Sword and Board vs 2-hander for STR based Tempest Cleric

[Space Polan]

So, i'm gonna be playing a half-orc tempest cleric but i'm not sure what weapon choice to make. I would assume I would need to multiclass into a fighter to get dueling fighting style for SnB, but the extra AC would really help.

[Zman]

Clerics with a single attack get almost no benefit out of a Greatsword, a shield's defense is vastly superior. This is the same for Dueling, the only fighting style that is beneficial is defense.

If you MC, Paladin 2 for smite, defense, and even thunderous smite for flavor. Picking up Magic Initiate for Booming Blade is amazing.

[DracoKnight]

If you multiclass Paladin 2/Cleric X like ZMan suggested, here are my recommendations (and I mostly agree with him)

Start with Paladin, this will give you better starting Hit Points, and you don't lose anything on your saves since both Clerics and Paladins get the same saves. Go sword and board, and grab the Duelist fighting style (you'll have an 18 AC in chain with your shield. You're fine on AC until you can pick up Plate Mail.) If you grab Magic Initiate Warlock, pick up booming blade and lightning lure for your cantrips, pick up armor of Agathys for your 1st level spell and ask your DM if it can deal Lightning damage instead of Cold.

You're well on your way to a highly effective Tempest cleric with this build. The only issue is that you'll be slightly MAD, needing high STR, CON, WIS, and CHA to function well.

[Zman]

If you multiclass Paladin 2/Cleric X like ZMan suggested, here are my recommendations (and I mostly agree with him)

Start with Paladin, this will give you better starting Hit Points, and you don't lose anything on your saves since both Clerics and Paladins get the same saves. Go sword and board, and grab the Duelist fighting style (you'll have an 18 AC in chain with your shield. You're fine on AC until you can pick up Plate Mail.) If you grab Magic Initiate Warlock, pick up booming blade and lightning lure for your cantrips, pick up armor of Agathys for your 1st level spell and ask your DM if it can deal Lightning damage instead of Cold.

You're well on your way to a highly effective Tempest cleric with this build. The only issue is that you'll be slightly MAD, needing high STR, CON, WIS, and CHA to function well.

Dueling when you will only ever get one attack is incredibly inefficient, Defense is far more valuable and effective.

[Pex]

Single class sword and shield is fine. You're agonizing for offensive power for levels 1 and 2, but take solace with Bless or even Shield of Faith to have 20 AC. "Slow and steady wins the race". When enemies keep missing you doing 1d8 + 3 damage yourself goes a long way. Your reward is 3rd level when you can cast Spiritual Weapon. Since it's not Concentration you can still have Shield Of Faith. That's a potential 2d8 + 6 damage per round with 20 AC. Both are bonus actions to cast so you still get to do attack over the two rounds. Cast Shield of Faith first since you need to use your bonus action to attack with the Spiritual Weapon.

[Tanarii]

are you thinking of taking any combat feats at 4th or 8th? If so, it depends if you want to take Polearm Master, Great Weapon Master, or Shield Master, or Sentinel. (I'm kinda assuming you'll probably only take one at most, then ASI Wis or STR.)

Another thing to consider is Half-Orc Racial works best with big dice. Otoh, with one attack per turn that's not a huge deal you won't crit often.

The other thing to do is just play by ear. Shield & Warhammer until you find a magic weapon, then go with whatever style that takes you to.

[Calibus]

Sword and board all the way. You need the boost in ac and losing out on a few damage dice is nothing significant. They need you healthy to keep them healthy. Unless you're playing a cleric to get to the fight then I recommend you go with paladin or a Tempest Favored Soul. And splash in some warlock. Other than that. No reason I can imagine you wouldn't want a shield.

[NNescio]

Cleric's DPR mostly comes from melee attack (+ Divine strike and/or Magic Initiate/Arcane Initiate GFB/BB) + Spiritual Weapon + Spirit Guardians stacking. You don't benefit much from using a Greatsword, and the extra AC from a shield can help you maintain your concentration spells better (since it reduces the number of hits that get through).

2H weapons aren't that worth it with only one attack. Polearm Master is questionable since it competes for your bonus action (as a Cleric you get a lot of bonus action spells). You may be able to make GWM work well with Bless and Halforc, but again you only get a single attack, so your damage output is still going to be bad compared to martials (or even warlocks and rogues), so again, it's a questionable use of an ASI.

