I am getting ready to start a new campaign, and have decided on cleric. I'm interested in feedback and thoughts from the community. I have a link to him right here.
Some details, and general info: We need to use standard array. I've wanted to play a dwarf for some time now, so I know the race I want to play. My goal for him is to be a good support cleric but not just a bandaid, so even though Life is a good domain I'm not that interested in it and am looking strongly at Peace. I dumped Str because I can use heavy armor just fine without proficiency, and because at second level he will take a class in Hexblade Warlock. I'm doing so for a few reasons, including part of my character's background and development. I am also doing it to get access to lots of the goodies a Hexblade gets including access to Shield, the ability to Curse, Hex Warrior, and Eldritch Blast. Are there any glaring issues with that? My understanding is that my spell progression will not be delayed by taking a level in Warlock, is that correct?
I haven't decided if I'm taking a second level in Hexblade yet, but I'm leaning against it. Anyway, please take a look and let me know what you think.
A couple things. You really only want one attack cantrip. I’d drop word of radiance. Keep guidance. Then take some other utility cantrip, light is good if there’s people in the party who needs it (I know you don’t, but if there’s others) mending is very useful, thaumaturgy is really fun. From a mechanical standpoint, that level of warlock is not going to do much for you. With your cha, eldritch blast won’t be as effective and again, extra attack cantrips aren’t so useful. The bonus damage from curse is tiny. Attacking with cha will be better than str, but you really should just be casting. Peace domain should not really be in melee swinging a weapon, they’re not good at it.
You can’t use heavy armor without proficiency as a dwarf, you just don’t have to meet the str requirement.
You’ll need two spell foci, and need to switch back and forth between your cleric and warlock depending on which kind of spell you’re casting. And if your DM is enforcing somatic spell components, it gets even more confusing when you try to have a weapon and shield, since you have no free hands to hold either kind of component.
I get saying you want it for character reasons, but there’s some weirdness there in going hexlock. For one, you might think you know how your character will develop, but you should really leave open the idea that something else might happen, just theoretically. And, it really strikes me as odd that someone who worships a god of peace would also swear a pact to serve a weapon. Actually, now that I think of it, I can see some opportunities for some interesting tension but still kind of wierd. Like I’d really question your commitment to peace if you make a deal with a magic spirit weapon. Of course it’s your character, and maybe you have a really good reason and the story part will all work out in play better than it does on paper.
You said "I dumped Str because I can use heavy armor just fine without proficiency," if you wear heavy armor as a dwalf your speed will not be reduced but you will still lack proficiency and the penaties for that make it completely unviable:
"If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can't cast spells."
Not being able to cast spells so shield and eldritch blast are out as are support cleric spells makes it unviable even if being able to use charisma for weapon attacks avoids the disadvantage. On top of that you would be significantly worse at things like avoiding fireballs and grapples.
Peace domain inspires people to "stand up against those forces that try to prevent peace from flourishing." so isn't necessarily a pacifist domain in fact the features are all centred abound making your friends better so it could easily be reflavoured into a "cooperation domain" but you would still need a reason make such a pact and as you don't start the campaign with warlock powers you would need ot make that pact during the campaign with story reasons for it, your DM might be willing and able have the offering of such a pact made to you early in the campaign but t is asking a lot to essentially have the parties first level built around getting you to a position where an entity from the shadowfell offers to make a pact with you.
Going back to heavy armor, their are plenty of cleric subclasses that offer proficiency with heavy armor, look at options like War (mostly foced on damage but probably goes best if you do multiclass into hexblade, Forge and Order. Also note however that while dwarves do not get the movement penalty if they do not meet the strength requirement for heavy armor they could still be encumbered, if you plan on being a cwarf with str 8 wearing heavy armor check with how your DM deals with encumberance (some ignore it, in which case you would be OK):
Standard Rules are you can carry up to 15 times your strength, while this isn't a restriction for most characters for you it is 120lb and you will be waering chain mail and a shield that take up more than half of that, add in a back pack, rope, rations and a waterskin and you are running out of spare capacity, especially when you get plate that weighs 10lb more.
With variant rules for encumberance you would be encumbered as soon as you are carrying 40lb so our speed would be reduced by 10ft even as a dwarf, and if you are carrying more than 80lb you would have a speed of 5ft and disadvantage on ability checks, attack roles and saving throws using dex, str or con (you would have to avoid this and could only really do so by getting others to carry everything for you except your armor, shield, warlock focus and possibly a weapon.
