Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Votan_Nailo May 26, 2015 10:57:36	I am going to be our party's healer for our new campaign but I dont want to focus only on healing. I feel that Healing Word and Mass Healing Word is going to be the extent of my in-combat healing. Therefore I plan to go War Domain for flavor and how I want to help out the team dealing damage.   But I am not sure I want to go full cleric. I am not seeing much interest after level 9 cleric for me. I get most of the class abilities I want by then and I dont see many spells I am interested in in spell levels 6-9.   So If I were to multi-class, with a bent on melee damage dealing, which would be the best class to go into?   War Cleric 9/ EK Fighter 11 gives me spell slots of a 12th level caster, a fighting style, 3 attacks per round, a few extra ABI's, Action Surge, and some nice abjuration spells from the wizard class as well as the other nice EK abilities   War Cleric 9/ Paladin 11 gives me spell slots of a 14th level caster, 2 attacks per round, a fighting style, aura's and Oath effects, and the wonderful smite/improved smite ability for super novas   Which would you choose and why?   Also, can someone let me know if staying pure war cleric will have any benefit to combat effectiveness that the two multiclass ideas I presented above wouldnt have? are the limited higher level spells worth the initial combat boosts that multiclassing gives?
#2 mellored May 26, 2015 11:22:26	I suggest going paladin 20.   You don't need a "healer" in 5e.
#3 SterlingRat May 26, 2015 11:24:22	Votan_Nailo wrote:
#4 mellored May 26, 2015 11:26:06	Warcleric's channel divinity works very well with contagion.
#5 Votan_Nailo May 26, 2015 11:42:27	well my group does need a healer lol...plus there are some 5th level cleric spells I want access too (Contagation for instance). Also the War Priest lvl 1 ability of war domain is nice! added on top of the extra attack feature from either fighter or paladin means I am a real melee presence
#6 mellored May 26, 2015 12:09:07	Rogue/assassin makes good use of the war clerics channel divinity.  Since you have more riding on 1 attack then fighters would. (+10 to a 6d6+5 attack  > +10 to a 2d6+5 attack).   You could go arcane trickster for some extra spell slots as well.  Or assassin for the opening crit (+10 to a 12d6+5 attack).     Also, if you do stick with warcleric, their level 17 feature is great.
#7 Votan_Nailo May 26, 2015 12:28:30	mellored wrote:
#8 Treantmonklvl20 May 26, 2015 12:35:16	Votan_Nailo wrote:
#9 mellored May 26, 2015 12:39:48	Votan_Nailo wrote:
(Reply to #9) Votan_Nailo	mellored wrote:
#11 Ashrym May 26, 2015 13:09:58	The war priest abilities aren't so great because the proficiencies are easy enough to get and the extra attack requires using the bonus action. I like the channel divinity abilities, avatar of battle, and the domain spell list. If you make a variant human you can take magic initiate at first level to pick up shillelagh, thorn whip, and goodberry if you want to avoid MAD, go staff'n'shield. 2 ASI's on WIS and 3 left to work with. EDIT: 14 levels for better divine strikes and 17 for avatar of battle are worth it.
#12 mellored May 26, 2015 13:14:53	Votan_Nailo wrote:
#13 Mazzy May 26, 2015 13:25:24	Dude, this isn't pathfinder. You don't have to work out the whole 1-20 plan at level 1. If the first 9 levels of war cleric look good to you, and you should because they are, then just do that. A lot can change by level 10. Half the party might have died and made new characters and your party's needs could change dramatically, or new books with new spells and options might come out. Just chill till then.   That said, as things stand now, I agree that clerics lose steam after level 9. Most 6-9th level spells are marginal improvements on old ones you already have, or hyper-situational. And level 14 is a punch line. Putting 2+ into paladin for the extra spell progression, style, and divine smite would not be a regretable decision.
#14 mellored May 26, 2015 13:28:50	Also consider a nature cleric.   Shiellghle (?) + quarterstaff  + shield + polearm master works out pretty well.  And you can skip Str.
(Reply to #13) Ashrym	Mazzy wrote:
#16 Kithas48 May 26, 2015 16:46:08	honestly the paladin option for you is the best, (11pal/9cler) the +2d8 on attacks is silly and there is a paladin spell, aura of vitality, that lets you heal 2d6 a turn as a bonus action which is fantastic if you plan on doing more fighting than healing.  That said getting War Caster is a MUST if you are going to be concentrating and you may even want Resilient in Con for the saves.  Most of the stuff from paladin doesn't really care what your Cha score is so having a mediocre one isnt that big of a deal. Personally I would do Oath of the Ancients for the magic damage resistance as that seems to be where the big damage dumps come in.  Also Divine smite is awesome when combined with the +10 to hit you have, you can dump massive damage into a target right when you need it. I don't like EK because they don't give you any good spell slots, honestly you are gimping yourself as a caster and not getting that much for your levels there.
(Reply to #16) Votan_Nailo	Kithas48 wrote: