Goliath Tempest Cleric

[casb1965]

I've just started a new campaign and playing as a Goliath Tempest Cleric (currently lvl2), we have a party of 5 the other characters being a Centaur Barbarian, a ?? Barbarian (can't remember), a Kobold Sorcerer and a Human Sorcerer.

My Cleric is sort of caught between two areas now, he can fight and he can cast magic but he's also not going to be as good at either as the specialists will be.

Is it worth looking at multiclassing (can only currently go in to Barbarian/Druid/Fighter) or sticking with Cleric?

His stats are:
STR 17
DEX 12
CON 16
INT 7
WIS 15
CHA 12

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Mastikator]

Swap STR and CHA scores. Multiclass to sorcerer, pick Transmuted spell. Maxed fireball as lightning/thunder damage. Draconic sorcerer also adds charisma score. At 18 charisma it's 52 lightning damage on a fireball.

[Gignere]

Depends on what you want to do with your Cleric. Do you like frontline and melee? Or do you prefer to cast spells?

If I was you, I’d swap strength score with wisdom score. Potentially grab either Fey Touched or Shadow Touched to bring wisdom to 18. You can become a potent AoE tank, using spirit guardians and maximizing shatter.

The sorcerers maybe able to nuke pretty good but they won’t be doing it in the enemies face while melting them with damage over time and on demand burst using maximize damage spells.

[nickl_2000]

I've just started a new campaign and playing as a Goliath Tempest Cleric (currently lvl2), we have a party of 5 the other characters being a Centaur Barbarian, a ?? Barbarian (can't remember), a Kobold Sorcerer and a Human Sorcerer.

My Cleric is sort of caught between two areas now, he can fight and he can cast magic but he's also not going to be as good at either as the specialists will be.

Is it worth looking at multiclassing (can only currently go in to Barbarian/Druid/Fighter) or sticking with Cleric?

His stats are:
STR 17
DEX 12
CON 16
INT 7
WIS 15
CHA 12

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You are level 2, so I assume that you can't change your stats around and they are set. You are in a decent place to be a good support player on the team. Your best bet would be staying the course with Cleric (Druid would negate your heavy armor, Barbarian would mean no concentration when you raged, and Fighter really doesn't give you much to give you a niche). Concentrate on buffs for the melee characters and battlefield control, with the Cleric toolset you have plenty of choices.

Fog Cloud can be effective in cutting out certain areas of the battlefield, Bless is universally loved by all PCs when they get it, Shield of Faith can boost the a barb to reduce the damage, and healing word can keep people around effectively.

If you want to be more effective in dealing damage, grab Magic Initiate Wizard/Sorcerer at level 4 to get Booming Blade (which can be used with your channel Divinity to maximize damage), a utility spell, and Shield/Find Familiar. That will drastically increase you effectiveness in battle overall and give you a better niche to play.

At level 3 you can pick up other buffs as well. Aid will be terrific with 2 barbarians since it will go further than it would otherwise. Silence can be amazing if you need to shut down casters, especially since the barbarians don't care about not making noise.


You aren't going to be doing damage in melee like the barbarians or doing damage like the sorcerers with magic and that is okay. You are there for emergency healing and can make everyone else better with the buff spells. As long as you don't mind that style of play, it can be a very effective role.

[casb1965]

Sorry, yes should have said I can't swap stats as I'm level 2.

Spell wise I currently have Thaumaturgy, Light and Mending as my Cantrips and Fog Cloud, Thunderwave, Shield of Faith and Purify food/drink as my prepared Spells but will look to add Bless to the list.

[Mastikator]

Clerics can change all non-cantrips every long rest, you can just swap out a spell for bless if you want.

[Gignere]

Sorry, yes should have said I can't swap stats as I'm level 2.

Spell wise I currently have Thaumaturgy, Light and Mending as my Cantrips and Fog Cloud, Thunderwave, Shield of Faith and Purify food/drink as my prepared Spells but will look to add Bless to the list.

