Rockspecht

Pathfinder Kingmaker build: Harrim the Fauchard Cleric

Oct 1st, 2020 (edited)
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  1. Clerics don't need to pick anything outside of a feat every other level, so I'm not gonna mention all those other levels where you don't do anything other than choose Cleric.
  2. Harrim also sadly only gets 2 skill points per level, so you gotta choose 2 out of 3 from Lore Nature, Lore Religion, Perception. Perception is nice to have on every character and Lore Nature isn't a class skill for Cleric, so it's best to pick Lore Religion and Perception for him. It's good enough to bring Lore Nature on another character with decent Wisdom (like a Ranger, Inquisitor, or Druid) or someone with an abundance of skill points.
  3. Oh yeah, and just put his attribute points into strength. His spell list is weird and disappointing, and his wisdom is high enough to cast the things that are worth casting. This'll make him slightly worse as an advisor, but you'll want to give him your best +wisdom/charisma item anyway, so it's gonna be fine.
  4. Keep in mind that he doesn't have Selective Channeling (unlike Tristian), so you don't want to use Channel Energy in combat as it would heal enemies as well. Also remember that he can convert all prepared spells into Cure spells, so use that if you need in-combat healing.
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  6. (You can find a regular fauchard at the Aldori mansion, but buy a Masterwork one from Oleg regardless. You'll use it for quite a while.)
  7. 3 - Cleric - Exotic Weapon Proficiency > Fauchard
  8. 5 - Cleric - Weapon Focus > Fauchard
  9. (If you do the kingdom project to restore the Temple of the Elk, you can go there to buy a ring (Energy Source) to use more Channels a day.)
  10. 7 - Cleric - Outflank
  11. 9 - Cleric - Dazzling Display
  12. (Visit the Rinderpest Burial Ground northeast of Varnhold to get a +3 fauchard.)
  13. 11 - Cleric - Shatter Defenses
  14. 13 - Cleric - Improved Critical > Fauchard
  15. 15 - Cleric - Metamagic (Heighten Spell)
  16. 17 - Cleric - Blind Fight
  17. 19 - Fighter - Combat Reflexes, Seize the Moment
  18. 20 - Cleric or whatever
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  20. I could spend hours talking about how mediocre Harrim is, but let me explain why handing him a fauchard and letting him poke things from a distance at least makes him usable. It avoids most of his downsides for physical combat and keeps him safe. And Clerics have a level 2 swift spell (Grace) which they can use to simply walk away should they ever be in danger. He's gonna have trouble hitting stuff with his unexciting 14 strength at the start of the game, but as the game goes on, Clerics actually gain access to stuff that lets them be good at physical combat:
  21. Divine Favor/Divine Power as an upgraded version at level 4 spells
  22. Righteous Might at level 5/Frightful Aspect at level 8 - Frightful Aspect is an aoe Shaken effect which lasts for 1 minute/level. Quite amazing since it frees you from using Dazzling/Dirge of Doom.
  23. Eaglesoul at level 6 - Downside is that it's gonna make Harrim Sickened, so you'll want to bring Cleanse (level 5 spell), unless you have another character who can cure it.
  24. You get level 6 spells at level 11, when you coincidentally also get Shatter Defenses. Once you have all that, you can have a lot of fun with him just hitting stuff with a fauchard.
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  26. So what to pick after Shatter? Improved Critical is undoubtedly amazing for a fauchard user. Heighten Metamagic is nice for adjusting your spellbook to how you need it, not all levels of spells are equally useful. Blind Fight is great for the end of the game and Combat Reflexes/Seize the Moment are very powerful for almost any melee character. This requires one level of multiclassing into Fighter for a bonus feat, but that's fine since we have everything from Cleric anyway. If you feel like you can skip Heighten or Blind Fight, you also don't need to multiclass. He's gonna need an item with at least +6 dex for Seize, but that's a non-issue so late into the game.
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  28. Why no casting related feats? Because Harrim's spellbook is really not that great. On Tristian, you can stack stuff around casting Evocation/fire spells. For Harrim, that simply doesn't work. So instead of bending around his lackluster casting, I'd rather focus on making him a useful melee guy.
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  30. Why fauchards? Why not glaives or bardiches? Clerics don't have proficiency with martial weapons, so you'd have to pick that up with a feat. Not only does that feel stupid to me, but then why not just go fauchards instead? They are super amazing late game with their high crit range. Besides, the game is super stingy with glaives/bardiches in the early game, and you might want to use those on another character instead (e.g. Amiri). The only good bardiches and glaives in the game are placed super late into the game, fauchards are a little better with that.
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  32. BuT wHaT aBoUt HiS AC???
  33. Look, Harrim has 8 dex. Even with heavy armor and a heavy shield, he will never get anywhere close to good AC. The way he is presented in the game as some sort of tank Cleric is utterly dysfunctional. Ditch the garbage he comes with and hand him that fauchard - you'll never look back. Basically just treat him like a ranged character. You never ever want him to get hit. Don't let him go in first, and make sure he always stays behind your actual tanks.
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