The War Priest Cleric: PF2e Build #5

if you want to play a character who is about  as strong A Healer as you can possibly be but   still be able to pump out about as much  damage as a dedicated damage dealer then   you're going to enjoy this particular  pathfinder character build welcome to D4 [Music]   hey everybody so here at D4 each week we take  a deep dive into one sometimes two specific   character builds for our favorite ttrpgs we Theory  craft about them we crunch numbers about them not   so that I can tell you the right way or the best  way to play a certain character but to explore   one potential way to build a character with the  hopes of creating something that is both really   powerful but also really fun to play so if you  enjoy creating characters for your role-playing   games almost as much as you enjoy playing the  actual game itself or if you're just looking for   tips or ideas for a character that you're thinking  about playing then welcome home this is where you   belong and I am so glad you're here so thanks for  being here my name is Colby right let's just jump   right in one of the first things I did as soon as  I got the core rule book for Pathfinder 2E was to   start looking through the class list and try to  figure out okay which class is going to make the   best Gish because I love gishes as you all know  alas I seem to discover ever there's not really   a class in the core rule book that makes a  good Gish a character who can be focused on   both making weapon attacks and casting spells  in combat to damage their enemies lame and so   I started to ask around and discovered that yes  the Magus is what I was really looking for if I   wanted to play a Gish in Pathfinder 2E that's  what everybody told me and so a few weeks ago   I did my first ever spell sword Gish build for  Pathfinder The Laughing Shadow Magus Magus sorry   it was a lot of fun and I'm playing a version  of that character right now in the rules lawyers   campaign with Blaine simple Mr Rex monkey DM and  the DM's layer it's awesome but there are a few   things that I've learned over the last few weeks  about Pathfinder that just might contradict that   initial there are no good spell swords in the  core rule book assumption first the multi-attack   penalty in Pathfinder 2E really sucks so far  all of my builds have done their utmost to   mitigate that penalty you suffer from making  multiple attacks on your turn right including   the ninja monk the thief Rogue uh oh here we go  and the flirty Ranger and I'm now out of cards   the mega doesn't count there because they were  only making one attack per turn and thus not   suffering that multi-attack penalty right the  best way is to do the most sustainable damage   per round in Pathfinder 2E seem to be trying  to reduce that multi-attack penalty as best   you can the other thing I've realized is that  while spells that require you to make a spell   attack roll do count towards your multi-attack  penalty spells that require the enemy to make   a saving throw very importantly do not and  so I began to think maybe if we could find a   character who could take advantage of effective  damage spells that require saving throws and   had some nice built-in Ways to Be an Effective  weapon damage dealer we might be able to make   ourselves a half decent Gish right out of the core  rulebook enter the war priest I think it's safe to   say that of all the classes available in the core  rulebook the cleric just might fit the above mold   the best they get more hit points than most full  spell casting classes and get I believe easier   access to and better training with weapons and  armor to me they are the front runner for best   Gish out of the core rulebook though I'd love to  hear your Arguments for who you might think would   be even better in the comments section below and  so today we're going to make ourselves a cleric   Gish a cleric who is built to put out as much  sustainable damage per round as I can manage to   squeeze out of them by using both weapon attacks  and spells on their turn when action economy   allows and of course what might be the best part  about this character is that not only will we be   able to pump out some respectable damage but since  we're a cleric we will naturally have some really   fantastic Support options to boot meaning we get  to do my favorite thing with a support character   heal buff protect our allies while Bringing Down  the Wrath of the righteous upon the Unworthy   and so I proudly present Pathfinder episode number  five the war priest cleric huge thanks to my good   friend Randall Hampton for the Fantastic character  art that he created for the build this week he   does this every week he never ceases to amaze me  with the stuff that he comes up with this week   is no exception so if you would like to follow  Randall on social media or potentially try to   reach out to him to see if you could commission  him to create some art for your character or   even your entire party I will as always put links  in the video description on how to do so thanks   also before we jump into the build I've got  something amazing to tell you guys about so   please don't skip it's a new anthology of 5e  compatible horror Adventures called libris   nocturnum by my friends over at lunch break Heroes  who are the sponsor for the video this week Libras   nocturnum is in Kickstarter right now and there  are only a few days left to back this project   last I checked they were this close to hitting  their funding goal they might have even passed   it by the time this video releases but they need  your support and You're Gonna Want to support them   Libras nocturnum means the book of night in Latin  and the goal for this book is to provide D and D   horror enthusiasts with high quality Adventures  that their entire table will enjoy now you can run   these Adventures individually or together in like  a long-running campaign similar I think to other   recent releases by Wizards of the Coast like wild  Beyond The Witch light or candle keep Mysteries   Etc the world of Libra's nocturnum is a land  beset by by evil where nightmares roam free   your characters are among a handful who dare  Brave the darkness the question is will they   push back the night or join the countless others  who have been consumed by evil in each Adventure   Libras nocturnum tackles a new facet of the horror  genre from Gothic horror to body horror to Cosmic   horror and much more the adventures held within  will always give dungeon Masters something new   fresh and most importantly terrifying inside this  book you will find over 250 Pages filled with 13   horror Adventures made for characters from levels  1 through 12 where you will attempt to survive a   zombie apocalypse solve bloody Mysteries and break  dark curses there are 13 new settlements towns and   cities to explore over 30 new creatures and NPC  stat blocks beautiful custom art by a variety   of talented artists I mean check it out it is  fantastic right and highly detailed maps by Andy   motto AKA DM Andy now as with all great  kickstarters there are fantastic goodies   available to those who back it now before the  kickstarter ends things like a custom dice set   Foundry vtt modules for the campaigns themselves  which is super cool with stretch goals that will   lead to additional Adventures art prints and  special editions of the book among other things   if you love third-party content creators and or  horror settings in your role-playing games do   yourself a favor and go back this project you  will not regret it I'm putting a link down in   the video description as always on how to get to  the kickstarter I'd really appreciate it if you   would use that link so that they know I sent you  anyway big thanks to everyone over at lunch break   Heroes good luck on hitting that funding goal if  you're not there yet I'm sure you'll get there   and I can't wait to see the finished product  all right let's jump into the build alright   we're gonna jump into level one but really quick  just FYI I'm not planning on doing a video next   week it's spring break here and I'm going to take  some time off hang out with my family also as a   reminder I'm only using the core rule book here  for this build with one teeny weeny exception   so if there are other options along the way from  other books that might be more optimal please do   tell me about them but just know