Where to find the fire for this cleric build?

[Camman1984]

I am currently playing a forge cleric of tharmekhul whose holy symbol is a great maul :)

I am enjoying the class and am about to hit level 4. the only thing I feel i am lacking is a bit more flavour as most of my abilities are fairly passive and understated. I am about to unlock my one if my favourite spells in the game, heat metal.

my current thinking is to take elemental adept 'fire' at 4th level, it feels characterful that being one with the forge gods would give you gifts related to flame. the only issue is lack of fire spells in the cleric list. would it be worth me dipping into wizard for a bit? maybe just a few levels to pick up for fluffy spells, maybe a flaming hammer cantrips, control flame etc. we are not a full powergame player group so dropping my spell progression wouldn't negatively impact my proportionate power in the party.

does anyone else have any suggestions with what to do for some more flavour? currently regards multiclassing my abilities that would be high enough are strength 17, con 14 int 13 and wisdom 15

[EdenIndustries]

You can see if your DM will let you re-fluff Spiritual Weapon to do Fire damage instead of Force damage. That'd get you your 'flaming hammer' you wanted, and since using Fire instead of Force is making the spell weaker, I'd certainly allow it as a DM.

[CTurbo]

You don't have enough fire spells to warrant taking Elemental Adept. Now maybe if you were a Light Cleric...

I wouldn't "dip" into another class for spells, but you consider a full on multiclass in Wizard for at least 5 levels. I don't think it would be worth it unless you at least got Fireball. Diviner or Abjur make sense on a Cleric, but you'd want to bump Int if you took this route, and then you'll end up not being good enough at anything from trying to be good at too many things.

Magic Initiate is another option to grab a couple of fire cantrips and a 1st level fire spell.

The Forge Cleric is just not a blasty Cleric.

Another option could be to jump over to Eldritch Knight Fighter and finish out your levels there. The spell progression is really slow but Fighter adds nothing but good stuff to a melee centric Cleric like the Forge.

I would absolutely take +1 to Str and Wis at your next ASI to round them out. You don't want less than a 16 in Wis anyway.

[solidork]

You're about to get one of the flashiest and most effective spells in Spirit Guardians at level 5. You could fluff this as spectral flaming hammers, fire elemental spirits, flaming dwarven knights, anything you want.

[Camman1984]

I think I may try reskinning a few spells. toll the dead has already been reskinned as a spiritual blacksmith striking at the soul if the target rather than a bell.

the wizard idea would have been a few levels, probably 4 for full ASI progression but I think that would potentially be stretching my abilities too thin

[apepi]

I would like to argue that Forge domain is not about fire. It is about creating.

if you want fire, go the Light Domain.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Maybe grab Magic Initiate (Druid) for... Control Flames, Produce Flame, and... Faerie Fire? Be careful when you do; if you take Wizard or Sorcerer spells your casting stat would probably be low.

[strangebloke]

If your DM is permissive, just change a lot of spells to fire spells. Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, etc.

You can change lots of fluff elements, the idea someone posted with Toll the Dead is awesome.

If your DM is feeling really generous, ask him to swap the Forge Domain spells for Light Domain spells.

----

Mechanically, your best bet is multiclassing into Druid. Clerics simply don't get that much evocative fire damage, and the spells they do have are much weaker than other options at the same level.

[Vogie]

Too bad you don't have the charisma, because a 1 level dip into Phoenix Sorcerer would be amazing.

I would probably say either MI into Druid for the easy road... or if you want to go hardcore, 3 levels into druid for Flame Blade, which of course would be a Hammer for you, instead of a sword.

Another option is going a 2nd level into wizard, grabbing the Invention school (UA, if available) or the Conjuration school, for flavor.