Dhampir Twilight Cleric Build?

[Casanova_Kid]

Looking at starting a new campaign soon, I'll be making a dhampir twilight cleric.

Dhampir gives the option of either (+2,+1) or (+1,+1,+1)

We all rolled for stats, and we'll be getting a free feat at level 1.
Rolled stats; not bad, but also nothing particularly exciting either.
15
12
12
13
13
14

As far as feats are concerned, I kind of like the idea of going with Magic Initiate: Druid for Thorn Whip, and maybe Good Berry. I think Telekinetic/half feat might be better overall, but I'm open to ideas.

[Chronic]

There is nothing special to building twilight clerics, no tricks, no real combo. You either go strength with heavy armor or go dex with medium (or you take the move penalty, but it's a bad idea). Don't build for melee, clerics are bad in melee outside of one or two exceptions.

[Mastikator]

I'd go for 3 +1s, aim for medium armors, half plate + shield

STR 12
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 14

I'd probably just take +2 wis at level 4, then Telekinetic at 8, and maybe skill master at 12 (expert perception) for that final maxed out wisdom. The reason being that Telekinetic eats your bonus action and at low level I'd wanna have it for Spiritual Weapon.

[Gtdead]

Like chronic said, the Cleric is generally a very straightforward class to build. So make a choice about what armor you want, and roll with it.

If you decide to go for DEX based, the only problem with your rolls is that if you decide to shoot for a 18 WIS and still want to get Res:Con, you are left with either 13 DEX/16 CON or 14 DEX/15 CON. I would probably still pick Res CON and take the 15 CON. Such is life with rolled stats. Still not a bad prospect. However you are left with a 13 INT or CHA which allows dipping. While dipping wizards is not common, I think it's quite good, giving you access to find familiar, shield, absorb and other rituals.

Telekinetic is amazing because the bonus action doesn't conflict with spellcasting. You can cast SG and use it in the same turn.
MI:Druid also a great feat for Clerics and there are a lot of options. Something that I recently started doing is to combine magic stones with animate dead. This conficts with Telekinetic so it's pretty much one or the other, but it has some potential. Also zombies can help grapple enemies and keep them in SG, which creates a very unique playstyle. Keep them protected behind you and they will serve you well. You won't be the strongest minionmancer around, but at least this may fly with your DM. You can give them standing orders like "Follow me, Throw the stones I give you and grapple anyone in 10 yards radius". Consider reflavoring them as "spirits" if you like. It's free ^^

Thorn whip is bit more situational because it takes away your action, which means that you won't be dodging this turn. If you are the main frontliner, then this may be risky. However it's a good option to have, just make sure that you use it wisely.

Goodberry is nice but getting it from MI means you can't spam it. If you dip into Wizard like I suggested, you can use the familiar to hand out goodberries, and you get access to absorb elements, another strong contender for the MI:Druid lvl 1 spell.

[Mitchellnotes]

With that stat spread, I would agree that medium armor is likely the way to go since you basically start with it right where you want.

You could go:
12
14 (13+1)
15 (14+1)
12
16 (15+1)
13

For your feat, if you pick up res: con, you'd start with a 16 con with save prof, and a 16 wis with save prof. That's a pretty good start.

Alternatively, the "max wis" route could be:
12
14 (13+1)
14
12
17 (15+2)
13

Then picking up something like telekinetic for 18 wis at level 1. That could be worth it, but you may run into clogged bonus actions.

Note that you can make heavy armor work like

15 (14+1)
12
14 (13+1)
12
16 (15+1)
13

If you did this, i'd be tempted to pick up heavy armor master. Damage reduction on hit and your channel divinity would make you very tanky.

Edit: edited just to add that if you did go with heavy armor master, you wouldn't need the plus 1 to str, so you could do +1/+2 and start either 15 con/16 wis OR 14 con/17 wis (which makes picking up telekinetic at 4 very interesting)

[RogueJK]

With that stat spread, I would agree that medium armor is likely the way to go since you basically start with it right where you want.

You could go:
12
14 (13+1)
15 (14+1)
12
16 (15+1)
13

For your feat, if you pick up res: con, you'd start with a 16 con with save prof, and a 16 wis with save prof. That's a pretty good start.


That's exactly how I'd do it as well. Lets you start with 16 WIS and 16 CON, with CON save proficiency for Concentration checks. Don't bother with a weapon. You're primarily a caster, but it's nice to have the option to fall back on your CON-based melee bite if needed (such as for Opportunity Attacks). Plus not using a weapon means you can use a shield without worrying about Warcaster.


If you really want something like MI Druid or Telekinetic at Level 1, then do this same stat spread and take Resilient CON at Level 4.