Best Cleric powers _PACKAGE_

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The other thread has people voting for the best special power granted to a given cleric.
I believe that this is flawed, since you don't pick the cleric special powers, you click an entire package of powers.

So, I'd like to make a counter-poll for the best overall package, when you consider all the special powers granted to a cleric of a given deity, including the domain spells that no other cleric gets.
You can reference information on the various domains with their spells and powers at these two links:
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/orders_domains_other.php#cleric

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/clerics.php

Sorry, I tried to put the info in the poll, but SP's 350 character limit wouldn't let me.

 

For me, Lathander wins, barely squeaking by Tempus. In fact, I usually take one of each.

 

Dreadmasters, as long as the role of that character is to actually USE most of their offensive spells. +1 or 2 DC all around (early Chapter Five) and +1 extra for Will = insane. For battleclerics I'd say Tempus, although Ilmater (of all things) has a very usable mid-range selection of domain spells.

 

Stormlords. These offensive casting monsters get the best of the Druid spells as well as being the most dedicated domain list to pure damage. It's almost like having another wizard in the party only they tank with the best of them and keep the rest of your party alive. Plus they don't have to be evil.

 

My top three:

1. Dreadmaster -- Dominates all
2. Morninglord -- Fire, I send you to burn...
3. Battleguard -- Tankzilla.

It ain't an imaginative list, but IWD2 is pretty formulaic when it comes to what you need from your characters, and these three are the top performers.

 

IIRC there was a thread on these boards where it was discovered that the Dreadmaster bonuses didn't work. Is this not the case?

 

I recall they concluded that the penalty to will saves only worked on domain spells rather than the "normal" spells cast by the cleric.

I also believe that it was actually in the other thread with the poll on the best individual power.
Posts #40 and #41
http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showpost.php?p=666774&postcount=40
http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showpost.php?p=666776&postcount=41

 

They work, but only for their domain spells. Dreadmasters' regular casting is with normal DC's (though they get +2 WIS after gaining Bane's favor, so get +1 DC to all spells per game anyway).

I like Stormlord spells most; it's really fun to gain Tremor at level 13.

 

I am soloing a Tiefling Cleric of Mask currently. Rog1/Cleric X. Awesome character. Think Erevis Cale...

 

I like Ohgma.

1 - Eagle's Splendor helps my sorceror.

2 - Charm Person is not great but decent on low will enemies.

3 - Dispel Magic so that she can full her normal slots with summon undead.

4 - Malison... I am taking a sorceror so my sorceror can't fit that in her spell picks... Malison is great against a boss.

5 - Power Word Silent... no save no spell resistance. Almost awesome, but only lasts 2 rounds... Still it can save your ass.

6 - Power Word Stun... Very good against low HP enemies such as mages.


That's what I have ^^ so far...

Later fun is symbol of hopelessness (7th level) power word kill (8th level), and executioner's eyes (9th level)


The bonus identify is good because my mage is a sorceror and she doesn't have enough spell slots to pick identify. So identify is good for those items your arcane knowledge cannot identify.

 

I approve of the initiative. The old poll thread split up each advantage, and overlooked stuff like quest bonuses, multiclassing options and spontaneous casting alignments. It was a mess.

I vote for Bane:
Quest bonus to WIS,
Spontaneous healing if Lawful Neutral,
Powerful enchantments easily aumented with Spell Focus,
Useful talking skills bonuses (mix-in for a bard?),
but keep in mind that the Tyrant's Dictum +1 only applies to its domain spells, not the regular ones.


overall I love it.
Runners up would be:
Lathander: Spell Focus Evocation is easy to get, but it's a real pain to get the 10 points in Spirit of Flame, unless you're human.
Ilmater: great boost with SF: Necromancy.
Tempus: Axe feats, but not much offensive spellcasting domain spells. mostly buffs, though that is the Cleric's best purpose after all.
Talos: with SF: Transmutation of course, though it suffers the same issue with Scion of Storms as Lathander does with Spirit of Flame.

 

On a side note, what do you think of the packages from the Cleric Domains mod that adds more cleric choices? Basically a god for each Demi-human base race. You have to remove current gods to add these as nine options is still the max number of options.

Elf - Corellon
Dwarf - Moradin
Gnome - Garl Glittergold
Halfling - Yondolla???
Orc - Gruumsh
Drow - Lloth

 

It took a couple of tries, but I figured it out. You had to edit a file in Notepad or some other text editor after installing the mod, removing the gods you wanted to discard and replacing them with your new choices. The same with the subraces mod, which I currently utilize today. Sun elf and Wood elf options were added. Sun elf had +2 Int instead of Dex for example. Otherwise it is just a Moon Elf.

 

Tempus gets powerword stun at 8th level.
Ohgma gets """"" at 6th level!!!

Enough said! Why is tempus such a tank? Axe deals 1d8 (20 x3) whereas Mace deals 1d8 (20 x2)... weapon focus in Axe gives +1 AB..
So in return for worse domain spells tempus gets x3 crits and +1 AB? As others have said since you can rest all the time you won't use the tempus strength power too often particularly since you can easily bull's strength all of the parties tanks to make Tempus strength redundant.


