Life Cleric/Divine Soul AL-S8 Start

[Jophiel]

I wrote a whole thing but the TL;DR boils down to: For AL Season 8, does free chain mail at level 1 (given the paucity of gold) make starting Life Cleric a more attractive option over starting Divine Soul Sorc despite losing the CON save?

Here's the long version if you're interested in my rambling:

I'm planning on doing a Life Cleric (1)/Divine Soul (X) for an upcoming game. That's basically going to happen because I like the idea thematically. The usual debate is which class to start with: Cleric for the proficiencies or Sorcerer for the CON save. Although I like Cleric to start in my head, I can see the benefits of starting Sorc. But we're doing Season 8 AL which also means that gold is virtually non-existent and that has me thinking that starting cleric with free chain mail might tip the scales. Kind of dumb that my hand is forced by S8 rules but my other option is starting Sorc and spending my entire leveling allotment on armor when I dip cleric.

I'm thinking Variant Human, with Str 13*, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Chr 16*.

If I went Sorc to start, I could do Inspiring Leader or Warcaster with me leaning towards Inspiring Leader
If I went Cleric to start, I would feel more obligated to pick up Warcaster

Only other consideration I can think of is that I'm not planning on taking any damage Cleric cantrips since I don't plan on raising Wisdom and can pick up some damage cantrips with Sorcerer next level. So level one will be me whacking things with my mace in between Bless/Healing Word but at level one that's no big deal. I was planning on Guidance & Resistance but not sure on the last so if you think a cleric damage cantrip is worth it, I can be convinced.

[Jophiel]

Actually, it occurs to me that even if I started Sorcerer, I would only have enough gold at level 2 (75gp allowance) to buy my chain mail and nothing left over for even a shield. That sounds worse overall for my spellcasting than missing out on CON save proficiency since not getting hit at all beats making a concentration save.

[Keravath]

There are still a couple of ways to enhance your starting gold.

1) Choice of background. e.g. A guild artisan starts with 15gp plus a set of artisan's tools of your choice. Alchemist's tools or tinkers tools are worth 50gp and could be pawned for 25gp giving you 40gp from your background to start with.

2) Starting equipment. A sorcerer starts with
(a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus
(a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
Two daggers

A light crossbow is 25gp sold for 12.5 (you can use firebolt/other cantrip for ranged attacks)
A component pouch is 25gp - sold for 12.5 - buy a staff for your arcane focus for 5gp - net +7.5 - and you can use it to attack with if you like.
You only need one dagger - +1gp :)

This nets you another 21gp for a total of 61gp available at first level. This should be enough for most of what you want except the heavy armor which you can pick up at 2nd level with the 75gp from leveling.

P.S. Keep in mind that the 13 str you have noted will only let you wear chain mail without slowing you down.

[AttilatheYeon]

I wrote a whole thing but the TL;DR boils down to: For AL Season 8, does free chain mail at level 1 (given the paucity of gold) make starting Life Cleric a more attractive option over starting Divine Soul Sorc despite losing the CON save?

Here's the long version if you're interested in my rambling:

I'm planning on doing a Life Cleric (1)/Divine Soul (X) for an upcoming game. That's basically going to happen because I like the idea thematically. The usual debate is which class to start with: Cleric for the proficiencies or Sorcerer for the CON save. Although I like Cleric to start in my head, I can see the benefits of starting Sorc. But we're doing Season 8 AL which also means that gold is virtually non-existent and that has me thinking that starting cleric with free chain mail might tip the scales. Kind of dumb that my hand is forced by S8 rules but my other option is starting Sorc and spending my entire leveling allotment on armor when I dip cleric.

I'm thinking Variant Human, with Str 13*, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Chr 16*.

If I went Sorc to start, I could do Inspiring Leader or Warcaster with me leaning towards Inspiring Leader
If I went Cleric to start, I would feel more obligated to pick up Warcaster

Only other consideration I can think of is that I'm not planning on taking any damage Cleric cantrips since I don't plan on raising Wisdom and can pick up some damage cantrips with Sorcerer next level. So level one will be me whacking things with my mace in between Bless/Healing Word but at level one that's no big deal. I was planning on Guidance & Resistance but not sure on the last so if you think a cleric damage cantrip is worth it, I can be convinced.

You can respec between sessions while in t1 play. So you can still grab Toll the Dead or Sacred Flame at first level, then spec out of it at level 2. This also lets you sell all your weapons right away.