Life Cleric Multiclass help?

[Sir-Carlos]

So, my buddy is a level 5 Life-Cleric. He wants to multiclass. Do you have any fun Multiclass suggestions for him? his stats that are over 12 are: Str 14, dex 14, wis 18.

[RogueJK]

What is he wanting out of a multiclass? Additional spellcasting options? More skills? Better melee capabilties? Something else?

Is he wanting to take a few levels in something else, or switch completely away from taking any more Life Cleric levels?


Basically, with his stats, he qualifies for the following multiclassing options:

Druid
Ranger
Fighter
Rogue
Monk
Barbarian

Of those, Barbarian is a poor choice since you can't cast while Raging. Monk is a poor choice because it doesn't help his Cleric abilities and Monks need undiluted Monk levels to keep up with the power curve.

So that leaves four options:

A) Druid. Spell slots would continue to scale, and he'd get some additional lower level Druid spells known. Life Cleric pairs nicely with the 1st level Goodberry spell. The Druid cantrip Shillelagh would allow him to made WIS-based melee attacks, if he's wanting to be more of a frontliner. Also gets him some basic Wild Shape capabilities for out of combat scouting/exploration. The downside could be the restriction against metal armor. A good subclass option here would be Stars Druid for extra Guiding Bolts along with a Bonus Action ranged attack from Archer Form, better Concentration checks from Dragon Form, or even stronger healing with Chalice Form. (Stars Druid 2/Cleric X is a strong and versatile combination.) Moon Druid would be the worst subclass option, since it needs undiluted Druid levels for their Combat Wild Shape to be viable, and you can't cast while Wild Shaped anyway.

B) Fighter. Better action economy with Action Surge, and a Fighting Style like Defense for higher AC. The boost to melee/ranged capabilities from a Fighting Style, Extra Attack, and subclass abilities would be kinda moot, due to his middling STR/DEX. So I'd recommend no more than 2 levels. Maybe 3 levels of Eldritch Knight, to (slightly) scale his spell slots, while allowing access to a few low level Wizard spells, but that's still not a great option.

C) Rogue. Extra skill proficiencies and Expertise. Plus Cunning Action for Bonus Action options. But Sneak Attack wouldn't be as useful, due to the abovementioned issues with melee/ranged capabilties due to his middling DEX. So you're looking at 1-2 levels max here. Or perhaps something like 3 levels of Arcane Trickster subclass would (slightly) scale his spell slots, while allowing access to a few low level Wizard spells. Or 3 levels of Mastermind to give him a useful way to leverage his Bonus Action in many turns between Cunning Action and Master of Tactics. But neither of those are still great options.

D) Ranger. Spell slots would continued to scale, plus lower level Ranger spells known, including the abovementioned Goodberry. Unlike Druid, they have no armor restrictions. Extra skill proficiency, plus Expertise from Canny. A Fighting Style like Druidic Warrior for two Druid cantrips, including access to Shillelagh. Unlike Fighter, with the Shillelagh cantrip for WIS-based melee, even Extra Attack at Ranger 5 becomes useful. (I've played a Ranger 5/Cleric 5+ before, and it was a great character with a lot of combat capabilities... Sort of a more martial-focused Cleric, with WIS-based Shillelagh Attack/Extra Attack + passive WIS Spirit Guardians + Bonus Action WIS Spiritual Weapon, and some higher level slots for upcasting.) A good subclass option could be Fey Wanderer for added damage and +WIS to CHA checks, allowing him to be the party Face. Beastmaster would be the worst subclass option, since it relies on undiluted Ranger levels to keep your companion viable in combat.


Therefore, without knowing exactly what he's wanting, I'd say 3-5 levels of Fey Wanderer Ranger (for skill proficiency/expertise purposes, WIS-based Face skills, and/or better melee capabilities with Shillelagh + Extra Attack + bonus damage) or 2 levels of Stars Druid (for additional spellcasting, minor Wild Shape options, and Bonus Action Archer blasts, bonus Chalice healing, or Dragon Concentration) would likely be his best bet. And if he's wanting to switch completely away from Life Cleric, those two would likely still be the best options here. Either way, definitely take the Shillelagh cantrip, to have a WIS-based melee option.

