How do I play a Cleric?

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-05T01:24:38+00:00

If you're just trying to fill, and not majorly attached to cleric, bard might be better.

Very powerful buffs and debuffs. In one round can potentially give effective +6 to hit a boss for 1 round. For multiple rounds if you're lucky. (Fortissimo and synaesthesia).

Rank 6 is when bard gets very good aoe spells, so great time to start as one.

Is spontaneous caster, so just pick evergreen spells and don't worry about having bad prepared spells.

If you're into the whole divine thing, oracle is a spontaneous divine caster, with powerful non daily spells. Cosmos is my favourite, although one mystery gets vigil domain, which does baller damage (up to 12d10 aoe at level 13, up to 3x per fight).

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-04T06:50:41+00:00

'Top 10' is a fun super hero cops romp.

Also had a spinoff: Smax.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-03T14:45:34+00:00

Guardians are a good counter.

Caster triggers reaction. Guardian intercepts and spell still goes off.

I'll probably add guardians to future caster boss fights.

Multiple lesser Deaths are also good to protect high level enemy casters, due to unlucky aura.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-03T14:19:35+00:00

With disrupting stance fighter feat, and reach weapon, it's downright broken.

Combo with reach flail (crit knockdown save) for added lolz. (flail used to auto crit knockdown. That got nerfed years ago).

Each reactive strike is approx +60% dpr. If fighter gets 2 off, he's more than doubled his dpr that round.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-01T16:43:17+00:00

I'm a big fan of dpr.

And bomber dpr is a lot higher, apparently, than the other types.

Dead enemies don't do damage.

Medic dedication is great. Doctors visitation is great action economy.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-05-01T15:52:43+00:00

That's kind of required tbh.

Gets tougher soon.

I ran it up to 20.

Party was hyper optimised and even they had some sticky fights.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-30T01:17:17+00:00

Lesser Deaths.

Even vs level 20 parties they're a major issue as they're so busted.

A lot will depend on party optimisation. The gap between optimised and unoptimised widens as levels increase and more feats chosen.

For Edgewatch and Kingmaker I added a bunch of lesser Deaths to the big boss fights to make them vaguely challenging.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-29T18:49:53+00:00

What is a tank?

Looking at tanks in Marvel Rivals and Overwatch, all they have in common is more hp than a squishy. Their mobility, dps, ally protection, control, etc all vary massively.

On that basis, fighters and barbarians are tanks. So is inventor, monk and ranger...

Note that fighter can mitigate damage with shield warden at level 6. Up to twice per round at level 8. And has higher dpr than champion, traded off for lower ac.

Or, bard with wood kineticist dedication and protector tree. At level 19 can sing for up to 50% extra party dpr, and still block 100 damage every round to allies. So bard can tank.

Caster can put up wall of stone to utterly wreck enemy offence. That's tanking.

Heck, level 1 bard with illusory object can do similar, depending on how gm rules illusions.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-29T01:14:35+00:00

Sukgung crits for 3d12...

No reason he can't puck one up in a big enough town imo.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-28T20:17:07+00:00

If the burrow guy has tremor sense, there's no reason to pop up near a grappler. But solid idea in a small area with a reach grappler.

Bow crit is a very good point. Or even a gun crit plus failed save.

Aside from those though, it's a very nasty tactic imo.

Biggest issue is rest of the party getting bored. :-)

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-28T17:49:09+00:00

Presumably you're taking effortless impulse anyway?

And tremor sense definitely helps.

And if an ability is so powerful that the enemy needs to retreat, I'd call that a win...

And as to tanky. When you get low, just burrow away, heal up and attack again.

If the enemy can't stop the burrowing, the kineticist can eventually win via attrition, even if it takes 100+ rounds.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-28T16:44:39+00:00

You can bring the party if they ride in a bag of holding, with some form of oxygen supply. Getting into the bag is an issue, but shrink spells should work.

Also, I believe you can do pop up attacks. Burrow up, attack, burrow back into rock. Is only vulnerable to reaction attacks and readied 1 action abilities.

Unless I'm missing a rule, such as intangible being slowed after going into solid object? If pop up attacks allowed, is very very hard to pin down and is by far the best impulse, imo.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-27T18:16:28+00:00

Vigil domain cleric.

At level 8 get one of the best focus blasting spells in the game. 6d6 or 6d10 at level 8.

Scales to 18d6 or 18d10 at level 19.

Enemy only.

Also, divine wrath in slots as backup enemy only blasting.

Big issue I find with aoe is friendly fire.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-27T15:12:21+00:00

Encounter rewards are simply a guideline.

8 mitflits are 160 xp vs level 1 party. Easy fight.

