Best Cleric powers _PACKAGE_

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It was intended as a challenge, and requires you to use cheese or completely different tactics to succeed.

 

I used to rank Tempus highly but now I think the least of them, axe feats really aren't all that special, do the other 8 domains really struggle to obtain them? didn't think so.

1 feat fixes any cleric for axes if they have too (if not multi-classed) but nothing helps a Tempus cleric mitigate their spell lst.

Tempus domain has maybe the worst spell selection going, 13/18 powers are not specific to Tempus and include chaff like bless, magic stone and monster summons. Other domains also access the power words, not that having those once a day is all that great.

Overall it's the most lacking domain, not fit for power gaming and doesn't have a particularly fun lore style with how generic cleric their 'features' are. Truely the only unique thing they have over other domains is....Blood Rage.

18 possible powers and just one of them cannot be used by another cleric.

Tempus strength gets even more embarrassing when you realise that they get Champion strength domain slot at level 9 and it lasts 10 minutes per level rather than 9 rounds at this point.

 

What cleric would be the most powerful in a campaign that ended around lvl 12?

The reason I ask is because I've become interested in the Icewind Gate 2 mod, playing BG2 SoA in the IWD2 engine and it ends around that level. To enhance the challenge I thought about either trying to solo a cleric or to do a 2-3 man party.

I think even at low lvl, Dreadmaster of Bane would be best as solo but Ive only done 1 run in the past 15+ years and it was last summer and a solo sorc on normal difficulty.

 

level 11 is 6th level cleric spells so we'd be stuck at 1-6 in our domain spells too, if you do hit 12 we can even squeeze in a spare multiclass level

Tyrants dictim applies to will power saving spells (domain) which is all of them bar Power word: Silence with no save allowed
you could take this as a bonus as level 12 only nets us +3 Ability improvments. +3 wisdom is hard to net extra spell DC from.


As this is potentially solo I might also suggest Ilmater, you get both emotion hope and stoneskin, you won't have sorcerer or bard to provide them, absorbing 120 hitpoints of damage is huge in normal difficulty games and hope lasts 50 rounds.

These are not bad spells and only Ilmater domain gets them. worth considering.

We only cast these once per day but all cleric work equally in that regard.

 

Ilmater would be good for the con bonus as well, appreciate the suggestion.

What's your preference on race? I typically choose humans. What feats would be most important at these lvls?

 

humans have the leasts restrictions to multi-classing but we don't really have the levels for that kind of business.

1-12 levels gives us a standard 5 feats to play with, 1 extra human feat is 20% more.

Half-elf is immune to sleep/charm, getting charmed is a scary prospect in solo.

Dwarf is +2 con and +2 save vs spells, we probably will have to accept just getting hit by traps as we play so maybe this is a safer approach..? Enemy spells will be aimed at a lone target.


feats...

combat casting, by far this is a given. we can't cast Raise Dead on ourselves so we have to stay healed.

rapid shot, early combat slings behind summon monsters, animate dead for as long as those meat shields hold out. this gets us a 3rd shot per round. You might even give stoneskin to the animate dead for extra tanking.

discipline, more concentration checks

depending on mix-ins maybe a single axe feat

sub-vocal casting if silence is a big threat, maybe save this as a later pick incase we don't need it

 

Where would you want stays to start at, assuming we are human?

Would you focus on raising Wis at lvl up? The way the game is set up, we'd start at lvl 4 so we could start with a mix in.

What mix in would you do? I suppose monk would work for evasion, not sure if the Wis to AC is worth not wearing armor at low lvl.

Would you take weapon focus in slings to start?

The itemization is completely based off BG2, there are some good halberds early on as well as 2 handed swords. Also, a non paladin can wield the holy avenger and in bg2 it is a 2 handed sword and would be the only 2 handed +5 weapon available besides a +5 quarterstaff.

 

cleric monk cheaply adds our widom to AC and brings us the basic pip in axe feats. i'm assuming we can still throw some of them.

as for wisdom 16 is minimum or we'd lack the requirements of casting level 6 magic
maybe start with 14 wisdom or monk won't be adding much to our AC, by the time we earn level 6 magic we'll have earned it back again.


basic sling usage is fine, bulls strength, holy power, emotion hope is a lot of free + damage per hit

we might want an option for bows as arrows of dispelling might be super critical for some opponents and I don't remember sling bullets having that power in BG2 itemization.

Human gives us +1 feat so that could cover it, Insect Plague can halt spell casting but we won't get to use it often and the duration is on the short side.

hmm clerics have dispel magic so maybe ignore the bow and arrow dispel for now.

 

Would any melee feats like focus in halberds, cleave, dirty fighting, be worth it?

I'm thinking blind fight could be important in certain fights as well

 

Dirty fighting i considered but critical hits are going to be pretty rare.

weapon wise we can look at it this way, simple clubs, bludgeoning, axes = slashing, halberd is also piercing? so covers all three bases in case of resistances.

cleave also base needs power attack so do you want to use that, human is still 6 feats to keep in mind.

power attack is normally an automatic pick as at high levels BAB starts to lose absolute value compared to the paltry gains made by AC.

 

Good point, I may have to play the combat feats by ear. There is an amulet that prevented silence in bg2 and I believe iwg2 gives includes the same property so most likely sub vocal casting won't be needed.

In terms of tactics/spells, Im guessing the most effective way to play will be buffing up, doing ranged damage, using summons and hit and run tactics in melee.

Offensively, what spells do you think would be most effective?

 

you won't get firestorm so flamestrike would be the most traditional blasting spell, you won't really get much offensive magic, if the area was bigger it'd rival a fireball

greater command is the sleep spell, quick cast, wide area, 15 spell DC

cloak of fear can hold off a few melee attackers for some extra range shots

 

Thanks for all your help. One final point, I've also thought about attempting to solo the tactics4iwd2 mod, in a setting where we'd reach lvl 23, would you do any other mix ins?

 

not really a mod i know about

should do a post on iwgate about how everything goes

 

I definitely will, thanks again for all your help.