abstract
| - Since we have a Hidden Dragon, a Guerilla Wizard, and more Rogue based stealth builds than I can possibly list, Team HiPS needs a sneaking Full Divine Caster to round off. Full Divine is necessary for maximum spell resistance strength and group buff duration. This was originally envisioned as a stealth-able Divine party-support build.
* Full Cleric Spellcasting, including Cleric domain spells
* Persistent Haste for extra attack and speed bonus.
* Premonition provides 30/Adamantine DR that can help cover you when you are not using Stone Body.
* Mass Camouflage boosts Hide.
* Level 30 caster, full benefit from the Spell Resistance spell, and maximum Buff Duration.
* Expose Weakness and reasonable Dex. Expose Weakness lets it deal 7 bleeding damage each round for 5 rounds (total 35 damage) that stacks and ignores damage reduction. It also reduces AC for your next attacks to land (including another Expose Weakness).
* Able to achieve high AB using Cleric buffs (although not necessarily high Damage, it relies on Expose Weakness for that).
* Able to Hide in plain sight (HiPS)
* On PWs, this can be used enhance general survivability, by sneaking past dangerous monsters
* In RP scenarios, it means that you can accompany the Party Rogue on stealth missions.
* Can use HiPS just before throwing out Expose Weakness to deny Enemy Dex/Dodge AC bonus.
* Because of the way HiPS works, there is a short while after going into Hiding before the Enemy starts his detection cycle. During which your attacks can catch him flat-footed, .
* Consequently, this means that if the enemy can consistently detect you anyway, you can cast Stone Body, slap on Heavy Armor and Tower Shield to gain more AC, and you can still use HiPS in the manner described above.
* Able to fight unarmed if disarmed (generally more important for PvP)
* Usable under any magic setting
* In fact its various Cleric buffs may means that it works comparatively better on low/no magic setting, since its buffs do not stack with most Gear.
* Spot as a Class Skill to counter Feint, augmented by its reasonably good Wisdom.
* Unlike other Monk/Cleric builds, this does not have Sacred Fist, and so has the option of being able to use weapons e.g. for the purpose of overcoming DR, without incurring a hefty AB penalty.
* Cleric: Memorized casting means that you might have trouble if you meet a situation you are not prepared for.
* Low Strength means melee damage will be comparatively poor until Epic levels when this gets Expose Weakness. For this reason, I do not normally recommend its use in level 1-30 campaigns. If however the campaign starts at Epic levels, it becomes much more viable. Along a similiar line of reasoning, Low Strength means you won't be able to haul around a lot of loot. You can cast Bull Strength on yourself to help a bit, but your best bet would be to get a Bag of Holding (which again is probably only available at high levels).
* Lacks Listen, so it can't detect builds that can buff Hide (including itself ironically).
* The standard Cleric protection buff Stone Body, is incompatible with stealth. You are left with a tough choice in different scenarios as to whether or not to use it.
* If you do use it, its gives a -8 Armor Check Penalty to your hide and move scores.
* If you don't use it, while Premonition can help cover the DR, you are still vulnerable to blindness, critical hits, stun and paralysis without Stone Body.
* Does not have Disarm, and will fare less well in PvP.
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