I made a Dragonborn Paladin/Cleric, and I think I did a good job, but I can't really tell because I'm pretty new to DnD. While I am not one for optimizing when it comes to more story-based characters, I do want to make sure I'm not making any stupid choice when it comes to things like spells or proficiencies.
I suggest reading those 2 guide, take your cleric level first too 6 or 8th level bcs you want that first, the multiclass you want to aim for is cleric 8/paladin 6 any domain or oath its the best, then take the war caster feat, polearm master etc. best oath combo is war cleric, and oath of vengeance if you have it.
Note dont multi class yet, start with level 1 cleric too level 6 or eight if you want, then start getting your pally to 6th level as quick as possible
Is there another cleric? If not, I’d drop spare the dying and take guidance. Guidance is one of the best cantrips in the game, spare the dying can be replaced by a healers kit (or that +4 to medicine will often be enough). If there is another cleric, still drop spare the dying and take something else. Thaumaturgy is fun, mending is crazy useful.
Depending on your domain, I may disagree with lolths bane. Starting pally gives you heavy armor, which you will need with that dex score. If you choose a cleric domain that gives heavy armor (war, tempest, life, a couple others, I think) then starting cleric can make sense. But if your cleric domain doesn’t give heavy armor, then start pally.
You should have more spells prepared, and that’s not even including the domain spells you get from cleric.
Does your campaign start at level 2? Because right now you have a level 2 character.
You have a lot of odd numbers for ability scores. In particular, I’m guessing you had a 14 you put in cha (then got a racial +1 to 15), and that 13 in con. Switch them. Then you’ll have a 14 in both, no loss for cha, and a better bonus for con. Then for your first asi, bump str and wis.
Big picture, if you are new to D&D, go single class. It’s hard to make a bad character in this edition, but multi classing poorly is a way to do it. Play for a while with a single class so you better understand what you are trading off by multi classing. (If you were straight pally, at level 2 you’d be smiting already, for example, and you delay asi’s when you multiclass) Yes, you can do more things, but you won’t usually do them as well as a single class would.
I don't plan on using this guy anytime soon. I've been playing my first campaign over the last few weeks as Wood Elf Ranger, but I have been messing around in the character creator. I've made 5 other characters so far, all of them being of different races and classes. I just wanted to mess around with the idea of a paladin/cleric and see if I could use it in our next campaign. I plan on this character going War Domain and Oath of Vengence for their archetypes, but chances are I won't be the only cleric in the groups, so I'll remove Spare the Dying and give them a more useful spell. I have also edited my stats to what you recommended. I imputed them manually by the way, which is probably why they look so weird to a seasoned player.
Thanks for the advice. I will also choose my spells ahead of time for war cleric because I don't have it in my character creator because I'm poor.
So If I have a stat of 17, it's just like having a stat of 16, but I'm one away from 18 points, which when I hit it, will actually increase my stats?
Pretty much. Stats give a bonus (or penalty). These go up with even stat numbers (or down with uneven ones). There are some very minor mechanical effects that work off stats directly, but what you want to focus on are the bonuses.
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Yup. About the only major exception where an odd number is important is a 15 str for heavy armor. Otherwise you always want even numbers. That’s why I suggested flipping cha and con, assuming I was right about how you assigned them.
You were. Thanks, now I know how to properly allocate my stats because I guess bigger numbers don't always mean better outcomes, which is funny considering this is an RPG.
There are some feats that give you a +1 to an ability score along with some other kind of benefit. So if you’re really planning out your character, it can pay to go with the odd number, knowing that the feat will kick up up to the next tier. But if you’re new to the game, I’d suggest not worrying too much about that.
In general paladin and cleric do not multiclass particularly well, especially in point buy games due to stat requirements.
Paladin requires 13 strength and 13 charisma, and really wants more than that. More strength to make weapon attacks viable, more charisma if you take 6 levels or more to take advantage of aura of protection.
Cleric requires 13 wisdom and can get away with not much more if you focus on buffing & support spells like Bless and Healing Word. However, a number of the 5e Clerics best spells, really the main reasons to take the class in the first place, are offensive in nature and thus rely directly on having a high wisdom, including spiritual weapon and spirit guardians.