[Frogreaver]

What is his int and cha?

[Sorinth]

What are they looking for?

Stat wise it looks like they will want to continue using Wis based stuff most rounds since 14 str/dex is less then ideal for attacks. But 1 level of Druid or two levels of Ranger for Shillelagh would allow for using Wis as your attack stat if they want to mix it up in melee more. If they want to stay at the back line casting spells, then I would think a small dip for Rogue 2 and then back to cleric could be fun.

[Willie the Duck]

D) Ranger. Spell slots would continued to scale, plus lower level Ranger spells known, including the abovementioned Goodberry. Extra skill proficiency plus Expertise from Canny. A Fighting Style like Defense for better AC or Druidic Warrior for Druid cantrips like Shillelagh. With the Shillelagh cantrip for WIS-based melee, even Extra Attack at Ranger 5 becomes useful. A good subclass option could be Fey Wanderer for +WIS to CHA checks, allowing him to be the party Face. Beastmaster would be the worst option, since it relies on Ranger levels to keep your companion viable in combat.

I am going the other way, with a Wis-based (took Magic Initiate for Shillelagh and Magic Stone instead of Druidic Warrior so I could pick up blind fighting as fighting style and use it with Fog Cloud) Fey Wanderer that started taking some Life Cleric levels. It works really well. Even a 1 level dip opens up wis bonus+1 extra L1 healing and support spells.

For the OP they should check if the DM allows Life Cleric + Goodberry cheeze, grab Fog Cloud, Zephyr Strike, or Entangle (for sub-level 3 crowd control). I think the damage effects like hail of thorns are probably outclassed at their level, and Hunter's mark probably won't matter until they get two attacks (and even then, they will run into bonus-action economy issues with Shillelagh/Magic Stone casting).

[J-H]

Life Cleric is a very solid class with a lot of sustain, and it still has access to heavy armor and solid high-level spells like Holy Aura, Summon Celestial, etc. The only thing it doesn't do well is melee, but it does have Spiritual Weapon for a bonus action attack most rounds.

What is your friend wanting to do? If some stats can be reordered (swap Dex and Cha?) then I would say Paladin because you get save bonuses, smites to use spell slots on, and it still progresses cleric casting some.

I would avoid any non-caster class as you don't want to lose all casting progression.

[ATHATH]

So, my buddy is a level 5 Life-Cleric. He wants to multiclass. Do you have any fun Multiclass suggestions for him? his stats that are over 12 are: Str 14, dex 14, wis 18.
Is there a... particular reason he wants to multiclass? Generally, one multiclasses because they really want something from the class they're multiclassing into, as doing so delays your access to your higher level class features, such as access to new spell levels.

Fortunately for your friend, Druid 1 is a pretty highly recommended dip for Life Clerics, as it gives you the ability to cast Goodberry.

Disciple of Life
Also starting at 1st level, your healing spells are more effective. Whenever you use a spell of 1st level or higher to restore hit points to a creature, the creature regains additional hit points equal to 2 + the spell's level.
Goodberry creates 10 berries that heal 1 HP each. Because Disciple of Life adds its additional healing every time you USE a spell to restore hit points, instead of every time you CAST a spell to restore hit points (unlike, say, Blessed Healer), those 2 + spell level points of healing get added to the healing of EACH goodberry that the spell creates, allowing you to get 40 HP of out of combat healing (that can be split in 4 HP increments) from a 1st level spell slot. This frees up most of the spell slots that you would have spent on repeatedly casting Cure Wounds to top people up between fights on other Cleric-y things, like Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians, in-combat healing, etc.


For the OP they should check if the DM allows Life Cleric + Goodberry cheeze
For the record, Sage Advice explicitly stated that the Disciple of Life + Goodberry combo works back in 2015: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/sage-advice/rules-answers-august-2015.


If I’m a cleric/druid with the Disciple of Life feature, does the goodberry spell benefit from the feature? Yes. The Disciple of Life feature would make each berry restore 4 hit points, instead of 1, assuming you cast goodberry with a 1st-level spell slot.



