I've been wanting to build a character who specialized in lightning/thunder damage. There are several different builds that seems to be focused on this, and I'm having difficulty picking from them:
Lightning soul dragon sorcerer
Storm soul sorcerer
Tempest cleric
Circle of the land druid (?)
The biggest problem I see with lightning characters is the lack of reliable ranged damage. There are two electrical cantrips, Thunderclap and Shocking Grasp, both of which are melee range. The strongest first-level thunder spell is also melee range. But playing a melee-ranged character with 1d6 hit dice seems dangerous. Tempest cleric seems strong with 1d8 hit dice and heavy armor, but their best damage boost is Destructive Wrath, which they don't really have a good spell to use with (no lightning bolt/chain lightning). Is it worth going Cleric/Sorcerer for access to both features at the cost of setting your spell progression back 6 levels?
Lightning soul dragon sorcerer
Storm soul sorcerer
Tempest cleric
Circle of the land druid (?)
The biggest problem I see with lightning characters is the lack of reliable ranged damage. There are two electrical cantrips, Thunderclap and Shocking Grasp, both of which are melee range. The strongest first-level thunder spell is also melee range. But playing a melee-ranged character with 1d6 hit dice seems dangerous. Tempest cleric seems strong with 1d8 hit dice and heavy armor, but their best damage boost is Destructive Wrath, which they don't really have a good spell to use with (no lightning bolt/chain lightning). Is it worth going Cleric/Sorcerer for access to both features at the cost of setting your spell progression back 6 levels?