First time player, had my first session last Saturday. So I have created a Hill Dwarf (wanted to use a warhammer and the WIS +1 and the extra HP) Tempest Cleric my deity of choice is Kord. My party has a halfling rogue and a tiefling warlock and I think the DM might bring in a druid or ranger NPC to help the group (campaign is a homebrew in a wilderness setting).... So I am tank, healer, and damage dealer all rolled in one. I want to try and make this character as well rounded as possible. Any help from veterans would be real handy. My stats are good (we rolled for them) the only one that is below average is charisma at a 9 (-1). Only at 150 xp but want to come up with a "road map" as it were so I know what I am going to do when the levels hit. Should I go for a feat at level 4? or take the stat boost?
Will your DM let you move your scores around? If so, I would swap DEX and CON, and at level 4 take the feat Resilient CON If your DM won't let you swap scores, I would take the feat War Caster at level 4. Either way, you want to have a boost to your concentration at level 4.
If your trying to be a tank and a healer your in a bit of a bind. You dont have the strength score for platemail (not that you would have it at first level) You dont need a dex bonus but you have a bit of one - which doesnt matter to your Armour Class (AC) if you are wearing heavy armor.
If the enemy can be blocked by you from passing and your party can attack from a distance - approach the enemy and take the dodge action. Its boring but later you can break the monotony with a spiritual weapon bonus action bop on the noggin. If your going to be taking a lot of attacks or just a ridiculously big attack, think about casting shield of faith on yourself first = bonus action for 10 minutes of +2 AC (but can be lost if you lose concentration) then dodge.
Why Dodge / cast shield of faith? Because one hit from even a cr1/4 creature will deal just under the amount of one healing spell. Its better to turn the hit into a miss entirely.
If the party is instead swamped from all directions or /and being shot from range you cant really tank - go on the offense and attempt to kill as efficiently as possible whether its by cantrip or weapon. Save your Bonus action for healing word to restore a party member on 0 hitpoints back into the fight. As its a bonus action you can still cantrip or hit with a weapon (but not cast another spell of first level or higher). After a bad fight the party needs to take a shortrest and heal using Hit Dice if you have the time and HD available - use these first not your healing if possible (it might be different if you were just the healer but if your tanking as well..
Always look for ways to increase your Armour class if your a tank - providing it doesnt prevent you stopping your party being hit - Using cover is beneficial unless it leaves your mates out in the open as plump and juicy alternatives to you.
You wont be a damage dealer, or shouldnt compared to your team mates. If they arent doing so already ask your rogue buddy to use missile weapons against big horrible death machines - when your adjacent to the monster as they need the sneak attack. And your warlucky charm will be throwing eldritch blasts so in tunnels and doors you should be able to maintain a chokepoint. In a wider corridoor (the DND standard 10 by 10 corridoor - and especially if your using a battle map, ask if you can stand right in the center anyway and stop people passing / what penalties would they get for trying to slide past you - reasonably when they provoke an Attack of opportunity you might have advantage to hit for example. Consider not having a weapon equipped - you can grapple if you have a hand free. A grappled target cant move. Grabbing a problem and holding it till the party bursts the pinata whilst you dodge it is a valuable move (but you really should have athletics proficiency if you want it to work more than 40% of the time.
In summation: tanks bleed = bad, tanks dodge = good. Minimalist healing in combat allows short resting out of it.
In the future: at 5th level of cleric you will get a 3rd level spell - spiritual guardians. This makes tanking a joy for clerics. Have a read, then remember to keep dodging in the best armour you can find and watch your enemies melt around you. Repeat over multiple encounters (it lasts 10 minutes) clear small dungeons with ease without rolling to hit once. Do watch to see if veins begin to twitch on the DM's head and if so stop using it.
If your trying to be a tank and a healer your in a bit of a bind. You dont have the strength score for platemail (not that you would have it at first level) You dont need a dex bonus but you have a bit of one - which doesnt matter to your Armour Class (AC) if you are wearing heavy armor.
If the enemy can be blocked by you from passing and your party can attack from a distance - approach the enemy and take the dodge action. Its boring but later you can break the monotony with a spiritual weapon bonus action bop on the noggin. If your going to be taking a lot of attacks or just a ridiculously big attack, think about casting shield of faith on yourself first = bonus action for 10 minutes of +2 AC (but can be lost if you lose concentration) then dodge.
