Lots of synergy with this build: arcana cleric

[krunchyfrogg]

I found an AL build that can't do it all, but it can sure do a whole lot. It's a single class build too, but I'm posting here, looking for improvements.

SCAG is my +1

Level 1: vhuman s 8 d 14 c 14 i 10 w 16 ch 12
Class: cleric (arcane). Choose green flame blade and booming blade
Feat: magic initiate (druid) (take shillelagh and IDK what else)

Round 1: bonus action shillelagh, cast one of your attack cantrips.

You always use wisdom to hit and da,age with this build. Since wisdom is also used for spellcasting, and you're a full spellcaster, ass-whoopings shall follow.

Questions:

-What's the best background?
-What's the best druid spells to pick with magic initiate?
-Are my two arcane cantrip best spent on both green flame blade and booming blade, or should I drop one? I like both since green flame blade benefits from potent spellcasting and booming blade benefits when I can take warcaster later.
-Am I better off dropping intelligence and charisma to 8 and bumping constitution to 16?

[Specter]

As a variant human you already get one skill you desire, so backgrounds are irrelevant. I suggest Stealth.

Thorn Whip is good to keep enemies close. Thunderclap gives you a panic button when too many guys huddle up on you. For the daily spell, Fog Cloud and Entangle are both very good. Or you could take a Cleric/Druid spell like Healing Word and treating it as a bonus to your collection.

Both GFB and BB are good, but you could try to branch out to range so you don't pigeonhole yourself too much. Frostbite, per instance, is like Improved Sacred Flame.

Dropping Intelligence could look a bit weird for anArcana Cleric, but Charisma? Definitely. If your CON is odd pick up Resilient (CON) later.

[krunchyfrogg]

No other input? I thought this was aweso,e.

[8wGremlin]

It's been discussed a lot I'll try and find my old thread about it. And update this when not on phone.

But basically your on the right track.

[Naanomi]

Guidance is always on my 'go to' list of Cantrips if no one else in the party has it

EDIT: oops as a cleric you already have that... hrm...

In any case, I've seen a similar Hill Dwarf Nature Cleric working a similar angle that worked all right (with booming blade)

[8wGremlin]

My standard Arcane cleric build.



Arcane Cleric Vhuman Wis > Con, Dex=14
Wear Medium armour and a shield (AC = 18, holy symbol on shield)
Take: Booming Blade and Chill Touch or Ray of Frost* (both are now cleric cantrips, and key of Wis)
Feat: Magic Initiate (Druid)
- Take Shillelagh (keys of Wis) & Thorn whip** as cantrips
- Take Absorb Elements or Longstrider*** as your 1st level


Just keep going to Cleric 8 - where you now get your Wis mod to damage on cleric cantrips (Booming blade and Ray of Frost amongst others.) You can get Warcaster at 4th level you can now Booming blade as a reaction. Then pump Wis, it's the only stat you need.


* Chill Touch has 120 ft range and does necrotic and can stop healing, and has a nice undead rider effect, Ray of frost has only 60' range, but has some control as slowing them down.
** Thorn whip again can be used for control, pulling combatants off squishier teammates, or even into hazardous areas
** Absorb elements is a reaction that halves the incoming elemental damage, and adds a bonus to your next attack, and is situationally more useful Long strider gives you +10' movement for an hour, no concentration.

This was the result.

[krunchyfrogg]

This was the result.

Wow, thank u

[krunchyfrogg]

Guidance is always on my 'go to' list of Cantrips if no one else in the party has it

EDIT: oops as a cleric you already have that... hrm...

In any case, I've seen a similar Hill Dwarf Nature Cleric working a similar angle that worked all right (with booming blade)

How did a nature cleric get booming blade? Magic initiate?

[Naanomi]

How did a nature cleric get booming blade? Magic initiate?
Yeah Magic Initiate. Booming Blade doesn't require any stats to be effective, so they Shillelagh'ed up with their Nature Cleric and Heavy Armored it with Dwarfness

[Maxilian]

Yeah Magic Initiate. Booming Blade doesn't require any stats to be effective, so they Shillelagh'ed up with their Nature Cleric and Heavy Armored it with Dwarfness

I started that build, sadly died at lvl 2 xD

[LudicSavant]

One of the best things about Arcana Cleric melee cantrip builds is that they can apply Potent Spellcasting to their melee cantrips. Twice.

