War Cleric / Fighter advice

[Aemon Crane]

I'm currently playing a LN human variant (urchin) cleric of bane / fighter. Currently I'm level 2 cleric/1 fighter. With the great weapon master feat. I'm pretty much the main tank and healer. We do rely on healing potions. I was going to play a vengeance pally but it's a "shady" campaign and he had "moral issues". This character fits much better and is a lot more fun to play.(Rest is a Bard, Ranger, Blade Singer, Warlock.)
I'm really liking the character but I'm not sure how far I want to take the dip. I'll be going battle master. I'm leaning towards maxing war cleric at 6.
My current stats are ( Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Wis 18, Cha 14. Int 14.)
Also my main weapon is a 2H Maul.
I'm thinking of going 2 fighter next to make it 2/2 then continue fighter to 5 before picking up more cleric levels.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated.

(I have read the other fighter/cleric threads as well.)

[Specter]

I'd go for Fighter 6, unless you're really interested in Know Your Enemy. The group seems good at magic, so prioritize getting Fighter 5 asap for that Extra Attack.

Also, if you plan on being a tank, Goading Attack is mandatory.

[MrFahrenheit]

You have a few options, depending on where you want the bulk of your prowess coming from.

Option 1: primarily fighter. You'd want at least fighter 12/cleric 8. The big levels there are fighter 11 and cleric 8, where you get an additional extra attack and divine strike, respectively.
Option 2: primarily cleric. This would involve at least 14 levels of cleric, for improved divine strike. You could take three levels in fighter for the maneuvers, and two in paladin for smite - stopping one level short of taking an oath! That's two fighting styles, too! Here's the thing- you're going pole arm master, so IMHO getting a nominal "extra attack" may not be necessary. You'd obviously want to use your CD for the bonus attacks when an initial strike misses, but you wouldn't have to worry about maxing wis, since you eventually can rely on the bonus attack provided by the feat. This is a smite heavy build, and that butt end d4 may not be much to shake a stick at...until Xd8 smite damage is added every time it lands. Recommend taking the 2 in paladin ASAP, then pumping cleric to 8 before finishing up 3 in fighter and going cleric the rest of the way.

Bottom line: If cleric is going to be your primary class, then a quick 2 level paladin dip works wonders without hamstringing you rp-wise. If you want sheer numbers of attacks, though, go primarily fighter and tell paladin to screw off.

The pally option is certainly MAD, but you have the stats for it already.

[djreynolds]

I'm currently playing a LN human variant (urchin) cleric of bane / fighter. Currently I'm level 2 cleric/1 fighter. With the great weapon master feat. I'm pretty much the main tank and healer. We do rely on healing potions. I was going to play a vengeance pally but it's a "shady" campaign and he had "moral issues". This character fits much better and is a lot more fun to play.(Rest is a Bard, Ranger, Blade Singer, Warlock.)
I'm really liking the character but I'm not sure how far I want to take the dip. I'll be going battle master. I'm leaning towards maxing war cleric at 6.
My current stats are ( Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Wis 18, Cha 14. Int 14.)
Also my main weapon is a 2H Maul.
I'm thinking of going 2 fighter next to make it 2/2 then continue fighter to 5 before picking up more cleric levels.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated.

(I have read the other fighter/cleric threads as well.)

Per long rest, you will get 4 bonus attacks for blessing of Bane. For 6 levels of war cleric you will get 2 uses of channel divinity per short rest for a +10 to hit.

So going something two-handed is a good idea, and grabbing GWM. But these 4 bonus attacks based off your wisdom modifier will go by quick, so perhaps PAM is another feat to supplement this. 1d4 is better than nothing, but any bonus action use will compete with healing word, so perhaps PAM will not be as useful and spiritual weapon is right there as well, which is better than 1d4 plus your strength, it is 1d8 plus your wisdom.

The divine smite of the war cleric is okay, but it isn't elemental or radiant, and it is only once per turn, so no cleric 8th level.

So I would go cleric 3 or 4 for spiritual weapon access and maybe the feat/ASI and after I would really consider just going straight fighter till 11th level as the bard, ranger, and you can all heal. Now you have a use for your bonus action when the blessing of Bane runs out with spiritual weapon. Use bless all the time, and throw out a healing word when needed with your bonus action or command a floating mourningstar of Bane.

[Aemon Crane]

Great feedback, I have considered PAM. Also the feat I took was war caster, with great weapon fighting ability per fighter class. (Which is paying off big time on the initial damage rolls.)
I was thinking of getting my str and wis up with the ability bumps. The 4 bonus attacks is pretty nice at low levels right now.

[djreynolds]

Great feedback, I have considered PAM. Also the feat I took was war caster, with great weapon fighting ability per fighter class. (Which is paying off big time on the initial damage rolls.)
I was thinking of getting my str and wis up with the ability bumps. The 4 bonus attacks is pretty nice at low levels right now.

