Support cleric

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

Hey guys, greetings.

I've been thinking about a support cleric build for an alt; I know it can't solo anything, but it seens fun for me... healing, protecting and controlling field. A build just to be played in party. Please, give me your thoughts about this, but keep in mind she is an alt, I don't intent to spend much money on her for tomes or whatever.

Support Cleric
Cleric 20
Lawful Good Aasimar


Stats
. . . . . . . .34pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . .8. . . . . . . . 4: WIS
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . . . . . 8: WIS
Constitution. . 16. . . .+2. . . 12: WIS
Intelligence. . 10. . . . . . . .16: WIS
Wisdom. . . . . 20. . . .+2. . . 20: WIS
Charisma. . . . 14. . . .+2. . . 24: WIS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: WIS

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . 3. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 22
UMD . . . 1½ ½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .11
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . 8. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2


Feats

.1. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
.3. . . . : Mental Toughness
.6. . . . : Quicken Spell
.9. . . . : Maximize Spell
12. . . . : Improved Mental Toughness
15. . . . : Empower Spell
18. . . . : Extra Turning OR Toughness
21 Epic . : Epic Mental Toughness
24 Epic . : Intensify Spell
26 Destiny: Guardian Angel
27 Epic . : Burst of Glacial Wrath
28 Destiny: Mass Frog
29 Destiny: Fount of Life
30 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
30 Legend : Scion of: Celestia

.1 Aasimar: Bond of the Protector

.2 Cleric : Protection Domain

.1 Deity. : Follower of: Aureon
.6 Deity. : Aureon's Instruction


Spells

1. Cure Light Wounds (1), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
2. Cure Moderate Wounds (3), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
3. Cure Serious Wounds (5), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
4. Cure Critical Wounds (7), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
5. Mass Cure Light Wounds (9), Slay Living (9), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
6. Mass Cure Moderate Wounds (11), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
7. Mass Cure Serious Wounds (13), Destruction (13), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
8. Mass Cure Critical Wounds (15), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
9. Implosion (17), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>

Enhancements (80+1 AP)

Radiant Servant (41 AP)

• Healing Domain, Pacifism, Positive Energy Burst, Improved Empower Healing, Positive Energy Shield, Radiant Servant
  1. Extra Turning III, Altruism III
  2. Improved Turning I, Efficient Empower Healing III
  3. Intense Healing III, Wisdom
  4. Endless Turning I, Incredible Healing III, Wisdom
  5. Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Warpriest (23 AP)

• Smite Foe: Melee, Resilience of Battle, Sanctuary, Blur
  1. Toughness III, Sacred Touch III
  2. Smite Weakness, Wall of Steel III, Inflame III
  3. Magic Backlash III
  4. Ameliorating Strike

Aasimar (17 AP)

• Stronger Bonds, Charisma, Stronger Bonds II
  1. True Resilience III, Improved Recovery
  2. Divine Purpose
  3. Divine Charge III, Blessings III
  4. Divine Form

Destiny (24 AP)

Divine Crusader

1. Endless Turning III, Interrogation
2. Consecration III, Flames of Purity III
3. Sacred Ground, Empyrean Magic
4. No Regret, Crusade
5. Castigation, Heavenly Presence
6. Celestial Bombardment III

Twists of Fate (10 fate points)

1. Energy Resistance (Tier 1 Sentinel)
2. Endless Faith (Tier 1 Exalted)
3. Healing Power (Tier 1 Exalted)
4. Impregnable Mind (Tier 1 Magister)

I'm gonna explain my choices.

