Basically I chose dwarf as species with farmer as the background to double up on toughness.
At level 1 I chose the heavy armor option. At level 4, warcaster boosting wisdom. Level 8, asi to wisdom 20. At 12 I chose Shield master to boost strength and give those benefits, at 16 durable to boost con and gain that benefit, and then the epic boon where you get Last Stand.
Items in the build are Dwarven plate armor, ring of rejuvination, and a few other goodies.
I think that I might want to multiclass the build as an alternative. I am curious what might be a more optimized way to go about it? I love playing a Light Domain cleric to get fireball at level 5 so it can’t multi before then. But beyond that I am open to suggestions.
For instance: Ranger Multiclass Monk Multiclass Druid Multiclass Barbarian Multiclass?
I could go cleric 17, x 3 and still get 9th level spells. I am curious what others would do? Anything to make a cleric more effective, more tanky, more optimized?
Treatmonk had a wizard build that started with ranger 1 in order to get armor and weapon specs.
If I did a simple Ranger 1 dip at PC6 I would still have a full caster level there. I don’t need the armor but the weapon specializations would be a nice boost. Problem is I don’t have True Strike on this build so it would just be str 15 until pc13 now. Despite the synergy with the wisdom stat, I feel like a ranger dip is pretty pointless unless I swap out my background for sage, which I could, but then I’d lose tough, which I want more. I guess I could change the race to high elf or human and get true strike, but then I lose dwarven toughness. I think ranger is simply a craptastic dip for this cleric.
A druid dip for one level would get me a full caster level, a few more cantrips, and more level 1 spell preps. A 2 level dip would get me wildshape, which could have its uses for a light domain cleric. A 3 level dip would get me a subclass. Sea Druid has a fantastic bonus action attack that goes off the wisdom stat. Sea Druid would probably be my pick for that reason alone.
I think a barbarian dip would be an interesting choice. Usually I would not want to rage and cancel out my spell casting. But the subclasses offer some great bonuses. Path of the Zealot in particular seems to support this particular build with some extra damage per round, but more importantly the Warrior of the Gods ability where we can heal ourselves on a bonus action. This might be underpowered compared to 3 more cleric levels. Ultimately though it is probably not a good idea to have a healer cut off from healing spells.
Monk would give me martial arts, but I think I’d have to rework the whole build to make monk work. Not happening.
A fighter dip would be possible. I don’t think I’d gain much from eldritch knight 3, but battle-master might have some benefits. Those maneuvers would give me some more options and second wind and action surge are always nice.
In my opinion, Sea Druid 3 is probably the best option for light domain clerics because it gives us more action economy, more low level prepares, and the utility of wiod shape is unbeatable.
Are you wanting to play this character as a full caster or with some martial flavor?
If you want some martial flavor, you could take a single level of fighter for CON save proficiency, a fighting style, and Weapon Masteries, then take Magic Initiate - Wizard to get True Strike so that you can make attacks with your Wisdom to be more SAD (single ability dependent). You can take this a step further if you are willing to go with medium armor and take Defense as your fighting style (Plate + Shield = 20AC = Half-Plate + Shield + Defense) True Strike adds d6's of radiant damage to your attacks which can stack with Divine Strike's d8's at levels 7 and 14, so that one melee hit can be pretty potent. Couple the melee attacks with a strong concentration spell like Spirit Guardians or Conjure Celestial and the great debuffing from Warding Flare, and you will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
Are you wanting to play this character as a full caster or with some martial flavor?
If you want some martial flavor, you could take a single level of fighter for CON save proficiency, a fighting style, and Weapon Masteries, then take Magic Initiate - Wizard to get True Strike so that you can make attacks with your Wisdom to be more SAD (single ability dependent). You can take this a step further if you are willing to go with medium armor and take Defense as your fighting style (Plate + Shield = 20AC = Half-Plate + Shield + Defense) True Strike adds d6's of radiant damage to your attacks which can stack with Divine Strike's d8's at levels 7 and 14, so that one melee hit can be pretty potent. Couple the melee attacks with a strong concentration spell like Spirit Guardians or Conjure Celestial and the great debuffing from Warding Flare, and you will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
I think primarily as a caster but still capable of melee when needed. Enemies tend to prefer melee in D&D so I either need a melee option or take spell sniper. But I really like the idea of him being this tank of a cleric. With the current build and gear without any spells he has 25 ac and 238 hitpoints @20 and that is before spells like aide or others that add hp.
I will take a look at star druid again. Thematically that is pretty spot on from an rp pov. Probably better than sea druid.
