My usual group stopped playing in February - March because of the quarantine, so I've been tinkering with character ideas. A lot.
My gazillion-th character would be a Storm Sorcerer X / Tempest Cleric 2, if that makes sense. I think it does, but let's discuss together! I have found a ton of discussions about this kind of build, but not even one about in-depth optimization (not min-maxing!).
I'd start with Sorcerer 1, take Cleric 1 and 2, then I'd go on on the Sorcerer path until the end. My main issues are the character's attributes, its race and its MADness. Let's start with some default point buy.
Option 1: Human (Variant)
STR 14+1, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 12 (+1), CHA 15+1 Bonus talent: Resilient (WIS), that would add Wisdom to the saving throws proficiencies, next to Constitution and Charisma, and it would give me the 13 WIS needed for the Cleric dip.
Heavy armor, shield, 5 skills, one bonus feat and 3 saving throws proficiencies sound nice. This character could very well fight in melee range or stand in mid-range and hurl thunderbolt & lightning (very very frightening me).
Option 2: Half-Elf
STR 14+1, DEX 10, CON 13+1, INT 9, WIS 13, CHA 14+2
This option gives us Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, one more language and a total of six skills. The character could still wear heavy armor and shield.
Feats / ASI
Warcaster is needed, and I like the idea of using Warcaster + a polearm + Polearm Master + Spell Sniper to cast Booming Blade on approaching enemies: if they want to get in melee range they have to eat up the extra Booming Blade damage.
This means I need three ASIs for those feats, but this path would give me ASIs at character level 6, 10, 14 and 18: I'm finding myself quite MAD and ASI-starved, here.
Human (Variant) could ease up the load, letting me grab Warcaster at level 1, Polearm Master at level 10 and Spell Sniper at level 16, leaving just the level 18 for a +2 bump to Charisma. Far too late for my liking.
Tactics
Two enemies approach, Polearm Master lets me use my reaction to do an apportunity attack, and Warcaster lets me use a spell (with casting time of 1 action) instead of a physical attack. A Twinned Booming Blade would work.
Then I'd be able to cast a spell with my action, maybe maximized with Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath, and even a quickened cantrip with a bonus action; then Tempestuous Magic would let me move back 10 feet unscathed. Heart of the Storm would add even more damage against those two poor wretches.
To recap:
Reaction: single or twinned Booming Blade on approaching foes;
Action: cast a 1st+ level spell.
Bonus action: Quickened cantrip, like Green-Flame blade.
Then I'd move back using Tempestuous Magic and my normal movement, and I could rinse and repeat until I run out of expendable spell slots.
The generic (non-variant) human would allow you to start with 16/9/14/9/13/16.
To be honest if feels like you're trying to do too much. If you want to go down the "smashing things with range" approach I'd suggest a Paladin. Then just give it the polearm master feat with a glaive and divine smite when it connects. You can go Paladin 6 +PAM, then 14 Sorcerer for the spell slots.
To be honest if feels like you're trying to do too much.
Sadly, you're probably right. I''ll keep tinkering with this idea, but it would be probably best served by an Eldritch Knight Fighter. Hmmm. I'll sleep on it. :)
The Eldritch Knight would give you an extra 2 feats.
If you start with a Variant Human that's a total of five ASIs/Feats at level 10 and that's pretty good.
Starting stats: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
Starting feat: Polearm Master
Starting weapon: Glaive
Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Level 3: Eldritch Knight w/ Booming Blade
Level 4: War Caster
Level 6: Spell Sniper
Level 8: +2 Str
Level 10 +2 Str
It comes online much faster than the Sorcerer/Cleric idea and would be far more effective over the course of a normal campaign. You could even drop one of the Str improvements for Magic Initiate (Wizard) for more cantrips and spells and then max your strength at level 12.
You don't add skills from classes unless it says that you gain a skill from its list in the multiclassing proficiencies section in chapter 6 of the PHB, unless you did something differently. I would say that you could just do away either with fighting in close range or at long range. If you're fighting close range an Eldritch Knight may be better, as Freman said and fighting at long range would be fine with cleric or wizard.
Longer Range: You don't really need to put much into wisdom, you might be able to get away with just leaving it at 14 since what you really want is the channel divinity. If you played more back you might be able to sacrifice some strength to focus on spellcasting. For this, you might like to have Spell Sniper and Elemental Adept.
Closer Range: Going 18 sorcerer for close range might not be wise due to the lack of health you get from sorcerer. It might be better to go 8 or 14 cleric/12 or 6 sorcerer. The only reason you're going sorcerer in the first place is to get the metamagic and maybe the tempestuous magic and heart of the strom. You get all this from three to six levels, so you might even be able to go Eldritch Knight or Paladin the rest of the way, or even storm herald barbarian if you want to go even more into the front line! I don't think you'll need Warcaster actually, since if you're using a two-handed weapon you can still cast spells by taking a hand off the weapon to cast. That would still leave you with Polearm Master and Spell Sniper, and Elemental Adept if you want it.
The Eldritch Knight would give you an extra 2 feats.
If you start with a Variant Human that's a total of five ASIs/Feats at level 10 and that's pretty good.
Starting stats: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
Starting feat: Polearm Master
Starting weapon: Glaive
Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Level 3: Eldritch Knight w/ Booming Blade
Level 4: War Caster
Level 6: Spell Sniper
Level 8: +2 Str
Level 10 +2 Str
It comes online much faster than the Sorcerer/Cleric idea and would be far more effective over the course of a normal campaign. You could even drop one of the Str improvements for Magic Initiate (Wizard) for more cantrips and spells and then max your strength at level 12.
