Cleric/Paladin multiclass

[RogueJK]

I've been looking at some Swarmkeeper builds lately that look pretty good for forcing movement into hazards. With the upcasts, something like that with Ranger/ Cleric or Ranger/Druid looks pretty good to me. 5-6 levels of Fighter I'm less convinced about; you just lose too much casting for the trade off . Multi-attack vs. a cantrip that scales with total level is... ok, but taking levels 4, 5, and maybe 6 primarily for that seems pretty marginal.

Overall, sure. But if you're trying to recreate a Fighter-Cleric like this 2E NPC, then you're after the Ranger's fighter-y stuff, or the Fighter's fighter-y stuff, and especially Extra Attack... Not so much casting or cantrips or Swarmkeeper abilities.

I was just putting that Ranger/Cleric build out there as an alternative "Warrior Cleric" to a Fighter/Cleric, if they were interested in being a slightly better caster at the cost of being a slightly worse fighter.

(But yes, Swarmkeeper Ranger is a good combo with something like Stars Druid or Arcana Cleric, for example... Lots of options for WIS-based attack rolls that trigger Gathered Swarm.)