This means that War Caster is also a really good choice to take down the line, incidentally. At level 8 a resourceless Booming Blade OA potentially hits for 4d8+15 (with 20 wis / moving target). Or a Green-Flame Blade for 3d8+20 split between two targets.

Or to give a more complete picture, if you've got Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon up, attack with booming blade, and someone tries to run away from your death zone... they've taken 12d8+35 (89) that turn if your attacks hit, or 15d8+35 (102.5) if they enter the Spirit Guardians off of their turn. And then you can just pull them right back in (with options like Longstrider or Thorn Whip making it even more likely that you can do so).

Without any resources at all, you could potentially have something like Create Bonfire (2d8+5), Booming Blade (4d8+15), OA Booming Blade (4d8+15) for 10d8+35 (80). Then pull them back into the bonfire they moved out of!


-What's the best background? Custom background is the best background.

-What's the best druid spells to pick with magic initiate? Shillelagh is obvious.

Some other choices I like are Absorb Elements, Shape Water (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?481560-Creative-Cantrips-Shape-Water), and Thorn Whip.


Are my two arcane cantrip best spent on both green flame blade and booming blade, or should I drop one? I like both since green flame blade benefits from potent spellcasting and booming blade benefits when I can take warcaster later.

Booming Blade is a must-have. Green-Flame Blade you can potentially switch out for something else if you like. For example, Create Bonfire is potentially 2d8+5 or more resourceless damage per round with Potent Spellcasting (but takes up your concentration and requires you to play around it somewhat). Sword Burst can deal a bit more damage than GFB if you get 3+ people in it, has a better damage type, and arguably more versatile targeting. Lightning Lure can add your Potent Spellcasting bonus while pulling people nearer (but has a shorter range than Thorn Whip).

Green-Flame Blade definitely isn't a bad choice though.

[McNinja]

One of the best things about Arcana Cleric melee cantrip builds is that they can apply Potent Spellcasting to their melee cantrips. Twice.
How are they able to apply it twice?

[tkuremento]

How are they able to apply it twice?

Perhaps they are talking about the primary effect (attack + spell) and then the secondary effect (GFB or BB leaping or booming) and adding it to each, even though things that add extra damage like this generally limit to once per casting.

[LudicSavant]

Perhaps they are talking about the primary effect (attack + spell) and then the secondary effect (GFB or BB leaping or booming) and adding it to each, even though things that add extra damage like this generally limit to once per casting.

Precisely. Potent Spellcasting is not limited to once per casting. Jeremy Crawford even specifically said that it applies twice for a melee cantrip.

[tkuremento]

Precisely. Potent Spellcasting is not limited to once per casting. Jeremy Crawford even specifically said that it applies twice for a melee cantrip.

Yea (https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/756203803339173888) that seems to be true that he said that.

[Klorox]

Arcana clerics are freaking great.

My only problem is getting a feel for roleplaying one, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

[tkuremento]

Arcana clerics are freaking great.

My only problem is getting a feel for roleplaying one, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

The Gods are so great. They created magic, so all magic is of Their Holy will. Even though some might not believe in the Gods, they still spend their time understanding the magic that the Gods gave us.

[Klorox]

The Gods are so great. They created magic, so all magic is of Their Holy will. Even though some might not believe in the Gods, they still spend their time understanding the magic that the Gods gave us.

I was thinking of going with a Chirrut type character.

"I am one with the magic, the magic is with me"

[tkuremento]

I was thinking of going with a Chirrut type character.

"I am one with the magic, the magic is with me"

I was going people who are religious but also believe in science because God made or, or whatever. Except science is supposed to be equal to magic in this case.

[BurgerBeast]

Do dwarves still need 15 Str to wear heavy armour, though?

I've been looking at building a similarly SAD Life Cleric and picking up Magic Initiate for Shillelagh and Goodberry.

Wasn't sure how hard I could dump Str. Also wasn't sure how soon to pick up warcaster and/or healer (feat) and/or resilient (con) because ASIs are even more important to this build.

