Pathfinder Kingmaker Builds: Harrim the Cleric

In this Pathfinder Kingmaker Guide we will take a look at Harrim. He is a grumpy Chaotic Cleric, and with this Build he will stay that way because it is the most efficient fashion to build him in. Clerics have very powerful spells at their disposal, and it would be a waste not to use that.

Clerics are not only good healers but can also do quite a lot of Harm.

Pathfinder Kingmaker Builds – Harrim The Cleric

Clerics on their own are a powerful bunch, and although they do not get many Feats and Abilities automatically, they make up that difference with the amount of spells they have at their disposal. Clerics have, next to normal spells, the special ability to Channel Positive Energy and Channel Positive Energy – Damage Undead. Positive Energy heals allies and Positive Damage Undead Energy is great against Undead enemy types.

The problem with Harrim and Channel Positive Energy – Damage Undead is that it uses Charisma as a modifier instead of Wisdom and Harrim has no Charisma modifier. However, we can work around this with the Eagle’s Splendor spell and accessories that buff his Charisma Attribute. Some Cleric abilities also depend on the Domain they choose, and Harrim is a Chaotic Cleric so he will receive these feats and abilities:

Heavy Flail Proficiency
Touch of Chaos: In short, it makes enemy attacks less dangerous when applied on them.
Chaos Blade: Adds the anarchic property to wielded weapon. Weapons with anarchic property deal more damage to Lawful enemies but it bestows a permanent negative level to Lawful wielders.
Destructive Smite: Adds half of Cleric level to damage rolls.
Destructive Aura: All attacks made against targets affected by this Aura, including your party, have half of cleric level added to damage and critical hits are automatically confirmed. This is an extremely situational ability since it affects allies as well and can lead to the premature death of your party.

Attributes

Wisdom is the most important attribute for Clerics because it increases difficulty to resist spells (DC), as well as the number of spells you can use. With such an attribute spread, Harrim is great as a secondary tank/healer and spellcaster, but he starts off with -1 to DEX modifier which reduces his AC. That can be solved with Cat’s Grace and accessories so you are free to spend all attribute points into WIS.

1 point that would make WIS an odd number is best put to STR since it is the only way attribute that has benefits even with odd number.

Skills

Harrim does not have many points to spend so they should be distributed accordingly. Lore (Nature), Lore (Religion), Perception and Knowledge (Arcana) are all good choices because they are boosted initially through Class Skill and attribute bonuses.

Feats

The Feats needed for this build are oriented around increasing surviveability. Harrim can go down quickly if he does not have high AC or if he fails a lot of concentration checks, so we need to counter these weaknesses with Feats. If you plan on using spells from any Spell School that does not have any real benefit from Spell and Greater Spell Focus feats then switch those 2 with Extra Channel.

Shield Focus
Heavy Armor Focus
Spell Focus
Greater Spell Focus
Shield Wall (only if you have another melee character with shield in your party with same feat)
Combat Casting
Steel Soul
Diehard

Spells

Clerics have a lot of really good spells at their disposal, and they also have the special ability to convert any of the spell to Cure Wounds. For this build we are going to focus Necromancy, buffing and negative status effect removal spells. However, you can focus any Spell School you want that would compliment the playstyle you desire. Necromancy has some high damaging abilities like Destruction and Harm that do a decent amount of damage, even if a saving throw succeeds. Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus makes them harder to resist and that is why we need these Feats. Here are some of the Necromancy spells I like to use:

Horrid Wilting is awesome unless it is used against enemies with high Fortitude

Buffing and negative status effect removal spells are extremely important to help out allies, and keep Harrim alive. Harrim needs Shield of Faith, Magical Vestment, Frightful Aspect, Owl’s Wisdom, and it would go a long way if an ally could cast Cat’s Grace on Harrim to remove his negative DEX modifier. When you cast all these spells in succession, his AC will skyrocket and his spells will be much harder to resist. Here is a list of spells I have chosen to help with various things but feel free to switch and add whichever you like:

Gear

The best thing we can do for Harrim is to use Heavy Armor and either a Heavy or Tower Shield to boost his AC as high as possible. And do not forget to take the Tower Shield Proficiency Feat if you plan on using it! Belt of Dexterity is a great choice if you do not want to waste Cat’s Grace on Harrim. Any Constitution bonus is also welcome here, to make him just a bit tankier.

Summary

Harrim built like this is great in tandem with Valerie, or any other melee character with a shield and the Shield Wall Feat. So, keep him in front lines, but before that put Shield of Faith, Magical Vestment (and at later levels Frightful Aspect). That will make him hard to hit, thus ensuring his survival.

Harrim can have high AC with all these buffs

Thanks to Combat Casting, you can avoid some Attacks of Opportunity when casting in combat. Do not forget about team buffing spells like Prayer and Resist Energy Communal, because they are very helpful, so make sure you cast them before combat.

And that is all there is to this build. It mostly comes down to spell choices, so a lot of it is interchangeable depending on what you want from Harrim. Thank you for reading and enjoy!

More Pathfinder Kingmaker content is coming soon, including Class and Build Guides, so stay tune! You may be interested to read our Tower Shield Tank Valerie Build Guide, Jaethal Grim Reaper Build Guide, Octavia Arcane Trickster Build Guide, Amiri Barbarian Build Guide, Ekundayo Ranger Build Guide, Linzi Bard Build Guide and our Beginner’s Guide. In the meantime you can check out the wiki for all your Pathfinder needs.