Therefore, without knowing exactly what he's wanting, I'd say 3-5 levels of Fey Wanderer Ranger (for skill proficiency/expertise purposes, WIS-based Face skills, and/or better melee capabilities with Shillelagh + Extra Attack + bonus damage) or 2 levels of Stars Druid (for additional spellcasting, minor Wild Shape options, and Bonus Action Archer blasts, bonus Chalice healing, or Dragon Concentration) would likely be his best bet. And if he's wanting to switch completely away from Life Cleric, those two would likely still be the best options here. Either way, definitely take the Shillelagh cantrip, to have a WIS-based melee option.


Generally, I would strongly recommend not multiclassing into a non-spellcasting class, especially for more than 1 level. Whatever you get from those levels will usually not be worth delaying your spell slot progression and access to new spell levels (and in the case of multiclassing out before level 6, your second charge/short rest of Channel Divinity: Preserve Life). You'll feel the burn even from multiclassing into a spellcasting class like Druid for more than 1 level, although Star Druid 2 can be argued to be worth it (especially if your concentration saves are shaky due to not having CON proficiency).

I'm not sure why you're recommending 3-5 levels of Fey Wanderer Ranger? It gives you basically nothing you want at the cost of throwing 2-3 levels of spell slot progression and 3-5 levels of spell level progression into a woodchipper. Hooray, your backup option for when you're out of spell slots/relevant spells to cast is now slightly better! It only cost... your buffer against getting into that situation in the first place.

Shillelagh is a bit of a trap option, IMO. Casting it requires a bonus action, meaning you can't cast any non-cantrip spells or make a Spiritual Weapon bonus action attack on the turn you cast Shillelagh. You can cast it before a fight, sure, but even if you already have its effect, it's a relatively minor one. ~+2 hit/+3 avg. damage would be nice... on someone with more than one attack per turn who is actually going to be hitting stuff for the first two turns of a fight. Thorn Whip is a much better pick, IMO- with proper positioning, you can use it to get an extra proc of Spirit Guardians damage on someone (use Thorn Whip pull them into Spirit Guardians's AoE on your turn, then have them start their turn there on their turn), pull an enemy off of an ally, pull enemies into environmental hazards, etc. It's also still a serviceable melee option even if you don't have Spirit Guardians up.

[RogueJK]

I'm not sure why you're recommending 3-5 levels of Fey Wanderer Ranger? It gives you basically nothing you want at the cost of throwing 2-3 levels of spell slot progression and 3-5 levels of spell level progression into a woodchipper.

Think of it more as a Ranger with some Cleric levels than a Cleric dipping Ranger.

As stated, I've played a Ranger 5/Cleric 5 before, and it was a blast, as a more castery Ranger and/or more martial alternative to the more traditional caster Cleric.

Yes, every level he takes other than Cleric will hurt his Cleric spellcasting. However, it's entirely possible that he may have other goals than having the most optimally cleric-y Cleric possible, since he's considering multiclassing in the first place.

And also as stated, I'm basically firing suggestions into the void, because we still don't know exactly what the OP's buddy is wanting to achieve in the first place... If they're specifically wanting their Cleric to be better in melee, then Ranger 5/Cleric 5 with Shillelagh would be a better alternative than what might seem to be the more obvious answer of Fighter 5/Cleric 5 using a STR-based weapon. Or if they're wanting their Cleric to be a better skill monkey, then the additional procifiencies, Expertise, and +WIS to CHA skills from Fey Wanderer could be a good bargain.

[ImproperJustice]

Ranger / Cleric and Ranger / Druid can be a great multiclass Combo.

It would help to know stats.

Cleric / Monk is doable. Cleric / Fighter is kind of a do it yourself Paladin.
Cleric / Wizard can be really cool if you really know what your doing.

[ATHATH]

Think of it more as a Ranger with some Cleric levels than a Cleric dipping Ranger.
But he's a Cleric NOW. He's not going to get those 5 levels of Ranger immediately, he's going to have to slog through 4 levels of being a mediocre Cleric and a terrible Ranger before finally reaching a semblance of competency at Ranger-ing once he reaches Extra Attack at Ranger 5 (which was obtained by everyone else who wanted it 5 levels ago). If you want to primarily be a Ranger and have some Cleric levels on the side, start as a Ranger and then dip Cleric (for, like, one level), don't invest heavily into Cleric progression and then have a midlife crisis.

