By "Black Ops," I mean either infiltration or assassination (or both, although I think the two are slightly different skill sets). While it's true that there are other classes better suited for "Black Ops" which could still be a member of a religious organization, I'm interested in figuring out if this is something which could make a reasonable build (preferably single-classed).
What skills are best to have proficiency in? Is there a suitable out-of-the-box Background?
I feel like the following skills are best for an infiltrator:
Stealth
Deception
Persuasion
Perception
Sleight of Hand
Insight
Of those skills, only Insight and Persuasion are Cleric class skills, so anything else would have to be gotten from the Background (or possibly species). And obviously, the ability spread means the cleric can't be strong in all those skills at once, so they would need to focus on a subset.
Stealth is always pretty useful. Perception is also useful as well, the better you are at seeing and hearing trouble ahead of time, the better chance you have to avoid it.
No particular Origin Feat stands out to me, but Skilled seems the most useful to gain the proficiencies I'd otherwise lack. Magic Initiate: Wizard is another good one for some useful spells not on the Cleric list (Minor Illusion, Message, Silent Image).
For Subclass, the one which is obviously most suitable for infiltration is the Trickery Cleric, nearly every spell added by that subclass would be useful for Infiltration. The big downside is that because Clerics tend to get powers from a deity, as I understand things, only deities who have Trickery as a Domain can provide that skillset to clerics (barring DM permission, or course). That could limit what religion your PC follows.
What are your thoughts on whether an infiltrator cleric is reasonable, and what that build would look like?
I assume you are part of a team. Therefore, I think you can reduce some of this that you mention. That said, redundancy is good, but should be secondary to getting the roles completed 1st.
1st assumption, you are not the face, but probably the "medic". You want a high wisdom to allow for the most efficient use of spells.
2nd assumption, You want a high dex to allow for stealth and armor that is "stealthy." As for slight of hand, if the cleric is the best lockpicker/trap disarmament, the party is in trouble.
3rd assumption, you want good strength and good CON. You want to be able to pull your weight (no pun intended) so you can hit/damage with a weapon and carry "supplies" . Also you want strength to up your athletic skill. You will probably be doing a lot climbing/lifting/weapon swinging and those would be strength.
A good black ops team has organization and actual roles/jobs that have been pre picked. There is no one person can do it all.
There is no need for CHA and those skills. Deception is not needed. If you go down the path of CHA based skills you will lose out on the need for the other pillars that are much more valuable. Let those classes that need a high CHA be good with Deception/Persuasion.
As origin feats go Alert is one of the best. By having a high initiative, you can decide how to proceed forward even if it is advancing in the other direction.
Lastly, darkvison is extremely important. If every team member should has that, there is no need to have any light. If you have a torch/lantern you will be seen long before you can see. What good is being invisible if you need light to move forward. In my opinion having darkvison trumps some of those skills.
I assume you are part of a team. Therefore, I think you can reduce some of this that you mention. That said, redundancy is good, but should be secondary to getting the roles completed 1st.
1st assumption, you are not the face, but probably the "medic". You want a high wisdom to allow for the most efficient use of spells.
2nd assumption, You want a high dex to allow for stealth and armor that is "stealthy." As for slight of hand, if the cleric is the best lockpicker/trap disarmament, the party is in trouble.
3rd assumption, you want good strength and good CON. You want to be able to pull your weight (no pun intended) so you can hit/damage with a weapon and carry "supplies" . Also you want strength to up your athletic skill. You will probably be doing a lot climbing/lifting/weapon swinging and those would be strength.
A good black ops team has organization and actual roles/jobs that have been pre picked. There is no one person can do it all.
There is no need for CHA and those skills. Deception is not needed. If you go down the path of CHA based skills you will lose out on the need for the other pillars that are much more valuable. Let those classes that need a high CHA be good with Deception/Persuasion.
As origin feats go Alert is one of the best. By having a high initiative, you can decide how to proceed forward even if it is advancing in the other direction.
Lastly, darkvison is extremely important. If every team member should has that, there is no need to have any light. If you have a torch/lantern you will be seen long before you can see. What good is being invisible if you need light to move forward. In my opinion having darkvison trumps some of those skills.
Some interesting points.
You're right that one PC can't do everything, and yet you're suggesting high or good in four abilities, which is unlikely even if you're using rolled stats. At the very least, high STR to be good at carrying things is not what I have in mind for the best allocation of scores. Being able to hit things in melee is also only a "nice-to-have" for a primary caster.
You're probably right about CHA not being important for a black-uniforms-and-Goggles-of-Night team. It might be good for a spy-type seeking infiltration, though.
Alert is good feat for characters generally, but I don't think it matches the utility of spells you otherwise couldn't have.
Not sure if you considered race but Wood Elf would be great.
