Need some help... Badly

[CarpeNoctu]

I'm working on rolling a cleric. I've tried many times in the past, but I've never been able to play them very well, so I kept giving up. I've decided that I'm going to roll one to run with my fiancee and fully concentrate on heals and buffs with as little combat action as possible, concentrating on my ability to keep others alive and my own defenses.

Here's what I have planned:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 25 Lawful Good Half-Elf Male
(20 Cleric \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 352
Spell Points: 2081 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 7
Will: 23

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 25)
Strength              8                     8
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         14                    16
Intelligence          8                     8
Wisdom               18                    29
Charisma             16                    19

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 25)
Balance              -1                     4
Bluff                 3                     9
Concentration         2                     8
Diplomacy             3                     9
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle                3                     9
Heal                  4                    17
Hide                 -1                     4
Intimidate            3                     9
Jump                 -1                     4
Listen                4                    14
Move Silently        -1                     4
Open Lock            n/a                    n/a
Perform               n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                     4
Search               -1                     4
Spot                  4                    14
Swim                 -1                     4
Tumble               n/a                    n/a
Use Magic Device      n/a                   9

Level 1 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extra Turning
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Paladin


Level 2 (Cleric)


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell


Level 4 (Cleric)


Level 5 (Cleric)


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness


Level 7 (Cleric)


Level 8 (Cleric)


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


Level 10 (Cleric)


Level 11 (Cleric)


Level 12 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Mental Toughness


Level 13 (Cleric)


Level 14 (Cleric)


Level 15 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell


Level 16 (Cleric)


Level 17 (Cleric)


Level 18 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery


Level 19 (Cleric)


Level 20 (Cleric)


Level 21 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Mental Toughness


Level 22 (Cleric)


Level 23 (Cleric)


Level 24 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 25 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Intervention
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant I
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant II
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante II
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante III
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Heal I
Enhancement: Improved Heal II
Enhancement: Improved Heal III
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot III
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot IV
Enhancement: Cleric Charisma I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom III
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality II
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality III
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning I
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning II
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning III
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning IV
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Turning I

I need to know if there's anything I can improve here. Any feats I should drop in favor of other feats, or some I should change the order of... I'm also considering the possibility that it might be better to take 18 Cleric with 2 Ftr, Monk or Barb just to increase my defensive capabilities... Tower Shield, Wis Bonus to AC, HP, Extra feat (Shield Mastery perhaps?).

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Hobgoblin]

get rid of the mental toughness

take empower and maximize

take hieghten

perhaps either imp shield mastery or more toughness

hob

[Mubjon]

I personally try to take the folllowing feats by level 6 on my clerics. This is because the burst is just that awesome tearing through undead content.

Empower Healing
Maximize
quicken

After that must have feats

Toughness (need those hp to help give that cushion)


Those are all you need to be a decent healer in the game. That leaves you 3 feats, 2 epic feats to do with as you wish. If you are going to be a caster then you should take

SF:Evo/Necro (decide if you want to go with instant kill (necro) or implosion (evo))
Heighten (only take this if you are going to try and make the limited instant kills and CC spells (sound burst, comet fall) work for you)
Spell Pen (first life this helps a bit with either instant kills or implosion)

IF you want to go with a melee approach then your three feats should encompass

Power attack
IC: whatever weapon type you want to use here
last one your choice.

Epic feats would depend on what you want to do. If you go caster you can take greater spell focus and epic spell focus for your chosen schoool to help with the DC needed at end game. Melee you could take cleave, great cleave or even the shield mastery feats for extra PRR and Double strike.

Yes I know you are showing a caster build with your stat placement, but figured that I would give my views on a melee/healer type as well as the feats needed for caster/healer.

As far as splashing other classes, well as the cleric capstone is meh at best. I tend to splash 1 wizard and 1 fighter on my clerics. Or 2 fighter if I am going for a more melee focus build. The reason is feats, wizard will let me add one more meta magic feat to my character, and fighter will allow me to add up to 2 more melee feats. Meaning that I can fit in just about everything I listed above on one cleric and still have 17 levels of cleric to help with healing raids. I tend to post BYOH groups for all other content though as I want to have fun too and babysitting every quest gets old fast.

