Tempest cleric

[Joran0100]

I've recently taken over a friend's tempest cleric for our dnd game and I've been told I can completly remake it but must keep race, weapon and the class, so its a twirling, cleric tempest domain with a two handed hammer, what advice would everyone give for optimizing it to make it really deadly?

[kamap]

Which level?

The spells spirit guardians and spiritual weapon are good.

[CTurbo]

Being able to maintain concentration is crucial. You want either Warcaster or Res(Con) if not both.

You want a high AC. Getting into Plate should be your goal. I recommend using the hammer in one hand and using a shield. The +2 AC bonus is much more useful than the small damage boost of using the hammer with 2 hands.

You want your Wis to 18 quick and maxing it asap is never a bad idea.


Orher than that, Tempest Clerics are awesome and you're going to love it. As mentioned above, give us more specifics.

[R.Shackleford]

The Cleric is one of the most versatile build classes!

Do you want to grapple, shove, support, or blast. Weapon to the face type?

You can do them all if you want.

Your primary weapon attack is the maul? If so, do note you can hold it with one hand while you use the other hand for casting or other stuff. You only need two hands when attacking with it.

Elemental Adept would be a good pick for you if you're going to blast. Being able to ignore resistance to lightning or thunder will help when you maximize a damage roll. Thunder might be the more useful choice as you get more thunder spells than lightning.

[Joran0100]

Atm she is 6th level but I've been given the option to build her from the ground up so that means spells, asi or feat, I have to keep the original skill rolls are str 15 dex 13 con 14 isn't 14 wis 18 cha 15

[lunaticfringe]

Tiefling? If so, can you select from the Variant options in Mordy's Tome of Foes?

[Man_Over_Game]

Atm she is 6th level but I've been given the option to build her from the ground up so that means spells, asi or feat, I have to keep the original skill rolls are str 15 dex 13 con 14 isn't 14 wis 18 cha 15

Spells don't matter. Clerics are prepared casters, so the spells they cast can change every day, if you really wanted to.

ASI isn't too important. The only thing I can really see being relevant to change is the feat. You can go Spell Sniper to pick up Booming Blade, and later grab War Caster. This allows you to strike enemies into place using Booming Blade with a Whip and Reach. Once you get War Caster, this further enhances the build and allows you to be very obnoxious to deal with.

Although, if the hammer is a requirement, likely just War Caster is going to be your best choice. Rock a shield. Use Shocking Grasp later, and really punish enemies by knocking them back and forcing them to lose their reaction for a whole round.

[Trustypeaches]

I say take a single level dip into Sorcerer and stay Tempest 5.

A single level of sorcerer (Storm Sorcery is best IMO) gets you 4 cantrips from the Sorcerer spell list (BOOMING BLADE, as well as other nice ones like Lightning Lure, Minor Illusion, and something thematic like Shape Water or Gust), a bunch of strong sorcerer spells (Shield, Absorb Elements, Magic Missile), and an excellent mobility feature in Tempestuous Magic, granting you 10 feet of flight whenever you cast ANY spell that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. This gives you a lot of room to maneuver on the front lines in your heavy armor, while giving you booming blade to shore up your otherwise mediocre melee damage.

[Laserlight]

I say take a single level dip into Sorcerer and stay Tempest 5.

A single level of sorcerer (Storm Sorcery is best IMO) gets you 4 cantrips from the Sorcerer spell list (BOOMING BLADE, as well as other nice ones like Lightning Lure, Minor Illusion, and something thematic like Shape Water or Gust), a bunch of strong sorcerer spells (Shield, Absorb Elements, Magic Missile), and an excellent mobility feature in Tempestuous Magic, granting you 10 feet of flight whenever you cast ANY spell that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. This gives you a lot of room to maneuver on the front lines in your heavy armor, while giving you booming blade to shore up your otherwise mediocre melee damage.

I actually just did that, except Gust is a pretty useless cantrip and you get 2nd level Gust of Wind as a domain spell.
Tempestuous Magic lets you fly ten feet when you cast a spell of 1st level or higher -- not cantrips, unfortunately for us Booming Blade fans.
You may want Chromatic Orb as one of your L1 sorc spells, for a single target lightning attack (or thunder). Which you can maximize with your Channel Div.

Presumably OP's character was using a warhammer, in which case it's a versatile weapon and you can just use it 1H with shield instead of 2H. By L6, most of your damage is going to be from spells (including BB if you can get it) rather than weapon attacks; the extra AC from shield (and the reduced likelihood of Concentration checks) is far more valuable than the extra point of damage from a hammer.

You need Warcaster or Resilient Con. Nothing sucks like casting your best spell and immediately losing it to a failed Concentration save,

[CTurbo]

Atm she is 6th level but I've been given the option to build her from the ground up so that means spells, asi or feat, I have to keep the original skill rolls are str 15 dex 13 con 14 isn't 14 wis 18 cha 15

Did I miss where you said the race? And are those stats the starting level 1 stats before racials, or the current level 6 stats after the level 4 ASI?

[Specter]

If you intend to be in melee, I highly recommend picking up Booming Blade, which will stack with Divine Strike later. If you crit, you can even use your channel divinity to max that damage, and that is sweet.

[saucerhead]

I've recently taken over a friend's tempest cleric for our dnd game and I've been told I can completly remake it but must keep race, weapon and the class, so its a twirling, cleric tempest domain with a two handed hammer, what advice would everyone give for optimizing it to make it really deadly?

Twirling = Tiefling?
While a two handed hammer is good if you take GWM feat, most clerics will opt for a shield and a different feat. Even better is to push your wisdom to 20 as soon as you can. Booming Blade is great for a tempest cleric, but getting means a multi-class dip or a feat, unless your DM is kind to you. It does seem to be a natural fit.

[Joran0100]

Thank you all of you for your advice, I've decided to go with a multiclass into storm sorceror with a shield and warhammer, and I'm going to take the warcaster feat I think when I hit my next asi

[Trustypeaches]

I actually just did that, except Gust is a pretty useless cantrip and you get 2nd level Gust of Wind as a domain spell.Yeah, but might as well toss in Shape Water or Gust for a little bit of flavor, since you have a nice cantrip surplus :P