Multiclassing with warlock does impact spell progression. Unlike multiclassing with other casters the warlock pact slots and your spell slots are kept seperate. So for example at Cleric 2 warlock 1 you would have 3 1st level cleric spell slots (that refresh on a long rest) and 1st level warlock slot that refreshes on a short rest. (You can cast cleric spells in your warlock slot and vice versa). So you would not get access to second level spells until you take a third level in cleric (or warlock)
Note if you multiclass with other full casters while you wouldn't lose out on higher level spell slots you do lose out higher level spells known. A Cleric 2 / Druid 1 would have access to 2 second level spell slots but would only be able ot prepare 1st level spells so the 2nd level slots would have t obe used to upcast 2nd level spells.
I have since found that rule myself about proficiency with heavy armor, and you guys are absolutely right. I'm pretty new to 5e. I did drop my other attack cantrip. Glad to hear that taking Warlock does impede spell progression also, so I'm not up for that.
Another possibility is to not worry about the Hexblade at all, and stick with medium armor as well. He'd top out with Half Plate, but that's still pretty darn good. I could also move his stats around a bit, put a 14 into Dex and he'd be equal with splint mail without dealing with the proficiency.
I know I said I was sure I would take a dwarf, but I have considered a Mark of Detection Half-Elf or a Wildhunt Shifter as well. Our campaign will be the Waterdeep ones: Dragon Heist and Mad Mage. The Half-elf has perfect stat boosts and Detection could help I'm sure for the first six levels of our campaign, not so sure about the second. The Shifter has great stats too, and would have advantage on all Wisdom checks/skills while shifted, the Survival skill, temp HP's, etc. The Shifter in particular is tempting, here is a link to how I'd build him. I'd love to find a way to get the Shield spell if possible, but the Fey Touched feat with Misty Step could also work. Come to think of it Shadow Touched also seems good.
If you're playing in waterdeep, make sure your DM is OK with eberron races.
Shield is a good spell, but don't forget that casting it means fewer spell slots for your heals. That said, there's the magic initiate feat which can get it for you 1/day, plus a couple cantrips.
But if you are new to 5e, I'd really suggest two things. first, don't multi-class. Multi-classing poorly is about the only way to make an ineffective character in this edition. Wait until you have a firmer grasp of the rules before you start doing it so you can better understand the trade-offs. Second, really think about taking asi instead of feats. Feats give you an extra toy to play with and are usually really cool, but sometimes just learning the base system and all the things you character can do is enough. Adding in another lever to pull can just make things more confusing. Especially if you're playing a caster and have to figure out how your spells work. An asi is a passive, bonus that is guaranteed to work and will help you, and won't require you to learn any extra systems.
I am getting ready to start a new campaign, and have decided on cleric. I'm interested in feedback and thoughts from the community. I have a link to him right here.
Some details, and general info: We need to use standard array. I've wanted to play a dwarf for some time now, so I know the race I want to play. My goal for him is to be a good support cleric but not just a bandaid, so even though Life is a good domain I'm not that interested in it and am looking strongly at Peace. I dumped Str because I can use heavy armor just fine without proficiency, and because at second level he will take a class in Hexblade Warlock. I'm doing so for a few reasons, including part of my character's background and development. I am also doing it to get access to lots of the goodies a Hexblade gets including access to Shield, the ability to Curse, Hex Warrior, and Eldritch Blast. Are there any glaring issues with that? My understanding is that my spell progression will not be delayed by taking a level in Warlock, is that correct?
I haven't decided if I'm taking a second level in Hexblade yet, but I'm leaning against it. Anyway, please take a look and let me know what you think.
A couple things. You really only want one attack cantrip. I’d drop word of radiance. Keep guidance. Then take some other utility cantrip, light is good if there’s people in the party who needs it (I know you don’t, but if there’s others) mending is very useful, thaumaturgy is really fun.
From a mechanical standpoint, that level of warlock is not going to do much for you. With your cha, eldritch blast won’t be as effective and again, extra attack cantrips aren’t so useful. The bonus damage from curse is tiny. Attacking with cha will be better than str, but you really should just be casting. Peace domain should not really be in melee swinging a weapon, they’re not good at it.
You can’t use heavy armor without proficiency as a dwarf, you just don’t have to meet the str requirement.
You’ll need two spell foci, and need to switch back and forth between your cleric and warlock depending on which kind of spell you’re casting. And if your DM is enforcing somatic spell components, it gets even more confusing when you try to have a weapon and shield, since you have no free hands to hold either kind of component.
I get saying you want it for character reasons, but there’s some weirdness there in going hexlock. For one, you might think you know how your character will develop, but you should really leave open the idea that something else might happen, just theoretically. And, it really strikes me as odd that someone who worships a god of peace would also swear a pact to serve a weapon. Actually, now that I think of it, I can see some opportunities for some interesting tension but still kind of wierd. Like I’d really question your commitment to peace if you make a deal with a magic spirit weapon. Of course it’s your character, and maybe you have a really good reason and the story part will all work out in play better than it does on paper.
I agree with most of what Xalthu said.
