Like a lot of people out there, I recognized the allure of these two storm-based classes and wondered about how they might synergize. I am enjoying this somewhat ludicrous build and I wanted to share it with anyone else who pondered this idea, but didn't go through the trouble of creating it. It's a somewhat MAD build and doesn't optimize particularly well, but it is loads of fun and fairly difficult for DMs to deal with even from the first multiclass level.
Starting stats - Disclaimer: I got lucky with a roll and landed several decent stats which made my character slightly more effective than if you use a standard array. I will be using the standard array for demonstration purposes, but your mileage may vary. 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
STR - 15
DEX - 10
CON - 12
WIS - 13
INT - 8
CHA - 14
My top priority was STR. This character was always going to be a melee character for me. The second highest stat I chose was CHA. This is a bit tricky, but I was looking ahead. The third stat was WIS. This might seem a little contrary to a cleric build, but the logic is that the cleric abilities used will be enhancements to the melee capabilities of the character. There will be few, if any, requirements for saves against WIS for enemies and few, if any, boosts to beneficial spells from WIS mod. The reason I prioritized CHA over WIS was that more offensive spells which directly attack enemies and rely on the casting stat will come from later sorcerer levels. CON is always important, especially since you are a melee character. If you have an odd CON score and want to prioritize it over WIS and consider something like Resilient later on, that's feasible, but might be overkill with War Caster. DEX and INT were somewhat dump stats.
Race - I chose Dragonborn. As someone who is not an optimizer, I won't tell you a certain race is "better", but you can look at the three primary stats for this build and identify races that get appropriate boosts if you like. It just so happens that the Dragonborn is a pretty good race here. The STR and CHA boosts play well together later when you multi-class.
Arms and Armor - My build relies heavily upon Polearm Master, so I took the Glaive as my weapon. The lethality of this combo will become more apparent in a moment. Obviously, you want the heaviest armor you can get. You're a front line melee cleric.
Progression - This is the basis of how the build develops. I started as a cleric and took 4 levels until I got the Polearm Master feat. At this point, I'm playing the character like a fairly typical melee Tempest Cleric. I take cleric spells that protect me, like Shield of Faith, and small heals like Healing Word. Having PAM doesn't improve the domain abilities of this character very well yet. The character may be fun, but sort of lacking potential. That is why, at 5th level, I take a multi-class dip into Storm Sorcerer.
At this point, you get a very useful Storm Sorcerer ability that allows you to move 10ft without provoking. As a front line character often in melee range, you gain great short range mobility. With PAM, this also means you can use this movement to move outside of enemy reach, but within your own, setting you up for the PAM opportunity attack when the enemy tries to re-engage you. For sorcerer spells, you get 4 cantrips and 2 spells. I took Booming Blade as the first and most obvious choice. It allows a melee attack as part of the cast and, when combined with PAM, helps you lock down melee opponents outside of their effective range, unless they have reach. Your party will appreciate this if they are not capable of taking on enemies face to face. Keep in mind Booming Blade does THUNDER damage and does not work with your abilities, but that's okay. We get another spell that does. The second cantrip I took was Lightning Lure. Any and all lightning spells are incredibly potent for this character, so a lightning cantrip is especially good given the next feat we're going to take. For the spells, I took Shield because your AC will not be competitive with a shield-bearer and Thunderwave because this character excels at moving around the battlefield and moving their enemies around the battlefield.
The next big milestone for this character is after 4 levels of sorcerer when I took War Caster. With PAM, you have increased range and the ability to use your opportunity attack to cast a spell. The spells that fit the War Caster text are somewhat limited, but that cantrip we took 4 levels earlier, Lightning Lure, fits the bill, as does Booming Blade. These two spells give me an option when an OA is triggered. If the enemy is trying to attack an ally, I can pull them to me instead or I can attempt to stun them in place. Booming Blade will do more damage since you're melee based, but Lightning Lure offers some control over enemy placement, which is an often under-utilized ability. NOTE: There has been some debate about War Caster and PAM playing nice together with Booming Blade when making an OA at your 10ft range (outside the range of Booming Blade), but you have a sorcerer ability to extend the range of 5ft spells, so this restriction no longer applies to you if you spend a sorcerer point. The point is moot inside 10 ft.