My recommendations still holds pick feytouched or shadowtouched at level 4 to round out your wisdom to 16. Your big boom at level 2 is maximize Thunderwave.

When you hit level 3 you’ll have shatter as your big boom.

[da newt]

Your feelings of being less effective than the others are really due to the cleric's role and being just level 2. My advice would be to stay straight cleric and lean into your role being different than the barbarians (smash face) and sorcerers (blast everything). You can do so much more to make the team better and fill in so many of the things they can't do well. Multiclassing would only make you a less effective cleric.

[CTurbo]

Stick with Cleric and you'll be fine. The Tempest is awesome and a lot of fun to play. Bump Str and Wis +1 each at level 4 and bump Wis +2 again at level 8.

At level 4 you definitely want to add Guidance to your cantrips as it's one of the best cantrips in the game. Bless is also one of the best 1st level spells in the game so definitely get it too.

Your top priority though is to get your Wis score raised as fast as you can. You're -1 behind the curve right now but that's not going to cripple your character much.

You're proficient in every weapon so get a Maul if you want or just stick with Warhammer + shield.

If you make it t level 12, you can decide between 20 Wis or Warcaster.

[Snails]

Stick with cleric. Tempest is absurdly good in T1, borderline OP.

No, you are not great frontliner, but you are quite good, with martial weapons, heavy armor, backed by a good Str and good HP. In a 4-5 person party, you are plenty puissant enough to stand next to a barbarian and hold the line. Wrath of the Storm may not seem like much, but a couple of autohits are valuable in a tough fight.

You can make up for a lack of extra attacks with Thunderwave/Shatter when you can catch multiple enemies (plus Spiritual Weapon, of course). Destructive Wrath, applied wisely, gives you focused damage that will outpace any wizard/sorceror for a long, long time. At level 3, Shatter + Destructive Wave gives you a "poor man's fireball". Upcasting Thunderwave/Shatter + Destructive Wrath is not just good, it is great -- your poor man's fireball is often better than any actual fireball.

Destructive Wrath scales up amazingly, because you are usually converting d8s into 8s. For this reason, Tempest never actually fades in effectiveness as you go to higher tiers. Specifically: "Why even prepare Flame Strike for ~28 damage, when I can maximize an upcast Shatter for 48 damage with that 5th level slot?" (The sorcerer casting an upcast Empowered Fireball is probably doing only ~42.)

[Sorinth]

With your stats you are probably best off casting something like Bless and then making regular attacks (Possibly with Thrown weapons) with a longer term plan of boosting your Wisdom and going the classic Spirit Guardians/Spiritual Weapon. Not sure what level the campaign is going to but I would be tempted to go with Fey Touched at level 4 boosting Wisdom to 16, then Wisdom to 18 at level 8, and then Magic Initiate at level 12 for booming blade, though judge the last one by how the campaign is going as it's use depends a bit on the style of the game.

[Snails]

With a longer term plan of boosting your Wisdom and going the classic Spirit Guardians/Spiritual Weapon.

Spirit Guardians/Spiritual Weapon is good, but using that 3rd level (or higher) slot to inflict 32 damage on round one is almost always better, compared to a slow ~14 damage for multiple rounds. There are exceptions, of course.

This suggestion also implies prioritizing Wis.

[Pixel_Kitsune]

Others have said stay Cleric, I agree.

At level 2 you are extra frontline and Support. And that's a good role. Yeah you're not doing damage like the Barbs, but you are a third body, you and they can effectively make walls to keep the spell slingers safe.

Just looking at Cleric Staples at level 3 you're going to have Spiritual Weapon come on line which is very good. For level 4... Talk to your DM, your stats won't allow Magic Initiate but Booming Blade is very thematically appropriate, they might let you pick it up as your next Cantrip. At level 5 Spirit Guardians comes online, which you care about not for the AOE damage, though it's good, but because it makes the area 15' around you difficult terrain, which means things can't get away from you and the Barbarians.

