I need help maximizing a character.

[miniatureaddict]

Recently making a 1st level half-orc war cleric
With point buy
He is supposed to be the tank of the party all spellcasters.??
Help!

[Guy Lombard-O]

Recently making a 1st level half-orc war cleric
With point buy
He is supposed to be the tank of the party all spellcasters.??
Help!

Not that much maximizing to do at 1st level. Get 14+2 Str, 15+1 Con, 14 Wis. Wear best heavy armor you can afford, use a shield. Cast Bless a lot & include yourself as one of the 3 recipients.

[miniatureaddict]

Thanks should I take chain mail or scale. Also am willing to have 3,8s as dump stats

[Rukelnikov]

Thanks should I take chain mail or scale. Also am willing to have 3,8s as dump stats

Then do

17(15+2)
8
16(15+1)
8
15
8

As that Guy said ,take whichever heavy armor you can afford

[BigPixie]

Or be a bearbarian.

[Man_Over_Game]

When you hit level 4, consider how often you're being attacked or ignored.


If you're being attacked, and:

Enemies are dealing mostly physical damage/ DM likes to use lots of small enemies: Heavy Armor Master.
Enemies are often dealing magical damage/are big bosses: Tough.

If you're being ignored by enemies to attack easier targets, and:

They're moving around you: Polearm Master.
They're Disengaging from you/Attacking others near you: Sentinel.

[miniatureaddict]

Thanks! Everyone decided to use this

Travok Half orc war cleric.
STR 17
DEX8
CON 16
INT 8
WIS 15
CHA 8

War hammer AC 18 Chainmail+shield

[Mordna]

When you hit level 4, consider how often you're being attacked or ignored.


If you're being attacked, and:

Enemies are dealing mostly physical damage/ DM likes to use lots of small enemies: Heavy Armor Master.
Enemies are often dealing magical damage/are big bosses: Tough.

If you're being ignored by enemies to attack easier targets, and:

They're moving around you: Polearm Master.
They're Disengaging from you/Attacking others near you: Sentinel.




This is such good advice! I wish I had this insight when tanking at low levels!

[dejarnjc]

Not that much maximizing to do at 1st level. Get 14+2 Str, 15+1 Con, 14 Wis. Wear best heavy armor you can afford, use a shield. Cast Bless a lot & include yourself as one of the 3 recipients.

Bless probably won't be as effective in a party of spellcasters. Shield of faith might be a better choice.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Bless probably won't be as effective in a party of spellcasters. Shield of faith might be a better choice.

Depends upon the casters and the DM. Are they concentration-spell casters who get pelted with arrows (or end up in melee because 1 war cleric is the whole front line)? Or Firebolt/EB/cantrip spammers? Bless can be very helpful.

[dejarnjc]

Depends upon the casters and the DM. Are they concentration-spell casters who get pelted with arrows (or end up in melee because 1 war cleric is the whole front line)? Or Firebolt/EB/cantrip spammers? Bless can be very helpful.

True it does depend and IMO bless is always fantastic but that potential 20 AC at level 1 is reeeeaaal nice for the main tank :)

[CTurbo]

Step 1. Don't be a War Cleric. The domain is lackluster overall and you would be better off being a Tempest as it's flat out better doing what you're wanting to do. Note: If you don't really care about having full weapon proficiencies, Nature or Forge would also be better than War at tanking. Either way you go you'll want the highest AC possible which is technically going to be Forge, but Forge can't come close to the damage output Tempest can do. That's why I think Tempest makes not only the best tank Cleric, but also the highest dpr Cleric too.

Step 2. Remember that Wis is always going to be your main stat, and you should bump it at level 4 no matter what. Since you'll be starting -1 behind the curve in Wis because Half-Orc doesn't give a Wis boost, you'll possibly want to bump Wis again at level 8 too.

Step 3. Boost your concentration by grabbing either Warcaster and/or Res(Con).


Why do I not like the War Cleric?
Because War Priest is a poor ability that very quickly, starting at level 3, gets outclasses by the common-to-all-domains spell Spiritual Weapon. Spiritual Weapon is and will always be a better use of your bonus action and will remain relevant for your entire career whereas War Priest really only stands out at levels 1 and 2. You could technically build a niche War Cleric build with the GWM feat and use a Greataxe or Maul and get some mileage out of War Priest but I don't recommend the investment. Guided Strike/War God's Blessing are nice features, but are way too limited to really be great. War's domain spells are decent, but not worth taking the domain for. Avatar of Battle is AWESOME but you get it so so late.

I like the War Cleric for small dips from other melee classes, but that's it. A single level of War Cleric can be amazing for a Fighter, Barbarian, or Ranger especially for GWF/GWM builds and archers.


But a quick recap for maximizing a Cleric-
1. Max Wisdom
2. Highest AC possible
3. Boost concentration checks.
4. Enjoy.

[sophontteks]

Tempest is the go-to blasty tank, but in your group consider playing a life cleric. Life clerics are not the stereotypical "Stay back and heal." Clerics as you may think. They are frontline tanks.

With so many squishy casters. What if they enemy ignores you and takes out all your friends? Use your divinity and boom, they are all back up and fighting.

It puts the enemy in a tight spot. They have to focus you because you can heal crazy good, but you are even tankier then the war cleric. Look at that level 6 ability. Whenever a spell heals an ally, you heal yourself for 2+the spells level for free.

[CTurbo]

Tempest is the go-to blasty tank, but in your group consider playing a life cleric. Life clerics are not the stereotypical "Stay back and heal." Clerics as you may think. They are frontline tanks.

With so many squishy casters. What if they enemy ignores you and takes out all your friends? Use your divinity and boom, they are all back up and fighting.

It puts the enemy in a tight spot. They have to focus you because you can heal crazy good, but you are even tankier then the war cleric. Look at that level 6 ability. Whenever a spell heals an ally, you heal yourself for 2+the spells level for free.


I agree that Life is strong, and make much better tanks than War as well, but I didn't mention them because they lack any extra ways to deal damage, and I think to be a GREAT tank, you have to have ways to punish enemies for ignoring you. Forge has this problem to a lesser extent. That silly high AC doesn't mean a whole lot when the enemy can just ignore you. At least Forge has a couple tricks up their sleeve to make up for the lack of dpr. Tempest Clerics tank so well because of their high AC, flavorful reaction damage, and the fact that in a pinch they can kill all of the things with some maxed thunder damage lol. Nature has the high AC as well as some great control features.


Of course this is just my humble opinion but I think as far as tanky Clerics go-
Tempest>Nature>Forge>Life>Protector>Grave=War

[sophontteks]

I agree that Life is strong, and make much better tanks than War as well, but I didn't mention them because they lack any extra ways to deal damage, and I think to be a GREAT tank, you have to have ways to punish enemies for ignoring you. Forge has this problem to a lesser extent. That silly high AC doesn't mean a whole lot when the enemy can just ignore you. At least Forge has a couple tricks up their sleeve to make up for the lack of dpr. Tempest Clerics tank so well because of their high AC, flavorful reaction damage, and the fact that in a pinch they can kill all of the things with some maxed thunder damage lol. Nature has the high AC as well as some great control features.


Of course this is just my humble opinion but I think as far as tanky Clerics go-
Tempest>Nature>Forge>Life>Protector>Grave=War
Ah, Life clerics are better tanks then you are crediting them for. Not only can they hold aggro, but they can do it better then any other cleric.

The enemy can't ignore the life cleric, not because he's dealing damage, but because he's the most powerful combat healer in the game. If the enemy ignores him he can heal the team while healing himself while continuing to attack, and if the enemy dares to completely ignore him, his divinity can instantly bring back his entire team anyway. His divinity doesn't look it at first, but its actually a top-notch tanking ability. Every gamer knows to kill the healers first. Normally it doesn't apply to D&D because healing in combat is pretty weak, but life clerics are a different story.

All the other clerics aren't going to put forth enough damage to keep the enemy focused on them anyway. Damage is not a great way to keep aggro, especially if other easier targets are also dealing tons of damage. The enemy will go for the easier targets, and the other clerics can't punish that as well as life can.

All this and the life still is no slouch in the damage department. He still has spirit guardians, and spiritual weapon backing him up.