Help with an Evangelist Cleric

[MindTheGap97]

Hello all, I am currently in the process of building an Evangelist Cleric of Milani for a home game of Curse of the Crimson Throne, which way should I focus my character in?
Casting seems to be what the archetype prefers, laying down buffs and using the spontaneous Enchantment spells alongside the limited battlefield controls the cleric has to help out.

I rolled some really good stats: 18, 16, 15, 13, 12, 10

Our group has a Barbarian, a Rogue and a Sorcerer alongside me.
If you could help me out with a build that would be wonderful, thanks in advance.

[Geddy2112]

Evangelist is a really good round out for your party. Since you can prepare any spells from your list, you will be able to tailor to fit roles your sorcerer does not take. With the enchantments from your spontaneous casting, it might be worth it to go control and make sure they also are not going enchantment control. Command spontaneous spell is quite powerful, but the rest are a little meh. It is a bit of a loss for spontaneous healing, so you might want to consider focusing on channeling.

You are going caster and using spells with DC's, so you probably want that 18 in wisdom. Since you are limited to light armor, you need dex to AC more than most clerics, it also rounds out your initiative which is important for casters, and your weak save. A decent dex also lets you use a crossbow when you need. I would put your 16 here. You are focusing on casting, and have far more important things to do than swing a weapon, so I would put your 10 in strength. Carry a morningstar anyways, not just for theme but bludgeon/pierce and in the event you need to give your rogue flanking or whatever. You have a rogue to cover skills, so you will only need key knowledges(religion/planar), diplomacy/sense motive if your rogue does not take it, and a rank in heal for the bonus, so 13 int should be sufficient(to qualify for feats). The next part depends on if you want to focus on channeling or not, if you do put your 15 in charisma and the 12 in con, swap the two if you don't want to focus on channeling. It is feat intensive, but your deity has a good channeling feat worth considering.

So I would go 10/16/15/13/18/12 for a non channel build, and 10/16/12/13/18/15 for a channel build pre racial modifiers.

For domain, it is tempting to take healing to get back your cure spells, but I would advise against it. Get a wand of CLW and just prepare cure spells in the off time.Don't forget to use mundane heal to patch up wounds, even if you don't always hit the DC the healing will add up, and most of the time the DM will let you take 10 to treat deadly wounds. If you want to debuff, the riot subdomain gives you two zesty domain debuff powers and some strong debuff spells. Protection domain(defense subdomain) is a very strong party buff domain, as is liberation. Choose accordingly.

For feats, if you go the enchantment route you want spell focus(enchantment) and greater. Consider kitsune as your race if you go this route. Improved initiative is always good for a caster, as is warrior priest since you qualify. At 7th level when you can bardic perform as a move action, being able to open combat with either 2 buffs or a buff/debuff combo can set the outcome quickly. If you did go channel build, selective channel is a must, and improved channel is probably worth it. Milani's channel feat beacon of hope is okay for in combat channeling. Eldritch heritage is another option if you go charisma base(or even non swapping your INT and CHA), even moreso if you go half elf for the free skill focus. Use it to go arcane bloodline and nab a familiar. An interesting feat at higher levels is fortune teller, which will let you cast any divination spell with a material component of 1000gp or less for free, which is really useful to cast commune every day.

For traits, reactionary or any initiative booster is always good. Fate's favored is great if you go half orc/halfling, otherwise just pick something that boosts a save, or gives a re roll or whatever. I would probably avoid any that give you class skills, you just don't have the ranks to spare.

Here are some level 1 builds, as I was bored.
Gear for every build-light crossbow(sling for super cheap), hide shirt, healer's kit, morningstar, misc stuff.
Reactionary trait for every build
Debuffer
CG Kitsune Evangelist Cleric of Milani, Chaos(Riot) Domain.
10/18/15/13/18/12, Ini 6, Saves 4/4/6, Skills Planes 5, Religion 5, Heal 8, Sense Motive 8.
Feats: spell focus(enchantment)
Spells: Level 0-Create water, guidance, light 1st-Bless, CLW, protection from law(domain).

Off the bat, this build has a DC 17 command and inspire courage, with a crossbow backup. At higher level spells focus on enchantment, using buffs and utility spells against immune enemies.

Buffer
CG Half Elf Evangelist Cleric of Milani, Liberation Domain.
10/16/12/13/20/15, Ini 5, Saves 3/3/7, Skills Planes 5, Religion 8, Heal 8, Sense Motive 8.
Feats: skill focus(religion) selective channel
Spells: Level 0-Create water, guidance, light 1st-Blessx2, Remove Fear(domain).

