Original Video:
*This article is an edited version of the script for this video
Race:
Tortle. The race choice doesn’t matter a whole lot for this build but we will be taking druid levels so I think tortle is a good pick just so we don’t have to worry about the druid armor restrictions
Ability Scores(point buy):
Str: 8
Dex: 10
Con: 15(+1)
Int: 8
Wis: 15(+2)
Cha: 14
Ability Score Priorities(if rolling):
1: Wis
2: Con
3: At least 13 in Cha for multiclassing
Ideal Equipment:
-Druidic Focus
-Arcane Focus
-Holy Symbol
-Shield
Levels 1-5: Cleric 1-5
-Spells:
—Cantrips: Toll the Dead, Resistance, Guidance(swap out using Cantrip Versatility later as we’ll get guidance again for free at level 7)
Note: For cleric leveled spells I will be listing more than you’ll be able to prepare. There will only really be one must have and the rest you can prepare as you see fit depending on what you think you’ll need during that day.
—1st: Bless, Bane, Command, Healing Word
—2nd: Aid, Blindness/Deafness, Locate Object, Lesser Restoration
—3rd: Aura of Vitality, Dispel Magic, Mass Healing Word, Revivify, Spirit Guardians(our main damage spell, will talk more about it later on but always have this prepared)
-Divine Domain: 3 Choices. Life Domain, Twilight Domain, or Grave Domain
—Go with Life Domain if you want to boost your out of combat healing. The Disciple of Life feature will combo very well with spells like Aura of Vitality and Goodberry once we get it from druid. With this path your party will be able to go into most combats at full health as you’ll relatively easily be able to heal them between each combat. Also, don’t forget that since goodberries last 24 hours you can create them the night before with any extra spell slots you have.
—Go with Twilight Domain if you want to boost your in combat healing. Twilight Sanctuary is one of if not the most powerful channel divinity in the game. As long as your allies end their turns within 30 ft of you they will get 1d6 + your cleric level in temporary hit points every round. To put this in perspective if you’re level 5 you have a 4 person party and you have this up for 4 rounds of combat you’ll give out an average of 136 temporary hit points during that combat.
—Go with Grave Domain if you want to boost your allies effectiveness in combat. Path to the Grave is a great channel divinity option that allows you to make an enemy vulnerable to an attacks damage. If you combo this with one of your allies that can do 1 very large hit like a paladin or a rogue this can be incredibly strong. Also, the Grave Domain’s 6th level feature, Sentinel at Death’s Door, will help you prevent some incoming damage by cancelling your enemies critical hits.
-4th level ASI or Feat: Telekinetic +1 Wis. This will combo great with Spirit Guardians, allowing us to deal the damage to an enemy twice in one round by pulling them into the spell on our turn and then they’ll take the damage again at the start of their turn.
Levels 6-7: Druid 1-2
-Spells
—Cantrips: Thorn Whip(just like the Telekinetic feat this combos great with Spirit Guardians and it’s one of the main reasons for these 2 levels of druid), Any Utility Cantrip(Druidcraft, Mending, Mold Earth, etc)
—1st: Absorb Elements, Goodberry, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Detect Magic, Longstrider
-Wild Shape: This will mainly just be for utility on this build, things like scouting or traveling faster. You probably won’t want to use this in combat
-Druid Circle: Circle of Stars
—Star Map: We get Guidance again here so we can swap it for something else once we get another feat from cleric. We also get Guiding Bolt as a free preparation and we can cast it without spell slots a number of times equal to our proficiency bonus. This is a great option if the enemies are too far way for our Thorn Whip/Spirit Guardians combo as it will do a bit more damage than Toll the Dead at this level and it will give one of our allies advantage on their next attack against the same creature.
—Starry Form: We can use a bonus action and consume a use of wild shape to pick one of the 3 options and it will last for 10 minutes. Archer or Chalice will be the go to options in combat allowing you to gain a bonus action ranged attack with Archer or gain additional healing with Chalice. Dragon will mostly be good for utility but could be a decent option in combat if you think easier concentration checks will be better than what you get from Archer or Chalice.
Level 8: Warlock 1
-Otherworldly Patron: Undead
—Form of Dread: Whenever we hit an enemy with an attack they have to make a Wisdom saving throw or they become Frightened of us. This gives them disadvantage on all of their attacks which is great for our whole party but they also can’t move towards us. This is very helpful since we are going to pull enemies closer to us with Thorn Whip. Usually this would be putting ourselves in danger if we are pulling in melee enemies but now, if we are able to make them Frightened when we pull them to the edge of our Spirit Guardians we can still deal all of that damage to them but since they are Frightened they can’t move any closer to us to attack. This may seem like a small detail but it could prevent a ton of damage in the right encounter.
-Spells:
—Cantrips: Blade Ward, Any Utility Cantrip(Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, etc)
—1st: Armor of Agathys, Unseen Servant
Levels 9-20: Cleric 6-17
Note: We’ll just be going over spells and feats as I already discussed the subclasses earlier and though Divine Intervention is awesome and will be very strong when it works it’s not really something we can build around.
-Spells:
—4th: Aura of Life, Aura of Purity, Banishment, Death Ward, Divination
—5th: Commune, Greater Restoration, Scrying
—6th: Heal, Heroes’ Feast, Word of Recall
—7th: Conjure Celestial, Divine Word, Regenerate
—8th: Antimagic Field, Holy Aura
—9th: Mass Heal
8th Level ASI or Feat: War Caster
12th Level ASI or Feat: +2 Wis
16th Level ASI or Feat: Alert or Lucky
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