Hey /tg/ I'm getting into my first 3.5 game soon and wanted to play more of a support role, however the cleric looks a little boring and i wanted to try something more "out there"
after a bit of research i saw how cool the Archivist looked and wanted to run one.
but how should i do it?
should i run Archivist from 1-20
or should i grab one level in (cloister) cleric for the domains and access to divine meta magic.
any other tips would be appreciated as well.
also i have already looked over the archivist handbooks but i wanted to hear from the community directly.
>tldr
>running Archivist
>should i grab a level as cleric
>good feats to grab?
>tips and tricks
>>47772031
...Honestly for your first 3.5 game in a support role, I would recommend a Sacred soul. Spontaneous casting means not getting fucked because you failed to prepare the right spell.
Generally casters don't want to dip base classes as this fucks their caster level and spells. you do want to look for a prestige class that offers full casting as it basically just gives you class features.
>>47772375
hmmm so instead of grabbing cleric at lv one i should go for a prestige class that gives me caster levels?
i hear sacred exorcist is good but how many levels should i grab?
1 or more?
>>47772375
>Honestly for your first 3.5 game in a support role, I would recommend a Sacred soul. Spontaneous casting means not getting fucked because you failed to prepare the right spell.
Its honeslty better to pick prepared casters when you're new. If you screw up your prepared spells today there's always doing it better tomorrow. On the other hand if you go spontaneous, if you fuck your selection up, you fuck it for a long ass time.
The prepared version on the other hand will give you the opportunity to keep trying until you eventually get it right.
>>47772031
>the cleric looks a little boring
Anyone remember how when they were making 3rd edition they kept getting complaints that no one wanted to play the cleric so they kept giving it more and more goodies until it was one of the most brokenly powerful classes in the game?
What a great job they did.
Anyway, edition-bashing aside, the cleric gets all kinds of spells and more spell slots than any class bar the sorcerer (if I'm recalling correctly). Really go through their spell list and double-check that there's not some interesting options there, 'cause remember you don't have to prepare Cure Wounds spells.
>>47772714
im not saying cleric looks bad by any means
however the archivist just looked alot more fun
>ALL divine magic
>power to buff allys against certain monster
>great skillset
>bonus feats
just wanted to try a class that wasnt so cut and dry and archivist just looked like a really cool spin on the old cleric
>>47772450
>Generally casters don't want to dip base classes as this fucks their caster level and spells
i thought about that but cloister cleric gets knowledge domain free and that gives me +1 caster level on ALL divine spells so i thought it turn out okay, then i figured i could get divine metamagic sooner using the turn charges
>>47772031
Don't. It will inflect degenerative brain cancer on you.
Friends don't let friends play 3.5.
>>47772031
Archivists mainly appeal to optimizers, either mystic theurges who want only one spellcasting ability or theorycrafters who want to exploit unintended combinations between different kinds of divine spells, regardless of whether or not they'd actually be able to find those spells in a game. If you're not doing one of those two things, you will not have an enjoyable experience being a squishier cleric with no armor, domains, or spontaneous casting. In practice, they're worse than every other option for a base class that heals people.
>>47773516
But won't I have a much wider selection being able to pull from any domain spell and druid/ranger spells?
The ability to be useful in any situation as well as dark knowledge buffs seems pretty damn competitive even without powergaming
>>47773134
Oh look, it's eternally triggered bitch-anon.
any really good feats to grab? should i go for metamagic at all?
>>47773117
If it's your first game, don't minmax.
Speaking of minmaxing, this guy (>>47773516) gets it.
>But won't I have a much wider selection being able to pull from any domain spell and druid/ranger spells?
You have a narrower selection because you're only pulling from spells you manage to find.
It's be a /different/ selection (for the most part), but it will be far, far narrower.
And selection isn't that important for support. Selection is only important for utility.
Even Favored Souls have good enough selection for support. Just play a Cleric or Favored Soul.
>>47772031
>wanting to play a cool class for the lore
This is the best reason to want to get into RPGs.
But let me tell you a terrible, awful secret about 3.5 and Pathfinder.
These books are liars. Filthy, stinkin' liars.
3.5 tells us that every good Wizard learns fireball because it's one of the best spells in the game, when it's barely passable and awful in comparison to anything good. 3.5 tells us that the Monk is a fair and balanced class that's worthwhile to put on the front lines with a Barbarian. 3.5 tells us that a Druid getting an animal companion at first level isn't shitting all over what Fighters get.
Let me tell you of the archivist. The Archivist is not a recluse, a harmless dabbling spellcaster with a wide variety and a great ability to support the team. The Archivist is a stone-cold killer, a magical pimp who walks the boundaries between types of spells and picks only the most powerful in order to win. They have picked what looks like the most powerful path, not realizing the prowess of a full and balanced spell list to solve situations that they didn't expect, but that doesn't matter. They will simply collect and grow, like a fleet of enslaving parasites growing over a city.
Know this now. Read the class carefully, not what lies the 3.5 books tell you, but rather what the class actually DOES, what powers it possesses and how it uses them. Only then will you know what it is you're getting into.
>>>47779993 should i go for metamagic at all?
Maximize Spell is pretty good on some spells.
Heighten Spell is less good, but gives more options.
Quicken Spell got a mechanic patched in to try and balance it (swift actions), but it's still broken as shit.
It's almost as broken as going twice in combat ... or having two characters ... or being a druid.
The rest of the metamagic feats are pretty hit or miss.
>>47782523
Pretty sure the books don't say anything about "how good" spells and classes are in general. Players just might operate on the assumption that if it costs the same amount of resources in character creation it must be just as good
>>47774261
You can only "pull" any spell in theory. In practice, you get whatever divine spells your character can find, which might be none at all if your DM isn't adjusting every adventure for you. Even if your DM throws you a bone, it'll probably just be a couple of random spells that aren't on the core cleric list, less than a cleric gets for having domains.
