Cleric Snoozefest Playthrough
SuperFeature
Member Posts: 35
I was thinking about playing a class that I never have before, and thought about a cleric.
But aren't they boring and no use as a pure class? Viconia is just as useful as a protagonist cleric.
I was thinking maybe Priest of Helm, seeking sword is pretty good in BGEE. Was thinking Half Orc for fun.
But aren't they boring and no use as a pure class? Viconia is just as useful as a protagonist cleric.
I was thinking maybe Priest of Helm, seeking sword is pretty good in BGEE. Was thinking Half Orc for fun.
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Comments
Clerics have some really good spells at low level, can use the ol' cheese tactics of the Sleep wand and the fireball necklace, so its not THAT hard compared to some... but the werewolf island might not be very doable, since your damage will suck... the Wand of Heavens is perhaps your best bet, but obviously not great. Dont think you csn hit him with cleric weapons. For that matter, the WoH is pretty decent, make sure you use it once you get it!
Great standout spells I can think of are Command (devastating!), Sanctuary, Hold Person, Silence, Feeblemind, Animate Dead and of course the bigger self buffs (duhm, etc). Slings will probably be your best friend, with Ashideena to whack sleepy enemies. I offed Sarevok with a sling in my playthrough... take that Goliath!
Thief/cleric is MUCH better... backstab and dealing with traps is nice. Any kit will make life easier, as will going evil.
What you could also consider, something that I've been thinking for a playthrough myself, is to roll a Human Ranger (or Fighter) and dual to Cleric at a low level, for example level 3. That way you'll be basically playing Cleric throughout the Trilogy, but one with better fighting prowess than a plain Cleric (the ability to specialize in weapons and to place three pips in dualwielding), and if dualled from Ranger with a wider spell selection including Druid spells.
You could also make the gaming experience more interesting by really fleching out your character's backstory/personality and by adhering to it in the game.
I agree with others that multiclasses Cleric/Thief, Fighter/Cleric, Cleric/Mage are more entertaining to play as they're more versatile, but that goes for almost all multiclass combinations.
However, I assure you, you wont play clerics the same after a solo with one.
I'd go for a Priest of Lathander->Mage at level 11 for vanilla games.
- High HP 1D8 + CON.
- Plate/Full plate.
- Decent Thac0 progression.
- Nice Saving throws.
- Healing Spells.
- Buff spells both for you and Team.
- Crowd Control spells (Command, Hold, Charm, etc, Silence).
- A few good solid damage spells (Holy smite, Flame Strike).
- Additional spells from wisdom (Mages don't get from intellect).
- Dispel Magic.
- Great and fun kits.
- Can become good in Melee (Lathander, Helm).
- Chaotic Command, Death Ward.
In my opinion the Cleric is the person the team is built around. You're almost always the last person to fall, you're able to throw out healing spells to help the team, damage spell to soften up the enemies and then both silence, hold and other crowd control spells to turn the fight in your favor. They got some amazing buff spells that will grant STR, AC, Immunities and more.
I normally play my pure class clerics on the back row, but if you're lacking a tank they can very well take that spot and make a solid tank and protector for your team.
A pure class cleric rarely dies and in my opinion he's a jack of all trades.
... and ludicrously broken.
... and ludicrously broken.
Far less than a Kensai/Mage.
Kensai mage isnt better than berserker unless you dualed very late, and thus must hate fun.
Looks like I won't be having that cleric playthrough eh...
I don't see the point of a Cleric Mage (aka, nerfed Mage) but a Fighter/Cleric, R/Cleric might be fun.
As to your character, I think that unless you go for immersive Cleric roleplaying, you're right in picking multi or dual class.
I'm quite content with my dualled Ranger (level7->Priest of Lathander) with access to both druid and cleric spells, with just enough Stealth for it to be useful (at least with items such as the Boots of Stealth), and as the game continues with a very good Turn Undead ability. In BG2 his 7 Ranger levels will be too few to make him a true warrior (unlike the multiclass Cleric/Ranger), so I intend to play him as a caster most of the time.
Multiclass Fighter/Cleric is a strong warrior, just like the Cleric/Ranger multi, though a dual class (maybe from Berserker or Barbarian) might be more what you're looking for, since that way you'll be playing a character that's predominantly a Priest, but one with a few extra perks. Another option I haven't seen mentioned yet could be to roll a Swashbuckler and dual to Cleric at level 5 (early-mid BG1) or at level 10 (late BG1), you'll have some nice AC/Thac0/dmg bonuses and a couple of the Thief skills developed.
As far as I'm aware though Kensai/Mages aren't illegal or an exploit of the game mechanics?
Ranger/Clerics receive the spell progression of a Druid/Cleric with all the benefits of a Ranger though.
It's stupid and broken and I refuse to play it, hurmph!
Or did you mean the stealth ability getting disabled during the dualclassing process? This is normal behavior I think, when I regained my Ranger levels I was able again to use Stealth again.
EDIT: Interesting, hadn't heard of it. Seems something that has to do with transition from BG1 to BG2. My Ranger dualled at level 7 and regained his Ranger levels in BG1 (I removed the XP cap and allowed my character to surpass the 161k XP limit by 20k so that he could complete the dualing process in BG1.)
Maybe this won't be an issue, but I'll definitely check in SoA.
Obviously at a certain point feeblemind, silence and even Miscast are better caster killers, but a free pass vs everyones favourite Friendly Arm assassin? Yes please. Silke? Thespa-whatnow? I cant hear you over the sound my mace makes while turning you skull gooey.
Sleep is good too mind you, but spamming Command at low levels is very, very effective vs casters. I never even thought of this until I tried soloing a cleric. It wasnt as easy as a Sorcerer, but very nearly at times. I didnt even have a great roll, low strength.
Single round sleep to one target vs sleep multiple targets for longer time. I feel like I'm missing something here? Sleep IMO is undoubtedly better, but command is 'useful'...