So as the title states, I have a fighter/cleric multiclass idea. I playing with the idea of "Might and Magic" or "Mind and Body". So the obvious choice is a Battle Master Fighter multiclassed with War Domain Cleric. However, I like the idea of the Arcane Domain for the "Magic/Mind" side of things. Was wondering if anyone had played the arcane domain and what their thoughts on it were. Also I'm sorry if this should be in the Cleric fourm, wasn't sure with the multiclass.
It's a bad idea to multiclass without mechanical benefits. You would be equivalent to two characters of half your level, except that you only get one turn. The Eldritch Knight subclass would work much better.
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So as the title states, I have a fighter/cleric multiclass idea. I playing with the idea of "Might and Magic" or "Mind and Body". So the obvious choice is a Battle Master Fighter multiclassed with War Domain Cleric. However, I like the idea of the Arcane Domain for the "Magic/Mind" side of things. Was wondering if anyone had played the arcane domain and what their thoughts on it were. Also I'm sorry if this should be in the Cleric fourm, wasn't sure with the multiclass.
As a DM, my question would be -- what story are you trying to tell with the character?
'Playing with the idea of Might and Magic' or exploring a mind/body duality, is a decent starting point, but it's not a full character. Figure out who the character is, and what exactly it is that appeals to you about that duality, and it might help you narrow down the class/subclass/multiclass that makes the most sense
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So the idea is that "My brain is a muscle so let me train it." To be honest I was looking at a Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight originally. But I felt the lack of healing took away from the tanking. Mostly I want a character who can go into melee but also throw some spells around. I've also never multiclassed anything in 5e so I thought it be fun to try. If it helps, I like Ranger (using optional rules to break free of the location/enemy typing limits) since it gives you bulk, melee options, and spells.
So the idea is that "My brain is a muscle so let me train it." To be honest I was looking at a Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight originally. But I felt the lack of healing took away from the tanking. Mostly I want a character who can go into melee but also throw some spells around. I've also never multiclassed anything in 5e so I thought it be fun to try. If it helps, I like Ranger (using optional rules to break free of the location/enemy typing limits) since it gives you bulk, melee options, and spells.
So you are looking for a martial character that can wade into battle, slinging spells and weapon attacks, and has some healing for extra survivability. Sounds like what you want is a Paladin. Heavy armor and weapons, healing, damage, and utility spells, and some really nice defensive perks like Aura of Protection. It kind of sounds like Paladin checks all the boxes for the character you are looking for without the heavy multi-classing the makes you spread your ability scores too far.
If you really want to min/max, you could play a Devotion Paladin and take a level or two of Warlock to get Pact of the Blade so that you can add your charisma modifier to your attack rolls twice. As a Paladin 5/Warlock 2 with Pact of the Blade, you would have a +13 to hit with your weapon. Pretty solid
Knew the PallyLock was strong, didn't know it was that strong. Yeah, Paladin would be the answer. Guess I got to focused on tge smite memes to think they had any real spell casting. Gonna have to look into Paladins. Thanks ya'll.
Generally, War or Forge domain clerics will give you what you need to be a front liner. Just don’t expect to use your weapon too often for Forge (or anything but War) at level 5 or later. Even for War, you’ll probably find that casting a spell is better than two weapon attacks in many situations starting at level 5. https://19216811.cam/
You’ll want to cast Bless, Spirit Guardians, or other concentration spells to start in most cases. So you’ll want Warcastwr as soon as you can get it (or Resilient CON if your CON is odd).
I just posted a thread on a very similar build. I am currently a Level 5 Battle Master and after level 6, I am thinking of multiclassing into a War Domain Cleric.
I'm still fairly new to this, but I think War Domain Cleric would allow the use of a bonus action for a third attack with War Priest at Level 3.
Fighters are normally going to get a Bonus Action attack from either Dual Wielder or Polearm Mastery anyway, so those levels of Cleric would just slow down your progression for little benefit.
In 2024, the answer to "should I multi-class?" is almost always no. Class/sub-class design is far more progressive and most of the truly effective multi-class builds are T3/T4 builds that don't really do anything more than a single level dip until that point. Something to remember is that no matter how many abilities you have, you have one Action, one Bonus Action, one Reaction and one Concentration. Having a dozen mediocre ways to use each of those is inferior to having one good way to use them.
In 2024, the answer to "should I multi-class?" is almost always no
In 2024, the answer to "should I multiclass" is the same as it was in 2014 -- if it makes sense for your character concept
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
In my opinion... a FTR/Cleric multiclass combo might have made sense in earlier editions, but not in 5e (2014 or 2024). From what you describe, it sounds like you'd be better off either going straight Cleric or Paladin. What you gain from those FTR levels is worse than what you lose by not having those levels in Cleric. 4 levels of FTR means giving up 2 additional spell levels, 3 levels of FTR means giving up 1 additional spell level. A 10th level Cleric gets Divine Intervention which is basically a free 5th level spell every day, but if you multiclass you won't get that until much higher level. The list goes on... it just isn't worth it. Even story-wise, whatever story you could tell by multi-classing into FTR you could tell with being a straight Cleric or Paladin.
