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I am enjoying a lot playing a fire Theologian Cleric with a focus in the fireball spell and I was guessing if something similar can be done with lightning bolt.

For reference the base of the built for the fireball case is:

At level 7 the cleric can use a level 4 slot to cast an empowered focused fireball with CL 10 (DC +3; 10d6+50%) and still channel for healing and use other spells for battle control and buffing. It can also work pretty good dropping the Theologian archetype.

Any road to do this with a god lover of lightning?

V2Blast
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Balacertar
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    Note that while there don't seem to be any domains that give lightning bolt, there are some that give call lightning and/or chain lightning. – Oblivious Sage Sep 24 '16 at 15:26
  • +1 to the chain lightning (call lightning has a small fixed damage), but it is perhaps too late in your career. Optimizing for a spell you only get at level 11 might not be for everybody. I was looking for lightning bolt because at level 5 and up to past mid levels, blasts can be a good plus to the party. Other similar (die per level) electrical spells of levels 2-4 would be great to know. – Balacertar Sep 24 '16 at 17:20

4 Answers4

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  • Samsaran race with Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait lets you learn a few off-list spells. They must match your actual class in arcane/divine type, but are otherwise unrestricted. Lightning Bolt exists as a divine spell via the Adept class, so it's a valid choice.

  • Page of Spell Knowledge adds any one spell to any caster class. It's supposed to require spontaneous casting, and supposed to only apply to spells that are already on your class list... but those are just prereqs for using a magic item, so you can spoof them with UMD.

  • Lightning subdomain has Lightning Bolt. However, your limited number of domain spell-slots make this not great for a heavy specialization, unless you also import the Domain Spontaneity feat from 3.5e.

  • Dreamed Secrets lets a divine caster learn Wizard spells. However, it's not appropriate for spells you plan to specialize in, since you can't cast them reliably; it takes a Will save (DC 20) each time you try.

Topquark
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  • Technically, a cleric has spontaneous casting anyway, specifically of cure or inflict spells. – KRyan Sep 24 '16 at 15:38
  • @KRyan But the page of spell knowledge actually means without preparation. Sigh. – Hey I Can Chan Sep 24 '16 at 16:03
  • I accepted this answer because of the "Lightning subdomain", this was what I was looking for. The Theologian archetype is in the build exactly for that Topquark, because it allows you to use domain spells in your normal slots. With Greater Spell Specialization it also means you can spontaneously cast the spell as much as your slots last. – Balacertar Apr 16 '21 at 15:12
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Thunder clerical domain, Dragon Magazine #290. Granted by the Slavic deity Perun. Third-level domain spell.

thorr-kan
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    This question is about Pathfinder; Dragon vol. 290 is for D&D 3.5e. While similar, and easily adapted to one another, they aren’t the same system and questions about one don’t usually allow material from the other. That said, this certainly is interesting—the lack of domain including lightning bolt has long been a point of interest, due to the hexer prestige class requiring it as a divine spell (which is otherwise available only to adepts). – KRyan Jan 07 '20 at 19:51
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Not directly as as Cleric. A Mystic Theurge could, but that requires a lot of effort not to be behind the curve. There is also the Theurge from Kobold Press, but you lose domains, channeling, and spontaneous healing for the ablity to prepare both Wizard and Cleric spells. The closest is the Weather Domain, which gives call lighting, and a lot of lighting powers.

Samuel Silbory
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One thing that often gets overlooked is that divine spellcasters can research new spells just like a wizard can. From the SRD:

Independent Research: A divine spellcaster can also research a spell independently, much as an arcane spellcaster can. Only the creator of such a spell can prepare and cast it, unless she decides to share it with others.

You will need permission from your GM, of course, but it's a perfectly RAW option.

Deckard
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