Help with Cleric build

[Legacy_Odd Hermit]

               Had a strange urge to play an old DnD RPG and chose NWN since it's resolution actually goes high enough for my computer unlike older ones.

Anyway, wanting to play a melee heavy cleric type this time around - I've generally played mages almost exclusively so I'm a little lost.

Was thinking -
Fighter 4 - Extra feats+martial weapons
Rogue 3 - Extra skills + evasion
Cleric X - Domains maybe War and Trickery(to compliment 3 rogue levels)?

Would the levels of fighter/rogue be more of a hindrance to my caster level? Would I be better off with a prestige class then fighter/rogue?
I pretty much want to be slaughtering everything in my path, while still having a decent selection of spells for utility.

Also is there any way to rebuild your character without starting a new game to correct mistakes or try different things? I seem to recall NWN having this but maybe it was NWN2?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_avado]

               The BEST cleric build for "slaughtering" is cleric26/bard4/rdd10, with dev crit.  If you want to go slaughter BUT have dev crit as a weapon against you (ex monsters have it), then maybe, cleric26/bard3/pm10 is slightly better (not as much str, but immune to crits).



while nwn is "old" it is NOT old.  The community is still quite active.  



The stats for a melee heavy cleric should be 19 or 20 MAX (before buffs) widsom.  26 would be the very least i would consider for str (before buffs).



The feats that you MUST have: weapon focus (epic weapon foc), extend spell.  IF you go dev crit, you need power attack, cleave, gr cleave and imp crit.  



The challenge I have with your idea of ftr4 is, you get +2 damage, so? You would need epic ws, which means either an expert choice of feats (very doable) or taking more fighter.



Rogue and bard are the same!  You are taking them for skills (tumble and UMD mostly).  The 2d6 damage from sneaks.. wow '>



http://nwn.bioware.c...305860&gid=8061



here go read this.  I did it up on clerics (melee specific) to help others a while ago.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

Odd Hermit wrote...

Anyway, wanting to play a melee heavy cleric type this time around - I've generally played mages almost exclusively so I'm a little lost.

My bean counting expertise is a liability so I will limit my build comments to general questions/suggestions, as:

Was thinking -
Fighter 4 - Extra feats+martial weapons
Rogue 3 - Extra skillsﾃつ + evasion
Cleric X - Domains maybe War and Trickery(to compliment 3 rogue levels)?

Is this supposed to be a pre-epic spread? ﾃつ If so, try to keep your classes in groups of 4 (i.e. bump rogue to 4). ﾃつ Am assuming you are using rogue for skill dumps and perhaps UD? ﾃつ Chosen domains seem decent enough. ﾃつ I prefer plant myself or travel myself.

Would the levels of fighter/rogue be more of a hindrance to my caster level?

If you are planning to be a melee cleric, you need not be concerned about spell DC since they are primarily buffs. In that case, you'll want to mutli with a melee class that can be enhanced by the buffs. ﾃつ Fighter is fine but you will probably want more than 4 levels to get the better feats in epic (if you plan to play into epic).

Would I be better off with a prestige class then fighter/rogue?

Only if you mind the likely XP penalty possibilities with ftr/rog or just prefer one of the prestige yourself.

I suggest looking over the cleric spell list and deciding which spells are the most important for your melee version, then set the minimum levels of cleric to that number. Consider that step 1. ﾃつ The rest depends on how you intend to play it. Dual-wield? ﾃつ Stealthy? ﾃつ Trapper? ﾃつ Big blade?

Also is there any way to rebuild your character without starting a new game to correct mistakes or try different things? I seem to recall NWNﾃつ having this but maybe it was NWN2?

You can use the console to de-level if you like. ﾃつ But take note that it tends to screw things up a bit, like the henchman level and I seem to remember reading about a few other idiosyncrasies that can crop up.

If you have Excel loaded, the easiest way to pre-build a character is by using Kamiryn's CBC. ﾃつ It will calculate all the stats automatically. ﾃつ Very handy.

You may also find the New character search helpful if this is intended to be an epic character.


edit: ahh good! avado showed up to ninja the slow poke.

btw, avado... why so many levels of cleric for melee? ﾃつ spell duration? ﾃつ slots? just curious. ﾃつ I would have thought building bard song/curse song up a bit would make it stronger yet. ﾃつ 
               
               

               

                     Modifiﾃδｩ par HipMaestro, 16 aoﾃδｻt 2010 - 03:17 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_avado]

               

HipMaestro wrote...
edit: ahh good! avado showed up to ninja the slow poke.

btw, avado... why so many levels of cleric for melee?  spell duration?  slots? just curious.  I would have thought building bard song/curse song up a bit would make it stronger yet.  

Sometimes i do use the Travel domain!!  (for those who dont get it: HASTE spell)

Cleric is the most over powered class in the game, bare none.  The builds i mentioned were done by Mith a few years ago and no one has been able to come close (in vanilla).  It is for duration and dispel reasons.  Bardsong?  You have a charisma of 8, no bard songs! 

cleric/ftr/rog is OK, but it has no excitement to it.  "oh, a 3 base class build.. wow".  Even going cleric/ftr with ONE SD lvl for HIPS is cool (though id have to think about it for skill dumps).  Nothing like hiding in FUll plate and tower shield 

http://home.comcast....uild247143.html
This is the PM version.

http://home.comcast....uild243768.html
Blood and faith!  Somehow i remember it with Dev crit..  LOL  Just look at the 2 if you want dev crit and mix and match with requisite dev crit feats.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shia Luck]

               

Odd Hermit wrote...