that I'm trying  to stick to the basics still both for myself and   for so many of you who are still kind of learning  to walk in Pathfinder here I hope to be done with   that sort of self-imposed restriction soon maybe  start looking at the advanced player's guide   finally alright so yes for our class we're going  cleric and and as a cleric our key abilities score   is wisdom and we don't get the option to pick  something different which means that our wisdom   bumps up to a 12. that's okay as a character  who will or at least could be the party's   primary healer High wisdom is a good thing now  at level one clerics have to choose a deity and   here's something that I really appreciate about  Pathfinder they really lean in to the the whole   religion and Alignment thing while I appreciate  the direction that DND 5e seems to be increasingly   going to kind of allow you to customize your  character in whatever way you think best with   non-religious paladins and Alignment often just  kind of being flavor and concept without a whole   lot of actual mechanics to them Pathfinder holds a  little bit more of an old school philosophy where   clerics worship a God and the god you pick has  all kinds of important repercussions for your   character not just conceptually but mechanically  as well your God will determine your alignment you   have to choose an alignment represented by that  God and then each deity has a favorite weapon and   you get to have trained Proficiency in that weapon  that seems especially important for a gishy war   priest right more on weapons in a second you also  get to have access to spells from your deity that   are often not otherwise listed on the Divine spell  list which is the only spell list that clerics by   default get access to this makes picking your  deity incredibly important and I kind of love   that honestly finally your deity comes with an  anathema a ban or something prohibited by your   God doing things that are anathema to your deity  can also have repercussions for your character   it's a little bit loosey-goosey here and your GM  will ultimately be the one to decide when you've   done too many like bad things but once you have  you lose the magical abilities that come from   your connection to your deity until you perform a  complicated atone ritual that frankly is kind of   awesome I like having consequences to my actions  in my role-playing games sorry not sorry anyway   as for the deity I would like to choose this  is going to be the one place where my build   is going outside of the core rulebook because I  want to worship ragathio it's a deity that comes   from the gods and magic book reggaetial is sort  of a god of night with a K they are the god of   chivalry Duty and Vengeance which plays perfectly  into the concept of this character I'm creating   Who as a war priest definitely has a nightly like  Inquisitor Paladin kind of feel to them right I   love ragathio here as well because their favorite  weapon is the Bastard Sword and I'm also a big   fan of the Spells we get access to if we choose  them as our deity more on those in a second but   big thanks and shout out to my friend Sean for  this deity recommendation he works with Ronald   the rules lawyer anyway if you're stuck with the  core rule book for deity selection I'd probably go   Gorham here instead but that would mean that you'd  be chaotic neutral at best or chaotic evil Gorham   is the only non-evil deity in the core rule book  with a favorite weapon that's a D12 weapon it's a   great sword and that kind of annoys me actually  it's like why aren't there any good deities who   like big chunky two-handed weapons only evil  clerics want to hit as hard as they can lame   anyway for the rest of this build I'm assuming  that we were able to take reggaetiel as our deity   you'll have to make some minor adjustments if  you can't also regafield's anathema is cowering   from combat forgiving those who have irreparably  sinned or leaving allies unwillingly in darkness   so don't do those things one really cool feature  that clerics get at level one is divine font this   tells us that we get additional spell slots to  cast either heel which is kind of the equivalent   of like cure wounds and Pathfinder but actually  better or harm which is sort of like an inflict   wounds equivalent the number of these extra  spell slots we get are equal to one plus our   Charisma modifier for some odd reason Pathfinder  really doesn't want you to be sad it seems single   abilities core dependent that's okay now these  spell slots are always of the highest level spell   slot we have access to which is awesome but they  can only be used for either harm or heal and which   spell you get to cast harm or heal is dependent  upon your deity because they are going to indicate   what their Divine font is now reggaetiel has both  the harm and heal font which is great but I think   I would still choose heal harm just doesn't do  a ton of damage honestly and will have better   ways to get both sustained and burst damage if we  really need it so yes my plan with this character   is to be the parties like main healer even though  I'm hoping to do as much damage in my turn as   possible most of the time similarly I suppose to  The Alchemist build that I did for DND last week   and I don't have any more cards to link to it  now the heel spell is pretty great and the fact   that we get extra uses of it every day is really  amazing at first level it heals 1d8 hit points   or interestingly damages Undead for 1d8 as well  though they get to make a saving throw against it   there are also some cool ways to enhance the heal  spell if you take more actions to cast it if you   use a single action to cast it to sort of like a  quick uttered prayer when you're under Fire in the   middle of combat it has a range of touch and only  a verbal component if you take two actions to cast   it it takes on the verbal and somatic components  and has a range of 30 feet now plus it restores 8   extra hit points amazing best of all you can use  all three of your actions to cast this spell if   you do it takes on a material component as well  as somatic and verbal but then you basically   shoot out like an explosion of healing energy that  emanates out to 30 feet from you in all directions   that said it's going to heal all living creatures  in that area even enemies potentially and harms   all Undead in the area as well man that is just  such a cool image and I hope you get to do this   somewhere regularly to really turn the tide of  the battle for your party the cleric subclass is   called their Doctrine and the core rule book only  has two choices for your Doctrine the cloistered   cleric which is more of a spell casting focused  cleric and the war priest which as I've said is   what we're going with your chosen Doctrine gives  you features at first 3rd 7th 11th 15th and 19th   levels the first Doctrine we receive as a war  priest is training in light and medium armor   expert proficiency and fortitude saves nice and  the shield block General feat which is great if   we were planning on using a shield which were not  though you totally could and wouldn't suffer a   huge hit to your damage I'm just trying to explore  the limits of what's possible damage wise as usual   so I am building the S4 a two-handed weapon as  for the skills that we get trained proficiency   with we get religion for free as a cleric and  then our deity dictates another regathio gives   us intimidation which is potentially useful to  try and demoralize enemies and make them afraid   as I tried to make use of in my Thief build a  few weeks ago and we are going to have a decent   Charisma score actually so that's not wasted as  for the other two skills that we get to pick here   I think I take Athletics since we have a good  strength score meaning tripping and shoving and   grappling enemies are things we could potentially  be pretty successful at doing on this character   and jumping and climbing and things always seems  to come in handy in Pathfinder and you need a good   Athletic score to do those things so makes sense  to me I think then I'd probably take nature as we   will have a good wisdom score to augment that  and nature seems to come up fairly often for   recall knowledge checks among other things for our  ancestry our race yeah I'm gonna go human but not   for the reason that you're probably thinking we  get