Character build help

[Houster]

So I'm starting a campaign next week. I am joining an existing group playing 7th to 20th.
I was told at first the party has a rogue, wizard and a monk. So I thought, great let's to a melee char that can heal some. I am already playing a paladin in another group so no no.
I though let's do fighter/cleric. Ek 6/war 1. Taking squat nimbelness and fey touched with point buy-
18 10 16 8 16 8.
He's a mountain dwarf.

All the best 1st level spells to protect others and myself- shield, absorb, shield of faith, sanctuary, healing word, bless, compelled duel(fey touched) and more(this guy has a million 1st level spells known).

Also grabbed misty step(fey touched) and expeditious retreat for mobility.

For offense I got divine favor and war cleric.

But now 2 more people are joining- a barb and a druid. No more need for frontline and healing so much.

So I kinda like my backround story and the mechanical idea of tons of defense and tanking, but I feel I'll just be overshadowed by the barb in combat, or at the very least unneeded.

So questions to you guys-
-what char would you suggest I play so I feel significant(with the current party composition of barb, druid, monk, rogue, wizard)
-will my char be fun to 20th? (Thought of going 6 fighter/14 cleric)
-I actually want some out of combat stuff with this guy. But maybe when I get cleric 3 i have zone of truth and silence...


P.s
Eldritch knight for extra spell slots and shield/absorb
I know order cleric with rogue is good but it is not fitting to the char story.

[Heavenblade]

What subclass is the druid? If its caster-type, there is still a place for melee brutes. - especially ones that can do battlefield control/shoves/area defense with AoO's and stuff like that.

[Houster]

What subclass is the druid? If its caster-type, there is still a place for melee brutes. - especially ones that can do battlefield control/shoves/area defense with AoO's and stuff like that.

Yeah exactly what you hinted at. He will play moon

[Droppeddead]

I suggest playing the same character. Switching out characters just because you feel you don't have the combat spotlight anymore feels kind of weird, even for a min-maxer.

Why would your character just abandon what I assume is their friends? What would their god feel like if they just give up their cause just because someone else joins in the glory of battle? You should rejoice that you all of the sudden have someone to fight beside you in the thick of the fight! Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend!

[kazaryu]

I suggest playing the same character. Switching out characters just because you feel you don't have the combat spotlight anymore feels kind of weird, even for a min-maxer.

Why would your character just abandon what I assume is their friends? What would their god feel like if they just give up their cause just because someone else joins in the glory of battle? You should rejoice that you all of the sudden have someone to fight beside you in the thick of the fight! Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! they're not talking about changing out a character mid campaign. they literally said that they're starting a campaign. implying that this is a new character. possibly one thats jumping into a different, alreay existing campaign. He's asking for advice for where to start.


So I'm starting a campaign next week. I am joining an existing group playing 7th to 20th.
I was told at first the party has a rogue, wizard and a monk. So I thought, great let's to a melee char that can heal some. I am already playing a paladin in another group so no no.
I though let's do fighter/cleric. Ek 6/war 1. Taking squat nimbelness and fey touched with point buy-
18 10 16 8 16 8.
He's a mountain dwarf.

All the best 1st level spells to protect others and myself- shield, absorb, shield of faith, sanctuary, healing word, bless, compelled duel(fey touched) and more(this guy has a million 1st level spells known).

Also grabbed misty step(fey touched) and expeditious retreat for mobility.

For offense I got divine favor and war cleric.

But now 2 more people are joining- a barb and a druid. No more need for frontline and healing so much.

So I kinda like my backround story and the mechanical idea of tons of defense and tanking, but I feel I'll just be overshadowed by the barb in combat, or at the very least unneeded.

So questions to you guys-
-what char would you suggest I play so I feel significant(with the current party composition of barb, druid, monk, rogue, wizard)
-will my char be fun to 20th? (Thought of going 6 fighter/14 cleric)
-I actually want some out of combat stuff with this guy. But maybe when I get cleric 3 i have zone of truth and silence...


