Is a Cleric a necessity?

[Yhurgis]

My brother and I wish to play this game just him and I. We plan on only having one character for each of us. I will be a half elf jester while he is a dwarven tank. Besides the rarer potions, how else can I heal if I do not have a cleric? Or is there another means to keep us from starting over.

[Ancient Toaster]

You're not gonna like being that Jester but....

I would say a Cleric is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ necessity myself. They have so many useful spells. I would say they are more a necessity than a Mage/Wizard

I'm a huge fan of Cleric's though, in all formats of DnD. My main character is almost always a Cleric/Fighter Dwarf or Half-Orc.

My favorite class in 5th Edition tabletop is a Cleric of War. They are extremely powerful characters.

[Ancient Toaster]

You guys should both be Dwarves.

Have you be a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric and your brother be a Dwarven Defender.

That sounds awesome to me.

[Yhurgis]

Originally posted by AncientToaster:

You guys should both be Dwarves.

Have you be a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric and your brother be a Dwarven Defender.

That sounds awesome to me.

Not a bad idea tbh haha. That or I can do an orc brothers thing lol. Will update you. I also added you if that's alright, would be nice to be able to ask you a question or two every now and then if you're fine with that.

[Ancient Toaster]

No problem, I accepted. Feel free to ask away. I'm not an "expert" at this game but I probably know enough to help at several things.

[fauxpas]

A priest of some sort us HIGHLY recommended whether that comes as a cleric, druid, or a multiclassed character.

[Yhurgis]

Originally posted by fauxpas:

A priest of some sort us HIGHLY recommended whether that comes as a cleric, druid, or a multiclassed character.

Good to know. I didn't know that druids could heal wounds though. That's interesting.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

that's pretty much all they can do...at least until late game/BG2. (which is bad because healing is worthless. It takes too long to cast barely heals 1 attack worth of damage, and because that's all they can do, they aren't preventing you from taking damage in the first place like a Cleric or mage can).

Clerics are substantially better and a much larger range of spells to play around with.


once you get to the BG2 era they finally get a few spells that aren't completely worthless but still pretty situational, while clerics continue to progress as nigh unstoppable gods and mages become literal unstoppable gods.



which wouldn't be that bad if the hybrid nature of druids hadn't been completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ over, similar to how bards got shafted (but at least they're arcane casters which makes better than non-arcane casters...even as casters druids are pretty sorry since most of their low level spells are pretty crap, they completely lack their animal companions (except Faldorn), and when they do finally get shapeshifting it's pretty much obsolete 2 levels before and carries none of the versatility and value it does in PnP)

[Ryu Oki]

Useful, but not necessary. As was stated, druids can heal (most the time I use Jahera only as my primary healer) and get decently powerful by end game, especially in BG2. It would be highly beneficial for you and your brother to play a multiclassed characters, such as a fighter/cleric and mage/cleric for the simple reason that in BG2 there is an item called "Robe of Vecna" that pretty much makes nearly every spell almost insta cast. And a mage/cleric would make immense use of this item. At least this way you have spells to back you up in case you run out of potions.

Also don't forget that depending on how you play, your character receives some bonus spells that aren't class related. If you play good for the most part the first two spells will be cure light wounds (if your evil they would likely be lvl 1 Larlochs) and those are instant cast.

By BG2 though my main character is generally a fighter/mage/thief and pretty much stands alone against almost everything in the sequel. Only when fighting major bosses (like liches and things) does this character need the rest of the party. I only need to hide in shadows, run up to an enemy and back stab (usually killing it in one shot). Run away around a corner where any other enemies can't see me anymore and hide in shadows again. Rinse repeat till everything is dead. If you cannot hide in shadows for what ever reason, as a mage you can just cast invis and it will do the same thing.

Another option for making a stand alone type character is to make it a fighter off the bat and get it to lvl 6 where you can have 4 proficiencies put into a specific weapon to master it for all bonuses, then select dual class. You will lose all benefits of the original fighter till your new class reaches the previous' level. At that point both are available. You just can't progress fighter anymore. But going this route gives you more weapon proficiencies, so you deal more damage. Also keep in mind, what ever class you want to dual over to, you must meet the stat requirements. So if you wanted to dual to a cleric and have max weapon proficiencies of the fighter, you need to make sure you got at least the minimum wisdom requirement met.

You have options, lots of them. These are just 2 of the ones I like to utilize.

[Yhurgis]

Originally posted by Ryu Oki:

Useful, but not necessary. As was stated, druids can heal (most the time I use Jahera only as my primary healer) and get decently powerful by end game, especially in BG2. It would be highly beneficial for you and your brother to play a multiclassed characters, such as a fighter/cleric and mage/cleric for the simple reason that in BG2 there is an item called "Robe of Vecna" that pretty much makes nearly every spell almost insta cast. And a mage/cleric would make immense use of this item. At least this way you have spells to back you up in case you run out of potions.