I like the idea of taking a level of fighter @1 and getting the defense fighting style so I could use half-plate instead of full plate. That would allow me to drop strength to 13 I believe. I could then take sage as the background to get true strike. I still want tough in the build. I could probably bump cha to 13 and take 2 levels of warlock to get an origin feat as an invocation and take tough that way. The downside is I’d be losing 3 levels of spell slot progression.
I suppose I could ditch the dwarf class and lose 1 hp per level in exchange for true strike and keep the farmer background. I could even play a small human that gets mistaken for a dwarf …. LOL. Now that’s some cheese! :D
I will take another look at star druid. I really like the Wrath of the Sea ability but it requires melee range to activate, and maybe that is bad for casters.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
This is very dependent on your DM homebrewing rules concerning hands (unless you play threekeen).
A stars druid only has access to guiding bolt if they are holding their star map. Guiding bolt has a somantic component but not a material component so a second hand is needed to cast guiding bolt leaving no hands free for a weapon, shield, held magic items such as staff of healing etc. Many (most?) DM will give some leeway on this but you would need to find out from your DM what you would be able to do.
Assuming this is for a campaign, and not a level 20 one shot, I wouldn't think much about level 20, very few compaigns get to level 20 and those that do only are level 20 for a tiny fraction of the campaign. If, for example you are looking to take 3 levels in (stars) druid when you reach level 7, how do the extra cantrips and spell preps compensate for not having 4th level spells or blessed strikes, when you hit level 8 you still wont have 4th level spells or blessed strikes and also wont have a feat but will gain wild shape, at ninth level you will also miss 5th level spells in exchange for the stars druid subclass features. After that you will continually be 3 levels behind on or cleric abilities in exchange for your stars duid features.
If in doubt I think the best option is to go single class, especially if you are a fairly inexperienced player, multiclass has a lot of traps that can make characters very weak if you are not careful.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
This is very dependent on your DM homebrewing rules concerning hands (unless you play threekeen).
A stars druid only has access to guiding bolt if they are holding their star map. Guiding bolt has a somantic component but not a material component so a second hand is needed to cast guiding bolt leaving no hands free for a weapon, shield, held magic items such as staff of healing etc. Many (most?) DM will give some leeway on this but you would need to find out from your DM what you would be able to do.
Assuming this is for a campaign, and not a level 20 one shot, I wouldn't think much about level 20, very few compaigns get to level 20 and those that do only are level 20 for a tiny fraction of the campaign. If, for example you are looking to take 3 levels in (stars) druid when you reach level 7, how do the extra cantrips and spell preps compensate for not having 4th level spells or blessed strikes, when you hit level 8 you still wont have 4th level spells or blessed strikes and also wont have a feat but will gain wild shape, at ninth level you will also miss 5th level spells in exchange for the stars druid subclass features. After that you will continually be 3 levels behind on or cleric abilities in exchange for your stars duid features.
If in doubt I think the best option is to go single class, especially if you are a fairly inexperienced player, multiclass has a lot of traps that can make characters very weak if you are not careful.
I agree multiclassing has many traps.
The thing is I think once a Light Domain cleric gets spirit guardians and fireball at level 5 they will often upcast them. So multiclassing into druid is not that huge of a drag because upcast spirit guardians is pretty OP.
The reason I am even considering sea druid is because of action economy. Wrath of the sea is probably the best bonus action attack in the game and does not require concentration. Whats more it uses cold damage rather than fire. I would probably cap it at 3 levels and go the rest of the way cleric.
Star Druid is interesting too but the bonus action “archer” is just a 1d8 at 3 I believe and WotS is 3d6 and grows to 5d6 based on wisdom modifier and not druid level.
I agree that the hands problem is a problem…. I have to check but I believe the star map could be on an amulet…. I might be confusing it with something else. But yes that would exclude a shield at the very least.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
This is very dependent on your DM homebrewing rules concerning hands (unless you play threekeen).
A stars druid only has access to guiding bolt if they are holding their star map. Guiding bolt has a somantic component but not a material component so a second hand is needed to cast guiding bolt leaving no hands free for a weapon, shield, held magic items such as staff of healing etc. Many (most?) DM will give some leeway on this but you would need to find out from your DM what you would be able to do.
Assuming this is for a campaign, and not a level 20 one shot, I wouldn't think much about level 20, very few compaigns get to level 20 and those that do only are level 20 for a tiny fraction of the campaign. If, for example you are looking to take 3 levels in (stars) druid when you reach level 7, how do the extra cantrips and spell preps compensate for not having 4th level spells or blessed strikes, when you hit level 8 you still wont have 4th level spells or blessed strikes and also wont have a feat but will gain wild shape, at ninth level you will also miss 5th level spells in exchange for the stars druid subclass features. After that you will continually be 3 levels behind on or cleric abilities in exchange for your stars duid features.
If in doubt I think the best option is to go single class, especially if you are a fairly inexperienced player, multiclass has a lot of traps that can make characters very weak if you are not careful.
I agree multiclassing has many traps.
The thing is I think once a Light Domain cleric gets spirit guardians and fireball at level 5 they will often upcast them. So multiclassing into druid is not that huge of a drag because upcast spirit guardians is pretty OP.
The reason I am even considering sea druid is because of action economy. Wrath of the sea is probably the best bonus action attack in the game and does not require concentration. Whats more it uses cold damage rather than fire. I would probably cap it at 3 levels and go the rest of the way cleric.
Star Druid is interesting too but the bonus action “archer” is just a 1d8 at 3 I believe and WotS is 3d6 and grows to 5d6 based on wisdom modifier and not druid level.
I agree that the hands problem is a problem…. I have to check but I believe the star map could be on an amulet…. I might be confusing it with something else. But yes that would exclude a shield at the very least.
The Star Druid Archer form does 1d8+WisMod damage, so it is comparable to WotS (average of 7.5 vs 9.5 at level 3). The advantage archer form has over WotS is that you can deal that damage at range, so it is preferable for builds that want to keep their distance and sling spells. If you are considering building your character with some martial tendencies, then WotS will work well for you since you will want to be up close anyway.
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I am reposting this here in the cleric’s forum:
In Baldur’s Gate 3 I played a Light Domain Cleric and it was a blast. I have a Level 20 pure cleric build for use in a campaign.
Starting stats are peak wisdom (15+2), then strength (15) and con (14), with dex and int at 10 I believe and cha at 8.
Link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/packman767_161451093.pdf
Basically I chose dwarf as species with farmer as the background to double up on toughness.
At level 1 I chose the heavy armor option. At level 4, warcaster boosting wisdom. Level 8, asi to wisdom 20. At 12 I chose Shield master to boost strength and give those benefits, at 16 durable to boost con and gain that benefit, and then the epic boon where you get Last Stand.
Items in the build are Dwarven plate armor, ring of rejuvination, and a few other goodies.
I think that I might want to multiclass the build as an alternative. I am curious what might be a more optimized way to go about it? I love playing a Light Domain cleric to get fireball at level 5 so it can’t multi before then. But beyond that I am open to suggestions.
For instance:
Ranger Multiclass
Monk Multiclass
Druid Multiclass
Barbarian Multiclass?
I could go cleric 17, x 3 and still get 9th level spells. I am curious what others would do? Anything to make a cleric more effective, more tanky, more optimized?
Give me some ideas even if they are crazy! LOL
Treatmonk had a wizard build that started with ranger 1 in order to get armor and weapon specs.
If I did a simple Ranger 1 dip at PC6 I would still have a full caster level there. I don’t need the armor but the weapon specializations would be a nice boost. Problem is I don’t have True Strike on this build so it would just be str 15 until pc13 now. Despite the synergy with the wisdom stat, I feel like a ranger dip is pretty pointless unless I swap out my background for sage, which I could, but then I’d lose tough, which I want more. I guess I could change the race to high elf or human and get true strike, but then I lose dwarven toughness. I think ranger is simply a craptastic dip for this cleric.
A druid dip for one level would get me a full caster level, a few more cantrips, and more level 1 spell preps. A 2 level dip would get me wildshape, which could have its uses for a light domain cleric. A 3 level dip would get me a subclass. Sea Druid has a fantastic bonus action attack that goes off the wisdom stat. Sea Druid would probably be my pick for that reason alone.
I think a barbarian dip would be an interesting choice. Usually I would not want to rage and cancel out my spell casting. But the subclasses offer some great bonuses. Path of the Zealot in particular seems to support this particular build with some extra damage per round, but more importantly the Warrior of the Gods ability where we can heal ourselves on a bonus action. This might be underpowered compared to 3 more cleric levels. Ultimately though it is probably not a good idea to have a healer cut off from healing spells.
Monk would give me martial arts, but I think I’d have to rework the whole build to make monk work. Not happening.
A fighter dip would be possible. I don’t think I’d gain much from eldritch knight 3, but battle-master might have some benefits. Those maneuvers would give me some more options and second wind and action surge are always nice.
In my opinion, Sea Druid 3 is probably the best option for light domain clerics because it gives us more action economy, more low level prepares, and the utility of wiod shape is unbeatable.
Are you wanting to play this character as a full caster or with some martial flavor?