You also will need a decent constitution for concentration saves and hit points. You really want at least 14 there.
If you aren't going to focus on melee attacks, then I'm not sure paladin levels are doing much for you before aura of protection and 5 levels is a lot of levels to burn for that. If you are going to focus on melee attacks, then you either want one of the sword coast adventurer's guide weapon cantrips, which means even more multiclassing or a magic initiate feat or a race with a cantrip, or extra attack, which is 5 levels of paladin.
In general, it's just kind of awkward, but you can still sort of make it work, particularly in a die rolled game where you just happen to roll fantastic stats, in which case you can run it kind of like a sorcadin but with cleric instead. So, like, six to seven levels of paladin (depending on whether your level 7 oath feature is good), then into cleric for improved spell slot advancement and eventual access to spells like spiritual weapon and spirit guardians. Not as good as sorcadin, since the cleric's class features don't synergize with the build as well as metamagic does, but still a functional character, but only assuming you have great starting stats in strength and wisdom and charisma along with a decent to good constitution, and you're just not getting all that in point buy games.
Failing that, you could fall back on sword coast adventurer's guide options, using the half elf variant in that book to play a half-high-elf, trading the half elf's usual bonus skill proficiencies for the high elf's cantrip. Use that to pick up booming blade, also from sword coast adventurer's guide. The half high elf cantrip is intelligence based, but booming blade doesn't use your casting stat so that's fine. Then you can use the half elf's +2 cha to hit the paladins bare minimum cha 13 multiclassing requirement, and use the half elf's two floating +1s into strength and wisdom. Take two levels of paladin for armor & weapon proficiencies plus divine smite, and shift over to cleric for the rest of your progression, picking up the war caster feat at the earliest opportunity. With booming blade plus divine smite you can deal some decent at will weapon damage, plus typical cleric stuff with a 2 level delay. I could see that working even in a point buy game, but it's super dependant on those sword coast options. Without booming blade you won't really be able to do effective weapon attacks, so divine smite won't be doing anything for you, and without the variant half elf you don't have access to booming blade while also delivering high strength, constitution, and wisdom scores along with that 13 charisma requirement.
All that said, is there a strong reason for you to be mixing these classes in the first place? Both cleric and paladin, entirely on their own, without any multiclassing, are already divinely empowered armor wearing templars of their chosen deity or cause. Cleric leans more on wisdom and casting, and paladin leans more on charisma and bonking things with a sharp metal stick, but in general there isn't a lot of flavor gained by mixing the two. If you want a cleric but more martial, a single classed paladin delivers that already, and if you want a paladin but more spell oriented then a single classed cleric is already that. If the mechanics don't blend particularly well, and you aren't gaining much flavor out of the combo, is it really worth the trouble?
Another alternative to consider is multiclassing a paladin with a divine soul sorcerer from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Divine Soul grants access to the cleric spell list, which basically makes it a charisma based full divine caster. As such it multiclasses much more smoothly with paladin. Not only do the stats line up, but the sorcerer class features are also a better complement to a paladin, particularly the quicken metamagic which lets you cast a strong spell and make melee attacks, potentially with divine smite, all in a single turn. At least a few times a day anyway.
"Sorcadin" is a strong multiclass build running back to the early days of 5th edition. If you're interested in it, a quick google search should turn up multiple helpful guides.
I'm considering letting my vengeance pallie multiclass into cleric to keep the party alive, but with an unfortunate stat dump on INT I'm not even sure if he could survive
Int isn't critical for either palladins or clerics, though needing good if not great scores in all of charisma, wisdom, constitution, and a weapon attack stat makes it a difficult multiclass to work in games using point buy or standard array. Mechanically there's not a lot of synergy between the two - even some anti-synergy since both the cleric and paladin CD's have to compete for the same limited pool of channel divinity uses per rest. You can make it work, but it's a bit of a hassle. It might be worth instead considering a multiclass into divine soul sorcerer, which grants access to the cleric spell list on a cha-based class that thus multiclasses more easily with paladin.
