Need help deciding between...

[Darkbru]

So I'm going to be starting ToA fresh at a friend's house. The party will have 5 players and the other 4 have already figured out what they're playing. We'll have 2 warlocks (possibly both will be blasters, but one may possibly go hexblade), one ranger, one tanky fighter and then me. Our group is lacking on some utility and very much lacking in the heals department. My DM is obviously leaving it entirely up to me as to what I'm going to bring to the table; but, knowing that we're lacking in utility and heals I was leaning towards either a cleric of some sort or a bard. I have never played a cleric above level 3 since I primarily play AL and by play I mean I DM most Wednesday nights. And I have never played a bard before. I know that bard can pick up healing spells and I know that cleric can have some decent utility spells. If it helps, I was leaning towards a half-elf Lore Bard or a Hill Dwarf Life Cleric. Ideally, I really wanted to play a wizard, but the lack of healing I think could bite us in the butt. So I'm looking for help/suggestions/reasons why bard or cleric is the better choice given the current party member choices.

P.S. This group has been playing together for years and I'm being brought in because the DM and I have played together at AL nights. So I don't 100% feel comfortable asking one of them to change their role just to make it easier for me to play something else.

[Xihirli]

A Life Cleric 1 / Lore Bard X is one of the best healing builds in the game with most of the Lore Bard’s utility. You can leave your WIS at 14 and focus on spells that don’t rely on your wisdom score for your cleric spells. Bless, Detect spells, that sort of thing.

[Nidgit]

Life 1/Lore X is fantastic, but if you don't want to multiclass Knowledge Cleric is really a best of both worlds situation. It can easily fill in whatever skills your party doesn't cover while still doing all the normal Cleric stuff.

[Tralith]

Try a Divine Soul Sorcerer. It'll give you healing (as much or little as you want) and might fulfill your desire for a wizard.

When we played ToA we had one in the party most sessions and they were fantastic. We were martial heavy and the sorc did an good job helping with blasting or healing spells as needed.

[Arcangel4774]

Theif with healer feat. Gives you utility and heals

[Darkbru]

Life 1/Lore X is fantastic, but if you don't want to multiclass Knowledge Cleric is really a best of both worlds situation. It can easily fill in whatever skills your party doesn't cover while still doing all the normal Cleric stuff.

I'm not sure why, but I don't really like the idea of multiclassing unless there's an RP reason for it. This home campaign will be less like AL and more RP/long term group focused.


Try a Divine Soul Sorcerer. It'll give you healing (as much or little as you want) and might fulfill your desire for a wizard.

When we played ToA we had one in the party most sessions and they were fantastic. We were martial heavy and the sorc did an good job helping with blasting or healing spells as needed.

Thanks for the insight! I never really looked at a Divine Soul Sorcerer. I'll look into it and see if it'll work.

[CTurbo]

With already having 2 Cha heavy characters in the party, I'd go for a "wise" Cleric. It doesn't HAVE to be a Life Cleric. I'd probably roll up a tanky heavy armor Cleric that hangs around the front lines punishing enemies with Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon. Tempest is always my first choice as it is just an awesome domain that can do everything. Grabbing Magic Initiate for some Druid Cantrips can really boost utility if you want. Other than that, Start with 16 Str and leave it there. Max Wis asap, and take either Res(Con) or Warcaster and you'll be great. I've played 3 different Tempest Clerics and it's easily my favorite 5e class. I found that I rarely healed in combat when I could usually just flat out end encounters instead being able to max thunder/lightning spells damage.

[DanyBallon]

You said that you really want to play a wizard, then why not play one. The party will sure lack healing, but healing potion exist, and unless there is an houserule on long rest, you get back all you HP after a long rest. Not every party are a balanced mix of warrior/rogue/cleric/magic user.

[Contrast]

You said that you really want to play a wizard, then why not play one. The party will sure lack healing, but healing potion exist, and unless there is an houserule on long rest, you get back all you HP after a long rest. Not every party are a balanced mix of warrior/rogue/cleric/magic user.

This is exactly what I was going to say. If you want to play a wizard, just do it.

On the other hand I played a glamour bard with inspiring leader a while ago - who needs healing when you have temporary hit points out of the wazoo.

[DarkKnightJin]

ToA, with the wilderness themes it has for exploration.. I'm surprised that nobody suggested you picking Druid.
It has utility and heals like the party is sorta lacking right now. And you could have a ton of fun in the jungle. Not to mention you could learn some fun Dino forms to use for your Wildshape.

[MrStabby]

Yes - play a wizard. You want to play one, your party would benefit from one. You don't need a dedicated healer and ranger (and possibly warlock) can cover healing -using healing spirit they can possibly do it better than a cleric could anyway.

[Aett_Thorn]

It’d be a bit MAD, but you could go multiclass Cleric/Wizard. One level of Cleric (I’d go Knowledge or Arcana for flavor) will get you at least Medium Armor and Shields to reduce the need for Dex a bit, and get you access to a couple of healing spells that you could upcast if you need them.

[Unoriginal]

Could take Wizard with the healer feat, no?

[xanderh]

Keep in mind that the ranger can also pick up some healing, so a wizard with the healer feat might actually be enough for the party. Ranger can get people back up in combat, while you can supplement out of combat, and in combat in a pinch.