All of this is setup for the next milestone. 2 levels of cleric later, you unlock the domain feature Thunderous Strike. This allows you to knock an enemy 10 feet away if you deal lightning damage to them. Imagine, if you will, an enemy tries to run past you to get to a caster. You have 10ft reach due to PAM and they trigger an OA. You use it to cast Lightning Lure thanks to your War Caster feat and pull them 10 feet closer. The lightning damage triggers, your specialty, and then you blast them 10 feet away from you. Mind you, it doesn't say 10 ft away in a specific direction, just away from you. So you could, given DM discretion, send them back where they came from or place them inconveniently for their next action. Even worse, what happens when a druid has Spike Growth on the ground and you're pushing and pulling an enemy through it? Theoretically, that's another 8d4 damage from the druid's 2nd level spell. This level of battlefield control will define the playstyle of this character. We're also done with the cleric class.
Your next milestone comes with 2 more sorcerer levels. You get the Heart of the Storm feature, which means you can do even more blasting when you deal lightning damage. Take that OA with Lightning Lure while in a group of enemies? Now, you're doing small amounts of damage to all of them.
Your final big milestone comes with the next 2 levels of sorcerer when you get another ASI/Feat. I took Elemental Affinity - Lightning for obvious reasons. Lightning is not the most resisted of the elements, but it partially depends upon your campaign. The ability to bypass resistant enemies and maximize damage is hard to pass up. But this feat is less crucial than the others and can be tailored to whatever a player likes.
The end game for this character is the sorcerer ability Storm's Fury. It plays right into everything you've been building. While you don't get ludicrously powerful capstone abilities, I have frankly never played a game to 20 so I don't tailor a build to that last level. This ability let's you rebuke an attacker by, you guessed it, pushing them away. The literal push and pull of this character is a source of immense joy for me and something no other character can do so effectively or frequently.
My inspiration for this character was the desire to have someone who was a chaotic nightmare in RP and on the battlefield. He can move around with impunity, damaging almost anyone who comes near him. He isn't particularly tough, so PAM and other abilities were used to keep enemies at bay as much as possible. He is all about battlefield disruption and being very hard to prepare for in a fight. I find this makes him somewhat versatile when on paper he might look like a one trick pony. I also find that fights in 5e don't last beyond 3 or 4 rounds and this character does well in quick encounters, but may have difficulty in extended fights.
I hope you get something out of this, even if it is just the courage to dive into a somewhat convoluted build and give it a shot yourself. My character is a chaotic Dragonborn Cleric of Umberlee with a pirate background who awakened his dormant Sorcerer heart. He's wickedly fun to play and I would love to see other people give it a shot!
Currently playing with a Tiefling Tempest Cleric and have been thinking about multiclassing with Storm Sorcerer, with a similar playstyle in mind. I think you've convinced me to do it!
Go for it! I normally don't step outside of cleric because it's so powerful as a straight class, but I think that what you give up in raw power, you make up for in sheer enjoyment and versatility.
I thought that effects that push enemies away from you push them in a straight line starting from your character and running through theirs unless the effect's description notes otherwise?
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Just a tip (and way after the fact), but BB only has a range of 5 feet. Booming blade does not trigger off of reach attacks with a polearm UNLESS you get the Spell Sniper feat.
I'm messing with something similar. 12 (12+2) / 8 / 14 / 8 / 14 / 16 (15+1), Bronze Dragonborn. Instead of jumping around the battlefield, my plan is to offtank in early levels and then transition to a bit more to battlefield control/dps/heals. Instead of Storm Sorcerer, I'm going Divine Soul for character reasons and access to more high level Cleric support. Here's how I see the build progressing. I agree with de-prioritizing wisdom, but feel like a 14 isn't wasted since I'll have 8 level 1-3 cleric spells to cast. Most won't use my modifier, but there will be a bit of extra healing from it, and it will be useful for Call Lightning, Shatter, and Thunderwave early.
