The Devout and the Dead: a guide to Clerics

[Lendário]

Thanks for the quick response! One last question though: Potent Spellcasting has no interaction with GFB and Shillelagh does it?

I also want to know this, cause i'm triying to decide what is better for BB/GFB + Shillelagh, Nature or Arcana.

Nature: Heavy Armor, Free Shillelagh, Divine Strike, but GFB won't scale with WIS.

Arcana: Free BB/GFB and Potent Spellcasting, but no Heavy Armor or Divine Strike.

[Yorrin]

Thanks for the quick response! One last question though: Potent Spellcasting has no interaction with GFB and Shillelagh does it?

It does with Arcana, since you gain GFB as a Cleric cantrip.

[Rysto]

It does with Arcana, since you gain GFB as a Cleric cantrip.

It should also work with BB, too, shouldn't it? I completely missed that interaction before.

[Leukos]

It does with Arcana, since you gain GFB as a Cleric cantrip.

In regards to GFB would the Potent Spellcasting buff be added to the initial hit, the rider hit, or both? Same goes for BB.

Rather, would it double dip? Thanks again.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

In regards to GFB would the Potent Spellcasting buff be added to the initial hit, the rider hit, or both? Same goes for BB.

Rather, would it double dip? Thanks again.

As a matter of strict RAW, I think it would be applied to both, since it wasn't errata'd like Elemental Affinity or Empowered Evocation. However, as a DM I would personally rule that it only applied to one of the two hits (user's choice), as if the errata for EA and EE had been applied to Potent Spellcasting.

[Yorrin]

It should also work with BB, too, shouldn't it? I completely missed that interaction before.

Yep. Any attack cantrips you pick from Arcana get Potent Spellcasting.

In regards to GFB would the Potent Spellcasting buff be added to the initial hit, the rider hit, or both? Same goes for BB.

Rather, would it double dip? Thanks again.

That's a good question. It seems clear to me that it would definitely be on the initial hit, but whether or not it's on the rider could be debated. Based on precedent (Dragon Sorcerer) I'd say it's probably not, but there's no harm in asking your DM.

[Infamouse]

Saturday i am starting my first campaign with a group that i am joining. they are doing the Oota campaign and i want to play a cleric. but i am unsure of what to play. im not sure yet is i can use the SCAG cantrips or arcana domain but my first option would be a Tempest Cleric.

my innitial idea would be a Hill Dwarf that starts out as a fighter for 2 levels and then goes Tempest cleric.(which givesd me con and str proficiency) (side note i am able to start on lvl 4) i can use the point buy system for my stats and i was thinking of this 15/14/14/10/10/8 with 15 Wis, 14 Str, 14 Con, 10, dex, 10 cha, 8 Int with racial it would give me 16 Wis and 16 Con and 14 Str as beginning stats. the fighter levels would give me a +2 on my melee starting me with +4 on my atk roles. then pick up magic innitiate for the SCAG cantrips if allowed on cleric 4 and then spend the rest on ASI where on cleric 8 i would take wis on 12 also wis and then on 16 up str so i get +1 to hit. giving me +5 without other bonuses. and leaving me with 20 Wis, 16 Str, and 16 Con. other option if i cannot pick up the SCAG cantrips i could go for Shillelagh and spend the last ASI not on Str but on con leaving me with only 14 Str but as a dwarf i don't get move speed reduction on heavy armor.

any tips on the above are more then welcome.

as the other idea if SCAG is allowed would be a Arcana Cleric going Human Variant no multi class (although sucks missing Dark vision in a Oota campaign) picking up Shillelagh, poison spray and entangle, and BB or GFB and shocking grasp (which should then be on Wis if i am not mistaken)or BB and GFB if that is better. picking up the heaviest medium armor and and a shield with stats 15 Wis, 15, Con, 14 Dex, 10 Str, 8 Cha, 8 Int as start and up that to 16 Wis, 16 Con, 14 Dex with starting stats. basically wanting to be able to get the +2 dex bonus to the armor lacking only 1 AC behind the Heavy armor. also picking up warcaster on lvl 4 to be able to use GFB or BB on a OA (if i am not mistaken) and then spend my other ASI to up wisdom to 20 on lvl 8 and lvl 12 and then Con to 20 on 16 and 19.

would love to get some feedback or improvement points on both builds.

