Cleric/Thief in PoE?

[JellyThing]

I'm a long time enjoyer of CRPG games and this year I've been really interested in PoE and Deadfire. I've been working my way through the first PoE (slowly I have awful restartitis) and I was wondering if there is a way to make a character similar to how the Cleric/Thief in BG2 played? The combination of divine magic and sneaky combat tricks that the C/T has always appealed to me.

I know Skaen priest is likely the answer, but I don't think I can manifest the level of Starscream-ness that it would require to RP without feeling like a ****. Potentially Untroubled Faith would come in handy for a Skaen priest that's on the moral uptick but would that talent fit comfortably into a build?

For reference I like to play on PotD and Expert mode so the big issue is getting the playstyle right without horrifically gimping myself.

 

Long story short: Looking to play a Cleric/Thief type character without being cartoonishly evil or ineffectual.

[Boeroer]

If it's about Sneak Attack it would indeed be best to go with a Priest of Skaen and and pick Apprentice's Sneak Attack on top of the lesser Sneak Attack the Priest of Skean can get as a talent. That combination would be nearly as good in terms of damage bonus as the Rogue's Sneak Attack and you'll have the accuracy base of a fighter (which is great).

The dispositions of a Priest only affect his Holy Radiance. Mechanically that's not a big loss of you don't need the healing and vessel damage a lot. So you could play a somewhat conflicted Priest of Skean without gimping yourself too much imo (without using Untroubled Faith). 

Besides that it's not that hard to use a cruel option every now and then and on other situations pick a "neutral" option. 

Imo one can play a Priest of Skaen without being a cruel psychopath. Skaen has some aspects that also "good" characters could agree with - but the whole package kind of bad. Maybe one could concentrate on the agreeable aspacts and kind of ignore the rest. Maybe your character has set out to reform the church of Skaen, who knows?

If the damage bonus from Sneak Attacks isn't important but it's more about the non-combat stuff a "Thief" can do (stealth, mechanics etc.) then there's no need to pick a Priest of Skaen. Just improve the mechanics and stealth skills and pick an appropriate Priest subclass.

[JellyThing]

Excellent points, for me it's about both the sneak attack and out of combat stuff. Priest of Skaen it is I spose (probably a variant of your Schemer's Needle that I saw in the builds list)

 

I think the idea of a former slave realizing that Skaen isn't about revolution/freedom and more about bloody vengeance that destroys slave and master is an interesting concept. iirc PoE priests are more about personal faith than direct divine power.

 

Thanks!