Cleric 1: Heavy Armor, a Warhammer, a shield, and a focus on support cantrips (Guidance, Mending, Spare the Dying).
Sorcerer 1: Now for caster damage. Lightning Lure for repositioning, Shocking Grasp to enable escapes, Booming Blade to tank, and Shape Water for thematics. With a Good Divine Origin, I'll get Cure Wounds always prepared. I'll learn Shield from the Sorcerer list and Guiding Bolt from the Cleric list. Being able to take cleric spells that require a modifier allows me to pick and choose the best cleric flavor attacks that need a decent modifier to use my Cha mod.
Cleric 2-6: Since I'll be a much better tank early and I want to rush to Thunderbolt Strike, I go straight cleric here. Keeps my HP higher, and just having a +2 for the domain spells shouldn't matter too much. I'll spend my ASI to pump Cha to a +4.
Sorcerer 2-14: Now that I'm a decent offtank with a good source of battlefield control, it's time to party. Since this is a thematic build where my character is devoting themselves to and drawing magical power from Valkur, Captain of the Waves, any spell that deals lightning damage, is flavorfully related to storms, water, thunder or lightning, or is a solid cleric ability or buff is on the table. I can take Spiritual Weapon at S3, lightning bolt, haste, and tidal wave at S5, Storm Sphere at S7, Mass cure wounds at S9, and Chain Lightning and Heal at S11. Whirlwind, Regenerate and Resurrection are all waiting at S13 (19 overall). Since I can swap out Cure Wounds with another cleric spell, I can keep my highest level cleric spell in this slot and prepare Cure Wounds as a Cleric. Sure, it will heal 2 points fewer, but I can ramp it with higher level spell slots that will be burning a hole in my pocket.
Metamagic will be for twinned and extended, and then quicken. Extended Aid using one of the two 5th level spell slots means I'll be boosting the squishier members of my party by 20 HP for 16 hours each day; set it and forget it before a long rest! At that level, it'll be as if they had a +2 to their Con when determining HP. Quicken will follow after to use with Booming Blade and overall abuse.
ASIs will be spent likely first getting War Caster for the Con save advantage and spell based opportunity attacks, and then pumping CHA and probably Con? Maybe HAM. I'm not too worried about strength, as my DM asked for a list of potential magic items we would like to find, and Gauntlets of Ogre Strength/Belts of Giant strength topped my list. As the only strength user in the party, I'll have right of first refusal. A lightning javelin would also not be unappreciated.
Overall, I expect to play the first 7 levels as a pretty ordinary if slightly underpowered Tempest Cleric, though Guiding Bolt with a +3 should help cover some of those issues. The transition at midgame shouldn't be too tough since I can make ample use of higher level spell slots to upscale spells. And, if we ever make it to the lategame, I'll be throwing around lightning magic with abandon, upscaling and using Channel Divinity to nuke. At the same time, I'll be buffing, Hasting, and healing my party. I doubt we'll make it to late game, but it's fun to dream, and permanent flight with a bonus action at level 20 provides essentially the same benefit of the level 17 Tempest Cleric ability, except these also work indoors.
I considered just going Cleric 2 for Unearthly Recovery, but I really want to play with Thunderbolt Strike. I'm a dragonborn sailor who prays to a god of storms. I want to zap shit, protect my crewmates, and control the battlefield. Ideally this gives me the best of all worlds!
