Optimizing Tempest Cleric

[bid]

• Resilient Con
• Resilient Dex

Pick one, you can't have both.


About the "unkillable" bit: remember there's no aggro.
If you are too hard to kill but don't do any damage, smart foes will ignore you until the rest of the party is down.

 

[HermanTheWize]

Pick one, you can't have both.

What do you mean?

 

[bid]

What do you mean?

Feats p 165, 2nd para, last sentence: "each feat only once"

And notice elemental adept last para.

 

[HermanTheWize]

Feats p 165, 2nd para, last sentence: "each feat only once"

And notice elemental adept last para.

I see...I always assumed they counted a different feats...yeah, that's how it reads

 

[HermanTheWize]

Maybe I should take shield master in it's place then?

 

[HermanTheWize]

I was originally picking resilient con to kill 2 birds with one stone(concentration checks and extra HP)....

I wonder if it's more worth it to keep the lower dex and rely on bless to get me through(you only really save for half anyway) and go resilent con still. OR just get warcaster to fill that gap





And I think you're right about to low damage...but I will almost always have a concentration spell up.



Hrmmm....

Hard choices now.

 

[Volund]

To me for this character, this most important thing is to be hard to kill.

Things I want for sure:

• Resilient Con
• Resilient Dex
• 18 - 20 Con

Unless your DM rules otherwise, by RAW you can only take Resilient once. You can take each feat only once, unless the feat's description says otherwise. PHB 165 For an example of one that says otherwise, see the Elemental Adept feat.

I would pick your second block, 15/11/17/8/16/8, because you will be able to wear splint or plate without putting any more ASI/feats into that stat when you really should be improving Wis and Con instead. At 4th I'd take Resilient (Con) and not worry about Con again until I had used my 8th and 12th level ASI's to push Wis to 20. So many things key off your Wisdom: number of spells prepared, spell DC, spell attacks, extra hp from healing spells, Wrath of the Storm, Perception. If your game ever gets to a level 16 ASI then you'll do whatever makes sense for your character but I bet by then you won't be as interested in Heavy Armor Master.

I don't think you should be especially concerned about killproofing your cleric with stats and feats. Even with good stats, over time you will still fail a good share of saving throws. Based on my experience running my tempest cleric almost up to 11th level, the spells and tactics my party used were a lot more important than my stats. At higher levels I started failing saves a lot and got some good advice here. At 5th level your wizard can get Counterspell. It's wonderful for negating spells, especially when the enemy caster has better initiative and is going to drop AoE on your whole party before anyone has a chance to act. At 7th level you will get Banish. Sanctuary helps you maintain concentration when it really counts because you get hit less often. Once we got rolling with these spells our own saving throws became less of an issue. Here is a typical tactic I use: Rnd 1 cast banish on anyone who looks like a caster (at lower levels you could just cast Bless instead). Rnd 2 Dodge and use bonus action to cast Sanctuary on myself. With the caster banished, the grunts have to make a DC 17 Wis save to even attack me, if they make the save they have to hit AC 20 at disadvantage, and if they do hit me I'm better than 50/50 to make my concentration save. If I want to focus on damage, Rnd 1 cast Spirit Guardians, Rnd 2 Dodge and cast Spiritual Weapon. I'm damaging and slowing everyone around me, attacks against me are at disadvantage, if I'm hit I use my reaction for Wrath of the Storm, and I'm attacking specific targets with my bonus action Spiritual Weapon. Bottom line: no matter what your stats are, if you're trying to keep a concentration spell going, you don't want to get hit because eventually you will drop your concentration from a bad roll. There is only so much you can do on your own, so other PC's need to do their part to help you avoid taking damage.

 

[HermanTheWize]

I'm a hill dwarf, so I don't need 15 strength for heavy armor...so I'm ok with dropping the strength to 14 in that case

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[Volund]

I'm a hill dwarf, so I don't need 15 strength for heavy armor...so I'm ok with dropping the strength to 14 in that case

Oh, you can wear heavy armor regardless of your strength so long as you are proficient in it, and tempest cleric gives you proficiency, so no problem there. The issue is whether your movement will drop from 25 feet to 15 feet by not meeting the minimum strength requirements for the armor. see PHB 144. BTW hill dwarves don't get Dwarven Armor Training, they get Dwarven Toughness for the extra hp. It's the mountain dwarves who start with light and medium armor proficiency.

 

[HermanTheWize]

Oh, you can wear heavy armor regardless of your strength so long as you are proficient in it, and tempest cleric gives you proficiency, so no problem there. The issue is whether your movement will drop from 25 feet to 15 feet by not meeting the minimum strength requirements for the armor. see PHB 144. BTW hill dwarves don't get Dwarven Armor Training, they get Dwarven Toughness for the extra hp. It's the mountain dwarves who start with light and medium armor proficiency.

I believe all dwarves get the non speed reduction

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