Playing a Grave Cleric - Human Variant in Descent into Avernus and wanted some help with a thing or two Rolled for my stats (Dex/Wisdom +1)
Str - 12
Con - 14
Dex - 14 (13)
Wisdom - 17 (16)
Intelligence - 8
Charsima - 13
What i wanted to know is I took War Caster as my feat but beyond being able to cast with a shield i see little use in it as most of the spells i'll be using is essentially heal spells or cantrips for damage? Maybe debuffing enemies but thats mostly just insta grave cleric stuff or Guiding bolt or maybe bane. Bless won't be used much as im essentially waitng for my team (Fighter/Barb/Sorc/Pally) to go down or get close to going down before i heal them. Any recommendations for a feat? Also is it worth it so class into bard or mabye something like divination wizard for that extra oompf?
Warcaster was the right choice. First, it’s not just casting with a shield, it’s doing it without have to worry about material components, which is big. If you’re mostly using cantrips, now you use them for OAs, which is also great. And advantage on concentration checks is huge. Why are you not using bless? Your reasons for not using it don’t seem to match what the spell does. Bless is easily one of the best level 1 spells. Way better than bane because you know it will work — the enemies might save against bane, bless will certainly succeed. Personally not a fan of guiding bolt. Good damage if you hit, yes, but if you miss you just wasted a spell slot that could have been used for a heal (which won’t ever miss). Advantage it grants can be nice, but depending on who comes next in the round, may not matter too much. If it’s the rogue, great, if it’s most anyone else, it’s nice, but not wonderful. Clerics get lots of goodies for the first, in my opinion, 12-13 levels. And you’ll want those higher level heals. Mass healing word at level 5 is huge.
Not using bless pretty much because it wastes a spell slot. that i could use to heal. First few levels i only have 4 first level spell slots and my team doesn't really have the culpability of sustain so im pretty much saving all slots for when/if they go down.
I get where you're coming from, but bless is good. Your allies hit more often, so fights are over faster, and they save more often, so they take less damage and don't drop as often. Probably you don't need it for every fight, but it can really make the difference in a tough one.
Ok i took bless, but atm i only have 17 wisdom im thinking at level 4 im going to take Observant (giving me 20 passive P) and that +1 wis for 18 then at 8 just dumb it all into wisdom for 20 wisdom, thoughts?
You do know you can change your spells out every time you take a long rest, right? So taking bless, or any other spell, isn't a forever decision. If I steered you wrong, you can just swap it out.
Observant is OK. My big problem with it is I have this feeling like lots of tables don't really get into the passive perception stuff, so the big bonus of it ends up wasted. But it is pretty much the only feat that gives a wisdom boost, so there's that. And my feeling is far from authoritative. And the reading lips thing can be cool if your DM puts you in situations where you can use it sometimes. As an alternative, you could bump wis and cha. If you have social skills, that will come in handy, but I'm guessing between a sorcerer and pally, they've got those covered. And getting your key ability score to 20 is always a good choice, so working toward that 20 wis is, imo, the way to go.
As another option, you could bump cha to 14 (instead of wis to 17) at the start. Bumping wis to an odd number isn't doing anything for you.
I thought about it, but keeping Wis as an odd option allows me to be semi flexible when it comes to level 4. idk how my DM or group plays yet and if i find that the DM is one of those that likes to use passive P ill put it toward Observant and if not ill drop it in Resilient. I'm not planning on being upfront all to often, but having War Caster/Resilient plus 18 AC atm is whats gonna (hopefully) help me stay alive. I thought about taking Shield specialist just to help me against spells n dex saves, but idk. And No i honestly thought i could only switch them on level up (i don't play cleric all that much mostly a Warlock/Pally/Druid person)
That all makes good sense. Staying flexible to the way your table and campaign works is more important than coming up with some kind of uber-build. Though resilient wisdom doesn't do anything for you since you're already proficient in wis saves.
Spell flexibility is one of the great things about clerics. If you find you're not using something much, just swap it out the next day for something else that looks interesting. (But I will say you will be amazed by how many times people say thank you for bless). Also, to clarify, that doesn't apply to cantrips. The ones you pick are the ones you have. Those are forever decisions. So make sure to have an attack cantrip (sacred flame or toll the dead), guidance, and one other, maybe light, since you're human.