War Clerics are a notable exception since they can Channel Divinity to get +10 to their attack roll (after they roll, even) and they get extra bonus action attacks up to their Wis mod, making it work well with GWM (and even Sharpshooter) That said, even this tends to peter out on later levels, especially since War Clerics get the ability to +10 to allied attack rolls later, which is generally a better use of the ability. War Clerics can get PAM or Crossbow Expert to work though, due to their CD, but that's still sort of a questionable use of ASIs, since Clerics generally need to prioritize War Caster + Resilient(Con) and two +2 Wis increases.

[Foxhound438]

I'll have to be a rebel and say that I like heavy polearms on clerics. A bonus action attack without having to spend a 2nd level spell slot is good, and with PAM's bonus attack you always have two attempts at divine strike damage (similar to twf with sneak attack). While the drop in AC isn't exactly favorable, I don't think that's a big deal.

[Biggstick]

If you really want to rock a 2her, pick up 5 levels in Fighter or Ranger for the second attack.

If you're going primarily Cleric though, stick with the sword and board. Higher level Cleric isn't going to be anywhere near the front lines without a shield and some plate armor.

[djreynolds]

Why cleric? Crazy, but it seems the half orc really just wants to hurt someone.
For the clerics I've played, wisdom is your key stat. I'll sacred flame in melee as it is save or suck.

Half orc paladin, devotion. That is cleric enough. Supplement with storm sorcerer.

[Calibus]

Why cleric? Crazy, but it seems the half orc really just wants to hurt someone.
For the clerics I've played, wisdom is your key stat. I'll sacred flame in melee as it is save or suck.

Half orc paladin, devotion. That is cleric enough. Supplement with storm sorcerer.

Because why not? Clerics are in no means the worst class option for half-orcs. And there's plenty of combat utility to fill the bill for half-orcs...

[Tanarii]

Interestingly, by far the majority of Tempest and War clerics I see in play are 2-handed style. I think it's the Marital weap prof feeling 'wasted' otherwise.

[djreynolds]

Because why not? Clerics are in no means the worst class option for half-orcs. And there's plenty of combat utility to fill the bill for half-orcs...

I did plenty of melee as my cleric, but the only thing is your spells are so potent as a cleric.

The toughest part about cleric is how to squeeze out that divine strike at 8th and 14th. And its tough when you're trying to max out your casting stat, as it add to healing and DCs.

He can go to town with a big sword and bless, or grab shillelagh from magic initiate and use wisdom.

And your correct half-orc is a great cleric, I think S&B is better just cause you can use your shield as an divine focus.

This guy could just use a spear, and go shield and spear or two hand the spear. 16 strength is good enough.

[Mandragola]

Tempest clerics are great casters and ok tanks. They are not good melee damage dealers - no full casters are. My advice would be not to fall into the trap of thinking that martial weapon proficiency makes you a melee damage dealer. It absolutely does not. You'll be fine for the first couple of levels but then you'll see the martial classes getting all kinds of abilities to deal extra damage - most importantly their second attack.

As others have pointed out, the only way to really do lots of damage is with extra attacks, from 5+ levels in some martial class. But doing that delays your casting progression enormously.

The good news is that pure clerics are great. Just work to get your wisdom as high as it can go and blow stuff away with your awesome divine power. You've got stuff like spiritual weapon at 3rd, spirit guardians at 5th and destructive wave at 9th to look forward to. There's no need to concern yourself with bashing things after low level. You'll probably find that you stop drawing your warhammer after a while.

With points buy as a half-orc I think I'd recommend 17, 8, 16, 8, 15, 8. Then at 4th you can raise your strength and wisdom.

If you really want to multiclass then start as a fighter at lvl 1, for con saves and +1AC. Personally I wouldn't do this - I'd want my character to be the best caster he could be.

[CapnZapp]

Re: Sword and Board vs 2-hander for STR based Tempest Cleric

Actually, I think a better minmaxing effort is to drop the idea of doing actual weapon attacks entirely. Leave that to the martials, you have spells - being in the front line is fine; using pointy sticks is crude. :)

I'd boost CON and dump STR, and instead focus on making Concentration checks. Then I'd cast spells including the supremely powerful Spirit Guardians, and then spend my time taking the Dodge action.

Few attacks will hit my super-high AC. Fewer still will hit me at disadvantage. Fewer will deal enough damage to break my Concentration, given that I probably sport a +10 modifier at mid levels and roll with advantage.

I wager Spirit Guardians will do double the damage of anyone else in your party.

[Saggo]

The toughest part about cleric is how to squeeze out that divine strike at 8th and 14th. And its tough when you're trying to max out your casting stat, as it add to healing and DCs.

If you grab a SCAG cantrip, it's not so hard since Divine Strike combines with them so effortlessly. You'll end up with roughly the same damage as an EK using SCAG+War Magic.