***Please read/help me improve my character before session 1***

[krunchyfrogg]

Here’s what I’m about to submit to my DM for an upcoming campaign. Please let me know if everything looks good and if there’s anything I’m missing or should change:

—————

Jaik Verde

Neutral Good variant human cleric of Celestian (arcana domain), sage background.

8/14/16/12/16/8

Feat: resilient constitution (+1 CON, proficient in CON saves)

Cantrips:
Firebolt
Minor illusion
Toll the dead
Guidance (con)
Sacred flame

Level 1:
Detect magic (rit)
Magic missile
Bless (con)
Detect poison and disease (rit) (con)
Healing word
Sanctuary

Jaik was born and raised in the town of Klaemoor. Although always a healthy person, he never had the raw strength to make it as a farmer or blacksmith. He found his love of books early in life, and could always be counted on to be reading when he should’ve been doing something else.

As a child, Jaik dreamt of becoming a wizard and leaving his village to explore the great unknown. He tried studying and learning from locals who knew a spell or two, or from any traveling wizards who might pass through Klaemoor.

Alas, Jaik did not really have what it takes to be a wizard. Begrudgingly accepting this fate, he lost himself in more books, mostly ones dedicated to astronomy and far off places. One fateful day, Jaik was given a book by a traveling priest. He learned of the ways of a lesser known deity named Celestian. It was through study and prayer that he felt the call and learned the ways of becoming a cleric of Celestian.

Celestian is the god of the stars, of magic, and of traveling.

Jaik had never considered a divine path to the magical knowledge he sought, and was entranced by it. He’s turned out to show quite an aptitude for this kind of magic and he’s eager to test his mettle.

Although his wanderlust is building, Jaik would never admit that he’s also afraid to leave the safety of his village. He has befriended a tiefling ranger, Damikos, who now lives in Klaemoor, mostly because he was just so different and had tales to tell of far off lands. Jaik is a fast learner and sometimes swears in Infernal, a language Damikos taught him.

Having spent so much time studying his books and the stars, Jaik never really found the time for many friends. He’s a bit nerdy, a little socially awkward kind of guy. He has annoyed people countless times in the past by sharing his knowledge without being asked, but this is often dismissed as people realize he’s not intentionally being a jerk, he’s just clueless about his behavior.

Skills:
Arcana
History
Investigation
Perception
Nature
Religion

Sage Feature: You frequently know where to find information concerning lore

Languages:
Common
Elven
Infernal
Celestial

Gear:
scale mail
shield
light crossbow
bolts (20)
explorer's pack
holy symbol
bottle of black ink
quill
small knife
letter
set of common clothes
belt pouch

—————-

Thank you for taking the time to read this, offer suggestions, and all that jazz.

[Consensus]

Looks like a serviceable and fun character, just remember to pick a domain, arcana seems the most fitting

[the_brazenburn]

It looks good! The backstory bit is excellent; too many people decide to just play an out-of-the-box fighter or what have you.

A point of clarification: how did he get fire bolt and magic missile, which are not normally on the cleric list? I'm guessing Magic Initiate: Wizard, right? That should be listed.

Overall, though, great job! Keep us up to date on the exploits of this character as you play the campaign.

[PeteNutButter]

Seems like a solid Arcana cleric. (You failed to mention the domain, hence the confusion of previous posters.)

Presuming the spells you listed for level 1 are spells you plan to prepare typically, it looks like you shorted yourself one. You get two from your domain, 3 from wisdom and 1 from cleric level.

I'd recommend at some point starting to prep cure wounds, just so you can heal on either an action or a bonus action. This becomes more important at level 6 plus if you'd like to say attack with spiritual weapon and heal/free an ally.

[jaappleton]

Looks fine to me. Seems like you went Arcana, and I like the spells you went with. Firebolt is solid, Sacred Flame is solid. You may want to consider swapping Toll the Dead for Word of Radiance, to give yourself something to utilize if multiple enemies gang up on you. Or consider swapping our Sacred Flame for it.

You'll always want two options for an attack cantrip; One relying on a Saving Throw and another with an Attack Roll. Firebolt covers your attack roll, and Toll deals some good damage, but Word of Radiance is likely going to save your life at some point, or an allies.

In Medium Armor with a Shield, you've got some pretty good AC. You can get in there a bit and cast some spells.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Looks pretty good. Do you know the rest of the party? If so are you acting as healer?

[krunchyfrogg]

I did go arcana domain. Thanks for that.

Thank you Petenutbutter! I’ll prep one more spell!

I’ll look up this word of radiance cantrip shortly.

