My 5e non-Multiclassing Cleric PC

[ZorroGames]

From 0D&D thru early AD&D/2nd Cleric was my favorite class to play (tied with a Fighter TBH, more fighters but longer and more levels with Clerics - one to the high teens level) but when I look at my played characters in 5e the only trace of Cleric is my Wizard dipping Cleric for two levels Forest Gnome. I ask, “Why?”

BLUF How about some ideas to help me gel a MD or VHu Cleric 1-20 levels concept? Or one that meets my two parameters below even?

Parameters,

Role Play >Roll Play though moderate optimization is good..

Also, core races like (Mountain or Hill) Dwarf, Human, Elf (prefer Wood over High but not a deal breaker,) possibly half-elf or Gnome. Not a fan of the other races that much for various reasons. So no halflings, half-Orcs, Dragonborn, Tiefling, etc., please.

Intended Role: Spell support > spell attack or melee. Not looking for a Healbot character but healing OOC is almost certainly an expectation from other players.

Also would be good for background seed that explains why an established clerical student would adventure after being “ordained” by the church.

Gracias in advance for helpful ideas.

[kazaryu]

From 0D&D thru early AD&D/2nd Cleric was my favorite class to play (tied with a Fighter TBH, more fighters but longer and more levels with Clerics - one to the high teens level) but when I look at my played characters in 5e the only trace of Cleric is my Wizard dipping Cleric for two levels Forest Gnome. I ask, “Why?”

BLUF How about some ideas to help me gel a MD or VHu Cleric 1-20 levels concept? Or one that meets my two parameters below even?

Parameters,

Role Play >Roll Play though moderate optimization is good..

Also, core races like (Mountain or Hill) Dwarf, Human, Elf (prefer Wood over High but not a deal breaker,) possibly half-elf or Gnome. Not a fan of the other races that much for various reasons. So no halflings, half-Orcs, Dragonborn, Tiefling, etc., please.

Intended Role: Spell support > spell attack or melee. Not looking for a Healbot character but healing OOC is almost certainly an expectation from other players.

Also would be good for background seed that explains why an established clerical student would adventure after being “ordained” by the church.

Gracias in advance for helpful ideas.

as far as role/mechanics: honestly, any cleric is going to be solid for that. its more about what spells you take than the subclass. that being said there are obviously some subclasses that can add to a support cleric.
life: now, just because you're playing a life cleric doesn't mean you're playing a healbot. all it means is that
1. you get heavy armor proficiency. good stuff.
2. you get some bonus to healing when you *do* heal. especially AoE healing. (almost double the effectiveness of mass healing word, if you decide to prep that as an 'oh ****' button. additionally, at level 6 you get a bit of regen, again when you do heal. (nice thing is that technically this regen will stack with the 1st level feature if you cast a AoE heal like mass cure wounds/prayer of healing). then, eventually, if you make it that far, you get auto max heals. for when you do need to heal. but thats at lvl 17 so *shrug*
3. your channel divinity, is in and of itself an AoE heal that comes back on a short rest, meaning you're less reliant on spell slots to do the healing, when it becomes necassary
4. due to domain spells, you don't need to worry about using preparation slots on several support spells. in fact, all but one of the Life clerics domain spells are support spells. some more useful than others but none of them useless. even beacon of hope is useful if you are expecting to go against fear effects (or wisdom saves) This also means that you don't need to worry about remembering to prepare revivify. you only need to worry about having the component to cast it.

the only downside is that life clerics don't actually get spells that aren't already on the cleric spell list. however most of the other domain spells that are from not the cleric spell list tend to be attack spells anyway, so its not that big a downside IMO

KnowledgeNow, this is going to focus more on out of combat benefits, while relying on spell list. that being said there are still a few spells that can be useful in combat. command, suggestion and confusion all are potentially useful debuff spells for combat.

but the big takeaways are
1. expertise in 2 knowledge skills (combined with your class proficiencies means you can have proficiency in 2 of the knowedge skills and expertise in the other 2.
2. a floating skill proficiency
downside: can step on other players toes, i mean...you can have a better arcana score than the wizard. :(

tempest Now, the tempest choice is more for its defensive use, you're the support. which means that they're going to *want* to target you. tempest allows you to punish them for that.
1. features: return damage to anyone foolish enough to target teh support. *******s.
2. domain spells: fog cloud, gust of wind, and sleet storm are all solid area denial spells. if you're into that style of support play
3. heavy armor proficiency for a bit of extra safety.

downsides: with the exception of what i listed above, their features are strongly focused on being offensive rather than supporty. and even some of the features that i did list above are more meant to be offensive, and i just pointed out how they aid a support character.