You have the strength to wear heavy armor, magic initiate druid and grab shillelagh and you could fight with a quarterstaff two-hand, its versatile so you can still get the benefit from great weapon fighting, and it uses wisdom for damage and attack. Snag thorn whip also.

Now you can make out wisdom, and then con.

[Aemon Crane]

I like the 2d6+3 dmg of my maul , so I wouldn't go druid magic initiate, but warlock with hex once a day doesn't sound bad if I decide to go magic initiate at level 4 fighter.
Currently my thinking is at next level taking cleric 3/ fighter 1 (this gives me 3 more spell slots) then getting fighter up to 5 for the next 4 levels.

[Sianthus]

First I just want to point out that man, your rolled stats are insane ahaha. Nothing below 14?!? You have such a kind DM :D (poor me got nothing below 12 and had to change one stat to 9 XD)

I think before you set off on any build in mind, remember how long do you expect to be playing this character until. Will this be a long campaign, where you'd get till late game of 17-20? Some builds take longer to get going than others so you might be gimped before you reach key levels in whatever multiclass you have. How long do you think this game will run? :)

[Aemon Crane]

Yes the stats were insane, ( we all rolled them together in front of the dm.)

Currently we alternate between 3 different dms (3 different games) so it's possible to get to 20 in all 3 games. (Other dms are myself and the bladesinger)

[Aemon Crane]

Btw that's ridiculous you had to drop a stat like that.

[djreynolds]

Here's the thing, and this may in way change your perspective. Normally most people use the standard array.

Now you stats are awesome, but you really only have 5 feats. One is going to wisdom to max it out. And instead of 2d6+3 it could be 1d8+5, if your Wisdom is 20. And you can use PAM with a quarterstaff. That is the power of magic initiate is that you can dump strength.

A popular build is using a hill dwarf cleric and grabbing magic initiate and shillelagh, and leaving strength as 10 and since you are a dwarf still being able to use heavy armor without penalty of not having a 15 strength.

You have a 16 in strength and it is certainly fine to attack with, but imagine the possibility if you could attack with a versatile quarterstaff with PAM and with Wisdom as your attack/damage stat, and a quarterstaff also works with great weapon fighting, the same a two-handing a war hammer or long sword. If you max out strength to 20 and wisdom to 20, it will leave you with 2-3 feats left over depending on you fighter levels taken. Magic initiate will allow you to leave strength at 16 saving you an ASI/feat for other purposes.

Now I do not want to sway you from using a maul as it a very cool weapon and its your concept. This just an observation of possibilities.

[Aemon Crane]

I only grabbed maul because I couldn't afford a great sword at game start. My original idea was to buy a great sword once I could afford it. But last game I just picked up a +1 2H mace (same damage etc as a maul +1)
I definitely don't like the quarterstaff concept for this character. As far as min/maxing it may be better but I'm not as concerned with that as I am with character concept role playing etc.

[Aemon Crane]

Here's my back story.... for a second language the dm allowed thieves cant.

Kane, orphaned at a young age, has only known the streets. Growing up alone made him tough, he learned many tricks from other bums and street people over the years. Picking up skills in disguise and even learning to pick locks and pockets. After many fights he eventually learned to give more than he took and how to avoid those that were too psychotic to reason with. He would do odd jobs for some of the local thieves mainly lookout work. He is fleet of foot and knows the back alleys and sewers of the city like few others. He had been fighting in some of the underground fighting pits not sanctioned by the Gladiators Guild, for little to no coin. It is there he met the one that would pull him from the streets and set him on a new path. Gevix, a warrior and cleric of Bane, took care of the healing and last rites for some of the underground fights. That's where he saw the young street urchin and immediately knew he had untapped potential for his master. He spent months training the young gutter trash in the arts of battle and what is expected of a follower of Bane. Always one to work from the shadows, Banes newest acolyte has now been set upon a path to untold glory or a fiery doom. Only time will tell which will be his fate.

[Aemon Crane]

So to update I've decided to go 11fighter/9 war cleric
Currently I'm 4f/2c just leveled about to take cleric to 3, then fighter 5, cleric 4...
Right now Kane is pretty much beast mode. Original feat was war caster and I picked up
Great weapon master (feat) and great weapon fighting(fighter). Using a 2h +1 mace. Another cleric joined our group so he's able to heal as well. I'm mainly tanking with the melee ranger.
I know people seem to not like war clerics but with multi classing fighter he is a damage machine. I always have a bonus action going and he is lethal. I Reroll 1's and 2's and all the tine and only once the reroll sucked. (last game)

[Finieous]

So to update I've decided to go 11fighter/9 war cleric


I think that's a good choice, but I'd go EK instead of battlemaster.