Life Cleric features and Ranger features really just do not have any synergy apart from the Goodberry+Disciple of Life combo- you're effectively just starting over from level 1 again. Favored Foe and most of the low level Ranger spells that aren't also on the Druid list require you to drop your concentration on your Cleric spells, effectively forcing you to choose between being a 5th level Cleric OR being a <5th level Ranger with your actions on any given turn, not both at the same time. Anything you could want from Ranger levels as a Cleric can be obtained sooner and less painfully by dipping other classes, like Druid (Goodberry, low level nature-themed spells, spell slot progression), Fighter (martial weapon proficiency, Fighting Style), or Rogue (Expertise).


Yes, every level he takes other than Cleric will hurt his Cleric spellcasting. However, it's entirely possible that he may have other goals than having the most optimally cleric-y Cleric possible, since he's considering multiclassing in the first place.
Whatever those other goals are, going Cleric 5/Ranger X will not achieve them. I'm strongly disrecommending Cleric/Ranger-ing here not because it's not the most optimal path to take, but because it's a path that WILL disappoint OP's friend. Dipping Druid 1 (or even Druid 2) will let OP's friend achieve the "nature-priest" archetype sooner and more effectively than dipping Ranger 2 will.


What is his int and cha?

It would help to know stats.

his stats that are over 12 are: Str 14, dex 14, wis 18.
STR: 14
DEX: 14
CON: <=12
INT: <=12
WIS: 18
CHA: <=12


Cleric / Monk is doable.
Technically, yes, but I don't really know what a Monk 1 dip would get him. His AC is already 17 in half plate, 19 with a shield (or 16 and 18 if he goes for chain mail w/ no shield or chain mail w/ shield, respectively), so unarmored defense isn't going to get him a higher AC than just wearing armor will. His STR and DEX stats are equal, so being able to choose which one he uses for his attacks with monk weapons won't matter. A d4 is smaller than the default damage dice of most weapon types, so the only significant benefit of Martial Arts (for OP's friend) is being able to make a bonus action attack after making an attack action... which could be done by just dual wielding weapons, no? He won't be able to add a stat modifier to the damage rolls of his off-hand weapon, but his STR and DEX modifiers are only +2, so his average damage per hit with an off-hand hand axe (1d6) will only be 1 point less than his average damage per hit with a bonus action Martial Arts-boosted unarmed strike (1d4+2). Those Martial Arts attacks would also be competing for Spiritual Weapon for your bonus action, which is a bit anti-synergistic.


Cleric / Fighter is kind of a do it yourself Paladin.
I guess? Guiding Bolt -> Action Surge -> Guiding Bolt is sort of a spell slot -> damage nova if you squint hard enough. In terms of appearance/default flavor, Life Clerics can already look like Paladins if they want to: heavy armor + shield + mace approximates the Paladin look pretty well.


Cleric / Wizard can be really cool if you really know what your doing.
Sadly, OP's friend's character can't multiclass into Wizard, as he lacks the INT for it.

[tokek]

In most games a druid multi-class will lose the cleric the ability to wear metal armor, unless they have suitable (magic) non-metal armor to don that is quite a heavy cost.

A Ranger multi-class brings the Goodberries online one level later and hits the spell progression harder but it does not have this clear downside and a couple of levels in ranger do add quite a lot. Martial weapon proficiency, a skill, an expertise, a fighting style. In addition to the Ranger spells. Also it will give slightly more hit points.

If the OP's friend is feeling one-dimensional in combat, which the life cleric can do, then Ranger is a decent multi class option that give them both combat and non-combat additions to the character. Naturally it does hurt the cleric spell progression, any multiclass will do that.

[Keravath]

I think we really need to know why they want to multiclass. Life cleric is actually pretty great. It has the ability to heal well but honestly a life cleric can use Spirit Guardians in combat, stand near the front line, and dodge. They also have spiritual weapon and other combat options if that is what they feel is missing. A change in tactics will get that all online faster than any sort of multiclass.

Multiclassing into any martial class at this point will take a lot of levels to really get online while the cleric could acquire 4th (e.g. Banishment) and 5th level (e.g. greater restoration) spells before they would even reach extra attack from any martial class.

