Tempest Cleric without Booming Blade still good?

[Meyer90]

Hi, i'm considering to make a Lvl 1 Tempest Cleric and join a campaign with other players. They're almost level 3.
There are a paladin, warrior, sorcerer, bard and rogue. Having that said, i like a lot all the concept about the Tempest Cleric but it's kinda look like without the possibility to have Booming Blade as cantrip it will not do much on melee. I rolled really good stats so i could have a good STR but without extra attacks and without BB to have more hits and fitting so good with the Tempest class features, i'm afraid i will not be so useful all day long when i'll not have much more spells available. Maybe i'm just overthinking about this, but i would appreciate some hints, thanks!

[CTurbo]

Yes I've played a Tempest several times now and I've only used Booming Blade with one of those builds.

You can play a Tempest and be great without ever making a weapon attack. It is not a mandatory feature to have.

What are your stats and race? Booming Blade is very easy to acquire if you want it. Variant Human with Magic Initiate or Spell Sniper can get it. High Elf gets you a free cantrip.

To get the MOST out of your build, you need to build around being able to keep concentration up so feats like Res(Con) and Warmaster are typically better than offensive feats. Magic Initiate is very good though if you have the stats since you can get an additional lightning cantrip like Lightning Lure or Shocking Grasp and a 1st level spell like Find Familiar or Shield.

Just remember you don't need an actually weapon attack to deal massive damage once you get Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon.

I love the Tempest domain so you are sure to have fun whether you optimize for melee or not.

[Meyer90]

Yes I've played a Tempest several times now and I've only used Booming Blade with one of those builds.

You can play a Tempest and be great without ever making a weapon attack. It is not a mandatory feature to have.

What are your stats and race? Booming Blade is very easy to acquire if you want it. Variant Human with Magic Initiate or Spell Sniper can get it. High Elf gets you a free cantrip.

To get the MOST out of your build, you need to build around being able to keep concentration up so feats like Res(Con) and Warmaster are typically better than offensive feats. Magic Initiate is very good though if you have the stats since you can get an additional lightning cantrip like Lightning Lure or Shocking Grasp and a 1st level spell like Find Familiar or Shield.

Just remember you don't need an actually weapon attack to deal massive damage once you get Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon.

I love the Tempest domain so you are sure to have fun whether you optimize for melee or not.

My stats are 17,17,16,15,14,9 i still have to pick a race but i was thinking about the VHuman indeed. Problem with BB is that we only have access to core manuals.

[Specter]

Don't sweat it. With these stats, you'll do fine.

[CTurbo]

My stats are 17,17,16,15,14,9 i still have to pick a race but i was thinking about the VHuman indeed. Problem with BB is that we only have access to core manuals.


Oh yeah you'll be fine without it. With those stats you can start 18 Wis, 18 Con, 16 Str, and 16 Dex with either the Heavy Armor Master feat or Resilient(Con). You could put the 18 in Str instead of Con but I'd rather have the higher Con.

If you take HAM at level 1, I'd probably take Warcaster at level4.
If you take Res(Con) at level 1, I'd probably bump Wis to 20 at level 4.
If you really want to up your melee capabilities, Sentinel will help a lot to keep enemies in your Spiritual Guardians and after level 8, will use your Divine Strike an additional time a round. Don't take Sentinel without having either Warcaster or Res(Con) though.

[Mikal]

To be honest booming blade isn't that great as a tempest cleric. You don't get the knock back since it's thunder damage not lightning, though the channel divinity power is decent to max out the extra damage.

Pity, cause the mental image of a tempest cleric using BB to throw someone back 10 feet and encasing them in energy that potentially knocks them back another 10 ft is awesome

[darkmoonrise312]

My stats are 17,17,16,15,14,9 i still have to pick a race but i was thinking about the VHuman indeed. Problem with BB is that we only have access to core manuals.

Remember, tempest cleric was designed without any knowledge of Booming Blade even existing, so it should and does work perfectly fine without it, even if it is a cool addition you can grab. If you still want a a cantrip to go with your tempest abilities, you can still grab shocking grasp even in just core books with magic initiate.

But really, Tempest is really just supposed to be any other cleric with some extra thunder and lightning added on. You get extra lighting damage at level 8 also. And anyway, clerics aren't DPS, their support with a heavy stick.

[Snowbluff]

Remember, tempest cleric was designed without any knowledge of Booming Blade even existing, so it should and does work perfectly fine without it, even if it is a cool addition you can grab. If you still want a a cantrip to go with your tempest abilities, you can still grab shocking grasp even in just core books with magic initiate.

But really, Tempest is really just supposed to be any other cleric with some extra thunder and lightning added on. You get extra lighting damage at level 8 also. And anyway, clerics aren't DPS, their support with a heavy stick.

This. Booming blade is nice as a damage bump because you only have 1 attack anyway (like rogue), and it can help trapped people in a Spirit Guardians. However, your spells will give you plenty to do with your action, and booming blade wouldn't be a huge boon at this levels in terms of filler damage anyway. :smallredface: