)


Level 12 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell


Level 13 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant II
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Smiting I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Flame Manipulation I
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting III
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic III
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic IV
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II


Level 14 (Cleric)


Level 15 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation (or Necromancy)


Level 16 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 17 (Cleric)


Level 18 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration


Level 19 (Cleric)


Level 20 (Cleric)
Ability Raise: WIS
Enhancement: Cleric Smiting IV
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration I
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration II
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Spell Penetration III
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom III
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery III
Enhancement: Cleric Wand and Scroll Mastery IV

Epic feats: epic Spell Penetration and another feat of your choice (like Greater Spell Focus).

The wiz splash is mostly for the extra metamagic and Force I enhancement (currently place-held by Fire); although free access to arcane wands (e.g., Blur, Invisibility, Stoneskin) and a few lvl 1 spells (esp. Master's Touch & Expeditious Retreat) are nice perks.

28-pt build: drop CON to 14 or STR to 10

Race: This works with any race, but you lose that extra feat. As you can see, I didn't include any heal amp, so that's not really an advantage here; APs are just too tight and if you're specced to heal tanks w/1,000+ HPs, you're certainly specced to heal yourself w/out heal amp, IMHO. [An elven version could take Arcanum I enh to make up for the pt of Spell Pen lost from the wiz splash, but since you're losing a feat it's a wash at best.]

The Spell Focus feat will let you Twist in Conjuration Specialist from Magister for +3 DCs and Precise Casting from Draconic for another +1; for the third Twist, Piercing Spellcraft from either for +3 Spell Pen. [You'll need 18 Fate pts to unlock that many Twists, though, so it'll be a while.] If you dropped Toughness and rejiggered the feat list, you could have SF/GSF/ESF:Evocation, though I would only do that once you had all your HP gear.

Extra Turning gets you 4 more bursts / auras, which is quite helpful; later on you should have enough gear than you don't need it anymore and can swap for Spell Pen before taking GSP.

Enhancements can be tweaked depending on circumstances - e.g., less Spell Pen or W&S Mastery for more Smiting - but you get the gist of the build, I think. At low lvls you focus on heals & buffs, but don't forget your CC spells (Command, Sound Burst); w/Master's Touch you can also wield any 2H weapon (or go S&B). At mid-lvls, your caster DPS improves (e.g., Divine Punishment, Flame Strike, Blade Barrier), so you'll rely on them more; don't forget your AOE CCs like Greater Command and Cometfall.