one of my players wants to be a melee dps while being able to heal.

[Scott Steven Bell]

Im not sure what class/es would be ebst for her.
She is playing at level 2 would a nature cleric 1/bard 1 do the job?
I figure if she plays a bard till level 4 (for her Asi) then continues on as a life cleric she could be a decent melee while having good spells.
She would get some inspire dice, song of rest, adds her bard levels to her spell casting levels and using her medium shield, wearing heavy armor and casting shillegh.

Does that sound resonable and decently efficient?

PS
oh and what about a druid of the land X/life cleric X?

 

[mellored]

Fighter with the healer and inspiring leader feats (13 cha). Possibly MC theif rogue 3-5 for fast hands.
Or paladin. They have damage and healing.

Life cleric/bards have amazing healing (good berry, aura of vitality), but not good DPR.

 

[Blue]

If going Bard 4, I'd go Bard 5 for the Bardic Inspiration boost. Moving CHR per day to CHR per short rest is a big deal. That said, a life cleric 1/bard X can do great healing and still do decent DPR, though you'd want to go valor which loses out on an extra set of magical secrets at 6th which could fill in some healing gaps like revivify.

Paladins are decent backup healers and rock in melee. The Inspire feat is helpful there as well. Paladin / Sorcerer (Favored Soul or whatever the new name is) can cover all of your bases.

Warlock (Celestial), Pact of the Blade could be a decent healer / melee DPS, but not so good at curing other conditions.

 

[Herobizkit]

Paladin or War Cleric with a Greatweapon of some kind is the most 'efficient' damage dealer with heals, especially if you factor in Feats. Ranger is pretty amazing, too.

Bards are always great. If she goes Valorbard at 3, she can have martial weapons and medium armor.

 

[Spohedus]

Paladin/Sorcerer or straight Paladin based on how they want to balance martial and healing acumen.

 

[hejtmane]

Monk/cleric They share a stat for AC and casting life cleric pretty good combo several monks options with some more coming in November (you want test Kensi in UA and will most likely be in xanathar's guide)

Ranger with cleric mixed in again shared casting stat

Bard Valor or a multi-class fighter bard

 

[Fuchi Miller]

She could try a Melee Ranger. If worried about low AC, she could get Medium Armor Master FEAT if you allow. If she's worried about the low AC at the start she could go Variant Human. An interesting idea would be to go Beast Master so that she'd have someone to help her with tanking and damage, however this idea works best with the Unearthed Arcana Ranger Revised.

If she wants more spell slots though she can go a Bard however she becomes better at melee when she's at level 3 and chooses Valor Bard. She'll be able to do what a normal Bard does but has better armor proficiency, add inspiration to (attack, damage rolls, and AC). At lv 6 of Valor you get a second attack and at lv 14 you can make an attack as a bonus action after casting a spell. Also with Magical Secrets, she can steal the cleric spells or some aura paladin spells.

Another Option she has is Cleric. If she wants to focus more on healing then she can choose Life Domain since a simple Healing Word will do 4+Wisdom Mod and thats if you roll a 1. Just cause, the math is 1d4+WisMod+2+Spell Level max heal is 10-11 based on her Mod. Also she will have Heavy Armor Proficiency which is nice. You also always have Cure Wounds Prepared.

Paladin is nice, but its more melee than healing. Although Paladins do get Auras to help you out. There is also Aura of Vitality which lets you heal 2d6 as a bonus action but you get that at lv 9. Another down side is that for a good amount of time your only healing spell is Cure wounds, You do however have the Lay on Hands Feature.

She has an Option of Druid, which is very versatile IMO. If she wants to focus more on healing as a druid she could go Circle of Land to get spell slots on short rest. If she wants to focus more on Melee DPS go Circle of Moon for the more HP and stronger beasts like a Dire Wolf since she's level 2. Note that you cant cast spells while in Wild Shape though.



If she wants to multiclass, I've heard that a good combo is Life Cleric / Druid. So the Spell Goodberry heals 4 per berry, you get 10 berries.

Something I personally want to see be done is a Trickery Cleric. With the Channel Divinity you make an illusionary clone which you can cast spells from like Cure Wounds. So either keep it near you for advantage on hits or keep it in the back to cast Cure wounds while you're in Melee.

 

[Fuchi Miller]

Sorry for the long post

 

[Fuchi Miller]

Oh and another thing, the bard 4/ Cleric x it can work, but it requires you focus on cha, Wis, Con since she sants to melee, and your attack Mod. Also bard and cleric have different spell casting focus. And if shes going to go bard for 4 levels, and focus on cleric after, her Cha stat might be low meaning inspiration can only be used like 2-3 times per long rest. But hey d&d isn't always about battle so being bard can help, and the temple based aspect from cleric can bring about something helpful.