Hello. I was considering similar concept. We usualy start at lvl 3 so that would be 2 in cleric and 1 in sorcerer. I chose human variant for early feat but I dont know If I want warcaster or elemental adept. I think that lighting is better then thunder but you can convicne me otherwise. For spells I have Booming blade Lightning Lure Shocking Grasp Thunderclap Chromatic Orb Witch Bolt from sorcerer
and Guidance Spare the Dying Thaumaturgy Bless Detect Evil and Good Detect Magic Fog Cloud Healing Word Shield of Faith Thunderwave
Would you recomend for me to look at some other spell i might have missed? I am fairly new to DnD so I will be glad for any tip I can get :D
So I finally started my own Tempest Sorc. Abilities including racial feats:
STR 16
Dex 10
Con 12
Intel 8
Wisdom 18
CHA 14
The race is homebrew, bear-people. All members of this race get a free druid cantrip at level 1. So naturally I went with Shillelagh, which allows both Melee and Casting to work off of wisdom. Right now, the plan is to go straight cleric through level 4. At five, dip to either Sorc or Warlock for booming blade (and other class perks). Continue through Cleric level 8, at least.
My question is, which class/subclass should I dip?
Option a) Storm Sorc, for story fluff and the teleport ability. The problem with this is that it keys off of bonus actions, which already have a lot of uses for clerics. OTOH, the fluff just works!
Option b) Celestial Warlock. Mechanically, the 1st level ability frees up some cleric spell preps and slots, making for more versatile casting. Thematically, I was thinking the patron might be a Silver Dragon. My character's theme is really more about winter and blizzards, rather than a conventional watery-tempest dude.
Primal savagery isn't a weapon attack, so it doesn't work with BB or the cleric extra damage ability. And, bears in plate armor are the bomb, so the stat swap isn't going to happen ;)
Primal savagery isn't a weapon attack, so it doesn't work with BB or the cleric extra damage ability. And, bears in plate armor are the bomb, so the stat swap isn't going to happen ;)
Ah, missed that bit.
Just that your Sorc or Warlock casting is going to be based off Charisma which is why I suggested it.
Primal savagery isn't a weapon attack, so it doesn't work with BB or the cleric extra damage ability. And, bears in plate armor are the bomb, so the stat swap isn't going to happen ;)
Ah, missed that bit.
Just that your Sorc or Warlock casting is going to be based off Charisma which is why I suggested it.
True,
The design of my build would be to key everything offensive to wisdom. Tempest has plenty of good offensive spells. If I do multiclass, I'd use the sorc or warlock spells for things like shield, absorb elements, armor of agathys, and rituals. Stuff that is not casting-ability dependent.
Primal savagery isn't a weapon attack, so it doesn't work with BB or the cleric extra damage ability. And, bears in plate armor are the bomb, so the stat swap isn't going to happen ;)
Ah, missed that bit.
Just that your Sorc or Warlock casting is going to be based off Charisma which is why I suggested it.
True,
The design of my build would be to key everything offensive to wisdom. Tempest has plenty of good offensive spells. If I do multiclass, I'd use the sorc or warlock spells for things like shield, absorb elements, armor of agathys, and rituals. Stuff that is not casting-ability dependent.
My Draconic Sorcerer 1 Tempest Cleric X took Absorb Elements and Shield for her two 1st level Sorcerer spells. It's thematic that she can't cast any first level spells as a sorcerer except as a reaction. And both of these spells will be great at any level. Some first level spells aren't very good at high levels, but Absorb Elements and Shield will always be fantastic. If you do Warlock, Hex is a fantastic spell, but Clerics get fantastic spells that require concentration and Hex requires concentration, so I'd skip it.
Sorcerers don't get rituals, and Warlocks don't get ritual spells unless they get to level 3 and take the Pact of the Tome and Book of Ancient Secrets invocation. If you're doing a variant human, or another race without dark vision (I don't know if your homebrewed bear race has dark vision, but since bears in D&D don't, I am guessing that the homebrewed bears don't), taking a 2nd level in Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation, the 2nd spell slot on short rests, and one more invocation is a decent option. But then you'll be tempted to do one more level for getting a Pact (pact of the Tome or Pact of the Blade could work very well) as well as getting the spell Shadow Blade (although that wouldn't work with Shillelagh, so I guess that doesn't appeal to you since you're trying to stay SAD). And then you'll be tempted to take one more level for an ASI. And so on.... And taking levels in Sorcerer gives the same temptation to keep going.