to bump two ability scores with our ancestry   right and I'm gonna take strength to 12 and then  Charisma to 12. we want a good Charisma both so   that we can cast heal more often during the day  and for our our archetype or multi-classing that   we're going to be doing next level as for our  heritage or human sub race I want to go with   half work on this character which I haven't done  yet I don't see this as strictly necessary but I   do really love the image of a half work cleric  who worships the god of Vengeance and is both   able to like let out all their inner rage on the  battlefield but who then also has a gentler or   more protective side and wants to care for and  defend their allies too half Orcs get low light   vision which will help you see better in dim light  at least and then we get to choose An ancestry   feat at level one and I want to take adapted can  trip and it's actually the main reason I wanted to   go with human for my ancestry adapted cantrip is  I think the only way for us to get a can trip from   another spell list other than the Divine spell  list and use our wisdom modifier when we cast   it clerics have some decent damage cantrips most  notably Chill Touch but I think the best damaging   cantrip in the game at least from the core rule  book is probably electric Arc and it's an Arcane   can trip meaning we can't get it unless we get  creative and yes I want to use cantrips here   because I'm going for sustained damage right I  want to be as resource free as I can when I'm   hitting enemies with my attacks and spells every  round adapted cantrip lets us learn a cantrip   outside of our magical tradition and treat it as  a cantrip of our magical tradition so yes that   means we can learn electric Arc from the Arcane  spell list and then cast it using our wisdom   modifier as opposed to our Charisma modifier if  we say learned this cantrip as an innate spell if   we took a different ancestry something like that  electric Arc is fantastic it takes two actions to   cast targets one enemy within 30 feet and then can  leap to a second enemy within 30 feet and does one   D4 electricity damage plus our wisdom modifier to  both of them it scales by 1d4 of damage for every   additional spell level you get access to and yeah  I'm gonna plan on using this throughout our career   for sustained damage purposes saving our spell  slots for healing buffing and maybe once in a   while potentially some burst damage too for our  background as always it doesn't matter too much   what we pick so long as we get something that will  let us bump either strength or wisdom because yes   we're going to bump both of those to 14 here I'm  going to take the field medic background since   it really fits my concept of this character being  someone in the thick of the fight but who's also   trying to patch up their allies and I really like  the skill feat that it offers with field medic we   get training in the medicine skill and the Warfare  lore skill and then learn the battle medic skill   feed alright so yes this is the build where I'm  finally going to dive in a little deeper to the   awesomeness that is treat wounds in Pathfinder as  a reminder treat wounds is probably the main way   that players heal up between combat encounters  as opposed to spending hit dice during a short   rest in d d right someone who is trained in  medicine and has healer's tools can take 10   minutes typically to try and heal themselves  or an ally you have to make a dc-15 medicine   check to do so and if you succeed you heal for  2d8 hit points and remove the wounded condition   if your target has it that's what you get after  you've dropped to zero hit points remember now   you can only treat wounds once per hour per  person critical successes heal double and you   can raise the DC of the check when you get hired  training proficiency so expert Master Etc in order   to heal for even more you are the main healer in  your party and while yes that means that you'll   often be using healing spells especially in combat  to patch your allies up or bring them back from   the brink of death the battle medicine skill feed  that we get here is another great way to help us   heal in combat since it lets you treat wounds  as a single action instead of over 10 minutes   you can only use battle medicine once per day per  Target but it's still a really nice thing to have   and a pinch to save your spell slots or use when  you're out of spell slots right for our final four   free ability boosts we get at level one let's  take wisdom to 16 strength to 16. Charisma to   14 and Constitution to 12. really wish I could  have gotten strength to 18 for damage purposes   but it's impossible without it being an option  as our class's key ability score no worries I   really like where we're at as for the equipment I  want to start out with here at level one as a war   priest again we're proficient in medium armor so  let's buy some chain mail a holy symbol for spell   casting some healers tools for treat wounds and  finally yes my favorite of all swords the Bastard   Sword I made use of this in my Magus build last  month and I still really love it with a Bastard   Sword you can either use one hand to attack for  1d8 of damage or in true hand and a half style use   two hands to do one D12 damage with it I plan on  4G showing my defenses as I've said and using two   hands but feel free to pick up a shield and just  go d8 instead like I say the damage difference   isn't that huge but I kind of also don't plan on  often having an action available most turns to   raise a shield and don't forget unlike in d d just  having a shield doesn't actually do you much good   in Pathfinder you have to take an action to raise  it to increase your AC and potentially show block   right finally then at level one we need to pick  which cleric spells we're going to have prepared   we get five can trips and two first level spells  for the cantrips we have to go electric Arc and   then I think I take guidance which takes an action  to cast and lets you add a plus one status bonus   to the attack perception save or seal check of a  Target before the start of your next turn I like   light to help out those of us without dark vision  Shield is a really strong option especially for   those of us not using an actual Shield to spend an  action when we need to to raise a magical Shield   with a hardness of five giving us a plus one  to our Armor class so not quite as good as a   regular shield but then it lets us kind of have  our cake and eat it too and that we get to use   a two-handed weapon but we can throw up Shield  once in a while if it's really important to do   so right also it lets us take advantage of that  Shield block reaction that we've got though after   using Shield block with the shield spell we can't  cast the spell again for 10 minutes anyway I think   it's a good option finally I think I take the  stabilized can trip which doesn't heal right away   but at least prevents a creature from bleeding  out if they're unconscious and then when we cast   it on our allies next turn they do get to recover  one HP and can take their turn normally assuming   of course they didn't get hit in the meantime the  rules do state that you should probably make this   little bit of healing an optional rule but it's  a good spell to have regardless as for the first   level spells that I want there are a few good ones  to choose from regathio gives us access to True   strike which essentially gives gives us advantage  on our next hit this turn we get to roll two d20s   to see if we hit instead of one and that's good  but I'm not sure if it's really worth the spell   on this character magic weapon is awesome until  we get magic weapons anyway giving our weapons   a plus one to hit and an extra die of damage  I think I'd definitely use it early on beyond   that bless is good though not nearly as good as  it is in DND I think it gives us and our allies   within five feet a plus one status bonus to hit  it lasts for a minute and interestingly on your   turn you can spend an action to increase the  aura to 10 feet and then another action on the   next turn to 15 feet Etc which potentially can  be really cool every plus one matters finally   for first level spells I also really like fear in  that it can cause enemies to be frightened and as   we've already explored in other videos that can  be really powerful we would