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Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
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So as the title states, I have a fighter/cleric multiclass idea. I playing with the idea of "Might and Magic" or "Mind and Body". So the obvious choice is a Battle Master Fighter multiclassed with War Domain Cleric. However, I like the idea of the Arcane Domain for the "Magic/Mind" side of things. Was wondering if anyone had played the arcane domain and what their thoughts on it were. Also I'm sorry if this should be in the Cleric fourm, wasn't sure with the multiclass.
It's a bad idea to multiclass without mechanical benefits. You would be equivalent to two characters of half your level, except that you only get one turn. The Eldritch Knight subclass would work much better.
Homebrew: dominance, The Necrotic
Extended signature
But then I would be split between str, con, wis, and int. I was gonna go battle master to decrease stat needs.
Fighter provides many of the benefits of War Cleric. Weapons, Armor, Extra Attack.
I mean single class Eldritch Knight Fighter.
Homebrew: dominance, The Necrotic
Extended signature
As a DM, my question would be -- what story are you trying to tell with the character?
'Playing with the idea of Might and Magic' or exploring a mind/body duality, is a decent starting point, but it's not a full character. Figure out who the character is, and what exactly it is that appeals to you about that duality, and it might help you narrow down the class/subclass/multiclass that makes the most sense
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So the idea is that "My brain is a muscle so let me train it." To be honest I was looking at a Bladesinger/Eldritch Knight originally. But I felt the lack of healing took away from the tanking. Mostly I want a character who can go into melee but also throw some spells around. I've also never multiclassed anything in 5e so I thought it be fun to try. If it helps, I like Ranger (using optional rules to break free of the location/enemy typing limits) since it gives you bulk, melee options, and spells.
So you are looking for a martial character that can wade into battle, slinging spells and weapon attacks, and has some healing for extra survivability. Sounds like what you want is a Paladin. Heavy armor and weapons, healing, damage, and utility spells, and some really nice defensive perks like Aura of Protection. It kind of sounds like Paladin checks all the boxes for the character you are looking for without the heavy multi-classing the makes you spread your ability scores too far.
If you really want to min/max, you could play a Devotion Paladin and take a level or two of Warlock to get Pact of the Blade so that you can add your charisma modifier to your attack rolls twice. As a Paladin 5/Warlock 2 with Pact of the Blade, you would have a +13 to hit with your weapon. Pretty solid
Knew the PallyLock was strong, didn't know it was that strong. Yeah, Paladin would be the answer. Guess I got to focused on tge smite memes to think they had any real spell casting. Gonna have to look into Paladins. Thanks ya'll.
Generally, War or Forge domain clerics will give you what you need to be a front liner. Just don’t expect to use your weapon too often for Forge (or anything but War) at level 5 or later. Even for War, you’ll probably find that casting a spell is better than two weapon attacks in many situations starting at level 5. https://19216811.cam/
You’ll want to cast Bless, Spirit Guardians, or other concentration spells to start in most cases. So you’ll want Warcastwr as soon as you can get it (or Resilient CON if your CON is odd).
I just posted a thread on a very similar build. I am currently a Level 5 Battle Master and after level 6, I am thinking of multiclassing into a War Domain Cleric.
I'm still fairly new to this, but I think War Domain Cleric would allow the use of a bonus action for a third attack with War Priest at Level 3.
Fighters are normally going to get a Bonus Action attack from either Dual Wielder or Polearm Mastery anyway, so those levels of Cleric would just slow down your progression for little benefit.
In 2024, the answer to "should I multi-class?" is almost always no. Class/sub-class design is far more progressive and most of the truly effective multi-class builds are T3/T4 builds that don't really do anything more than a single level dip until that point. Something to remember is that no matter how many abilities you have, you have one Action, one Bonus Action, one Reaction and one Concentration. Having a dozen mediocre ways to use each of those is inferior to having one good way to use them.
In 2024, the answer to "should I multiclass" is the same as it was in 2014 -- if it makes sense for your character concept
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
In my opinion... a FTR/Cleric multiclass combo might have made sense in earlier editions, but not in 5e (2014 or 2024). From what you describe, it sounds like you'd be better off either going straight Cleric or Paladin. What you gain from those FTR levels is worse than what you lose by not having those levels in Cleric. 4 levels of FTR means giving up 2 additional spell levels, 3 levels of FTR means giving up 1 additional spell level. A 10th level Cleric gets Divine Intervention which is basically a free 5th level spell every day, but if you multiclass you won't get that until much higher level. The list goes on... it just isn't worth it. Even story-wise, whatever story you could tell by multi-classing into FTR you could tell with being a straight Cleric or Paladin.
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.