Thematically Sorc is a better fit for the character. . . . only Celestial would work from 'lock. Which is very, very redundant. Metamagic is teh sex, too.
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Like a lot of people out there, I recognized the allure of these two storm-based classes and wondered about how they might synergize. I am enjoying this somewhat ludicrous build and I wanted to share it with anyone else who pondered this idea, but didn't go through the trouble of creating it. It's a somewhat MAD build and doesn't optimize particularly well, but it is loads of fun and fairly difficult for DMs to deal with even from the first multiclass level.
Starting stats - Disclaimer: I got lucky with a roll and landed several decent stats which made my character slightly more effective than if you use a standard array. I will be using the standard array for demonstration purposes, but your mileage may vary. 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
STR - 15
DEX - 10
CON - 12
WIS - 13
INT - 8
CHA - 14
My top priority was STR. This character was always going to be a melee character for me. The second highest stat I chose was CHA. This is a bit tricky, but I was looking ahead. The third stat was WIS. This might seem a little contrary to a cleric build, but the logic is that the cleric abilities used will be enhancements to the melee capabilities of the character. There will be few, if any, requirements for saves against WIS for enemies and few, if any, boosts to beneficial spells from WIS mod. The reason I prioritized CHA over WIS was that more offensive spells which directly attack enemies and rely on the casting stat will come from later sorcerer levels. CON is always important, especially since you are a melee character. If you have an odd CON score and want to prioritize it over WIS and consider something like Resilient later on, that's feasible, but might be overkill with War Caster. DEX and INT were somewhat dump stats.
Race - I chose Dragonborn. As someone who is not an optimizer, I won't tell you a certain race is "better", but you can look at the three primary stats for this build and identify races that get appropriate boosts if you like. It just so happens that the Dragonborn is a pretty good race here. The STR and CHA boosts play well together later when you multi-class.
Arms and Armor - My build relies heavily upon Polearm Master, so I took the Glaive as my weapon. The lethality of this combo will become more apparent in a moment. Obviously, you want the heaviest armor you can get. You're a front line melee cleric.
Progression - This is the basis of how the build develops. I started as a cleric and took 4 levels until I got the Polearm Master feat. At this point, I'm playing the character like a fairly typical melee Tempest Cleric. I take cleric spells that protect me, like Shield of Faith, and small heals like Healing Word. Having PAM doesn't improve the domain abilities of this character very well yet. The character may be fun, but sort of lacking potential. That is why, at 5th level, I take a multi-class dip into Storm Sorcerer.
At this point, you get a very useful Storm Sorcerer ability that allows you to move 10ft without provoking. As a front line character often in melee range, you gain great short range mobility. With PAM, this also means you can use this movement to move outside of enemy reach, but within your own, setting you up for the PAM opportunity attack when the enemy tries to re-engage you. For sorcerer spells, you get 4 cantrips and 2 spells. I took Booming Blade as the first and most obvious choice. It allows a melee attack as part of the cast and, when combined with PAM, helps you lock down melee opponents outside of their effective range, unless they have reach. Your party will appreciate this if they are not capable of taking on enemies face to face. Keep in mind Booming Blade does THUNDER damage and does not work with your abilities, but that's okay. We get another spell that does. The second cantrip I took was Lightning Lure. Any and all lightning spells are incredibly potent for this character, so a lightning cantrip is especially good given the next feat we're going to take. For the spells, I took Shield because your AC will not be competitive with a shield-bearer and Thunderwave because this character excels at moving around the battlefield and moving their enemies around the battlefield.
