Commando Cleric - Clr(26),M(1),F(1),SD(2)

=Description=

Cleric 26 / Monk 1 / Fighter 2 / Shadowdancer 1 

Since we have a Hidden Dragon, a Guerilla Wizard, and more Rogue based stealth builds than I can possibly list, Team HiPS needs a sneaking Full Divine Caster to round off. Full Divine is necessary for maximum spell resistance strength and group buff duration. This was originally envisioned as a stealth-able Divine party-support build.

Pros:


 * Full Cleric Spellcasting, including Cleric domain spells


 * Persistent Haste for extra attack and speed bonus.


 * Premonition provides 30/Adamantine DR that can help cover you when you are not using Stone Body.


 * Mass Camouflage boosts Hide.


 * Level 30 caster, full benefit from the Spell Resistance spell, and maximum Buff Duration.


 * Expose Weakness and reasonable Dex. Expose Weakness lets it deal 7 bleeding damage each round for 5 rounds (total 35 damage) that stacks and ignores damage reduction. It also reduces AC for your next attacks to land (including another Expose Weakness).


 * Able to achieve high AB using Cleric buffs (although not necessarily high Damage, it relies on Expose Weakness for that).


 * Able to Hide in plain sight (HiPS)


 * On PWs, this can be used enhance general survivability, by sneaking past dangerous monsters


 * In RP scenarios, it means that you can accompany the Party Rogue on stealth missions.


 * Can use HiPS just before throwing out Expose Weakness to deny Enemy Dex/Dodge AC bonus.


 * Because of the way HiPS works, there is a short while after going into Hiding before the Enemy starts his detection cycle. During which your attacks can catch him flat-footed,.


 * Consequently, this means that if the enemy can consistently detect you anyway, you can cast Stone Body, slap on Heavy Armor and Tower Shield to gain more AC, and you can still use HiPS in the manner described above.


 * Able to fight unarmed if disarmed (generally more important for PvP)


 * Usable under any magic setting


 * In fact its various Cleric buffs may means that it works comparatively better on low/no magic setting, since its buffs do not stack with most Gear.


 * Spot as a Class Skill to counter Feint, augmented by its reasonably good Wisdom.


 * Unlike other Monk/Cleric builds, this does not have Sacred Fist, and so has the option of being able to use weapons e.g. for the purpose of overcoming DR, without incurring a hefty AB penalty.

Cons:


 * Cleric: Memorized casting means that you might have trouble if you meet a situation you are not prepared for.


 * Low Strength means melee damage will be comparatively poor until Epic levels when this gets Expose Weakness. For this reason, I do not normally recommend its use in level 1-30 campaigns. If however the campaign starts at Epic levels, it becomes much more viable. Along a similiar line of reasoning, Low Strength means you won't be able to haul around a lot of loot. You can cast Bull Strength on yourself to help a bit, but your best bet would be to get a Bag of Holding (which again is probably only available at high levels).


 * Lacks Listen, so it can't detect builds that can buff Hide (including itself ironically).


 * The standard Cleric protection buff Stone Body, is incompatible with stealth. You are left with a tough choice in different scenarios as to whether or not to use it.


 * If you do use it, its -8 to your Armor Check Penalty to your hide and move scores.


 * If you don't use it, while Premonition can help cover the DR, you are still vulnerable to blindness, critical hits, stun and paralysis without Stone Body.


 * Does not have Disarm, and will fare less well in PvP.

Character Creation
Race: Human

Alignment: Any Lawful

BAB: 21

Total AB bonus from Long Term Buffs in Mundane Gear (number in Brackets indicates with Epic Gear)

21 BAB

7 Dex Bonus with Weapon Finesse

1 Epic Prowess

3 Persistant Divine Favor

1 Persistant Haste

1 Persistant Prayer

1 Bless

(+4 with Dex gear +8)

(+8 Weapon Enhancement Bonus)

Total = 35 (47)

With AB bonus from Short Term Buffs

9 Extended Divine Power

3 Extended Recitation

2 Extended Battle tide

Total = 49 (61)

Note that if you use a finessable weapon, the actual AB without Epic Gear is +5 higher since you can buff yourself with Greater Magic Weapon.

HP: (26*8) + (1*8) + (2*10) + (1*8) + 60 Con Bonus = 304

AC with Mundane Gear:

10 base

6 Dex bonus

3 tumble

4 Mithril Chain Shirt

1 Light shield

1 Luck of Heroes

=25 (+1 vs Dodge Target)

Note that even with only Mundane Gear, the maximum possible AC is +20 higher than what is listed as this build can buff itself with: Barkskin (+5 to natural armor), Magic Vestment (+5 enhancement to Armor and Shield each) and Shield of Faith (+5 to deflection). So even with only mundane gear, it can achieve an AC of 45.