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I made a Dragonborn Paladin/Cleric, and I think I did a good job, but I can't really tell because I'm pretty new to DnD. While I am not one for optimizing when it comes to more story-based characters, I do want to make sure I'm not making any stupid choice when it comes to things like spells or proficiencies.
ddb.ac/characters/37541644/LaV9SX
https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/paladin/
https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/cleric/
I suggest reading those 2 guide, take your cleric level first too 6 or 8th level bcs you want that first, the multiclass you want to aim for is cleric 8/paladin 6 any domain or oath its the best, then take the war caster feat, polearm master etc. best oath combo is war cleric, and oath of vengeance if you have it.
Note dont multi class yet, start with level 1 cleric too level 6 or eight if you want, then start getting your pally to 6th level as quick as possible
Thanks, I don't have any of those cool feats because I am poor, but I'll make note of it when I'm playing with an actual PHB.
What’s your role in the party?
Is there another cleric? If not, I’d drop spare the dying and take guidance. Guidance is one of the best cantrips in the game, spare the dying can be replaced by a healers kit (or that +4 to medicine will often be enough). If there is another cleric, still drop spare the dying and take something else. Thaumaturgy is fun, mending is crazy useful.
Depending on your domain, I may disagree with lolths bane. Starting pally gives you heavy armor, which you will need with that dex score. If you choose a cleric domain that gives heavy armor (war, tempest, life, a couple others, I think) then starting cleric can make sense. But if your cleric domain doesn’t give heavy armor, then start pally.
You should have more spells prepared, and that’s not even including the domain spells you get from cleric.
Does your campaign start at level 2? Because right now you have a level 2 character.
You have a lot of odd numbers for ability scores. In particular, I’m guessing you had a 14 you put in cha (then got a racial +1 to 15), and that 13 in con. Switch them. Then you’ll have a 14 in both, no loss for cha, and a better bonus for con. Then for your first asi, bump str and wis.
Big picture, if you are new to D&D, go single class. It’s hard to make a bad character in this edition, but multi classing poorly is a way to do it. Play for a while with a single class so you better understand what you are trading off by multi classing. (If you were straight pally, at level 2 you’d be smiting already, for example, and you delay asi’s when you multiclass) Yes, you can do more things, but you won’t usually do them as well as a single class would.
I don't plan on using this guy anytime soon. I've been playing my first campaign over the last few weeks as Wood Elf Ranger, but I have been messing around in the character creator. I've made 5 other characters so far, all of them being of different races and classes. I just wanted to mess around with the idea of a paladin/cleric and see if I could use it in our next campaign. I plan on this character going War Domain and Oath of Vengence for their archetypes, but chances are I won't be the only cleric in the groups, so I'll remove Spare the Dying and give them a more useful spell. I have also edited my stats to what you recommended. I imputed them manually by the way, which is probably why they look so weird to a seasoned player.
Thanks for the advice. I will also choose my spells ahead of time for war cleric because I don't have it in my character creator because I'm poor.
I didn’t mean odd like wierd, I meant as opposed to even. Odd numbers don’t do anything for you is all.
What?
So If I have a stat of 17, it's just like having a stat of 16, but I'm one away from 18 points, which when I hit it, will actually increase my stats?
Pretty much. Stats give a bonus (or penalty). These go up with even stat numbers (or down with uneven ones). There are some very minor mechanical effects that work off stats directly, but what you want to focus on are the bonuses.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yup. About the only major exception where an odd number is important is a 15 str for heavy armor. Otherwise you always want even numbers. That’s why I suggested flipping cha and con, assuming I was right about how you assigned them.
You were. Thanks, now I know how to properly allocate my stats because I guess bigger numbers don't always mean better outcomes, which is funny considering this is an RPG.
There are some feats that give you a +1 to an ability score along with some other kind of benefit. So if you’re really planning out your character, it can pay to go with the odd number, knowing that the feat will kick up up to the next tier. But if you’re new to the game, I’d suggest not worrying too much about that.
Yeah, I'm not that cool yet
In general paladin and cleric do not multiclass particularly well, especially in point buy games due to stat requirements.
Paladin requires 13 strength and 13 charisma, and really wants more than that. More strength to make weapon attacks viable, more charisma if you take 6 levels or more to take advantage of aura of protection.