Or take the UA Metamagic Adept feat and leave it at that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
My usual group stopped playing in February - March because of the quarantine, so I've been tinkering with character ideas. A lot.
My gazillion-th character would be a Storm Sorcerer X / Tempest Cleric 2, if that makes sense. I think it does, but let's discuss together! I have found a ton of discussions about this kind of build, but not even one about in-depth optimization (not min-maxing!).
I'd start with Sorcerer 1, take Cleric 1 and 2, then I'd go on on the Sorcerer path until the end. My main issues are the character's attributes, its race and its MADness. Let's start with some default point buy.
Option 1: Human (Variant)
STR 14+1, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 12 (+1), CHA 15+1
Bonus talent: Resilient (WIS), that would add Wisdom to the saving throws proficiencies, next to Constitution and Charisma, and it would give me the 13 WIS needed for the Cleric dip.
Heavy armor, shield, 5 skills, one bonus feat and 3 saving throws proficiencies sound nice. This character could very well fight in melee range or stand in mid-range and hurl thunderbolt & lightning (very very frightening me).
Option 2: Half-Elf
STR 14+1, DEX 10, CON 13+1, INT 9, WIS 13, CHA 14+2
This option gives us Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, one more language and a total of six skills. The character could still wear heavy armor and shield.
Feats / ASI
Warcaster is needed, and I like the idea of using Warcaster + a polearm + Polearm Master + Spell Sniper to cast Booming Blade on approaching enemies: if they want to get in melee range they have to eat up the extra Booming Blade damage.
This means I need three ASIs for those feats, but this path would give me ASIs at character level 6, 10, 14 and 18: I'm finding myself quite MAD and ASI-starved, here.
Human (Variant) could ease up the load, letting me grab Warcaster at level 1, Polearm Master at level 10 and Spell Sniper at level 16, leaving just the level 18 for a +2 bump to Charisma. Far too late for my liking.
Tactics
Two enemies approach, Polearm Master lets me use my reaction to do an apportunity attack, and Warcaster lets me use a spell (with casting time of 1 action) instead of a physical attack. A Twinned Booming Blade would work.
Then I'd be able to cast a spell with my action, maybe maximized with Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath, and even a quickened cantrip with a bonus action; then Tempestuous Magic would let me move back 10 feet unscathed. Heart of the Storm would add even more damage against those two poor wretches.
To recap:
Reaction: single or twinned Booming Blade on approaching foes;
Action: cast a 1st+ level spell.
Bonus action: Quickened cantrip, like Green-Flame blade.
Then I'd move back using Tempestuous Magic and my normal movement, and I could rinse and repeat until I run out of expendable spell slots.
How can I pull this off?
It is very MAD.
The generic (non-variant) human would allow you to start with 16/9/14/9/13/16.
To be honest if feels like you're trying to do too much. If you want to go down the "smashing things with range" approach I'd suggest a Paladin. Then just give it the polearm master feat with a glaive and divine smite when it connects. You can go Paladin 6 +PAM, then 14 Sorcerer for the spell slots.
Sadly, you're probably right.
I''ll keep tinkering with this idea, but it would be probably best served by an Eldritch Knight Fighter. Hmmm. I'll sleep on it. :)
The Eldritch Knight would give you an extra 2 feats.
If you start with a Variant Human that's a total of five ASIs/Feats at level 10 and that's pretty good.
Starting stats: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
Starting feat: Polearm Master
Starting weapon: Glaive
Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Level 3: Eldritch Knight w/ Booming Blade
Level 4: War Caster
Level 6: Spell Sniper
Level 8: +2 Str
Level 10 +2 Str
It comes online much faster than the Sorcerer/Cleric idea and would be far more effective over the course of a normal campaign. You could even drop one of the Str improvements for Magic Initiate (Wizard) for more cantrips and spells and then max your strength at level 12.
You don't add skills from classes unless it says that you gain a skill from its list in the multiclassing proficiencies section in chapter 6 of the PHB, unless you did something differently. I would say that you could just do away either with fighting in close range or at long range. If you're fighting close range an Eldritch Knight may be better, as Freman said and fighting at long range would be fine with cleric or wizard.
Longer Range:
You don't really need to put much into wisdom, you might be able to get away with just leaving it at 14 since what you really want is the channel divinity. If you played more back you might be able to sacrifice some strength to focus on spellcasting.
For this, you might like to have Spell Sniper and Elemental Adept.
Closer Range:
Going 18 sorcerer for close range might not be wise due to the lack of health you get from sorcerer. It might be better to go 8 or 14 cleric/12 or 6 sorcerer. The only reason you're going sorcerer in the first place is to get the metamagic and maybe the tempestuous magic and heart of the strom. You get all this from three to six levels, so you might even be able to go Eldritch Knight or Paladin the rest of the way, or even storm herald barbarian if you want to go even more into the front line!
I don't think you'll need Warcaster actually, since if you're using a two-handed weapon you can still cast spells by taking a hand off the weapon to cast. That would still leave you with Polearm Master and Spell Sniper, and Elemental Adept if you want it.
I would suggest going to 6th level as a Tempest Cleric, if not just to get another use of Destructive Wrath.
Or take the UA Metamagic Adept feat and leave it at that.