I think i took Toll the Dead (Grave cleric so i get spare the dying fore free), Guidance (it just makes sense) and i want to say Light? And no sorry i meant resilence for Con. I don't remember the math behind resilence but i remember it out pacing warcaster eventually. I'm not trying for like super op haxor builds here lol. Like Coffee-Lock or Polearm-Bugbearadin with sentinel. That shits borked. Naw mostly i just want to be a support character that can help in different/unique ways. I chose Grave mostly for the cancel crits and the Vulnerability funness. I could've 100% gone light cleric + bard and just giggled through the adventure but i liked the "aesethic" and theme of grave way more.
Also any tips on RPing the high Wisdom low intelligence? I kind of have my PC as a "gut feeling, but can't explain it". Like he knows you shouldn't trust demons/devils on principle, but couldn't give you a reason why. Or if you'd give him a rubix cube he'd spend like 100 days on it and slowly solve it. Very much about paitence and observation.
You'll find that warcaster is going to be your friend when you get to level 5 and can pick up spirit guardians because you're going to /want/ advantage on those conc checks. Once you get SG, you're going to want to move in closer and let that ginsu your foes for you. With your bonus action, you should be using spiritual weapon from level 3. Basic cleric tactics are bless then cantrip spam for levels 1-2. Use healing word on your bonus action to get people back on their feet.
Once you get to 3 and get spiritual weapon, you will generally get spiritual weapon running alongside bless as quickly as you can. For short fights, ignore SW and bless. Just save the resources. Healing becomes cure wounds only when people go down, because spiritual weapon on your bonus action is better than anything you can do with your action (generally).
When you get third level spells, spirit guardians becomes that heavy hitter. In fights where you use spirit guardians you will not use bless anymore (both conc). Between SG and SW, you will pump out pretty huge damage.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
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Playing a Grave Cleric - Human Variant in Descent into Avernus and wanted some help with a thing or two Rolled for my stats (Dex/Wisdom +1)
Str - 12
Con - 14
Dex - 14 (13)
Wisdom - 17 (16)
Intelligence - 8
Charsima - 13
What i wanted to know is I took War Caster as my feat but beyond being able to cast with a shield i see little use in it as most of the spells i'll be using is essentially heal spells or cantrips for damage? Maybe debuffing enemies but thats mostly just insta grave cleric stuff or Guiding bolt or maybe bane. Bless won't be used much as im essentially waitng for my team (Fighter/Barb/Sorc/Pally) to go down or get close to going down before i heal them. Any recommendations for a feat? Also is it worth it so class into bard or mabye something like divination wizard for that extra oompf?
Warcaster was the right choice. First, it’s not just casting with a shield, it’s doing it without have to worry about material components, which is big. If you’re mostly using cantrips, now you use them for OAs, which is also great. And advantage on concentration checks is huge.
Why are you not using bless? Your reasons for not using it don’t seem to match what the spell does. Bless is easily one of the best level 1 spells. Way better than bane because you know it will work — the enemies might save against bane, bless will certainly succeed.
Personally not a fan of guiding bolt. Good damage if you hit, yes, but if you miss you just wasted a spell slot that could have been used for a heal (which won’t ever miss). Advantage it grants can be nice, but depending on who comes next in the round, may not matter too much. If it’s the rogue, great, if it’s most anyone else, it’s nice, but not wonderful.
Clerics get lots of goodies for the first, in my opinion, 12-13 levels. And you’ll want those higher level heals. Mass healing word at level 5 is huge.
Not using bless pretty much because it wastes a spell slot. that i could use to heal. First few levels i only have 4 first level spell slots and my team doesn't really have the culpability of sustain so im pretty much saving all slots for when/if they go down.
I get where you're coming from, but bless is good. Your allies hit more often, so fights are over faster, and they save more often, so they take less damage and don't drop as often. Probably you don't need it for every fight, but it can really make the difference in a tough one.