Cant capitalize on wizard cantrips but pretty solid. If dwarves get heavy armour without Str this might be better on a UA Theurge (obv not AL legal).

Edit: never mind about the dwarves and armour thing.

[krunchyfrogg]

One of the best things about Arcana Cleric melee cantrip builds is that they can apply Potent Spellcasting to their melee cantrips. Twice.

This means that War Caster is also a really good choice to take down the line, incidentally. At level 8 a resourceless Booming Blade OA potentially hits for 4d8+15 (with 20 wis / moving target). Or a Green-Flame Blade for 3d8+20 split between two targets.

Or to give a more complete picture, if you've got Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon up, attack with booming blade, and someone tries to run away from your death zone... they've taken 12d8+35 (89) that turn if your attacks hit, or 15d8+35 (102.5) if they enter the Spirit Guardians off of their turn. And then you can just pull them right back in (with options like Longstrider or Thorn Whip making it even more likely that you can do so).

Without any resources at all, you could potentially have something like Create Bonfire (2d8+5), Booming Blade (4d8+15), OA Booming Blade (4d8+15) for 10d8+35 (80). Then pull them back into the bonfire they moved out of!

Custom background is the best background.
Shillelagh is obvious.

Some other choices I like are Absorb Elements, Shape Water (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?481560-Creative-Cantrips-Shape-Water), and Thorn Whip.



Booming Blade is a must-have. Green-Flame Blade you can potentially switch out for something else if you like. For example, Create Bonfire is potentially 2d8+5 or more resourceless damage per round with Potent Spellcasting (but takes up your concentration and requires you to play around it somewhat). Sword Burst can deal a bit more damage than GFB if you get 3+ people in it, has a better damage type, and arguably more versatile targeting. Lightning Lure can add your Potent Spellcasting bonus while pulling people nearer (but has a shorter range than Thorn Whip).

Green-Flame Blade definitely isn't a bad choice though.
Why is bb a must have, and gfb not?

I've never played with them, but gfb looks superior on the surface.

[krunchyfrogg]

Arcana clerics are freaking great.

My only problem is getting a feel for roleplaying one, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

The correct answer to "how to rp this character" is "anyway you like"

What background were you considering? It's not really a skill build, so just choose what you want.

[INDYSTAR188]

What is a good multiclass option for an Arcana Cleric? My player uses ranged spells and buffs mostly (as opposed to this build) but I think after level 8 he's considering branching out.

[krunchyfrogg]

What is a good multiclass option for an Arcana Cleric? My player uses ranged spells and buffs mostly (as opposed to this build) but I think after level 8 he's considering branching out.

Why? He's better off staying cleric imho.

[Naanomi]

Why is bb a must have, and gfb not?

I've never played with them, but gfb looks superior on the surface.
Sometimes hard to position enemies to get the GFB 'second target' in place. Also (although it doesn't matter in this build) Booming Blade doesn't use the casting Stat at all, so is a frequent edition to Magic Initiate builds that dump the casting stat (rogues mostly)

[INDYSTAR188]

Why? He's better off staying cleric imho.

He wanted to be a Wizard but the rest of the group convinced him to be make a Cleric, so this was his compromise. I think he really digs the class but wants more 'arcane' spell options. *shrug* maybe he'll stay single classed, I know Cleric is plenty strong enough.

[Saggo]

He wanted to be a Wizard but the rest of the group convinced him to be make a Cleric, so this was his compromise. I think he really digs the class but wants more 'arcane' spell options. *shrug* maybe he'll stay single classed, I know Cleric is plenty strong enough.

It'll start with his stats. Need Int or Cha at 13 for just about any arcane caster.

[solidork]

He wanted to be a Wizard but the rest of the group convinced him to be make a Cleric, so this was his compromise. I think he really digs the class but wants more 'arcane' spell options. *shrug* maybe he'll stay single classed, I know Cleric is plenty strong enough.

Maybe consider Ritual Caster(Wizard)? That is what I did when I wanted a little more magic than Arcane Trickster gave me. Though if he's already picked his options at 8 then it will be a while until he could get it.

[Corran]

Arcana clerics are freaking great.