The next big milestone for this character is after 4 levels of sorcerer when I took War Caster. With PAM, you have increased range and the ability to use your opportunity attack to cast a spell. The spells that fit the War Caster text are somewhat limited, but that cantrip we took 4 levels earlier, Lightning Lure, fits the bill, as does Booming Blade. These two spells give me an option when an OA is triggered. If the enemy is trying to attack an ally, I can pull them to me instead or I can attempt to stun them in place. Booming Blade will do more damage since you're melee based, but Lightning Lure offers some control over enemy placement, which is an often under-utilized ability. NOTE: There has been some debate about War Caster and PAM playing nice together with Booming Blade when making an OA at your 10ft range (outside the range of Booming Blade), but you have a sorcerer ability to extend the range of 5ft spells, so this restriction no longer applies to you if you spend a sorcerer point. The point is moot inside 10 ft.
All of this is setup for the next milestone. 2 levels of cleric later, you unlock the domain feature Thunderous Strike. This allows you to knock an enemy 10 feet away if you deal lightning damage to them. Imagine, if you will, an enemy tries to run past you to get to a caster. You have 10ft reach due to PAM and they trigger an OA. You use it to cast Lightning Lure thanks to your War Caster feat and pull them 10 feet closer. The lightning damage triggers, your specialty, and then you blast them 10 feet away from you. Mind you, it doesn't say 10 ft away in a specific direction, just away from you. So you could, given DM discretion, send them back where they came from or place them inconveniently for their next action. Even worse, what happens when a druid has Spike Growth on the ground and you're pushing and pulling an enemy through it? Theoretically, that's another 8d4 damage from the druid's 2nd level spell. This level of battlefield control will define the playstyle of this character. We're also done with the cleric class.
Your next milestone comes with 2 more sorcerer levels. You get the Heart of the Storm feature, which means you can do even more blasting when you deal lightning damage. Take that OA with Lightning Lure while in a group of enemies? Now, you're doing small amounts of damage to all of them.
Your final big milestone comes with the next 2 levels of sorcerer when you get another ASI/Feat. I took Elemental Affinity - Lightning for obvious reasons. Lightning is not the most resisted of the elements, but it partially depends upon your campaign. The ability to bypass resistant enemies and maximize damage is hard to pass up. But this feat is less crucial than the others and can be tailored to whatever a player likes.
The end game for this character is the sorcerer ability Storm's Fury. It plays right into everything you've been building. While you don't get ludicrously powerful capstone abilities, I have frankly never played a game to 20 so I don't tailor a build to that last level. This ability let's you rebuke an attacker by, you guessed it, pushing them away. The literal push and pull of this character is a source of immense joy for me and something no other character can do so effectively or frequently.
My inspiration for this character was the desire to have someone who was a chaotic nightmare in RP and on the battlefield. He can move around with impunity, damaging almost anyone who comes near him. He isn't particularly tough, so PAM and other abilities were used to keep enemies at bay as much as possible. He is all about battlefield disruption and being very hard to prepare for in a fight. I find this makes him somewhat versatile when on paper he might look like a one trick pony. I also find that fights in 5e don't last beyond 3 or 4 rounds and this character does well in quick encounters, but may have difficulty in extended fights.
I hope you get something out of this, even if it is just the courage to dive into a somewhat convoluted build and give it a shot yourself. My character is a chaotic Dragonborn Cleric of Umberlee with a pirate background who awakened his dormant Sorcerer heart. He's wickedly fun to play and I would love to see other people give it a shot!
Currently playing with a Tiefling Tempest Cleric and have been thinking about multiclassing with Storm Sorcerer, with a similar playstyle in mind. I think you've convinced me to do it!
Go for it! I normally don't step outside of cleric because it's so powerful as a straight class, but I think that what you give up in raw power, you make up for in sheer enjoyment and versatility.
I’m stealing this as a backup character
I thought that effects that push enemies away from you push them in a straight line starting from your character and running through theirs unless the effect's description notes otherwise?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Soooo clerics arent proficient in heavy armor or glaive. How did you get around that?
Because the Tempest Domain gives you proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor at 1st level.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Just a tip (and way after the fact), but BB only has a range of 5 feet. Booming blade does not trigger off of reach attacks with a polearm UNLESS you get the Spell Sniper feat.
