D&D 5E Death Cleric Build Help

[MDragonG]

Looking for help with a death cleric build. New game starting at level 3, point buy, other party members eagle totem barbarian, dragon sorc, unknown and me. Maybe one other but not sure.

Was looking to go VHuman with the caster stats of 16Wis, 16Con, 14Dex, 10Int, 8Str, 8Cha not sure what feat to take given the high con. LG cleric of Kelemvor. Background Acolyte.

Little bit of background and some house ruling done. He is a member of the Right Arm of Kelemvor. This sect is charged with killing(not right out murder though) of evil to maintain balance. The other is the Left Arm...(depicting through left and right side of the scale that represents Kelemvor)

Houserule: He does not "animate undead" he gives spirits the chance at a better part of their afterlife if they serve him for a bit. They are "raised" as a spiritual being with a purple\gold glow and use the stats of either the skeleton or ghoul as per the spell.

Not sure if I want to use a main hand weapon or just keep it free and use my shield as a holy symbol.

I'm looking for feat and spell advice per level and any other advice you may have. Thanks.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

If you take War Caster as your feat, you don't have to worry about free hands for casting.

As for spell selection, I'm not too familiar with the Cleric list, as I mostly play arcane when I play a caster. However, I am familiar with all cantrips, as Tomelock was part of my first PC. One thing of note is that the only necromancy cantrips are Chill Touch (not on Cleric list) and Spare the Dying. I think it's obvious which one is the better choice for your free cantrip. Guidance and Sacred Flame should be two of the Cleric cantrips that you get at 1st level.

Since you're Death Domain, Spare the Dying could be ignored for thematic reasons. Instead, I would grab Light to overcome your lack of darkvision. Keep a healer's kit on hand to stabilize dying allies when you're out of slots to cast Cure Wounds/Healing Word, one of which should always be prepared because you're still a Cleric.

 

[Coyote81]

Here is an interesting idea for you. If you Magic Initiate, or better yet Ritual Master, as your feat, you can pick Wizard to gain access to some wizard spells your normally can't cast. Most importantly Find Familiar. Find Familiar lets you cast melee attack spell through your familiar, as well as have it perform help actions to give your allies advantage. Using your familiar,at a range of up to 100ft, you can cast Inflict wounds as a melee spell attack, which also allows you trigger your channel divinity to a total of 3d10+5+cleric level in damage.

I find this to be a solid way to playing a more traditional Robe and Staff Cleric, being able to blast from a distance using split chill touch (When conserving spell slots), Some painful burst damage from inflict wounds/channel divinity on your Owl familiar. This makes you the back line caster. You should be able to play safely behind the barbarian, the dragon sorc (who already has nice armor, and are often Gishes) and the extra who is probably some sort of frontliner.

 

[mellored]

You can draw/stow your weapon each turn, so it's rarely a big deal to switch. Mainly you might miss out on some OA's, but otherwise you'll be able to switch between weapons and rapiers. But you want a shield as your holy symbol either way. And carry a handbow, just in case.

Spiritual weapon is a top spell for death clerics (probably as a scythe). It's a melee attack at ranged.
And your first level slots should either be bless, cure wounds, or healing word.

Vampiric touch does well later too.

 

[MDragonG]

I would think another first slot would be for inflict also right?

 

[mellored]

I would think another first slot would be for inflict also right?

Yes.
Gives you a nice nova attack, but it's all or nothing so try and get advantage (bless helps too).

Also remember that you can swap spells each day. So if you find yourself in a desert, create water becomes a top spell. Or if your hunting a vampire hidden in the village, detect evil and good is prime. Silence if your fighting an enemy litch, etc... Or if the other person is a life cleric, then swap out some healing for command, etc...