have a decent chance   at intimidating instead if we wanted but fear  for this character feels a little more relaxed   viable plus if they fail their save against it  it puts them at fear too as opposed to fear one   that intimidate would typically do on a regular  success so I don't know good option at level two   we get to choose our first cleric feat and I want  emblazon Armament it's a second level feat and   basically lets us etch a sacred image into for us  our Bastard Sword letting that sword then act as   a holy symbol that can then fulfill the material  components of our spells so that we don't need to   spend an action to grab a holy symbol if we were  to cast a spell that required material components   to be fair in Pathfinder there aren't a ton of  spells that require material components most of   the ones that do are three action spells but if  we didn't have this feat and we did want to cast   heel for example with all three actions for that  awesome 30-foot burst of Holy Light we'd have to   grab our holy symbol on one turn and then cast  the spell with all three actions the next turn   and that kind it sucks oh also this gives us a  plus one status bonus to damage with our weapons   and that's sort of the main reason why I really  wanted it for our skill feat here that we get at   level two I think the most important medicine feat  for us to grab is continual recovery this allows   us to treat wounds on someone every 10 minutes  instead of once per hour and that means that so   long as you're not being constantly bombarded by  enemies every few minutes healing yourself and   your allies back to full health between combat  encounters just got a whole lot easier and much   less time consuming Ronald the rules lawyer tells  me that the difficulty scaling in Pathfinder 2E   just kind of assumes that everyone will be at full  health when combat begins I wonder if that's your   experience for those of you who have played a  lot of pf2 let me know in the comments and then   yes at level two I am assuming as always that we  are playing with the free archetype rule that the   majority of Pathfinder tables seem to play with  and this means that we get our free archetype   feed here and for this character I want to take I  want to take the champion dedication the champion   is essentially the Holy Knight or Paladin class of  Pathfinder right and It just fits perfectly for us   thematically it's not actually going to do a whole  lot for our sustained damage but it does provide   some really nice support and defensive options  first up we get training in heavy armor since our   dexterity bonus is plus zero that's a fantastic  thing I hope you can afford plate mail at this   point it's only 30 gold in Pathfinder so not too  expensive and will definitely be the best thing   we can do for our survivability here and yeah it  does mean that even though we meet the strength   requirement we'd still have a -5 move speed  penalty which means we'd only have a move speed of   20 feet and that's kind of a bummer but C'est La  Vie I want AC that's so dumb we also basically get   training in two more of our choice here go ahead  and pyf pick your favorites and then we get to   choose a deity and a Champions cause which is the  champion subclass I'm just going to go ahead and   stick with regothiel here trying to serve two Gods  feels both like asking for trouble I don't really   want to cause a conflict here I love both of  you equally I promise and overly complicated not   too interested in taking on additional anathemas  thanks since ragathiel is lawful good that means   our cause will be yes the Paladin cause regular  Champions get all sorts of benefits from taking   this cause we only get the Champion's code and no  other benefits for now the paladins code which we   must abide by is to act with Honor Never taking  advantage of others lying or cheating and we must   respect lawful Authority we're rule followers  I hope you're okay with that at level 3 we get   our first general feat and I think I would take  Fleet here especially assuming that we're wearing   plate armor now because Fleet increases our move  speed by five so that we're at least back to the   25 feet of move speed that we were at originally  right we also get our second Doctrine from our   war priest subclass here at this level that just  means we're trained in all martial weapons that   could potentially be nice for the next few levels  at least if we find something that we like better   than our Bastard Sword just know that eventually  we'll get to expert training with that Bastard   Sword but not with other martial weapons so don't  get too attached to something else we get a skill   increase at level three and I'm definitely taking  medicine to expert training here meaning we would   have an even better chance of succeeding on those  medicine and treat wounds checks and then at level   3 we get second level cleric spells I think from  this point on I'm just going to recommend a couple   that I think seem particularly cool and useful I'm  definitely not an expert on all of the available   spells in Pathfinder even just looking at the  Court rule book so dispel magic feels like a   must-have to me it's just always good to be able  to get rid of bad enemy magic I might also take   either C invisibility or fairy fire which is much  weaker than its DND counterpart and basically just   prohibits affected enemies from benefiting from  invisibility a third good option I think would be   resist energy which gives a Target resistance  to one type of energy damage fire electricity   acid cold or sonic for 10 minutes remember how  resistance Works in Pathfinder you subtract the   flat resistance number from the total Damage Done  in this case it's 5 resistance but you can upcast   the spell for bigger numbers and even additional  targets I'd love to take some restoration like   spells as a main healer character but those can be  a little frustrating here you don't really get a   very good catch-all removed lots of bad conditions  spell here like lesser restoration for example in   DND the restoration spell in Pathfinder might be  an exception but it still feels a little limited   to me maybe a cure-all Spell option would be too  powerful but there are just so many conditions in   Pathfinder which is something that I actually like  but due to the way that you have to choose which   spells you're going to prepare at the beginning  of the day as a cleric and don't just get access   to all of your spells known all of the time it  can make things a little tricky if you're trying   to be a support character to guess if you're  going to need remove fear or remove paralysis   or restore senses If someone becomes blinded  Etc if you guess wrong and prepare something   that you don't ever need that's a real bummer I  think for that reason I'd probably avoid taking   any of those kind of restorative type spells  unless you felt really confident that you were   going to be going up against an enemy that was  going to inflict a particular condition at level   4 we get another cleric feed and instead of  taking any of the fourth level feeds none of   which I really loved to be honest including  Believe It or Not Channel Smite which is kind   of like Divine Smite Indian D but a little weaker  I don't know if I were building for burst damage   I'd definitely take it but it's just not what I  really want for this build plus we need another   feat that is going to be important for this build  later so yes what we're going to take instead is   a first level cleric feed domain [ __ ] this feat  tells us that we can learn a focus spell from one   of our deities domains say what okay let me back  up each deity has a number of associated domains   and each of those have a couple of focus spells  tied to them we don't just get access to those   Focus spells for free we have to take Feats  for them but with this feat we can choose one   regathio has the destruction Duty fire and Zeal  domains and I'm going to pick destruction which   means we get the Cry Of Destruction Focus spell to  cast it we spend a focus point which remember we   can recover by spending 10 minutes to refocus so  out of combat kind of like a short rest it takes   two actions to cast and does 1d8 Sonic damage  and that's important in a 15 foot cone barring   a fortitude save it's not a ton of damage but it  does scale by 1d8 per heightened spell level so   that's 2d8 for us now 3d8 next level and those  d8s bump up two d12s if we've hit an enemy with   a strike this turn so if we hit them with our  Bastard Sword and then Focus spell to do this   to catch a few enemies and do some damage to the  enemy that we hit with a strike it would do 3D 12.   that's not bad it's a nice little burst in a small  area of effect option might help us clear out some   of those miniony swarmi type encounters right for  our skill feed that we get at this level I want to   take Ward medic which is amazing and lets us treat  wounds on up to two Targets at a time instead of   just one which will really reduce our downtime  that much further before we've got our entire   party patched back up to full health once we're  a master in medicine we can do four at a time so   good and I think these three skill Feats battle  medicine continual recovery and Ward medic are   sort of the trifecta of medicine skill Feats in  Pathfinder that just really make you a phenomenal   non-magical healer and I kind of think that no  party whether they have a cleric or not should   leave home without at least one character having  a great medicine skill and these Feats it's really   going to help ensure that your entire party  is at full health for just about every single   combat encounter as for our champion archetype  feat at level 4 I say we grab healing touch it   gives us the devotion spell for our champion cause  which for paladins and other good Champions is lay   on hands devotion spells are also Focus Spells at  the cost of focus point but lay on hands is really   really strong it takes an action to cast and then  heals for six flat hit points your Target also   gains a plus two status bonus to their Armor class  for a round that's nice it also scales by six hit   points for each spell level you have so 12 flat  healing for us at the moment 18 Next Level and it   can potentially harm Undead so the thing is lay on  hands is great in combat sure helps us save on our   spell slots if you've already used battle medicine  on that Ally today but even better here outside   of combat you could lay on hands refocus for 10  minutes lay on hands rinse repeat of course with   our skill Feats and Medicine training treat wounds  is a lot more efficient but if you somehow fail   your treatments check on an ally this is a really  nice potential backup plan you are the ultimate   medic at this point who also packs a pretty  mean punch at level 5 we get four ability boosts   let's go ahead and bump strength 18 wisdom to 18  Charisma to 16 and Constitution to 14. I really   love having three extra third level spell slots to  cast heal with right now with our 16 Charisma it's   amazing we also get alertness at this level which  raises our perception rank to expert very nice and   then we get An ancestry feat and I want to take  orc ferocity it's similar to what halfworks get   in d d telling us that if we would be reduced  to zero hit points we can use our reaction to   instead be reduced to one hit point now this does  increase our wounded condition by one as though   we had gone down to zero and then recovered  and we can only use it once per day but it is   a really fun way to stay on our feet when we'd  otherwise go down and sometimes it might just be   the difference between life and death we also get  a skill increase at level five and I think I would   probably bump Athletics to expert I'm going to say  either that or intimidation depending on which we   find ourselves using more often but Athletics  just felt a little more generally useful to   me as for the third level spells that we get at  fifth level I'm going to highlight a couple that   I like heroism is potentially a nice buff it's two  actions to cast but gives a Target plus one status   bonus to attacks perception checks skill checks  and saving throws so kind of like a stronger   version of the bless spell though it's only on  one Target also vampiric touch can be a nice   way to do some burst damage and heal ourselves  it deals 66 damage barring a fortitude save and   then we gain half of the damage that we deal in  temporary hit points the most important spell for   us at this level however comes to us courtesy of  Our Benevolent virtuous and vindictive deity the   haste spell I also enjoyed using this spell on my  megas build and it is just a really potent spell   and this is another main reason that I wanted to  take regathio as our deity it takes two actions   to cast lasts for one minute and lets us take one  additional action per turn though that action can   only be used to strike or stride and yeah that  is absolutely sufficient for our needs as we were   wanting to be doing both of those things pretty  much every turn I mean heck this would mean that   we could make a weapon attack and still get off  a three-action heal on our turn and that's just   awesome alright at level 5 it's time for our  first damage report so let's go over what I'm   assuming combat looks like for us at this level  first off yes I'm going to assume that we've got   both the haste spell and the bless spell active  on ourselves I'd probably start with haste since   it gives us an extra action and then move on to  bless round two since it gives our entire party   potentially that plus one to hit we are here  to support and do damage so I think it's worth   casting these spells we would still be able to  make weapon attacks on those turns right so it's   not like we're doing nothing but just sitting  there and buffing but then on subsequent rounds   yes I'm going to assume that we'd be making two  weapon strikes with our Bastard Sword in two   hands right the second strike with a minus five to  hit unfortunately for two D12 plus 5 damage each   thanks to our strength modifier and our emblazoned  weapon and then with our last two actions we'd   cast electric Arc to hit two Targets for 3D 4  plus 4 for our wisdom modifier each Target now   384 plus four might not seem like a ton of damage  and you might be wondering if it would really be   worth using two actions to cast the spell every  turn when we can I'd argue that it is for two   reasons one because additional attacks this turn  would be made at a minus 10 to hit and honestly   as just almost never going to hit our enemy but  two don't forget that most spells even cantrips   do half damage on a successful enemy save that's  really really good for us plus we're a Gish don't   forget we want to be casting spells and making  weapon attacks it's who we are now as a reminder   I assume that we've got a plus one to hit and an  extra die of damage on our weapon thanks to the   automatic progression table that serves to just  replicate what we could reasonably expect to have   for magic weapons at this level I also am assuming  that the enemy is flat-footed giving them a minus   2 to their armor class though I appreciate that  won't always be the case and thus if everything   hit we would do four D12 plus 6d4 plus 18 total  damage in a round where we didn't have to move up   to our Target though admittedly a little bit of  that damage would be to a second target getting   hit by Electric Arc right so this is mostly  single Target damage but not all assuming all   of the above then if we were fighting low enemies  both in armor class and in reflex save at this   level which is a 19 AC and a plus 9 to their save  we would on average do 52 damage per round and   versus high enemies which is a 22 Armor class and  a plus 15 to their saves we would do 39 DPR and   compared to other builds that I've done to date  that is really really close to every other build   but the thief within a point or two of damage and  considering that we're also the world's greatest   medic with some really nice healing and buffing  options at our disposal that feels fantastic I   love this cleric Gish let's see where we can take  it from here all right at level six we get another   cleric feat and I'm a little bit torn on what to  take here I think I would probably take Divine   weapon it's not anything amazing but it lets us  add a little bit of damage to our weapon as a free   action the problem is you can only do this if you  have cast a spell with one of your spell slots and   it's only a D4 of extra damage on this turn so you  can bump it to a D6 if you choose a damage type   associated with your deities alignment so for us  that would be good damage or