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Priest of Mask Kit

So I made a custom kit using EEKeeper and I am having a lot of fun with it, so I figured I would share it.

I call it the Priest of Mask, because the idea is that you are a cleric who worships Mask. You can pray to him and thereby enter the Shadow Plane at will.

It sort of works like a cross between a Shadowdancer and a Cleric. You have the Shadowdancer's ability to Hide in Plain Sight as well as the Shadowstep ability. Your stealth abilities get the same initial bonus as the Shadowdancer and otherwise increase by level like the Ranger. However, the cleric can use stealth regardless of armor. The idea is that, like Divine spells, this stealth is actually due to prayer to a god, so it can be done with armor. I go back and forth on whether the kit should have a backstab bonus. I am currently playing it with a x2 backstab modifier at level 5 like the Shadowdancer, but no progression after that. But the point of the kit is not really backstabs and I don't use it very often.

The point is more to use Hide in Plain Sight tactically. Here's how I use it:

1. If a mage is about to cast a spell on me, I can immediately enter the Shadow Plane and make the spell fail.

2. Clerics are not bad tanks, since they get good armor. But they are also not the best tanks since they do not have stuff like stoneskin/ironskins/mirror's image/PfMW/etc. I often like to have my cleric on the front lines, though, and sometimes enemies attack the cleric rather than the more tanky party members. If this is a problem, this character can Hide in Plain Sight, which is quite effective in redirecting aggro towards other party members.

3. One problem I have with the Cleric generally is the trouble it has getting spells off. Mages have Stoneskin/Mirror's Image and Druids can pre-buff with Ironskins. These allow them to avoid interruption even if they are being attacked. Clerics do not really have an equivalent (Sanctuary is the closest thing, but is not nearly as helpful as the above stuff). This is especially bad since many important Cleric spells often need to be cast in the middle of battles right near enemies and have long casting times (for instance, Heal). This makes them super susceptible to interruption, which can be disastrous. Hiding in Plain Sight is a great tactic in this case. You get the aggro off of you, which will make you much more likely to succeed when you cast the spell. And since stealth does not take up a round, this does NOT make you have to cast the important spell one round later like Sanctuary would (which could be disastrous for a spell like Heal). I think this really aids a cleric's spell casting.

4. As with any stealth, this also allows you to position yourself before a battle. So you can start the battle by attacking a mage at the back. Even without a good backstab modifier, this can be really helpful.


Shadowstep adds a little bit to this as well. First of all, if you need to lose aggro for the above reasons but your HiPS is on cooldown or failed, Shadowstep is a good back up. Generally, though, it may not be easy to see what Shadowstep really adds that HiPS does not already give. And for Shadowdancers, I tend to think it does not add much besides allowing for a second backstab immediately after the first. But Shadowstep can actually be particularly helpful for a Cleric. The benefit of Shadowstep over HiPS is simply that no one else is doing anything while you are moving around unseen. This is only beneficial if you cannot waste any time before your next action. Again, for Shadowdancers, it is hard to conceive of a situation where that would really be the case. But for Clerics it is easy. Let's say a party member needs healing and/or status-effect removal somewhat far from you (or just in a crowded area, so you think it might take your character some time to walk around stuff to get to the party member). Casting Shadowstep and running to that party member may allow you to heal him or her when simply running there normally would have been too late. And this can also be really helpful when wanting to get off a Remove Fear on a party member that is running around too far to catch up with. Use Shadowstep to get near him or her and cast it. And you could even Shadowstep again to allow yourself to get right back into the fray afterwards.


I find this version of the Cleric to be very interesting tactically. In fact, I think HiPS and Shadowstep synergize really really well with a cleric. I am not a modder, but I was able to replicate this with EEKeeper. I started with a Shadowdancer. I then edited it to have a Thief -> Cleric dual class at level 7 with a Shadowdancer kit and gave myself 89,000 cleric XP to start. I edit the Thieving skills at each level up to give me the correct amount of stealth each time. I edited the HP to give me the correct amount of base HP as if I were a single-class cleric. I gave myself the Shadowstep innate ability and increase uses of it as if I were a Shadowdancer. Stealth with armor is a problem. I hear there is a mod for it, but I do not have that. So I just don't wear armor and edit the base AC in accordance to whatever armor my character would be using. It isn't perfect, since armor often has modifiers based on damage type. But it works.

Anyways, I think it yields an interesting play style and figured it was worth sharing.
jackjackJLeeBlackravenelminsterFinneousPJ

Comments

  • DetectiveMittensDetectiveMittens Member Posts: 235
    edited December 2014
    I see no harm in simply restricting a Maskarran to leather armours (Such that HiPs can still function/ much like certain ranger kits). Perhaps a custom innate spell that conjures a +4 longsword (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Stealthwhisper) (much like the spell flame blade) could be added as a bit of flavour. Although clerics are not ones to use blades.
    FinneousPJ
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