Additional AC from Epic Gear:

8 Armor Enhancement +8

8 Light Enhancement +8

8 Cloak of Protection +8

5 Natural Armor Amulet +5

5 Boots of the sun soul +5

-4 from loss of Mithril Chain Shirt if you switch to Robes

+5 Additional Max Dex Bonus with +8 Dex Gear

=60 (+1 vs Dodge Target)

The numbers above apply for light shield and light or no armor. In circumstances where you can't sneak past your foe, or you need to retain as much AC as possible when caught Flat-footed, you can instead choose to go with Mithril Full Plate and Tower Shield, and cast Stone Body on yourself. This will destroy any chance of successful sneaking, but provides you higher flat-footed AC, and the various immunities of Stone Body.

Saves

Fort: 15 + 2 + 3 + 0 = 20 +2 Con

Will: 15 + 2 + 0 + 0 = 17 +4 Wis

Reflex: 8 + 2 + 0 + 2 = 12 +7 Dex

+1 to all from Luck of Heroes

+6 against spells with Spellcraft

Overview
Feats

Character Feats

1. Luck of Heroes

1. Able Learner

3. Weapon Finesse

6. Practiced Spellcaster: Cleric

9. Mobility (SD requirement)

12. Extend Spell

15. Persistent Spell

18. Blind fight

21. Great Dexterity

23. Great Dexterity

25. Great Dexterity

27. Great Dexterity

29. Great Dexterity

Fighter Bonus Feats:

1. Dodge (SD requirement)

2. Epic prowess

Cleric Domain Bonus Feats:

1. Time for Haste and Premonition

2. Plant for Barkskin and Mass Camouflage

Cleric Bonus Feats:

23. Great Dexterity

26. Great Dexterity

Tactics:

Your main damage will be dealt via Expose Weakness (EW) which ignores damage reduction, and you can rely somewhat on Hide in Plain Sight to deny your enemy his Dex/Dodge bonus to ensure that EW hits. Put simply, you will want to master the art of activating HiPS and then attacking with EW immediately thereafter.

However, both of these have a 6 second cooldown, so in between HiPS/EW, you will need to find someway of avoiding damage. Against weaker monsters, as long as you have sufficient AC, you can just stand there and your high AC and Premonition damage reduction can absorb their attacks, while you attack them normally.

However, this is far less viable against extremely poweful monsters, and against other optimized player builds. In such cases, you still have a tactical Speed advantage because of persistent haste, and you can run away immediately after activating HiPS/EW. Wait for HiPS/EW to recharge, and then turn around and attack again.

Skills
With an Int of 16, and the Human bonus skill points, this build gains 6 skill points per level. And so there are 6 skills it should aim to max out:


 * 1. Concentration


 * 2. Spellcraft


 * 3. Tumble


 * 4. Hide


 * 5. Move silently


 * 6. Skill of Choice


 * For Campaigns you can grab a Convo skill. I recommend Diplomacy for Good inclined characters, and Bluff for those who prefer to be Evil.


 * For PWs and PvP, Spot is a good idea, as it helps you to spot Hiding Enemies, and protects against Feint

Your first level should be Monk to maximize the 4x multiplier. Roughly, the skill progression should be as follows:

Level 1:

Monk 1: Gain (4 + 4) * 4 = 32 Skill points


 * 4 to Concentration (Total = 4)


 * 4 to Tumble (Total = 4)


 * 4 to Hide (Total = 4)


 * 4 to Move (Total = 4)


 * 4 to Diplomacy (for Campaigns) OR Spot (for PvP) (Total = 4)


 * 3 to Lore (Total = 3)


 * 4 to Use Magic Device (Total = 2)

Save 5 points

Level 2:

Cleric 1: Gain 6 Skill Points


 * 1 to Concentration (Total = 5)


 * 5 to Spellcraft (Total = 5)


 * 1 to Tumble (Total = 5)


 * 1 to Hide (total = 5)


 * 1 to Move (Total = 5)


 * 1 to Diplomacy (for Campaigns) OR Spot (for PvP) (Total = 5)

Save 1 point

Level 4 onwards:

Fighter 1: Gain 6 Skill Points


 * 1 to Concentration (Total = 6)


 * 1 to Spellcraft (Total = 6)


 * 1 to Tumble (Total = 6)


 * 1 to Hide (total = 6)


 * 1 to Move (Total = 6)


 * 1 to Diplomacy (for Campaigns) OR Spot (for PvP) (Total = 6)


 * 1 to Use Magic Device (Total = 3)

Save 0 point

Level 4 onwards:

6 Skill points per level


 * 1 to Concentration (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Spellcraft (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Tumble (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Hide (total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Move (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Diplomacy (for Campaigns) OR Spot (for PvP) (Total = Character level + 3)

Save 0 point

By Level 27, you should have 30 in your 6 core skills. Because the bonuses for Tumble and Spellcraft, stop at 30, you may instead leave them at 30, and put the points for them into Use Magic Device. This should let you achieve a UMD score of 9 by level 30. I.e:

Level 28 onwards:

6 Skill points per level


 * 1 to Concentration (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Hide (total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Move (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 1 to Diplomacy (for Campaigns) OR Spot (for PvP) (Total = Character level + 3)


 * 2 to Use Magic Device