I wanted to build a healer/melée fighter character for a Pathfinder campaign. With the 4E Essentials Warpriest in mind, and having no PF experience, I wanted to build a Dwarf Warpriest. Given that the only thing I have is the d20pfsrd, I feel really lost.
Character creation with my GM was frustrating, because:
- I've never played PF, only 2E and 4E.
- the GM didn't explain much about the class, only that "it's a hybrid class"
- I had no access to sourcebooks or the d20pfsrd, the site didn't work in my smartphone.
- My rolls (I wanted to use point-buy or a prebuilt array, GM stated "everyone rolls or everyone buys, rest of the group chose to roll) were 10,11,11,12,13,15.
- I wanted a "simple character" (I was still thinking about the 4E Essentials Warpriest).
- I then changed to Cleric, thinking "this will be simpler than a hybrid class"
- I found out that Dwarf and Cleric don't mesh well because of the dwarven -2 to CHA. People at the table (but not the GM, at least I didn't notice) implied that channel energy and turn undead were kind of important for a cleric.
- The rest of the group built everything but a Melée role (but see * below).
- The rest of the group hasn't built a Healer role either yet: Bard (dedicated to buffing, not healing, IIRC), Sniper,
Oracle(see * below), another-role-I-forget-but-not-healer-or-defender. - The rest of the group implied and overtly stated that I'd be in the thick of melée, and that I'd be basically the only one. I'm OK with being in the middle of the fight (Warpriests do that), but my stats for a Dwarf Cleric made that ridiculous, if I'm correct.
- People in the group are suggesting I either go with an Aasimar Cleric or Warpriest, or a Paladin. Problem is, I don't really want to roleplay either. I know next to nothing about Aasimar, and Paladins are… Paladins. Perhaps other classes or races are a better fit.
- (*) After group email, the Oracle player wants to build a Brawler.
Given this, is it viable to build a Dwarf Warpriest? Should I choose a different class/race? Which?
Best Answer
From my experience clerics make excellent buffers, but since that is already handled by your bard go with Dwarf Warpriest. It is a combat focused character with some healing powers (sounds like its what you really want to play anyway).
It is a hybrid class: meaning it draws features from its 2 parent classes (in this case fighter and cleric). It gets some access to the cleric spell list (only up to level 6) but focuses on combat.
Use the following stats:
Str: 15
Dex: 12
Con: 15 (13 + 2)
Int: 11
Wis: 13 (11 + 2) put your ability score increases from levels here, stop when it is at 16.
Cha: 8 (10 -2)
Use your spells to buff/heal/support your comrades, but focus on beating things down with your self-buffed weapons.
High STR and CON combined with some of your dwarven racial features provide combat presence and tankiness. Invest in WIS up to 16, so you get full access to your spell list.
Unlike standard Cleric, Warpriest channeling is not CHA based, making CHA a safe dumpstat.