[GorogIrongut]

So far everything sounds fairly solid. That said, why waste your ASI on Magic Initiate? If you put one more level into Fighter, you can go Eldritch Knight and get 2 wizard cantrips and 3 wizard 1st level spells. My recommendation would be shield, absorb elements and find familiar. You also get a weapon or two that boomerangs back to your hand.

From there you can choose where to go. War, Nature, Storm... There are lots of paths to go down.

I would however recommend that you use your first ASI to give you a Resilient: Wisdom. Cause then you've got proficiency in 2 of the big 3 saves...

[McNinja]

Saturday i am starting my first campaign with a group that i am joining. they are doing the Oota campaign and i want to play a cleric. but i am unsure of what to play. im not sure yet is i can use the SCAG cantrips or arcana domain but my first option would be a Tempest Cleric.

my innitial idea would be a Hill Dwarf that starts out as a fighter for 2 levels and then goes Tempest cleric.(which givesd me con and str proficiency) (side note i am able to start on lvl 4) i can use the point buy system for my stats and i was thinking of this 15/14/14/10/10/8 with 15 Wis, 14 Str, 14 Con, 10, dex, 10 cha, 8 Int with racial it would give me 16 Wis and 16 Con and 14 Str as beginning stats. the fighter levels would give me a +2 on my melee starting me with +4 on my atk roles. then pick up magic innitiate for the SCAG cantrips if allowed on cleric 4 and then spend the rest on ASI where on cleric 8 i would take wis on 12 also wis and then on 16 up str so i get +1 to hit. giving me +5 without other bonuses. and leaving me with 20 Wis, 16 Str, and 16 Con. other option if i cannot pick up the SCAG cantrips i could go for Shillelagh and spend the last ASI not on Str but on con leaving me with only 14 Str but as a dwarf i don't get move speed reduction on heavy armor.

any tips on the above are more then welcome.

as the other idea if SCAG is allowed would be a Arcana Cleric going Human Variant no multi class (although sucks missing Dark vision in a Oota campaign) picking up Shillelagh, poison spray and entangle, and BB or GFB and shocking grasp (which should then be on Wis if i am not mistaken)or BB and GFB if that is better. picking up the heaviest medium armor and and a shield with stats 15 Wis, 15, Con, 14 Dex, 10 Str, 8 Cha, 8 Int as start and up that to 16 Wis, 16 Con, 14 Dex with starting stats. basically wanting to be able to get the +2 dex bonus to the armor lacking only 1 AC behind the Heavy armor. also picking up warcaster on lvl 4 to be able to use GFB or BB on a OA (if i am not mistaken) and then spend my other ASI to up wisdom to 20 on lvl 8 and lvl 12 and then Con to 20 on 16 and 19.

would love to get some feedback or improvement points on both builds.

Remember with the tempest 17th level feature that it doesn't work underground or indoors. Not that you'll get to 17th in the campaign, but just in case you do.

[Infamouse]

So far everything sounds fairly solid. That said, why waste your ASI on Magic Initiate? If you put one more level into Fighter, you can go Eldritch Knight and get 2 wizard cantrips and 3 wizard 1st level spells. My recommendation would be shield, absorb elements and find familiar. You also get a weapon or two that boomerangs back to your hand.

From there you can choose where to go. War, Nature, Storm... There are lots of paths to go down.

