Earthy Chauntean Cleric/Monk

[finneas]

I've been playing with creating something like this in my head and the hierophant PRC finally made getting to CL 30 a bit easier in some cases. It is firstly a roleplaying build but I welcome any advice to make it a bit more mechanically sound and as painless (as possible of course) to level.

I'd like to keep it as a caster cleric with a nature friendly deity. Most other things are negotiable. I've gone back and forth between sacred fist and morninglord. I'm not sure which would be better for a caster cleric. The monk levels provide the RP that I am looking for. Sacred fist is sort of just icing on top.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?239688

[chad878262]

Couple things.

- I count caster level 12, you need 13 to gain level 7 spells required for Heirophant. Add level 7 sf at 17 then go Heirophant 18-20 to still meet 3b20 requirement.

-if you want to be a caster, Thorsson is right, drop 2 monk levels for cl 32. You could also stop sacred fist at 7 to hit cl33 and gain another Heirophant ability. Something like Cleric 10/Heirophant 10/monk 3/sacred fist 7 seems the most caster focused split based on what you're going for.

[finneas]

Nice catch on the caster level. I have tinkered with it a few times and move one SF level for skill point reasons and forgot to check CL. I'd like to keep monk 5 if possible for RP reasons (disease resistance.) I know it is not going to be the absolute best caster mechanically. I've been toying with an undead turn focused caster with monk/morninglord/cleric/hiero but it seems silly to try and build one until solar channeler comes out.

[chad878262]

Sacred Fist loses casting progression at level 4 and 8...So if you wanted to you could only go to SF3/M5/H10/C12 which would also allow you to reach CL 32 (25 +4 +3), but you wouldn't get sacred flames so Sacred Fist seems pointless to take other than having monk fist damage at level 8 instead of 5, but for a caster that shouldn't matter. The reason for CL32 is because it net's you an extra DC so if you can get there, it's beneficial. Morning Lord only works if you switch your got to Lathander which changes your available domains so be mindful if you go that route you may have to change your build up more. Hospitaler is another 'dip' option, but be aware of the levels where casting progression is lost. Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with C15/M5/H10 w/ CL 32. You could also get Enhanced Divine Spell Power which allows you to utilize Turn Undead to improve your CL... gaining 3 or 4 CL will further increase your DC by 1, when you need it. Morning Lord would be decent mechanically here for the extra turning II and III feats gained during ML progression. (more uses of TU = more increase CL's for casting). However, this route requires you to rebuild since ML requires two feats you haven't taken (Great Fortitude and extra turning).

[finneas]

Is morninglord mechanically the same as doomguide in the builder? Do you think it would be possible to build a monklike cleric with morninlord? Would it be better as a caster or as an EDM staff user? Ugh, so many questions. I wish I was better at building.

[chad878262]

Morning Lord is exactly the same as Doomguide. The name/deity was changed because our timeline would not support worship of Kelemvor (he's off somewhere languishing as some abomination were-cat type creature due to a family curse, not yet a god).

I tested a Cleric/Morning Lord/Hierophant Charisma based turn undead PC w/ wisdom as secondary stat and it was quite strong... Turn undead, outsider (requires epic feat). Note that you could go a different direction and worship selune to be able to turn undead, outsider and shapeshifters...

There is no reason you can't have Monk as a 4th class in either case, 5 levels of Monk + PSC + 3 Spell Power Hierophant feats will give you 32 CL so long as your other class (besides cleric) is a full progression class.

EDM is obviously powerful, but caster clerics can also be quite potent... If you decide you want to melee you can still do so thanks to (extended) divine power.