D&D 5E How to play a Str Cleric

[DarkMoon250]

Seeing as my first ever campaign was starting right after Tasha's dropped, I decided to pick a subclass from it, and fell in love with the Twilight Domain. I put together a Wis/Con/Str Cleric to make use of the extra proficiencies included and make a sturdy boi, and now that he's here... I'm honestly not sure how to get the most bang for my buck.

Str, sadly, doesn't seem to be used for much, and since Clerics already have the capabilities of a full caster, I don't know when I'll actually be using my martial weapons to get the job done, unless Divine Strike is better than the new Blessed Strike. Not to mention the fact I have to take positioning into account to let the whole party benefit from my me-centered Channel Divinity, so I don't know if I should stay in the middle of everyone or if I should be a front-line combatant.

We've only had our introductory, set-the-stage sort of session, so my DM says he'll still allow me to move my point-buy from Str to Dex if it bothers me, but I honestly don't know.

 

[Iry]

Strength Clerics work well with the usual suspects: Sentinel, PAM, or Warcaster with BB and/or GFB. You don't need any of those to have a good time, but they have considerable synergy. Tasha's messed with the Spell Sniper reach combination, so that narrows things down slightly, but not much.

Twilight Domain has some really nice goodies. Twilight Sanctuary doesn't require concentration, so you can combine it with the bread and butter Spirit Guardians + Spiritual Weapon if your wisdom is high enough, then take dodge actions while you stand in the middle of battle. They have disadvantage to attack you, and eat a BB or Sentinel (depending on feats taken) if they try to move away. If you dumped your Wis, then you can still rock Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, Spirit Shroud, Motivational Speech, and/or even Animate Dead while you stomp around Tokyo like a discount Godzilla.

Steps of Night is amazing on a strength cleric since you can fly your entire party across/over/under challenges in the exploration pillar. Bonus points for Enhance Ability (Strength) to milk that Athletics goodness.

 

[Iry]

Basically, don't think of it as damage. Think of it as forcing enemies to make bad choices.
Attack you? Disadvantage! Attack someone else? Have to burn through regenerating THP. Move away? BB or Sentinel.

 

[Flamestrike]

Seeing as my first ever campaign was starting right after Tasha's dropped, I decided to pick a subclass from it, and fell in love with the Twilight Domain. I put together a Wis/Con/Str Cleric to make use of the extra proficiencies included and make a sturdy boi, and now that he's here... I'm honestly not sure how to get the most bang for my buck.

Str, sadly, doesn't seem to be used for much, and since Clerics already have the capabilities of a full caster, I don't know when I'll actually be using my martial weapons to get the job done, unless Divine Strike is better than the new Blessed Strike. Not to mention the fact I have to take positioning into account to let the whole party benefit from my me-centered Channel Divinity, so I don't know if I should stay in the middle of everyone or if I should be a front-line combatant.

We've only had our introductory, set-the-stage sort of session, so my DM says he'll still allow me to move my point-buy from Str to Dex if it bothers me, but I honestly don't know.

Your spells will get chewed up quick in any kind of campaign that cleaves to the recommendations of the DMG for encounters, and median XP per adventuring day.

Str Clerics get to dump Dex (heavy armor). Grab a Greatsword and the GWM feat and from levels 1-4 you're hard to distinguish from a Fighter.

At 4th level take a Feat that grants either GFB or BB and your 'at will' damage remains a respectable 2d6+1d8+3 (maybe +10 with GWM) at 5th level.

 

[NotAYakk]

You are the 22 in the Catch-22. Reminds me of a good 4e fighter, really.

 

[Zardnaar]

Your spells will get chewed up quick in any kind of campaign that cleaves to the recommendations of the DMG for encounters, and median XP per adventuring day.

Str Clerics get to dump Dex (heavy armor). Grab a Greatsword and the GWM feat and from levels 1-4 you're hard to distinguish from a Fighter.

At 4th level take a Feat that grants either GFB or BB and your 'at will' damage remains a respectable 2d6+1d8+3 (maybe +10 with GWM) at 5th level.

This. Also theyre really only decent level 1-4 unless you have really high stats.

Default array I wouldn't bother.

If your best three scores are 16, 16, 14 or better they work alright. Then a well built death or arcane cleric turns up and makes you look bad.

 

[Shiroiken]

I've seen a War Cleric done fairly well, which is the archtypical Str based cleric. The biggest difference is that you don't really raise your Wis all that much (a 14 is perfectly fine), and you don't really use spells against opponent's with saves. Your healing will always be done with Healing Word, so you're still a combat medic. You're probably not going to deal as much damage as a fighter, barbarian, or rogue, but you have the option of utilizing buff spells in combat, plus useful spells outside of combat.

Combat Spell options: Bless (amazing, always), Protection from Good & Evil, Shield of Faith, Silence (against casters), Beacon of Hope, Protection from Energy, Spirit Guardians (even at half damage it's still pretty good), Freedom of Movement, and Holy Weapon.