Why Dodge / cast shield of faith? Because one hit from even a cr1/4 creature will deal just under the amount of one healing spell. Its better to turn the hit into a miss entirely.
If the party is instead swamped from all directions or /and being shot from range you cant really tank - go on the offense and attempt to kill as efficiently as possible whether its by cantrip or weapon. Save your Bonus action for healing word to restore a party member on 0 hitpoints back into the fight. As its a bonus action you can still cantrip or hit with a weapon (but not cast another spell of first level or higher). After a bad fight the party needs to take a shortrest and heal using Hit Dice if you have the time and HD available - use these first not your healing if possible (it might be different if you were just the healer but if your tanking as well..
Always look for ways to increase your Armour class if your a tank - providing it doesnt prevent you stopping your party being hit - Using cover is beneficial unless it leaves your mates out in the open as plump and juicy alternatives to you.
You wont be a damage dealer, or shouldnt compared to your team mates. If they arent doing so already ask your rogue buddy to use missile weapons against big horrible death machines - when your adjacent to the monster as they need the sneak attack. And your warlucky charm will be throwing eldritch blasts so in tunnels and doors you should be able to maintain a chokepoint. In a wider corridoor (the DND standard 10 by 10 corridoor - and especially if your using a battle map, ask if you can stand right in the center anyway and stop people passing / what penalties would they get for trying to slide past you - reasonably when they provoke an Attack of opportunity you might have advantage to hit for example. Consider not having a weapon equipped - you can grapple if you have a hand free. A grappled target cant move. Grabbing a problem and holding it till the party bursts the pinata whilst you dodge it is a valuable move (but you really should have athletics proficiency if you want it to work more than 40% of the time.
In summation: tanks bleed = bad, tanks dodge = good. Minimalist healing in combat allows short resting out of it.
In the future: at 5th level of cleric you will get a 3rd level spell - spiritual guardians. This makes tanking a joy for clerics. Have a read, then remember to keep dodging in the best armour you can find and watch your enemies melt around you. Repeat over multiple encounters (it lasts 10 minutes) clear small dungeons with ease without rolling to hit once. Do watch to see if veins begin to twitch on the DM's head and if so stop using it.
This was very informative thank you! I didn't even consider the dodge action. I do have heavy armor the Chain Mail and a shield (luckily thanks to my backstory my DM still let me have that and my holy symbol amulet) and I went with the war hammer. My plan going forward was to have shield of faith on me to bring me up to AC 20 and guidance for the roll bonus running almost constantly at least in combat. the grapple mechanic is interesting but I didn't take athletics. but for the most part I am hoping since we are lvl 1s and no one at the table had played before our first session that the DM will be somewhat lenient on us lol.
You cannot have both Shield of Faith and Guidance going at the same time because they both require concentration. And Guidance is more of an out-of-combat spell anyway.
Now if you meant Bless, it also requires concentration, so you'll have to choose either Shield of Faith or Bless. Personally, I would choose Bless, as it helps your entire party whereas Shield of Faith potentially only helps you.
Bless doesnt last as long and is about improving damage dealers who roll to hit or against 'save spam enemies. If your a tank let someone pick up the bless and keep shield of faith. (its ok to have both prepared but in tank terms save bless for those enemies that keep making saves. - Thats personal taste. Its a valid point to use bless in a group who all have AC scores which will be hit every round, these sort of groups rely more on killing the opposition before they bleed out, that style of play is usually saved for when there is no tank :)
The party consists of the melee cleric, a rogue, and a warlock, so all three should benefit from Bless. I do agree though that if someone else could pick up Bless, the cleric's concentration could be better spent elsewhere.
Quick question how to maximize heals. When should I start to worry about my party members health? Used to be main healer in raids while playing EQ2 and i would get stressed if main tanks health dipped below 50%. But being a lvl 1 cleric with only 2 spell slots I know I can't be that OCD. Should I look at it like Magic the Gathering? Where even if I have 1hp i still am alive? And use the healing spells in dire situations? or say screw em and just stabilize them when they go down?