[ka0t1c1sm]

I second what Hob said. ^^^

Extend could be dropped as well, depending on your playstyle/preference. The only thing Extend is useful for, in my opinion, are short duration spells like Recitation or Divine Power. Your other buffs will last just fine in between shrines without it. When they changed Extend so it stopped effecting the duration of Blade Barriers, I dropped it like a bad habit.

[MnaSidhe]

Hi!

I've done a few cleric lives and my advice to you if you want to concentrate on healing and buffing would be:

Drop your CHA to 14 and raise your INT. Splash 1 level of Arti... free pet-lever puller... masters touch for Tower Shields (or whatever...) L1 mass cure light wounds spell (throwing potions)...

If you dont have arti... how about trying a cleric/rogue? It is do-able and can also do traps / locks and give you something else to do apart from heal and buff...

1) As already said... drop the Mental Toughnesses, take maximize and empower...

2) Drop the Spell point enhancements - the majority of your healing can/would/should be taken care of by the Radiant Servant thingies... and take the Divine Healing line... that can situationally work like a radiant servant aura... just at range! If you are mainly going to be duo-ing and trying to stay out of combat, then it could help the other person!

[CarpeNoctu]

Thanx, all... Interesting and very unexpected advice. I think I'll head to Lamannia and put some of this into action and see what I come up with. Having zero real experience playing a cleric, I have zero real clue how mine would be affected this way, but I'll certainly check it out.

[rayworks]

Drop the Listen and Heal skills. Drop UMD, unless you build for it. Increase Concentration and add in some Jump.

For feats, Maximize, Heighten and Empower. Spell Pen and Spell Focus good too. I would drop Extend and Extra Turning as well. You'll have plenty of turns without it.

[PNellesen]

Assuming you want to stay pure, I personally would drop CHA a little (maybe a lot) and bump STR to maybe 12 and then dex a bit - being enfeebled sucks, and Turn Undeads eventually regenerate. I usually only take 10 CHA on my clerics, and I very, very seldom run out of turns once I get to mid-levels. However, since you're going Half-Elf, you may want to take 13 CHA to get Pally Dilettante - the extra stacking boosts to saves are nice (though I usually take Fighter Dilettante because I like to swing the biggest greataxes I can find )

You'll find that, as a caster cleric, you can save way more SP in most normal questing with Crowd Control spells like Cometfall and Greater Command, Blade Barrier, and insta-kills like Destruction, Implosion, and Banishment, than you'll use just being a healbot. You're given a LOT of spells besides Cures/Heals for a reason, it pays to learn to use them. The previous advice about the various caster feats is solid.

As far as healing goes, I've found it's much easier to keep the party healed using almost nothing but Radiant Servant Burst/Aura if I'm standing in the thick of the action rather than standing away - you'll definitely want to fit Toughness in, then the racial Toughness enhancements Half-Elves get.

[Niwareka]

Assuming you want to stay pure, I personally would drop CHA a little (maybe a lot) and bump STR to maybe 12 and then dex a bit - being enfeebled sucks, and Turn Undeads eventually regenerate. ... snip ...

**** Crowd Control spells like Cometfall and Greater Command ***

You're given a LOT of spells besides Cures/Heals for a reason, it pays to learn to use them.

What he said. And Hob.

and in case you were browsing the builds in the forums, you'll find Healer/caster, or Healer/melee, but not Healer/Healer, because you've got to do something pretty silly to build a cleric that's poor at healing.

Me? I found melee stuff helpful when soloing, but just embarrassing in the company of real fighters. If your fiancée plans on any sort of half decent DPS, go Healer/caster.

Brunhildha.

[firemedium_jt]

I really want to go into more depth why you want to play a healbot. Please tell me more about your past experiences and why you want to just heal. It is ok to do this but I am sad to see it when a Divine can be so much more. So tell me about your issues in the past with Clerics??