Light similar to the tempest clerc, moreso this subclass aids defense.
1. warding flare: obvious, discourages enemies from attacking you. however at lvl 6 can be used to mitigate attacks against allies as well.
2. channel divinity can be used to dispel darkness.

downsides: of the options im going to list, this is probably the least efficient. their domain spells heavily favor offensive magic. the warding flare, while useful, only works for a single attack, and so falls off when enemies start doing multi attacks. additionally due to phrasing, it seems you have to choose to use it before they make their role. which means about half the time you'll be wasting it. (since they'd have missed anyway).

Grave
1. pretty nice bonus to combat healing. in that if they're at 0 you do max healing. however obviously letting allies reach 0 can cause other problems soo...that being said there's a fun little interaction here, where if you end combat and an ally is at like...1 HP, and want some healing, its actually more efficient to first smack them over their head to get them to 0. this could lead to some interesting RP. although, obviously wouldn't fit all playstyles/groups. it is a bit gimmicky after all.
2. their channel divinity is indirect damage, but still very much a support ability. 2/sr give an enemy vulnerability to the next damage. thats better than giving an ally an auto crit.
3. tehir domain spells include a few different support spells, both control and damage mitigation.
4. lvl 6, they can cancel a critical hit on an ally. this ability actually scales extremely well into teh late game (as enemies start getting more and more damage-on-hit.)

downsides: there really aren't any mechanically. i mean they have a few spells that don't fit your intended playstyle. but thats never a bad thing imo. one of the clerics biggest strengths is versatility after all.

for races: just planning to highlight humans, not imply that they're the optimal choice. realistically most of the races you highlighted are going to be fine
human variant is always a solid pick for a cleric. as a support your main combat cycle is 'cast concentration spell, wait it out' so being able to pick up either warcaster or resiliant: con to aid with concentration saves is nice. warcaster especially means that even when you have the nitpickiest of DM's you don't have to worry about spell components. your shield is your focus, and anything you have in your main-hand doesn't prevent somatic components.
human the none variant version can also be nice. the +1 to everything means you can really balance out your point-buy. which can be nice, especially if you go with heavy armor. this allows you to start off with a decent amount in all of your physical ability scores.

Now, for the motivations of the character. here's some ideas.

the prophet. title is a bit..off, i know. but the idea is that you're not 'ordained' by the church. the gods exist and they'll empower whoever they damn well please. While you're a pious follower of your god, and respect the churches authority, you've never officially joined the church itself. Worshiping the good of knowledge, you spend your days searching for lost ruins, and hidden secrets. hoping to bring glory to your god through enlightening the masses.

Alternative: you are antagonistic of The Church. It is a corrupt institution filled with primarily pretenders. The few true followers that exist their are either too deluded, or too effectively distracted to see the church hierarchy for what it has become. it is your place to expose the corruption for what it is. You adventure to do what the church does not. protect the common folk. after all, you are empowered by your god for a reason.

The representative The Church has 3 core pillars. the priests, the missionaries, and the sages. The priests primarily deal in serving the needs of the community. they operate from temples providing healing and guidance to those around them. the sages are the voice of the god. they study scriptures, and pray. seeking to ensure that they will of their god is what is being carried out. You, you are a missionary. its is your job to go out and show the world the power of your god. You bring not only their word, but also their protection. you slay monsters, heal the blighted. censor the undead. It is your job to show everyone that your god is still vigilant. Ready to protect them.

the judge 'it does not matter who my god is. what matters is that wrong has been done here. I am here to set this wrong to right. Those who stand aside or aid me will be my allies. those who oppose me will be crushed beneath my inevitability'

an example build:

lvl1: Variant human life cleric
str: 15 (14+1 race)
dex: 8 (mechanically its probably better to dump cha than dex, but thematically i think it makes more sense to dump dex)
Con: 14
Int:10
Wis: 16 (15+1)
cha: 10
feat: warcaster.
alternate feat: healer. at will, non-magical healing that can be applied easily without consuming precious spell slots. slightly weaker than cure wounds, but it can be done to each ally individually and refreshes on a short rest. since its an action it can be used both in combat (as an 'oh ****!) or out of combat (to save hit dice). scales decently well too. even at higher levels its a free 1d86+4+level healing per short rest/long rest.
spells:
cantrips: guidance, thaumaturgy, toll the dead.
domain: bless, cure wounds
prepared: sanctuary, protection from evil, detect magic, guiding bolt

