I'm gonna recommend Tempest Domain... it grants Heavy Armor and Martial Weapon proficiencies, which you don't need but might be able to swap for useful skill proficiencies. The important thing is that it gives you a solid counterattack reaction to bust out when you're in the middle of combat. It doesn't scale upward at all, but 2d8 Thunder/Lightning damage is still pretty solid until at least mid-tier and doesn't hurt to keep on hand even into high tier, plus as an Open Hand monk you don't really have too many reactions to use regularly.
Right off the bat as a Tempest Cleric you get Fog Cloud and Thunderwave, which are both solid-but-unimpressive battlefield control spells.
You get 3 Cantrips at level 1, and I always recommend Guidance. It's like a mini-inspiration you can use infinite times per day. It's hard to use in combat but if you ever know that you or one of your allies is going to face a skill check you might as well cast it. I'd also recommend Toll the Dead just so you have a ranged option... it's the most damaging Cantrip short of a modified Eldritch Blast, since it deals 1d12 Necrotic to enemies that are already damaged. Sacred Flame is another good option... less damage, but it deals Radiant, which is less often resisted and it targets Dexterity. As for your last Cantrip I would think it depends on your race... if you don't have darkvision, then I recommend grabbing Light. If you do have Darkvision, I'd recommend Mending... it won't get used nearly as much as your other cantrips, but it might absolutely save you in a pinch.
The nice thing about being a Cleric is that you prepare your spells rather than having Spells Known, so at the start of each day you can change what spells you have prepared depending on the challenge you expect to face on that day. That said, Healing Word is always good to have on hand. It's not great for healing up damage, but it's main value is being a bonus action you can use to pop someone back up after they're knocked down to Zero HP. Other than that, it depends on what you need to do, but as a dedicated Monk I think you can basically ignore any damage dealing spells... you'll get a lot more mileage out of just rushing up on a foe and beating them up rather than spend one of your two spell slots on Inflict Wounds or something. Bless and Bane are generally pretty useful, and you can Ritual Cast any spells that you have prepared to save on spell slots. Detect Magic is probably the first level spell you'll get the most use out of.
What level are you and how far do you intend to go (both overall and in cleric)?
Regarding domains, the Peace Cleric is immensely powerful for a single level dip at high level. This is because Emboldening bond scales with proficiency bonus both in the number of times per day you can use it and the number of people in the party. Up to character level 8 if it good but nothing insane by the time you get to character level 13 and you can use it 5 times per day on 5 characters it is broken. It does however benefit the whole party so there might not be too many complaints from the rest of the group that you are too powerful. I have an open hand monk who took 1 level of peace cleric when he hit level 20 .
Twilight is the other domain to consider if you are looking for the most powerful subclass. Eyes of night is really useful great, especially if you don't have darkvision and the rest of the party get get it for an hour per day which can help either other party members without darkvision or those with when you are in darkness in a fairly open area (large ceverns or ar in the open at night. The most powerful featur eof twilight cleric is twilight sanctuary, this provides so many temporary hit points that the party wil rarely lose actual hit points this is what makes twilight cleric what I believe is the most powerful subclass (of any class) in the game.
For cantrips a ranged attack option can come in handy especially if you don't have the means to fly, Toll the dead will do more damage more but necrotic is often resisted so I went with sacred flame. I would then pick a couple of utility / out of combat cantrips that noone else in the party has. Guidance is probably the most powerful but if someone already has it there is litle benefit you you having it as well, mending and Thaumaturgy are probalby the best other options.
