I can join a new group. The group has some weaknesses in healing and frontline damage dealing.
Now I'm looking for a character fitting this scheme. Starting at level 2 with point buy. Dunno if we are allowed to freely distribute the racial bonuses. Available books: PHB, DMG, XGE, SCAG, and VGM. (I have MToF and TCE too.)
Currently on the list:
High elf nature cleric. Wood elf arcana, life or light cleric Hill dwarf forge cleric Paladin (dunno which subclass and race to pick) Warlock Celestial (Dunno which race) Half drow Sorcelock (Hexblade/Divine Soul) (Not very interesting because I play this already in another group.)
Of the options you posted, I'd say the Hill Dwarf Forge Cleric does the most for being both a solid healer and an absolute beast of a tank. You get some pretty useful damage dealing spells as well... Searing Smite can help you keep up in melee damage despite lacking the extra attack feature. Hill Dwarf pairs great with this, since it gives you proficiency in some martial weapons to pair with your heavy armor and extra HP.
If you'd rather focus on being the heavy damage dealer, however, I'd recommend Vengeance Paladin. Their Vow of Enmity is great for when you absolutely need to demolish a single opponent. I'd recommend either Half-Elf or Wood Elf... the idea is to take Elven Accuracy and focus on DEX over STR... you still only get one channel divinity per day, but Vow of Enmity doesn't cost any concentration and you can combine with Elven Accuracy to drastically increase your odds of landing a crit and unloading an absolutely beastly Divine Smite. Your armor won't be as good... if you're lucky with your stat rolls you could get high enough STR to wear full plate, but the more reliable choice is to go with Half-Plate and a shield... 19 AC is nothing to sneeze at.
I saw a build posted on giant forums, celestial warlock starting v.human for moderately armored. Basically, a "can do everything" build.
The feat Moderately armored is one of the worst feats to take, especially if you choose you the race. If you want Medium armor that bad, Dwarf (Mountain) gets you it, though no Shield.
If you get Human Variant, I would want the feat Eldritch Adapt from Tasha's. An extra Invocation can be huge, especially at early levels.
The Hexlock does the front-line fighting and healing perfectly.
(L1 & L3+): Paladin: Oath of Devotion
(L2): Warlock: Hexblade
You start with chainmail armor and a shield for 18AC, and you use your Charisma for your attack and damage rolls, and when you get to L7 (the sixth Paladin level) you'll also add your Charisma modifier as an additional bonus onto all of your saving throws.
You could go with the Protector Aasimar for the 1/day flight gained at L3 to let you use your melee attacks and Divine Smite against flying foes, or you might consider the Eladrin, which has a racial ability that lets you teleport 30ft as a bonus action (not a spell, so it can't be counterspelled, and it doesn't prevent you from casting a 1-action spell on the same turn).
By L9, you have 20 Charisma, a +9 on all attack rolls, and can Channel Divinity to increase that bonus to +14 for all attack rolls the character makes for one minute.
The character also can also use its Lay on Hands to cure a variety of ailments for the party, and has Auras that help the party merely by being in proximity to them.
I saw a build posted on giant forums, celestial warlock starting v.human for moderately armored. Basically, a "can do everything" build.
The feat Moderately armored is one of the worst feats to take, especially if you choose you the race. If you want Medium armor that bad, Dwarf (Mountain) gets you it, though no Shield.
If you get Human Variant, I would want the feat Eldritch Adapt from Tasha's. An extra Invocation can be huge, especially at early levels.
It's not a bad feat at all, especially not when you consider OP's specific needs. Fact is, if you want to be a front liner, medium armor alone isn't going to cut it. Shields will guarantee longer staying power. Plus, you can start out with a +3 in three stats, since moderately armored is a half-feat too. Plus, you don't have to be a dwarf, which is more than enough in favor of the feat.
Of the options you posted, I'd say the Hill Dwarf Forge Cleric does the most for being both a solid healer and an absolute beast of a tank. You get some pretty useful damage dealing spells as well... Searing Smite can help you keep up in melee damage despite lacking the extra attack feature. Hill Dwarf pairs great with this, since it gives you proficiency in some martial weapons to pair with your heavy armor and extra HP.
