D&D 5E (5E) How to play Trickery Cleric?

[FrogReaver]

Bane is also thematic but not strong
Spiritual weapon seems thematic enough
Command is perfectly fitting IMO
Silence
Hold Person
Bestow Curse


I think you have plenty of spells to do tricky things.
I think trickery is more of a mindset than a mechanic.
I think I'd drop str to maybe 10 and go dex and wisdom. Bows and finesse weapons seem fitting.

 

[Zardnaar]

It's the weakest cleric IMHO.

We've been building clerics as casters perhaps using shillagh via magic Initiate to key everything off wisdom if you want to melee.

Otherwise you kind of need to roll stats or resort to heavy armor master feat. I prefer nature and Arcana for beatdown otherwise go spellcaster IMHO.

Default array

15 wisdom
14 Dex
13 con
12,10, 8 everything else.

After racials you want 16 Wis, 14 Dex and con.

That's basically for every cleric that can't use heavy armor.

For beatdown you need to start making sacrifices if you want to use heavy armor.

Even with the heavy armor feat you get a 13 con then you have to make the choice to buff strength or wisdom at higher levels.

Rolled stats and Gauntlets of Ogre power changes things.

 

[FrogReaver]

It's the weakest cleric IMHO.

We've been building clerics as casters perhaps using shillagh via magic Initiate to key everything off wisdom if you want to melee.

Otherwise you kind of need to roll stats or resort to heavy armor master feat. I prefer nature and Arcana for beatdown otherwise go spellcaster IMHO.

Default array

15 wisdom
14 Dex
13 con
12,10, 8 everything else.

After racials you want 16 Wis, 14 Dex and con.

That's basically for every cleric that can't use heavy armor.

For beatdown you need to start making sacrifices if you want to use heavy armor.

Even with the heavy armor feat you get a 13 con then you have to make the choice to buff strength or wisdom at higher levels.

Rolled stats and Gauntlets of Ogre power changes things.

Personally I'm not the least bit impressed by the nature cleric and shillelagh. Bonus action to use on a class that already has a great use for a bonus action - blah

 

[Zardnaar]

Personally I'm not the least bit impressed by the nature cleric and shillelagh. Bonus action to use on a class that already has a great use for a bonus action - blah

It reduced MAD and conserves spells.

Even if you don't want to take PAM you can still go 16 wisdom 14 con and Dex.

Then you only have to buff wisdom, use spiritual guardians which DC keys off wisdom.
AC is one less than war cleric wisdom to hit, shillelagh can be cast outside combat.

If your idea of being a good cleric is blowing all your spells in a few rounds then yeah I suppose the war cleric is good.

At low levels though you only have a few level 2 spells.

By level 8 the nature cleric can pick up warcaster level 2 and have 20 wisdom skipping PAM.

Then you can play primary caster or use spiritual guardians and beat down. If you spam spiritual weapon you'll be out of spells in around 4 or 5 combats.

 

[Salthorae]

To really FEEL tricky?

I'd double down on that concept. Dump Str go with Wis/Cha/Dex as your three primary attributes followed by Con and Int.

Personally I'd grab Magic Initiate as a variant human and pick up Friends, Minor Illusion as my cantrips, and Mage Armor as my 1/day 1st level spell. That + a decent Dex + a shield should keep you in good stead without worrying about heavy armors. AC 17-18 at 1st level for most of your day.

Cleric Skills I'd get: Insight & Persuasion. Every good deception is based in the truth and the ability to see through other's lies after all !
Background: one of the many that has Deception as a skill. Charlatan is the natural fit to me.
Human Skill: maybe Stealth, maybe Perception?

Once combat starts...

stay the heck away from melee as much as you can. You can cast all your spells at a range with your Invoke Duplicity and have mirror images of your self up for protection at the same time. No need to get near combat.

As a Trickery Cleric with Charm and Disguise Self, I would say that you're much more about social trickery and such than Stealth as a concept. So play into that. You have the unlimited ability (though one at a time) to give other people in your party advantage on Stealth. So while you might not be the Supreme at it... you can really double down on the Rogue's expertise Stealth with advantage. Plus with Pass without Trace, everyone in the group will be Stealthy.

Heck, with Charm AND Disguise Self and proficiency in the Disguise Kit & Forgery Kits from Charlatan you can really pull off some fun Con's or Tricks or whatever you want to call them.

Disguise kit some plane-jane disguise that will go unnoticed. Forge some documents like letters of credit or something else worthwhile for you or your party. Cast Disguise Self to look like someone the party doesn't like (to frame them) or who has access where you need to go and Charm on people who will then KNOW what their Charmer looked like . Then have fun as you drop your disguise self outside and shuffle along in the other disguise while some pissed off people go after who you pretended to be.

At later levels you could pick up some rogue levels if wanted, or grab Prodigy as a Human to get Expertise in either Deception or Stealth for yourself as well. Heck you get another skill and tool, maybe now it's time to get Perception and Poisoner's Kit!

 

[FrogReaver]

To really FEEL tricky?

I'd double down on that concept. Dump Str go with Wis/Cha/Dex as your three primary attributes followed by Con and Int.

Personally I'd grab Magic Initiate as a variant human and pick up Friends, Minor Illusion as my cantrips, and Mage Armor as my 1/day 1st level spell. That + a decent Dex + a shield should keep you in good stead without worrying about heavy armors. AC 17-18 at 1st level for most of your day.

Cleric Skills I'd get: Insight & Persuasion. Every good deception is based in the truth and the ability to see through other's lies after all !
Background: one of the many that has Deception as a skill. Charlatan is the natural fit to me.
Human Skill: maybe Stealth, maybe Perception?

Once combat starts...

stay the heck away from melee as much as you can. You can cast all your spells at a range with your Invoke Duplicity and have mirror images of your self up for protection at the same time. No need to get near combat.

As a Trickery Cleric with Charm and Disguise Self, I would say that you're much more about social trickery and such than Stealth as a concept. So play into that. You have the unlimited ability (though one at a time) to give other people in your party advantage on Stealth. So while you might not be the Supreme at it... you can really double down on the Rogue's expertise Stealth with advantage. Plus with Pass without Trace, everyone in the group will be Stealthy.

Heck, with Charm AND Disguise Self and proficiency in the Disguise Kit & Forgery Kits from Charlatan you can really pull off some fun Con's or Tricks or whatever you want to call them.

Disguise kit some plane-jane disguise that will go unnoticed. Forge some documents like letters of credit or something else worthwhile for you or your party. Cast Disguise Self to look like someone the party doesn't like (to frame them) or who has access where you need to go and Charm on people who will then KNOW what their Charmer looked like . Then have fun as you drop your disguise self outside and shuffle along in the other disguise while some pissed off people go after who you pretended to be.

At later levels you could pick up some rogue levels if wanted, or grab Prodigy as a Human to get Expertise in either Deception or Stealth for yourself as well. Heck you get another skill and tool, maybe now it's time to get Perception and Poisoner's Kit!

Why mage armor?

 

[Salthorae]

Why mage armor?

Not a requirement just a suggestion, and a favored option of mine. Helps dump str and focus on Dex.

Also helps protect if you’re doing a disguise where armor wouldn’t work or would be out of place.

Plus it’s a great spell option for your 1/Long Rest Magic Initiate spell with its duration and not being tied to your non-prime casting stat.

If the domain didn't give Disguise Self, that would have been another recommendation for Magic initiate on a Trickery Cleric as well, but it does... so need something else!

 

[Fenris-77]

If the goal is to combine Friends and Disguise Self then a two level dip in Warlock might be the best answer. Then you get Disguise Self at will and Friends, plus some solid cantrips including the best ranged cantrip in the game. It's a little MAD, but Disguise Self at will makes me smile. I know that's not strictly about Trickery Clerics, but if I were playing one I'd be looking hard at that two level dip.

 

[Undrave]

To really FEEL tricky?

I'd double down on that concept. Dump Str go with Wis/Cha/Dex as your three primary attributes followed by Con and Int.

Personally I'd grab Magic Initiate as a variant human and pick up Friends, Minor Illusion as my cantrips, and Mage Armor as my 1/day 1st level spell. That + a decent Dex + a shield should keep you in good stead without worrying about heavy armors. AC 17-18 at 1st level for most of your day.

Cleric Skills I'd get: Insight & Persuasion. Every good deception is based in the truth and the ability to see through other's lies after all !
Background: one of the many that has Deception as a skill. Charlatan is the natural fit to me.
Human Skill: maybe Stealth, maybe Perception?

Once combat starts...

stay the heck away from melee as much as you can. You can cast all your spells at a range with your Invoke Duplicity and have mirror images of your self up for protection at the same time. No need to get near combat.

As a Trickery Cleric with Charm and Disguise Self, I would say that you're much more about social trickery and such than Stealth as a concept. So play into that. You have the unlimited ability (though one at a time) to give other people in your party advantage on Stealth. So while you might not be the Supreme at it... you can really double down on the Rogue's expertise Stealth with advantage. Plus with Pass without Trace, everyone in the group will be Stealthy.

Heck, with Charm AND Disguise Self and proficiency in the Disguise Kit & Forgery Kits from Charlatan you can really pull off some fun Con's or Tricks or whatever you want to call them.

Disguise kit some plane-jane disguise that will go unnoticed. Forge some documents like letters of credit or something else worthwhile for you or your party. Cast Disguise Self to look like someone the party doesn't like (to frame them) or who has access where you need to go and Charm on people who will then KNOW what their Charmer looked like . Then have fun as you drop your disguise self outside and shuffle along in the other disguise while some pissed off people go after who you pretended to be.

At later levels you could pick up some rogue levels if wanted, or grab Prodigy as a Human to get Expertise in either Deception or Stealth for yourself as well. Heck you get another skill and tool, maybe now it's time to get Perception and Poisoner's Kit!

Thanks for the tips!

Maybe 'm just not cut out to play that kind of character...I barely knew what to do with the last character I played that had Minor Illusion...

But I'm playing a Way of the Shadow Monk right now so I'll try to keep an eye open for opportunity to use it and try to get better at this kind of action.

 

[Salthorae]

You'll do fine No way to really do it wrong, mine are just suggestions and ideas!

Playing a deceptive/tricky character is the best way to practice playing a deceptive/tricky character!

My mantra when playing a character like this is pretty much WWLD (What Would Loki Do)? And then I try to go with that.

You know,

There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and he was like, “Yeah, it’s me!” And he stabbed me. We were eight at the time.