A strong defensive weapon is the blade barrier. It surrounds you to protect u and friends. Mitigating incoming damage means helping the group kill stuff before it damages the group requiring heal spells. It is just try not to pull aggro, but healing yourself is easier than healing the others too. There are even better ways to build for this and the easiest way is a generalists that keeps it simple with healing and slightly more melee ability.

It is possible in the past you were a fine cleric with a good build and just grouped with idiots and newbie pugs that don't have a clue. So I am here for you to tell you to just have a thick skin. Clerics sometimes need someone to talk to, lol. Those that play them understand that. When I get reemed out for "letting someone die" or "melee is not your job and you should just heal" I just start side telling with the experienced players and we laugh about it in private as the nonsense on party chat continues. They tell me please don't drop group cause of this guy (cause they waited 30 minutes for a healer to show up too).

Even healbots do not need to stay pure. Your healing is 'that good' on a cleric. You lose nothing by adding a lvl of something to slightly boost melee. That is easy, and just a few key gear items like keen falchions and one or two melee feats is all like Power Attack (Min STR13). Maybe Improved Critical Slash also with STR12-16. +1 STR tomes are cheap at Auction. And the only gear you need to melee at heroic lvls are Divine Power items to click cause the spell wastes spell points.

Casting cc or spell pen is the only reason to stay pure. IMHO. And casting builds on a cleric with no past lives is a pain and can be hard to play. Crowd control is advanced and requires knowing what to cast on what.


But using Blade Barrier and Divine Punishment is always awesome on a divine. And that is the main reason for the advice on this thread so far.

A

_____________________________

As for the OP build yes that is all healing and nothing else. But take Toughness first and take Toughness enhancements early cause it is 30% more hit points at low level and you want to have that. In fact I don't know too many builds that don't do this nowadays. Why no one mentioned taking Toughness on this at level one is beyond me.

You won't even need Empower Healing on at low levels. You really take it for Radiant Servant 1 Burst requirement. Bursting is a great mass heal at low lvl. Just stack your cure spells below level 6 is cheaper. Have another best cure spell shortcut hotkeyed with Empower Healing to just emergency heal yourself with Empower healing Always on. You should have a min of 2 shortcuts for your best spells. One with max healing/damage and one for best efficiency for spell points 'at current level'.

__________________________________________

Playing a cleric is not hard if you set up your UI for it. It requires just some planning of your shortcut bars and hot keys around your WSAD movement keys. I would have no problem helping you will this. I have threads on this and love showing my setup off. Most divines I think are proud of the way we run our UI setups. You can do it all heal, cast and melee if you have the setup. You should excel at 2 out of the 3, and can with the right setup for you.

_________________________________________

P.S. Even my mages melee with Divine Power items and a keen falchion at low lvl. They have more HP than many melee newbie pugs! with Toughness feat. I don't even gimp their str cause enfeeblemenet sucks. I save their casting awesomeness for boss fights mostly.

Enfeeblement is a reason not to gimp STR even on a healbot.

__________________________________________________ ___________

What serve are you on?

[firemedium_jt]

I would like to recommend CLR19/WIZ1.

I would say splash FTR2, but I can tell you want a lot of spell points.

I would say drop CHR down and drop helf for Human. Simpler. More feats. Saves r important for Epic, but not so much on a Cleric with aura going off. I like some versatility on a divine.

Human is another feat and Human versatility. Wiz1 is another feat. 2 feats is a huge boost to your capability and diversity. Wiz1 is an easy splash to not lose spell points and get boost for INT items. Also give WIZ UMD for some nice items like staffs and the WIZWAR commendation staff that is the easiest Arcane Lore to get in the game to boost your BB and Divine Punishment and healing. http://ddowiki.com/page/Alarphon%27s_Staff


Wiz1 gives you Master's Touch spell to cast on your Keen Falchion for Proficiency. WIZ1 gives you Force Manipulation 1 that is a nice boost to your Blade Barrier. Dropping CHR allows you to take more STR min 13 or 12 with a tome for Power Attack. Divine Power item click (min lvl3-5) and that is your low lvl melee. For high lvl melee just get Improved Critical Slash feat (ml12). That is it for heroic melee. A nice heroic weapon is Paralyzer and I love my Falchion Paralyers. You can get through the Vale and Vale quests with that easy.

