Level Up (A5E) Sun Priest Cleric Optimization Recommendation

[Metalith]

Hey I'm am new to the forum. I am looking for suggestions for resources and optimization. I am building a Human Cleric Sun Priest for a Descent into Avernus game. I am looking for a good Culture and Background to fill out.

Concept and Theme: This character will be centered around the theme of a follower of the Noontime Desert Sun, harsh, direct, intense. He will be the party "healer". Also trying for a desert theme for the character's dress, attitude and responses. So far my character is going to be from the Calimshan Desert.

The closest Culture I like so far is Tyrannized. ​

 

[Distracted DM]

Since you're asking about optimization.

By far, the best culture is Tyrannized. The best Destiny is Excellence. My players saw this pretty quickly and took them for every character due to their obvious mechanical advantages, eventually I saw the need to nerf them.

Heritage is probably more up in the air.

 

[Metalith]

I don't require peak optimization. Was trying to find an guide or pointers for a few of each that work well, or things that seem to work on theme for the character, since I view it not just mechanically but optimized thematically as well. But thanks for the initial tips so far.

 

[Verall]

Since you're asking about optimization.

By far, the best culture is Tyrannized. The best Destiny is Excellence. My players saw this pretty quickly and took them for every character due to their obvious mechanical advantages, eventually I saw the need to nerf them.

Heritage is probably more up in the air.

You nerfed a destiny? Which aspect of it? It would depend on the build but I found coming of age to be better in its flexibility looking towards knowledge with its fulfilment feature.

 

[Tessarael]

There are plenty of good backgrounds, cultures, destinies, and heritages. What works best depends on what sort of build you are aiming at. I don't think there's any in LUA5E that are substantially better than all the others. The Tyrannized culture with resist fire could well be appropriate for a desert dweller that grew up in harsh circumstances.

It sounds like the main thing that Metalith is looking for now is a background. For a Cleric, it depends whether you're going for a build with medium armor, so no point having Dexterity above 14, or no armor nor shield with Armor of Conviction for good AC. What background choices to choose from depends on what ability bonuses you need:

• With a medium armor build, I'd want to start with Wisdom 16, Constitution 16, Dexterity 14.
  • So you want a background that can give +1 Constitution and +1 Wisdom.
• With an unarmored build, I'd want to start with Wisdom 16, Constitution 14, Dexterity 16.
  • So you want a background that can give +1 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom.

Acolyte, Exile, and Hermit backgrounds work for both of these, as they give +1 Wisdom and +1 to another ability. Folk Hero, Guildmember, and Outlander could work for the medium armor build, as they give +1 Constitution and +1 to another ability. Maurauder could work for the unarmored build, as it gives +1 Dexterity and +1 to another ability. I've skipped LUA5E backgrounds that seem particularly inappropriate for the character as described.

If you weren't coming from the desert, I'd suggest going with the Warpriest archetype and heavy armor. For that, I'd want to start with something like Wisdom 16, Constitution 15, and Strength 15, aiming at 4th level to get the Tenacious feat for +1 Constitution and proficiency in Constitution saves to help your concentration. You need Strength 15 to wear the heavier armors.

For an armored build, put your holy symbol on your shield, and you can cast spells with V,M or V,S,M spell components without a free hand; but not V,S - as that does require a free hand unless you have the Battle Caster feat.

 

[Metalith]

This campaign will go into another run after Descent. The plan is to take these characters from 1 to 20. So I haven't decided which path to take. I do like the idea of high AC with less baggage sooner. We have not rolled stats until session 0. I do tend to have unusual luck when rolling stats of 3 moderately high ones with 1 absolute horrible one. My current caster pc has a 7 in str and the previous character I had rolled a 4 for which went into his cha and yet someone always was forced to be the talker in several situation.

 

[Distracted DM]

You nerfed a destiny? Which aspect of it? It would depend on the build but I found coming of age to be better in its flexibility looking towards knowledge with its fulfilment feature.

The circumstances that Excellence would trigger on, its Source of Inspiration. There are a couple other Destinies that a player could potentially get inspiration as frequently as Excellence, but most of them will give a player Inspiration maybe 1 in 3 or 4 sessions... Whereas Excellence granted my players inspiration once or twice per session.

The power-minded players always took it (and tyrannized), and the players that DIDN'T take it felt like they were intentionally making bad choices in favor of rp flavor reasons, which led to them being dissatisfied with their choice.

 

[Verall]

Fair, I suppose it vary’s by table, one of the players at my table has excellence and we’ve never had an issue.
I can see it’s more potent during the adventure but I passed on it as its fulfilment was less desist able than others. I’ve found I can get coming of age to give inspiration most sessions

 

[Tessarael]

It also depends what you do with that destiny, and whether you use the inspiration. I took Coming of Age with my Warlock, appropriate for a character that started out young with no idea of where they fit in the with the world. However, I'm not using my inspiration across multiple sessions, as I haven't needed to and prefer to keep it in reserve for a failed save. The big advantage of Excellence is that you can turn that inspiration into +5 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw - that's better than just getting advantage, unless you allow the advantage as a reroll after a failed roll, as the +5 is supposed to be selected before the roll. As a DM, I'd be inclined to allow after the roll, to make good use of that limited resource (inspiration).

 

[Tessarael]

This campaign will go into another run after Descent. The plan is to take these characters from 1 to 20. So I haven't decided which path to take. I do like the idea of high AC with less baggage sooner. We have not rolled stats until session 0. I do tend to have unusual luck when rolling stats of 3 moderately high ones with 1 absolute horrible one. My current caster pc has a 7 in str and the previous character I had rolled a 4 for which went into his cha and yet someone always was forced to be the talker in several situation.

With heavy armor + shield, you can start with AC 18. With medium armor + shield + Dexterity 14, you can also start with AC 18. Unarmored, your AC will be only 16.