I would however recommend that you use your first ASI to give you a Resilient: Wisdom. Cause then you've got proficiency in 2 of the big 3 saves...

but if i go EK then i lose my 3/rest Channel divinity plus i lose a extra 5th level slot with the 2 lvls in fighter i lose 1 6th and 1 7th slot but still keep my full 5th lvl. or would i keep that 5th lvl slot because EK is technically a spellcaster (and then do the first 2 lvls as fighter get counted towards spellcaster as well or only the 3rd) because otherwise it would be rather insane. so the multiclass table will be the one that i need to look at? because if that is the case the only thing i would give up is 3/rest channel divinity although nice not the most ground breaking and def not better then 2 cantrips and 3 spells. although with EK spells they are cast of Int so i need to pick something that doesn't need a save or hit roll i guess.

other question would it be a option to go 3 lvl fighter for EK grab the Wiz cantrips from SCAG and then still use magic innitiate at cleric 4 so total lvl 7 to grab shillelagh so i have that in combination with the SCAG cantrips. i can then go and drop str since i will be using Wis to hit and only focus on that plus con ? also can then switch the dueling from fighter to defense. it will mean that until i reach lvl 7 i will not be the greatest at hitting things but i can buff and use spells

stats would be something like Wis 15, Con 14, Str 14, Dex 10, Int 10, Cha 8 with racial hilldwarf bonus would be Wis 16 and Con 16 use cleric lvl 8 and 12 for Wis to 20 and then lvl 16 Con to 18. that extra 2 con should be fine since i get extra HP from the hill dwarf racial and i have proficiency in con saves cause of the fighter start. only thing i would mis is the Wis save which is common but should be able to mitigate that a bit with using the right buffs and spells.

Edit: or is it better to switch the Str and Dex around in that last example i will have +0 to hit for the first 2 lvls until i get shillelagh but i will have +2 to dex saves which is better then Str and i don't need the Str for heavy armour since i will be a dwarf.

[GorogIrongut]

Eldritch Knights are considered 1/3rd casters. So your 3 levels would be considered as 1 level towards your overall spellcaster levels. So yes, you would only lose the 3/divinity.

As for EK being intelligence based... the spells I mentioned don't need any intelligence buffing. So it's not a worry. Your cantrips are of course up to you. You could go Scag if your DM allows it. You could go EE. Look at all of the possible options and pick what works best with your playstyle.

You could go Magic Initiate... but you're strength and your wisdom are fairly similar. Shillelagh won't give you any significant combat boost... though I do love Shillelagh. It would also give you access to spells like Faerie Fire or Goodberry. But I still think that Resilient: Wisdom is the best option. You're also missing things like Warcaster as an option.

Your question about dex or strength boosting comes down to your playstyle. It's just something you've got to decide.

Your fighter ability is also a toss up as to how your prefer with your playstyle. Defense is solid... Eldritch Knights are notorious for having great defense... especially with spells like Shield. Dueling is another good option. It lets you engage in S&B and helps you be more offensive. It's all down to what you prefer.

[Infamouse]

Eldritch Knights are considered 1/3rd casters. So your 3 levels would be considered as 1 level towards your overall spellcaster levels. So yes, you would only lose the 3/divinity.

As for EK being intelligence based... the spells I mentioned don't need any intelligence buffing. So it's not a worry. Your cantrips are of course up to you. You could go Scag if your DM allows it. You could go EE. Look at all of the possible options and pick what works best with your playstyle.

You could go Magic Initiate... but you're strength and your wisdom are fairly similar. Shillelagh won't give you any significant combat boost... though I do love Shillelagh. It would also give you access to spells like Faerie Fire or Goodberry. But I still think that Resilient: Wisdom is the best option. You're also missing things like Warcaster as an option.

Your question about dex or strength boosting comes down to your playstyle. It's just something you've got to decide.

Your fighter ability is also a toss up as to how your prefer with your playstyle. Defense is solid... Eldritch Knights are notorious for having great defense... especially with spells like Shield. Dueling is another good option. It lets you engage in S&B and helps you be more offensive. It's all down to what you prefer.

