Halfling Healer/Support (Help Me Please)

[Drow4d20]

I'm a level 9 Strongheart Hinn Cleric:

STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 18
CHA: 8

- Spellcasting Prodigy
- GSF: Conjuration (Getting Epic Spell: Gate & Mass Heal)
- GSF: Abjuration
- Deity: Ilmater (No halfling deities offer healing domain.)
- Domains: Good/Healing (10 Hierophant for quick heal)
- Alignment: Neutral Good (It allowed me to pick Ilmater. Idk if that's against rules.)
- Do not want to waste feats on Zen Archery, Point Blank Shot, etc.
- Going for maximum healing/support. Not damage.


Questions/Concerns:
- Should I have taken GSF: Divination instead of Abjuration?
- Was Spellcasting Prodigy a wasted feat?
- What type of armor should I wear? I'm thinking cloth & heavy shield
- Should I have taken less CON and more CHA for Turn Undead
- Is Divine Vigor or any Turn Undead feat useful for a healer/support?
- Are there any magic staves usable by halflings? I couldn't use a Staff of Healing
- If I cannot find a tiny staff are there any magical items (not weapons) that I can equip in the main hand? Or are there any healer based shields that would suffice instead of a staff or weapon?

My drow cleric is a very diverse power build. I'm going for a healer/support surface character so I'm not interested in Evocation. How can I maximize her support abilities using Divination or Abjuration?

Thank you

[electric mayhem]

Hi!

Firstly grats! Halflings are great fun!

Secondly! Don't panic Full RCR is still in effect. So any mistakes can be corrected. Plus it's still under lvl 10.

A healer/support.
Healing is a pretty precise definition. i.e. using the Heal skill (sink as many points as you want into it.)
Remember, total points healed using this skill is take 20 when out of combat + wis modifier + heal skill (inc item bonuses) + Heal kit bonus.
Note that you can use this ability more than once per 'round'. I think, either up to 2 or 3!!
So depending upon your Heal skill score, and the packs you're using... that is ALOT of healing in a short amount of time.
As for support... that's a very broad topic and can include many different play styles.

Another fun fact. You can heal yourself and others... WHILE IN STEALTH. Crazy right. But yes, its legit.

Being a halfling you have a slightly higher Dex, and racial bonuses to Hide skill as well.

Have you considered dipping into shadow dancer for Hips, and then heal your cleric summon/companions from stealth with high healing scores.
Plus it's also a great SHTF button to get yourself out of danger.

For this scenario, yep, keep STR low, Max Dex as high you can during char creation (19 for SD qualification, don't bother with 20, chuck a +3 item on).
Max Wis
Put some into Int up to +1, or +2 depending upon how many skill points you want per level. Cleric is only 2+ int mod.
Con isn't a main stat for cleric, as they self buff and heal.
CHA is good for Turning... IF you want to be a turner. Not, unless you specialise your build for turning, you'll only do alright with normal turnable mobs (undead mainly, unless you take planar turning).
CHA can be good to use for adding to Personality skills (diplo, bluff, UMB etc).


Regarding feats to take. It entirely depends upon what you want to do with your character in and out of combat.
Spell Focus feat line is typically only taken for those that want to be "DC Casters" and or benefit from the bonus HD with Conjuration SP line feats.

Monkey Feat will allow halflings to wield staves from what i understand.

Spell casting prodigy is a great feat if you want the bonus spell slots that it claims to give you.

Its a deep question you've asked, hope this little information gives you some more things to think on?
Ask away for more

[Svabodnik]

Answering the questions in order:

- Most Abjuration or Divination spells, particularly Cleric ones, don't offer a saving throw (aside from Banishment/Dismissal, they're mostly buffs or dispels, which are reliant on caster level), so getting Spell Focus in those schools may be wasted since the point of the feats is to increase the DCs of the spells you cast. Conjuration is a bit different, since from what I understand on this server getting Spell Focus in that school will increase the HD of your summons, and if that's the route you want to take, I'd recommend picking up Augment Summoning as well, and maybe even think about Thaumaturge.

- Spellcasting Prodigy will offer more spell slots, even if you don't rely on spell DCs for your spells, so I wouldn't call it wasted at any point. Moreover, Cleric actually has quite a few Save or Lose spells, so having higher DCs won't necessarily hurt.

- 10 DEX, can't go wrong with full plate.

- Since you're already thinking about going Hierophant, you could actually afford to put more points into CHA and take a look at Divine Spell Power (taking Mastery of Energy and Advanced Divine Spell Power from Hierophant) for some potentially silly-high Caster Levels, and a use for your Turn Undead aside from you know, turning undead.

- Divine Vigor isn't available on the server.

- Halflings are small creatures and thus cannot equip staves. I know they've recently added a short staff item, but I don't think any enchanted versions have been added to shops outside of using them as visual props.

- You can RP having mace as using a 'rod'. There's one appearance available for it that's actually very fitting as a 'casting implement' rather than 'tool of war'.

[Theodore01]

And if you plan to use heal kits, get some STR - they are heavy.

[Kiran]

Hi Drow!

I am currently playing a support class cleric and have played one in the past, what I found best was ignoring the healing spells altogether that cleric gives and pump that heal skill to the max (You can even get epic heal focus for another 10 skill) And since as mentioned it stacks with Wisdom, you are golden.

The cleric buffs are where you shine as you have a lot of long-term buffs and short terms that can make or break a boss fight, depending on your team.

Cleric summons is lovely as well, epic gate especially, personally I wouldn't go for epic heal unless it is for RP purposes.