lawful damage right   useful only against evil and chaotic enemies  respectively still it makes me feel a little   less bad about casting haste on round one and  bless on round two because at at least the weapon   attacks that we do make on those rounds would  potentially get a little bump to their damage   yeah not to mention a little damage bump on rounds  that were say casting the heal spell too for our   skill feet here let's take the last medicine skill  feed available to us from the core rule book until   Level 15 anyway which we're not going to get to  robust recovery so if a creature is poisoned or   diseased you can use your medicine skill to try  to help cure them you make a medicine skill check   and if you're successful the Ally gets a bonus to  their next save against the disease or the poison   the robust recovery skill feed basically lets you  increase that bonus if you're successful in your   check and if the patient then succeeds on their  check it's automatically a critical success I'm   still not sure how often poison and disease  come up during most Pathfinder games but when   they do this is going to be nice to have and if  you really are thinking of yourself as the main   healer in your party you ought to take it as for  our Champion archetype feat here at level six I   want to take Champions reaction and this might be  the best thing we get from the champion archetype   Champion's reaction kind of gives us the ability  to make an attack of opportunity it's a little   different as a paladin we get retributive strike  which tells us that if an enemy damages an ally   and both that enemy and that Ally are within 15  feet of us we can use our reaction to give an ally   resistance to all of that incoming damage equal  to two plus our level so that's saving them from 8   damage right now not bad better yet we then get to  make a strike against the enemy if they are within   melee reach and of course since this happens on  the enemy's turn we don't have any multi-attack   penalty to deal with right that's a really great  feat for both support and offense and I love it at   level 7 we get another General feat and I want to  go with boring old numbers and just take toughness   this gives us 1 more hit point per level and  decreases the DC of our recovery checks or death   saves right by one it's not a ton but we'll take  it we get a skill increase at level seven two and   at this level we can bump something to master if  we want and we want so yeah let's take medicine   to master to help us succeed on those treat wounds  checks especially and even let us raise the DC to   20 if we want to heal for 10 extra hit points when  we treat wounds I mean at this level our medicine   skill is a plus 15. that's an auto success on a  regular treat wounds and we only need to roll a   five or better to hit that tougher 20. super cool  we also get our third war priest Doctrine at level   seven and that means we get expert proficiency  with our Bastard Sword it comes a couple levels   later than full martial characters get expert  proficiency with weapons but waiting just two   additional levels isn't so bad considering how  great of a support we are but yeah at this point   we want to make sure that we're using that Bastard  Sword and not some other unworthy martial weapon   be a true follower of rogathia a true bastard we  also get the critical specialization effect with   that Bastard Sword meaning that if we grip on an  enemy they are flat-footed until the start of our   next turn so all the more reason to be a bastard  I just really like saying bastard bastard as for   the fourth level spells we get at level seven the  two I will highlight here are first Air Walk This   is sort of like a poor man's fly spell which  clerics don't get access to typically but in   one way it's kind of better it lets you walk on  air as though it were Solid Ground like a true   holy person would I think and yes even allows you  to move vertically though at no steeper an angle   than 45 degrees still it should be sufficient  for most aerial combats among other things and   also the fly spell has this annoying little rule  tied to it in Pathfinder if you're flying you have   to spend send one of your actions to use the fly  action if you don't end your Airborne at the end   of your turn you fall ouch no such Action Tax  for Airwalk so fly Air Walk lasts five minutes   another great option I think is divine wrath it  does damage similar to a third level Fireball   anyway 4d10 in a fireball-like area of effect a  20-foot burst you choose either lawful or good   damage as per our deities alignment and barring  a fortitude save the enemies take the damage so   long as they are of opposite alignment of course  I figure most of the time you should be reliably   fighting evil or chaotic enemies at most tables in  most campaigns so you should get a fair bit of use   out of this if and when you needed it though it  might not be a bad idea to do a recall knowledge   check beforehand just to be safe and see if you  can figure out what their alignment is one really   great thing about the spell though is that if  say you choose good for the damage type and your   allies within the blast area are of good alignment  whether lawful or chaotic doesn't matter they're   unaffected if they're neutral and thus don't match  or oppose the alignment then anything hit by it   just treats their saving throw as one degree  better so failures are successes successes are   critical successes Etc oh also if they fail they  take full damage and are sickened one meaning all   checks and DCs are lowered by one and it doesn't  just automatically go away either like if you're   frightened they have to succeed on another check  against your DC to get rid of it and crit fails on   this spell are sickened to and slowed one meaning  one fewer action next turn right all in all a   really solid area of effect and potential debuff  spell that might not even hurt your friends that   get caught in this blast at level 8 we get another  cleric feed and I want emblazon energy it's just   a nice little damage bump it says that when we  emblazon our weapon like we've been doing right   etching our holy symbol into it instead of having  it do just one extra damage we can have it do 1d4   of either cold electric fire acid or sonic damage  and better yet if we have a domain spell that does   one of those damage types and we do remember  archive destruction domain spell does Sonic   damage then we can bump that damage up to an extra  D6 of damage every time we hit with it not bad as   for the skill feat that we get at this level I'm  just gonna say pick your favorite like I've said   the only other medicine related feat in the core  rule book legendary medic isn't available to us   until Level 15 so go ahead and pyf here or if  you have access to other books outside of the   core rule book go ahead and grab risky surgery or  Advanced first aid or whatever for the champion   archetype that we get here I want to take basic  devotion which gives us a first or second level   Champion feed for which we'll be taking ranged  reprisal this tells us that as a paladin if   retributive strike gets triggered but the enemy  is 10 feet away from us instead of right next to   us in melee range we can step five feet first and  then make a strike I love that so much makes me   feel like we're going to be using that reaction  to deal damage a lot more often not to mention   better position ourselves maybe even get into  flanking position at level 9 we get An ancestry   feat and I think I'd probably just take General  training it's available to humans and gives us   another General feat and so then yeah I would just  take the incredible initiative General feed this   just gives us a plus two to all of our initiative  roles and going before your enemies is pretty much   always a good thing especially if you have lots of  Buffs to be casting early on in the combat right   we also get resolve at level 9 which increases  our will saves to master and tells us that when   we succeed on a will save it's automatically a  critical success it's like Evasion for wisdom   safes I love it for the skill increase that we get  at this level I think I'd probably bump Athletics   to master go another route if you want it just  seems the most useful to me and then yes we get   fifth level spells here so let's discuss three  favorites breath