playstyle: obviously first level is gonna be a bit limiting. most major combats on your first turn you're going to cast bless, just before combat if possible. save your second spell slot. following actions are likely to be either dodge or toll the dead, that what you're ready with that second spell slot if you need to drop a sanctuary (protect a downed ally possibly. this is lvl 1 after all) or just drop a heal. there are essentially no support cantrips unless you have an ally that you know is planning to do something like grapple. (guidance). guiding bolt *is* a damage spell, but again, versatility. and it also allows you to give an ally advantage, which is a support ability.

lvl 4: i recommend boosting your wisdom to 18 here. the extra spell prep slot and bonus to your save DC is gonna feel good.
spells to consider having at this point: prayer of healing, enhance ability, warding bond, shield of faith, any of the other detection spells, bane, hold person, healing word

style: at this point you actually have enough spell slots that you can afford to drop sanctuary on yourself if you're sure to not use an offensive spell this fight. although you still have few enough that its best to save it for big fights. this also means that you can use your own body/positioning as a control mechanism. sanctuary+dodge means that they actually have effective double disadvantage in order to hit you, and effectively disadvantage to hit you with a hostile magic effect. so look for opportunities to use your fat ass to block key choke points

lvl 8: here you can either knab 20 wis. or grab another feat. if you didn't take warcaster at lvl 1 then you could take it here. resiliant: con is also a good option since you're nearing getting a +4 prof bonus.
notable spells: dispel magic, remove curse, protection from energy, tongues, banishment, locate creature, freedom of movement.

style: honestly, as far as combat goes life cleric subclass gives you the one of the best support spells from 4th level (death ward). meanwhile, freedom of movement is *great* for any encounter that replies on disabling ally movement. (ropers come to mind, but thats just because thats the encounter i had when i hit roughly this level of cleric) drop it on the ally you think needs the most mobility. death ward on the other hand is...well its death ward. now both spells are somewhat niche, but when combined cover a huge number of bases. worried about the DM using hold-person to counter your barbarian? freedom of movement. Death ward is obviously a bit more varied. either way its generally a good idea to hold onto that 4th level spell slot to see whats what. other than that its gonna be business as usual. except now you can be even more casual about using sanctuary on yourself if the situation permits. you can also be more free about dropping it on allies that need to reposition, even though its likely to only last 1 round.

[CheddarChampion]

Choose a domain with heavy armor access.
Hill Dwarf for 11/10/17/10/16/10. Boost Wis twice, take Resilient (Con), boost Con once, and take Warcaster/Lucky/Ritual Caster/what have you. Moradin as your God and the initiate background would lend itself well to the 'ordained' aspect.

You get good spells, good saves, good AC, good HP.

Look up the Cleric guide for 5e on this forum for spell recommendations.

[RogueJK]

Choose a domain with heavy armor access.
Hill Dwarf for 11/10/17/10/16/10. Boost Wis twice, take Resilient (Con), boost Con once, and take Warcaster/Lucky/Ritual Caster/what have you.

A very solid option. However, I'll narrow it down even more... If you're going to be a Dwarf Cleric dumping STR and DEX, the most optimal choice would be a Cleric domain that gets both Heavy Armor as well as Potent Spellcasting, instead of Divine Strike, because you're never going to be making a weapon attack to trigger Divine Strike and will be relying on Cantrips instead. With one exception...

The sole exception to this is the option for a STR/DEX-dumped Dwarven Nature Cleric, who could choose Shilelagh as their free Druid cantrip, and be making one WIS-based weapon attack per round and taking advantage of Nature Cleric's Divine Strike, which is a viable but not necessarily optimal option. A Shillelagh/Divine Strike attack doing 1d8+5+1d6 doesn't really keep up with the scaling damage of cantrips at levels higher than 10, and also eats your first round Bonus Actions to activate too. But it's still an option that won't be too underpowered, if you're wanting the Nature flavor.

Otherwise, the only Heavy Armor Cleric with Potent Spellcasting is a Life Cleric. So that makes for an easy choice! Life is especially nice from a Support standpoint, not only because it obviously gets a nice boost to healing, but also has most of the standard Cleric spells that you'd be taking anyway as Domain Spells, which frees up your Spells Known for picking less common utility/support options. And Life is also the most generic of the domains, so it doesn't lock you into one style/type of character, since most any Cleric of any religion from any walk of life would be concerned with Life/Healing to one extent or another.