Since there is no game play difference between a character at 1 HP and full HP, it's better to focus your resources on winning the situation at hand. Therefore, during combat, letting a teammate drop and reviving him or her with Healing Word is usually the optimal play. That way you still get to make an attack, and when it's your teammates turn, they can act normally too. And once combat is done, the teammate can spend their resources (hit dice) on healing during a short rest if able.
That being said, assuming your DM follows the Instant Death rule, you'll need to be cautious with the above strategy during levels 1, 2, and sometimes 3. At these levels, leaving a teammate at really low HP can mean Instant Death if a monster gets a lucky critical hit! And there's also the player's psychological aspect of having a character at really low HP during combat, but this can lead to good role playing moments.
Since there is no game play difference between a character at 1 HP and full HP, it's better to focus your resources on winning the situation at hand. Therefore, during combat, letting a teammate drop and reviving him or her with Healing Word is usually the optimal play. That way you still get to make an attack, and when it's your teammates turn, they can act normally too. And once combat is done, the teammate can spend their resources (hit dice) on healing during a short rest if able.
That being said, assuming your DM follows the Instant Death rule, you'll need to be cautious with the above strategy during levels 1, 2, and sometimes 3. At these levels, leaving a teammate at really low HP can mean Instant Death if a monster gets a lucky critical hit! And there's also the player's psychological aspect of having a character at really low HP during combat, but this can lead to good role playing moments.
Oh!! I need to ask about the Instant Death rule. I didn't even know that was a thing...
You mentioned having to be both tank and healer - you wont have enough magic to heal them - save it for emergency gluing of insides back into the stomach with Heaing word and let potions, short rest HD expenditure (and you preventing more incoming damage by shielding it with your armored self) take up the excess.
luckily my DM took pity on me and rolled a Soldier NPC to take up the tank slot. I will just be mainly a damage dealer on the front lines to help soak up damage.
At level 4 boost your Con up to 16. That'll make you more survivable as a tank. Because, as the healer, if you drop then everybody else drops too. Extra HP will help keep you up.
Use the first 1500 gp you can find to buy plate armor. With a shield that'll boost your AC to 20
At level 8 ... if you want to focus on doing damage - boost your Str to 16 to increase your chance of hitting with your Divine Strike ability (extra 1d8 thunder damage per melee hit). If you want to focus on being a tank - take either Heavy Armor Master or Tough as a feat. Heavy Armor Master reduces incoming damage, Tough boosts your HP to allow you to survive more hits.
Tempest Clerics are b.a.m.f.s. You'll be fine
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Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Someone said you can't use plate unless you get strength up to 16, that is not correct, as a dwarf you do not suffer the movement penalty for not having 15 strength. As you now have a soldier to act as primary tank and with your high wisdom an option is to mainly use spell damage and only get use melee weapons if the NPC need help or the enemy comes to you. This means you don't need to worry about strength so can use your ability improvements on Wis and Con or feats.
I am not convinced about heavy armour master at level 8, it reduces bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage from non magical weapons by 3, which in early levels is huge but by level 8 many attacks will be from magical weapons and even those that are not 3 points will usually only be a small part of the damage. Tough is a decent feat at that point if you want to tank however,
If you do want to be a tank another feat to consider is sentinel, this makes it much more difficult for the bad guys to attack your squishy friends. If you do go the tank route I would recommend someone else has some healing ability, or at least ability to stabilise. Assuming your warlock isn't Celestial and your soldier NPC isn't a paladin this probably means someone taking the healer or magic initiate feat or at least ensuring one or two people have healer's kits so you can be stabilised if you do down (without a check). Potions may also be an option depending on the campaign / your DM.
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First time player, had my first session last Saturday. So I have created a Hill Dwarf (wanted to use a warhammer and the WIS +1 and the extra HP) Tempest Cleric my deity of choice is Kord. My party has a halfling rogue and a tiefling warlock and I think the DM might bring in a druid or ranger NPC to help the group (campaign is a homebrew in a wilderness setting).... So I am tank, healer, and damage dealer all rolled in one. I want to try and make this character as well rounded as possible. Any help from veterans would be real handy. My stats are good (we rolled for them) the only one that is below average is charisma at a 9 (-1). Only at 150 xp but want to come up with a "road map" as it were so I know what I am going to do when the levels hit. Should I go for a feat at level 4? or take the stat boost?