I know i will be missing things like warcaster but with the con save from fighter and having shillelagh i don't need to use spells in melee on a OA. only thing would be make con saves but i am proficient in that. the reason why i wanted to do this setup would be to have good +hit on shillelagh because high wisdom but then also get divine strike plus the Booming blade or Green flame blade extra dmg on the melee atk which with 1 atk would give me 6d8 max and i could choose to max that dmg with my channel divinity. so then i can be a threat in melee while not dropping concdentration on a good spell like bless or better spells on higher lvls and saving my spell slots for high dmg or healing spells. also with +5 on wisdom i think i will be fine most of the time on the wis saves.

[DeWittInTheRoad]

I'm getting ready to play a death cleric through CoS, so 1-10. Playing a half-elf for roleplaying reasons (will likely be one of the SCAG versions), but we houserule a free feat at level 1.

I'm trying to decide if I should just go straight death cleric and grab shillelagh with magic initiate feat so that I can start with a 16/16 wis con or if I should try to get cute and dip sorcerer level 1 for the con save and SCAG melee cantrips and possibly get a 14 charisma to get a little bit of damage from them.

Not sure if it is worth it since it will be a lower level campaign. Was wondering if anyone had any advice cause I got a little bit of analysis paralysis

[Theodoxus]

I know i will be missing things like warcaster but with the con save from fighter and having shillelagh i don't need to use spells in melee on a OA. only thing would be make con saves but i am proficient in that. the reason why i wanted to do this setup would be to have good +hit on shillelagh because high wisdom but then also get divine strike plus the Booming blade or Green flame blade extra dmg on the melee atk which with 1 atk would give me 6d8 max and i could choose to max that dmg with my channel divinity. so then i can be a threat in melee while not dropping concentration on a good spell like bless or better spells on higher lvls and saving my spell slots for high dmg or healing spells. also with +5 on wisdom i think i will be fine most of the time on the wis saves.

My cleric for OotA is a High Elf with BB as the bonus cantrip. I originally planned on going magic initiate Druid for Shillelagh and Goodberry... but I obtained Dawnbringer, so didn't need Shillelagh after all.... elf proficiencies for the win (I'm a Life cleric of Lathander - didn't even know Dawnbringer existed - very serendipitous indeed.

I definitely think that going the attack cantrip route works better for domains that grant extra damage, rather than potent spellcasting - 2d8 will nearly always be better than a straight 5.

I'm getting ready to play a death cleric through CoS, so 1-10. Playing a half-elf for roleplaying reasons (will likely be one of the SCAG versions), but we houserule a free feat at level 1.

I'm trying to decide if I should just go straight death cleric and grab shillelagh with magic initiate feat so that I can start with a 16/16 wis con or if I should try to get cute and dip sorcerer level 1 for the con save and SCAG melee cantrips and possibly get a 14 charisma to get a little bit of damage from them.

Not sure if it is worth it since it will be a lower level campaign. Was wondering if anyone had any advice cause I got a little bit of analysis paralysis

What is attracting you to the death cleric? I haven't played or even read much of CoS, but I was under the impression that the premise was fighting against Straud, not trying to be him... the death domain abilities seem a little incongruous for those expectations, so I was curious why.

A level one dip for Sorc is pretty meh. Outside of face skills, Clerics don't need charisma, so its an otherwise unnecessary boost to your charisma, increasing MAD. Getting a couple more spells, but having a poorer to hit or save with them, just to delay your cleric? With a +3 Con, you're looking at a 7 or better on concentration checks for anything that does less than 20 points of damage... Proficiency in Con over Wis isn't really a necessity at low level. Probably could wait until your level 8 ASI to grab Resilient Con and be safe... If you go with the SCAG version of Half-elf, take High Elf for the free cantrip. Grab either Warcaster or magic initiate, whichever you feel better about...

For what it's worth, my first cleric was a half-elf, point buy - I liked the skills and other bennies... Just threw the +2 Chr at the 8... one of the best characters mechanically I ever made - just didn't fit the specific story...