Ok i took bless, but atm i only have 17 wisdom im thinking at level 4 im going to take Observant (giving me 20 passive P) and that +1 wis for 18 then at 8 just dumb it all into wisdom for 20 wisdom, thoughts?
You do know you can change your spells out every time you take a long rest, right? So taking bless, or any other spell, isn't a forever decision. If I steered you wrong, you can just swap it out.
Observant is OK. My big problem with it is I have this feeling like lots of tables don't really get into the passive perception stuff, so the big bonus of it ends up wasted. But it is pretty much the only feat that gives a wisdom boost, so there's that. And my feeling is far from authoritative. And the reading lips thing can be cool if your DM puts you in situations where you can use it sometimes. As an alternative, you could bump wis and cha. If you have social skills, that will come in handy, but I'm guessing between a sorcerer and pally, they've got those covered. And getting your key ability score to 20 is always a good choice, so working toward that 20 wis is, imo, the way to go.
As another option, you could bump cha to 14 (instead of wis to 17) at the start. Bumping wis to an odd number isn't doing anything for you.
I thought about it, but keeping Wis as an odd option allows me to be semi flexible when it comes to level 4. idk how my DM or group plays yet and if i find that the DM is one of those that likes to use passive P ill put it toward Observant and if not ill drop it in Resilient. I'm not planning on being upfront all to often, but having War Caster/Resilient plus 18 AC atm is whats gonna (hopefully) help me stay alive. I thought about taking Shield specialist just to help me against spells n dex saves, but idk. And No i honestly thought i could only switch them on level up (i don't play cleric all that much mostly a Warlock/Pally/Druid person)
That all makes good sense. Staying flexible to the way your table and campaign works is more important than coming up with some kind of uber-build. Though resilient wisdom doesn't do anything for you since you're already proficient in wis saves.
Spell flexibility is one of the great things about clerics. If you find you're not using something much, just swap it out the next day for something else that looks interesting. (But I will say you will be amazed by how many times people say thank you for bless). Also, to clarify, that doesn't apply to cantrips. The ones you pick are the ones you have. Those are forever decisions. So make sure to have an attack cantrip (sacred flame or toll the dead), guidance, and one other, maybe light, since you're human.
I think i took Toll the Dead (Grave cleric so i get spare the dying fore free), Guidance (it just makes sense) and i want to say Light? And no sorry i meant resilence for Con. I don't remember the math behind resilence but i remember it out pacing warcaster eventually. I'm not trying for like super op haxor builds here lol. Like Coffee-Lock or Polearm-Bugbearadin with sentinel. That shits borked. Naw mostly i just want to be a support character that can help in different/unique ways. I chose Grave mostly for the cancel crits and the Vulnerability funness. I could've 100% gone light cleric + bard and just giggled through the adventure but i liked the "aesethic" and theme of grave way more.
Also any tips on RPing the high Wisdom low intelligence? I kind of have my PC as a "gut feeling, but can't explain it". Like he knows you shouldn't trust demons/devils on principle, but couldn't give you a reason why. Or if you'd give him a rubix cube he'd spend like 100 days on it and slowly solve it. Very much about paitence and observation.
Forest gump.
Full of folksy wisdom. Someone who makes good choices, but Maybe isn’t good at math or very book smart.
You'll find that warcaster is going to be your friend when you get to level 5 and can pick up spirit guardians because you're going to /want/ advantage on those conc checks. Once you get SG, you're going to want to move in closer and let that ginsu your foes for you. With your bonus action, you should be using spiritual weapon from level 3. Basic cleric tactics are bless then cantrip spam for levels 1-2. Use healing word on your bonus action to get people back on their feet.
Once you get to 3 and get spiritual weapon, you will generally get spiritual weapon running alongside bless as quickly as you can. For short fights, ignore SW and bless. Just save the resources. Healing becomes cure wounds only when people go down, because spiritual weapon on your bonus action is better than anything you can do with your action (generally).
When you get third level spells, spirit guardians becomes that heavy hitter. In fights where you use spirit guardians you will not use bless anymore (both conc). Between SG and SW, you will pump out pretty huge damage.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha