Please help optimize this ranger, nature cleric

[Spiritchaser]

Basic premise: a stealthy melee warrior, very at home on his own in the wilds, or with animals but very socially awkward.

Ranger (probably gloomstalker?) 1. Nature cleric 1, ranger 5, or perhaps 8, nature cleric X.

Variant human to start, feat is PAM
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, wis 16, Cha 8.
Take res CON, then a wis ASI.

Attack with a bow until level 2, take shellelagh, and go staff and (cringe) board.

Damage is fairly low, even with PAM and hunters mark, though gloomstalkers extra attack helps just a touch. At higher level, holy weapon from cleric may sometimes help, but that’s far out there, and since it messes up stealth, I don’t see using it too frequently.

Survival against spells is solid, with proficiency on con, Dex and eventually Wis from gloomstalker.

Armor is fair, with only a breastplate for stealth until high level where MAM and more Dex could be possible

Magical utility is great in his particular area... Pass without trace is great/critical. Healing spirit is even better!

I have the skills and general background I want, How do I improve on this mechanically? Particularly wrt damage?

[Citan]

Hi!

I don't really understand why you'd say damage is fairly low: you would start with 2 attacks per turn and from level 2 onwards keep pumping WIS (which also means you could spare an early feat on Sentinel). And you can stack Hunter's Mark or Bless as needed on top of that until you get Spirit Guardians.

I think your character is very fine as is already. Only ways to improve damage would be "only"...
- dipping one level into Rogue to get Shove so you can boost your to-hit with advantage.
- dipping one level into Fighter for Dueling in case you didn't pick it with Ranger (although that seems improbable).
- grabbing a Magic Initiate feat to grab Booming Blade to pair with Spirit Guardians, but I'd argue that if you go for "catch-22" Sentinel would be a much better choice in the first place...
But honestly I wouldn't dare say it's "required" or even "worth it without hesitation".

Seems to me you designed a well thought-out character, not needing any change to be very functional. :)

[Vogie]

Since you're already going PAM for a reach build, I would suggest Primeval Guardian Ranger.

You'd also increase your damage by 1d6 /turn which will help with the damage, and when you grow into Guardian Soul form, your reach increases an additional 5 feet.

[CTurbo]

My 2 cents...

If you're worried about dpr, take Hunter instead of Gloom Stalker. Either Horde Breaker or Colossus Slayer would ad more dpr than the Gloom's single extra attack.

Flavor wise, Wielding a staff one handed and shield is just terrible. I'd drop the shield. You can take the defensive fighting style and have an AC of 17 with breastplate.

Consider the TWF fighting style and you can dual wield clubs and use Shillelagh still. That allows you to take Res(Con) at level 1 and start with 16 Con.

Also keep in mind that as soon as you hit Cleric 3, Spiritual Weapon will equal your bonus attack's damage which is another reason I really dislike PAM on Clerics.

Either way, your dpr will not be bad. At Ranger 5, you would have three 1d8+Wis attacks in any of the above scenarios.



I would go Nature Cleric 1/Ranger Hunter 5/Cleric X

Start 10 Str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 16 Wis, 10 Cha

Res(Con) to start, TWF style with clubs, Colossus Slayer, Humanoid favored enemy, +2 Wis at Ranger 4