Cleric/Wizard MC Idea

[carrdrivesyou]

So my group is starting a new campaign, and it falls to me to bring heals to the group. We are starting at 1st level and will likely get to 6th or so. The party is: Ranger (unknown subclass), totem barbarian, moon druid, rogue (unknown subclass), and Open Hand monk. Seeing as most of these are going to be in melee, I opted to go Life Cleric to be able to keep up with the demand of healing. Also went variant human for magic initiate to get the goodberry cheese (saved our bacon in the first fight!). As a side note, I also got shillelagh so I'm a bit more SAD when attacking.

My character's backstory is to find a way to blend divine magic with arcane, and so I wanted to stay with 1 level of cleric and start going into wizard, but I have no idea what subclass would be best. I am leaning towards Divination for portent, but Scribes is also looking really nice.

Has anyone done this particular MC before or have any suggestions??

[Corlindale]

Well, it depends on what you want to do. Since you only expect to get to 6th level and already invested 1 in cleric you really only need to consider 2nd level school features. As you said, Divination is a solid choice because Portent is extremely strong (I am currently playing a Knowledge Cleric/Divination Wizard myself). I hear good things about War Wizard too.

[Keravath]

It depends on what you want out of wizard levels. It also depends on how high your int is.

Assuming you have started with something like 14 wisdom and 16 int intending to be mainly a wizard. The higher int helps with spell DCs and spells prepared. (14 wisdom is very convenient for the cleric dip since it gives you an extra spell prepared and increases the amount of healing done when you cast your spells).

In combat, you will mostly use healing word to get characters back up from 0 hit points. Good berries are useful and work well with a life cleric but they take an action to administer and you need to be next to your target so they work more like a potion. However, some DMs won't let them work on creatures that are unconscious because you need to eat them. Other DMs don't let the life cleric bonus work with good berries but it sounds like your DM isn't one of those.

Finally, when you pick up good berry with magic initiate you can only cast it once/day. 40 points of healing from one spell casting is great - but I've had a moon druid in a campaign that dipped one level of life cleric and the amount of healing available from goodberries was incredible (they used several unused spell slots at the end of a day for goodberry - a level 3 slot creates 10 goodberries that are worth 6 hps each ... when they got up to level 12 or so .. the level 5 spell slot goodberries were 8 each :) ... and they could easily have 40-60 goodberries of various denominations for a day of adventuring). That party never went into an encounter without full hit points.

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As for which kind of wizard ... with that many melee characters, looks like at least 3 since the rogue and ranger could be ranged - Evoker could make a lot of sense. It is extremely useful to be able to cast AoE spells on the front line without needing to worry about hitting anyone else. Hypnotic pattern and fireball will come along towards the end of the campaign if you are only playing to level 6 - but it can apply to shatter or any other AoE as well. In addition, if you go to level 7 - the evoker level 6 ability which inflicts 1/2 damage from cantrips even if a creature makes a save works really well with Toll the Dead - making it much more reliable.

Divination is a cool ability - but it is two die rolls/day and it can be difficult to decide when to use them. However, you have to decide to use them before the die is rolled (you are foreseeing the future - not changing it) so it can't be used to prevent crits or similar. The best use I found was to help ensure a bad guy would fail a saving throw or an ally could pass one. I've played both a Diviner and an Evoker - both with a 1 level dip in knowledge cleric to start - and I found the Evoker more fun to play because it was much easier to drop spells near the party without worrying about including them in the AoE. Diviner was also fun but with only 2 rolls and the challenge of deciding when to use them, there were days they didn't get used and other days they were used early and an even better use came up later. If your DM tends to run a 1 big encounter/day type of game then the Diviner might play better than it would in a 5-6 encounters/day with a couple of short rests.

[Ogun]

You are already healing, so how about Abjuration to be more durable and protective?

[Corran]

How about divine soul sorcerer instead? With a bit of help with the cleric level you'll have an easier time than most sorcerers to fit both divine and arcane spells into the mix.

