I love my Priest of Lathander!

Wowo

So on my first ever voyage of IWD I've gone the whole hog and opted for a level 1 HoW run including a PoL to be dualed to fighter.

What an awesome kit! The Hold Undead ability is a god send and the Boon turns him into a powerhouse that will allow him to compete alongside the kensei duals later on while having the crucial early game utility of a pure cleric (and the boon lets him rip things up now as well with 20 strength and the additional APR at level 8).

What level to dual him though? Prefer not to dual before the kensei duals can replace his spell casting which could be as soon as level 10 cleric (when I get a second use of boon). Should I hold off for level 6 or 7 cleric spells though?

JuliusBorisov

Glad that you like a cleric. I like mine too, he's a priest of Tempus.

It seems playing a single-classed cleric has never been so fun before. IWD new spells add a lot.

Personally, I won't dual a cleric. I would instead use high-level cleric spells.

Wowo

bengoshi said:

Glad that you like a cleric. I like mine too, he's a priest of Tempus.

It seems playing a single-classed cleric has never been so fun before. IWD new spells add a lot.

Personally, I won't dual a cleric. I would instead use high-level cleric spells.

Well in the context of a HoW run the additional attacks and damage from the fighter levels just add too much to ignore in terms of minimising the tedium that I'm noticing already (compared to playing bg series).

I wanted to like the tempus kit but Holy Power isn't a spell I use anyway and even though the other ability sounds good it just didn't seem to stand up to additional APR early and late game and hold undead for what I'm understanding to be an undead heavy game (seriously, hold undead is gold vs tougher foes like mummies, imbued wights and shadows etc after their debuffed with recitation etc).

I just can't decide on what level to dual. I need to take a good look at the level 6 and 7 spells.

Anomaly

Priest of Tempus is better roleplaying wise, but I agree that Priest of Lathander is better. I would not dual the cleric either.

Fardragon

Both Tempus and Lathander are better than the other three cleric kits for IWD.

smeagolheart

I wish the game were more flexible like NWN so you can mix and match classes a little better. But yeah staying pure cleric is probably better in 2E games.

Lord_Tansheron

The last time I tried a Lathanderite I dualed to fighter at 12 (was in BG2 though), mainly for 6th level spells and a +4 on Draw upon Holy Might. That's almost a million XP though, so you may want to go with a lower level unless you're HoF and don't mind a bit of grinding. 10 is probably the next lowest breakpoint for the extra Boon, but I guess I could conceive of 9 as well for +3 DuHM and 5th level spells.

Overall it's a fun combination, but I'm not convinced it's better than Berserker->Cleric, even accounting for the special effects and the prevalence of Undead in IWD. That being said, it may be better than a pure cleric, but I haven't tested things enough to make that assertion with anything but tentative speculation ;P

Wowo

Lord_Tansheron said:

The last time I tried a Lathanderite I dualed to fighter at 12 (was in BG2 though), mainly for 6th level spells and a +4 on Draw upon Holy Might. That's almost a million XP though, so you may want to go with a lower level unless you're HoF and don't mind a bit of grinding. 10 is probably the next lowest breakpoint for the extra Boon, but I guess I could conceive of 9 as well for +3 DuHM and 5th level spells.

Overall it's a fun combination, but I'm not convinced it's better than Berserker->Cleric, even accounting for the special effects and the prevalence of Undead in IWD. That being said, it may be better than a pure cleric, but I haven't tested things enough to make that assertion with anything but tentative speculation ;P

I'd disagree about a zerkcler being a better option in the context of this being my only caster and healer for the beginning of my level 1 HoW run. Finally I have web for my skald but I couldn't imagine going this long without a cleric to help.

I'm thinking it likely that I'll manage to hold out until 12 for the benefit of hitting 25 strength but I'll see how I feel. After reading through the spell selection for those upper levels I was a bit disappointed though, nothing there that really makes me want to do the hard yards.

meagloth

I know, right? That hold undead is a life saver.

Lord_Tansheron

Wowo said:

I'm thinking it likely that I'll manage to hold out until 12 for the benefit of hitting 25 strength but I'll see how I feel. After reading through the spell selection for those upper levels I was a bit disappointed though, nothing there that really makes me want to do the hard yards.

Entropy Shield is VERY good for tanking. But you're right, there aren't any mind-blowing spells at high levels, not really. Still, simply having more spells at moderately high levels like 5/6 can be quite useful, too.

Wowo

Lord_Tansheron said:

Wowo said:

I'm thinking it likely that I'll manage to hold out until 12 for the benefit of hitting 25 strength but I'll see how I feel. After reading through the spell selection for those upper levels I was a bit disappointed though, nothing there that really makes me want to do the hard yards.

Entropy Shield is VERY good for tanking. But you're right, there aren't any mind-blowing spells at high levels, not really. Still, simply having more spells at moderately high levels like 5/6 can be quite useful, too.

So you really prefer berserker 7/cleric over Priest of Lathander 12/Fighter?

I was looking at our party setups and this is the substitute. I guess at 15+ the berserker becomes a better tank from the higher caster levels and those fighter levels will help HP (I think ... ?). Weigh that against the early benefit of a pure cleric (animate dead sooner, yay!), the utility of hold undead and the DPS of Boon (both early game and late).

This will also be a character that gets to 4.5 APR dual wielding without a fast weapon which could open up more options for the offhand, particularly for tanking (offsetting advantage the zerkcler had if tanking and wanting to do damage). In fact, this character can have 4.5 APR and use a shield if desired with boon.

It'll certainly take a while to regain my cleric levels now that I've dualed though I turned in the defaced holy symbol to the barbarian shaman guy which brought me up to level 8 fighter from 1 I think. Still, fair slog from 8 to 13. Though, the rest of the party is in a position to babysit now considering how much work the cleric did early to get them where they are now.

Lord_Tansheron

Wowo said:

So you really prefer berserker 7/cleric over Priest of Lathander 12/Fighter?

I was looking at our party setups and this is the substitute. I guess at 15+ the berserker becomes a better tank from the higher caster levels and those fighter levels will help HP (I think ... ?). Weigh that against the early benefit of a pure cleric (animate dead sooner, yay!), the utility of hold undead and the DPS of Boon (both early game and late).

It's definitely something that is on my radar, but for now I'm leaning towards the Berserker, yes. Further testing is however in order and some sort of Lath->Fighter combo is on my list for sure. One reason that I like having more cleric levels is that fighter scaling drops off DRAMATICALLY after lvl 9 (with the +1/2 APR at 13 being the only good thing you get, and that's redundant with an APR weapon), while clerics continue scaling well into their 20s. That being said, Boon of Lathander is quite good, and more damage is always welcome. The question is whether that balances well against the higher XP requirement and the lower number of lvl 5/6 spells, which in turn would mean extra resting/downtime. Ultimately it may simply not be worth it.

Also I don't at all miss cleric at early levels. Nothing before Dragon's Eye is remotely challenging or requires summons etc.