If you'd rather focus on being the heavy damage dealer, however, I'd recommend Vengeance Paladin. Their Vow of Enmity is great for when you absolutely need to demolish a single opponent. I'd recommend either Half-Elf or Wood Elf... the idea is to take Elven Accuracy and focus on DEX over STR... you still only get one channel divinity per day,
Channel Divinity recharges on a short rest, not a long rest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Ah, thanks for clarifying that about the CD... I've never actually played as a Cleric or Paladin outside of one-shots, so I'm not completely familiar with the mechanics.
I can join a new group. The group has some weaknesses in healing and frontline damage dealing.
Now I'm looking for a character fitting this scheme. Starting at level 2 with point buy. Dunno if we are allowed to freely distribute the racial bonuses. Available books: PHB, DMG, XGE, SCAG, and VGM. (I have MToF and TCE too.)
Currently on the list:
High elf nature cleric. Wood elf arcana, life or light cleric Hill dwarf forge cleric Paladin (dunno which subclass and race to pick) Warlock Celestial (Dunno which race) Half drow Sorcelock (Hexblade/Divine Soul) (Not very interesting because I play this already in another group.)
Looking for further ideas.
Thank you for your assistance.
No need to overthink it. Clerics and Paladins are designed to fill this role. You've got a couple of Clerics on your list. If it was me, I'd go with the Nature domain guy, because you can talk to animals or something, and I love that.
Straight Twilight cleric. Variant human or custom lineage. Take chef as your starter feat for the +1 wisdom and a slight boost to healing initially that will scale. Rush level 6, then take 2 levels of Circle of Stars druid. Then either go back to cleric or stay druid. Awesome healing ability.
Another option is Circle of Wildfire Druid. Plenty of healing options, plus lots of fiery damage dealing. If you leave your wildfire spirit on you, you can run to the front to cast Burning Hands or the like, then have your wildfire spirit use fiery teleportation to take you out of melee.
The strategy might be a bit more hit and run than hold the line, but it can work to deal lots of short range AoE damage and be in range to heal fighters or barbarians at the front line.
It is not on your list but if you get Strixhaven then you have the background option of Witherbloom student and that gives you some healing spells for any spell casting class or multi-class combo you pick. It happens to be one of my favorite backgrounds at the moment for its synergy with other abilities.
With the books you have listed any of the above options seem fine but I would refine my choice based on the GM's setting and game info.
I love Circle of Stars Druids. It’s definitely got the healing potential. It can also dish out control spells or blast away at range for plenty of damage. But it’s not well designed for front line damage. Your AC is likely low, HP mediocre, and you can’t tank like a Moon or Spores Druid can with your wild shape THP.
Even as a dip it can be a problem if your DM holds you to the RAW prohibition on metal armor. You might not be able to use your class abilities or might draw the ire of your circle (DM depending) if you use metal armor from your Cleric proficiencies.
That limit makes it hard to multiclass into anything but Monk for Druids. Not that either Druids or Monks should want to multiclass much.
I got a decent AC on my stars druid by being a tortle, however I don't see myself using the chalice form much. Currently (at level 4) archer form is my go to and Dragon is useful if you have a concentration spell up that you must keep going. Unless you are healing in combat of a regular basis to me it just seems as if it is too situational. At level 10 things change as you can switch to chalice but that vcan be near the end of many campaigns.
The point I am making is while druids are great at healing stars druid's are not much better, and thy are weak at melee (any attacks from archer form will be at disadvantage).
If you want a druid option for your list I would go Spores. They get a lot of temporary hipoints to make them more survivable and all the extra damage you get is based on the enmies being close to you (get shellaghleigh cantrip)
Nobody has mentioned Bard, or Artificer. Swords and Valor bards along with Armorer artificers have access to healing spells and are designed for melee combat. As full casters Bards get more spell slots and so more healing but the armorer is stronger defensively.
I would think very carefully before choosing twilight cleric. Twilight clerc's rfeatures are immensly powerful and a twilight cleric is likely to ovewrsadow the features of other players. For example Twilight sanctuary makes every almost every other sourcew of temporary hit points redundent. Playing a twilight cleric can make the game no fun for other members of the party.
The point I am making is while druids are great at healing stars druid's are not much better, and thy are weak at melee (any attacks from archer form will be at disadvantage).
I would think very carefully before choosing twilight cleric. Twilight clerc's rfeatures are immensly powerful and a twilight cleric is likely to ovewrsadow the features of other players. For example Twilight sanctuary makes every almost every other sourcew of temporary hit points redundent. Playing a twilight cleric can make the game no fun for other members of the party.
Why would the Archery attacks always be at disadvantage? That makes no sense. Generally they are only disadvantage if you are in melee using it or the target is prone at range.
If you are in melee as a Twilight/Stars multiclass then you want a half decent dex and wisdom. Studded leather (bone or stone rather than metal), shield, and 16 dex give you a 17 ac with no magic items. That’s not terrible. Sure it’s not great either but it can be improved on with ring / cloak of protection, magical shield or armour, cloak of displacement etc. Plus you have Spirit Guardians up for your concentration spell, Spiritual Weapon as your non concentration spell, and use dragon form for the bonus to concentration. Then you use your action to either make a weapon or cantrip attack every round. That’s a massive amount of damage. If you use Tasha’s then you can have a familiar by giving up a wildshape use and use it to deliver touch spells such as cure wounds (or use help action for advantage on your melee attack) and combined with your Twilight Sanctuary you and your party are golden.
The point I am making is while druids are great at healing stars druid's are not much better, and thy are weak at melee (any attacks from archer form will be at disadvantage).
I would think very carefully before choosing twilight cleric. Twilight clerc's rfeatures are immensly powerful and a twilight cleric is likely to ovewrsadow the features of other players. For example Twilight sanctuary makes every almost every other sourcew of temporary hit points redundent. Playing a twilight cleric can make the game no fun for other members of the party.
Why would the Archery attacks always be at disadvantage? That makes no sense. Generally they are only disadvantage if you are in melee using it or the target is prone at range.
They're saying that the Archer's bonus attack will always be at disadvantage if you're in a melee. Which is true, but druids have plenty of other options for close-range combat.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
They're saying that the Archer's bonus attack will always be at disadvantage if you're in a melee.
Yeah I realised that after, but as you said, they would be foolish to use it in melee. It’s still a useful ability when used in the right circumstances. Sometimes you need a screwdriver and sometimes you need a wrench. A wrench isn’t a bad tool just because it can’t insert screws. A stars druid in melee should really be using Shillelagh or primal savagery. But a stars druid isn’t really focused on being in melee unless you multiclass.
1st: A high elf life cleric with 1 level dip in druid for the good berries and shillelagh. Probably the character I'll use. 2nd: It is not a healer but sounds quite fun: Hexblade 2/shadow sorcerer X The flexibility of the Hexblade 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer X is difficult to beat. Probably I make this as a second character.
In the group are a wood elf monk, a high elf wizard, and a halfling rogue. Quite difficult to get the right character. I played with a life cleric with one level dip in druid.
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I can join a new group. The group has some weaknesses in healing and frontline damage dealing.
Now I'm looking for a character fitting this scheme. Starting at level 2 with point buy. Dunno if we are allowed to freely distribute the racial bonuses.
Available books: PHB, DMG, XGE, SCAG, and VGM. (I have MToF and TCE too.)
Currently on the list:
High elf nature cleric.
Wood elf arcana, life or light cleric
Hill dwarf forge cleric
Paladin (dunno which subclass and race to pick)
Warlock Celestial (Dunno which race)
Half drow Sorcelock (Hexblade/Divine Soul) (Not very interesting because I play this already in another group.)
Looking for further ideas.
Thank you for your assistance.