Of note: there is one other party member who has guidance (he’s a celestial warlock). I might be able to give that one up if it comes down to it.

I like the idea of sacred flame and toll the dead because my goal is to be able to target the weakest save I can think of on enemies. With these cantrips, I can choose DEX, WIS, or just plain AC. If I get creative enough, I can even target INT with an the minor illusion spell, forcing an investigation check

[Unoriginal]

Looks good to me at first glance, though I would need my books to look more in depths, and what the other posters said is correct.

Just two questions, though:

-How did you get those stats? Point buy? Rolled? If rolled, many DMs only accept the rolls done in front of them

-How does your DM's setting handle the Cleric-Deity relationship?

A DM can change anything they want, of course, but the way described in the 5e books is that it's the god/pantheon/concept that choose someone to make them Cleric and grant them their powers, it's not something you can just pick up by studying (which explains why most regular priests are not Clerics, despite being devoted and part of the church). So make sure your DM agrees to your backstory on this point, or you might have to slightly modify it.

Other than this, it's a nicely done backstory and Jaik seems to shape up to be a pretty nice character to play and play with.

One last thing: you don't seem to have a melee weapon at all. I'd advise you to get one just in case, when you can, as it's a precaution most travelers would advise you to follow (can't always count on seeing the enemy from far away, after all). A Finesse weapon like a dagger or a shortsword would be fitting, I think, though I'm not sure if your Cleric is proficient with shortswords.

[Biggstick]

Very solid looking character! As Jaap noted, the only thing you're missing is one additional Cleric spell prepared. You have a good range of attack cantrips with Fire bolt, Sacred Flame, and Toll the Dead. Attack roll based, Dex save based, and Wis save based, as well as 3 very different damage types. Another suggestion I'd make is consider grabbing the Light cantrip at level 4, as you are a Human and without the ability to see in the dark. Being able to simply light something up will do wonders for your PC's quality of life in dungeon scenarios.

[krunchyfrogg]

Looks pretty good. Do you know the rest of the party? If so are you acting as healer?

I know there is a celestial warlock. I don’t know much about that class, but he told me he was concerned about there being “another healer,” so I told him I wouldn’t step on his toes that way.

[jaappleton]

I did go arcana domain. Thanks for that.

Thank you Petenutbutter! I’ll prep one more spell!

I’ll look up this word of radiance cantrip shortly.

Of note: there is one other party member who has guidance (he’s a celestial warlock). I might be able to give that one up if it comes down to it.

I like the idea of sacred flame and toll the dead because my goal is to be able to target the weakest save I can think of on enemies. With these cantrips, I can choose DEX, WIS, or just plain AC. If I get creative enough, I can even target INT with an the minor illusion spell, forcing an investigation check

Don't give up Guidance, because its Concentration. If you're already Concentrating on something, for whatever reason, you don't want to break it for Guidance. And vice versa with the Warlock.

So if you're focusing on something else, let Warlock cast it. If Warlock is focusing on something else, you cast it.

Though I don't think a creature can benefit from the same spell simultaneously, so you both casting Guidance at the same time on someone for something won't do +2d4.

[jaappleton]

I know there is a celestial warlock. I don’t know much about that class, but he told me he was concerned about there being “another healer,” so I told him I wouldn’t step on his toes that way.

No party ever had too much healing :smallbiggrin:

I'd tell him not to worry about overhealing. By having both of you capable of healing, you can free eachother up to do other things.

"Hey, Jeff the Fighter is hurt, you're closer. Can you help him while I do ____?"
"Sure. After that, heal yourself up since I'll be too far away from you."

[krunchyfrogg]

Looks good to me at first glance, though I would need my books to look more in depths, and what the other posters said is correct.

Just two questions, though:

-How did you get those stats? Point buy? Rolled? If rolled, many DMs only accept the rolls done in front of them

-How does your DM's setting handle the Cleric-Deity relationship?

A DM can change anything they want, of course, but the way described in the 5e books is that it's the god/pantheon/concept that choose someone to make them Cleric and grant them their powers, it's not something you can just pick up by studying (which explains why most regular priests are not Clerics, despite being devoted and part of the church). So make sure your DM agrees to your backstory on this point, or you might have to slightly modify it.

Other than this, it's a nicely done backstory and Jaik seems to shape up to be a pretty nice character to play and play with.

One last thing: you don't seem to have a melee weapon at all. I'd advise you to get one just in case, when you can, as it's a precaution most travelers would advise you to follow (can't always count on seeing the enemy from far away, after all). A Finesse weapon like a dagger or a shortsword would be fitting, I think, though I'm not sure if your Cleric is proficient with shortswords.

