D&D 5E How Would You Build a Life Cleric

[Blue]

I like building life clerics that aren't front line combatants, more of a caster cleric than a melee cleric.

I would build a life cleric to be a front liner - but not melee at all. Those are two different axis, they don't have to be related.

Life clerics can get really good AC - they can take some attacks to distribute damage around. Regardless if you are front line or not you want a good CON to prevent losing Concentration, so you have the HPs. Also there are very effective spells that require you to be close, be it from Cure Wounds which scales much better than Healing Word, or Spiritual Guardians if you want to do damage as a caster.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Assuming you're fixed on life cleric, one thing to stress is that the domain's bonuses (extra hp with healing) come independent of your attributes. That means that Life is more resilient to suboptimal but fun choices: you can be a completely effective dragonborn or halforc cleric, for example, and still have above-avg healing.

I would suggest building a cleric that can buff/heal but who is also solid in melee -- not war cleric solid, but (a) with Life's heavy armor proficiency, (b) doing an extra 1d8 at level 8 (more with halforc's savage attack), (c) able to attack and cast Healing word in the same turn.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Hill dwarf, 16 wis, 15 con, 14 str, 12 cha, 8 dex, 10 int.
I'd go into melee and tank with shield and mace. At level 4 I take resilience con and then raise wisdom at 8 and 12.

 

[Coroc]

Hill dwarf, 16 wis, 15 con, 14 str, 12 cha, 8 dex, 10 int.
I'd go into melee and tank with shield and mace. At level 4 I take resilience con and then raise wisdom at 8 and 12.

^^^
Like that, if you want an optimized build

 

[Warpiglet]

I wouldn't. I would choose a less boring domain.

But my preference is for either a melee or ranged build, caster secondary. If you are a pure caster nothing matters but wisdom.

I always have a melee option for warlocks as well as clerics. It's a strong preference.

For life I would focus on wisdom con and strength with close to equal emphasis on the latter two.

I want to be using a mace,use spiritual weapon and the walking angel blender aka spirit guardians.

Doing damage means less healing needed. Additionally getting in the fight as a holy man is cool. It's less boring and using magic weapons is fun. I would rather hit with a magic mace and divine strike.

Then when healing is needed I got it in spades. Further if I need fewer healing spells as a result ignore my ability to heal more and my ability to reduce threats via offense, it leaves
Me with more utility casting.

My favorite character during high school 1st edition AD&D was a battling cleric with a whopping 13 strength. But I had plate and was up front and ready to contribute.

 

[GlassJaw]

The trick with Life clerics is having the strength to make use of heavy armor. That's the biggest decision you have to make up front. Or go dwarf.

 

[cbwjm]

If you're going into melee in heavy armour, you probably want a decent strength anyway. If you go for a 14 minimum then you can wear chainmail without issue and still have a decent chance to hit. From there it is just +1 to your strength at a later level to wear heavier armour without worrying about a reduced speed.

 

[Zardnaar]

If you're going into melee in heavy armour, you probably want a decent strength anyway. If you go for a 14 minimum then you can wear chainmail without issue and still have a decent chance to hit. From there it is just +1 to your strength at a later level to wear heavier armour without worrying about a reduced speed.

This is why I think your better off going medium and support.

At level 5 for example you can just use cantrips to deal similar damage and usevin melee.

Use ASIs to buff wisdom and you can still melee with sacred flame and spiritual weapon and spiritual guardians.

Since all those spells key off wisdom may as well double down on that.

Hence why I'm leaning towards medium armor for most clerics.

The human build with HAM 13 con and 16 strength/wisdom I think might be a decent option for heavy armor use.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Use ASIs to buff wisdom and you can still melee with sacred flame and spiritual weapon and spiritual guardians.
Since all those spells key off wisdom may as well double down on that.
Hence why I'm leaning towards medium armor for most clerics.

As the title says. I'm not after the most optimised build...

If you say so.

To me the Life Cleric is the sub-class that most strongly evokes the classic D&D cleric, so that's the obvious place to take it (otherwise, choose something else & go all-WIS & optimized). That means Human, even though Dwarf would be a good idea to take advantage of heavy armor, and heavy armor anyway. Which means an OK strength, so you can use the traditional mace & shield, & heavy armor well enough to be worth it once in a while, mainly as backup, not your main thing. Aside from that, concentrate on support casting & turn undead when it comes up, take up offensive spells later when you've put ASIs to WIS and have classics like Flame Strike.

 

[Zardnaar]

If you say so.

To me the Life Cleric is the sub-class that most strongly evokes the classic D&D cleric, so that's the obvious place to take it (otherwise, choose something else & go all-WIS & optimized). That means Human, even though Dwarf would be a good idea to take advantage of heavy armor, and heavy armor anyway. Which means an OK strength, so you can use the traditional mace & shield, & heavy armor well enough to be worth it once in a while, mainly as backup, not your main thing. Aside from that, concentrate on support casting & turn undead when it comes up, take up offensive spells later when you've put ASIs to WIS and have classics like Flame Strike.

By most optimised I mean a specific build.

I'm also thinking heavy armor is a trap. If you play a Dwarf you're getting slowed down anyway and a lot of racial stuff doesn't matter.

Some cleric domains encourage you to melee. Without the stats to back it up though I'm leaning towards trap though.