Levelled spells you can change everyday so you can see shat works. Healing word is a must, if a party member goes unconcious you want to get them up as quickly as possible firstly so they do not miss their turn making a death saving throw and secondly in case they get hit by a AoE attacks or attacks by creatures that know a creature that is unconcious is likely to be a threat again unless it is killed off. Nearly all your options for bonus action are based on making the attack action so if you cast cure wounds you wont be able to attack at all where with healing word you can still get your main action attacks in. Bless, shield of faith, protection from good and evil and heroism are all decent uses of concentration during combat (preferably casting the spell just before combat starts) using a first level spell for any level of character, bless is probably the best (RAW it stacks with emboldening bond but many DMs will not allow that). Create and destroy water can be used to put out fires or remove a fog cloud. Every party needs detect magic though it is likely someone already has it. Command is incredibly useful at any level to disable a character for a round
i'm playing a character right now who's open hand monk 5/light cleric 2. i don't know if it's "optimal" but it's super fun to play if you like versatility.
bless is great on a monk because they make so many attack rolls, though keeping concentration is a concern.
healing word is great, competes with your bonus action options but if you need it it's really good to have on hand.
for light cleric, faerie fire and burning hands are both pretty solid spells - the former because you make a lot of attack rolls (though concentration, again); the latter does decent damage if you're got a number of opponents.
the light cleric's warding flare is a nice melee use of your reaction, good for survivability.
i don't usually use an attack cantrip in combat but when i do it's toll the dead. guiding bolt has a great range, and sometimes it's worth the spell slot.
in all cases, casting a spell as your action still allows you to use a ki point to dodge or disengage, if you have ki available.
The most powerful featur eof twilight cleric is twilight sanctuary, this provides so many temporary hit points that the party wil rarely lose actual hit points this is what makes twilight cleric what I believe is the most powerful subclass (of any class) in the game.
I am on board with everything here, apart from this bit. You might be misunderstanding how temp hps work (see below). And most opponents do more than a d6 + level when they hit.
It's still a pretty great ability, though.
(Sorry, thinking about it I see your point. I should add that most of my critters, as a DM, tend to be either half-smart, or big scary fellers. Meaning they tend to focus maybe two of the player-characters at a time anyway, and they'd burn through the turn's temp hp pretty fast. I guess if a DM tends to run low-intelligence hordes, this ability would be pretty crazy).
Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
The most powerful featur eof twilight cleric is twilight sanctuary, this provides so many temporary hit points that the party wil rarely lose actual hit points this is what makes twilight cleric what I believe is the most powerful subclass (of any class) in the game.
I am on board with everything here, apart from this bit. You might be misunderstanding how temp hps work (see below). And most opponents do more than a d6 + level when they hit.
It's still a pretty great ability, though.
(Sorry, thinking about it I see your point. I should add that most of my critters, as a DM, tend to be either half-smart, or big scary fellers. Meaning they tend to focus maybe two of the player-characters at a time anyway, and they'd burn through the turn's temp hp pretty fast. I guess if a DM tends to run low-intelligence hordes, this ability would be pretty crazy).
Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
The main issue with the Twilight cleric's ability is that the temporary hit points reset every round if the PC is close enough.
So even though an enemy is doing more than d6+level per round, that first amount is coming off the temporary hit points which massively reduces the real amount of damage taken; and then at the end of the PCs round that d6+level buffer is regained.
So it isn't a case of building up a massive pool of temporary hit points in one go - it is the continual resetting of the pool which makes the big difference.
The most powerful featur eof twilight cleric is twilight sanctuary, this provides so many temporary hit points that the party wil rarely lose actual hit points this is what makes twilight cleric what I believe is the most powerful subclass (of any class) in the game.
I am on board with everything here, apart from this bit. You might be misunderstanding how temp hps work (see below). And most opponents do more than a d6 + level when they hit.
It's still a pretty great ability, though.
(Sorry, thinking about it I see your point. I should add that most of my critters, as a DM, tend to be either half-smart, or big scary fellers. Meaning they tend to focus maybe two of the player-characters at a time anyway, and they'd burn through the turn's temp hp pretty fast. I guess if a DM tends to run low-intelligence hordes, this ability would be pretty crazy).
Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
The main issue with the Twilight cleric's ability is that the temporary hit points reset every round if the PC is close enough.
So even though an enemy is doing more than d6+level per round, that first amount is coming off the temporary hit points which massively reduces the real amount of damage taken; and then at the end of the PCs round that d6+level buffer is regained.
So it isn't a case of building up a massive pool of temporary hit points in one go - it is the continual resetting of the pool which makes the big difference.
Right, but the person I quoted said "rarely lose actual hitpoints" which suggests the error.
Twilight is considered OP because so many people refuse to change tactics when they see one. The appropriate enemy response to a Twilight cleric is to dogpile it, incapacitate it, or separate it from the rest of the party. If enemies were all too dumb to figure this out, no one would need heroes.
Twilight is considered OP because so many people refuse to change tactics when they see one. The appropriate enemy response to a Twilight cleric is to dogpile it, incapacitate it, or separate it from the rest of the party. If enemies were all too dumb to figure this out, no one would need heroes.
Theoretically if you got an Enemies Abound to stick on the cleric they would stop providing THP to everyone but themselves, right?
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Twilight is considered OP because so many people refuse to change tactics when they see one. The appropriate enemy response to a Twilight cleric is to dogpile it, incapacitate it, or separate it from the rest of the party. If enemies were all too dumb to figure this out, no one would need heroes.
In fairness, DMs are very different with very different skills. I like to think I match my tactics to my players' (e.g. if the familiar isn't trying for fancy combat tricks, I don't target it outside of storyline stuff). But then I suck at making up a town of NPCs. I might get two or three in a row, but then I'm struggling. :)
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Also, recommendations for Domains pls. I also may be able to switch armor proficiencies to skill proficiency.
Edit: I am lvl 5 monk now and I am torn between light/twilight/peace domains.
I'm gonna recommend Tempest Domain... it grants Heavy Armor and Martial Weapon proficiencies, which you don't need but might be able to swap for useful skill proficiencies. The important thing is that it gives you a solid counterattack reaction to bust out when you're in the middle of combat. It doesn't scale upward at all, but 2d8 Thunder/Lightning damage is still pretty solid until at least mid-tier and doesn't hurt to keep on hand even into high tier, plus as an Open Hand monk you don't really have too many reactions to use regularly.
Right off the bat as a Tempest Cleric you get Fog Cloud and Thunderwave, which are both solid-but-unimpressive battlefield control spells.
You get 3 Cantrips at level 1, and I always recommend Guidance. It's like a mini-inspiration you can use infinite times per day. It's hard to use in combat but if you ever know that you or one of your allies is going to face a skill check you might as well cast it. I'd also recommend Toll the Dead just so you have a ranged option... it's the most damaging Cantrip short of a modified Eldritch Blast, since it deals 1d12 Necrotic to enemies that are already damaged. Sacred Flame is another good option... less damage, but it deals Radiant, which is less often resisted and it targets Dexterity. As for your last Cantrip I would think it depends on your race... if you don't have darkvision, then I recommend grabbing Light. If you do have Darkvision, I'd recommend Mending... it won't get used nearly as much as your other cantrips, but it might absolutely save you in a pinch.
The nice thing about being a Cleric is that you prepare your spells rather than having Spells Known, so at the start of each day you can change what spells you have prepared depending on the challenge you expect to face on that day. That said, Healing Word is always good to have on hand. It's not great for healing up damage, but it's main value is being a bonus action you can use to pop someone back up after they're knocked down to Zero HP. Other than that, it depends on what you need to do, but as a dedicated Monk I think you can basically ignore any damage dealing spells... you'll get a lot more mileage out of just rushing up on a foe and beating them up rather than spend one of your two spell slots on Inflict Wounds or something. Bless and Bane are generally pretty useful, and you can Ritual Cast any spells that you have prepared to save on spell slots. Detect Magic is probably the first level spell you'll get the most use out of.
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What level are you and how far do you intend to go (both overall and in cleric)?
