D&D 5E Build Advice for Tempest Cleric

[Vitor Bastos]

Hello guys!


How would you build a Tempest Cleric through level 1 to 10?


We are gonna use Standard Array (15-14-13-12-10-8).
He will be a STR-based melee Cleric.
No Multiclassing, just Monoclass.
The DM said the campaign will probably end around level 10.
PHB only. RAW. Slight chance that I can grab stuff from other books, but wouldnt be allowed to get much stuff.


Basically, I wanna build a front-line melee Cleric that can dish a lot of damage and tank some damage, heal allies and cast utlity spell ocasionally.
More like a "Thor" type of character, damage from his thunder/lightning spells.


Race?
Background?
Ability Scores?
Feats/ASIs?
Spells?
Equipment/Weapons?


How would you build him and why?
Thank you very much!

 

[Kobold Stew]

I would suggest Halforc (savage attack and relentless endurance, both good for melee; plus a free skill; plus halforcs can be fun)

Str 16* Dex 10 (or 8) Con 14* Int 8 (or 10) Wis 15 Cha 12
(*including racial bonuses)

with the soldier background (for Athletics).

Pick a weapon you like. Include Guidance and Produce Flame for your cantrips.

No feats needed until level 4 (at which point GWF, or +2 Str or Wis, or Sentinel, or something that gives +1 Wisdom or whatever you feel you want at that point, but it might depend on others in the party.)

Have fun.

 

[CTurbo]

Ugh! I hate the standard array lol Are you sure you can't use point buy?


Vhuman. 16 Str, 12 Dex, 13 Con, 8 Int, 16 Wis, 10 Cha
HAM at level 1
Res(Con) at level 4
+2 Wis at level 8

You could switch HAM with Res is you want


Hill Dwarf
14 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Cha
+2 to Str or Wis at level 4 and level 8



You really want at LEAST an 18 in Wis if not 20 if you the most optimized build. You could get away with 16 though if you REALLY want.

With my Tempest Cleric build, I was playing with some rookies so I purposefully avoided the most optimized path. I started (point buy) vhuman 16 Str, 14 Con, 16 Wis with HAM at level 1 with the purpose of being more melee focused than spell focused. I even took +2 Str at level 4. By that point I had ditched my shield for a +1 Greatsword. Even after all of that, I still ended up spending more of my time casting spells after level 5. You're just going to be behind the Martial characters from level 5 on when it comes to hitting things with your weapon. That's ok, because my guy was ALWAYS the most damaging character BY FAR and would have probably stayed that way all the way through level 20 had we played that long, but a lot of this depends on you being able to pass Concentration checks. That's why Res(Con) is so great for you. Warcaster too but you're starving for ASIs. HAM was always great and really helped my tankiness.

 

[CTurbo]

As far as spells go, you can prepare a number equal to your Wis mod + Cleric level

Cantrips
1. Guidance - maybe best cantrip in the game
2. Sacred Flame - your only damage cantrip. Deals no damage on passed save though so I don't always love it.
3. Spare the Dying - not a popular choice, but if you think you may be blasting some allies sometimes like I did, you'll want this lol
4. Light - you NEED this if human. If not, maybe Resistance would be good.

Level 1 Spells -
1. Fog Cloud - Domain spell so you get it automagically
2. Thunderwave - Domain spell so you get it automagically
3. Bless - a Cleric staple. Concentration
4. Cure Wounds - Standard out of combat healing spell
5. Healing Word - Standard IN combat healing spell
6. Shield of Faith - Great when you need it but requires your Concentration

Level 2 Spells
1. Shatter - Domain spell so you get it automagically
2. Gust of Wind - Domain spell so you get it automagically
3. Spiritual Weapon - You already know about this one
4. Hold Person - Every Cleric needs this
5. Prayer of Healing - Great out of combat healing or emergency in combat healing.

Level 3 spells
1. Call Lightning - Domain spell so you get it automagically
2. Sleet Storm - Domain spell so you get it automagically
3. Spirit Guardians - just awesome
4. Mass Healing Word - also awesome
5. Revivify - awesome when you need it

 

[Volund]

I have played a tempest cleric through level 16. You will be fine in melee through level 4 using your warhammer and Spiritual Weapon. Once you hit level 5 spirit guardians, call lightning, shatter, plus your destructive wrath feature will be better than any single attack you can do in melee. Since you are only going to level 10 you only get 2 ASI's which you should use to get your Wis up to 20 and your spell DC up to 17 by level 9. I would go variant human with the Resilient (con) feat and +1 to str and wis for starting stats of 16/12/14/8/16/8 or half elf for 16/10/14/8/16/10. Depends on how important it is to have darkvision or +1 to dex. If you are dead set on a melee cleric then I would take the magic initiate feat (wizard) for the find familiar spell plus mage hand and booming blade cantrips. At level 8 you add a d8 of thunder damage to melee attacks. With Destructive Wrath your Booming Blade crits will do 32 dmg plus the weapon damage. In general clerics get more bang for their buck buffing other strikers in their party than they do from making melee attacks. At lower levels you can cast Bless, Spiritual Weapon and take the Dodge action to inflict damage while minimizing the chance you take damage in return. At level 5 and higher cast Spirit Guardians instead of Bless. By level 7 when I was outdoors I would upcast Call Lightning at 4th level and have 2 channel divinities per short rest to do 40 hp max lightning damage. Banishment is also an excellent use of your 4th level spell slot. A DC 17 charisma save can be an encounter-ender.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ugh! I hate the standard array lol Are you sure you can't use point buy?


