Which cleric would you pick for PoTA?

[PhoenixPhyre]

I find myself in a strange position. The campaign I DM'd for the last 18 months finished, and we're switching DMs and trying Princes of the Apocalypse (for a break). That means I get to actually play!?!

I'm locked in to a cleric and have stats, but don't have the rest of the build.

The party will be
* Barbarian (probably Ancestors)
* Paladin (probably Vengeance, although possibly ancients)
* Evocation Wizard
* Cleric (me).

Since we have the big damage numbers covered, I'm looking more toward support, probably cantrip-based.

Any 1st party published (non-UA) material is fine except for volo's monster races. Feats and multiclassing are OK.

I'm leaning toward light or grave for domains, and either aasimar, v. human (which feat?) or dwarf for the class.

I'd like to avoid spoilers, but any suggestions would be welcome. Optimization level is pretty minimal overall.

[DarkKnightJin]

If you want to go cantrip based, Arcana Cleric seems like the way to go. It's in the SCAG, so not UA.
You get 2 Wizard cantrips of your choice, and at 8th level you get to add your Wisdom modifier to damage rolls.

You could go V.Human and get 2 cantrips from Druid. Primal Savagery would be one of my picks. Maybe Produce Flame for some more fun.

But that's what I'd go with. Light Domain could be pretty Blastery, too.

[Angelalex242]

If you go Vhuman, choose either War Caster or Resilience Con. You won't regret it.

I'd recommend your Paladin go Ancients so he can cover tanking for the team.

[PhoenixPhyre]

If you want to go cantrip based, Arcana Cleric seems like the way to go. It's in the SCAG, so not UA.
You get 2 Wizard cantrips of your choice, and at 8th level you get to add your Wisdom modifier to damage rolls.

You could go V.Human and get 2 cantrips from Druid. Primal Savagery would be one of my picks. Maybe Produce Flame for some more fun.

But that's what I'd go with. Light Domain could be pretty Blastery, too.

Arcana seems like it would overlap with the wizard (who's not the most skilled, so I don't want to step on her toes if possible) too much. I'm not worried about raw damage output--the rest of the team has that covered. What they don't have is support/buffing.


If you go Vhuman, choose either War Caster or Resilience Con. You won't regret it.

I'd recommend your Paladin go Ancients so he can cover tanking for the team.

I thought ancestor barbs are pretty tanky?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Oh, if it matters, the stats (rolled, before racials) are:

16
15
13
13
13
12

[Whit]

I would suggest Druid moon ? if you want to play something different. Your like a cleric support but can shape change as well.
Or go with light or life cleric for support

[dreast]

Since the theme is so strongly tied to elements, I'd go hill dwarf (gold dwarf in faerun) nature-domain cleric. Here's why:

1) The only stats that matter are Wisdom and Constitution. With dwarven ability to wear heavy armor regardless of Str score, you can make Str your dump stat. Coincidentally, you get bonuses to Wis and Con! Next highest would be Dex for the saves (and maybe resilient dex as a late feat). Int and cha to taste.

2) With shillelagh as your chosen cantrip, you can go club-and-shield for great tankiness, and Wis is your attack stat as well as your caster stat. (Note that no Extra Attack can hurt you here, but not much... the bonus damage from late nature domain is once-per-round anyway, and spiritual weapon covers a multitude of ills.)

3) Bonus HP.

4) Warding against elemental attacks as a reaction is huge! (Level 6 cleric.)

5) All the other reasons to go dwarf: Darkvision (!!!), poison resistance, etc.

It's a fairly powerful build always, but it goes especially far in highly elemental situations. Dungeon hoooo!

With the listed stats, I'd go 18 in Con, 16 in Wis, 13 in Dex, Int, and Cha, and 12 in Strength. The 4 and 8 level ASIs should be Wis, and the 12th should be resilient (Dex). That should have you set for the whole campaign.

[brainface]

I'm going to throw in a suggestion for nature--the dampen elements ability is potentially a godsend, and it looks like "woodsy stuff" isn't covered (unless your paladin goes ancients.)

Trickery is generally looked down upon, but it looks like you're missing tricksy/roguesy skills as well, with an urchin or criminal background (or variant human) you can have roguesy skills as well as some enchantment/illusion spells. Trickery is probably best when you have a different sneaky character to support though.

Light is kind of fire blasty, that may both overlap with wizard and not be that great when fire elementals attack. You'll have lots of other spells and radiant damage though, so I don't think it's that big a deal.

Knowledge cleric might be fun if you think you'll get the chance to use it--modules can veer pretty hack and slash though.


I thought ancestor barbs are pretty tanky?
A little bit less so in an elemental themed campaign, but there's still going to be plenty of swords to face style damage.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Since the theme is so strongly tied to elements, I'd go hill dwarf (gold dwarf in faerun) nature-domain cleric. Here's why:

1) The only stats that matter are Wisdom and Constitution. With dwarven ability to wear heavy armor regardless of Str score, you can make Str your dump stat. Coincidentally, you get bonuses to Wis and Con! Next highest would be Dex for the saves (and maybe resilient dex as a late feat). Int and cha to taste.

