Thoughts on Classes: Cleric Edition

[New Willinium]

Thoughts on Classes: Cleric Edition


So this has been something on my mind for a while now as something that might be fun for this forum and create some good discussion about a subject SO vital to the game itself. . .The classes. We have a LOOOOT of classes in this game, not including the Prestige Classes which will likely just get rolled into one thread, with four variations to each of these classes to build our characters in different ways.


So today's subject? Today's subject is the absolute classical Cleric class and it's varying archetypes . The Cleric has four variations: The Base line Cleric, The Crusader, The Ecclesitheurge, and the Herald Caller.


Now let's start with the Cleric shall we? Now everybody knows the Cleric, they are the decent fighters that mainly exist to heal and buff your party, and in DnD and Neverwinter, explode undead enemies instantly with Turn Undead. Now sadly the Pathfinder Cleric does not have that ability but they more then make up for it with their access to two domains. Now the domains that the Cleric can gain access to is limited to just what deity they worship. They and all Cleric archetypes also have the ability to channel Positive or Negative energy to heal or damage those around them.


The domains are:Air, Animal, Artifice, Chaos, Charm ,Community, Darkness, Death, Destruction, Earth, Evil,Fire, Glory, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Liberation, Magic, Luck, Madness, Nobility, Plant, Protection, Repose, Rune, Strength, Sun, Travel, Trickery, War, Water, and Weather.

Now they all have their up and downsides.


Next up is the Crusader archetype that serves as a more martial Cleric that loses a Domain choice in favor of some more minor martial skills. They are decent but if you want to play a class like this just play a Paladin I think. Unless you are not a Lawful Good character then this will work I suppose.


Next is the Ecclesitheurge: Cleric's that abandon the use of armor and allowing their faith to protect them. What this means in practice is that they shall be extremely squishy but they do have *some* boons I will admit. From being able to prepare more of their Domain spells then normal and being able to target a ally with the "Blessing of the Faithful" ability that gives a +2 bonus to pretty much everything for a round. They are my least favorite of the archetypes in the game, sorry Tristian.


Finally there is the Herald Caller, The Herald Caller is basically the Summoner of the Cleric types, they lose a Domain choice in order to be able to change prepared spells to Summon Monster of the equivalent level on the fly, and as they level up their Summons proceed to get stronger and stronger. . . . .it's another alright class.

So that was the Cleric classes and archetypes and I thought that they were all pretty damned awesome, what about the rest of y'all? What do you think of this class and it's archetypes? Are a fan of one over the other? Do you think this is a good class to multi-class into? What are the positives and downsides of the class, and archetypes, in your opinion? What Domains do you like and dislike?


Personally I only really see the Cleric and Crusader classes as being viable for a PC.


Plus you get the added bonus of sometimes having the ability to have your choice of deity influence your dialogue with other NPCs. A good example of this is having Asmodeus changing your dialogue when you rescue Jhod.

[Eonwe]

Originally posted by Daidre:

Animate Dead at level 3 is imho one most overpowered spell in all game, and cleric gets access on lvl 5, also compatible with lesser rods. It makes Unfair into cakewalk and easily covers all tanking until ch4 at least.
With exp share off you can get it 2-3 hours into ch1.

That's very cheesy but also true. Animate dead is OP.

[CHAO$$$]

Originally posted by Daidre:

With exp share off you can get it 2-3 hours into ch1.

Xp share off is basically cheating. Everything is super op when you outlevel the entire content early on a solo character or with reduced party size in general.

[Daidre]

Not solo, 4 people party in the start of ch 1, skill XP sharing off is enough to easily hit lvl 5 on a char who really needs this.

[CHAO$$$]

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

Xp share off is basically cheating. Everything is super op when you outlevel the entire content early on a solo character or with reduced party size in general.

reposted for emphasis

[Daidre]

Not even reduced party size. I always run full party, 4 in beginning cause plot reasons and hoarding XP from skill checks is enough to end ch1 with ~30k exp and get lvl 20 at the start of Pitax.

[CHAO$$$]

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

Xp share off is cheating.

I dont think im being clear enough

[Daidre]

You are not) there is no difficulty option with "xp share" in its name.

[CHAO$$$]

Originally posted by Daidre:

You are not) there is no difficulty option with "xp share" in its name.

;)

[=[NK]= Col. Jack O'Neil]

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

Xp share off is cheating.

I dont think im being clear enough

100% agree!

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by haplok:

Chains of Light, Blade Barrier, Stormbolts, Mass Heal are all awesome high level spells. The first 2 are boss killers. The latter 2 easily solve some of the most annoying encounters in the game (hordes of ghosts).

Chains of Light is good, but it's available to a Wizard of equal level. Because Clerics usually split stats between melee and casting, they tend not to have the same kind of optimized save DCs that a wizard would, so the spell is less likely to work. Blade Barrier and Stormbolts are just inferior AOE options compared to Wizard spells.

You are never going to sacrifice a Wizard in order to have a Cleric, so the cleric's strength being redundant and weaker versions of Wizard spells doesn't make any sense. Mass Heal is good, in fact, Channel Energy is good for a lot of the game, but is a cleric's only value being a healbot, and is that even necessary?

[haplok]

Why would you split stats on a Cleric? To have a crippled half-fighter? Not worth it IMO.

Blade Barrier when you first get it at level 11 is the most damaging spell available, by far.
Stormbolts are one of the best nukes till the very end of the game. Pray tell, what Wizard spells are better then it?

[InEffect]

Cleric provides general all-in-one package of support and spells. While not mandatory clerics are hard to drop from the party. Lvl3 animate dead is not the least of reasons for that. It's not that cleric does anything better, but he covers a few areas at the same time and healing allows the party to go for longer. Cleric also perfectly covers the spot in a party that doesn't have the space for a full arcane caster

[The Infinity Sock]

Well the only time i use the ecclesitheurge class is when i am playing as a mystic theurge character

[Fayt]

Originally posted by haplok:

Why would you split stats on a Cleric? To have a crippled half-fighter? Not worth it IMO.

Blade Barrier when you first get it at level 11 is the most damaging spell available, by far.
Stormbolts are one of the best nukes till the very end of the game. Pray tell, what Wizard spells are better then it?

Grease, fireball, magic missile, haste, dragonkind 1, 2, and 3, sirocco (is not available to clerics), ...stormbolts, sunburst, and mirror image (since I forgot it)

[June]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.