Tank or heals... help

[HuckFriend]

Hi all, new to both 5e and the the community. I've gm'd some Pathfinder, but I've finally found a game to play in. The DM had the 4 us role our pcs separately so no chance at party optimization. I went mountain dwarf life cleric, figuring I'd help on the front lines and have heals and some utility. Had luck with the dice, ended with: STR 18 Dex 12 Con 17 Int 10 Wis 17 Cha 10

We had our first session, all our players are brand new to dnd. We have a wizard, ranged fighter, and an extremely squishy rogue. Leaving me as both only front line/tank and only heals. We hit level 2 at the end of the session, so here is my predicimate... do I stay the course and keep pumping levels in life cleric, or do I multiclass and grab some fighter levels to hold up better on the front lines? Or a third option I'm not thinking of yet. All advice welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

[Calibus]

5e is unique that you really don't need party optimization. Cleric levels alone give more than enough hit dice and also score you proficiency in heavy armor. With a sheild and taking sheild master as a feat, you're already in the realm of a top notch defender, with heals, bless, and sheild of faith. You're more prepared for anything.

Long story short. Your good if you just stick with life cleric levels

[Yuroch Kern]

I would stay cleric. You'll eventually get heavy armor, and a self-healing tank that has Spiritual Weapon up is pretty enduring. If you wanna work that Str, get throwing axes for foes that just don't cooperate with attacking you.

[Bugado25]

Clerics can be more than tanky enough to be a main tank. Especially when we are talking about life cleric.

You have a little less HP than a Fighter and the same AC, but you have access to much more healing.

I suggest taking Magic Iniciate for Booming Blade. It will boost your melee damage a little and give another incentive for enemies to target you. Spirit Guardians is also excellent for that purpose.

[Kane0]

Cleric will serve you well. Use Bless, Spiritual Wepaon and Spirit guardians as your bread and butter spells and keep your channel divinity or healing word spells for when heals are needed. You'll do fine.

[Galadhrim]

With that party you will need to tank and heal. Luckily you have the perfect class for it. Wear a shield, concentrate on bless until you hit level 5, then concentrate on spirit guardians. Warcaster seems like it would be great for you at level 4.

[Slipperychicken]

With 17 con, heavy armor, and a shield, you can live on the frontline. Stick with life cleric and look at your rogue as an opportunity to put Preserve Life and healing word to use. If the rogue and fighter built well, your party will be able to pick up the damage even though your melee damage won't scale as well. But in the meantime enjoy the 18 strength and racial weapon proficiencies! Use melee and thrown weapons instead of cantrips.


The DM had the 4 us role our pcs separately so no chance at party optimization.

Next time, if possible try to talk to the other players before you need to have your characters in. Outside the session. That can help you know where they stand and what they're going to cover.

[djreynolds]

Another way to look at your party is a collection of hit points and resources.

Though the rogue is squishy, he has the ability to at 2nd level to disengage, you can remind of him/her of this.

That ranged fighter can throw up a shield and draw his short sword and help out

And though the bless spell rocks, shield of faith is nice to have to increase AC

As life cleric, warding bond, risky could help the rogue out in melee. You will take the damage instead but it can help out.

Also the aid spell is nice, it lasts for 8 hours and non-concentration

Also casting blindness/deafness is a good spell. Cast this. Hold person is good, but blindness/deafness is non concentration

So IMO, pump that wisdom score up. It affects your healing as well as a life cleric, and your spell/save DC.

And because you are up front, I recommend resilient con. You are more likely to get hit and may fail con saves versus nasty undead types.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

That ranged fighter can throw up a shield and draw his short sword and help out

Maybe the wizard is willing to stock up on some defensive buffs for the rest of you as well. Possibly even the rogue, through use magic device or even eventually a few levels of bard. Everybody gets to pitch in a bit.

Healing is something that is generally harder for them to contribute to. So if you'd talk to them about it, they'd probably prefer you keep the healing part strong and invest only in tankyness what you can miss on the medical front.

[djreynolds]

Maybe the wizard is willing to stock up on some defensive buffs for the rest of you as well. Possibly even the rogue, through use magic device or even eventually a few levels of bard. Everybody gets to pitch in a bit.