Race: Aasimar seens to be very solid for this build. Besides +2 wis, the protector bond fits like a glove, especially with enhancements.
Deity: Aureon's blessing provides +4 wisdom and improves turning, which could be good situationally; didn't find anything that could be better.
Domain: Protection would rise PRR and MRR for entire party a lot. Also improves my own survivability.
Skills: Heal for obvious reasons and UMD... I don't know why, I just see every build in the forum maximizing UMD... =P I mean, for a cleric is it that useful? Good stuff has incredibly high difficulty... Even invisibility is hard for a cross-class...
Feats: I'm considering that my main source of healing will be that healing burst, then I got the metamagic that affects it. Mental toughness and improved mental toughness most for the crit chance and a doubt at 18: it's a build that clearly relies on turn use, because of this the most obvious choice seens to be extra turning, but more HP is the alternative if I had enough turns (get cha from aasimar bond, turns from RS tree, etc)... For epics, guardian angel and damage reduction because on reaper they really hit hard, epic mental toughness for crit chance again, intensify spell and fount of life to improve even more the healing, burst of glacial wrath and mass frog to help more controlling field and for legendary, the most obvious seens to be scion of Celestia, didn't see anything else so appealing.
Spells: Slay living, destruction and implosion to help with mobs.
Enhancements: Really would like to get bliss from RS, but have not enough AP. On warpriest tree, sacred touch sinergizes with protection domain, more AC and even more PRR when a turn is used. Magic backlash sounds very good, since wiki doesn't mention any save, good option to control casters, I guess. Smite weakness gives the party a % dmg bônus every 12 seconds, and since i'm using smite foe on cd, ameliorating strike for even more healing, inflame seens a good boost for both offense and defense; finally, thoughness and wall of steel for personal survivability. On aasimar tree, charisma 1 (with bond reaches 2 and grants +1 turn) and stronger bonds for 2% dodge (and also because I couldn't find anything better to spend 1 point) on core. True resilience for will saves, healing amp; on tier 2 divine purpose sounds really what I'm looking for: positive spell power + healing amp; divine charge to trigger purpose more, blessings for even more positive spell power and since I came all this way, why not divine form? +3 to all saves, 10% HP and +10 PRR/MRR for just 1 point sounds pretty nice!
Destinies: For destinies and twists I'm not sure. I don't know it well, since I don't play that much... But for destiny, since it's a support, I thought divine crusader because of consecration: heal + 10% damage buff and helps to keep sacred touch up, also helps, with healing aura, to keep empyrean magic up. No regret to spread purification; heavenly presence more survivability and finally celestial bombardment I really don't know if is a good choice... 100 mana to cast sounds too expensive... For twists, energy resistance seens to be a good buff, endeless faith for mana, healing power for positive spell power and impregnable mind manly to not fail on 1 will saves.

Almost forgot, thinking in a very distant future, if I find regular people to play with and intent to take some epic past life feats, I have some doubts about what should be better.
Arcane: arcane alacrity seens to be the only useful, unless enchant weapon counts for that implement weapons.
Divine: +3 to saves sounds better than 30 positive spell power, especially because the build already has a lot of positive spell power; so brace sounds more appealing.
Martial: I think fortification is the only reasonable choice.
Primal: Really don't know... doubleshot is completly useless, fast healing is kinda redundant with healing aura and all other healing options the build offers and I think colors of the queen wouldn't proc much with this build, unless it could proc with consecration...

Well... I think that's all, folks. I really love D&D, I know the game well, but PnP is very different, my knowlegde is not helping much here... =P For online version I need a word or two from veterans.

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

Or I could just don't do it at all...

[Livmo]

Or I could just don't do it at all...

Agreed. The only feat I saw that I would take is Mass Frog and perhaps Epic Damage Reduction. I'd prefer to play in Unyielding Sentinel. I'm all in on Divine Disciple with a few AP in my Iconic Sun Elf Racial Tree to get access to Arcane Archer tree to build my mana generator. Max the skill Spellcraft. Spells are OK, but I like to work the spell school Necromancy for Destruction and Slay Living. And Evocation of course. I actually play this and serve as a support cleric/healer/and sometimes kill count leader. I'm a first lifer. That's my play style though. Here's what I'm playing in another thread, https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...r-Crystal-Cove!

[unbongwah]

Disclaimer: I'm basically retired from DDO these days, so take my advice with a grain of salt (or the whole shaker).

UMD... I don't know why, I just see every build in the forum maximizing UMD... =P I mean, for a cleric is it that useful? Good stuff has incredibly high difficulty... Even invisibility is hard for a cross-class...

There's a lot of gear and other buffs you can use to boost UMD to useful levels even as a cross-class skill, particularly if you aren't dump-stating CHA. That said, you're not obligated to do so; a pure cleric is plenty self-sufficient without being able to UMD arcane wands & scrolls.

On warpriest tree, sacred touch sinergizes with protection domain, more AC and even more PRR when a turn is used. Magic backlash sounds very good, since wiki doesn't mention any save, good option to control casters, I guess. Smite weakness gives the party a % dmg bônus every 12 seconds, and since i'm using smite foe on cd, ameliorating strike for even more healing, inflame seens a good boost for both offense and defense; finally, thoughness and wall of steel for personal survivability.