Get Perception and Darkvision
35 ft speed
Pass w/o trace as a spell. So you can save points on Dex
Another interesting idea, but the Trickery Domain already has Pass Without Trace and many other spells useful for these archetypes, and I'm a little reluctant to "waste" a "free" always-prepared spell.
The four abilities are in order of priority. Put your top score in wisdom, the next in DEX the next two in CON/STR. I understand you can't have 4 high scores. ergo the priority. As for alert, you asked for a black ops type cleric. Initiative is very important. Being able to go early is probably more important then many generic spells.
I just think we each have a slightly different interpretation, which is probably my fault for using the phrase "black ops." I was trying to think about tools to get someplace they shouldn't be with less combat.
By "Black Ops," I mean either infiltration or assassination (or both, although I think the two are slightly different skill sets). While it's true that there are other classes better suited for "Black Ops" which could still be a member of a religious organization, I'm interested in figuring out if this is something which could make a reasonable build (preferably single-classed).
What skills are best to have proficiency in? Is there a suitable out-of-the-box Background?
I feel like the following skills are best for an infiltrator:
Of those skills, only Insight and Persuasion are Cleric class skills, so anything else would have to be gotten from the Background (or possibly species). And obviously, the ability spread means the cleric can't be strong in all those skills at once, so they would need to focus on a subset.
Stealth is always pretty useful. Perception is also useful as well, the better you are at seeing and hearing trouble ahead of time, the better chance you have to avoid it.
No particular Origin Feat stands out to me, but Skilled seems the most useful to gain the proficiencies I'd otherwise lack. Magic Initiate: Wizard is another good one for some useful spells not on the Cleric list (Minor Illusion, Message, Silent Image).
For Subclass, the one which is obviously most suitable for infiltration is the Trickery Cleric, nearly every spell added by that subclass would be useful for Infiltration. The big downside is that because Clerics tend to get powers from a deity, as I understand things, only deities who have Trickery as a Domain can provide that skillset to clerics (barring DM permission, or course). That could limit what religion your PC follows.
What are your thoughts on whether an infiltrator cleric is reasonable, and what that build would look like?
I assume you are part of a team. Therefore, I think you can reduce some of this that you mention. That said, redundancy is good, but should be secondary to getting the roles completed 1st.
1st assumption, you are not the face, but probably the "medic". You want a high wisdom to allow for the most efficient use of spells.
2nd assumption, You want a high dex to allow for stealth and armor that is "stealthy." As for slight of hand, if the cleric is the best lockpicker/trap disarmament, the party is in trouble.
3rd assumption, you want good strength and good CON. You want to be able to pull your weight (no pun intended) so you can hit/damage with a weapon and carry "supplies" . Also you want strength to up your athletic skill. You will probably be doing a lot climbing/lifting/weapon swinging and those would be strength.
A good black ops team has organization and actual roles/jobs that have been pre picked. There is no one person can do it all.
There is no need for CHA and those skills. Deception is not needed. If you go down the path of CHA based skills you will lose out on the need for the other pillars that are much more valuable. Let those classes that need a high CHA be good with Deception/Persuasion.
As origin feats go Alert is one of the best. By having a high initiative, you can decide how to proceed forward even if it is advancing in the other direction.
Lastly, darkvison is extremely important. If every team member should has that, there is no need to have any light. If you have a torch/lantern you will be seen long before you can see. What good is being invisible if you need light to move forward. In my opinion having darkvison trumps some of those skills.
Alert is also a redundancy as if one member flubs the initiative, the cleric can swap order/places.
Not sure if you considered race but Wood Elf would be great.
Get Perception and Darkvision
35 ft speed
Pass w/o trace as a spell. So you can save points on Dex
Some interesting points.
You're right that one PC can't do everything, and yet you're suggesting high or good in four abilities, which is unlikely even if you're using rolled stats. At the very least, high STR to be good at carrying things is not what I have in mind for the best allocation of scores. Being able to hit things in melee is also only a "nice-to-have" for a primary caster.
You're probably right about CHA not being important for a black-uniforms-and-Goggles-of-Night team. It might be good for a spy-type seeking infiltration, though.
Alert is good feat for characters generally, but I don't think it matches the utility of spells you otherwise couldn't have.
Another interesting idea, but the Trickery Domain already has Pass Without Trace and many other spells useful for these archetypes, and I'm a little reluctant to "waste" a "free" always-prepared spell.
The four abilities are in order of priority. Put your top score in wisdom, the next in DEX the next two in CON/STR. I understand you can't have 4 high scores. ergo the priority. As for alert, you asked for a black ops type cleric. Initiative is very important. Being able to go early is probably more important then many generic spells.
I just think we each have a slightly different interpretation, which is probably my fault for using the phrase "black ops." I was trying to think about tools to get someplace they shouldn't be with less combat.
Definitely different interpretation.