A rogue level gains an extra skill and expertise in two skills in case they want to boost that aspect of the game. They also pick up a d6 damage if they find themselves in combat and can sneak attack. Two levels picks up cunning action which might be fun but probably doesn't do that much for a cleric in many situations though it would give them much more mobility in a fight.

A druid level gains access to shillelagh so that they can melee using their wisdom for attacks instead of strength or dex though it is a bonus action to cast the spell which prevents the use of shillelagh and spirit guardians or spirtual weapon on the same turn. They also get the synergy with the goodberry spell if the DM uses that. Two levels of druid picks up wild shape which can be fun for scouting/infiltrating and opens up that aspect of play quite a bit. Finally, druid retains full spell slot progression - so a single level of druid can gain quite a number of options.

However, this may depend on whether the DM imposes the metal armor restriction on druids.

Also with a strength of 14 they can't actually wear heavy armor without slowing down unless they are a dwarf. So they are probably wearing medium armor with the +2 from dex.

However, any of this multiclassing will delay 4th, 5th and higher level spells.

If the problem is that they really aren't enjoying playing a cleric then maybe they should talk to the DM about retiring the character and bringing in a different one. On the other hand, if they are bothered because the other folks in the party seem to be doing more damage then they should probably lean into spirit guardians near their front line folks to slow down opponents and do damage to them every turn. Spirit guardians affecting 3 opponents turn after turn is probably out damaging most of the fighter types.

[RogueJK]

But he's a Cleric NOW. He's not going to get those 5 levels of Ranger immediately, he's going to have to slog through 4 levels of being a mediocre Cleric and a terrible Ranger before finally reaching a semblance of competency at Ranger-ing once he reaches Extra Attack at Ranger 5

I disagree. It doesn't require getting all the way to Ranger 5 before feeling competent as a Ranger; that's just the icing on the cake for attacking specifically, if he wants to take it that far.

If it's what they're wanting, they can be a competent melee character at just Ranger 2, allowing him two WIS-based melee attacks per turn with Shillelagh/Thorn Whip plus BA Spiritual Weapon. Toss on Spirit Guardians on top for additional passive frontline damage. Then Ranger 3 gives him some subclass options for additional bonus damage from Swarmkeeper/Hunter/Fey Wanderer, coming online at the same time Divine Strike would if he had stayed Cleric. Then eventually bump up a bit further to 3x attacks (Shillelagh+Shillelagh+SW) at Ranger 5, if they want to go that far, otherwise stick to just 3ish levels of Ranger.

Yes, compared to a dedicated caster cleric, they'd be missing out on 4th and 5th level spells. But if they're wanting to do more melee/frontlining, then their primary SW+SG Cleric spell combo is already available at Cleric 5.


In addition, you seem to be focusing solely on combat and spellcasting, and overlooking Ranger's added benefits of additional skill competency from extra proficiency, Expertise, and potentially +WIS to Face skills. A 1 level Druid dip or the Magic Initiate Druid feat would get him Shillelagh/Thorn Whip, but wouldn't get him any of these additional skill benefits. There's more to D&D than just bashing enemies over the head, even though that tends to be the focus of optimization discussions because it's easier to compare black-and-white attack/damage math than the more vague benefits of wider out of combat skill utility.

Plus the Druid drawback of metal armor restrictions, which myself and others have pointed out, which doesn't apply to Rangers.

[Frogreaver]

There is no particularly good multiclass for life cleric and especially none with his stats. So maybe it's better to focus on how to make the life cleric more fun and effective?

Being level 5+ with any caster makes a huge difference. Perhaps he just needs some time to really get a feel for his new capabilities.

1. Recognize that a life cleric probably doesn't actually need to use an in combat heal spell. He has his channel divinity and while that takes an action (things like spirit guardians and spiritual weapon are ongoing effects that don't require an action). In short, feel free to use your slots for stuff other than healing as your channel divinity offers plenty of healing for most situations.

2. Inflict Wounds and/or Guiding Bolt can both be pretty handy, especially if the party generates advantage (or you are fighting a low AC enemy).