[DeWittInTheRoad]

What is attracting you to the death cleric? I haven't played or even read much of CoS, but I was under the impression that the premise was fighting against Straud, not trying to be him... the death domain abilities seem a little incongruous for those expectations, so I was curious why.

I wanted to make a cleric to fit the undead theme of the campaign, but I don't particularly like the flavor of clerics (more of a wizard guy) and death looked kinda interesting flavor-wise especially maybe having a push and pull of temptation in such a heavily undead campaign. Came up with the concept of a fallen reaper and now I'm pretty married to the idea (Id have probably picked arcana because it fits my playstyle more, but I'm kinda digging the concept of how a death cleric would act in ravenloft at this point.)

If you go with the SCAG version of Half-elf, take High Elf for the free cantrip. Grab either Warcaster or magic initiate, whichever you feel better about...

That was actually the original plan, just grabbing BB and calling it a day. I kinda started getting greedy thinking about the various dips. Probably a good idea to stick to the original plan and not spread myself so thin.

[GorogIrongut]

I know that I'm currently playing a non evil Cleric of Death. And there have been multiple people asking about it in the past few pages. So when I came across the following link, I figured it would have some relevance. It's the 3.5E Forgotten Realms version of a Cleric of Kelemvor.



http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Doomguide

[Larpus]

First things first, great guide Yorrin, really got my blood pumping to play a cleric on an upcoming game!

With that said, I do have to ask for some advice here, as this game will be my first time everything: first time playing 5e, first time playing a cleric and first time playing a dwarf and, with so many firsts, I'm down to greatly overthinking my domain/build options. As a rule, PHB only and no multiclassing allowed.

To start things off, we rolled for stats and what I got was 16, 15, 14, 14, 12, 12; I'm allowed to reposition them as I see fit, but am unsure if I'd be allowed to decrease one of those 12s and add a point to something else.

As for the party, we're a 4-people band, so far the others are a paladin (vengeance, probably), an assassin halfling and a half-elf warlock.

Initially I had envisioned this badass axe and board war cleric who would get personal alongside the paladin and turn missed attacks to hits and all that.

However, after looking at my stats and race, it now seems like a waste, I mean, I can easily have 14 dex, making heavy armor kinda pointless, don't plan to go two handed so martial prof goes to waste and I get the feeling that my bonus rounds will be better spent on spiritual weapon.

Other domains that fit my possible deities are Knowledge, Light and Tempest, Life is a bit of a stretch, but also viable, but am having a really hard time figuring out whether it's a better idea to go Str/Wis or pure Wis, which sounds like a waste given my stats. Personally I'm feeling more like Tempest, but it's not set in stone.

Is potent sacred flame that much weaker/harder to hit than a divine strike melee?

How hard are concentration checks, usually?

Is going for 16/14/16/12/16/12 increasing both Str and Wis to 18 a viable build choice?

Don't have a strict plan on when I'll get my stat increases as I also want War Caster, and will get what I feel is needed at level 4.

[Yorrin]

First things first, great guide Yorrin, really got my blood pumping to play a cleric on an upcoming game!

Thanks!

Is potent sacred flame that much weaker/harder to hit than a divine strike melee?

No, they're about equal depending on the stats of your enemy.

How hard are concentration checks, usually?

Easy at lower levels (like anything under about 12), scaling steadily after that till they're difficult at higher levels.

Is going for 16/14/16/12/16/12 increasing both Str and Wis to 18 a viable build choice?

Yes! That's a pretty much ideal spread for a Str build, though your stats could also work for a more Wis focused build as well.

The great thing about Clerics in general is that as long as you make a plan and stick with it almost any build is viable, so don't sweat your decision too much. Let the roleplaying influence your choices too, especially with Domain choice.

[Larpus]

The great thing about Clerics in general is that as long as you make a plan and stick with it almost any build is viable, so don't sweat your decision too much. Let the roleplaying influence your choices too, especially with Domain choice.

Thanks for the response!