Vhuman. 16 Str, 12 Dex, 13 Con, 8 Int, 16 Wis, 10 Cha
HAM at level 1
Res(Con) at level 4
+2 Wis at level 8

You could switch HAM with Res is you want

I do support that Vhuman build. You can easily swap Vhuman with half-orc or goliath, having a higher base con, at the cost of wisdom. 14 wisdom is not that bad. If you start with 15 wis and 14 con you can increase wis and con at level 4 preparing for res(con) at level 8. Goliath´s damage reduction feature helps with concentration as does bless, which you should always have cast on yourself.

Don´t be shy not to optimize. You can really do well as a versatile character. Just make sure that you cast your spells in the most advantageous situations.

 

[Merudo]

If you are dead set on a melee cleric then I would take the magic initiate feat (wizard) for the find familiar spell plus mage hand and booming blade cantrips.

OP said PHB only...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I like the magic initiate booming blade Idea. Thought about that myself and thought you need 13 int for that. But that was ritual caster. I am not sure about find familiar though. I'd say shield will be the better spell. Familiars tend to die a lot around tempest clerics...
So:
Variant human,
16 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Cha
Magic initiate booming blade, mage hand or prestidigitation and shield. I would swap Int and Dex actually because Dex is not important for you and Int 12 is nice for knowledge checks.
Actually you can also just take booming blade at level 4. It is not really important before lvl 5.

So you can chose any other race you like that has at least +1 to Str. Standard array however is often a little bit unfavourable for some races like mountain dwarf and standard human leaving you with too many uneven values you won't be able to even out before level 10.

 

[Vitor Bastos]

No feats needed until level 4 (at which point GWF, or +2 Str or Wis, or Sentinel, or something that gives +1 Wisdom or whatever you feel you want at that point, but it might depend on others in the party.)

Sentinel? humm.. never thought of that possibility.. is it good?
By the way my party currently is composed by: me (Cleric Tempest), a monk, a rogue, a paladin and X (player that havent choose class yet).

Ugh! I hate the standard array lol Are you sure you can't use point buy?

Unfortunately, I think the DM is pretty much set on standard buy. But I'll ask him.
And great info provided man, thanks a lot! =D

I have played a tempest cleric through level 16. You will be fine in melee through level 4 using your warhammer and Spiritual Weapon. Once you hit level 5 spirit guardians, call lightning, shatter, plus your destructive wrath feature will be better than any single attack you can do in melee. Since you are only going to level 10 you only get 2 ASI's which you should use to get your Wis up to 20 and your spell DC up to 17 by level 9. I would go variant human with the Resilient (con) feat and +1 to str and wis for starting stats of 16/12/14/8/16/8 or half elf for 16/10/14/8/16/10. Depends on how important it is to have darkvision or +1 to dex. If you are dead set on a melee cleric then I would take the magic initiate feat (wizard) for the find familiar spell plus mage hand and booming blade cantrips. At level 8 you add a d8 of thunder damage to melee attacks. With Destructive Wrath your Booming Blade crits will do 32 dmg plus the weapon damage. In general clerics get more bang for their buck buffing other strikers in their party than they do from making melee attacks. At lower levels you can cast Bless, Spiritual Weapon and take the Dodge action to inflict damage while minimizing the chance you take damage in return. At level 5 and higher cast Spirit Guardians instead of Bless. By level 7 when I was outdoors I would upcast Call Lightning at 4th level and have 2 channel divinities per short rest to do 40 hp max lightning damage. Banishment is also an excellent use of your 4th level spell slot. A DC 17 charisma save can be an encounter-ender.

Nice! Seems like a pretty solid build!

Don´t be shy not to optimize. You can really do well as a versatile character. Just make sure that you cast your spells in the most advantageous situations.

Well, I really like to optmize stuff.. but I can be a little flexible sometimes to build a character that is on my mind, you know.. if the gap is not big.

OP said PHB only...

Yeah, I might be able to snatch a thing or two from other books.. but not a lot of things you know. DM really wants to keep it PHB only.

So you can chose any other race you like that has at least +1 to Str. Standard array however is often a little bit unfavourable for some races like mountain dwarf and standard human leaving you with too many uneven values you won't be able to even out before level 10.

Yeah.. I think the DM is pretty much set on standard buy. But I'll ask him..

 

[FrogReaver]

I recommend variant human with the healer feat to start with so you can save your spell slots for more thunder and lightning and utility stuff

at level 4 consider warcaster as you get really good concentration spells at level 5

With variant human and standard array you can get 16-14-14 in your primary 3 stats. I would do str 16 /con 14/ wis 14 then assign the lower stats however