My only problem is getting a feel for roleplaying one, but I'm sure I can figure it out.
How's this?
Once you were a mighty wizard who studied passionately the arcane arts, without any respect for anything or anyone that didnt share your passion. After event X (which could be a disaster caused due to arcane magic, or whatever works for you and for the DM's story really), you found god (pick one, perhaps you were saved by a worshiper of that god from whatever happened that made you change your views). You burned your spellbook and decided to follow a life of piety. Once proud and arrogant, but now humbled and wise, you welcome the fatigue caused by the weight of the armor and of the shield you are carrying, as they are for reminding you that you are just a servant to a greater power.

It would be better if there have been many years since all that happened, so an elf with their expanded life span could be a good choice for race. Your domain spells like magic missile, could be just the remainders of knowledge long forgotten, and if your character is comfortable using them is up to you. Low str helps, with picturing how this guy once was a frail puny wizard. Putting a decent score in intelligence would be good too. Being a bit up there in years could also help with picturing a wise and humble guy, and it makes the contrast of what he now is and what he was in his youth (ambitious, curious, whatever else a medieval/dnd-like church would find appauling), so much more transparent. Extra fun if your party has a wizard, you could have your character act like a mentor to him, ever warning him to be cautious and not get overconfident, especially if your character sees in that fellow adventurer many of the ''mistakes and the illusions'' that your character also once suffered from.

And when you hit 17 level, BOOM, you get wish, and a few more high level wizard spells. You once again become your old self, driven by ambition like never before. Being up there in years, and wanting to make up for all the time lost, you are now looking for a way to become a lich and avoid death. Alignment shift towards evil recommended. How's that for a cliche twist?

[Klorox]

How's this?
Once you were a mighty wizard who studied passionately the arcane arts, without any respect for anything or anyone that didnt share your passion. After event X (which could be a disaster caused due to arcane magic, or whatever works for you and for the DM's story really), you found god (pick one, perhaps you were saved by a worshiper of that god from whatever happened that made you change your views). You burned your spellbook and decided to follow a life of piety. Once proud and arrogant, but now humbled and wise, you welcome the fatigue caused by the weight of the armor and of the shield you are carrying, as they are for reminding you that you are just a servant to a greater power.

It would be better if there have been many years since all that happened, so an elf with their expanded life span could be a good choice for race. Your domain spells like magic missile, could be just the remainders of knowledge long forgotten, and if your character is comfortable using them is up to you. Low str helps, with picturing how this guy once was a frail puny wizard. Putting a decent score in intelligence would be good too. Being a bit up there in years could also help with picturing a wise and humble guy, and it makes the contrast of what he now is and what he was in his youth (ambitious, curious, whatever else a medieval/dnd-like church would find appauling), so much more transparent. Extra fun if your party has a wizard, you could have your character act like a mentor to him, ever warning him to be cautious and not get overconfident, especially if your character sees in that fellow adventurer many of the ''mistakes and the illusions'' that your character also once suffered from.

And when you hit 17 level, BOOM, you get wish, and a few more high level wizard spells. You once again become your old self, driven by ambition like never before. Being up there in years, and wanting to make up for all the time lost, you are now looking for a way to become a lich and avoid death. Alignment shift towards evil recommended. How's that for a cliche twist?
Wow, awesome!

[NNescio]

Sometimes hard to position enemies to get the GFB 'second target' in place. Also (although it doesn't matter in this build) Booming Blade doesn't use the casting Stat at all, so is a frequent edition to Magic Initiate builds that dump the casting stat (rogues mostly)

Also, BB can be used with War Caster (swap out an OA for a single-target spell), a popular feat among shield Clerics.


What's the best background?

If you can customize your background's skills and tool proficiencies/languages (allowed by AL rules), pick any one of them with the background feature you like.

If you really want to eke out every possible advantage, pick Acolyte for the 1/day free spellcasting services (not including material components) from your temple/church (AL rules limits it to 1/day).

If you can't customize your background's skills and tool proficiencies/languages, pick Acolyte anyway because it has greatest overlap with your normal class proficiencies, allowing you to swap out duplicated skills for any other skill in the book.



What's the best druid spells to pick with magic initiate?

Absorb Elements (can save your bacon from a heavy damage like from a spell or a dragon's breath, even if you don't necessarily have to cast it every day), Entangle (strong control option, you almost have a reason to cast it 1/day) and Faerie Fire (weaker than Entangle but has other uses and less creatures are immune).