What are your stats? That would help better answer your questions.
My bad!
Str - 14 Dex - 13 Con - 14 Int - 11 Wis - 18 Cha - 9
AC - 18. HP - 11
Will your DM let you move your scores around? If so, I would swap DEX and CON, and at level 4 take the feat Resilient CON If your DM won't let you swap scores, I would take the feat War Caster at level 4. Either way, you want to have a boost to your concentration at level 4.
And at level 8 I would bump WIS to 20.
No i cant switch stats. He wont allow it since we have already had our first session. I was thinking war caster at lvl 4 or bringing my CHA up.
If your trying to be a tank and a healer your in a bit of a bind. You dont have the strength score for platemail (not that you would have it at first level) You dont need a dex bonus but you have a bit of one - which doesnt matter to your Armour Class (AC) if you are wearing heavy armor.
If the enemy can be blocked by you from passing and your party can attack from a distance - approach the enemy and take the dodge action. Its boring but later you can break the monotony with a spiritual weapon bonus action bop on the noggin. If your going to be taking a lot of attacks or just a ridiculously big attack, think about casting shield of faith on yourself first = bonus action for 10 minutes of +2 AC (but can be lost if you lose concentration) then dodge.
Why Dodge / cast shield of faith? Because one hit from even a cr1/4 creature will deal just under the amount of one healing spell. Its better to turn the hit into a miss entirely.
If the party is instead swamped from all directions or /and being shot from range you cant really tank - go on the offense and attempt to kill as efficiently as possible whether its by cantrip or weapon. Save your Bonus action for healing word to restore a party member on 0 hitpoints back into the fight. As its a bonus action you can still cantrip or hit with a weapon (but not cast another spell of first level or higher). After a bad fight the party needs to take a shortrest and heal using Hit Dice if you have the time and HD available - use these first not your healing if possible (it might be different if you were just the healer but if your tanking as well..
Always look for ways to increase your Armour class if your a tank - providing it doesnt prevent you stopping your party being hit - Using cover is beneficial unless it leaves your mates out in the open as plump and juicy alternatives to you.
You wont be a damage dealer, or shouldnt compared to your team mates. If they arent doing so already ask your rogue buddy to use missile weapons against big horrible death machines - when your adjacent to the monster as they need the sneak attack. And your warlucky charm will be throwing eldritch blasts so in tunnels and doors you should be able to maintain a chokepoint. In a wider corridoor (the DND standard 10 by 10 corridoor - and especially if your using a battle map, ask if you can stand right in the center anyway and stop people passing / what penalties would they get for trying to slide past you - reasonably when they provoke an Attack of opportunity you might have advantage to hit for example. Consider not having a weapon equipped - you can grapple if you have a hand free. A grappled target cant move. Grabbing a problem and holding it till the party bursts the pinata whilst you dodge it is a valuable move (but you really should have athletics proficiency if you want it to work more than 40% of the time.
In summation: tanks bleed = bad, tanks dodge = good. Minimalist healing in combat allows short resting out of it.
In the future: at 5th level of cleric you will get a 3rd level spell - spiritual guardians. This makes tanking a joy for clerics. Have a read, then remember to keep dodging in the best armour you can find and watch your enemies melt around you. Repeat over multiple encounters (it lasts 10 minutes) clear small dungeons with ease without rolling to hit once. Do watch to see if veins begin to twitch on the DM's head and if so stop using it.
This was very informative thank you! I didn't even consider the dodge action. I do have heavy armor the Chain Mail and a shield (luckily thanks to my backstory my DM still let me have that and my holy symbol amulet) and I went with the war hammer. My plan going forward was to have shield of faith on me to bring me up to AC 20 and guidance for the roll bonus running almost constantly at least in combat. the grapple mechanic is interesting but I didn't take athletics. but for the most part I am hoping since we are lvl 1s and no one at the table had played before our first session that the DM will be somewhat lenient on us lol.
You cannot have both Shield of Faith and Guidance going at the same time because they both require concentration. And Guidance is more of an out-of-combat spell anyway.