If you go with wizard, how about enchanter? The armor proficiencies from cleric will help you stick close to enemies in order to charm them and make them attack each other. With everyone else planning for a killing machince it could be fun if you approach combat with trickery and charm.

Abjuration would add to the support theme you've got going there, and evocation probably makes the most sense given the lack of AoE's (which an evoker will help you land reliably), but these things will take some time to come online effectively (cl 6 and 7 for fireball and for projected ward), so with the campaign ending about there I'd lean to enchanter just because it brings something different to the table.

[RogueJK]

So my group is starting a new campaign, and it falls to me to bring heals to the group...

My character's backstory is to find a way to blend divine magic with arcane

Don't get too focused on slinging healing spells... In a party with a Moon Druid and a Ranger, you don't need much additional healing. Just having extra Healing Words on tap is fine for in-combat use. The Moon Druid will be the primary out-of-combat healer/reviver/restorer.


It sounds like you're locked into Life Cleric 1 with Magic Initiate Druid, but in general, there are several ways to achieve the concept of what you're wanting:

1) Arcana Cleric 6. This is the "Divine/Arcane magic blend" Cleric subclass. Take the Ritual Caster Wizard feat to feel even more Wizardly.

2) Cleric 1/Wizard 5. This gets you a little Cleric spellcasting and a bit of additional healing, as well as shores up your Wizard's defenses via armor and shield. Knowledge Cleric is the traditional choice for Cleric dip on a Wizard, but there are a number of other options.

3) Divine Soul Sorcerer 6. This gets you a blend of arcane and divine magic, with additional spell selection choices beyond the prior two options.

4) Cleric 1/Divine Soul Sorcerer 5. Similar to the above, just with the addition of armor and shield and a few additional Cleric spells. Life Cleric is a decent choice for the Cleric dip if you really do want to be a better healer, but there are other good options too.


But since you've already started down the #2 route, I agree that Life Cleric 1/Evocation Wizard 5 would fill two needed gaps in your party roles: In-Combat Healing and AoE damage. Grab Healing Word for emergency in-combat healing, a few solid Concentration spells like Bless and Web, and some AoE spells like Earth Tremor, Thunderwave, Rime's Binding Ice, and Fireball. Your armor and shield from the Cleric dip lets you stick closer to the front lines in order to give you additional positioning options for your AoEs that emanate from you (cones/radii/adjacent squares/etc.), and Evoker's Sculpt Spell ability lets you avoid hitting your melee allies.

With your plethora of melee allies, look for spells that aid them. For example, Earth Tremor does a little damage, plus knocks enemies prone, so your allies can have Advantage on their attacks (depending on Initiative order). Plus it's an Evocation spell so Sculpt Spell applies. Or Web Restrains enemies, which gives you allies Advantage and the enemies Disadvantage on attacks.

[animorte]

How about divine soul sorcerer instead?

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Exactly what I would recommend. Naturally it's not as beefy, but you can accomplish all that you need to from range anyway.

[sithlordnergal]

I have a Cleric/Wizard, and she is extremely potent and powerful. However, do you know if you'll be going past level 6? If you reach at least level 7, then this build might be fun:

Take two levels of Tempest Domain Cleric, and then go straight Scribes Wizard. Reason for this is Destructive Wrath. Basically, you can use it to maximize any Lightning or Thunder spell you cast, and as a Scribe Wizard, all of your leveled spells can be Lightning or Thunder.

[carrdrivesyou]

Thanks for the suggestions folks! I think I'm gonna go with Evoker to blast without any friendly fire. It'll save on resources later and still let me get the job done.

[solidork]

Thanks for the suggestions folks! I think I'm gonna go with Evoker to blast without any friendly fire. It'll save on resources later and still let me get the job done.

It's kinda funny, because Fireball and Cure Wounds are technically from the same school of magic - in this edition, at least.

Feel free to bring that up whenever anyone questions you.