Twilight Cleric Build Help

[george moshingt]

Hello everyone, im about to start up a new dnd game for the first time in a little over a year (for covid reasons).

We are playing in Ebberon, and i have my character fleshed out for the most part.

Im planning on playing a high elf Twilight domain cleric 17/ Swashbuckler Rogue 3. (taking Booming Blade as my high elf cantrip)

We are starting at level 3 with the intention of going all the way to level 20.
We rolled for stats and my stats after racial modifiers are as follows
str 15
dex 17
con 16
int 13
wis 20
cha 16

considering i have pretty good stats i started looking into feats.

My DM as part of my backstory has given me a doubled bladed scimitar, so im considering taking Revenant Blade as my level 4 ASI

Im not sure after that. I could of course pump my Dex to a 20 with my next ASI, or i could take Resilient or Warcaster. I have also considered magic initiate to get access to find familiar, or defensive duelist from some extra protection.

Any insight or help here would be much appreciated as im kind of caught in limbo with a bit too many choices.

Thanks

[heavyfuel]

You're not going to be taking that many attack actions after level 5 to justify Revenant Blade, plus, you can't use bonus action attack with Booming Blade. Hitting for 2d4+1d4+8 (15.5 avg) isn't worth a feat investment when BB deals 2d4+1d8+3 (12.5) without costing you your BA and it has the rider effect as gravy. Without Extra Attack, you're just not competitive in melee damage beyond Tier 1.

The best feats, as usual, are stuff like Alert, Res: Con, and Lucky, probably in that order. Alert means you always go first for a Twilight Cleric, which can be really nice, buffing or crowd-controling everyone before they have to go. Res Con isn't super helpul early on, but once your PB is like +4, it starts to get very interesting, although I'd shuffle that 17 you have on Dex to Con if you can, so that the feat bumps it to 18.

[george moshingt]

part of the reason to take revenant blade is to turn the double bladed scimitar into a finesse weapon, as im multiclassing rogue i need that in order to use sneak attack damage, and the +1 AC is a nice little bonus. As i said the weapon is part of my backstory, so id like to use it rather than tossing it aside for a rapier.

[heavyfuel]

The way you framed your build made it look like you are only taking Rogue levels after reaching Cleric 17. What is the exact order of your build?

[george moshingt]

The way you framed your build made it look like you are only taking Rogue levels after reaching Cleric 17. What is the exact order of your build?

sorry should have been more clear the plan is to go rogue 1/cleric 1-5/rogue 2-3/cleric x

[heavyfuel]

I hate to say it, but tossing your weapon for a rapier is probably the best thing to do. A feat is a very very big deal for something that is - at best - a secondary strategy. The +1 AC doesn't compare to the +2 from a shield (which can be more if it's magical). I don't think you'll be contributing much, if at all, to the party's damage by taking dealing a couple of dice of Sneak Attack at 8th level, even with the feat.

If you are dead set on the scimitars, ask if your DM would allow a "lighter" finesse version that deals maybe d6/d2 instead of 2d4/d4. This way you don't have to spend a feat on it. If the DM doesn't allow it, go for the feat and be happy that 18 Dex with Advantage means you're winning initiative pretty much always

[george moshingt]

my DM is pretty strict so assuming i take the feat, for my next ASI's you think its best to take Alert and then Res: Con. What for my final ASI? (Lucky is banned by my DM)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Twilight Cleric is absurdly strong on its own, partially due to getting heavy armor proficiency. You don't need Dex, apart from multiclassing prerequisites. You can wear heavy armor, wield a finesse weapon for sneak attack, but use strength on the rolls. A shield is absolutely going to be better than using a double-scimitar, and the word swashbuckler is derived from "swash" (to swagger with a drawn blade) and "buckler" (a small shield held in hand). The double scimitar isn't even a magic weapon, it's bound to be replaced anyway, don't tie yourself to a specific weapon as you want to be able to use the best one you find.

The Twilight Sanctuary ability is one of the strongest sources of temporary hp for your party that you can find. Every turn you'll be getting 1d6+Cleric level temporary hp, as will any ally within 30 ft. of you. If you get to start with any magic items at all, try to get an Amulet of the Devout +1 in Tasha's. It's uncommon, grants the stated bonus to spell attacks and DCs, and lets you use channel divinity one additional time per day. Granted it comes back on a short rest, but that's still one extra Twilight Sanctuary each day if you didn't take a rest between encounters. After Cleric 6 it's not as necessary to have that effect, but it's still good to have for the bonus to your spells and just in case you get three encounters before a short rest.