Fog Cloud may also be a good option because the Cleric's spell list doesn't really have much ways to deny LoS (other than Blindness/Deafness, which allows a save and affects only one creature unless upcasted). Denying LoS can occassionally be useful to shut off enemy spells and traits that rely on LoS,. It can also shut off half of the effects of the Frightened condition). Goodberry (10 HP divided among the party that can ward off starvation) is another potential good choice. It becomes far better if the DM allows other creatures to use their action to feed berries to downed allies (technically not allowed by RAW, but Crawford is okay with this).



-Are my two arcane cantrip best spent on both green flame blade and booming blade, or should I drop one? I like both since green flame blade benefits from potent spellcasting and booming blade benefits when I can take warcaster later.

Take one and pick a ranged attack cantrip for the other. As a cleric you don't have ranged attack cantrips (save-dependent cantrips are generally far less reliable than hitting your target's AC), and Sacred Flame has very lousy range.

Alternatively you can pick Minor Illusion, which has a wealth of other uses (deny LoS, ad-hoc advantage/disadvantage, distraction, roleplaying enhancements, etc.).



-Am I better off dropping intelligence and charisma to 8 and bumping constitution to 16?

From a min-maxing perspective yes. Just be aware that it will tank your INT and CHA saves (and INT ability checks, in the case of illusions) further so be wary of spells and other effects that target those two saves (and/or require Investigation to break).

[Klorox]

If you really want to eke out every possible advantage, pick Acolyte for the 1/day free spellcasting services (not including material components) from your temple/church (AL rules limits it to 1/day).

If you can't customize your background's skills and tool proficiencies/languages, pick Acolyte anyway because it has greatest overlap with your normal class proficiencies, allowing you to swap out duplicated skills for any other skill in the book.

Please explain. I'm confused.

[NNescio]

Please explain. I'm confused.

1. Acolyte has one of the most powerful background features in the game, because it flat out gives you free (clerical) spellcasting services (limited to 1/day under AL rules) provided you remain in good standing with your temple/church.

2. You can customize a background by swapping out one background feature (from another background), and then picking two skills and two tool proficiencies/languages. This is allowed by RAW and expressly allowed by the AL rules. (You cannot create new background features though, that is part of background creation under the DMG).

3. Backgrounds are technically picked after classes on chargen. "If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead," so if the background provides the same skill proficiencies that you have already picked earlier for your class (or if you get it as a freebie from your race), you get to choose any other skill proficiency instead. This is usually done to get Perception and Stealth (or Acrobatics) on a class that normally doesn't offer those as part of their proficiency choices, if the DM doesn't allow customized backgrounds (of course, this is also often done accidentally because backgrounds that generally mesh with your class tend to offer similar proficiencies anyway, like Sage Wizards and Acolyte Clerics).

[Klorox]

1. Acolyte has one of the most powerful background features in the game, because it flat out gives you free (clerical) spellcasting services (limited to 1/day under AL rules) provided you remain in good standing with your temple/church.

2. You can customize a background by swapping out one background feature (from another background), and then picking two skills and two tool proficiencies/languages. This is allowed by RAW and expressly allowed by the AL rules. (You cannot create new background features though, that is part of background creation under the DMG).

3. Backgrounds are technically picked after classes on chargen. "If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead," so if the background provides the same skill proficiencies that you have already picked earlier for your class (or if you get it as a freebie from your race), you get to choose any other skill proficiency instead. This is usually done to get Perception and Stealth (or Acrobatics) on a class that normally doesn't offer those as part of their proficiency choices, if the DM doesn't allow customized backgrounds (of course, this is also often done accidentally because backgrounds that generally mesh with your class tend to offer similar proficiencies anyway, like Sage Wizards and Acolyte Clerics).

Wow, that's awesome.

[NNescio]

Wow, that's awesome.

Which part, out of curiosity?

[Klorox]

Which part, out of curiosity?

A) I never realized an acolyte could actually get stuff from the church in AL

B) I never realized you could fiddle with your skills like that. I've seen so many sailors out there because everybody wants to be proficient in perception.