I'm looking for a good nwn2 devine build for the oc campaign… any recommendations?

In this context good is defined as;
1. Both good or evil builds to level 20 with at least 1 social skill i.e. diplomacy, intimidate or bluff?
2. Powerful enough to finish the game (in a normal group) without cheating.

Yes any divine and a Cleric is a strong contender… the but comes from already having a Cleric companion.

Any special reason why human? As this is a single class there is no penalty.

In D&D Humans seem to be a bit more balanced stat wise. Elves are usually more in the ways of Dexterity or Charisma, while Dwarves, Half-Orcs and such have more strength or Constitution. This is just at base level though.

Zjaeve is one of the last NPC's added to the party, so most of the game is played without the option of a Cleric companion. It's not like there's a huge problem with two Clerics; especially at high levels it's a very versatile class that can either stand back and spell-spam with the wizards or step forward and tank with the fighters.

I wouldn't worry too much about duplicating the class of a party member. The big reason is actually to be well-balanced. The Cleric class gains very few skill points per level, so the human (who gains +1 skill point per level) naturally fills in for that weakness. You also suffer no stat penalties and the bonus feat is better than most other racial bonuses anyways (even if you're just going to throw it into a heritage feat like luck fo heroes).

The Aasimar comes closest to human for suitability to a Cleric, but his level adjustment is quite painful and you'll probably want to re-allocate points to intelligence to make up for the loss of playing a non-human race.

Interesting, ok Cleric it is then… would you add |splash into any of the prestige classes like war priest (tower shield and bow) or just stay with the pure class?

Wouldn't use the Warpriest, personally. It sacrifices too much spellcasting for too little benefit, and most of its abilities can be duplicated with spellcasting. Stormlord and Doomguide are alright, but have pretty hefty prerequisites. I'd just stick with straight Cleric.

There is really no reason other than slightly more HP to stick with Cleric. They get all their stuff right away and can continue to progress that stuff as a prestige class. At level 6 you can switch to Doom Guide, enhance your undead slaying ability to absurd levels, get a slew of other useful abilities and progress with warrior-style attack-bonuses without losing your cleric's spell progression. The only disadvantage is d6 instead of d8 for hitpoints.'

Humans are cool when you want that bonus feat right away or want maximum skills but this is usually only to your advantage when you want to jump into a prestige class with a lot of feat prereqs quickly.

Compare that human stat set to an Asimar. You lose a level (it takes twice as much XP to get to 2) and a bonus feat but +2 WIS and CHA is no joke.

STR 14
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 16

People treat Charisma as a dump stat but it actually does have a fair bit of impact on a lot of divine class abilities and spell effects, particularly undead turning and half the stuff paladins do. Charisma also extends the duration of a and times/day of a lot of special abilities for sphere and prestige class special abilities. Most hugely/conveniently, Paladins get a CHA bonus TO ALL SAVES at 2nd level. I'm not as much of a D&D nerd as I used to be but it also seems to matter to a lot of divine spell effects although Wisdom is still critical for effectiveness in terms of being difficult to dispel/resist. And since you care about social skills for the campaign, it's nice fit for that need too.

Obvious class choices are:

* Cleric 5, Doomguide+

By level 20(19 if Aasimar) you'd have full casting ability of a cleric with vastly enhanced undead-smiting ability, higher BAB and 1 more attack/round at the cost of switching from d8 to d6 for five levels for hitpoints. I would focus on WIS for this and would probably multi further but if you want to keep it simple you don't really trade much of anything off for this build.

* Paladin

I would drop WIS to 14 and maybe boost strength 1 more for a purist paladin. Not really a divine focused class but could multiclass with anything easily with Aasimar.

* Paladin 4, Favored Soul 6, Doomguide 9

This is primarily about getting a fighter with some stronger than ranger/paladin spellcasting ability with the favored Soul's non-memorized-style casting. It definitely takes a spell progression hit as your highest available spell level would be 6 (7 with non-aasimar and DG at 10) but you get a heck of a lot more spells per day than a pure Paladin and the cast-whatever-you-want factor of a Favored Soul. Favored Soul would also get Exotic Weapons for free and a free weapon focus for Bastard Sword since you have to take Kelemvor as your deity. This is okay as you'll be wanting to use a bastard sword for one of the Doomguide's nastiest ability vs undead. Cleric/DG fights great too but Paladin in the mix does some nice stuff like +3 to all saving throws and tons of immunities/resistances to really annoying stuff.

From a strict char-op point of view you are correct, but from a RP perpective the deity prerequisite on Doomguide is limiting.