Thank you for the feedback!!

The stats are standard 27 point buy.

I’m not sure how the DM will handle it, but I think you make a good point. I think I’ll tweak the story so that reading about Celestian was the deity reaching out to him. As he studied and prayed, he learned more about the deity and became a cleric.

Jaik’s sage background provides him with a knife. I figure that could be a dagger. The standard equipment lists a mace but I’m just going to sell it for half it’s value as I’ll never use it. I might do the same with the crossbow, but the games story involves us going on a hunt for our village, so maybe I should keep it. Using dexterity and a dagger, if needed, is a better option than strength and a mace.

I’m also looking at selling some of that stuff for a healers kit. That thing can be a lifesaver!

[Aymon]

Thank you for the feedback!!

The stats are standard 27 point buy.

I’m not sure how the DM will handle it, but I think you make a good point. I think I’ll tweak the story so that reading about Celestian was the deity reaching out to him. As he studied and prayed, he learned more about the deity and became a cleric.

Jaik’s sage background provides him with a knife. I figure that could be a dagger. The standard equipment lists a mace but I’m just going to sell it for half it’s value as I’ll never use it. I might do the same with the crossbow, but the games story involves us going on a hunt for our village, so maybe I should keep it. Using dexterity and a dagger, if needed, is a better option than strength and a mace.


I would get booming blade as one of you cantrips. It gives you the option to pick up Mage Initiate (druid) later, for shilleghlie, and another cantrip, as well as (say) goodberry...

[Nidgit]

Looks good! One small question:

Does your campaign start in Klaemoor? If your character is conflicted about leaving that might make it more difficult to implement some of the standard setups. You probably aren't looking for adventurer work in a tavern, for instance.

[krunchyfrogg]

Looks good! One small question:

Does your campaign start in Klaemoor? If your character is conflicted about leaving that might make it more difficult to implement some of the standard setups. You probably aren't looking for adventurer work in a tavern, for instance.

It does start in this village, but the DM dropped a hint that some tragedy will befall the village and we’ll be forced into adventure.

[krunchyfrogg]

I would get booming blade as one of you cantrips. It gives you the option to pick up Mage Initiate (druid) later, for shilleghlie, and another cantrip, as well as (say) goodberry...

That was my initial character concept. I do like it a lot but I chose to go as a pure spellcaster rather than a guy who whacks things. The party is made up of 6 characters and 4 are melee combatants.

[krunchyfrogg]

One week until session 1!

[Vaz]

It's a 1st level character, there's not much to optimize.

[Klorox]

It's a 1st level character, there's not much to optimize.

This guy has a point.

That being said, it’s good to have a plan.

If this were my character, I’d play it as you presented it, and plan on boosting wisdom at levels 4 and 8.

After that, it’s really up to you. There are a lot of feats that can help this build but aren’t essential to it.

Since you’ve used up the resilient feat, you don’t have to worry about any odd numbered stats. That’s good.

Worry about what to do at level 12 when you start getting close to it.

Nice job so far!

[Chibachiva]

Really liked the the background part, and it fits so well with your pc stats! I was about to say that a cleric could've used a 10 in CHA, but I can't really explain it. Is turn dead based of CHA? Anyway, I changed my mind when I read about your pc being a bit nerdy and into books, but not enough to perform well as a wizard (although a turn could also fit, if you ever chose to take 2 points off INT). Anyway, good job!

[krunchyfrogg]

Really liked the the background part, and it fits so well with your pc stats! I was about to say that a cleric could've used a 10 in CHA, but I can't really explain it. Is turn dead based of CHA? Anyway, I changed my mind when I read about your pc being a bit nerdy and into books, but not enough to perform well as a wizard (although a turn could also fit, if you ever chose to take 2 points off INT). Anyway, good job!

I don’t think CHA really does anything for clerics in this edition.

What do you mean “ever chose to take 2 points off INT”? I’m kind of confused here.

Thank you!!

[Chibachiva]

I thought you made the stats of the character through the point-buy. I should've said it :smallbiggrin: My bad!
Good to know about the CHA !

[krunchyfrogg]

I thought you made the stats of the character through the point-buy. I should've said it :smallbiggrin: My bad!
Good to know about the CHA !

The stats are point buy.

Is my calculation off?

[krunchyfrogg]

LOL, never mind.

I think you’re suggesting I can take some points off INT to increase CHA.

I can’t believe I was lost about that!

[krunchyfrogg]

Game is tonight and I’m so excited! Thank you all!!