If DM says no to just Home Ruling the Cantrip in, you could always ASI at level 4, make your Wisdom 16 and your Charisma 13, then at level 8 you can pick up Magic Initiate, or at level 6 take a level of Sorcerer or Warlock and pick it up that way. Which means you miss out on it levels 5-7, but you'll still end up with it before it starts getting really big.

[RogueJK]

Totally agree. You're in a good position to be a great support Cleric to that team.

You're not going to be dealing out as much melee damage as the two Barbarians, but you can be buffing and healing them, or dealing solid damage alongside them on the front lines with stuff like Melee Attack + Spirit Guardians + Spiritual Weapon. You won't be laying down damage and control spells as frequently as the two Sorcerers, but once or twice per short rest you can bust out a Maximized Shatter/Call Lightning to deal a big chunk of damage, in addition to your other buffing/healing/damage-dealing.

Therefore, I'd definitely stick with Cleric, with no multiclassing. Multiclassing into Barbarian/Druid/Fighter won't gain you anything worthwhile, and will only make you a less effective Cleric.

Two things to consider as you gain further Cleric levels, though...

1) You'll want to pick up a ranged damage cantrip the next time you gain a cantrip pick at Cleric 4. You currently lack a decent ranged damage option, other than hurling a javelin at 30'. So grab either the Sacred Flame or Toll the Dead cantrip when you can at Cleric 4.

2) You'll want to boost your WIS. While your 17 high STR lets you be a competent melee attacker in Tier 1 and into early Tier 2, Clerics don't gain Extra Attack or access to a scaling SCAGtrip like Booming Blade, and you'll reach a point where you typically have better things to do with your Action each turn than swing a melee weapon once. As a result, I'd try to get WIS up to at least 18. I'd recommend bumping WIS to 16 with a WIS half-feat like Fey Touched/Shadow Touched/Chef/Skill Expert/Telekinetic/Telepathic at Cleric 4, and then go up to 18 WIS at Cleric 8.

[solidork]

At level 5 Spirit Guardians comes online, which you care about not for the AOE damage, though it's good, but because it makes the area 15' around you difficult terrain, which means things can't get away from you and the Barbarians.

It's not actually difficult terrain, it halves their speed. This means not actually very good at keeping people from running away. Most things have enough speed to make it out of the radius, which means they get their full speed back and don't end up being hindered at all.

It's great for keeping people from moving past you, and at certain engagement ranges/speeds people approaching you can't walk up to you and attack in one round.

[nickl_2000]

It's not actually difficult terrain, it halves their speed. This means not actually very good at keeping people from running away. Most things have enough speed to make it out of the radius, which means they get their full speed back and don't end up being hindered at all.

It's great for keeping people from moving past you, and at certain engagement ranges/speeds people approaching you can't walk up to you and attack in one round.

I respectfully disagree, making it half their speed is even better since then it can stack with difficult terrain and cut their speed to 1/4. Sure they can get out, but that is why you have other PCs with shove, EB pushing, lightning lure, thorn whip, and other things to drag them back in.


I can't tell about other table, but my loves playing whack a mole when people pop out of long term AoE spells. We once decimated what was supposed to be the penultimate encounter of a dungeon by using Fire Wall in a circle and Insect Plague and just knocking people back into the biting burning inferno that was most of the room.

[Sorinth]

Spirit Guardians/Spiritual Weapon is good, but using that 3rd level (or higher) slot to inflict 32 damage on round one is almost always better, compared to a slow ~14 damage for multiple rounds. There are exceptions, of course.

This suggestion also implies prioritizing Wis.

Yes Shatter with DW is a good use of the spell slot but I have a feeling in actual play with 2 melee allies SG might end up being better more often then you'd think, but it does depend on the style of the game. There are plenty of games where the 10min duration of SG means several encounters for example. And being able to help lock down the enemies is also not to be underestimated when you have 2 melee allies.

[Pixel_Kitsune]

It's not actually difficult terrain, it halves their speed. This means not actually very good at keeping people from running away. Most things have enough speed to make it out of the radius, which means they get their full speed back and don't end up being hindered at all.