Otherwise, all good points. I'd be inclined to drop the Aasmar Cleric's charisma down to 14 and his intelligence up to 14, though. Clerics are really short on skill points, and since you're shoe-horned into being the party face in the campaign every skill point matters.

Thanks for the feed back guys, I went with Dwarf Cleric of Gorm Gulthyn… War and Evil realms gives him a free Dwarven Waraxe focus & I'll take at least 1 level of war priest to unlock tower shields.

Strength 12
Dexterity 12
Constitution 16
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 14
Charisma 12
As far as I can see this gives him all the skills (concentration, diplomacy & spell craft) he should need but I'll take able learner as well… just in case.

Can anyone please confirm that the Extend Spell feat will work for my Cleric buffs?

It will.

Your WIS is too low though, IMO. A Cleric's level of spells he's able to cast depends on Wisdom and yours is going to be an issue. Since you only get a boost to an ability score at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20, you'll be 'behind the curve', so to speak. As well, the DC of your spells (if you're using them for offense) is augmented by your WIS modifier. You also get bonus spells for high WIS.

For example, assuming you bump WIS at every opportunity, you'll have only have 17 WIS at level Cleric level 15, which is where you'd normally access level 8 spells. Since your ability to cast any particular spell level requires a base of [10 + spell level], this means you'll not be able to cast level 8 spells until you reach level 16 and can raise WIS to 18. If you know this already and are fine with it, then ignore the above.

Dwarf is a decent race as well. The evil domain isn't particularly good (no pun intended), but it's not a big deal if you like its powers. I personally like the Time domain since it gives you access to the haste spell, which is one of the most powerful spells in the game and normally restricted to wizards, sorcerers, and bards. I'd recommend just spending a feat to gain tower shield proficiency. It's not worth slowing down your spellcasting progression. If you're too starved for feats to do this, then I'd recommend multi-classing fighter instead. This will give you tower shield proficiency for free and a bonus combat feat. This spares you having to meet the prerequisites for the Warpriest and the bonus feat is about as good as what you'd get from going Warpriest anyways. I'm concerned about your low strength and wisdom. You need to begin with at least 15 wisdom to gain access to your full spellcasting potential at higher levels, otherwise you won't meet the prerequisites to cast your most powerful spells. Strength is less of an issue, but it could impact your character. Clerics can wear heavy armor (and you plan to carry a tower shield, a very heavy piece of equipment) and that can bog you down quite quickly on a mere 12 strength. This also negatively impacts your melee attacks, since strength affects both accuracy and damage with melee weapons.

I personally consider 14 the minimum strength for any melee-oriented character, and would prefer to begin with 16 if point buy allows. It doesn't in this case (not without sacrificing something significant) but the Cleric can bolster himself with his spellcasting so it should even out just fine. You'll be fine on the skill front with 14 intelligence, but I wouldn't bother with able learner. It's a feat that works best if you have lots of skill points, but very few class skills. Most of the time, this will only be relevant for wizards. If there's a particular skill you really want that happens to be cross-class that might be one thing, but most of the time you're better off just having another party member specialize in it. Yes, extend spell will work with anything that has a duration. Just be mindful that sometimes area transitions will strip away all your buffs.

Act 2 Update;

I'm enjoying my Cleric more than I did the mage because he is more in your face with the combat style… some observations.

The Wisdom isn't proving to be a problem… I suspect this is partially because I took the one level of Warpriest which effectively delayed my Cleric casting by one level, anyway.

There are plenty of strength items around and I haven't encountered a problem which my extended buffs can't deal with… a case in point is the trail by combat;
1, I cloak with 'Sanctuary' and he just stands there politely waiting whilst I put up the rest of my buffs.
2. I slap a 'Doom' on the big guy and then listen to the crowd cringe as he gets eviscerated by my 'Blade Barrier: Self'… seriously the easiest win I've ever had with this quest.

I think you guys are right about 'Able Learning' being a less than amazing feat for this build but I'm spending some points on the Use Magic Device skill in the hope of getting better mileage out of it… anyway, so far, so good!

Your relatively low wisdom score is going to be a minor nuisance for most of your career. However, it will suddenly become a major problem during the end-game, specifically when you're level 18 and 19. Presuming you put every attribute advancement into wisdom, the problem will resolve itself when you reach level 20. That will deal with the carrying capacity issue, but no matter how many buffs you're using you'll always be 2 points of strength behind where you could have otherwise been. It may seem like a small bonus, but small bonuses add up.


Glad you're enjoying the character.