of life feels the most important   as the party's main healer it tells us that when  an ally would die they've failed their final death   save right right before they die we can use our  reaction to heal them for 4d8 plus our wisdom   modifier and restore them to life as I've said  before Pathfinder 2E can be a little more hardcore   than DND 5e dropping to zero hit points is a lot  more punishing death saves are slightly scarier   and Resurrection is a lot tougher to come by this  spell is sort of the first pseudo-resurrection   ability we get access to you kind of have to take  it I think though always preparing it might feel   like a heavy cost having it in a pinch when you  really need it is a big deal one important note   here though it doesn't work if your ally died  from a disintegrate or death effect drop dead   is another really cool and useful spell it tells  us that when an ally is hit you cast it also with   your reaction and then an illusion of them appears  to drop down dead but your ally actually just goes   invisible so cool now if that Ally uses a hostile  action they become visible and you also have to   sustain the spell to keep it going that means you  spend an action every turn to sustain it right but   I assume that most of the time you would heal  that invisible Ally back up and then they would   be right back into the fight on their next turn  anyway so I'm not too worried about the sustain   cost finally prying eye is kind of cheating  it's summons an invisible floating eye that   you can see through and just send it out through  the dungeon to scout everything out cheater at   level 10 we get more ability boosts first of all  so let's do what we've been doing and just bump   strength to 19 wisdom to 19 Charisma to 18 and  Constitution 216. you might want to consider   bumping dexterity here instead of maybe like  Charisma because at 13th level our training   with medium armor increases to expert which means  medium armor would give us a higher AC than plate   which we're just going to be stuck at trained  proficiency with and that Medium armor is going   to be even better with just a plus one dexterity  mod plus higher decks would be nice for our reflex   saves which have been pretty poultry thus far for  our final cleric feat at level 10 I'm really torn   between channeled sucker or replenishment of  War really quickly channeled sucker lets us   sacrifice one of our heal spells to cast one  of the many remove bad condition spells that   I was complaining about earlier remove disease  remove curse remove paralysis or the restoration   spell so now we would potentially finally have  our or catch-all option for bad conditions and   that feels pretty important as a main healer but  replenishment of war is definitely the more gishy   option it tells us that when we damage an enemy  with our Bastard Sword we get half our health   in temporary hit points we could get these every  single turn five free temporary hit points every   turn feels pretty amazing and would definitely  help us go Toe to Toe with the bad guys let us   stay in the fight a lot more reliably by level 10  you're going to have a better idea which of these   Feats You're Gonna Want More For the skill feet we  get here again pick your favorite one and then for   our final Champion archetype let's take Advanced  Devotion to get another champion feat this time   equal to half hour level or for us here a level 4  Champion feed I would want to take Aura of Courage   so that I can feel like a true Paladin Aura of  Courage just automatically reduces our frightened   condition by one whenever we become frightened and  at the end of our turn when we would then reduce   are frightened condition by one more we do  the same for our allies that are within 15   feet again frightened can be pretty dang punishing  in Pathfinder it makes everything we do a little   bit worse so being able to almost ignore it for  ourselves and really help out our allies too is   fantastic for our final damage report here at  level 10 since last check we've added a D6 to   our weapon attacks thanks to emblazoned energy  plus two to hit with our Bastard Sword from   expert training another plus one to hit from  the automatic bonus progression chart another   2d4 per Target from Electric Arc since we have  fifth level spells now plus a ton of fantastic   defensive support and even burst damage options  to boot and thus against low enemies here with   a 27 AC and a plus 16 to their saving throw  we would on average do 70 damage per round   and against High enemies with a 30 AC and at  plus 22 to their saves we would do 51 DPR on   average and that is exactly the same as our  flirty Ranger that we did a couple of weeks   ago which again keeps us pretty much in line with  every other Pathfinder build that I've done so far   except the thief but with much stronger support  than any character I've built so far by a mile   so let's go over final thoughts on the one hand  yes I think we're all kind of noticing a trend   here that shouldn't be too surprising to any  Pathfinder veterans out there anyway and it's   that when people say the math in Pathfinder is  tight they mean it it is tight surprisingly so   in fact now a lot of people will see this as  a good thing making greater balance between   classes and builds frees you up to make more and  different choices for how you build your character   without worrying quite so much about whether  or not they're going to be competitive on a   damage meter or whatever right A lot of people  on the other hand might see this as a little   discouraging I can see how it might feel to some  like if the choices I make aren't going to really   matter that much mechanics wise and my character  is just going to be competitive and pretty viable   almost no matter what choice I make then that  kind of takes the fun out of using right that   said I don't want to argue that choices here don't  matter sure with one exception every pathfinder   character I've created for sustained damage thus  far does almost identical damage to one another   but keep in mind I've been doing everything in  my power to optimize these characters for damage   I'm scouring classes and Feats and equipment and  archetypes and spells to try to piece together   the hardest hitting thing I can make and only  upon doing that are the numbers so close to one   another I could have made a war priest who used a  shield and a one-handed weapon taken a different   God so we wouldn't have access to haste might  have taken Feats other than emblazoned energy   etc etc and in that case we might have had  better survivability or utility or even support   capabilities but not done quite as much damage  now admittedly the difference in damage that that   version of this character would have had wouldn't  be huge but it would be significant so even though   the damage output of this character feels super on  par with other characters I've created I think I'd   probably argue that they are the most powerful  character I've done to date really fantastic   sustained damage with the inherent fun of making  attacks and casting spells every turn but then   also bringing a whole slew of support healing and  buffing options that my other builds so far just   have not brought that's pretty remarkable and it  kind of makes me feel like the next character I   play in Pathfinder is probably going to be a war  priest so anyway that's the build for the week I   hope you really enjoyed it I had a blast putting  it together I hope you know how much I love you   guys you're the best thanks so much for all that  you do for me for the channel those things are   so helpful I hope that you have a really great day  and a fantastic week and that you be good and kind   and stay safe and that I see you again really  soon but until then take care thank you [Music]   I have spoke with a tongue of angels I have held   hand of the devil it was warm in  the night I was cold as a stone but I still haven't found what I'm looking for   seemed fitting if I were doing a war priest  to do like the most gospely YouTube song I   think that they probably ever put  out at least their most famous One and the hair it is getting so big or don't  even say any of that I think I already   said that so don't say that huge thanks  to my good friend Randall Hampton for   oh I haven't even told Randall about  this character yet better get on that

