Failed build
Joneser
Member Posts: 12
Hello, I have a priest that I wanted to be a front-line healer but it keeps dying almost every semi big fight. I had wanted to go pure cleric but honestly it is dead way more than alive. Could the more experienced players post a strong cleric build for me to look at before I reroll.
Also are bards really that needed? I have Skald bard and honestly I don't notice much of a difference.
Also are bards really that needed? I have Skald bard and honestly I don't notice much of a difference.
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About bards: I would say that they act often as support spellcaster, archer or utility characters and are not necessary for that part. However, bards are stronger in IWD than BG games. One of the best abilities of unkitted bard is their song "War Chant of Sith" that becomes available on 11th level. The song gives regeneration, AC bonus and some resistances.
also for melee characters, you want that DEX to be as high as possible because the higher your DEX is, the better your AC, plus especially for multi class clerics you want high WIS as well, this will give you bonus spell slots per level to help the slower level ups
now between the half orc and dwarf the advantages are;
half orcs can start with 19 STR, which gives great hitting and damage power with melee weapons, can hit 18 DEX for a +4 AC bonus, can hit 19 CON for a +5 HP bonus per level ( 3 for fighter side, 2 for cleric side ) and 18 WIS for the bonus spells
with dwarves you can start with 18/00 STR which is almost as good as 19 STR, the only drawback is that you have a 1% chance of hitting that value, but if you can get your STR to hit 18/91 or higher, then you are still in good shape for melee, they can only max out at 17 DEX, but that stills gives a +3 bonus to AC which is good, they also get 19 CON for the good bonus HP and they can hit 18 WIS as well for bonus spells AND a dwarf with 18+ CON gets a +5 saving throw bonus to death saves and saves vs spells which is very VERY useful
also, once your cleric side hits level 3 you get level 2 spells and can use draw upon holy might, which increases your physical ability scores by 1 for every 3 levels, so this can help a dwarf catch up to a half-orc for physical power or it can make your half orc even that more powerful
the only other caveat is that if this is your team leader, a half orc can hit 18 CHA while a dwarf can only hit 16 CHA, but realistically this is only applicable for store discount costs in IWD
when it comes to bards, its their bard songs is what shines about them, if you are not taking advantage of your bard songs then there is almost no point in even having one, granted they can also cast mage spells and have better durations because of their faster level advancement but they wont ever get as many spells as a mage and once a mage hits level 30, then there is no difference for duration any more, and all the "special" bard stuff that you can do in IWD is kind of a drop in the bucket in the long run, there really isn't anything super special amazing that you get out of having one, just the odd neat RP element here or there and magic item or two that you can easily beat the game without
so if you aren't taking advantage of the bard songs, then there is really no reason to keep one around, unless you are doing it more for RP or party flavor purposes
If you don't want to go with the fighter/cleric suggested to get your cleric fighting on the front line, you might consider using the level 1 sanctuary spell so that your cleric can move around the battle field and heal/buff/explore without dying. Sanctuary prevents you from being attacked for 1turn/+1 per level. While under the effects of sanctuary, you can heal, open doors, explore, turn undead, buff, or any other action besides directly interacting with an enemy (attacking or talking). Essentially you can stand right next to your fighters and heal and buff as needed.
If you like how the sanctuary spell works, to take it to the next level, you might consider dual/multi class Cleric/Thief, since they can use the sanctuary spell to explore the entire dungeon, disarm traps, open doors, place traps, and even stealth to line up a backstab (Quarterstaff/club only) after casting something such as Righteous Magic (max strength and damage rolls). The only real downside is that the User Interface forces certain abilities (disarm/place trap) to show up under abilities icon, typically the furthest button on the left of your quickbar instead of the convenient quick icon (that is find traps and turn undead instead).