It's great for keeping people from moving past you, and at certain engagement ranges/speeds people approaching you can't walk up to you and attack in one round.

Is there a Sage advice or something that clarifies that? You are correct that it's not "Difficult Terrain" that was my error. But if their speed is halved at the start of their turn because they are in it, and they move out, I wouldn't read that as all their speed comes back.

That said, it still works fine, my concern isn't keeping them perfectly in the radius, it's making sure they can't run away from the two barbarians. At level 5 when Spirit Guardians come on line the Barbarians have 40' speed. Cutting Speed to 15' for most creatures means they can't outrange the Barbarian's ability to rush after them and hit.

[Corran]

I've just started a new campaign and playing as a Goliath Tempest Cleric (currently lvl2), we have a party of 5 the other characters being a Centaur Barbarian, a ?? Barbarian (can't remember), a Kobold Sorcerer and a Human Sorcerer.

My Cleric is sort of caught between two areas now, he can fight and he can cast magic but he's also not going to be as good at either as the specialists will be.

Is it worth looking at multiclassing (can only currently go in to Barbarian/Druid/Fighter) or sticking with Cleric?

His stats are:
STR 17
DEX 12
CON 16
INT 7
WIS 15
CHA 12

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Clearly your only option it to ditch this character and play a Barbarian/Sorcerer with equal levels spread, so that you restore balance to this party.

Is any of the other sorcerers a divine soul?

If not, I'd be really tempted to halt cleric progression there and go with divine soul sorcerer the rest of the way. Tempest cleric + sorcerer has a nice combo in combining the CD that lets you maximize lightning/thunder damage with sorcerer spells like lightning bolt and call lightning. But I'd also pick up the twinned metamagic and I would look at spells like heroism, haste, freedom of movement, restoration and heal, as well as the extended metamagic with something like aura of vitality. Twinned heroism alone will save you lots of hp of healing for example, and it protects the barbs against fear effects to which they are vulnerable.

[Leon]

I don't see what the problem is ~ you have a group that is heavy on both Melee and Spells and your playing the class that has some of the best support options and is reasonable in both offensive and defensive capabilities.

[RogueJK]

If not, I'd be really tempted to halt cleric progression there and go with divine soul sorcerer the rest of the way. Tempest cleric + sorcerer has a nice combo in combining the CD that lets you maximize lightning/thunder damage with sorcerer spells like lightning bolt and call lightning.

Call Lightning is not a Sorcerer spell, or a Cleric spell, so a Tempest Cleric 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer X like you're advocating doesn't get access to it. Call Lightning is a Druid spell, and Tempest Clerics get it as a domain spell at Cleric 5.

Also, this character has a 12 CHA... They don't qualify to multiclass into Sorcerer, which requires a minimum 13 CHA. Even if they wait until Cleric 4 and spend the ASI to bump CHA to 14, and then multiclass into Sorcerer, they'd have a 14 CHA at a point where the typical Sorcerer PC has a 16-18. Their spell save DCs will suffer, in addition to now being 4 levels behind in Sorcerer spells known.

So I definitely wouldn't consider a Sorcerer multiclass in this case.

(That's not to say that Tempest Cleric 2/Sorcerer X is a bad build... That was one of the early blaster-caster power builds back when 5E first came out. It just doesn't work for this particular character and their stat spread. If you were wanting to make a PC that was going that route, you'd want to build specifically around it, starting with a high CHA and just a moderate WIS. I'd also probably make the progression more like Sorcerer 1 -> Tempest Cleric 1 -> Sorcerer 5 -> Cleric 2 -> Sorcerer X.)

[Corran]

Also, this character has a 12 CHA... They don't qualify to multiclass into Sorcerer, which requires a minimum 13 CHA.
They need to shuffle their stats around.


Call Lightning is not a Sorcerer spell
The other one.

[strangebloke]

The wombo combo with fireball/lightning or whatever isn't really that good and if its your goal you'd be better off going for a zeal cleric from the start.