Regarding domains, the Peace Cleric is immensely powerful for a single level dip at high level. This is because Emboldening bond scales with proficiency bonus both in the number of times per day you can use it and the number of people in the party. Up to character level 8 if it good but nothing insane by the time you get to character level 13 and you can use it 5 times per day on 5 characters it is broken. It does however benefit the whole party so there might not be too many complaints from the rest of the group that you are too powerful. I have an open hand monk who took 1 level of peace cleric when he hit level 20 .
Twilight is the other domain to consider if you are looking for the most powerful subclass. Eyes of night is really useful great, especially if you don't have darkvision and the rest of the party get get it for an hour per day which can help either other party members without darkvision or those with when you are in darkness in a fairly open area (large ceverns or ar in the open at night. The most powerful featur eof twilight cleric is twilight sanctuary, this provides so many temporary hit points that the party wil rarely lose actual hit points this is what makes twilight cleric what I believe is the most powerful subclass (of any class) in the game.
For cantrips a ranged attack option can come in handy especially if you don't have the means to fly, Toll the dead will do more damage more but necrotic is often resisted so I went with sacred flame. I would then pick a couple of utility / out of combat cantrips that noone else in the party has. Guidance is probably the most powerful but if someone already has it there is litle benefit you you having it as well, mending and Thaumaturgy are probalby the best other options.
Levelled spells you can change everyday so you can see shat works. Healing word is a must, if a party member goes unconcious you want to get them up as quickly as possible firstly so they do not miss their turn making a death saving throw and secondly in case they get hit by a AoE attacks or attacks by creatures that know a creature that is unconcious is likely to be a threat again unless it is killed off. Nearly all your options for bonus action are based on making the attack action so if you cast cure wounds you wont be able to attack at all where with healing word you can still get your main action attacks in. Bless, shield of faith, protection from good and evil and heroism are all decent uses of concentration during combat (preferably casting the spell just before combat starts) using a first level spell for any level of character, bless is probably the best (RAW it stacks with emboldening bond but many DMs will not allow that). Create and destroy water can be used to put out fires or remove a fog cloud. Every party needs detect magic though it is likely someone already has it. Command is incredibly useful at any level to disable a character for a round
i'm playing a character right now who's open hand monk 5/light cleric 2. i don't know if it's "optimal" but it's super fun to play if you like versatility.
I am on board with everything here, apart from this bit. You might be misunderstanding how temp hps work (see below). And most opponents do more than a d6 + level when they hit.
It's still a pretty great ability, though.
(Sorry, thinking about it I see your point. I should add that most of my critters, as a DM, tend to be either half-smart, or big scary fellers. Meaning they tend to focus maybe two of the player-characters at a time anyway, and they'd burn through the turn's temp hp pretty fast. I guess if a DM tends to run low-intelligence hordes, this ability would be pretty crazy).
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat
The main issue with the Twilight cleric's ability is that the temporary hit points reset every round if the PC is close enough.
So even though an enemy is doing more than d6+level per round, that first amount is coming off the temporary hit points which massively reduces the real amount of damage taken; and then at the end of the PCs round that d6+level buffer is regained.
So it isn't a case of building up a massive pool of temporary hit points in one go - it is the continual resetting of the pool which makes the big difference.
Right, but the person I quoted said "rarely lose actual hitpoints" which suggests the error.
Twilight is considered OP because so many people refuse to change tactics when they see one. The appropriate enemy response to a Twilight cleric is to dogpile it, incapacitate it, or separate it from the rest of the party. If enemies were all too dumb to figure this out, no one would need heroes.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Theoretically if you got an Enemies Abound to stick on the cleric they would stop providing THP to everyone but themselves, right?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
In fairness, DMs are very different with very different skills. I like to think I match my tactics to my players' (e.g. if the familiar isn't trying for fancy combat tricks, I don't target it outside of storyline stuff). But then I suck at making up a town of NPCs. I might get two or three in a row, but then I'm struggling. :)