P.s
Eldritch knight for extra spell slots and shield/absorb
I know order cleric with rogue is good but it is not fitting to the char story.

so, im not sure why you think you'll feel overshadowed by the barbarian. a cleric feels very different from a martial on the front line. specifically because you can cast. So while, yes, there's another bulky fighter standing next to you, i think you may be overestimating how bad it'll feel. even with a druid, a moon druid is gonna look like an animal most of the time in combat, so again won't be actively casting many spells. and to answer the other part of your question, i think this build would definitely still be fun to play even at higher levels. thats just the way spell scaling works, they get more fun.

that being said, if you do want to change, you could experiment with different subclasses. for example tempest or life cleric . both get heavy armor and so do better than your average cleric on the front line, but they're also more castery focused. Tempest probably being the more fun of the two for you, but a 'free' hellish rebuke, and the ability to just...maxmize lightning/thunder damage? sounds fun to me. Forge cleric is another solid front liner. also gives you access to branding smite, for more of that half-martial feel you've got going. (but that might feel too much like a paladin, idk).


as far as what you could be instead, well, depending on what the rogue has, a bard could be fun. so long as the rogue didn't heavily invest into it, you don't really have a charisma guy. and even if they did, 'charisma guy' is a pretty big umbrella. the rogue is unlikely to have covered all the bases. meanwhile, between their expertise, subclass features, and spell lists a bard can be built to fill any/all of the cha roles well.

[Aett_Thorn]

So it does look like you'll have two other melee characters, and while a third isn't a problem, it may feel redundant. However, healing may be a bit limited in combat if your Druid is stuck in bear form or whatever.

What I do notice about the new makeup of the party is that you don't really have a face character. And again, you may want to have some backup healing ability. So what I may suggest is a Mt. Dwarf Divine Soul Sorc or Celestial Warlock. With point buy and an ASI, you'll have a decent Cha, have medium armor so that you can get into melee if you want (heck, take Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade if you want), and can heal as needed. If you really want to get Heavy Armor proficiency instead (since nobody else can use it if you find it), take a level of Fighter at 1, then the rest the Cha-based class.

[MrStabby]

I don't think your current plan is so bad - Fighter is going to still be a great frontliner, even next to a barbarian. If you can pick up plate mail you should have a higher AC, and being a bit MAD will hurt less with the fighter's extra ASI. Being a level behind is less painful starting at level 7 and a War cleric with a handful of extra attacks each day is going to feel perfectly adequate in terms of damage.

The bigger overlapmight actually be between the barbarian and the rogue with their strengths vs traps and geting damage resistance.

No one else is likely to want any heavy armour you find, no one else s likely to have your same set of defensive spells... furthermore, if you have an ally in the front line it opens up things like sentinel - make yourself impossible to hit then punnish enemies for hitting someone else.

[KorvinStarmast]

Fighter/Cleric. Ek 6/war 1.
Taking squat nimbelness and fey touched with point buy-
18 10 16 8 16 8.
He's a mountain dwarf.
-will my char be fun to 20th? (Thought of going 6 fighter/14 cleric)
Yes. If you embrace your inner dwarf. :smallsmile:

There are a wide variety of clerical spells that you can use from level 1 through 14 of cleric. I'd suggest you boost Wisdom at Cleric 4 and at Cleric 8. You have a suite of control spells that needs to have as high a save DC as you can manage.

18 Strength will last you a long time. That said, if you go EK 11 Cleric 9, since level 5 spells are a nice "sweet spot" you'll get that third attack by the end. That's handy also.

[Houster]

So it does look like you'll have two other melee characters, and while a third isn't a problem, it may feel redundant. However, healing may be a bit limited in combat if your Druid is stuck in bear form or whatever.

What I do notice about the new makeup of the party is that you don't really have a face character. And again, you may want to have some backup healing ability. So what I may suggest is a Mt. Dwarf Divine Soul Sorc or Celestial Warlock. With point buy and an ASI, you'll have a decent Cha, have medium armor so that you can get into melee if you want (heck, take Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade if you want), and can heal as needed. If you really want to get Heavy Armor proficiency instead (since nobody else can use it if you find it), take a level of Fighter at 1, then the rest the Cha-based class.

The imagery of an aasimar divine soul taking to the air and casting somthing like twin haste or beacon of hope saving everyone...

That's appealing.

The imagery of a little dwarf teleporting around the field and smashing stuff with his hammer is also great.


But one major thing is the fighter cleric has much less out of combat stuff(even none?). Divine soul can take a few cool stuff to cast outside of combat.