But to answer OP: You're level 2 and you're overfixating on damage.

Bless as a spell "deals" as much damage as a more dedicated martial because it gives loads of damage to other party members. Shield of Faith at this level makes you basically untouchable if you can block a doorway or something.

And next level comes spiritual weapon, which is a great spell and will make you keep pace with the martials. You also get the shatter spell in conjunction with your CD, which is a nasty amount of damage at this level. After that comes spirit guardians. The big payoff at level 9 is Destructive Wave which is just GLORIOUS in conjunction with the CD.

[RogueJK]

They need to shuffle their stats around.


They already stated that's not an option:


Sorry, yes should have said I can't swap stats as I'm level 2.

[DracoKnight]

If you’re looking to up your damage, I cannot recommend highly enough grabbing Magic Initiate at 4th level. You want to pick Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. Personally, I like Wizard for this, for access to Find Familiar, because your familiar would be able to deliver Cure Wounds at range.

The real reason we’re here for it though, is the cantrip Booming Blade. It doesn’t care about your casting ability, so using an ability other than Wisdom isn’t a detriment. Plus it does Thunder damage which plays well with your Channel Divinity. And it plays incredibly well with what tempest cleric wants to be doing anyways: swinging a weapon. I’d save your ability to maximize thunder damage with your Channel Divinity for when you crit.

As far as the other cantrip the feat gives you, just pick your favorite. You take the feat for Booming Blade, the other two spells are just gravy.

[Corran]

They already stated that's not an option:
Eh, that's hidden all the way down to the... 5th post. Vecna worship is at play here.

[Gignere]

If you’re looking to up your damage, I cannot recommend highly enough grabbing Magic Initiate at 4th level. You want to pick Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. Personally, I like Wizard for this, for access to Find Familiar, because your familiar would be able to deliver Cure Wounds at range.

The real reason we’re here for it though, is the cantrip Booming Blade. It doesn’t care about your casting ability, so using an ability other than Wisdom isn’t a detriment. Plus it does Thunder damage which plays well with your Channel Divinity. And it plays incredibly well with what tempest cleric wants to be doing anyways: swinging a weapon. I’d save your ability to maximize thunder damage with your Channel Divinity for when you crit.

As far as the other cantrip the feat gives you, just pick your favorite. You take the feat for Booming Blade, the other two spells are just gravy.

I disagree with this advice. Maximizing booming blade damage is the worst use of the CD for you. Even on a crit you’ll be doing more damage maximizing shatter starting level 3. Given your ability scores I couldn’t recommend magic initiate when you can get feytouched or shadow touched to round out your wisdom to 16.

[DracoKnight]

I disagree with this advice. Maximizing booming blade damage is the worst use of the CD for you. Even on a crit you’ll be doing more damage maximizing shatter starting level 3. Given your ability scores I couldn’t recommend magic initiate when you can get feytouched or shadow touched to round out your wisdom to 16.

I mean… it’s fine you disagree with me. I’ve literally played a tempest cleric using the build I described, and it was a lot of fun.

I forgot nuance doesn’t exist on the internet though, and that *yes*, obviously if you can hit more than one enemy with a shatter or a call lightning, I’d absolutely recommend maximizing that if more than one enemy failed their save. I forgot to account for the fact that they were 2nd level in my advice. It more applies after 6th level when you have more than 1 use of CD per short rest. Even more so after 8th when you get Divine Strike. Burning a CD on a Booming Blade crit gets better the more Thunder dice you’re adding.

[Gignere]

I mean… it’s fine you disagree with me. I’ve literally played a tempest cleric using the build I described, and it was a lot of fun.

I forgot nuance doesn’t exist on the internet though, and that *yes*, obviously if you can hit more than one enemy with a shatter or a call lightning, I’d absolutely recommend maximizing that if more than one enemy failed their save. I forgot to account for the fact that they were 2nd level in my advice. It more applies after 6th level when you have more than 1 use of CD per short rest. Even more so after 8th when you get Divine Strike. Burning a CD on a Booming Blade crit gets better the more Thunder dice you’re adding.