I'm messing with something similar. 12 (12+2) / 8 / 14 / 8 / 14 / 16 (15+1), Bronze Dragonborn. Instead of jumping around the battlefield, my plan is to offtank in early levels and then transition to a bit more to battlefield control/dps/heals. Instead of Storm Sorcerer, I'm going Divine Soul for character reasons and access to more high level Cleric support. Here's how I see the build progressing. I agree with de-prioritizing wisdom, but feel like a 14 isn't wasted since I'll have 8 level 1-3 cleric spells to cast. Most won't use my modifier, but there will be a bit of extra healing from it, and it will be useful for Call Lightning, Shatter, and Thunderwave early.
Cleric 1: Heavy Armor, a Warhammer, a shield, and a focus on support cantrips (Guidance, Mending, Spare the Dying).
Sorcerer 1: Now for caster damage. Lightning Lure for repositioning, Shocking Grasp to enable escapes, Booming Blade to tank, and Shape Water for thematics. With a Good Divine Origin, I'll get Cure Wounds always prepared. I'll learn Shield from the Sorcerer list and Guiding Bolt from the Cleric list. Being able to take cleric spells that require a modifier allows me to pick and choose the best cleric flavor attacks that need a decent modifier to use my Cha mod.
Cleric 2-6: Since I'll be a much better tank early and I want to rush to Thunderbolt Strike, I go straight cleric here. Keeps my HP higher, and just having a +2 for the domain spells shouldn't matter too much. I'll spend my ASI to pump Cha to a +4.
Sorcerer 2-14: Now that I'm a decent offtank with a good source of battlefield control, it's time to party. Since this is a thematic build where my character is devoting themselves to and drawing magical power from Valkur, Captain of the Waves, any spell that deals lightning damage, is flavorfully related to storms, water, thunder or lightning, or is a solid cleric ability or buff is on the table. I can take Spiritual Weapon at S3, lightning bolt, haste, and tidal wave at S5, Storm Sphere at S7, Mass cure wounds at S9, and Chain Lightning and Heal at S11. Whirlwind, Regenerate and Resurrection are all waiting at S13 (19 overall). Since I can swap out Cure Wounds with another cleric spell, I can keep my highest level cleric spell in this slot and prepare Cure Wounds as a Cleric. Sure, it will heal 2 points fewer, but I can ramp it with higher level spell slots that will be burning a hole in my pocket.
Metamagic will be for twinned and extended, and then quicken. Extended Aid using one of the two 5th level spell slots means I'll be boosting the squishier members of my party by 20 HP for 16 hours each day; set it and forget it before a long rest! At that level, it'll be as if they had a +2 to their Con when determining HP. Quicken will follow after to use with Booming Blade and overall abuse.
ASIs will be spent likely first getting War Caster for the Con save advantage and spell based opportunity attacks, and then pumping CHA and probably Con? Maybe HAM. I'm not too worried about strength, as my DM asked for a list of potential magic items we would like to find, and Gauntlets of Ogre Strength/Belts of Giant strength topped my list. As the only strength user in the party, I'll have right of first refusal. A lightning javelin would also not be unappreciated.
Overall, I expect to play the first 7 levels as a pretty ordinary if slightly underpowered Tempest Cleric, though Guiding Bolt with a +3 should help cover some of those issues. The transition at midgame shouldn't be too tough since I can make ample use of higher level spell slots to upscale spells. And, if we ever make it to the lategame, I'll be throwing around lightning magic with abandon, upscaling and using Channel Divinity to nuke. At the same time, I'll be buffing, Hasting, and healing my party. I doubt we'll make it to late game, but it's fun to dream, and permanent flight with a bonus action at level 20 provides essentially the same benefit of the level 17 Tempest Cleric ability, except these also work indoors.
I considered just going Cleric 2 for Unearthly Recovery, but I really want to play with Thunderbolt Strike. I'm a dragonborn sailor who prays to a god of storms. I want to zap shit, protect my crewmates, and control the battlefield. Ideally this gives me the best of all worlds!
