Pairing with a Cleric

[Zanthy1]

So I am starting a new campaign next week as a player and my buddy and I want to make our characters have some for of dynamic with each other. We are starting at level 1, and are limited to only the players handbook. He is leaning towards Cleric, and thought that maybe we could both follow the same deity or something.

My question for y'all is, what dynamic or paired class would you think works well with Cleric? My initial thought was like a Emperor and Darth Vader, him being the Cleric and me being like a paladin or something. Another idea would be that we both worship some lesser deity and are the agents trying to spread the word and become a major faith.

Thoughts?

[Specter]

What's the cleric's domain?

In the meantime, two words: Warding Bond.

[Zanthy1]

He has not decided on a domain yet. And what is warding bond?

[Specter]

He has not decided on a domain yet. And what is warding bond?

The spell where the cleric takes half of all damage you take.

[Callin]

You can do all sorts of things.

Cleric/Druid- holy men of a nature diety
Cleric/Paladin- any
/Rogue

Ect ect

Just depends on what yall wanna do

[Sigreid]

A cleric with the arcane domain and a wizard with the therge specialty?

[Firechanter]

From a mechanical standpoint, I have made great experiences with a Cleric & Rogue duo. That combination covers the three pillars Combat, Social and Exploration pretty well.

[Reosoul]

Nothing goes quite so well as a Cleric and a Barbarian. If I had to be specific, I'd say a Life cleric and a Bear Totem barbarian, swinging for the fences every round and the cleric feeding him HP when he needs it at the low levels.

But really any cleric/barbarian combo is good, except for maybe Frenzy barbarian(since you won't see Greater Restoration for a while.)

There is nothing more frightening than a blessed, great weapon master barbarian recklessly attacking every turn and being made unkillable by the life cleric next him.

[poolio]

It's funny i was just looking for a thread about player combos lol and a friend and i were going to go claric/paladin of nature and vengeance respectively, we were looking at fenrir for our diety, an older addition wolf god who's the protector of the forests and the wrongful hunting of wolfs, i would have a care taker of the woods and he a slayer of the unnatural things that fenrir didmuch care for :smalltongue:

Anyway, some of the stuff we were going for were battle field control, he was going to go for the pam/sentinel combo while i would have spirit guardians going, then we just kinda walk up on enemies side by side, guardians slowing and damaging while anything that tried to stick around and fight would get stopped in it's tracks by my comrade,

Not exactly op but a fun little strategy :smallsmile:

[Herobizkit]

Nothing goes quite so well as a Cleric and a Barbarian.In the game I am running, we have a "buddy cop" duo of a Half-Orc Barbarian and a Human War Cleric of Gruumsh.

They are a staggeringly great melee force.

... little lacking in the smarts department, though, which works to great comedic effect.

[Human or Dwarf] Barbarian + Dwarf Tempest Cleric (Moradin or "All-Father") really gets my Norse junk happy.

Just remember that if they you Human or Halfling, you'll need a light source to see in darkness.

For laughs, you could roll, say, an Arcane Cleric and a Favored Soul Sorcerer/Undying Light Warlock/Theurge Wizard (all available in UA PDFs). Arcane Cleric and a Knowledge Cleric might be handy, too.

If you plain can't make up your mind, you can always roll Bard. ^_^

Finally - (UA) Beastmaster Ranger and Moon Druid. Have fun.

[PeteNutButter]

There are plenty of obvious combinations, but keep in mind things needn't be so stereotypical. Yeah cleric and paladin make sense, but anyone from any walk of life can worship a god. It needn't be a certain class.

You can even take it a step further and make unlikely companions. Two clerics of similar but distinctly different Dieties, a cleric and warlock or rogue he is trying to convert, perhaps they were childhood friends, etc.

So long as you have a cleric and someone that can do good damage you will operate just fine mechanically.

[JellyPooga]

I'll second Cleric + Rogue. The buffs of the Cleric shore up the fragilities and reinforce the strengths of the Rogue. Likewise, the Rogue provides a skillset of abilities that the Cleric lacks, such as solid single target damage and reliable and varied skills.

[Pfhagthyeh]

Nothing goes quite so well as a Cleric and a Barbarian. If I had to be specific, I'd say a Life cleric and a Bear Totem barbarian, swinging for the fences every round and the cleric feeding him HP when he needs it at the low levels.

But really any cleric/barbarian combo is good, except for maybe Frenzy barbarian(since you won't see Greater Restoration for a while.)

There is nothing more frightening than a blessed, great weapon master barbarian recklessly attacking every turn and being made unkillable by the life cleric next him.

That's ridiculous. Name one time where that kind of setup actually wor-

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/3278932394458219116/1E497C9E2093DBF0E48B4BEEE2A6BCB8FA980730/

Oh.

OH. Definitely go with Barbarian+Cleric, because the idea of that is too terrifying not to at least try.

[Herobizkit]

The above is roughly my experience DM'ing the Gruumsh half-brothers (War Cleric and Barbarian), save that the War Cleric can deliver the pain, too.

[Draco4472]

That's ridiculous. Name one time where that kind of setup actually wor-

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/3278932394458219116/1E497C9E2093DBF0E48B4BEEE2A6BCB8FA980730/

Oh.

OH. Definitely go with Barbarian+Cleric, because the idea of that is too terrifying not to at least try.

I wish there was a way to 'like' posts/replies on the playground now...

[Ashrym]

Knowing more about the cleric can make a difference. Human variant cleric that starts with heavy armor mastery doesn't need a beefy partner, for example, while a medium armored caster cleric is going to need someone who can deal out some damage for the foreseeable future.

My first thought is that a person cannot go wrong with a fighter in this case. DEX based with urchin or criminal background and possibly spending a feat on skilled. Other classes can also cover skills and combat in varying degrees but the advantage the fighter has in the pairing is in second wind taking up healing slack so the cleric can afford to spend his or her slots on other spells like bless. That won't be as important later when the cleric has access to more potent healing spells and more slots but it matters a lot at 1st level.

That was a mechanical consideration for interaction. If it's thematic consideration then it's still good to know what the cleric's domain is to better fit the theme. A paladin is an obvious choice for similarity in the classes but I would point out that any class with the acolyte background fits into that RP dynamic, and domains have a big influence on cleric fluff. The example I would use here would be a knowledge cleric of Oghma pairing up with a lore bard of the same faith and acolyte background. Such a pairing has phenomenal skill potential, similar RP factors, a reason for shared history or background, and would likely be a lot of fun (imo). That pairing might require some hefty planning for direct combat, which is doable.

You could make it easy on yourself. Make a fighter with an acolyte background. It really depends on what you want to play because it's an example of something easy to work into the fluff.