You get 1 at level 5 until level 11. Where you get 2.

[DracoKnight]

You get 1 at level 5 until level 11. Where you get 2.

On a crit that 1 becomes 2, that 2 becomes 4. And you’re not accounting for Divine Strike dice. The CD doesn’t apply to specifically spells — it’s *any* lightning or thunder damage. So at 11, that 2d8 is actually 3d8 because of Divine Strike, or 6d8 on a crit. 48 damage on top of the weapon damage of the crit. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Sure at 5 it’s not the best use of your CD. But after 8th level it gets better. The more Thunder dice you add, the better it is.

Yes, obviously, maximizing an AoE is better for crowd control. 30 lightning damage from a Call Lightning to 3 targets is better. I’m not saying not to do that.

I’m saying when I played a Tempest Cleric, this was *fun*.

[RogueJK]

If you’re looking to up your damage, I cannot recommend highly enough grabbing Magic Initiate at 4th level.

I disagree. They'd benefit more from boosting their WIS to 16 using either a WIS half feat or +1 WIS/+1 STR at Level 4. If they already had a 16 or 18 WIS, Booming Blade at 4 would be more attractive. But keep in mind that their WIS is only 15, which is below average for a Cleric.

Booming Blade would do no additional damage on most attacks at Level 4, and only +1d8 (4.5) on most attacks at Levels 5-10.

Therefore they'd get a lot more mileage out of +1 to their Spell DCs/Attacks and spells prepared from going from 15 to 16 WIS, plus either +1 to melee attack and damage from going from 17 to 18 STR or the benefits of other additional effects from a WIS half-feat like Telekinetic/Telepathic/Fey Touched/Shadow Touched/Chef/Skill Expert.

Then perhaps consider Magic Initiate at Level 8, just in time for Divine Strike, if they find they're still really wanting to swing a weapon as their Action in most rounds. But mid Tier 2 is about the time that most Clerics stop bothering making weapon attacks altogether... So bumping WIS to 18 or taking a Concentration boosting feat like Warcaster would be the better option here as well, then swapping Divine Strike for Blessed Strikes and sticking to using a Cantrip as their default Action.


In short, considering their middling WIS score and the fact that weapon attacks are only really a good option for Clerics in early levels, it's not worth spending a precious ASI just to add a few points of damage to their melee attacks.

[CTurbo]

I would 100% focus on getting Wis to 18 by level 8. Only then would I even consider something like Magic Initiate. Booming Blade is GOOD on a Tempest, but not worth your spell DC suffering.

Honestly you can't go wrong by bumping Wis at 4, 8, AND 12. It's "boring" but the most effective thing you could possibly do. When you drop a maxed upcasted Shatter on a large group of enemies, you don't want them saving for half damage.

Destructive Wrath is one of my favorite abilities in 5e and I love that even experienced DMs can under-estimate it sometimes. Here are my 4 best Destructive Wrath highlights lol

1. First combat at level 2, the first time I get hit by an attack(was a human guard), I use both Wrath of the Storm and Destructive Wrath to insta-kill him causing the remaining guards to surrender.

2. I purposefully let a pack of wolves back me into a corner so I could max a Thunderwave at them killing almost every one of them at once.

3. Very first use of Shatter at level 3, the DM sends a huge pack of Gnolls our way trying to get us to run away in a certain direction, I wait for the perfect time when I can hit the most of them, drop a maxed Shatter killing like 12 of them instantly. What was supposed to NOT be an encounter ended up being an easy encounter.

4. We were fighting a group of high level humans and I dropped a 4th level Shatter in the first round and then a 3rd level Shatter in the second round dealing 72 damage to most of them. The DM later admitted he had to fudge their hit points a little because he never expected I could put such a huge dent in their health so quickly.


