Hey guys, so I am playing in a campaign starting up soon, and I've had this idea in my mind of a Ministorum Priest, from and RP perspective, for years, but as I look at their aptitudes, what exactly are they supposed to bring to the team? I'm historically not a min/max kind of player, in the end, the way I want to play him is with rousing speeches, flamethrowers and one day, a Eviscerator, but I also would like to contribute to the team, and maybe not fall over the first time an Ork punches me in the face.

So does anybody have any advice on building the combat side of the Ministorum Priest? If I was headed toward 2H Melee, what would you say are the MUST TAKE talents, so as to either avoid death or inflict it faster than the enemy? Should I abandon my dreams of 2H slaughter as impractical due to his fragility? (33 Toughness, rolled up 11 HP) Or is there a way to use the fellowship/leadership to meaningfully buff my team, similar to the way a SGT does?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to wrap my head around what a Priest really is. His aptitudes seem not really optimized towards combat, though he leans toward melee, but then lacks the ability to pick up any defensive or offensive talents easily, but in exchange his social buffs seem, bleh. (as I understand them, which isn't well)

Cheers!

I wish i could give you more concrete advice about the game mechanics and what talents to pick, but alas my copy of DH2 has been delayed. (and from what ive heard there is little point giving advice based on the beta)

But if you want to go swinging with a eviscerator (two handed chainsword with a flamethrower attached to it) GO FOR IT!

And don't worry about his fragility: Faith is they shield, Only in death does duty end, and the Emperor shall recognise his own!

You might want to check out shield of humanity from Only War. It has some intresting priest builds such as the prelate at arms.

He's not a combat character mainly.

The game is only mostly combat if the GM makes it so.

EDIT: What's a priest do in 40K in the Guard? Exhort the men to heroism. Watch for heresy. Build up that aspect of the character.

My worry isn't the social aspect, when we aren't actively fighting, I am pretty clear how I'll play the guy. I guess, my issue is that in every system my group plays, I pick a character based on the RP potential, and as a I have been playing 40K most of my life, this is a system I really know and enjoy, and the concept of a Redeemer is going to be so fun, but I have a terrible feeling I am going to be in the combat guys way. At the end of the day, in a game about war, every class needs to have some mechanics that make it help, I was surprised there aren't more "prayer" type buffs for the priest to do, I think they missed a chance to make the Priest kind of like the SGT in that manner.

Got the Shield of Humanity book, it has some fun looking advanced Priest classes, so I guess I'll focus on surviving to 2500 xp.

We played a test game last night, as we are still learning the system and using Roll20.net, and boy did we learn melee with orks is bad (Our GMs big campaign we'll be playing for keeps is based off the one in the main rule book, with a bunch of tweaks). However, we learned that Flame throwers are 40k's version of CC. Orks running around on fire like candles are orks not shooting or chopping players in the face. So the priest has that going for him.

Gonna sit down and put all the talents into a spread sheet, so I can sort them out and try to find a path to get some buffs in there or something to help the guys early on, when the going is bound to be tougher. Two weapon builds seem well represented, but 2 Handed seem to get the shorter stick.

Yeah, two handed is a bit less represented, mostly since it tends to not get multiple attacks and has trouble parrying. However, for a priest, if you can get your hands on an Eviscerator and take chain expertise along with Crippling Strike.... you get to roll 4d10, dropping the two lowest, and if you ever Righteous Fury (which you will a fair amount), you'll roll 1d5+3 for crit damage. That's right, you have the potential for an 8, instant death potential.

No, you'll roll 1d5+2, which gives you a maximum of 7. That's not instant death, although it is crippling and most likely takes the enemy out of the fight (blinded+stunned, one-armed/legged+stunned or with your guts about to spill out + in any case: Blood Loss).

If crits are your game (and as a priest, they probably should be!), consider Aspire to Vengeance (SoH, p. 102). It combines well with Curate (OW core, p. 89) and Righteous Blow (from HotE)

If crits are your game (and as a priest, they probably should be!), consider Aspire to Vengeance (SoH, p. 102). It combines well with Curate (OW core, p. 89) and Righteous Blow (from HotE)

Indeed, and if you combine that with the Do Not Wait For Death order (SoH. p. 112), which practically makes your comrades who are usually expendable throw themselves in front of the attacks, you have a perfect set up for getting mad, then ripping the hell out of people.

Though.... if you like your comrades or of it's hard to get more (start of a missions away from the home lines or your regiment is one of the few _tm ), that's probably not the best option.

Makes me kind of sad that, unless I missed it, none of the Expertise or Mastery talents from HotE cover power weapons, or bolt weapons. I suppose this might serve to give the Officers of the IG another reason to keep the chainsword, rather than take up the power sword, and I personally prefer plasma weaponry over bolters, so I guess I win that hand.

For the Priest, yeah, you can combine some of the above talents together to make some cheesy damage output. Cleanse and Purify (HotE p.97) might also serve you well, if you enjoy the healing power of flames.

If I try the 2H route, what do people generally find more effective, Furious Assault or Swift Attack? As I read this, one is an all out attack, the other is like Semi-Auto for Melee weapons. I was thinking Swift attack because giving up my dodge (Can't parry with the big 2Her I aspire to), seems like a bad idea in the big scheme of things.

I'd like Furious Assault a lot more if you could Charge + All out attack, that would be sick WS. Someone tried to tell me that was possible the other night, I got excited, then read charge and its a full action. Sadness ensued.

Also trying to figure out, since a big 2Her can't parry (unwieldy) is there a reliable combo of talents to try and save yourself getting hit in melee? Seems to me juicing dodge is about my only hope and that is gonna be expensive as all get out. Our DM has outlawed the orders from SoH for now, he doesn't want to deal with the new mechanics since we've played a whopping two test sessions. Hoping he'll revisit that about the time guys are hitting advanced classes.

Some of the orders are great, some are meh. And regardless, you still have to buy them/qualify for them, so it does even out somewhat.

IIRC, the pattern creation system in HotE allows for a melee weapon to become unbalanced instead of unwieldy, or something like that. Maybe check that out?

I'm not sure how good your Priest will be with regards to their combat capabilities, given that the general bent of their aptitudes are slanted toward interaction and support, but I would sincerely recommend dual wielding chainswords with lightning attacks and the chainsword expertise and mastery feats. The Weapon Specialist in the game that I'm running uses that combination to devastating effect.