Can't decide!

[5eNeedsDarksun]

Clerics are pretty darn good single classed. My experience is with Light and Trickery, but they are all good to excellent since the Cleric chassis is so strong. With a campaign going 7 to 20 I'd be thinking long and hard if I wanted to delay my big spells 6 levels to get better at hitting things with sharp sticks.

[ThatoneGuy84]

Clerics have a huge toolkit to tank alone, I very rarely feel the need to Multiclass them. And honestly I dont feel a couple levels in fighter bring much to the table. And 5 levels for extra att in fighter doesnt feel worth it. Expecially if you know your going to at least play a couple games in the 20 range when you actually get to use the cleric's capstone ability. Most people dont get the oppertunity or chance to even play up to 20.

So I would say.
1 Straight Cleric - to 20
2 Divine Soul Sorc (which I'd still either dip for armor or just take a race with medium armor)

[RogueJK]

Sounds like a Hill Dwarf Hexblade 1 or 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer X would be a good fit.

You get the healing. You get the "lots of 1st level spells", with short rest regen of 1st level Pact slots. You get the medium armor and shield. You get the "dwarf teleporting around smashing things with a hammer", at least when not casting. (You'll want to lean into Booming Blade since you won't have Extra Attacks.) You still get to stand out from the other casters, thanks to access to Cleric spells and Metamagic, plus picking different arcane spells than the Wizard. And out of combat, you get to be the CHA-based skill Party Face, which the party currently lacks.

All in a SAD package, with a bit more HP than the usual Sorlock thanks to your race. The backstory could even be very similar to your existing dwarf EK/Cleric.

Start at Level 7 as a Hexblade 2/Sorcerer 5 with point buy stats of
10 14 14 10 10 17 or 8 14 16 8 10 17, and use your Sorcerer 4 ASI for Fey Touched with CHA +1. Take Sorcerer as your Level 1 for the CON save proficiency for Concentration purposes.

Later, take Warcaster at Sorcerer 8, then +2 CHA at Sorcerer 12.

Spirit Guardians + Spiritual Weapon + Booming Blade will be your go-to in many combats, but sometimes you'll want to use your Concentration for other things, and sometimes you'll want to use your Bonus Action for a Quickened Spell instead. You can pull out Shield/Absorb Elements as needed with your short rest Pact slots. And you have Eldritch Blast as a good ranged backup option as needed.

[Houster]

Sounds like a Hill Dwarf Hexblade 1 or 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer X would be a good fit.





Yes, maybe for a 7th level one shot. But this build is suffering from the problem that it's just better for it to stand back and cast. Moreover as I gain more sorc levels. Don't get me wrong, it's a good build.
Just not to my taste.
Same reason i'll never play valor/swords bard or bladesinger. Too much casty on my gish , so much that it is just better at casting.

That's why I value extra attack and the durability that comes with the martial classes, it usually makes the melee option worthwhile.

Writing this makes me think if my fighter cleric won't feel the same at later levels, Though clerics tend not to have very good blasts or control options throughout their spell slots like arcane casters. So i may just want to concentrate on a high level spirit guardians or just beacon of hope/summon celestial and go to town with me hammer.

[Houster]

Clerics have a huge toolkit to tank alone, I very rarely feel the need to Multiclass them. And honestly I dont feel a couple levels in fighter bring much to the table. And 5 levels for extra att in fighter doesnt feel worth it. Expecially if you know your going to at least play a couple games in the 20 range when you actually get to use the cleric's capstone ability. Most people dont get the oppertunity or chance to even play up to 20.

So I would say.
1 Straight Cleric - to 20
2 Divine Soul Sorc (which I'd still either dip for armor or just take a race with medium armor)

I really hear you. Moreover when I look at my divine soul spell list, 90-95% of the spells are cleric ones. So, why not just go cleric?

It's mainly the twin-quicken metamagic.

So it's a really a choice between the immense versatility of the cleric, and the greatness of twining spells like heal or harm....


Though choices, truly.

[Houster]

Well guys, in an attempt to play a roleplay game without any special abilities that are tied to other stuff than combat- I picked my hammering dwarf.

Thanks for all the suggestions, they are helping because I have another game coming up 😀