You said "I dumped Str because I can use heavy armor just fine without proficiency," if you wear heavy armor as a dwalf your speed will not be reduced but you will still lack proficiency and the penaties for that make it completely unviable:
"If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can't cast spells."
Not being able to cast spells so shield and eldritch blast are out as are support cleric spells makes it unviable even if being able to use charisma for weapon attacks avoids the disadvantage. On top of that you would be significantly worse at things like avoiding fireballs and grapples.
Peace domain inspires people to "stand up against those forces that try to prevent peace from flourishing." so isn't necessarily a pacifist domain in fact the features are all centred abound making your friends better so it could easily be reflavoured into a "cooperation domain" but you would still need a reason make such a pact and as you don't start the campaign with warlock powers you would need ot make that pact during the campaign with story reasons for it, your DM might be willing and able have the offering of such a pact made to you early in the campaign but t is asking a lot to essentially have the parties first level built around getting you to a position where an entity from the shadowfell offers to make a pact with you.
Going back to heavy armor, their are plenty of cleric subclasses that offer proficiency with heavy armor, look at options like War (mostly foced on damage but probably goes best if you do multiclass into hexblade, Forge and Order. Also note however that while dwarves do not get the movement penalty if they do not meet the strength requirement for heavy armor they could still be encumbered, if you plan on being a cwarf with str 8 wearing heavy armor check with how your DM deals with encumberance (some ignore it, in which case you would be OK):
Standard Rules are you can carry up to 15 times your strength, while this isn't a restriction for most characters for you it is 120lb and you will be waering chain mail and a shield that take up more than half of that, add in a back pack, rope, rations and a waterskin and you are running out of spare capacity, especially when you get plate that weighs 10lb more.
With variant rules for encumberance you would be encumbered as soon as you are carrying 40lb so our speed would be reduced by 10ft even as a dwarf, and if you are carrying more than 80lb you would have a speed of 5ft and disadvantage on ability checks, attack roles and saving throws using dex, str or con (you would have to avoid this and could only really do so by getting others to carry everything for you except your armor, shield, warlock focus and possibly a weapon.
Multiclassing with warlock does impact spell progression. Unlike multiclassing with other casters the warlock pact slots and your spell slots are kept seperate. So for example at Cleric 2 warlock 1 you would have 3 1st level cleric spell slots (that refresh on a long rest) and 1st level warlock slot that refreshes on a short rest. (You can cast cleric spells in your warlock slot and vice versa). So you would not get access to second level spells until you take a third level in cleric (or warlock)
Note if you multiclass with other full casters while you wouldn't lose out on higher level spell slots you do lose out higher level spells known. A Cleric 2 / Druid 1 would have access to 2 second level spell slots but would only be able ot prepare 1st level spells so the 2nd level slots would have t obe used to upcast 2nd level spells.
I have since found that rule myself about proficiency with heavy armor, and you guys are absolutely right. I'm pretty new to 5e. I did drop my other attack cantrip. Glad to hear that taking Warlock does impede spell progression also, so I'm not up for that.
Another possibility is to not worry about the Hexblade at all, and stick with medium armor as well. He'd top out with Half Plate, but that's still pretty darn good. I could also move his stats around a bit, put a 14 into Dex and he'd be equal with splint mail without dealing with the proficiency.
I know I said I was sure I would take a dwarf, but I have considered a Mark of Detection Half-Elf or a Wildhunt Shifter as well. Our campaign will be the Waterdeep ones: Dragon Heist and Mad Mage. The Half-elf has perfect stat boosts and Detection could help I'm sure for the first six levels of our campaign, not so sure about the second. The Shifter has great stats too, and would have advantage on all Wisdom checks/skills while shifted, the Survival skill, temp HP's, etc. The Shifter in particular is tempting, here is a link to how I'd build him. I'd love to find a way to get the Shield spell if possible, but the Fey Touched feat with Misty Step could also work. Come to think of it Shadow Touched also seems good.
If you're playing in waterdeep, make sure your DM is OK with eberron races.
Shield is a good spell, but don't forget that casting it means fewer spell slots for your heals. That said, there's the magic initiate feat which can get it for you 1/day, plus a couple cantrips.
But if you are new to 5e, I'd really suggest two things. first, don't multi-class. Multi-classing poorly is about the only way to make an ineffective character in this edition. Wait until you have a firmer grasp of the rules before you start doing it so you can better understand the trade-offs. Second, really think about taking asi instead of feats. Feats give you an extra toy to play with and are usually really cool, but sometimes just learning the base system and all the things you character can do is enough. Adding in another lever to pull can just make things more confusing. Especially if you're playing a caster and have to figure out how your spells work. An asi is a passive, bonus that is guaranteed to work and will help you, and won't require you to learn any extra systems.
That's good advice. I appreciate the feedback.
J