When your Aura is going off healing the melees in combat you want to swing something well. There is DR against some of your weapons, but no casting problems like spell penetration that negates damage It is why I favor melee over casting cleric on a first life. Bosses can not be insta killed.

Max out your Smiting lines for Divine Punishment. It is always your best boss weapon on any divine build. Cleric Smiting 4 and take 2 tiers of the Smiting critical lines minimum.

Extend is nice till level 6-9 then drop it or swap it. You can use Divine Power items hot keyed for melees.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

As for your enhancements. Take Scroll Mastery 1 or 2. Lots of changes below. Your high level healing will not be cures. It will be stacking Heal/Mass Heal/Heal scrolls. The Heal Scrolls are while your Heal is on cool down. At high level always have a minimum of 100 heal scrolls. I carry 200. Take donations for heal scrolls and mana pots. You can even ask as a Divine.


-gimp change = if it is low increase it. if it is high lower it or remove it.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 25 Lawful Good Half-Elf Male
(20 Cleric \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 352
Spell Points: 2081 
BAB: 15\15\20\25\25
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 7
Will: 23

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 25)
Strength              8                     8  -gimp change
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         14                    16
Intelligence          8                     8
Wisdom               18                    29
Charisma             16                    19

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 25)
Balance              -1                     4-gimp change
Bluff                 3                     9
Concentration         2                     8 -gimp change
Diplomacy             3                     9
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle                3                     9
Heal                  4                    17-gimp change
Hide                 -1                     4
Intimidate            3                     9
Jump                 -1                     4
Listen                4                    14
Move Silently        -1                     4
Open Lock            n/a                    n/a
Perform               n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                     4
Search               -1                     4
Spot                  4                    14-gimp change
Swim                 -1                     4
Tumble               n/a                    n/a-gimp change
Use Magic Device      n/a                   9-gimp change

Level 1 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extra Turning
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Paladin


Level 2 (Cleric)


Level 3 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell


Level 4 (Cleric)


Level 5 (Cleric)


Level 6 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness


Level 7 (Cleric)


Level 8 (Cleric)


Level 9 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell-gimp change


Level 10 (Cleric)


Level 11 (Cleric)


Level 12 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Mental Toughness


Level 13 (Cleric)


Level 14 (Cleric)


Level 15 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell


Level 16 (Cleric)


Level 17 (Cleric)


Level 18 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery


Level 19 (Cleric)


Level 20 (Cleric)


Level 21 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Mental Toughness


Level 22 (Cleric)


Level 23 (Cleric)


Level 24 (Cleric)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness-gimp change- take at lvl1


Level 25 (Cleric)
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Intervention
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant I
Enhancement: Cleric Radiant Servant II
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante II
Enhancement: Improved Paladin Dilettante III
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Heal I
Enhancement: Improved Heal II
Enhancement: Improved Heal III-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic I
Enhancement: Cleric Life Magic II
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot I
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot II
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot III-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Energy of the Zealot IV-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Charisma I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom I
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom II
Enhancement: Cleric Wisdom III
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality I
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality II-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Divine Vitality III-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning I
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning II
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning III-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Extra Turning IV-gimp change
Enhancement: Cleric Improved Turning I

Well I think I freed up feats and enhancements for some of the advice on here.


You will not always be in a balanced group. There could be 2 divines, so you would not want 2 healbots. There could be divines and casters and few melee, so you want to be able to do that. There could be melee and divines and no casters, so you want to be able to run like that too. With a Divine Generalist you can make up the difference. I do and I love it. That is mostly 6 man groups. Elite Raids are really the only time you have to run with a balanced group. Unbalanced groups is were Divines really shine and stand out. Time is money. Being able to go do a quest without waiting or the perfect group is what I am all about. And most groups wait for a healer to join sometimes more than 30 minutes, so being a divine saves me tons of time.

It is great that you are on here for advice especially as a divine. Post your new build.

[Kinerd]

Focusing 100% on healing is a perfectly valid path.