So yeah you really don't want the enemies passing their saves easily. Of course my groups always roll for stats so I likely started with an 18-20 Wis from level 1 on those builds and not all of those instances were from the same character. I'm played a lot of Tempests. I always get to 20 Wis ASAP.

[casb1965]

Thanks everyone, there's a lot of sound advice there.
I agree that getting Bless and Spritual Weapon plus raising WIS are a priority.
Not sure about Booming Blade having read it's description it only affects an enemy if they willingly move before my next turn.

[Corran]

Thanks everyone, there's a lot of sound advice there.
I agree that getting Bless and Spritual Weapon plus raising WIS are a priority.
Not sure about Booming Blade having read it's description it only affects an enemy if they willingly move before my next turn.
Concentration is important too. Warcaster and resilient con are good feats to consider. Warcaster also improves your OA's since it allows you to use a spell instead of just a weapon attack (and cantrips power up as you level, while your reaction weapon attack will not; unless you get a magic weapon). Warcaster and booming blade in particular makes for a very strong OA later on. It is by no means necessary, but if you are rolling with high STR and plan on being a weapon user, it is certainly worth considering as well (especially if you have the option to pick it cheaply, eg from race or from some multiclassing you might have already been considering for other reasons as well).

[strangebloke]

Thanks everyone, there's a lot of sound advice there.
I agree that getting Bless and Spritual Weapon plus raising WIS are a priority.
Not sure about Booming Blade having read it's description it only affects an enemy if they willingly move before my next turn.

booming blade is better in conjunction with warcaster.

You generally want to be using your action for casting spells or other cantrips or even dodging (clerics love to dodge)

what makes booming blade overpowered is when you it on reaction via warcaster. But that's pretty resource intensive for most clerics. You need to MC or go arcana cleric or pick up BB via racial features or otherwise wait a long time to get both Magic Initiate and Warcaster.

in other words, don't worry about it.:smalltongue:

[Snails]

I have never understood the enthusiasm for Booming Blade. If your PC gets it organically, then it is a welcome damage boost, but it is not worth going out of your way for what is usually a lousy ~50% damage boost to an unimpressive attack at level 5.

I can see that BB is sometimes really impressive with Warcaster or Mobile, but that is an annoyingly expensive stack for a PC with a juicy 15 and 17 itching to get improved.

strangebloke's suggestion about Dodging is especially true for this cleric, as this PC has a high Str and can wear heavy armor. Dodging with AC 20 (+ Spirit Guardians? + Spiritual Hammer?) will serve you very well on into Tier2 and Tier3.

[Theodoxus]

I have never understood the enthusiasm for Booming Blade. If your PC gets it organically, then it is a welcome damage boost, but it is not worth going out of your way for what is usually a lousy ~50% damage boost to an unimpressive attack at level 5.

I can see that BB is sometimes really impressive with Warcaster or Mobile, but that is an annoyingly expensive stack for a PC with a juicy 15 and 17 itching to get improved.

strangebloke's suggestion about Dodging is especially true for this cleric, as this PC has a high Str and can wear heavy armor. Dodging with AC 20 (+ Spirit Guardians? + Spiritual Hammer?) will serve you very well on into Tier2 and Tier3.

True. Though super boring in practice. But I guess if everyone else it taking minutes to figure out the perfect spell to cast, "I dodge for the round" is nice and quick ;)

Not recommending it at all for this build, but my favored use of BB is coupling it with Crusher. Knocking a fool back 5' and encasing them in energy... they either move forward to attack me, eating a d8+, or they stop. win/win :)

[solidork]

I have never understood the enthusiasm for Booming Blade. If your PC gets it organically, then it is a welcome damage boost, but it is not worth going out of your way for what is usually a lousy ~50% damage boost to an unimpressive attack at level 5.

I've played a cleric where mixing it up in melee and attacking with his weapon was a big part of the fantasy (War Cleric) and it would have really bothered me if casting Sacred Flame in melee was better at will damage than using a weapon.

BUT, I also got Booming Blade from an item so I still essentially agree with you.