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 23,234

Keywords: Pathfinder, 2e, Gish, spell sword, cleric, war priest, damage, dpr, spells, electric arc, support, healing, champion, paladin, character creation, build, tips, tricks, how to, guide

Id: w9gP5I5Lyso

Length: 59min 59sec (3599 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 11 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/d12inthesheets]

Would love to see next build to be less of a damage focused one, but a support one. You squeeze more out of your third action by enabling others

[u/jaearess]

I just recently built a war priest for PFS, but this video inspired me to go back and start over on it. I went fairly different from his build, but getting electric arc as a damaging spell instead of relying on Channel Smite/Harm inspired me to go in a completely different direction from where I was before.

I ultimately ended up with a gnome war priest of Shelyn who plays a harp and wields a glaive (to help really take advantage of the Retributive Strike from the Champion archetype.) I actually like both this one and my original war priest, so the real choice will be deciding which to stick with!

[u/Helpful_Smile4493]

I can’t wait for him to dive into non-multiclass archetypes from Advanced Class Guide and other books. So many build options he’ll really like.

[u/GortleGG]

Nice build. I like that you make different choices. I prefer to build the War Priest of Ragathiel for burst damage leaning into True Strike, but your cleric is cool too.

Stabilize is not quite as useful as you state as it takes 10 minutes for people to wake up from unconcious. I tend to pass on it.

There is an item in the recent Treasure Vault book called a Jolt Coil which gives you an alternative to adapted cantrip.

[u/AktionMusic]

I've been living d4's 2e coverage so far. Its been great seeing so many awesome 5e creators branch out recently.

[u/AdRevolutionary3899]

His build is extremely similar to what I made when playing around. I went a bit less damage with slight ability to tank. Took Sekhmet instead with a battle axe and shield. But otherwise very close. I only built to 6th level

[u/Author_Pendragon]

I haven't watched the video yet but I'm glad the Warpriest is getting attention. I think it's one of the more underrated character options in PF2e. There are a lot of martially oriented spells that suffer from being attached to full casters or wave casters (Who just don't have enough slots to make use of all of them). I'm actually a big fan of Magus as a mix of martial and caster, but Warpriest's manner of using casting to martial isn't really done anywhere else in the system, or at least not as well

[u/RedGriffyn]

While it is third party content. Clerics+ published under Pathfinder Infinite is a much better warpriest chassis. It is a divine bounded caster that follows the same spell casting and weapon proficiency progression as the magus while also decoupling your divine font from CHA and making it scale based on level (more like a proficiency times per long rest mechanic). The Team+ authors also have FoundryVTT and Pathbuilder support and I feel like they are fairly balanced options.

Otherwise core rule book warpriest chassis is just plain bad as a martial:

• It has delayed weapon to expert proficiency (L5 and L6)
• Weapon proficiency never scales to master at L13 like other martials
• Armour proficiency never scales to master
• Spell casting proficiency is 2 levels delayed and never goes to legendary (that impacts your electric arc damage)
• KAS can't be STR or DEX so you're a -1 to hit for half your levels. This is supposed to be offset by by emblazon energy's 1D6, but since it never goes to master it becomes really bad at high level.

IMO you're better off with a fighter + wizard if you're self limiting yourself to Core options. Then its about getting as many true strike slots as possible and power attacking with a 1D12 item.

Otherwise a monk MC caster can have martial scaling in unarmed strikes (With flurry of blows) and cast electric arc on a better spell casting progression than warpriest (expert at L9 vs. L11 and master at L17 vs. L19). To get it off your divine or occult DC you need the 'basic spell casting' feat from a multiclass into a caster class and the jolt coil spell heart for access to the cantrip. If you use cleric and use monastic weaponry you can still get emblazon armaments early on and emblazon energy at L16. Just build towards a ki point style of play pick up the 2 and 3 focus point refocus feats at L12 and L18 and then you can have ~1-3 rounds of 'spell casting' fake FP spell slots. With a cleric MC you can also just pick up the staff of healing. Master in strikes + flurry of blows for 2 strikes + Electric Arc will be really good damage (effectively you have a 'strike only haste on without spending actions). Downside is you likely won't have maxed out wisdom so spell DC on electric arc will suffer.

Other Notes:

• You're still applying flatfooted to all enemies. Its a flawed use case and its making all of your DPR calculations wrong. You're only providing two graphs, I feel like 4 graphs (2 with flatfooted, 2 without) won't kill you and show you very different results.
• You can get electric arc from a spell heart (called Jolt Coil) which uses your spell DC and will also add another 1D4-1D8 electricity damage to strikes until the end of the turn.
• Electric Arc doesn't work quite as explained. It hits 2 enemies within 30ft of you, they don't need to be within 30ft of each other.
• Champion is okay for heavy armor, but you'll never get the armour specialization effect which can patch you're reflex saves. If you wanted that Sentinel is better.
• Support cleric spells can be offset to the staff of healing and scales pretty well. It has heal at every level as well as a variety of those 'restoration' type spells. That is why replenishment of war is likely better for you since your quite squishy and your AC will get a lot worse as levels increase since you don't get master proficiency.
• I don't really think you can have 'haste/bless' going every combat reliably. That is 2 rounds of buffs and lots of actions spent in the most important rounds of combat. This sustained DPR is no-where near anything else because you only likely got 1 strike round 1, and 2 strikes in round 2. You're going to be massively in the DPR hole across a typical 5-6 round combat.
• You can't assume a 1D12 weapon base damage because electric arc has somatic components. Divine focus only lets you replace material components, not somatic. That means you have to have 1H on your weapon only so 1D8 only or be spending an action to re-grip your weapon.

*EDIT* Think I'm wrong about somantic components.