Need Assistance with Cleric Half Elf

[Luna-]

I don't know much about this game I just started playing. I'm editing my Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha.

I don't know what a Cleric mainly uses. I chose Life domain and I would like to know what would be best.

I've been reading off of -well I can't post..... the link...
and I quote...



Wis & Str
Wis 15, Str 14, Con 14, Dex 10, Cha 10, Int 8
This is for Life, Nature, Tempest or War Domain Clerics who want a Str-based weapon and heavy armor. Both this type and the next will often use their weaponry for offense, freeing up spell slots and cantrip choices for buffs, crowd control, healing, and other effects.





Which I would love to do so. With half elf I get +2 to each thing. How will having 8 int do for me? I believe it would put me at -1 and I'd like to not have -1... at least a 10 to make it 0. don't wanna be dumn.

I did 14 str(+2), 11 dec(0)(I bought a crossbow D: maybe I could get rid of it but idk if dex should be 0 or -1), 14 con(+2), 10 int(0), 16 wis(+3), 10 cha(0).

I just want to know what's most useful to my magic with healing. Do they use Int, Wis, or Cha more.. I see that cha and wisdom is * in orcpub when I try to fill in stuff there(to get an idea of my character)

I'm sorry if I'm asking dumb questions...

[Gray Mage]

If you want to focus STR and CON along with WIS, then using one of your +1 from Half-Elf bump it. Using that allows you to bring of the stats to 13, freeing 2 pb, so you can do something like this:



STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA



14

12

14

10

16

10



Being able to freely switch the 12 around and put it in INT or CHA. As a Cleric you want to boost WIS as your primary stat as that is your spellcasting stat.

That said, picking Half-Elf and dumping CHA is a bit of a waste.

[Princess]

All clerics care a lot about Wisdom (for all spell effects through Cleric), and most care about Constitution as a secondary issue (For hit points, as well as concentration checks to keep certain spells going if something attacks you while the spell is in effect.) Aside from those, it depends what your cleric wants to accomplish. Half-elves get +2 charisma as a fixed bonus, and +1 to any two other abilities. Normally a half elf cleric would just care about wisdom and constitution unless you had something else specific in mind. You could invest in Strength or Dexterity to fight in melee but that isn't necessary. Also, with the Life Domain you can use heavy armor. While wearing heavy armor, dexterity becomes less important and strength more. If you want to be able to fight in melee and make the most of your spells, I'd suggest making wisdom as high as possible, and focusing your other big numbers on strength and constitution. Dexterity won't matter much, Intelligence is only important if you want to be an especially knowledgeable cleric, and the inherent +2 charisma from being a half elf can give you a decent stat there for social skills.

You didn't specify how you were generating your ability scores. Are you using rolls, the standard scores from the Player's Handbook, or the customized scores rule?

Using the Player's Handbook customized scores rule, you could start with 16 in wisdom and also strength if you don't particularly care about how 'book smart' or nimble your character is. Realistically, most of your power will come from spells and you don't need more than 15 strength for the heaviest armor available. I'd suggest Strength 15, Dexterity 10, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 16, and Charisma 12 gives you a melee-competent cleric who can make the most of their spells and will be decent at the Persuasion skill from the beginning. You could also lower charisma to 10 if you want strength 16 to be more focused on smashing people, but that's usually not the best use of a Life Cleric's abilities.

[lunaticfringe]

You can play it how you want. Since you are Wise (possibly Insightful & Perceptive) but not Intelligent you probably aren't a moron, just not book smart.

[Drackolus]

15 str is the minimum for full plate. If you're being ranged anyway, 13 str for chainmail is adequate. If you aren't planning on using scag and booming blade (which a half elf can get by swapping their two skills for a wizard cantrip by being a half-high elf), then I would just use sacred flame and get the 13 str for chainmail. I wouldn't recommend using an additional book anyway if you aren't used to the system yet.
Half elves are great faces, and you'll have the wisdom for insight to boot. Persuasion and insight are on the cleric skill list, and intimidation and/or deception can give you some more options. With 6 skills (2 from class, 2 from backround, and 2 for being a half-elf), you should have an easy time getting the skills you want. Athletics and perception are also valuable skills for anyone to have.
If you have a bard/sorcerer/warlock/paladin/possibly rogue in your party, they may want to be the face also, and have more reason to get charisma. And that's half the classes. Still, it's nice to be able to talk your way out of situations when your regular face isn't around.

[Madbox]

A crossbow isn't of much use as a cleric, since you have cantrips for ranged damage. You will do more damage that way. Sacred Flame is decent damage, and has a damage type that not many monsters resist. That being said, a 10 or 11 in dex is about right for a cleric. You don't need it for your armor or attacks, so no need to pump it up, but it is common as a save for dodging things, so a penalty is bad.

An 8 intelligence isn't too dumb, in all honesty. It would be about the level of someone who had to repeat a few grades in school but eventually graduated. And even then, that's just book-smarts. Common sense would be more of a Wisdom thing. So you don't have to play as an idiot who thinks the dire wolf is a cute puppy or that he can fly by flapping his arms, but maybe have a bit of trouble reading or doing math beyond basic arithmetic.

As a cleric, wisdom is the stat for magic, including healing. A 16 is typical for a 1st level cleric, and it usually gets pumped up to 18 at level 4 unless you wanted a feat.

As others have said, constitution is important for improving your survivability. A 14 is good, you should have plenty of HP with that and have a good chance of succeeding on Con saves. If this character reaches higher levels, you may want to improve constitution after you have maxed out wisdom and taken any feats you wanted.

There are no stupid questions, at least as a newbie.

[masterstrider]

A life cleric is generally found in melee or the second rank. They will gain lots of great combat spells e.g. Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians, which are melee oriented. Wisdom is your primary casting ability and affects your spell's effectiveness. Strength is useful for wearing heavy armour (req Str 15 to wear plate as mentioned above) and for dealing melee damage. Depending on how you want to play, you can use both or focus on one.

If you start at Lvl 1, you will probably be armed with a mace, shield (+2 AC) and some sort of heavy armour (chain [AC16], splint [AC17] or plate [AC18]) and will buff/defend from the front rank with an AC around 18-20. Once you gain a few levels, your spells will start to do very nice recurring damage, so you can choose to focus on them by boosting Wisdom.

Stat allocation suggestion:
As Half-Elf:
Str: 15 (16) Dex: 10 Con: 13 Int: 10 Wis: 15 (16) Cha: 8 (10)

Con 13 is okay because you can get Resilient and War Caster in the future to improve your concentration saves. In the interim, your massive AC and excellent healing ability will keep you going until Lvl 4, 8, when you can get some helpful feats.

I hope that helps.

MS

[Luna-]

Thank you all so much this has helped a lot. I finally have figured out what I should be putting for my stats.
I'm really relieved 'cause I got tired of trying to google this stuff lol. <3

I appreciate every response.