D&D 5E Battling cleric

[Warpiglet]

I am playing a tempest cleric, variant human. Background is modified entertainer (street preacher) who is a zealot of sorts. I have heavy armor master and just hit level 4. Most in the group are not front line characters and there is only 1 fighter. I want a melee capable cleric. I am debating between polearm master, great weapon master and resilient: con, now or at 8. Would love recommendations about developing a battling priest....Btw, con is a 13, str is 16, and wis is 18....

 

[Sacrosanct]

I have a blue dragonborn tempest cleric. For melee, Spirit Guardians will be your friend. Since you don't get multiple attacks, spirit guardians make you a force to be reckoned with in front line melee. Because of it's radius, it's also good if you go the polearm master route. With sentinel, you could also theoretically stop your opponent and make them take spirit guardian damage again. Spiritual weapon also helps because it basically gives you an extra attack, and one that doesn't need to be in the same area as you. I've thought about heavy armor mastery to help soak damage, but I haven't done that. The challenge I've faced is that you don't have the HP that a fighter does, so damage mitigation is important. If you go the route of doing a concentration spell up and running all the time (like spirit guardians or shield of faith), warcaster feat might be the way to go.

 

[Merchant of Shadows]

As a war cleric you already have reliable sources of minor action attacks with both access to Spiritual Weapon (please note that it does not use your concentraion) and the War Priest feature. The biggest asset of polearm master will be the fact that creature will provoke AoO when they enter you reach... from the type of encounters your DM have been using so far - you will be able to tell how often this will be happening.
I would personally go with Great Weapon Master and consider getting 5-6 levels of Battlemaster fighter somewhere along the way for a second attack and the Precision, Menacing, Riposte combo. Great Weapon Master is in a good sinergy with your Guided Strike channel divinity and Riposte will give you a source of reaction attacks. If you are relatively more armored compared to your friends also consider getting the defense fighting style and the Sentinel feat.

P.S: Spirit Guardians is indeed very nice, but as a cleric you don't have a Con save proficiency and as a melee cleric you need it if you want to keep a concentration spell for a long time. If you go that road... indeed do consider Resilent: Con and even Warcaster.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I would as soon as possible get either warcaster or resilent con. Depending on the type of spwlls you want to cast you don't need a free hand, but being in melee will get you hurt and concentration spells may easily be broken.
A shield and a longsword is all you need. Spiritual weapons and spirit guards are your friends. Since you are a tempest cleric, you will sometimes use thunder wave or something for maximum damage. also a force to be reckoned with.
Wear the heaviest armor you can afford. With your Constitution at 13 resilent:constitution seems like the best option. The few points of damage in exchange for 2 AC from a shield and the possible loss of spells due to failing con saves is not worth it.
Now your base chance to fail is 40%. with the feat it goes down to only 25% and at 5 it goes down to 20% which is nice enough. And you get +1 hp per level as an added bonus.
Great weapon master is useless for you because you have a low attack bonus no reliable advatage and with your +1d8 damage on your attacks at level 8 the trade gets worse. On top of that you won't be able to us your bonus attack if you have sporitual weapon cast or if you just used healing word to get your ally up and running again.
Just consider using two hand axes if you have a fight where you don't need minor actions or AC and you are level 8 and want to deal more damage.

 

[hejtmane]

I made one of these as a backup character and have a Fighter/Cleric Multi-class with Polearm I call it a Battle Cleric I prefer it over War Domain then they can focus on what ever domain I figured Life make sense so they can heal better when they do heal. With Melee being the main Damage dealing when not healing or spell casting if they get to 5 Figher they can get up to 3 attack with polearm feat or if they want they could go GWM feat and just use two attacks if they plan 5 fighter levels. They also have access at 3rd level to several option Battle master, Purple night or Champion for extra crits.

 

[mellored]

Also consider Magic initiate, or taking a single level of wizard / sorcerer / warlock.

Get booming blade and green flame blade as your cantrips, and possibly elemental absorption or shield as your spells.
Warcaster will let you use booming blade as an OA, which will immediately trigger the secondary damage. It's better for concentration saves at lower level as well.

Boosting Str also helps, since you deal no damage if you miss.

 

[Warpiglet]

Excellent advice all...so gwm got little support....my whole party uses staff and I doubt I will find a lousy Magic glaive (glaive are super cool btw). Damn hard decision...even still. I neglected to mention I plan to be single class!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Battle cleric of war. While widely considered a trap option, it does what it says and the trap os mostly due to MAD and a bonus action attack that prevents the ise of a polearm. Your stats are above average, And if you don't care for a few points of damage and want AC instead, you may find yourself in a good spot. Especially when you consider that spiritual weapon is also a bonus action attack and so polearm mastery may not be the best option.

 

[Warpiglet]

Yes! This is what makes that so difficult! However, if I don't need spiritual weapon, I could do more shatters...

Which is why I like this edition so much---the trade offs are painful....

What then do u think about gwm AND spiritual weapon?

 

[Warpiglet]

One other thought: what about simply upping strength and using a mail at times and a shield and one handed weapon at others? Occasionally maul and spiritual weapon, at others war hammer/shield and spiritual weapon...

So if I go this route, the decision would be between resilience/con at 4 or 8 and increase str at 4 or 8...