Of the options you posted, I'd say the Hill Dwarf Forge Cleric does the most for being both a solid healer and an absolute beast of a tank. You get some pretty useful damage dealing spells as well... Searing Smite can help you keep up in melee damage despite lacking the extra attack feature. Hill Dwarf pairs great with this, since it gives you proficiency in some martial weapons to pair with your heavy armor and extra HP.
If you'd rather focus on being the heavy damage dealer, however, I'd recommend Vengeance Paladin. Their Vow of Enmity is great for when you absolutely need to demolish a single opponent. I'd recommend either Half-Elf or Wood Elf... the idea is to take Elven Accuracy and focus on DEX over STR... you still only get one channel divinity per day, but Vow of Enmity doesn't cost any concentration and you can combine with Elven Accuracy to drastically increase your odds of landing a crit and unloading an absolutely beastly Divine Smite. Your armor won't be as good... if you're lucky with your stat rolls you could get high enough STR to wear full plate, but the more reliable choice is to go with Half-Plate and a shield... 19 AC is nothing to sneeze at.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I saw a build posted on giant forums, celestial warlock starting v.human for moderately armored. Basically, a "can do everything" build.
The feat Moderately armored is one of the worst feats to take, especially if you choose you the race. If you want Medium armor that bad, Dwarf (Mountain) gets you it, though no Shield.
If you get Human Variant, I would want the feat Eldritch Adapt from Tasha's. An extra Invocation can be huge, especially at early levels.
The Hexlock does the front-line fighting and healing perfectly.
(L1 & L3+): Paladin: Oath of Devotion
(L2): Warlock: Hexblade
You start with chainmail armor and a shield for 18AC, and you use your Charisma for your attack and damage rolls, and when you get to L7 (the sixth Paladin level) you'll also add your Charisma modifier as an additional bonus onto all of your saving throws.
You could go with the Protector Aasimar for the 1/day flight gained at L3 to let you use your melee attacks and Divine Smite against flying foes, or you might consider the Eladrin, which has a racial ability that lets you teleport 30ft as a bonus action (not a spell, so it can't be counterspelled, and it doesn't prevent you from casting a 1-action spell on the same turn).
For the standard array:
Eladrin: Str:13, Dex:8+2, Con:14, Int:10, Wis:12, Cha:15+1
Protector Aasimar: Str:13, Dex:10, Con:15, Int:12, Wis:8+1, Cha:14+2
By L9, you have 20 Charisma, a +9 on all attack rolls, and can Channel Divinity to increase that bonus to +14 for all attack rolls the character makes for one minute.
The character also can also use its Lay on Hands to cure a variety of ailments for the party, and has Auras that help the party merely by being in proximity to them.
It's not a bad feat at all, especially not when you consider OP's specific needs. Fact is, if you want to be a front liner, medium armor alone isn't going to cut it. Shields will guarantee longer staying power. Plus, you can start out with a +3 in three stats, since moderately armored is a half-feat too. Plus, you don't have to be a dwarf, which is more than enough in favor of the feat.
Channel Divinity recharges on a short rest, not a long rest.
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.
Ah, thanks for clarifying that about the CD... I've never actually played as a Cleric or Paladin outside of one-shots, so I'm not completely familiar with the mechanics.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Easy mistake to make.
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.
No need to overthink it. Clerics and Paladins are designed to fill this role. You've got a couple of Clerics on your list. If it was me, I'd go with the Nature domain guy, because you can talk to animals or something, and I love that.
Straight Twilight cleric. Variant human or custom lineage. Take chef as your starter feat for the +1 wisdom and a slight boost to healing initially that will scale. Rush level 6, then take 2 levels of Circle of Stars druid. Then either go back to cleric or stay druid. Awesome healing ability.
Another option is Circle of Wildfire Druid. Plenty of healing options, plus lots of fiery damage dealing. If you leave your wildfire spirit on you, you can run to the front to cast Burning Hands or the like, then have your wildfire spirit use fiery teleportation to take you out of melee.
The strategy might be a bit more hit and run than hold the line, but it can work to deal lots of short range AoE damage and be in range to heal fighters or barbarians at the front line.