Now if you meant Bless, it also requires concentration, so you'll have to choose either Shield of Faith or Bless. Personally, I would choose Bless, as it helps your entire party whereas Shield of Faith potentially only helps you.
Bless doesnt last as long and is about improving damage dealers who roll to hit or against 'save spam enemies. If your a tank let someone pick up the bless and keep shield of faith. (its ok to have both prepared but in tank terms save bless for those enemies that keep making saves. - Thats personal taste. Its a valid point to use bless in a group who all have AC scores which will be hit every round, these sort of groups rely more on killing the opposition before they bleed out, that style of play is usually saved for when there is no tank :)
The party consists of the melee cleric, a rogue, and a warlock, so all three should benefit from Bless. I do agree though that if someone else could pick up Bless, the cleric's concentration could be better spent elsewhere.
Quick question how to maximize heals. When should I start to worry about my party members health? Used to be main healer in raids while playing EQ2 and i would get stressed if main tanks health dipped below 50%. But being a lvl 1 cleric with only 2 spell slots I know I can't be that OCD. Should I look at it like Magic the Gathering? Where even if I have 1hp i still am alive? And use the healing spells in dire situations? or say screw em and just stabilize them when they go down?
Since there is no game play difference between a character at 1 HP and full HP, it's better to focus your resources on winning the situation at hand. Therefore, during combat, letting a teammate drop and reviving him or her with Healing Word is usually the optimal play. That way you still get to make an attack, and when it's your teammates turn, they can act normally too. And once combat is done, the teammate can spend their resources (hit dice) on healing during a short rest if able.
That being said, assuming your DM follows the Instant Death rule, you'll need to be cautious with the above strategy during levels 1, 2, and sometimes 3. At these levels, leaving a teammate at really low HP can mean Instant Death if a monster gets a lucky critical hit! And there's also the player's psychological aspect of having a character at really low HP during combat, but this can lead to good role playing moments.
Oh!! I need to ask about the Instant Death rule. I didn't even know that was a thing...
You mentioned having to be both tank and healer - you wont have enough magic to heal them - save it for emergency gluing of insides back into the stomach with Heaing word and let potions, short rest HD expenditure (and you preventing more incoming damage by shielding it with your armored self) take up the excess.
luckily my DM took pity on me and rolled a Soldier NPC to take up the tank slot. I will just be mainly a damage dealer on the front lines to help soak up damage.
At level 4 boost your Con up to 16. That'll make you more survivable as a tank. Because, as the healer, if you drop then everybody else drops too. Extra HP will help keep you up.
Use the first 1500 gp you can find to buy plate armor. With a shield that'll boost your AC to 20
At level 8 ... if you want to focus on doing damage - boost your Str to 16 to increase your chance of hitting with your Divine Strike ability (extra 1d8 thunder damage per melee hit). If you want to focus on being a tank - take either Heavy Armor Master or Tough as a feat. Heavy Armor Master reduces incoming damage, Tough boosts your HP to allow you to survive more hits.
Tempest Clerics are b.a.m.f.s. You'll be fine
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
Someone said you can't use plate unless you get strength up to 16, that is not correct, as a dwarf you do not suffer the movement penalty for not having 15 strength. As you now have a soldier to act as primary tank and with your high wisdom an option is to mainly use spell damage and only get use melee weapons if the NPC need help or the enemy comes to you. This means you don't need to worry about strength so can use your ability improvements on Wis and Con or feats.
I am not convinced about heavy armour master at level 8, it reduces bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage from non magical weapons by 3, which in early levels is huge but by level 8 many attacks will be from magical weapons and even those that are not 3 points will usually only be a small part of the damage. Tough is a decent feat at that point if you want to tank however,
If you do want to be a tank another feat to consider is sentinel, this makes it much more difficult for the bad guys to attack your squishy friends. If you do go the tank route I would recommend someone else has some healing ability, or at least ability to stabilise. Assuming your warlock isn't Celestial and your soldier NPC isn't a paladin this probably means someone taking the healer or magic initiate feat or at least ensuring one or two people have healer's kits so you can be stabilised if you do down (without a check). Potions may also be an option depending on the campaign / your DM.