A Guide to Cleric Enhancements
I

By Zed

This guide will focus purely on the Enhancements available to a cleric
as she progresses through the ranks.  Each player gains
Enhancements as she increases in ranks; however, she can only have a
maximum of 4 active Enhancements at anyone point. These are drawn from
a list of both class and racial Enhancements that increase as the
character increases in ranks.



We will take a look at the enhancements available to clerics, focusing
on the 8th, 9th and 10th level versions of the Enhancements but noting
the progression as needed. Each Enhancement is given a useful rating of
1-5 (with 5 being the most useful). The notes will state why this
rating is given as such.



Author's note: The writer wishes it
to be known that his opinion of the usefulness of each Enhancement is
purely based on his knowledge, use and
testing of the Enhancements.

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Clerics
Charisma I – II

Text (II): Grants a +2 increase to Charisma score.



Comments: A good addition to a Turn Undead-based Cleric. However,
without further testing its unclear if the increase to Charisma will
improve the number of Turn Undead available to the cleric as currently
+Cha items do not. A +1 to Diplomacy that this ability would give you
doesn't warrant the spending of the Enhancement. Therefore, it's of low
value to clerics, especially those who are not Turn Undead-based.



Rating:
3
Cleric's
Wisdom I–III

Text (III): Grants a +3 increase to Wisdom score.



Comments: +3 to the cleric's primary stat! ‘Nuff said'. Increases the
total number of spell points, raises the DC of any spell saves for any
debuff or crowd control spell. Most of my builds would incorporate this
Enhancement. The Enhancement stacks with the human wisdom Enhancement
and also any + Wis item. Most clerics should give this serious
consideration.



Rating:
5
Divine
Cleansing I–III

Text: Activate this ability to grant another character a morale bonus
on fortitude saves for a short time. Consumes a use of Turn Undead for
the day.



Comments: I have never used this. The usefulness would be limited to a
buff/heal cleric where Turn Undead is plentiful. A bonus to fortitude
could be welcomed to classes with a traditionally low Constitution when
facing Poison, Slay Living and Disintegrate spells. However the overall
usefulness of the Enhancement is dubious when looking at other
available choices.



Rating:
1
Devotion
I - V

Text (V): Grants a 20% increase to the effectiveness of your 5th level
and lower healing spells.



Comments: With a better return using a Cure Serious Wounds as a 3rd
level spell with a Greater Devotion, this becomes limited in value even
for the healing cleric. The Greater devotion line is the better option.




Rating:
3
Divine
Healing I – III

Text: Activate this ability to give another character healing that
persists over several seconds. Consumes a use of Turn Undead for the
day.



Comments: Useful or the healing/buff cleric who has a large number of
Turn Undeads available. Good to boost characters to full health from
¾ health and upwards instead of spending valuable spell points
on the healing. However, I only really used this during Beta and find
its usefulness to be dependant on the build of the cleric.



Rating:
2
Divine
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src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/ScreenShot00035.sized.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px; height: 150px;" align="right">

Text (III): Activate this ability to deal 4d6 points of light damage to
the targeted undead creature instead of attempting to turn it. Consumes
a use of Turn Undead for the day.



Comments: This is really only useful if your building a specific Turn
Undead cleric build. With a high number of Turn Undeads per rest
period, this allows you to hit the likes of the vampire with high
damage, especially since the cool down of the ability is only 2
seconds. It's useful in the interim time between level 8 and 10 when
you may be fighting the Vampire, running Delera's tomb on hard and
elite and venturing into the caverns of Korromar. I would consider
replacing this with a higher Enhancement once you hit level 10.



Rating:
1
Divine
Vitality I - III

Text: Activate this ability to restore a small amount of spell casting
energy to another character. Consumes a use of Turn Undead for the day.



