A cleric build for me?

Wowo

So I've decided on my next party mainly to try out NPCs that I haven't before:
Safana (dualed to Mage)
Shar-teel (dualed to rogue)
Eldoth
Faldorn
Skie

Interestingly this just by happen stance is an all human group so ill stay with that theme for my charname and it seems a cleric of some description would fit the bill here.

I did a bit of research and testing and all ranger kits can now be dualed into cleric though questionable whether it's worth it.

Options:
Talos cleric
Helm cleric (boo)
Lathander cleric
Berserker 6/Cleric 8
Ranger 3/Cleric 8
Ranger 6/Cleric 8
Ranger kit 3-6/Cleric 8
Cleric kit 6/Fighter 8

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that the bonus spells that Stalker or Beastmaster get are added to the spell list so doesn't seem to be any incentive to choose a kit. Can stalker/Beastmaster equip ankheg or drizzt' chain?

Maximum APR would belong to a Cleric of Lathander 5/Fighter 8 with 1 base +.5 spec +.5 fighter +1 GM +1 boon +1 offhand +1 haste = 6/round? (5 cleric gives 2 pips in TWF. Alternatively can stick with staff and THF for 6/8.)

I'm thinking mace for stupifier. Unless there is a better idea? Ashideena can be offhand if the lightning is needed.

KidCarnival

I personally like Priest of Talos with Ashideena, because it fits so well from a roleplay angle. And because I like throwing lightning at people.

Wowo

KidCarnival said:

I personally like Priest of Talos with Ashideena, because it fits so well from a roleplay angle. And because I like throwing lightning at people.

Definitely considering it. Specifically, I think I'm settling on cleric kit 5/fighter 8 for the tasty grandmastery in mace and 2 pips in TWF. After that 2 pips are left for sling and club (+1 to 2 AC is preferable to lightning I think).

Real trick is settling on a kit:
Talos: lightning is equivalent to a wand which never gets used. Immunity sounds awesome but charname never seems to die from that stuff anyway.
Helm: true seeing sounds great but I've never needed it before, is it a buff or an effect? Sword sounds great but conflicts heavily with the mace specialty though until then will be OP.
Lathander: hold undead sounds handy for ghouls/ghasts in particular. Boon only lasts 6 sec/level compared to 60 sec from level 1 for others.

I'm pretty unsure.

Lathander is tempting as the abilities scale with level properly so are the least cheesy in some ways. Helm is the most cheesy with the +4 AB. Furthermore, in a 6 round period you don't actually come out ahead (1 round to cast plus 5 rounds to attack gives 30 attacks vs 6 rounds of attacking 5 times. Not an exact science of course but indicative of questionable worth.)

Howie

Sounds squishy other than CHARNAME.

Corvino

I was tempted to use a similar party to finally see the Eldoth-Skie-Garrick love triangle but figured they're be so squishy I'd need a Fighter/Cleric to buff/heal/tank.

I was leaning toward a Dwarf multiclass though for the lack of downtime and awesome saves. I think you might stuggle with dualling as the rest of the party are not going to be able to carry much deadweight.

Hesse

I never played as a cleric, but I find the idea of an evil priest of talos "throwing lightning" very appealing.
What about stats? Besides wisdom, where should one invest in?

Nifft

I don't have the patience to go Berserker 6 > Cleric 8.

However I can report that Berserker 3 > Cleric 4 (and rising) is excellent so far.

Wowo

Hesse said:

I never played as a cleric, but I find the idea of an evil priest of talos "throwing lightning" very appealing.
What about stats? Besides wisdom, where should one invest in?

84 points gets you 18 str, dex, con and 9 int (for scrolls). 18 con on a cleric opens use of the Claw (-2 con). 18 base strength and DUHM will see some big hits to contribute to combat.

Howie said:

Sounds squishy other than CHARNAME.

I won't dual Shar-Teel until fighter 7 so should hopefully have some decent HP. Otherwise will have to rely on faldorns summons I suppose. A better party would be Yeslick and a berserker 7/Druid 9 but done that already.

[Deleted User]

Notes for the APR calculation: GM gives you an extra .5 attack over specialization (1 total), so the Kit 5/Fighter 8 will have 5/2 APR without dual-wielding or buffing. The 5 APR cap from BG2 may or may not be in place; it's a moot point at the moment, as haste effects seem to be rounding up fractional APR instead of just adding +1; the most APR you'll get with dual-wielding + buffs is 5.

Still, that means 4 attacks per round with the Stupefier with BoL and Haste, which might just let you stun-lock someone (not that many enemies survive long once getting stunned by Stupefier).

Also, a Stalker or Beastmaster would give their extra spells to a Cleric if you could level them up high enough to be granted them before dual-classing, but that's not feasible in BGEE and it's a pain in the butt in BG2. Non-kitted Ranger is generally the way to go for dual-classing Ranger/Cleric.

Wowo

Kaigen said:

Notes for the APR calculation: GM gives you an extra .5 attack over specialization (1 total), so the Kit 5/Fighter 8 will have 5/2 APR without dual-wielding or buffing. The 5 APR cap from BG2 may or may not be in place; it's a moot point at the moment, as haste effects seem to be rounding up fractional APR instead of just adding +1; the most APR you'll get with dual-wielding + buffs is 5.

Still, that means 4 attacks per round with the Stupefier with BoL and Haste, which might just let you stun-lock someone (not that many enemies survive long once getting stunned by Stupefier).

Also, a Stalker or Beastmaster would give their extra spells to a Cleric if you could level them up high enough to be granted them before dual-classing, but that's not feasible in BGEE and it's a pain in the butt in BG2. Non-kitted Ranger is generally the way to go for dual-classing Ranger/Cleric.

I'm definitely going to try a stalker 13/cleric when BG2ee comes out with staff for backstab. Thanks for the correction on APR; I think at some point GM stated 5/2 attacks up from 3/2 but I see its different, maybe my delusion or a fixed typo in the recent patch.

With 4 attacks with Stupifier it'd be about 2/3rds chance that an enemy gets stunned in the first round (assuming only missing on a 1). 89% chance of stunning by the second round.

With a duration of 1d4 rounds it'll be around a 90% lockdown rate.

Hopefully it'll be enough to carry the squishy toons that ill take along

KidCarnival

Hesse said:

I never played as a cleric, but I find the idea of an evil priest of talos "throwing lightning" very appealing.
What about stats? Besides wisdom, where should one invest in?

The real perk of Priest of Talos is the Stormshield, elemental immunity and protection from normal missiles. The missile part isn't that interesting except it is less likely your casting gets interrupted by minion archers (only a few have non-normal missiles; kobold commando, Black Talon archers and such). I would invest in strength, dex, con like you would for a fighter class; naturally high wisdom, and enough intelligence to use wands and scrolls. Blunt weapons are perfect for a frontliner and both the hammer and mace belong to the best weapons, are available early and will remain awesome. I go with the concept of a battlepriest rather than a healer.