Be sure to trade your Elf weapon proficiencies for four tool proficiencies per Tasha's, as they'll otherwise be completely redundant. I'd honestly get War Caster before any combat feats, it's going to be a lot better for you in the long run. You'll probably want to start each fight by using Twilight Sanctuary and Spiritual Weapon the first turn, then Spirit Guardians and whatever bonus action you can in the second turn, and start actually making weapon attacks by your third turn if you wouldn't be better off casting another spell. Throwing out a (Mass) Healing Word and a BB is going to be a fairly common turn for you not far in the future. Getting advantage on your concentration checks and being able to use BB on an opportunity attack are both going to be more impactful than +1 AC and +1 to an ability score (the rest of that feat the weapon does natively).

[Evaar]

Take Warding Bond. The temporary HP from Twilight Sanctuary goes even further if you can spread the damage around.

Personally I would play a Mark of the Sentinel Human with the Twilight domain and flavor the character as mostly powered by the Mark, but it sounds like you already know what you want your backstory to be. For a Revenant Blade user I would probably choose a Dex Paladin instead- Oath of the Ancients makes sense for Tairnadal Elf, as do Vengeance and Glory. Paladin’s Improved Smite feature synergizes very well with the dual scimitar. And you could still provide healing and support.

What you’ve proposed is a bit too scattershot for my tastes. It seems like the character doesn’t know what it’s trying to accomplish mechanically.

[Keravath]

1) If you are going to be using a weapon and shield or two weapons then warcaster will be useful if not necessary especially with a strict DM since you may have trouble casting a number of spells with shield and weapon or two weapons in hand.

2) If you plan to be in melee then resilient con will be essential. Having spirit guardians drop all the time because you get hit with an attack is a real problem.

3) Sneak attack damage won't add that much - you still only have one attack though from the sounds of it you want to combine booming blade with a bit of sneak attack for your one attack. Your bonus action is likely to go to cunning action options or spiritual weapon. You also don't get a bonus action attack with the double bladed scimitar unless you use the attack action - so it doesn't work with booming blade. The character is probably better off with a rapier and a shield.

[Chronic]

I kinda disagree with the heavy armor part, it require 15 strenght if you don't want the move penalty and and it makes you bad at stealth. Imo, going 14 dex and medium armor and getting a proficiency in stealth adds a lot to a domain that seems really good a prowling in the dark when needed. After some time and if the DM is generous, you go for a mitral full plate.

For the melee part, I'm still convinced that melee clerics aren't that great, and that multiclassing them for that isn't really worth it. Playing melee, your damage will come mostly from ancestral guardians and the spiritual weapon anyway, especially if you consider that dodge can be a really good option. Melee cantrip aren't compatible with multi attacks and twilight domain doesn't have potent cantrip.

[RogueJK]

Melee cantrip aren't compatible with multi attacks and twilight domain doesn't have potent cantrip.

You're correct that the OP wouldn't be able to combine BB/GFB with the additional Bonus Action attack of a Double-Bladed Scimitar, since the BA attack requires the use of the Attack action, but BB/GFB uses the Cast A Spell action.

But Potent Cantrip wouldn't help with BB/GFB anyway, since that only applies to specifically Cleric cantrips. A High Elf Cleric's racial BB/GFB isn't a Cleric cantrip, and a Cleric with a dip in Warlock/Wizard/Sorcerer/Artificer to get BB/GFB does not have BB/GFB as a Cleric cantrip. Only Arcana Clerics can get BB/GFB as specifically Cleric cantrips through their Level 1 Arcane Initiate ability, and then be able to apply Potent Cantrip to BB/GFB.

However, Twilight Cleric does get Divine Strike, which is compatible with BB/GFB. It doesn't require the use of the Attack action, merely a weapon attack, which BB/GFB does involve. So he could wield a Rapier, and be able to stack Rapier + Booming Blade + Sneak Attack + Divine Strike. (Or he could do the same with a Double-Bladed Scimitar with the Revenant Blade feat, just forgoing the option of the BA attack, but that doesn't get you much of any benefit over just a Rapier for the cost of a whole feat.)