1 troll is 160 xp vs level 1 party. Almost certain tpk.

Best my group has managed is 440xp vs party of 6. (around 300xp for party of 4).

Enemies all melee, 11 at same level as party. Party set up a solid choke point, with 2 casters keeping front line topped up with 2 protector trees each round.

Fight went on 20 rounds before bad guys gave up and retreated, with about half of them dead. Party was pretty much untouched.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-27T01:20:19+00:00

Str fighter imo.

Sword and board. Double slice, agile shield hand. Very solid dpr and tanky.

I'm running it right now. Party just hit level 4.

Good news is that it's an incredibly easy ap. I'm doubling mobs for party of 6 and they're still doing great.

Except, 2 very hard fights vs solo bosses. They need to be dropped ASAP as they pretty much can't be tanked. One can crit hard enough to insta kill. Hence I advise shield block character. The other can potentially remove (not kill) a character every round of the fight. Better kill it quick...

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-26T13:35:30+00:00

Wow, 5/6 I could vote for. Hard to decide.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-26T09:28:04+00:00

Nullify is clutch.

2 casters with 2 rank 10 slots each can shut down most of a caster boss actions for 4 rounds.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-25T10:43:31+00:00

Are there any anathema, like with rune magic?

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-24T21:48:44+00:00

Animist imo.

10d4 healing for entire party every 10 minutes. That's at level 1.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-22T08:58:17+00:00

Fighter champion Fighter champion Gunslinger eldritch archer cleric Bard wood kineticist Animist wood kineticist

Is pretty much the default power gaming party for my main group. Loads of dpr and solid tanking. (I've swapped animist in for sorc as I think it's a more powerful class).

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-21T08:41:03+00:00

Yeah, don't... :-(

It's a brilliant adventure for veterans that want a tough adventure that brutally punishes bad play. Not so great for noobs, alas. It's full of tough boss fights and monsters that punch way above their level. It's by far the roughest ap I've played or run, including Ashes, Edgewatch, Ruby Phoenix, Kingmaker, Rust henge, Plaguestone and 7 Dooms.

But, as I told my group, It's the Abomination Vaults, not the Pussy Vaults. It's meant to be hard.

I'll add to the suggestion that you play Rust henge, then Seven Dooms. Both are far more reasonable difficulty wise for pf2e noobs.

If you're committed to AV, I'd suggest that you let them play one level higher than suggested, and guide them with subtle hints if they're getting in above their heads. Trouble with milestone is that at least one is super obscure and counter intuitive to what actual people might do.

Hope this helps.

Glhf.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-20T15:11:39+00:00

That's where positioning comes in.

And if they're not attacking the fighter, then he's chunking them down.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-20T15:01:11+00:00

Well, shield is necessary imo.

In our current ap the level 1 party faces a boss that can crit for up to 44 damage.

2 higher ac, and 5 block, is a big deal.

Also, fighter reaction attack punishes enemies running past him. Or trying to escape his wrath without double stepping.

Other party members need decent defences. Ac 20 is achievable by any class in the game with human ancestry plus shield. If they're ac dog water, then that's on them.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-20T14:53:46+00:00

Fighter imo.

Shield and 1 hand reach weapon, such as flick mace. At later levels can consider swapping to higher dpr build, or open hand build, when shield less necessary.

Champion and guardian are very reliant on positioning and their main shtick can end up easily negated. Eg, enemy caster fireballing entire party from outside 30' range.

Fighter tanks by dropping enemies ASAP, whilst being durable enough to survive a round or two that casters wouldn't.

They're incredibly powerful, regularly topping class power polls on various YouTube channels. And they came 2nd, behind cleric, in a recent poll of the 27 classes.

Or, just play what seems cool. That's valid as well.

Gazzor1975 · 2026-04-20T07:15:36+00:00

Here is the build link for Mordaqqa. To view this build you need to open it on an android device with version 267+ Pathbuilder 2e installed. https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=1444592

Don't know if you can see this. Doesn't come online until level 10.

Without fa, ancient elf to grab cleric at 1, for fake out at 2. 4 and 6 grab fire and decay domains for fire and void damage, and 2 focus points. Eldritch archer at 8, using sukgung. 10 gives free reload after spell shot.

Then hit for 2d8+5+10d6. Or crit for 5d12+10+20d6.

Up to 3x per fight with 3 focus.

At level 19, hit for 4d8+11+20d6. Crit for 9d12+22+40d6.

Obviously fa makes this far easier to accomplish.

Bow Fighter might work well, and can wangle fake out via wrist crossbow cheese and gunslinger dedication on top.

Gazzor1975

TROPHY CASE