At 8th level when tempus gets power word stun (oghma gets stun at 6th level hehe) Ohgma gets power word KILL

When Tempus finally gets power word KILL ohgma is getting: executioners eyes and WAIL OF THE BANSHEE

Enough said. Tempus is a marginally better tank (1 AB and crit x3 instead of x2) But Ohgma kicks its ass quite clearly in domain spells. Please. Any domain that gives monster summoning spells as its domain is automatically sketchy.

Cleric of Tempus/monk? Sorry you can't be lawful..

Also Tempus gets 'married' to axes. Oghma can wield the best simple weapon found. For example early on Oghma can wield mace +1 1d6 fire while Tempus is wielding +1 Battle axe (from Trugnak).

So here is my thinking...

Bane is the best (or one) due to +2 wisdom. Yet enchantment spells demand 2 feats and some of the enemies are not vulnerable to mind attacks. But +2 wisdom is awesome.

Talos and Lathander are nukers as clerics. That is awesome, but other clerics can take flamestrike for 15 d6 damage and since you rest a lot it might not make much difference that you have a lightning bolt (talos) or aganazers scorcher (lathander) in the back pocket.

Mask is actually better for tanking than Tempus due to the illusion spells. Tempus axes feats doesn't make it a better TANK it makes it a better damage dealer which is not a specialty of non-caster clerics.

Oghma has ridiculous domain spells. I mean come on.. they get power word stun at 6th level instead of 8th. And they take the best Wizard 9th level spells: power word kill (at 8th!!), wail of banshee (9th) and executioners eyes (9th)..

Become informed http://www.gamebanshee.com/icewinddaleii/clericdomainspells.php

 

You're taking just one aspect of gameplay into account: The once-per-day casting of a domain spell. Even high-level spells make little difference against powerful/resistant monsters.
Clerics of Oghma can't even make use of the first advantageous spell in your list until level 11, while Axe feats are there from the start. It doesn't prevent a Battleguard from picking up a Fire Mace if the selection of axes is crummy for a while...
Clerics' best function is buffing spells, often making level1-4 spells more important than the couple of high level spells they possess. I prefer to let mages specialize in casting offensive spells, anyway.

 

I think I made my point. Ohgma gets the best domain spells relative to any caster imho.

Receiving axe feats certainly makes you married to axe. You can still use a mace, but it wastes the axe weapon focus. I think you understand this.

So the difference between a cleric of oghma and tempus is the different domain spells and the axe feats. Personally I would take the oghma domain spells before +1 AB x3 crit of tempus. Oghmas domain spells are insane compared to tempus who actually has Monster Summoning (horrible trash) spells as some of its domain pics.

1 AB on axes (only) doesn't begin to make up for the domain spells. This is augmented by the fact that you can rest constantly so powerful domain spells get cast all the time. If you could rest only once every chapter then ohgma would be less used.

But as it stands I have to say oghma is best due to the best domain spells. Domain spells are very important because you can rest so much. Bane is also obviously good with the +2 wis..

Oh and the first 10 levels of oghma may or may not be good.

1 eagles splender (2nd level spell) = good for sorceror getting +1-3 DCs (said enough)
2 charm person... decent disabler
3 dispel magic (for healing disabled casters etc)
4 malison (awesome for bombardiering and single target damage)
5 power word silence or mass command

Those (above) are all competitive with any clerics list

 

Eh, my half-orc Battleguard with 20 STR using a two-handed masterwork axe has a 10-21 damage range (crit 20 x3). My 18 STR Aasimar Lathandarite just picked up Flaming Star+1 and now has a damage range of 7-19 (crit 20 x2). The Battleguard consistently outpaces any character for overall weapon damage output.

Some of this comes down to play style. For instance, I try not to rest more than once on any map. So, Oghma's domain spells, while nice, don't appeal to me quite as much.

 

For using Axes, the bonus 2 feats gives a cleric would be +5AB, since the 1st feat protects against nonproficiency penalty. There are great axes in this game, though they might not appear straight away.

Oghma has a good spell selection, but dosn't really have a dominant focus or element to augment said spells. I like Bane, Lathander and Ilmater, because they can be augmented with Spell Focus: Enchantment, Evocation or Necromancy, respectively. The spells can become more effective this way.

Battleguards suit other people's playstyle more than my own. I eventually mix in a single warrior-type class, which grants martial weapon proficiency, making the Axe feats almost redundant (as you say just +1AB). I'll happily equip simple or powerful non-proficient weapons until the time is right for a mix-in. Tempuran alignments also disallow Paladin as mix-in, ruling oput the option of bagging some stat points as a quest reward along the way...

For a single class cleric, 2 martial weapon feats are very useful. Tempus domain spells might not be as impressive, but they're hardly all bad.

Looking at the domain spalls, power words and symbols are the great ones, many of which offer no saving throw. But like so many spells without saving throw, their effects aren't as powerful as saving throw spells. Oghma's level 3 is a waste: rogus can detect traps for free, and Dispel Magic is a dangerous spell when your party uses a lot of buffs, like in Icewind Dale 2.

My favourite, Bane, gets to apply its Tyrant's Dictum and/or SF: Enchantment to nearly every domain spell level. It becomes a very effective caster with a high DC; strong spells beating enemy will saves rather than limited power-words disallowing saves.