Healing is something that is generally harder for them to contribute to. So if you'd talk to them about it, they'd probably prefer you keep the healing part strong and invest only in tankyness what you can miss on the medical front.

The rogue just got cunning action, so he should be good. But yes plenty of spells out there to help out. Even mage armor is better than leather or studded, expensive at low levels to cast twice.

[Citan]

Hi all, new to both 5e and the the community. I've gm'd some Pathfinder, but I've finally found a game to play in. The DM had the 4 us role our pcs separately so no chance at party optimization. I went mountain dwarf life cleric, figuring I'd help on the front lines and have heals and some utility. Had luck with the dice, ended with: STR 18 Dex 12 Con 17 Int 10 Wis 17 Cha 10

We had our first session, all our players are brand new to dnd. We have a wizard, ranged fighter, and an extremely squishy rogue. Leaving me as both only front line/tank and only heals. We hit level 2 at the end of the session, so here is my predicimate... do I stay the course and keep pumping levels in life cleric, or do I multiclass and grab some fighter levels to hold up better on the front lines? Or a third option I'm not thinking of yet. All advice welcome and appreciated. Thanks.
Hi!
Stay Cleric, no question.
Life gives you heavy armor proficiency so once you get one you will have great AC, especially if you also wield a shield.
Because you have such great stats you will be outright good at dealing melee damage.
And bumping Cleric is much more important than going Fighter because you want as much spellcasting as early as possible.

Fighter won't help at all in fact, except for a potential +1 AC from Fighting Style.
If you want to really help group survivability, cast Bless with you as a priority target.
If you usually manage to draw most attacks, you could also consider Shield of Faith on yourself.
Once you reach level 3, you can prepare Spiritual Weapon, which further enhances your efficiency: either boost your defense (use Dodge as an action, Spiritual as bonus action) or boost your damage (Attack + Spiritual Weapon).

After you get Cleric level 6 at least, you *may* consider dipping one level in Rogue, if you like the idea of grabbing Shield Master feat to go with: you would become great at Shoving people prone thanks to Athletics Expertise, as a bonus action thanks to feat.
You may also consider one more level for Cunning Action, which gives even more possibilities for your bonus action. But honestly, while I love it personnaly, it's not a necessity: between Healing Words, Spiritual Weapon, Shield Master's shove and probably other spells/features of Cleric I forgot about, you should always have something useful to do.

Or just grab it because it would still mean Expertise in two skills of your choice and an extra 1d6 damage as long as you use a finesse weapon.
Dang, just realized you don't have high enough DEX. Ah well... ;) (you could spend an ASI on Resilient: Dexterity though ^^ always worth something)

Another way to go would be just grabbing GWM feat (for better damage) and Resilient: Constitution (to get an even stat and better concentration), ending with Sentinel: you would become the one that stops enemy movement, especially if you cast Spirit Guardians around you.

Or grab Magic Initiate: Druid to get Thorns Whip (great combined with Spirit Guardians), Produce Flame or Frostbite (decent ranged attack) and either Longstrider (1/day speed bonus for toughest fight), Absorb Elements (1/day elemental resistance + extra damage) or Thunderwave (1/day "oh sh**" escape plan).

Honestly, just go Cleric up to 6, evening your WIS (Observant), CON (Resilient) or both (+1 WIS, +1 CON) with your level 4 ASI.
Always keep Healing Words prepared. Sanctuary is another good choice: it's not the go-to spell because it prevents the target to contribute offensively, but it may save a friend in a pinch.
Prepare Spiritual Weapon (for you) and Warding Bond (for your Rogue) as soon as you get them (lvl 3) (Warding Bond will become especially good once you get level 6's feature).
Prepare Spirit Guardians once you get it (lvl 5).

Then decide where to go from there once you got the hang of how to play one, without worrying to much about maxing STR (between party tactics and Bless, +1 to hit and damage on a single attack is really a waste of ASI when you have so many great feats to choose from).
Don't worry about surviving, as long as you know the difference between courage and temerity you should be fine. ;)

[Demonslayer666]

Don't let the other party classes drive what you want to do with your character. Take a step back and decide for yourself what you want to see your character become.

[Slipperychicken]

If the fighter goes for a crossbow expert build, the party can effectively have two tanks.