Nature Cleric/EK Build Help

[CheddarChampion]

Hey Playgrounders,

I was hoping for some feedback on a build idea I've had going around in my head for the past few days. How well would a Nature Cleric / Eldritch Knight play using shillelagh + polearm master + a quarterstaff?

What I have so far is that I'm shooting for Nature Domain 9 / EK 11, Hill Dwarf with stats 10/14/15/10/16/10 and picking up the feats/ASI's Polearm Master, War Caster, Resilient (Constitution), Wisdom +2 and Wisdom +2.

EK is for defensive spells, a few more spell slots, War Magic, and Eldritch Strike. This really adds to the tank and gish values.

The level split would get me Extra Attack (2) which as a capstone I could use with the Holy Weapon spell (5th level) + polearm master to great effect.

The character concept is a traveling warrior priest that preaches about nature being a gift from the gods that you're supposed to take care of. He teaches the people how to respect nature and give back to it, and opposes those that would leave it in ruin.

Is this viable? What should the leveling order be? In which order should I take the ASI's/feats?

All ideas are appreciated!

[CTurbo]

It's mechanically sound, but I consider one handed quarterstaff + shield + Polearm Master to be one of the cheesiest things you could possibly do. As a DM who rewards flavor about all else, you would never at any point find a magic quarterstaff. That's my 2 cents lol

Cleric 9/EK Fighter 11 will be a great combo though

[Vessyra]

The order of the levels is definitely important; it'd be no fun to trudge through 19 levels (if the campaign gets that far) before you actually start to have fun. Maybe cleric 3 or 4, then fighter 5 or 6, then the rest depends on whether you want to increase your spell casting or fighting.

You can instead start with fighter then switch to cleric, instead, but I think that that would be bad, flavour-wise, because it'd be hard to play a nature-worshiper without cleric levels, while it's easy to play a warrior without fighter levels.

Unsure of feat order, because resilient and war caster are dependent on what spells you plan to take. How often will you have a concentration spell up? As much as possible, or only during certain situations? What spells are you planning to concentrate on?

[CheddarChampion]

I agree that dueling PAM + a shield is too out there. Its hard to imagine how someone would fight like that. So I'd be two handing the quarterstaff when using PAM.

I should have mentioned that in my original post. Hmm... I suppose two handing it means War Caster is slightly less valuable...

As for concentration spells, my go to would probably be opening with a buff or debuff and then going into melee. Or spirit guardians/ holy weapon.

I agree about cleric for first level.

[solidork]

I'm currently playing an EK/Tome Warlock that uses a quarterstaff with Shillelagh. Personally, I don't really consider PAM to be worth it because I have a decent amount of competition for my bonus action (casting Shillelagh, War Magic starting at level 7) and reaction (Shield, Absorb elements). As a cleric, you'll have even more things to do with your bonus action.

My experience has been pretty positive, but I also started at level 8 so I didn't have to wait for the build to come online. I started out using a Shield + Club but now I 2h a Staff of Thunder and Lightning I found. I'm not a damage powerhouse, to be sure, but I bring a lot of utility to the table.

[CTurbo]

I agree that dueling PAM + a shield is too out there. Its hard to imagine how someone would fight like that. So I'd be two handing the quarterstaff when using PAM.

I should have mentioned that in my original post. Hmm... I suppose two handing it means War Caster is slightly less valuable...

As for concentration spells, my go to would probably be opening with a buff or debuff and then going into melee. Or spirit guardians/ holy weapon.

I agree about cleric for first level.



Sorry for assuming. That's just where these Shillelagh + staff + PAM usually end up. Yes Warcaster becomes unnecessary to a degree. Advantage on Concentration checks is still solid though.

So this idea is actually pretty flavorful. I like it. I think I would actually allow both ends of the staff to get the 1d8 from Shillelagh if used in two hands. Not sure what RAW/RAI is here. PAM is still a good feat if you want to be in melee. Sentinel too.

[CheddarChampion]

I suppose taking PAM does put me between a rock and a hard place with deciding what to use my actions on:

An ogre rushes me, do I want to attack it or cast shield? Do I make a bonus attack or cast healing word to patch myself or a party member up?

At the same time, more options are usually better. Hmm...

And sentinel would help a lot with control. But warcaster + booming blade could be used to to similar but lesser effect.

A strong alternative is club + shield with sentinel not PAM. Or maybe swap the stats to 10/13/16/10/16/10 and drop resilient for sentinel?

[CTurbo]

Having options is always a good thing. Club + Dueling Style + shield would be great too. You can always use Spiritual Weapon as your bonus attack anyway.


If an Ogre rushes you, the correct answer is always to attack it if that's possible. The best defense in 5e is a good offense.