You dumped STR and you apparently don't have the Falconry tree; so I think you'll find your to-hit too low to make Smite Foe useful. The other buffs / passives in WP can be good, although you're really pigeon-holing yourself into the healer / support role.

Destinies: For destinies and twists I'm not sure. I don't know it well, since I don't play that much...

If your goal is simply to keep yourself alive as long as possible so you can keep your team alive, then Unyielding Sentinel is usually the way to go. You can Twist Consecration + Sacred Ground if you have enough Fate points.

What you intend is certainly doable, it's just a niche build which doesn't live up to a cleric's full potential, IMO. And I say that as someone who has made his fair share of niche cleric builds. Dedicated healers haven't been in vogue in a really long time. I could see this more for a hardcore-server build than the main game; a support toon which prioritizes survivability over all else.

[rabidfox]

Are you dead set on Cleric? With the way you want AP split, a FvS would let you get a main caster stat towards hit/damage, toss out hopes for extra support, & free up some feats towards melee (or ranged) DPS feats.

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

Thank you very much for the answers, guys, it really helped!

There's a lot of gear and other buffs you can use to boost UMD to useful levels even as a cross-class skill, particularly if you aren't dump-stating CHA. That said, you're not obligated to do so; a pure cleric is plenty self-sufficient without being able to UMD arcane wands & scrolls.

Well... I have to learn better about this, because even like a rogue I fail UMD sometimes, but after looking for it on wiki, I agree with you, there is a lot of bonus to boost it... But in that case, being self-sufficient, what UMD is for? Invisibility, teleport, stone skin?

If your goal is simply to keep yourself alive as long as possible so you can keep your team alive, then Unyielding Sentinel is usually the way to go. You can Twist Consecration + Sacred Ground if you have enough Fate points.

Actually my goal was more about to make combat easier for my allies while keeping us alive... Because of this I thought mainly about buffing/debuffing and controlling the field, but like I said I'm learning the game and it's hard! LoL

What you intend is certainly doable, it's just a niche build which doesn't live up to a cleric's full potential, IMO. And I say that as someone who has made his fair share of niche cleric builds. Dedicated healers haven't been in vogue in a really long time. I could see this more for a hardcore-server build than the main game; a support toon which prioritizes survivability over all else.

I see... This past days I was thinking exactly about the hardcore server, I think this build fits better there, but sadly I'm not vip. I played the game the first time in 2009 or 2010. I remember vip at that time was not so appealing, then I chose to buy half orc (a race that I just love) and the adventure packs. I played for some months and came back last year, then I stopped for some months and came back again. =P I bought almost all adventure packs (except for secrets of the artificers, something with rage disciples, something with madness, elemental evil and haunted halls of eveningstar). Sometimes I think I should pay vip for all the stuff it has today (especially xp and move speed bonus), but I think it doesn't worth anymore, because I already have most of it can offer. The good thing about this is my packs are still there when I go and come back. =P Maybe it was the wrong choice back there, but I can't change it now. ^_^

[Jetrule]

For ease of leveling I would reorder my heroic feats. Maximize-Quicken-Empower these are the most important feats and for me are the first three I would grab. I would do this for any caster that has sla attacks whether you want to be mostly support or not. Later on you may be comfortable abandoning empower all together via a feat swap but it is golden early in leveling.

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

Thank you very much for helping, guys. It was a bad idea in the end, then I changed my mind. I TR'd her to human cleric again, I'm trying air domain only for heroic levels, then I will TR again and probably will try Axel's battle cleric build. Although, could you, please, take a look at my build?

Air domain heroic cleric
Cleric 20
Human


Stats
. . . . . . . .34pt . . Tome
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----
Strength. . . . .8. . . .+1
Dexterity . . . .8. . . .+2
Constitution. . 16. . . .+4
Intelligence. . 10
Wisdom. . . . . 18. . . .+2
Charisma. . . . 14. . . .+2. . .


Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spellcr . . .2 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Jump. . . 1. . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . . 8
UMD . . . 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Diplo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . 1
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .12. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3


Feats

.1. . . . : Maximize Spell
.1 Human. : Quicken Spell
.3. . . . : Empower Spell
.6. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
.9. . . . : Spell Focus: Evocation
12. . . . : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
15. . . . : Spell Penetration
18. . . . : Greater Spell Penetration
21 Epic . :
24 Epic . :
26 Destiny:
27 Epic . :
28 Destiny:
29 Destiny:
30 Epic . :
30 Legend :

.2 Cleric : Air Domain

.1 Deity. : Follower of: Aureon
.6 Deity. : Aureon's Instruction


Enhancements (80+1 AP)

Radiant Servant (41 AP)

• Healing Domain, Pacifism, Positive Energy Burst, Improved Empower Healing, Positive Energy Shield, Radiant Servant
  1. Extra Turning III, Bliss III, Altruism III
  2. Improved Turning I
  3. Intense Healing III, Wisdom
  4. Endless Turning I, Incredible Healing III, Wisdom
  5. Positive Energy Aura, Cure Focus

Divine Disciple (37 AP)

• Emissary: Light, Sacred Defense
  1. Nimbus of Light III, Spellpower: Universal III, Spell Critical: Universal, Spell Points III
  2. Spellpower: Universal III, Spell Critical: Universal
  3. Searing Light III, Spellpower: Universal III, Spell Critical: Universal, Wisdom
  4. Holy Smite III, Evocation DC, Spell Critical: Universal, Wisdom

Human (3 AP)

• Spell Power Boost
  1. Improved Recovery

I had some tomes bta on my shared bank, I read just before TRing.

[Livmo]

I can't remember if it was Axel or Strimtom's YouTube channel, but he hada great explanation for skipping the meta majic feats. I don't take them either. I will put this thought into the parking lot of my mind and if I ever come accros the video again I'll come back and post it here.

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

I can't remember if it was Axel or Strimtom's YouTube channel, but he hada great explanation for skipping the meta majic feats. I don't take them either. I will put this thought into the parking lot of my mind and if I ever come accros the video again I'll come back and post it here.

For a melee oriented character ok, but even for a dedicated caster?

[psykopeta]

For a melee oriented character ok, but even for a dedicated caster?

the lower your spellpower, the more important they are

ofc if you have lots of gear you can avoid em, but same way it's hard to believe a sorc without metas, same applies to caster/healer cleric unless you go instakiller, in which case you can drop em and only use divine punishment or slas for bosses

since you're prolly missing the wiz pl feat, then you already have the best feats, obviously when attacking try to use always sla first and heal with turn changes, if you are using only light and lightning spells, u can ignore spell penetration feats since these spells don't use spell penetration check (however implosion, command and soundburst do)

also for turning undead u don't need to invest much cha (you can hit "max useful" without maxing at toon creation), however gear and enhancements are gold (don't waste feats nor filigrees lol) keep in mind what you're aiming to is the enemy CR

[Livmo]

For a melee oriented character ok, but even for a dedicated caster?

Yes for a dedicated caster. Aside from cleric I play allot of wizards and sorcs. On occasion I may take Heighten or Quicken if If going to rock the disco ball, but tend to skip the meta maic feats on those classes as well.

Based on my play style I always take these feats for the most part while heroic:

Evocation
Greater Evocation
Necormancy
Great Necromancy
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration

IMO you can make a better caster by skipping the metas, but I'm crazy with a capital K spelled backwards.

Since you're going Wisdom, I recommend Mass Frog when you can get it on your healer.

I can lead kill count and survive much better that allot of folks with oodles of past lives. I tend to play 1st lifers for the challenge. That screen shot from the other thread only has 1 past life of druid:



I'm in Fatespinner to help our Kobold friends in CC

EDIT ~ I always max the Spellcraft Skill as well.

[ONIN_GIN_RYU]

Since you're going Wisdom, I recommend Mass Frog when you can get it on your healer.

Well, I don't intend to run epics with her now, but sure, if I change my mind, frogs will surely be on the list.

since you're prolly missing the wiz pl feat, then you already have the best feats, obviously when attacking try to use always sla first and heal with turn changes, if you are using only light and lightning spells, u can ignore spell penetration feats since these spells don't use spell penetration check (however implosion, command and soundburst do)

Right, I got it. In this case, which feats I could use instead of spell pen?

also for turning undead u don't need to invest much cha (you can hit "max useful" without maxing at toon creation), however gear and enhancements are gold (don't waste feats nor filigrees lol) keep in mind what you're aiming to is the enemy CR

Ok... feel a little ashamed now, extra turning was one of my feats on past life...