As I mentioned, this is my first time with 5e and I'm still having a hard time divorcing myself with the 3.X mentality of "pumping a single stat until it pierces the heavens", which is probably one of the reasons I'm overthinking so much.

For Domains, the ones I mentioned work best, we're playing dragonlance and my DM allowed me to get more domains than what's listed in the appendix for any deity as long as it makes sense, so I can go with Reorx which most dwarves follow with Knowledge or Light (pure Wis) or Kiri-Jolith/Sargonnas which are warfarring deities for Tempest or War.

As I said, initially I thought about War, but after number checking, it seems like too many features would go unused, as I pretty much would only use guided strike or (more likely) its ranged version.

[Dudu]

Yeah, one thing I noted as a cleric is that, no matter what, you are a solid addition to the party.

Chances are that you are not the one doing most damage, or the better tank, or with the biggest array of skills. But still, if you leave you'll be the one your party will miss the most.

They have stuff like:

Bless: 1d4 for attacks and saves for 3 people for a lvl1 spell slot.
Healing Word: 1d4+Wis Mod to heal someone with a bonus action! Good if someone dropped to 0HP but is not dead yet.
Spiritual Weapon: A hit stick that strikes as a bonus action!
Revivify: Simply ressurect anyone as long as it doesn't have passed more than 1 min since his/her death. That coupled with Healing Word allows your party to adopt much bolder strategies, since if anything goes awry, the cleric can patch up.
Deathward: Now you don't die. Which means even in a hypothetical TPK, you are the one who survives and is able to ressurect everyone else!

There are lot more spells, like Prayer of Healing and Spiritual Guardians, to mention low level spells.

And Larpus, as someone who is playing both 3.5 and 5.0 campaigns. 5.0 is way, way more playable. Less frustrating, fewer shenanigans, almost non existent power gaps (unlike the vastly different tiers of power of 3.5).

5.0 you can play with wathever class and build you want, play with the one you find the coolest, and you won't be a deadweight to the party. (like playing an assassin rogue in a campaign full of constructs in 3.5, for example).

Apart from flavor, play the cleric if you want to be the most reliable member of the party. The one they can feel they can take bigger challenges, because the cleric is there (Yorrin's guide will help you build a strong one, that's for sure).

[Larpus]

And Larpus, as someone who is playing both 3.5 and 5.0 campaigns. 5.0 is way, way more playable. Less frustrating, fewer shenanigans, almost non existent power gaps (unlike the vastly different tiers of power of 3.5).

5.0 you can play with wathever class and build you want, play with the one you find the coolest, and you won't be a deadweight to the party. (like playing an assassin rogue in a campaign full of constructs in 3.5, for example).

Apart from flavor, play the cleric if you want to be the most reliable member of the party. The one they can feel they can take bigger challenges, because the cleric is there (Yorrin's guide will help you build a strong one, that's for sure).

That's reassuring to know, still having a hard time not over stressing about super specializing myself even though I read everywhere that I should not.

[Deviantheart]

Thanks for the guide!

Also, Death cleric with 2 level dip in paladin is a NASTY combination. You can super god-power nova one to three attacks with smite, spell smite, channel divinity, and Great weapon fighting style.
S' nasty.

[Rhaegar14]

Thought: Shouldn't High Elf be rated at blue now, at least for finesse melee Clerics? While not having a bonus to Wisdom hurts, the free cantrip is a big deal for melee weapon Clerics now that Greenflame Blade and Booming Blade exist, as it saves them a feat poaching one of them with Magic Initiate.

[Dudu]

Yeah, SCAG boosted High Elves quite a lot. In a lot of different builds, including cleric builds.

I say it's something more worth doing in mid to high level campaigns. Starting the campaign with less than 16 Wis can hurt, and GFB isn't spectacular until cantrips gets serious.

Of course, I'm assuming systems like point buy and elite array. If you roll and it ends up being a 18 you won't have a problem at all.

[Yorrin]

Thanks for the guide!