Cleric requires 13 wisdom and can get away with not much more if you focus on buffing & support spells like Bless and Healing Word. However, a number of the 5e Clerics best spells, really the main reasons to take the class in the first place, are offensive in nature and thus rely directly on having a high wisdom, including spiritual weapon and spirit guardians.
You also will need a decent constitution for concentration saves and hit points. You really want at least 14 there.
If you aren't going to focus on melee attacks, then I'm not sure paladin levels are doing much for you before aura of protection and 5 levels is a lot of levels to burn for that. If you are going to focus on melee attacks, then you either want one of the sword coast adventurer's guide weapon cantrips, which means even more multiclassing or a magic initiate feat or a race with a cantrip, or extra attack, which is 5 levels of paladin.
In general, it's just kind of awkward, but you can still sort of make it work, particularly in a die rolled game where you just happen to roll fantastic stats, in which case you can run it kind of like a sorcadin but with cleric instead. So, like, six to seven levels of paladin (depending on whether your level 7 oath feature is good), then into cleric for improved spell slot advancement and eventual access to spells like spiritual weapon and spirit guardians. Not as good as sorcadin, since the cleric's class features don't synergize with the build as well as metamagic does, but still a functional character, but only assuming you have great starting stats in strength and wisdom and charisma along with a decent to good constitution, and you're just not getting all that in point buy games.
Failing that, you could fall back on sword coast adventurer's guide options, using the half elf variant in that book to play a half-high-elf, trading the half elf's usual bonus skill proficiencies for the high elf's cantrip. Use that to pick up booming blade, also from sword coast adventurer's guide. The half high elf cantrip is intelligence based, but booming blade doesn't use your casting stat so that's fine. Then you can use the half elf's +2 cha to hit the paladins bare minimum cha 13 multiclassing requirement, and use the half elf's two floating +1s into strength and wisdom. Take two levels of paladin for armor & weapon proficiencies plus divine smite, and shift over to cleric for the rest of your progression, picking up the war caster feat at the earliest opportunity. With booming blade plus divine smite you can deal some decent at will weapon damage, plus typical cleric stuff with a 2 level delay. I could see that working even in a point buy game, but it's super dependant on those sword coast options. Without booming blade you won't really be able to do effective weapon attacks, so divine smite won't be doing anything for you, and without the variant half elf you don't have access to booming blade while also delivering high strength, constitution, and wisdom scores along with that 13 charisma requirement.
All that said, is there a strong reason for you to be mixing these classes in the first place? Both cleric and paladin, entirely on their own, without any multiclassing, are already divinely empowered armor wearing templars of their chosen deity or cause. Cleric leans more on wisdom and casting, and paladin leans more on charisma and bonking things with a sharp metal stick, but in general there isn't a lot of flavor gained by mixing the two. If you want a cleric but more martial, a single classed paladin delivers that already, and if you want a paladin but more spell oriented then a single classed cleric is already that. If the mechanics don't blend particularly well, and you aren't gaining much flavor out of the combo, is it really worth the trouble?
Another alternative to consider is multiclassing a paladin with a divine soul sorcerer from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Divine Soul grants access to the cleric spell list, which basically makes it a charisma based full divine caster. As such it multiclasses much more smoothly with paladin. Not only do the stats line up, but the sorcerer class features are also a better complement to a paladin, particularly the quicken metamagic which lets you cast a strong spell and make melee attacks, potentially with divine smite, all in a single turn. At least a few times a day anyway.
"Sorcadin" is a strong multiclass build running back to the early days of 5th edition. If you're interested in it, a quick google search should turn up multiple helpful guides.
I'm considering letting my vengeance pallie multiclass into cleric to keep the party alive, but with an unfortunate stat dump on INT I'm not even sure if he could survive
Int isn't critical for either palladins or clerics, though needing good if not great scores in all of charisma, wisdom, constitution, and a weapon attack stat makes it a difficult multiclass to work in games using point buy or standard array. Mechanically there's not a lot of synergy between the two - even some anti-synergy since both the cleric and paladin CD's have to compete for the same limited pool of channel divinity uses per rest. You can make it work, but it's a bit of a hassle. It might be worth instead considering a multiclass into divine soul sorcerer, which grants access to the cleric spell list on a cha-based class that thus multiclasses more easily with paladin.