Human War Cleric

[WereRabbitz]

Hey wanted some help building a War Cleric.

Were starting at level 3 and using the standard stats or point buy 27.

I could get 16 Str/Wis and 14 con but I'm stuck with 8 int and 8 dex at that. Was hoping for some advice here as well.

I was going with Human Variant and was curious what is a good first feat?

I thought of Great Weapon Master... I could attack with the -5 and +10 Damage and offset that with my divinity if it was going to miss.

With me getting Divine Strike later on I'm trying to figure out if I can remain Melee Capable as we level up or if all the melee side of the War cleric will just goto waste?

Also thoughts of going 2H or Dex Fighter?

Thanks!

[Trask]

There will definitely be some dropoff with your melee capabilities as levels progress, but you'll always be capable, particularly with higher level buffing spells and such. Great weapon master/sharpshooter is always a good option and has good synergy with your channel divinity so I think all in all its a good build.

[Yuroch Kern]

I agree with Trask. You should definitely dump Dex and do the heaviest armor with the biggest weapon. Int 8 is...a roleplaying opportunity, and won't really affect anything other than recalling your Religion...you have a fine interactive pillar there, my dude. You will either generate bonus action attacks for free, or use the War Priest ability if needed.

[CTurbo]

You *can* build a melee focused War Cleric, but you're still going to find that attacking with your weapon is rarely going to be the best idea. I would personally take Res(Con) with your starting feat and keep Dex at at least 10 if not 12. If you REALLY want to play a melee focused Cleric, I recommend Tempest instead.

Warcaster is a great feat to start with too. Also consider Magic Initiate for Booming Blade.

[Mr Adventurer]

Honestly, if you really want to play a melee cleric - more than you want to be a priest - I'd recommend Paladin. Potentially multiclass into Divine Soul Sorcerer if you find you do want more spellcasting.

I've played and seen played a War Cleric; you have full spellcasting, that's going to be your strength. Other classes do a better job of blending spellcasting with melee fighting.

[CheddarChampion]

As CTurbo mentioned, Res (Con) is a good feat for level 1.
With it you can take 16/8/14/10/16/10 or 16/10/12/10/16/10.

[Yuroch Kern]

I can only presume this cleric is the front line melee in the party? Res(Con) or GWM are still good picks, just getting a feel of your party specialty.

[Corran]

I'd avoid GWM. It doesn't play well with the extra damage from improved divine smite (at 8 and 14), and you have spells that will take actions away from attacking. You don't even have extra attack, only a subclass feature that will give you a few extra attacks per day at the cost of a bonus action (for which clerics have uses). You can spend your ASI's in better ways. If you want extra weapon damage, the SCAG cantrips (green-flame blade and booming blade) are your best bet (dip 1 level to a caster class that gets them, or through magic initiate, or through race: elf or halfelf variant), and if you want to further boost your dpr, you could grab shillelagh later on (either with a druid dip, or with the magic initiate feat). The SCAGtrips don't work with war priest btw, so take that into consideration while making your decision (on the other hand, war priest doesn't play well with spiritual weapon either, and it's not like it is such a great feature anyway).

I'll second resilient con as a feat you should plan on taking. A side benefit of that is that you can start with a 13 in CON, so more points for your tertiary stats (looking mainly at DEX). Personally I'd want both warcaster and resilient con, and I am thinking that I'd prioritize warcaster earlier (as early on it's a better boost to concentration and con saves don't tend to be that common or that nasty as they will be at higher levels, where resilient is also more effective due to your increased prof bonus).

I'd recommend going with a one-handed weapon and a shield instead. Whether strength or dex based, well, each has its advantages. A better STR score will give you better AC through heavy armor, and better athletics (which tends to be more useful than acrobatics, plus it means that you can attempt grapples and shoving more effectively than if you were DEX based). Then again, a good DEX score will give you better initiative, DEX saves tend to be more important than STR saves, and at the cost of additional AC you could invest a skill in stealth, and a decent stealth score can be useful sometimes. I don't see it making much of a difference either way, that is if you intend to be attacking with a weapon and not with cantrips (in which case I'd probably go with better DEX, and I'd probably cap it at 14).

One thing war clerics have going for them, is that they get access to the spell crusader's mantle. Which can be very decent if you are playing in a large party and/or especially if you and your allies rely a lot on summons (synergy with your own animate dead here).