Also don't forget that depending on how you play, your character receives some bonus spells that aren't class related. If you play good for the most part the first two spells will be cure light wounds (if your evil they would likely be lvl 1 Larlochs) and those are instant cast.

By BG2 though my main character is generally a fighter/mage/thief and pretty much stands alone against almost everything in the sequel. Only when fighting major bosses (like liches and things) does this character need the rest of the party. I only need to hide in shadows, run up to an enemy and back stab (usually killing it in one shot). Run away around a corner where any other enemies can't see me anymore and hide in shadows again. Rinse repeat till everything is dead. If you cannot hide in shadows for what ever reason, as a mage you can just cast invis and it will do the same thing.

Another option for making a stand alone type character is to make it a fighter off the bat and get it to lvl 6 where you can have 4 proficiencies put into a specific weapon to master it for all bonuses, then select dual class. You will lose all benefits of the original fighter till your new class reaches the previous' level. At that point both are available. You just can't progress fighter anymore. But going this route gives you more weapon proficiencies, so you deal more damage. Also keep in mind, what ever class you want to dual over to, you must meet the stat requirements. So if you wanted to dual to a cleric and have max weapon proficiencies of the fighter, you need to make sure you got at least the minimum wisdom requirement met.

You have options, lots of them. These are just 2 of the ones I like to utilize.

Wow, thank you so very much for your input! I would definitely love to have a standalone playthrough in the future. Surely after I have completed my first playthrough haha. Will keep you tip in mind for when I do so!!

[Yhurgis]

Originally posted by kaiyl_kariashi:

that's pretty much all they can do...at least until late game/BG2. (which is bad because healing is worthless. It takes too long to cast barely heals 1 attack worth of damage, and because that's all they can do, they aren't preventing you from taking damage in the first place like a Cleric or mage can).

Clerics are substantially better and a much larger range of spells to play around with.


once you get to the BG2 era they finally get a few spells that aren't completely worthless but still pretty situational, while clerics continue to progress as nigh unstoppable gods and mages become literal unstoppable gods.



which wouldn't be that bad if the hybrid nature of druids hadn't been completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ over, similar to how bards got shafted (but at least they're arcane casters which makes better than non-arcane casters...even as casters druids are pretty sorry since most of their low level spells are pretty crap, they completely lack their animal companions (except Faldorn), and when they do finally get shapeshifting it's pretty much obsolete 2 levels before and carries none of the versatility and value it does in PnP)

Sounds like a cleric is only worth it if you are a fighter/cleric, which was the idea I already had ingrained into my mind. I do think mages are a better choice for standalone playthroughs haha so long as you have proficiencies in range weapons or something like that.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

Nah clerics are great stand alone.


druids are the ones who aren't worth crap unless you mix them with something else or take Avenger/Shapeshifter to try and fix the short-comings of how the base druid was adapted.

[Ryu Oki]

Druids are pretty good NOW. But this game came out during 2nd edition rules. For those that haven't actually played the REAL D&D game, you won't know much about the differences. BG, BG2 and IWD were all based off 2nd edition rules. IWD2 on the other hand was 3rd edition.

But if you think outside the box, and use a rogue to scout things out, you can actually make pretty good use of druids spells. Even the low ones. Many unfortunately cannot think outside the box and only see the spells at face value. Doom for instance when coupled with a few other spells actually allow you to cast spells like magic missle on beasts like dragons. You just got to use the right spells in the right order and hope they stick. Saving throws are a b!tch.

[Ryu Oki]

....wtf.... BG 2 with no space between the G and 2 with a space between it and and is considered a bad word warranting censorship? Seriously? But I can replace letters with symbols and it doesn't get censored? Bah... oh well. Lifes a b!tch and then you get censored.....

[voehringer_nitron]

It's about another site that sells games/keys. It can't parse the difference and considers it an ad for that site.

[wendigo211]

I'd say Druids are quite a bit better than Clerics in BG.

• They can get 5th level spells in BG, thanks to their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up XP table.
  
• They have lightning spells and insect spells that Clerics don't have
  
• More defensive buffs than a cleric (barkskin, ironskins)
  
• Thanks to their proficiencies they can use daggers and scimitars so they can get 4 APR by dual wielding a throwing dagger in their main hand and belm in their offhand, clerics cannot use any of the multiattack weapons. Granted this is a BG 2 perk, but IIRC there is a throwing knife in SoD they can use as a melee weapon.

On the downside:

• They don't have Holy Smite or Unholy Blight
  
• Fewer offensive buffs than a Cleric
  
• Their hold spells are a bit more restrictive than a Cleric
  
• No metal armor (although this isn't a dual classing restriction)
  
• You need a 17 charisma and wisdom to dual class to them

I'll agree that they get a lot worse in BG2, but I'll take a Druid over a Cleric for BG.