Going up to 6th level Cleric on that build also lets you use Destructive Wrath twice/short rest instead of once.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Totally. 2 max damage lightning bolts/chain lightning are better than one! It'll take a bit to get there, but it will be fun if/when I do.
Hello. I was considering similar concept. We usualy start at lvl 3 so that would be 2 in cleric and 1 in sorcerer. I chose human variant for early feat but I dont know If I want warcaster or elemental adept. I think that lighting is better then thunder but you can convicne me otherwise. For spells I have
Booming blade
Lightning Lure
Shocking Grasp
Thunderclap
Chromatic Orb
Witch Bolt
from sorcerer
and
Guidance
Spare the Dying
Thaumaturgy
Bless
Detect Evil and Good
Detect Magic
Fog Cloud
Healing Word
Shield of Faith
Thunderwave
Would you recomend for me to look at some other spell i might have missed? I am fairly new to DnD so I will be glad for any tip I can get :D
So I finally started my own Tempest Sorc. Abilities including racial feats:
The race is homebrew, bear-people. All members of this race get a free druid cantrip at level 1. So naturally I went with Shillelagh, which allows both Melee and Casting to work off of wisdom. Right now, the plan is to go straight cleric through level 4. At five, dip to either Sorc or Warlock for booming blade (and other class perks). Continue through Cleric level 8, at least.
My question is, which class/subclass should I dip?
Option a) Storm Sorc, for story fluff and the teleport ability. The problem with this is that it keys off of bonus actions, which already have a lot of uses for clerics. OTOH, the fluff just works!
Option b) Celestial Warlock. Mechanically, the 1st level ability frees up some cleric spell preps and slots, making for more versatile casting. Thematically, I was thinking the patron might be a Silver Dragon. My character's theme is really more about winter and blizzards, rather than a conventional watery-tempest dude.
I'd go Primal Savagery over Shillelagh and swap your Str and Cha.
Primal savagery isn't a weapon attack, so it doesn't work with BB or the cleric extra damage ability. And, bears in plate armor are the bomb, so the stat swap isn't going to happen ;)
Ah, missed that bit.
Just that your Sorc or Warlock casting is going to be based off Charisma which is why I suggested it.
One other key point about the Sorc/Tempest MC.
Booming blade can be twinned.
Yup, it's true. The hitch is that each attack must target a separate enemy.
True,
The design of my build would be to key everything offensive to wisdom. Tempest has plenty of good offensive spells. If I do multiclass, I'd use the sorc or warlock spells for things like shield, absorb elements, armor of agathys, and rituals. Stuff that is not casting-ability dependent.
My Draconic Sorcerer 1 Tempest Cleric X took Absorb Elements and Shield for her two 1st level Sorcerer spells. It's thematic that she can't cast any first level spells as a sorcerer except as a reaction. And both of these spells will be great at any level. Some first level spells aren't very good at high levels, but Absorb Elements and Shield will always be fantastic. If you do Warlock, Hex is a fantastic spell, but Clerics get fantastic spells that require concentration and Hex requires concentration, so I'd skip it.
Sorcerers don't get rituals, and Warlocks don't get ritual spells unless they get to level 3 and take the Pact of the Tome and Book of Ancient Secrets invocation. If you're doing a variant human, or another race without dark vision (I don't know if your homebrewed bear race has dark vision, but since bears in D&D don't, I am guessing that the homebrewed bears don't), taking a 2nd level in Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation, the 2nd spell slot on short rests, and one more invocation is a decent option. But then you'll be tempted to do one more level for getting a Pact (pact of the Tome or Pact of the Blade could work very well) as well as getting the spell Shadow Blade (although that wouldn't work with Shillelagh, so I guess that doesn't appeal to you since you're trying to stay SAD). And then you'll be tempted to take one more level for an ASI. And so on.... And taking levels in Sorcerer gives the same temptation to keep going.
Thematically Sorc is a better fit for the character. . . . only Celestial would work from 'lock. Which is very, very redundant. Metamagic is teh sex, too.