New player build advice - Cleric/Morninglord/Hierophant

[WatWatsen]

Hello,

So I was inspired by this build ( http://nwn2db.com/build/?143008 ) and reading these forums, and I'd like to roll up an old school cleric- melee focused (rather than pure casting), strong turning, cast some buffs and heals, beat things up with a mace. Wanna have a strong focus on destroying the undead. A Morninglord of Lathander sounds right up my alley. Problem is, I'm totally new to the server as well as Kaedrin's pack, so I'm unfamiliar with any of the new feats and such, as well as what kinds of enemies and equipment are on the server, so I don't know what's essential and what to skip, and what kind of stats/feats/AC/AB/etc I'm shooting for. I want a build that's both fluffy/RP friendly and strong, I think it's cheesy when people include dips of unthematic things just because they're strong. I'm reading that cleric 10/morninglord 10/hierophant 10 is a pretty good split for a cleric focused on turning. Is turning even worthwhile at high levels, assuming I build for it, or does it not scale well on the server?

So I'm thinking:
Human preferably, maybe aasimar if it's really required (can ECL chars hit 30 or are they capped at 30-ECL modifier?).
Lathander for sure. Sun and strength domains.
10 cleric/10 morninglord/10 hierophant, unless a compelling reason not to? The build I was inspired by included a paladin dip of 3 levels, presumably for the cha +saves, aura, and immunities. I want to stick to mace as Lathander's favored weapon, so I don't care about proficiencies. But being a member of the Order of the Aster might be interesting...
Stats, something in the neighborhood of 14str/12dex/12con/10int/14-16 wis/14-16 cha. The build I was inspired by used 14wis/16cha but included pally levels, I'd think if I went with a 10/10/10 split instead I'd want 16wis and 14cha to not hamper spellcasting, unless +wis items are easily found. Thoughts?

Feats are a tough one too, obviously I'll need the prereqs for Morninglord. The build I was inspired by included sacred purification, it looked bad when I looked it up but I guess Kaedrin's makes it heal/damage d8 per level or something? Which wouldn't seem too bad. The build I linked also invested three feats into heavy armor optimization, is that essential for surviving the server? Also it took extra turning 3 as a feat which is redundant with Morninglord I believe. Planar turning might be fun to shoot for, but it seems like the stats for that and EDM would be really hard to hit without aasimar and/or severe min-maxing.

Skills, I'm thinking max concentration, spellcraft to 30, diplomacy 5 (prereq), religion:lore 15 (prereq) leaving 16 points remaining with int 10... heal maybe? Or something else?

Also about hierophant abilities... I'm thinking master of energy, advanced divine spellpower. and spellpower 1-3. Thoughts?

I appreciate any input and suggestions- thank you!

[Tsidkenu]

It's not a very good stat split. If you want to go melee cleric, best route 16 base WIS then Str/Cha to 21 each for EDM (or simply full STR). Since you won't be a DC caster you can drop (Advanced) Divine Spell power and take Faith Healing from Hierophant instead for double (damage!) heals, ideal for your anti-undead view.

Planar Turning was changed on BGTSCC and you can qualify for it with only 21 CHA, making it an ideal accompaniment to an EDM Morninglord.

[WatWatsen]

Per your advice:

Switched race to aasimar, starting stat split of 16str/12dex/12con/10int/16wis/16cha. I can't really see any way to get to 21str/21cha with a human while still keeping wis high, am I basically required to go aasimar to get EDM as a cleric?

Will require a +3 wis item to cast all spells, is that going to be hard to find by the late teens?

Skill points will be tight with 10 int, wouldn't be able to hit spellcraft 30. Could boost to 12 and drop dex to 10, I'm guessing 1ac for +4 saves vs spells is a worthwhile trade? That'd also give me 16 free skill points (after max concentration, lore:religion and diplomacy prereqs, and 30 spellcraft) that I could put into heal, or any other worthwhile skills I'm not considering.

Feats are also super tight, here's the level/feat spread I'm considering, with the changes you suggested:

1 cleric, sun and strength domains, extra turning (prereq)
2 cleric
3 cleric, great fortitude (prereq)
4 cleric
5 cleric
6 morninglord, extend spell (prereq)
7 morninglord
8 morninglord
9 morninglord, power attack (prereq)
10 morninglord
11 morninglord
12 cleric, divine might (prereq)
13 morninglord
14 morninglord
15 cleric, divine shield (?)
16 morninglord
17 morninglord
18 hierophant, free feat (?)
19 hierophant, master of energy
20 hierophant
21 hierophant, planar turning, faith healing
22 hierophant
23 hierophant, great strength +1, spellpower 1
24 hierophant
25 hierophant, great strength +2, spellpower 2
26 hierophant
27 hierophant, great strength +3, spellpower 3
28 cleric
29 cleric, epic divine might
30 cleric

So I pretty much only have one free feat, at level 18, assuming I want to keep divine shield (do I?). I'm used to taking stuff like luck of heroes and weapon focus and blindfight, which I clearly won't have room for everything in a build like this. Thoughts?

Thanks for your help!! Much appreciated.

[Sun Wukong]

You could drop Divine Shield for Blinfight - since it and EDM both eat your uses of Turn Undead.

You can have both, but you can make do with just EDM...

[Tsidkenu]

10 dex is fine (with +4 Dex bracers & Mithral Half-plate) or even 9 is (+3 dex item & full plate).

An alternative extra feat is Improved Power Attack. Your AB will be plenty with all the various cleric buffs so having an extra +6 (+12 while two-handing) damage is nice.

[Storm Munin]

Consider the healing reserve feat if you go augmented healing and faith healing.

[WatWatsen]

Okay, drop dex to 10 and bump int to 12. Dex 9 would get me 13 con, dex 8 would get me 14 con. Are those sacrifices I'd want to make? I don't want to overly-rely on expensive/rare stat items.

Touch of healing + augmented healing does sound like a nice idea but I just don't think I have the free feats for it.

Is sacred purification any good? Kaedrin's says it's changed to do d8 per half of cha, plus cha mod, healing to party and damage to undead. Not sure how it's implemented here.

Would I regret waiting until 18 to take blindfight? I could shuffle around the feats and take it at 6 or 9 if it's vital. I don't know how important it is, just that "you forgot blind fight!"

Then I suppose the final feat comes down to divine shield vs improved power attack. Leaning towards divine shield just because I like the idea, unless sacred purification is actually decent here.

Appreciate the input!

[Sun Wukong]

It is okay to leave the Blindfight feat for later, level 18 is fine. There are some concealment caster mobs every now then, but most show up in the early and late epic areas.

[WatWatsen]

I just realized today that power attack doesn't work with a light weapon (i.e. mace, which I'm using since it's Lathander's favored weapon). I'd been considering taking improved power attack but since that will be useless, how well would northlander hewing work? It's basically a choice between that and blindfight for the lvl 18 feat. Might help my damage output since I'm just using a d6 weapon with only a 20/x2 threat range. It'd be fluffy since I'm RPing a northerner. Thoughts?

Thanks again for the suggestions, loving the server so far.

[Glowfire]

Unless you're a Favoured Soul or took a feat for a mace, you could use a morningstar and take a visual appearance that looks mace-like.

[WatWatsen]

I feel as though the Gods would not be fooled by such a deception :V I had assumed it was frowned upon for clerics to not use their deity's favored weapon, if they're able to?

I'm reading mixed info (possibly outdated) about northlander hewing on the forums- bad feat, or worthwhile?