• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

Question about clerics

guachi

Hero
I'd just stick cleric. You can wear heavy armor already. You have a minor self-heal with Second Wind. If you are in the front line you will probably be taking damage so your 6th level ability will heal you as well.

So, yeah, stay cleric.

At 6th level even a simple spell like healing word is useful if cast on a friend. 1d4+4 (if Wisdom is 18) +3 (Disciple of Life) +3 (Blessed Healer) for an average of 12.5 healing isn't bad for a bonus action spell.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Dessert Nomad

Adventurer
Unwavering Mark, when pared with Sentinel, is better than something that only costs then 10 extra feet to move out of.

Unwavering mark only affects one creature, at least until you hit 5th level where you can hit two. And it definitely encourages the creature to move away from you even more than spirit guardians does, as you only get your bonus attacks if the creature is within 5' of you. Sentinel's 'you can't move' ability similarly only affects one creature, as you only get one reaction attack, and that doesn't require dipping fighter to get. So I fail to see how it works better in a situation where there are opponents that want to move away from you to 'squishies', as it just encourages them to move, and offers them no protection once the enemy moves. Whatever one creature you can freeze in place with sentinel won't get to them, presuming you hit and they don't have any special actions or bonus actions to get away, but the rest can just do a normal move to the 'squishies' and attack without penalty.

"Tanking" in the sense of being good at surviving melee is one thing, but the idea that you can become a 'main tank' who forces the enemy to focus on him instead of your friends is an MMO concept, not a D&D one.
 

Yunru

Banned
Banned
Unwavering mark only affects one creature, at least until you hit 5th level where you can hit two. And it definitely encourages the creature to move away from you even more than spirit guardians does, as you only get your bonus attacks if the creature is within 5' of you. Sentinel's 'you can't move' ability similarly only affects one creature, as you only get one reaction attack, and that doesn't require dipping fighter to get. So I fail to see how it works better in a situation where there are opponents that want to move away from you to 'squishies', as it just encourages them to move, and offers them no protection once the enemy moves. Whatever one creature you can freeze in place with sentinel won't get to them, presuming you hit and they don't have any special actions or bonus actions to get away, but the rest can just do a normal move to the 'squishies' and attack without penalty.

"Tanking" in the sense of being good at surviving melee is one thing, but the idea that you can become a 'main tank' who forces the enemy to focus on him instead of your friends is an MMO concept, not a D&D one.
If only we had a mass Compel Duel.
 

aco175

Legend
You can make the other PCs take a few levels of fighter to add more tankiness to the group. I was first thinking that a couple more levels of fighter gives you 2nd wind and you can critical on 19/20 which is cool and adds to offense. Then I was like, a few more levels gives you another attack. Next thing you may be asking about not having enough healing in the group. I find that as you start to gain more levels you need the higher level spells.
 

Volund

Explorer
Knowing your character build and party composition would make it easier to offer specifics. Here is my cleric/tank checklist with a few assumptions about your character and party:
-The party has strikers (e.g. rogue, sharpshooter, sorcerer) and your goal is to force enemies to waste time on low-odds attacks on you before they can attack the strikers. To be a tank you want high AC, good hp, and a way to harass enemies that move past you towards the strikers. If your actual goal is to increase your overall melee damage, then ignore everything I'm about to say.
-Stats at level 6 are something like 16/10/14/8/18/8. You're strong, wear heavy armor, and have athletics skill proficiency so you aren't easy to shove or grapple. Spiritual weapon/spirit guardians will be at +7/DC 15.
-Improved concentration checks: started at ftr 1 for proficiency in con saves, or started as a variant human cleric 1 for either the war caster or resilient (con) feat at level 1. At level 6 your Con save is at least +5 or you have the War Caster feat.
-At ftr 1 you chose the Defense FS for +1 AC. Assuming you have upgraded your armor, use a shield, and/or have a magic item that improved your AC, your AC is at least 20-21.
-In combat you are using spirit guardians/spiritual weapon/dodge like OverlordOcelot described. IME casting spirit guardians will cause you to be targeted by a lot of attacks, which is the main goal of the tank, until the enemies can shut it down with a failed concentration check (that's why you need to improve concentration before cleric 5). Unless you are outdoors and enemies can move anywhere they want, they can't just ignore you and run through your spirit guardians because you'll move faster and follow them and put them back in range. The slowed movement will buy your strikers an extra round or two of attacks.

I don't know if this is your first 5e cleric or not, but maybe what you are experiencing with this character is the built-in diminishing of the cleric's relative melee power as you shift from Tier 1 to Tier 2. At Tier 1, with your high AC and martial weapons you feel as good as any fighter in melee, and better even when you have your spiritual weapon up. When my cleric got to level 5 and we were fighting giants and demons and such, my single warhammer attack all of a sudden was lame compared to rogues with their +3d6 sneak attack, warlocks with their 2(d10+d6+4) hexed eldritch blasts, or anyone with extra attack. I went from being a front-line fighter to almost never taking the attack action. I still was up front blocking and soaking up attacks, but at levels 5-7 I did a lot of spirit guardians/spiritual weapon/dodge or just buffed the good strikers and used the bless/sanctuary/dodge combo. After I got my damage upgrade at 8 I started doing more melee attacks again.

I would stick with Cleric. The next 3 levels are all very good cleric levels. At 6 your channel divinity will heal up to 60 hp per short rest without using spell slots. At 7 you get 4th level spells including Death Ward (very tanky!) and Banishment (an encounter shutdown spell), and at 8 you get a melee damage boost and an ASI. Taking more levels of fighter would of course make you a better fighter, but never as good a fighter as if you had just been one all along. Nor will you be as good a cleric as you would be if you had just taken more cleric levels from here on out. If you eventually got to Tier 3 you might wish you had 3 attacks and Indomitable, or find out that you don't have the high level cleric spells you need to support and protect the party.
 

Dausuul

Legend
Um... how in heck has nobody pointed out that you are only one level away from Action Surge? It's one of the fighter's most powerful features, and it combos really well with spellcasting. Since you have already sunk one level into fighter, it seems absurd not to get that second level and claim the big prize.

I wouldn't go beyond two levels, though. You have too many levels in cleric for "melee-focused warrior" to be a viable path for you at this point. If the other PCs need protecting, use your spells to do it; clerics are very good at that.
 

Check out the Cavalier class in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
It's got one of the few "tank" mechanics in the game.

You're not a tank if you can't make an opponent go after you.

That's the thing with being multiclassed as a Life cleric though - if you are spamming out healing left right and centre it gives your opponents a really good reason to attack you even if you are really hard to hit.
 

Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Top