Intelligence vs Charisma for a Cleric.

[Lendário]

So, i'm making a Cleric.
Standard stuff, Hill Dwarf, Life Domain, 27 point buy.

14
10
14 ( 16 )
8/10
15 ( 16 )
8/10

I don't know where the 8 should go.
Charisma, if i understand correctly, is for saves againts some effects.
But, with negative Intelligence my Religion is going to suck. And that just feels wrong.
Toughts?

[bid]

You will take resilient(Con), won't you? Start Con15 and you won't have to choose.

That being said, proficiency will have a much bigger impact than that -1 from stats. Do what your concept deserves.

[Lendário]

You will take resilient(Con), won't you? Start Con15 and you won't have to choose.

That being said, proficiency will have a much bigger impact than that -1 from stats. Do what your concept deserves.

I planned to go War Caster, actually.

[Starsinger]

That depends, do you view your cleric as more of a theologian or more of a proselytizer? Because if you dump charisma for int, you know things. You have the obscure knowledge of your religion that others might lack.

But if you dump int for charisma, you may not know the name of St. Cuthbert's warhorse, but you know St. Cuthbert is awesome and you can ignite a fire in the hearts of any who believe, and even those who don't.

[D.U.P.A.]

Just pick by roleplaying reasons. -1 is not such a big deal.

[djreynolds]

Because of the AL, I feel an 8 is really should be seen as a normal ability score for most people. I have all 8's as a person.

Now cleric is strange but if you are going to wield a shield, shield master gives you evasion. And you could put that 8 in dexterity if you took shield master. Also charisma is an unusual save, not seen much, but confusion can hurt and you don't need a cleric out of commission.

So at least think about shield master after you took war caster it could go far. And in regards to dex saves, they are primarily damage and you have access to healing. It is a toss up. Be sure to grab athletics as a skill so if you take shield master you can shove with it. I find every character should have proficiency in either acrobatics or athletics, if only to avoid shoves and trips and grapples.

Throw the 8 in dex or charisma because you have proficiency to cover that save. Religion is big, but you have spells like guidance and enhance ability to mitigate the -1.

[SwordChuck]

Well from memory Clerics have more Int based skills than cha based.

Plus the Knowledge Domain is absolutely brutal (like, if Nathan Explosion was singing "Run to the Hills") so I typically go with a little bit of Intelligence.

[bid]

I planned to go War Caster, actually.
You understand you don't gain that much, yes? Holy symbol covers most of the 2nd point and you don't have good spells for OA anyway.

[Sigreid]

I like CHA for clerics. It resonates with me that they would be self confident, magnetic and powerful speakers. The voice of God on earth so to speak.

[downlobot]

Because of the AL, I feel an 8 is really should be seen as a normal ability score for most people. I have all 8's as a person.

U r OP and got lucky rolls. I r demand re-roll.

[Malknafein]

Intelligence fits well with Knowledge Domain.

With decent Charisma and right skills from Background you can be party face.

[SwordChuck]

Intelligence fits well with Knowledge Domain.

With decent Charisma and right skills from Background you can be party face.

The cleric will never focus on charisma (wis, con, str or dex comes first) typically.

What a cleric can do is be a fantastic backup face. Try to help the face always have advantage on charisma skills.

[Tanarii]

But, with negative Intelligence my Religion is going to suck. And that just feels wrong.
Toughts?if you have Religion proficiency, but not Persuasion, 10 Int and 8 Cha. It's only a one point difference but go with the skills you're proficient in. Unless you expect to be making a lot of untrained skill checks.

[Sigreid]

But, with negative Intelligence my Religion is going to suck. And that just feels wrong.
Toughts?

I don't think it's that common for a preacher to have their facts wrong. And I don't think it would cause you to be wrong about the big ones. You're unlikely, for example to believe that Sune is the goddess of decay and disease. And if you're wrong about some of the stories you do tell, so what? You've just added to her legend.