Had a strange urge to play an old DnD RPG and chose NWN since it's resolution actually goes high enough for my computer unlike older ones.

Anyway, wanting to play a melee heavy cleric type this time around - I've generally played mages almost exclusively so I'm a little lost.

Was thinking -
Fighter 4 - Extra feats+martial weapons
Rogue 3 - Extra skills + evasion
Cleric X - Domains maybe War and Trickery(to compliment 3 rogue levels)?

Lots of ways to have a good cleric, overpowered as they are .  As Avado said ... 19 wis and rest into STR is the way to go.

Trickery is good for improved invisibility.
You might want to consider plant,, especially if you are going to play a module with standard items. It'll be worth 5 AC if your amulet is a wisdom one.
Strength gets you divine power at an extra level which for a melee cleric is very useful. Now you have lvl3 divine power, lvl 4 extended DP and lvl5 extended DP.
If the module has no permahaste items then travel is very useful.

Would the levels of fighter/rogue be more of a hindrance to my caster level?

With a melee cleric you need to keep your caster level relatively high so you don't get your buffs dispelled. Ultimately this means 24+ lvls @ lvl40. So it depends on whether the environment is likely to dispell you or not.

Would I be better off with a prestige class then fighter/rogue?
I pretty much want to be slaughtering everything in my path, while still having a decent selection of spells for utility.

Hard to beat cleric/rdd/bard. Mine is Cl29/B1/Rdd10 but the one Avado suggested is much more playable.

Also is there any way to rebuild your character without starting a new game to correct mistakes or try different things? I seem to recall NWN having this but maybe it was NWN2?

Lots of ways but if you have taken RDD levels and then delevel you don't lose your ability boosts properly so remember to fix that as well. 31 & 32 (using 22) & 27 from Add-ons & Tips from the NWN Community  will all do it. 31 is easiest.

Have fun :happy:
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Odd Hermit]

               Thanks guys, I think I will try the Bard/RDD style Cleric. Main reason I was taking rogue was for UMD anyway.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Genisys]

               The greatest problem with cleric, when you add a fighting class to it, is that, it takes away from the build's spell power, UNLESS, you play something like an Archer, which can use Zen Archery, then of course, you'd obviously want to play bard & Arcane Archer..  The AB on a cleric has never been great, unless it's buffed to the sky (which can take a long time), and then one simple dispel and they are standing there like a wet cat at your door.. Looking Silly...

28 Cleric / 2 Bard / 10 RDD is a decent build...

24 Cleric / 2 Bard / 14 AA is a nice build...  (Buffing an AA is Uber Fun)

30 Cleric / 10 Champion of Torm is a nice build too.. (High Saves & More Feats)

30 Cleric / 9 Ranger / 1 Monk is a good build too.. (Dual Kama Welding is uber fun)

Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy cleric...
               
               

               

                     Modifiﾃδｩ par Genisys, 16 aoﾃδｻt 2010 - 05:03 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_avado]

               

Genisys wrote...

The greatest problem with cleric, when you add a fighting class to it, is that, it takes away from the build's spell power, UNLESS, you play something like an Archer, which can use Zen Archery, then of course, you'd obviously want to play bard & Arcane Archer.. The AB on a cleric has never been great, unless it's buffed to the sky (which can take a long time), and then one simple dispel and they are standing there like a wet cat at your door.. Looking Silly...

28 Cleric / 2 Bard / 10 RDD is a decent build...

24 Cleric / 2 Bard / 14 AA is a nice build... (Buffing an AA is Uber Fun)

30 Cleric / 10 Champion of Torm is a nice build too.. (High Saves & More Feats)

30 Cleric / 9 Ranger / 1 Monk is a good build too.. (Dual Kama Welding is uber fun)

Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy cleric...

Your AB comment is so far off that it actually hurts to read it!  DO you realize that with ONE spell, not buffing to the sky, he has the SAME ab as a fighter of the same level?  That is ONE spell, not however many you seem to think he has to do.   The rest of the buffs are LONG DURATION, which means cast once and forget it (most of them that is). 

The dispel "concern" is so far over rated it makes me sick!  I played PRC rules with clerics.  WHat does that mean?  Well, Epic Mage armor is available to clerics, druids, etc, as is warding and ALL epic spells.  In PRC, they were implemented, NOT as epics but as LV 10 spells, meaning they could be dispelled.  With my lv 40 cleric variant (40 caster lvls and DC in the GODLY stage) i got dispelled and lost EMA.  So what?  EMA in PRC is +20 ARMOR AC, not the 5/5/5/5 it is in vanilla.  Imagine ANY class suddenly down 20 AC and STILL surviving?  Clerics do just fine.   

And if, by some chance, the dispel hurts your cleric, then in all honesty, you have no idea how to use clerics and deserve to die! 

For several years the only forum i checked in with was Epic Character Builders, leaving the General forums alone all to gether.  It is silly comments like this, based on a friend of a friend of someone who said something one time, that make me dread the generals.  I just wish people would FIRST get the knowledge, THEN comment.  It seems that people think that because they played the OC to HOTU that they "get" nwn!  LOL  I have played since 2004 and i dont "get" it!  I just know alot about certain aspects (building characters and clerics).

My advice, dont listen to ANY anti cleric advice (even if it is slight like this) cuz these are players who are still learning.  We ALL make mistakes when we are learning!  Lord knows i did by believing garbage like buffs forever and dispel=death BS.


rant over  '>

I just wanted to THANK you for saying MY build is a nice build.  It means so much that you think a build that was a template build (not an actual power build) is good (it is the ONLY 30/10cot in ECB). 
http://home.comcast....uild192785.html

Of course today (after 5 years) i would do things different.