You're welcome!

Also, Death cleric with 2 level dip in paladin is a NASTY combination. You can super god-power nova one to three attacks with smite, spell smite, channel divinity, and Great weapon fighting style.
S' nasty.[/QUOTE]Haha, sounds like a lot of fun.

Thought: Shouldn't High Elf be rated at blue now, at least for finesse melee Clerics? While not having a bonus to Wisdom hurts, the free cantrip is a big deal for melee weapon Clerics now that Greenflame Blade and Booming Blade exist, as it saves them a feat poaching one of them with Magic Initiate.

I think Dudu has the right of it here:

I say it's something more worth doing in mid to high level campaigns. Starting the campaign with less than 16 Wis can hurt, and GFB isn't spectacular until cantrips gets serious.

This combined with the fact that by the time SCAG cantrips are relevant to someone who's using it on an off stat everyone has access to feats aplenty makes them not as impactful as you might think.

[8BitLogann]

Hello,

So I could really do with some advice on a build.

I am wanting to be Aasmir - Purely for flavor of the story.

However I am torn between War or Life Cleric. I want to go down a Wis/Str build and would like to be kinda tanky I see my character as being the shield that defends the weak kinda deal. Now the campaign I am currently playing requires a fair amount of healing (hence Life) but I don't just want to be that guy who sits in the back and heals everyone all the time, I like to get in the thick of it (hence War)

So i'm thinking Stats along the lines of

14/8/14/10/16/12

I like the idea of a Warhammer and a shield but Aasmir Life don't get martial weapons unless I choose the Weapon Master Feat at Lv4.

Please help, and thanks for reading :)

*EDIT* Also this guide is brilliant and in depth thanks

[Rysto]

I definitely wouldn't spend an ASI on the Weapon Master feat, especially given that a STR/WIS cleric build is already a bit MAD and you want those ASIs for boosting your stats. First off, don't forget that on average, a mace (1d6) will do only one less damage per hit than a warhammer (1d8). You can do just fine without martial weapons on a cleric. If you really want them, though, starting as a Fighter 1 before taking your cleric levels would get you CON save proficiency, a fighting style as well as martial weapons, with the option of taking a second level later for Action Surge. You also get Second Wind, which is pretty much an extra hit die that recharges on a short rest.

[8BitLogann]

I definitely wouldn't spend an ASI on the Weapon Master feat, especially given that a STR/WIS cleric build is already a bit MAD and you want those ASIs for boosting your stats. First off, don't forget that on average, a mace (1d6) will do only one less damage per hit than a warhammer (1d8). You can do just fine without martial weapons on a cleric. If you really want them, though, starting as a Fighter 1 before taking your cleric levels would get you CON save proficiency, a fighting style as well as martial weapons, with the option of taking a second level later for Action Surge. You also get Second Wind, which is pretty much an extra hit die that recharges on a short rest.

But doesn't the weapon master feat give me a +1 to Str (or Dex) so at Lv4 couldn't I put 1 Point in Wis and the other in Weapon Master for the +1 in Str? Or am I getting how the feats system works wrong?

I like the Idea of multi classing Fighter though.

[Rysto]

But doesn't the weapon master feat give me a +1 to Str (or Dex) so at Lv4 couldn't I put 1 Point in Wis and the other in Weapon Master for the +1 in Str? Or am I getting how the feats system works wrong?

I like the Idea of multi classing Fighter though.

You have to choose between a Feat, or 2 points that you can add to any stat.

[8BitLogann]

You have to choose between a Feat, or 2 points that you can add to any stat.

Ah right OK thanks. Still Pretty new to the game. So would you recommend the Fighter/Life Cleric multiclass over the War Cleric? Or is it not really worth it for the Warhammer and I should just go straight up Life Cleric with a Mace?

Sorry Nooby question here but if I go down the multi-class route would I get the 2 points when I am Cleric Lv3/Fighter Lv1 or does one of the classes have to reach Lv4