2) With shillelagh as your chosen cantrip, you can go club-and-shield for great tankiness, and Wis is your attack stat as well as your caster stat. (Note that no Extra Attack can hurt you here, but not much... the bonus damage from late nature domain is once-per-round anyway, and spiritual weapon covers a multitude of ills.)

3) Bonus HP.

4) Warding against elemental attacks as a reaction is huge! (Level 6 cleric.)

5) All the other reasons to go dwarf: Darkvision (!!!), poison resistance, etc.

It's a fairly powerful build always, but it goes especially far in highly elemental situations. Dungeon hoooo!

With the listed stats, I'd go 18 in Con, 16 in Wis, 13 in Dex, Int, and Cha, and 12 in Strength. The 4 and 8 level ASIs should be Wis, and the 12th should be resilient (Dex). That should have you set for the whole campaign.

This seems like a good suggestion. I think I'm going to go for the theme of "reluctant champion"--this dude wants to spend his life underground in a forge. He doesn't particularly care about nature, but some stupid god decided to choose him and messed up his life so he's out on the road, fighting. In play, his major personality traits will be complaining about his god (but, being a devout type it's more grumbling than actual refusal) and a "team mom" role. The group tends towards less-than-serious RP, mixed with Butt Kicking For Goodness! style heroics.

[EdenIndustries]

I'm going to throw my vote in for Nature Domain too. I'm DMing PoTA now and, not surprisingly, there are lots of elemental foes!

[dreast]

This seems like a good suggestion. I think I'm going to go for the theme of "reluctant champion"--this dude wants to spend his life underground in a forge. He doesn't particularly care about nature, but some stupid god decided to choose him and messed up his life so he's out on the road, fighting. In play, his major personality traits will be complaining about his god (but, being a devout type it's more grumbling than actual refusal) and a "team mom" role. The group tends towards less-than-serious RP, mixed with Butt Kicking For Goodness! style heroics.

You may want to switch that resilient(dex) and second wis boost, now that I think about it. 20 Wis does you no good in the face of a fireball, and it's worth a +1 to initiative too.

If you're especially cheesy, you can have your character praying for guidance constantly... i.e., casting guidance once a minute so you always get a +1d4 on initiative checks. I wouldn't let MY players do that, but it's RAW doable! (It will hurt your already 25' movement speed, though.)

[the_brazenburn]

I'm going to cast my vote for Trickery Cleric. You don't have a rogue, ranger, monk, or other "stealthy"-type character.

Obviously, if you don't want to play a sneaky-guy, don't use this suggestion.

[solidork]

I'm going to weigh in and say that a Dwarf Nature Cleric is pretty good. Without spoiling anything, there will be a number of opportunities for both your race and god/domain to matter for non-combat reasons.

[GorogIrongut]

I'm going to cast my vote for Trickery Cleric. You don't have a rogue, ranger, monk, or other "stealthy"-type character.

Obviously, if you don't want to play a sneaky-guy, don't use this suggestion.

I must admit that I was thinking he should multi class into arcane trickster at some point.....

From what I see here, their group is lacking:
a. Stealthy character
b. Skill Monkey
c. Healer

If it were me, I would put one (two) level into either a Life/Knowledge Cleric. Life boosts the healer. Knowledge makes for a skill monkey. I'd then put the rest of my levels into Lore bard. You'll have access to all kinds of healing which is stronger due to the Life cleric boost. You'll get to be a skill monkey due to the bardic expertise. And the bard is a jack of all trades. If you need healing, you can get healing. If you need control/support spells, you can get those two.

So if it were me it would be the following:

Hill Dwarf Life Cleric Level 1
Str 13
Dex 13
Con 16 (+2) = 18
Int 12
Wis 15 (+1) = 16
Cha 13

H Armour/shield means you will have a good AC for a level 1 character. Use Dwarven weapon of choice
Hp: 13
Spells:
Cantrips - Guidance, Hand of Radiance, Toll the Dead
Level 1 -Bless, Cure Wounds (both auto known due to Life), Guiding Bolt, Guiding Hand, Healing Word, Shield of Faith

At your next level up, go for a level in Bard with the aim of getting to Lore Bard as soon as possible. Which will make you a skill monkey (along with the expertise) and at level 6 you can pick extra non bardic spells (aura of vitality pairs well with your extra healing as a life cleric).

[jaappleton]

If the Paladin goes Vengeance, I say your Cleric should be Nature. Their lv6 features are very similar, and I don't think Resistance stacks (even if its from two different sources).

If the Paladin goes Ancients, I highly suggest you go Knowledge. Knowledge is INCREDIBLY underrated, WITH its channel divinity and ability to cast Suggestion being devastating in the right hands.