D&D 5E 5e grave cleric advice

lovelysidhu · Oct 18, 2018

Hello everyone, unfortunately my kenku rogue recently got crushed by an ettin in out of the abyss, so this weekend I'm looking to start playing a cleric. I was leaning towards grave cleric as the healing abilities and crit-cancelling seem great, whilst still being a bit tanky when needed.

I rolled stats, and got 15, 15, 14, 13, 10, 8.

I'll be starting at LVL 4, so picked variant human with war caster, then an asi at LVL 4 to give me str8 dex 16 con 14 int 10 wis18 and cha 13.

Am I gimping myself not having any mellee options? Should i use a crossbow over sacred flame? How would you build this character? The rest of the party is a land druid, brawler fighter, div wizard and gloomstalker ranger.

I could be tempted to go with another subclass for martial weapons or attack cantrips, or maybe a level in fighter would be worth it?

Thanks

Leatherhead · Oct 18, 2018

Grave Clerics are a caster subclass, not a melee one. You will be getting medium armor an a shield at best (so make sure you have enough STR to carry it, because you will not be pumping DEX for AC). However, between the Land druid and the Fighter, the frontline should be stable enough for you to handle the occasional break in formation.

As a Cleric, you can attach or paint a holy symbol to your shield for use as a focus, effectively freeing one hand and negating half the benefit of Warcaster. Which lets you pump up your stats without remorse and maybe pick a different race.
Using the awesome spells Toll the Dead (which deals more damage than any weapon at level 5 for you) and Sacred Flame (for coverage), you should be fine against any target, even the ones who get in your face. Only characters with the Mage Slayer feat can pull off an OA if you cast a spell at point blank. And spells that use shaving throws don't incur disadvantage for range.

In short: For a Grave Cleric, just pick up Toll the Dead and don't build for melee combat (because you will perform fine in melee combat regardless).