And you could always go with one of the other Heavy Armor domains even without Potent Spellcasting, and just understand that you'll be a few points of damage behind the curve after Level 7. But that's not that big of a deal on a Support Cleric, and you'll have enough spell slots by those higher levels that you won't be as reliant on weapon attacks or cantrips anyway. Going that route would allow you to take whichever domain peaks your interest the most from Forge, Nature, Order, Tempest, or War. Of these, Order would probably be the best option out of these for a Support Cleric, with War being the very worst option due to your lack of weaponry and all its various features being focused on boosting your weapon attacks.

[Keravath]

There is a decent build on here for an Arcana cleric, variant human, taking the magic initiate druid feat at first level for thorn whip and shillelagh. This is more of a melee cleric though but should be fun to play and certainly gets away from the healbot idea.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...tion+of+builds

The dwarven nature cleric mentioned with shillelagh is also an option for melee. Considering picking up booming blade via magic initiate.

Both these builds use booming blade, shillelagh and spirit guardians in combat. Resilient con or warcaster is also an important element in this case.

[Fable Wright]

Do you want to have a good time?

Variant Human, Magic Initiate for Booming Blade, Shape Water, Find Familiar (raven).

Tempest Cleric.

You are now a rival of Thor. Odin has granted you runes over ice and mind, but you seek to emulate Thor to better serve Odin in Valhalla. You are now simultaneously the life of the party, the wisest man in the room, and the one best equipped religiously to comfort villagers facing certain death. When you grow strong enough, you can call out Thor or Odin (as Divine Intervention fluff) and have a running dialogue with the very human Norse gods as you go via spells like Divination, Augury, and Communion.

Mechanically, you're a house. You have overcome the Clerical lack of ranged attacks with some of the blastiest abilities around, and your regular attacks hit almost as hard as the Rogue's before you get into Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians. You also are the only Cleric with Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm, making you the best controller of all the Clerics. It is the most all in one package around and I've never heard of anyone have a bad experience with Tempest Cleric.

[RogueJK]

I've never heard of anyone have a bad experience with Tempest Cleric.

Truth. I'm currently playing a Variant High Half-Elf Tempest Cleric with Booming Blade as a Thor-like Norse priest. Our homebrew setting has Valhalla as a potential afterlife, so he's striving hard to get there, and worships a Storm/War goddess known as the Valkyrie.

It's a dang good time.

[ZorroGames]

Wow, thanks guys/gals, this really spun up my interest.

Now, the hard part - thinking what best is the image I want in a cleric of all these great ideas.

[CTurbo]

Tempest Clerics are awesome! 5e Clerics are great in general, but the Tempest is the most offensive, controlling, and possibly the tankiest one of all.

I would personally dump Int and Cha hard and go Hill Dwarf 14 Str, 12 Dex, 16 Con, 8 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Cha and get Plate armor as fast as you can and use a shield.

With your 5 ASIs I would take-
+2 Wis
Res(Con) +1 Con
Dwarven Fortitude +1 Con
+2 Wis
Warcaster


Clerics are simple. Just get a high AC and be good at maintaining concentration.

Dwarven Fortitude lets you use a hit die every time you use the Dodge action in combat. For the 5e Cleric, the Dodge action is often a good idea for when you really need to maintain your concentration. If you don't like this idea, start with 17 Con and just grab Res(Con) and then take Magic Initiate instead.

[opaopajr]

LG MD Guild Artisan (locksmithy) Thievery Cleric.

You are ordained to keep viable the sacred mystery of traps, locks, and puzzles. You must be exposed to these, as well as assist thieves to foil such designs -- to stress test sacred security/locksmithy creations. Naturally you work for Security Guild Artisans to sell and promote excellent Mt. Dwarf quality work.

Thieves are remarkably useful (expendable) allies in your labors. That you can help them through Guidance, CD: Trickery, healing and the like just is good cover and a respectable trade of services...

You tend to bring Manacles and Rope in your gear, Restraining downed or unconscious opponents when you can. Better to bring them to justice so they can contemplate where they failed. Helps stress test improve your latest personal restraint designs.

Bane/Bless & Dodge is a concession to combat without condoning the criminality of your "allies." Asking them to Stay their Weapon (knock unconscious alive, no Death Saves) while you restrain them is a negotiation process unto itself. You are patient with them.