If you want some martial flavor, you could take a single level of fighter for CON save proficiency, a fighting style, and Weapon Masteries, then take Magic Initiate - Wizard to get True Strike so that you can make attacks with your Wisdom to be more SAD (single ability dependent). You can take this a step further if you are willing to go with medium armor and take Defense as your fighting style (Plate + Shield = 20AC = Half-Plate + Shield + Defense) True Strike adds d6's of radiant damage to your attacks which can stack with Divine Strike's d8's at levels 7 and 14, so that one melee hit can be pretty potent. Couple the melee attacks with a strong concentration spell like Spirit Guardians or Conjure Celestial and the great debuffing from Warding Flare, and you will be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
If you want to play as a pure caster, I would consider a Stars Druid multiclass. The Starry Form feature offers an easy and reliable way to weaponize your bonus action from range (Archer), and Star Map gives you plenty of free castings of Guiding Bolt each day. If you are playing support for a fight, the Chalice Starry Form gives you a nice boost to your healing spells, or the Dragon Form for a great boost to your concentration checks. It also has the benefit of being a full caster, so your spell slot progression won't be slowed. Plus, the mix is very thematic - the Starlight Cleric. Cast [Tooltip Not Found] on round 1 and activate your Starry Form, then on subsequent rounds cast Guiding Bolt to help your allies and fire arrows of light from your archer form with your bonus action. If you go this route, I would probably take 3-4 levels of Druid right after getting to Cleric 6 for the Improved Warding Flare.
I think primarily as a caster but still capable of melee when needed. Enemies tend to prefer melee in D&D so I either need a melee option or take spell sniper. But I really like the idea of him being this tank of a cleric. With the current build and gear without any spells he has 25 ac and 238 hitpoints @20 and that is before spells like aide or others that add hp.
I will take a look at star druid again. Thematically that is pretty spot on from an rp pov. Probably better than sea druid.
I like the idea of taking a level of fighter @1 and getting the defense fighting style so I could use half-plate instead of full plate. That would allow me to drop strength to 13 I believe. I could then take sage as the background to get true strike. I still want tough in the build. I could probably bump cha to 13 and take 2 levels of warlock to get an origin feat as an invocation and take tough that way. The downside is I’d be losing 3 levels of spell slot progression.
I suppose I could ditch the dwarf class and lose 1 hp per level in exchange for true strike and keep the farmer background. I could even play a small human that gets mistaken for a dwarf …. LOL. Now that’s some cheese! :D
I will take another look at star druid. I really like the Wrath of the Sea ability but it requires melee range to activate, and maybe that is bad for casters.
This is very dependent on your DM homebrewing rules concerning hands (unless you play threekeen).
A stars druid only has access to guiding bolt if they are holding their star map. Guiding bolt has a somantic component but not a material component so a second hand is needed to cast guiding bolt leaving no hands free for a weapon, shield, held magic items such as staff of healing etc. Many (most?) DM will give some leeway on this but you would need to find out from your DM what you would be able to do.
Assuming this is for a campaign, and not a level 20 one shot, I wouldn't think much about level 20, very few compaigns get to level 20 and those that do only are level 20 for a tiny fraction of the campaign. If, for example you are looking to take 3 levels in (stars) druid when you reach level 7, how do the extra cantrips and spell preps compensate for not having 4th level spells or blessed strikes, when you hit level 8 you still wont have 4th level spells or blessed strikes and also wont have a feat but will gain wild shape, at ninth level you will also miss 5th level spells in exchange for the stars druid subclass features. After that you will continually be 3 levels behind on or cleric abilities in exchange for your stars duid features.
If in doubt I think the best option is to go single class, especially if you are a fairly inexperienced player, multiclass has a lot of traps that can make characters very weak if you are not careful.
I agree multiclassing has many traps.
The thing is I think once a Light Domain cleric gets spirit guardians and fireball at level 5 they will often upcast them. So multiclassing into druid is not that huge of a drag because upcast spirit guardians is pretty OP.
The reason I am even considering sea druid is because of action economy. Wrath of the sea is probably the best bonus action attack in the game and does not require concentration. Whats more it uses cold damage rather than fire. I would probably cap it at 3 levels and go the rest of the way cleric.
Star Druid is interesting too but the bonus action “archer” is just a 1d8 at 3 I believe and WotS is 3d6 and grows to 5d6 based on wisdom modifier and not druid level.
I agree that the hands problem is a problem…. I have to check but I believe the star map could be on an amulet…. I might be confusing it with something else. But yes that would exclude a shield at the very least.
The Star Druid Archer form does 1d8+WisMod damage, so it is comparable to WotS (average of 7.5 vs 9.5 at level 3). The advantage archer form has over WotS is that you can deal that damage at range, so it is preferable for builds that want to keep their distance and sling spells. If you are considering building your character with some martial tendencies, then WotS will work well for you since you will want to be up close anyway.