Every moment you focus on casting an offensive spell (or meleeing) is a moment you could have focused on healing. If you knew your party wouldn't need healing in that moment, great. If you were mistaken, not so great.

Additionally, as a cleric you are automatically behind the curve at both offensive casting and meleeing. Your PrE doesn't help you in either. You cannot match the sorcerer for direct damage or the wizard for feat room (hence DC and spell pen). Further exacerbating this is that your arsenal as a divine is just not as good as an arcane's...

-The arcane has two excellent no-save DoTs in Eladar's and Niac's. You have one in DP.
-The arcane has two excellent no-save nukes in Polar Ray and BDB. You have zero.
-The arcane has two excellent persistent AoEs in Web and Otto's Sphere. You have zero.
-The arcane has two AoE and four single target instant death spells that you don't. You have one and two that they don't.
-The arcane has two persistent AoE direct damage spells that don't require kiting (and therefore don't cripple the group's DPS). You have one that does (and therefore does).

One arena where you absolutely match the arcane is in negative leveling. You have Energy Drain and you have Symbol of Death. (Technically arcanes also have Enervation, but level 4 is so cramped for them that they lose too much by slotting it.) Those spells also have no save, and you can get 8 universal Spell Pen for the same number of feats that would give you 3 school-specific DC. Consequently, the #1 way for you to help the group (as opposed to help your boredom, which is by no means a minor concern) is a feat list like...

Toughness (to not die)
Empower Healing (to take RS)
Spell Pen, Greater Spell Pen, Epic Spell Pen (to negative level)
Maximize (to use Divine Punishment)
Quicken (to cast Mass Heal before the party would have died of old age anyway)

7 feats. Leaves you 3 as a human. You want Mental Toughness, save you a pot here and there? No problem. You want IMT for the same reason? No problem. Extra Turning for more bullets in your RS gun? No problem. You can safely forget Shield Mastery, that chain was modified to be more DPS- than defense- relevant in u14.

.

I mentioned above that healing is boring, and I will further add that it is socially unrewarding even though you will be pursued for it. This is, I think, widely accepted. Healing is incredibly easy to build and gear for; and I think the same acceptance for that declaration. The hard part of healing is paying attention. You will devote more attention in one quest as a healer than you will in a hundred as a melee and get the same performance, even though a large portion of that attention will have been in vain, because it turned out the party didn't need healing for those moments. The catch is that we can only predict the future so well, and therefore that your devoting your attention instead to melee/casting will inevitably result in healing failures: not every time, but some times.

To my knowledge no one has performed even a mechanical analysis of which is the superior path, but I can absolutely give you a spoiler alert to the sociological analysis: people aren't bringing you into the group for Greater Commands or your embarrassingly low falchion DPS. If they wanted CC, they would get an arcane. If they wanted melee DPS, they would get a melee. Your role is healing. It sucks. Someone's got to do it. Why do you think so many groups (pug and guild) are looking for a healer rather than anything else?

Much TL: DR; what was described above as a healer/healer build does not deserve the scorn so often directed towards it on these forums.

[firemedium_jt]

My melee generalist averages 600 and about 1500 max criticals at lvl 23 without the melee destinies are not maxed out yet. Heroic was about 100 to 180.

Paralyzer with cleaves was awesome for heroic on mobs and saved me tons and tons of spell points for bossesfights.

A small investment in melee saves you spell points for boss fights. You have to heal but you should not babysit.

[firemedium_jt]

Shucks I forgot to add in our DOT Divine Punishment.

On long boss fights triple stacked it does and additional 3500 to 4500 per 20 seconds

Or an extra 200 / sec



But if want to gimp that too you can cause the group prob waited 30 minutes for u to join.

With epic destinies your heroic gains are less important and the minimums for certain Epic Destiny enhancements are much more important like

Legendary dreadnought attacks req cleave like Momentum Swing and Lay waste
Fury of the wild
Exalted Angel
Spell focus feat for epic spell focus enhancements from Draconic or Magister
Etc.