Comments: Perhaps one of the most ‘hated' Enhancements being labelled
by many as overpowered. The usefulness of DV cannot be overstated.
Being able to restore the wizard or sorcerer or even another cleric's
spell points is a boon, but it really shines (and perhaps seems
overpowered) if you create a Turn Undead cleric build ( href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=215">like
this one or a href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=229">DV
build cleric) and have around 16 Turn Undead uses—and therefore 16
DVs—available. This can restore upwards of 700 spell points to a single
target, enough to bump most sorcerers or wizards to around 3/4 full
without having to rest.



Rating:
5
Energy
of the Zealot I - X

Text: Grants a 20-110 point increase to spell points.



Comments: Another Enhancement that is an almost must-have. Energy of
the Zealot stacks with Wizardry and Power items as well as the elf
racial Enhancement that also boosts spell points. If you want higher
than base spell points, this is a must-have choice.



Rating:
1
Extra
Turing I – III

Text (III): You gain the ability to perform 6 additional turn undead
attempts before resting.



Comments: Adding +6 turns per rest is a nice boon to both the DV cleric
and the turn undead cleric. A base CHA 16 Cleric with this enhancement
can top 16 turn undead per rest period. For the combat cleric this
would be wasted.



Rating:
3
Greater
Devotion I – III

Text (III): Grants a 40% increase to the effectiveness of your 3rd
level and lower healing spells.



Comment: For the healing-based cleric, the Devotion range is a good
option to increase your efficiency at healing. Even a combat cleric
would benefit from this by maximizing the amount healed with the lowest
expense of spell points possible. A 40% increase to a 3rd level spell
equates to an increase between 5 –  14 approx. hit points
returned, the equivalent of a Cure Light Wounds spell and 10 spell
points.



Rating:
4
Greater
Nullification I – III

Text (III): Grants a 40% increase to the damage of your 3rd level and
lower negative spells.



Comments: Unless your building a cleric around the Inflict Wounds line
of spells, you are very limited in the use of this spell.



Rating:
1
Improved
Devotion I – IV

Text (IV): Grants a 30% increase to the effectiveness of your 4th level
and lower healing spells.



Comments: With a better return using a Cure Serious Wounds as a 3rd
level spell with a Greater Devotion, this becomes limited in value even
for the healing cleric. The Greater Devotion line is the better
selection.



Rating:
3
Improved
Empowered Healing I – III href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Exclusive_Screenshots&id=ScreenShot00025&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="Cleric on quest"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/ScreenShot00025.sized.jpg"
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Text: Using Empower Heal Feat costs you fewer spell points for each
spell cast while in that mode.



Comments: This is an essential Enhancement for the healing cleric who
chooses the Empowered Healing Feat. It reduces the number of spells
points to maximize and improve the amount of healing given. Coupled
with the Greater Devotion line of Enhancements this should be the
staple of the healing cleric.





Rating:
4
Improved
Nullification I – IV

Text (IV): Grants a 30% increase to the damage of your 4th level and
lower negative spells.



Comments: Unless you're building a cleric around the Inflict Wounds
line of spells, you are very limited in the use of this spell.

Rating:
1
style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Nullification I – V

Text: (V) Grants a 20% increase to the damage of your 5th level and
lower negative spells.



Comments: Unless you're building a cleric around the Inflict Wounds
line of spells, you are very limited in the use of this spell.



Rating:
1
Skill
Recovery I – V

Text (V): Grants a +7 bonus to Heal and Repair skills.



Comments: Another build-dependant Enhancement. The only use I see for
this is a buff cleric who purely relies on healing and buffing and does
little else. The boost to the already maxed heal skill would be useful
to guarantee you bring back to life any character who is down on -1 to
-9 hit points. However, I have yet to really make use of the Heal skill
after about level 3 or 4 when a cleric's spell point totals start to
approach the 300s.



Rating:
2
Skill
Tactics I – V

Text (V): Grants a +7 bonus to Diplomacy and Concentration skills.



Comments: I see this as another build-dependant Enhancement. The boost
to Concentration is very useful; however, with the limited class Skills
of a cleric, you should have Concentration as close to maximum as
possible anyway. It will compensate for low Constitution scores and
give a valued bonus to Clerics who may find themselves in the front
lines fighting and needing to throw out healing as required without
interruption.



Rating:
3

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