3. Command, Blindness/Deafness, Silence, Hold Person are all solid control spells. In 2 levels he gets banishment which is a really great spell as well. Using slots these kinds of spells will make him feel extremely powerful when they land.

4. He gets good divination/knowledge spells. Using them helps break up the monotony of being a heal bot. Augury, Clairvoyance, Speak with Dead, Divination, Commune. Many of these function as rituals as well.

5. Other spells he gets that aren't often mentioned but can be really encounter shaping in the right encounter: dispel magic, dispel evil and good

6. The of course there's the staples of bless, healing word, spiritual weapon, spirit guardians and aid.

In short, life clerics allow clerics to be a healer mostly via their channel divinity which frees up their slots for them to be able to do cool things. Pick some cool things, add them to your prepared spells and do them.

[ImproperJustice]

There is no particularly good multiclass for life cleric and especially none with his stats. So maybe it's better to focus on how to make the life cleric more fun and effective?

Being level 5+ with any caster makes a huge difference. Perhaps he just needs some time to really get a feel for his new capabilities.

1. Recognize that a life cleric probably doesn't actually need to use an in combat heal spell. He has his channel divinity and while that takes an action (things like spirit guardians and spiritual weapon are ongoing effects that don't require an action). In short, feel free to use your slots for stuff other than healing as your channel divinity offers plenty of healing for most situations.

2. Inflict Wounds and/or Guiding Bolt can both be pretty handy, especially if the party generates advantage (or you are fighting a low AC enemy).

3. Command, Blindness/Deafness, Silence, Hold Person are all solid control spells. In 2 levels he gets banishment which is a really great spell as well. Using slots these kinds of spells will make him feel extremely powerful when they land.

4. He gets good divination/knowledge spells. Using them helps break up the monotony of being a heal bot. Augury, Clairvoyance, Speak with Dead, Divination, Commune. Many of these function as rituals as well.

5. Other spells he gets that aren't often mentioned but can be really encounter shaping in the right encounter: dispel magic, dispel evil and good

6. The of course there's the staples of bless, healing word, spiritual weapon, spirit guardians and aid.

In short, life clerics allow clerics to be a healer mostly via their channel divinity which frees up their slots for them to be able to do cool things. Pick some cool things, add them to your prepared spells and do them.

This is good advice. Clerics do start to blossom from 6-11.

Many of the spells listed above are encounter changing.
There are some interesting utility spells that start popping in too, like Sending.
Sending calls the cavalry, informs quest givers if important things, allows access to information from experts you have taken the time time to meet. And it’s worth preparing. It can help your Cleric feel like a more active part in the world.

Divination and Commune are coming soon and can be incredibly useful information gathering tools. Combined with Scrying and Sending you can begin unlocking all manner of secrets.

Teleport Circle will enable mass transit for your allies.

Later, Heroes Feast can provide the most massive party wide buff, that you may never get to use your level 6 slot for anything else.

So there is a lot of pay off for staying.

[Arkhios]

What is his int and cha?

Reading from between the lines, 12 or lower.
In other words, not enough for hexblade being an option!

[Frogreaver]

Reading from between the lines, 12 or lower.
In other words, not enough for hexblade being an option!

That could be fixed at level 8 if he has 11 or 12.

[Arkhios]

That could be fixed at level 8 if he has 11 or 12.

Depending on what they want of course, but generally it's not "advised" (or so I've been told by the optimizers time and again) to bump a score just so they can meet the prerequisite. Especially if the sole point is to change focus from a score to another entirely (which would probably be the case with Hexblade).

Do note that I'm only arguing this in good faith and for joke, not assuming you or anyone else was going to suggest Hexblade seriously for everything.

[Frogreaver]

Depending on what they want of course, but generally it's not "advised" (or so I've been told by the optimizers time and again) to bump a score just so they can meet the prerequisite. Especially if the sole point is to change focus from a score to another entirely (which would probably be the case with Hexblade).

Do note that I'm only arguing this in good faith and for joke, not assuming you or anyone else was going to suggest Hexblade seriously for everything.

I'd never advise someone create a character with the intent of using an ASI to open up multiclassing. However, if someone has already built a character and wants multiclassing help it can be a viable path toward that. Especially when the stats he has doesn't open up any particularly strong multiclass option.