[Starla70]

My head is spinning after reading this. If you want to play a healer that is good at healing, I would suggest the mental toughness. You are learning that so many that play these days are playing to solo, build quick, and be independent. It sounds like you are doing this to help in a party. Keep it pure cleric, it helps you so much in later levels if you are going to be the healer of your group. Extend is very useful in many spells. This again is if you are helping your party. Do not drop your charisma, as that figures into spells, and turn undead, both very useful to a party, not to mention your radiant servant numbers. Intelligence for a Cleric is basic and that is all you need. As you can see there are very few clerics who play to work in a party anymore. It is still my favorite class even with the DEV's screwing it up as they have.

[firemedium_jt]

[QUOTE=Starla70;495677]My head is spinning after reading this. If you want to play a healer that is good at healing/QUOTE]
Low lvl healing is your burst. Mid lvl your turns regenerate so u dont need a lot of turns.
All u need to heal is Clr17 and a good UI setup with ho t keys.

I rec cures and heals on keyboard 1.2.3.

I rec using the q.e.r.t.g.v.c.x.z keys for offensive spells and melee buffs.
Have a key to select yourself quickly to heal yourself.

You can keep the keyboard defaults by just adding Cntrl in front of them.

Click on party names then hit 1 or 2 or 3 depending on cure/heal cooldowns.

That is the healing lesson and some UI recs.

And again later most your healing at high levels is heal/mass heal/heal scroll. Burst healing and Auras help a lot too. I Like like empower For bursts.

[Starla70]

We all have our own opinions on this. I for one think one reason this is a multi-player game set up with in the idea of Dungeons and Dragons was because it lends itself to team work. The type of Clerics with heals for a party, in all it's forms, is rare in what DDO has become. That being the case does not mean that that type of cleric is not a good fit with players that want that type of game style. Which there are more then you seem to think. It also appears that few of them are in the forums, because they are playing with their friends and guild mates. Our guild tends to run mostly single class and enjoy the team work it offers. To each their own, we have several who left the guild because they want the fast paces zerg it all. The guild is more then happy with the teamwork idea. Not everyone wants the fast paced, to each their own idea. I just wish the Dev's would consider that before changing all the spell casters to make it easier to splash them all. Not all splashes have the benefit at the end game some think they do. Have several friends who have had to use hearts of wood to re do mistakes they made with splashes.

[boredman]

If you are investing on charisma (for more heal bursts), 2 levels of paladin for divine grace are very helpful, to keep you with decent saves against that awful elemental spells (2 levels of monk are also good if you have the resources to get a decent reflex save for evasion)

[Terrish]

What is wrong with a pure Cleric? It seems to me the splash a little of this and a little of that takes away from the overall power of the cleric's main purpose...to heal and take care of its party members. If you are in a party or raid, would you rather have the cleric take care of your curse, poison, disease and negative levels or stop and constantly drink pots? I would think the former and not the later. However, I realize the more that I read the forums that certain people would rather play a battle cleric or divine offensive cleric rather than a "healbot". Well then I ask this question... If you are going into a difficult quest or raid, would you rather the said battle cleric, divine offensive cleric or a pure "healbot"? To be putting points into spell focus and other things is taking away from making that cleric more effective as a healer. Splashing 1-3 levels of another class takes away from that clerics ability to be the better healer and hence weakens its main purpose. This has been proven to me many times over when I am doing a Shroud run with said battle clerics and Divine offensive clerics and they run through their spell points so quickly and have to constantly drink pots to keep healing. Having to do Mass Heal to keep the fighters going against "Harry". When I as said "Healbot" can keep the fighters going with simple Mass Cure light wounds and Mass Cure Moderate wounds. I do Mass Heal simply to keep the poison off of the fighters every 30-60 seconds. I however can make it through a normal or Hard Shroud without drinking pots. So again, I ask the question...If you are going into a difficult quest or raid, would you rather the said battle cleric, divine offensive cleric, splash cleric or a pure "healbot"?

Your survival may depend on it...

[firemedium_jt]

A cleric actually saves sp with some verstility, and yeah sometimes you have to stay out of harms way in certain cases but healing ability has nothing to do with pure. Neither does buffing.