In regards to your stats, I would consider pumping into some strength, lower that con, since you want to always be carrying at least 30-40 heal kits (My old cleric had 92 heal skill self buffed, his kits did 100+ heal)

I wouldn't worry about getting other spell focuses than conjuration, and I would then consider going Thaurg for extra summon, longer summons and stronger ones.

In regards to armour, you can go cloth, then perhaps go for 3 monk into the build (Though might need a allignment shift) so you get an extra 9-10 ac.

Spellcasting prodigy is a great thing to have, so dont worry about that.

Screw undead turning imo... unless you are focused on it with feats and set up... merh... and as a support class let your boys and girls take care of them undead, you just keep them alive while watching a youtube video telling yourself you are an important asset to the team.

Good luck!

[Drow4d20]

So what about 20 cleric/10 Hierophant?

- Hierophant special abilities: Faith Healing, x3 Spellpower, and Inscribe Rune.

- Does Inscribe Rune apply Faith Healing Special Ability when I use it?

- It says "No bonus feats" for Hierophant. Does this mean if I take 10 Hierophant levels at level 13-23 that she will no longer get epic cleric bonus feats?

- Hierophant still gets regular feats every few levels right? It's crucial I take quicken spell during the 10 Hierophant levels, but not waste a special ability slot.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?298234 < This is my chart right now. Last epic feat I am considering still. Couldn't hurt to have 1 offensive spell or damnation.

I'm thinking sling & shield will be good for conjurer/healer with no offensive spells. So Zen Archery & Point Blank Shot instead of secondary ESF feats.

Mithril platemail and heavy shield will be cool later on, but for lower levels I'll rely on buffs, shield, and lighter armor. Whatever I can afford to carry with low STR.

My drow cleric is an assassin/hierophant build with a lot of stealth skill which is fun for blast infidel. My drow can also tank with spider form. She's kind of overpowered to be honest, but that's drow for ya

Heal kits are a pain to deal with. It's cool to have 10-20 on hand for emergency use, but I don't like using them on other players. Runes, quicken heal, and sanctuary would be preferred over HIPS and heal kits.

Thanks guys!

[Blackman D]

i would lower CON to put STR and CHA to 10s at least, you can cast bulls, bears and eagles to raise them more but clerics have other abilities aside from turn undead that use CHA, depending on what feats you are taking

and of course more STR for carrying kits

[Drow4d20]

Is there a sling with point blank shot so I can save a feat slot?

I'm not using any CHA based feats or abilities. I would have considered being an undead turner, but the bonus feats included aren't worth it to me. Especially without divine vigor. Her empowered healing spells and good Heal (spell) casting abilities will handle undead if need be.

As for STR, I don't plan to carry many healing kits, and until I find Mithril armor & shield I'm cool using light armor or cloth with buffs, shield, and sling.

Sanctuary is a great spell that I feel is often overlooked. It's great for safe healing, escaping, and acts similarly to invisibility with monsters. So I'd like high CON for HP (for lack of AC early on) and Concentration to make sure Sanctuary, buffs, and heals get cast as often as possible.

Her backstory ties into the build as well. She's from a mining town called Silverdale (from a table top campaign) that was overrun by duergar and illithid one night. She was cursed by a powerful demon which caused her hair, eyes, and skin to turn pale; and she became blind. This would explain her low STR as well.

She managed to escape the onslaught, and wandered aimlessly for many days until she was found by members of the temple of the triad. She had been a basic priestess of Yondalla and a miner in the town of Silverdale prior. Considering her pain and suffering she took a liking to the triad, particularly Ilmater. So she trained to be a great healer, trying to cure her affliction, as well as vowing to help aid those in need wherever she traveled.

She learned to use divine magick site (kinda like Merlin... lol) to help her navigate and fight, but is still not the greatest at seeing, especially when there is no evil presence to help resonate her detect evil abilities. This makes for fun RP in town and explains why she can sense evil and still strike it with zen archery. She's a healer of Ilmater so she can sense pain and suffering among her allies.

[electric mayhem]

Yes there is at Gully.

[Drow4d20]

Thanks guys. If worse comes to worse I'll drop CON and up STR some. I can RCR until level 15 I think and she's still only 9. And yeah I found a Brawler's Sling (with PBS) with my Drow for like 30k

[electric mayhem]

There's also a pair of gloves with the feat on it, fairly common drop on Mudds or forum auction house.

[Glowfire]

Just fyi Detect Evil is only able to be used through DM supervision (as far as I know) as it's not an actual ability IG.

I'm not sure where you get that she should sense all kinds of things (am I overlooking something?). It can only be done through server spells and abilities. Not trying to be a spoilsport but for example, she'd only sense someone else's pain with Status, Shield Other or similar. I'm mostly saying this so there's some issues avoided in the future if you stick to playing this character.

[Drow4d20]

Well if being blinded by backstory curses goes against the will of the world (or DMs) I will figure something out. But for now it's made for interesting RP. One could assume that if I'm in a group and someone is hurt they would say something or she would hear it. She has an aura of good and regularly casts protection against evil. These obviously have their limits of range, but so far she's done okay with sticking to realism (I think) though realistically this entire world wouldn't exist. They offer the eye cover head piece. I liked it. It went with her backstory. I used it. If it's really a big deal and people think I'm not RPing the character well enough to justify her actions I would gladly reconsider the build. Though I only have 2 characters I play. She is my surface toon. There's actually a priestess in Baldur's gate that gives you a quest to gather berries to help make potion for better eye site... I happened to randomly stumble upon her with this toon, though I haven't done the quest. I could wear glasses and drink a fellow priestess's potions to perhaps see a bit better... Cuz realistically I guess slinging bullets towards enemies may hit allies too... Idk... I try to find a balance of what is realistic while reminding myself this is a fantasy game lol...