New Campaign, Old Stuff

[Brobdingnagian]

So this friend of mine invited me to join his D&D campaign. The party is at level 12 right now, and though the setting is largely original, the rules are (mostly) core stuff. Normally, I'd just use Wish economy to break the game entirely, but there is one particular house rule he mentioned - Wish (and the corresponding monsters who would have such an ability) does not exist. So, no Wish economy.

But that's fine. I'm still planning on proving that core D&D simply doesn't work after a certain point. So I decided to play a Cleric/Radiant Servant. At this point, I've got six levels in each class and the requisite abilities. I've distributed my stats (very high-powered game, 16 STR, 14 DEX, 20 CON, 15 INT, 22 WIS, and 18 CHA) as well as my skill points. I have the Sun Domain by necessity, and I get two others (Radiant Servant gives a bonus domain of any of Pelor's normal domains, as well as Glory or Purification). And I get level 12 DMG wealth to work with.

So here's what I'm asking. I'd like a build that will work for what I'm doing. I'm not necessarily asking for a whole build, just some ideas as to what feats to pick and what spells to use.

Thanks in advance.

[Jacob_Orlove]

Should we limit suggestions to core-only, or do you want to use other sources?

It's also worth noting that while RSoP is great at healing and turning undead, neither one is really worth your time at higher levels. You'd be much better off with a different PrC, or, if you just want to show that core is unbalanced, a single-classed Cleric (or Druid!).

[Maxus]

I don't make any pretense at being good at exploiting DnD, but...

Divine Power. Level 4 cleric spell. +6 to Str, +1 hp/level, and BAB equal to your character level. It's good for showing the fighter up.

I'd have to check the spell list, but if you want to be party-friendly, you'd be good to throw buffs and debuffs around.

Save-or-Dies are good, too. You could be handing out Slay Living and Plane Shift on people. (Plane Shift if good for giving free vacations to the Abyss or the Negative Energy Plane, and with your Wisdom, your DC is going to be very high.)

And summoning stuff is generally a good bet.

With your charisma, I think you could do something with the Divine feats that're powered by your uses of turn undead.

[SphereOfFeetMan]

Your best bet is to google search WotC's CO page. They have tons of handbooks and guides that have a lot of useful stuff. You can find information relevant to whatever you are looking for quite easily. Surreal's handy links for CO work is a great index: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=482636

It's true that most of the stuff on the WotC boards isn't worth reading (as evidenced by the 'Threads that make us Laugh, Cry, or Both' thread), but I'd say a solid 2% of the posters can relate insightful, useful information for CO. Thankfully those posts are cataloged and easy to find.

[Cynic]

If you want to show the proper of doing it, you can always go cleric archer. It isn't the usual Cleric cheese but it still shows your ability to be crazy in situations that aren't really deemed to be your "true" shtick.

if you've got access to the completes then zen archery would be good for that particular build.

[SunTzuWarmaster]

What you are after is Divine Metamagic because it is both game-breaking and awesome. Essentially, you can use your Turn Undead in the place of Metamagic Spell Slot. So, if you can swing 6 Turn Undead attempts, then you can be a kick-ass fighter via Persistance Divine Power. Your build may look something like this:

1 - Zen Archery, Extend Spell (OR the Planning Domain)
* side note - Undeath Domain give you an extra 3 turnings/day
3 - Persistent Spell
6 - Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)

So, for total cheese, the build can end up looking something like this:
Human Cleric 1 - Planning Domain, Extra Turning, Persistent Spell, Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell), Feeble
* - can cast any spell on the persistable list with a 24 hour duration (entropic shield, bless and divine favor are solid choices)
3 -
6 -
9 -
12 -

You can take pretty much whatever you want at this point, the goal that you are hunting at is the Persistent Divine Power, preferably with the F&K Zen Archery feat (so you can deliver touch attacks with a bow at level 7), but generally being an archer with a very high attack roll and high strength. Take note that if you keep taking the Extra Turning feat you can persist more spells (Blessed Aim, Righteous Might, whatever). Additionally, you can cast Greater Magic Weapon, and Extended Owls Wisdom for bonus saves and to-hit rolls and shit.

My personal recommendation is that you go for the all-kinds-of-death cleric. Take Reach Spell, Divine Metamagic (Reach Spell), and Zen Archery and you can use that awesome Wisdom score and maxed-out BAB to deliver Slay Living and Plane Shift at a 30 range.

Of course, you still get:
full armor
decent martial weapons
full BAB
higher strength and to-hit rolls than a fighter
full spellcasting

[Maxus]

1203632315[/unixtime]]What you are after is Divine Metamagic because it is both game-breaking and awesome. Essentially, you can use your Turn Undead in the place of Metamagic Spell Slot. So, if you can swing 6 Turn Undead attempts, then you can be a kick-ass fighter via Persistance Divine Power. Your build may look something like this:

1 - Zen Archery, Extend Spell (OR the Planning Domain)
* side note - Undeath Domain give you an extra 3 turnings/day
3 - Persistent Spell
6 - Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)

So, for total cheese, the build can end up looking something like this:
Human Cleric 1 - Planning Domain, Extra Turning, Persistent Spell, Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell), Feeble
* - can cast any spell on the persistable list with a 24 hour duration (entropic shield, bless and divine favor are solid choices)
3 -
6 -
9 -
12 -

You can take pretty much whatever you want at this point, the goal that you are hunting at is the Persistent Divine Power, preferably with the F&K Zen Archery feat (so you can deliver touch attacks with a bow at level 7), but generally being an archer with a very high attack roll and high strength. Take note that if you keep taking the Extra Turning feat you can persist more spells (Blessed Aim, Righteous Might, whatever). Additionally, you can cast Greater Magic Weapon, and Extended Owls Wisdom for bonus saves and to-hit rolls and shit.

My personal recommendation is that you go for the all-kinds-of-death cleric. Take Reach Spell, Divine Metamagic (Reach Spell), and Zen Archery and you can use that awesome Wisdom score and maxed-out BAB to deliver Slay Living and Plane Shift at a 30 range.

Of course, you still get:
full armor
decent martial weapons
full BAB
higher strength and to-hit rolls than a fighter
full spellcasting

May I add, never underestimate the usefulness of buffing yourself?

You could use Divine Persistent to give yourself Owl's Wisdom and add a couple of points onto everything you use wisdom for (Zen Archery, spell DCs, etc). If you wanted to be nice, you could give the melee person a long-lasting boost to strength.

Alternatively, you could shell out the cash for that Wisdom-increasing worn item in the SRD, AND buff yourself.

Also, spend some cash on some Wands of Cure Light Wounds if you'll be expected to heal.