It is not on your list but if you get Strixhaven then you have the background option of Witherbloom student and that gives you some healing spells for any spell casting class or multi-class combo you pick. It happens to be one of my favorite backgrounds at the moment for its synergy with other abilities.
With the books you have listed any of the above options seem fine but I would refine my choice based on the GM's setting and game info.
I love Circle of Stars Druids. It’s definitely got the healing potential. It can also dish out control spells or blast away at range for plenty of damage. But it’s not well designed for front line damage. Your AC is likely low, HP mediocre, and you can’t tank like a Moon or Spores Druid can with your wild shape THP.
Even as a dip it can be a problem if your DM holds you to the RAW prohibition on metal armor. You might not be able to use your class abilities or might draw the ire of your circle (DM depending) if you use metal armor from your Cleric proficiencies.
That limit makes it hard to multiclass into anything but Monk for Druids. Not that either Druids or Monks should want to multiclass much.
I got a decent AC on my stars druid by being a tortle, however I don't see myself using the chalice form much. Currently (at level 4) archer form is my go to and Dragon is useful if you have a concentration spell up that you must keep going. Unless you are healing in combat of a regular basis to me it just seems as if it is too situational. At level 10 things change as you can switch to chalice but that vcan be near the end of many campaigns.
The point I am making is while druids are great at healing stars druid's are not much better, and thy are weak at melee (any attacks from archer form will be at disadvantage).
If you want a druid option for your list I would go Spores. They get a lot of temporary hipoints to make them more survivable and all the extra damage you get is based on the enmies being close to you (get shellaghleigh cantrip)
Nobody has mentioned Bard, or Artificer. Swords and Valor bards along with Armorer artificers have access to healing spells and are designed for melee combat. As full casters Bards get more spell slots and so more healing but the armorer is stronger defensively.
I would think very carefully before choosing twilight cleric. Twilight clerc's rfeatures are immensly powerful and a twilight cleric is likely to ovewrsadow the features of other players. For example Twilight sanctuary makes every almost every other sourcew of temporary hit points redundent. Playing a twilight cleric can make the game no fun for other members of the party.
Why would the Archery attacks always be at disadvantage? That makes no sense. Generally they are only disadvantage if you are in melee using it or the target is prone at range.
If you are in melee as a Twilight/Stars multiclass then you want a half decent dex and wisdom. Studded leather (bone or stone rather than metal), shield, and 16 dex give you a 17 ac with no magic items. That’s not terrible. Sure it’s not great either but it can be improved on with ring / cloak of protection, magical shield or armour, cloak of displacement etc. Plus you have Spirit Guardians up for your concentration spell, Spiritual Weapon as your non concentration spell, and use dragon form for the bonus to concentration. Then you use your action to either make a weapon or cantrip attack every round. That’s a massive amount of damage. If you use Tasha’s then you can have a familiar by giving up a wildshape use and use it to deliver touch spells such as cure wounds (or use help action for advantage on your melee attack) and combined with your Twilight Sanctuary you and your party are golden.
They're saying that the Archer's bonus attack will always be at disadvantage if you're in a melee. Which is true, but druids have plenty of other options for close-range combat.
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.
They're saying that the Archer's bonus attack will always be at disadvantage if you're in a melee.
Yeah I realised that after, but as you said, they would be foolish to use it in melee. It’s still a useful ability when used in the right circumstances. Sometimes you need a screwdriver and sometimes you need a wrench. A wrench isn’t a bad tool just because it can’t insert screws. A stars druid in melee should really be using Shillelagh or primal savagery. But a stars druid isn’t really focused on being in melee unless you multiclass.
Currently created:
1st: A high elf life cleric with 1 level dip in druid for the good berries and shillelagh. Probably the character I'll use.
2nd: It is not a healer but sounds quite fun: Hexblade 2/shadow sorcerer X
The flexibility of the Hexblade 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer X is difficult to beat. Probably I make this as a second character.
A paladin will be created too.
We played yesterday.
In the group are a wood elf monk, a high elf wizard, and a halfling rogue. Quite difficult to get the right character. I played with a life cleric with one level dip in druid.