Anyways, I'm not sure I'd play a cleric with that fantasy if I had to invest a whole feat or character level to pick it up. I agree that it isn't a good choice here at all.

[RogueJK]

Anyways, I'm not sure I'd play a cleric with that fantasy if I had to invest a whole feat or character level to pick it up.

Yep. If you're going to be an Arcana Cleric anyway, then sure, pick up Booming Blade.

If you're going to be a High Elf or Half-Elf Cleric anyway, then sure, pick up Booming Blade.

But don't specifically chase Booming Blade on a Cleric with feats or multiclass levels. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

[casb1965]

UPDATE

So things haven't gone to plan, 2 sessions in the party is now just my Cleric, 1 Barbarian and a Sorceror (the other 2 characters can't make it every session) and my Cleric is doing a lot of heavy lifting in melee. His AC of 18 (Chain + Shield) is keeping him alive and he has enough damage output to win most encounters (we are still only L2). Going forward I'm planning on upgrading armour to Splint for the extra AC and have been toying with the idea of multi-classing to Fighter for 1 level, purely for Defense fighting style (push me to AC20) and Second Wind, the idea of shrugging off d12 wounds from Goliath and a further d10 from Second Wind keeps him alive a little longer.

Oh and I got my WIS and STR mixed up in the OP, I have STR 15 and WIS 17.

Is this wise?

[nickl_2000]

Oh and I got my WIS and STR mixed up in the OP, I have STR 15 and WIS 17.

Is this wise?

You have the strength to be able to wear plate armor, so it will be enough in the long run. When you get your first ASI you can boost both Wis and Str by 1 to get to even numbers. All in all you should be fine.

[Snails]

Is this wise?

Second Wind is less good than Healing Word, which you get more of by getting the cleric level and can be upcast.

Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 in cleric buy you a lot. Delaying them for a tiny nibble of defense is okay if you really want to be a fighter-cleric, but pure Tempest is a very good fighter-cleric already.

Level 2 -- Destructive Wrath (Channel Divinity) + Thunderwave --> 16 damage AoE from first level spell!
Level 3 -- Destructive Wrath + Shatter --> 24 damage AoE from second level spell
Level 4 -- ASI: Increase Str and Wis -- better fighting, better spell DC, more Wrath of the Storm
Level 5 -- 3rd level spells
Level 6 -- 2 X Destructive Wrath per Short Rest

[CTurbo]

Starting 1 level of Fighter for a Cleric is an excellent idea for the +1 AC and Con saves, but no I would not consider taking 1 level of Fighter at level 2. Keep going full Cleric. I would want level 4 ASI, level 3 spells, and 2x the Destructive Wrath you get at level 6.

[casb1965]

Second Wind is less good than Healing Word, which you get more of by getting the cleric level and can be upcast.

Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 in cleric buy you a lot. Delaying them for a tiny nibble of defense is okay if you really want to be a fighter-cleric, but pure Tempest is a very good fighter-cleric already.

Level 2 -- Destructive Wrath (Channel Divinity) + Thunderwave --> 16 damage AoE from first level spell!
Level 3 -- Destructive Wrath + Shatter --> 24 damage AoE from second level spell
Level 4 -- ASI: Increase Str and Wis -- better fighting, better spell DC, more Wrath of the Storm
Level 5 -- 3rd level spells
Level 6 -- 2 X Destructive Wrath per Short Rest


Starting 1 level of Fighter for a Cleric is an excellent idea for the +1 AC and Con saves, but no I would not consider taking 1 level of Fighter at level 2. Keep going full Cleric. I would want level 4 ASI, level 3 spells, and 2x the Destructive Wrath you get at level 6.

So onwards with levels 3 and 4 Cleric and no multi-classing :smile:

Not so sure about Healing Word being better than Second Wind though, 1d4+4 is not much better than 1d10+1 and would take up a spell slot. Upcasting it takes away from using Shatter. (Albeit both spells are situational and not neccesarily need casting at the same time)

And I MUST remember to use Destructive Wrath.