More focus on buffing, with a strong DC 16 command if needed. Setting up for eldritch heritage and a familiar

Buffer #2
CG Half Orc Evangelist Cleric of Milani, Protection(defense) Domain.
10/16/15/13/20/12, Ini 9, Saves 6/5/9, Skills Planes 5, Religion 5, Heal 8, Sense Motive 8.
Sacred tattoo racial trait, fate's favored trait
Feats: Improved initiative
Spells: Level 0-Create water, guidance, light 1st-Bless, CLW, Shield(domain).
A more defensive build that can act as a tank as well as buffer.

[Kurald Galain]

Beacon of Hope is a good choice for any cleric of Milani, and it stacks with Evangelist buffing.

[MindTheGap97]

Woah, thank you both for your responses, also a special thanks to Geddy who has so far replied to every single post I wrote, your suggestions look really solid and I was indeed considering to go Half-Elf for flavor reasons, it's also the race I played the less so far so there's that.

[Geddy2112]

Indeed, anytime!

If you are going half elf, see if you can trade out multitalented for something else. There are not a lot of good options, but fey thoughts is good if allowed. Another option is to trade out adaptability for a +2 to charisma and wisdom with the kindred raised trait, if you focus on channeling.

You can still take skill focus/eldritch heritage down that way, but it is a bit more feat starved than eldritch and channeling already is. You need boon companion and improved familiar to really make it shine. Channel needs selective, and you probably want improved and your deity's channel.

Even with the nerf, paragon surge is a cleric spell and one you should take.

Looking at your party and the domain, if you go liberation you are probably better off taking freedom domain. On the spot freedom of movement is good for you, but it might be better to focus on the buff aspect. Sanctuary SLA is good considering you never really fight.

Another good trait is forbidden knowledge, saving you in skill ranks and meshing well with skill focus. Helps you cover the face if needed.

[Ruethgar]

You should specify what edition this is for. Both PF and 3.5 have evangelists and they are somewhat different.

[Kurald Galain]

You should specify what edition this is for. Both PF and 3.5 have evangelists and they are somewhat different.

Considering the OP mentions Milani, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and archetypes; it's pretty obvious that he's talking about PF.

[MindTheGap97]

Yes, this is indeed for Pathfinder, I apologize for not putting the tag,
I see I forgot to specify the level we are at right now (lvl 7), currently going through

Spoiler

Show

the Urgathoan temple, my previous character died to a nat 1 on a Hold Person followed by a Scythe CdG

I started the build and it is looking good, when i get off work I will post the details.

EDIT:

Guided is on the table, probably going to get a Guided Morningstar sooner or later.

Ok, here is a rough draft of the build

Male Half Elf
Evangelist Cleric 7

Str 10
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 13
Wis 20
Cha 16

Feats:
1) Extra Performance, Skill Focus(Religion)
3) Master Performer
5) Selective Channeling
7) Beacon of Hope

I'm still working on the equipment

[Geddy2112]

It skipped my mind completely that Evangelist is a bard in the sense of qualifying for performance feats.

That being said, you always want lingering performance over extra performance. At level 7 with 16 charisma, you have 19 rounds of performance. If you inspire every round of combat per day(average 4 rounds in 4 encounters) that gives 3 extra rounds to fascinate or countersong noncomabt scenarios. Already more than enough. The thing is, a 7th level bard can start a performance as a move action, so you can move perform and standard to cast a buff. Now you can end the performance as a free action, and with lingering performance it will continue 2 more rounds. So you won't need to start another performance until the 4th round of combat, effectively tripling your performance rounds per day. This gets even more efficient when you can swift action perform.

Lingering performance also has the benefit of continuing your performance should you be involuntarily forced to stop performing:knocked out, killed, asleep, what have you.

Consider discordant voice as a feat at level 11, or paragon surge it. The 10 ranks in oratory is hard for a cleric to swallow, but +1d6 sonic in zesty in a lot of parties. You might also find some uses for the spellsong feat if you want to cast spells in public, namely your enthrall spell. The 2nd ability is far less useful as a cleric, and it might be a paragon surge only thing.

[MindTheGap97]

Yes, I know Extra Performance is pretty bad, but Master Performer is pretty good and if I remember correctly it is a prerequisite, I'd have to double check though.