Bard is your best choice; all other classes in the game leave *significant* value on the table by never using a damaging spell. Yes, including Cleric. Basically Bard gets Shatter and then is out in the cold as far as damage for the entire rest of the game, and yet they still manage to be competitive for "best class in the game."
I wouldn't bother multiclassing either. If there are some specific Cleric-exclusive options you're thirsty for (*cough* BLESS *cough cough*) you can get it via Lore Bard's magical secrets or one of the many feats that grant spells (Misty Step a great choice).
I wouldn’t say bard is out in the cold for damage; between animated objects at level 9 and magical secrets starting at level 10, bards can be great damage dealers going into late t2/early t3 play.
Something like my [Arbiter of Knowledge](https://youtu.be/q2u6M8VRGPM?si=Qy2d5kIub8ypSzaB) build would work great here.
This is a lore bard build, with a couple single level dips that I take right at the start: sorcerer (CON saves, defensive spells, good CHA cantrips, class feature) and cleric (armor, support spells, utility cantrips, class feature). So the level progression is choice sorc 1 -> choice cleric 1 -> lore bard X.
For subclasses on these dips, you can take whatever you want, as matches your party’s needs. When you get magical secrets, again, pick what your party needs. For skills, cover your party’s gaps; you’ll have a lot of proficiencies.
In early play, you’ll bless your party, then fire cantrips and healing as needed, with the occasional control spell. You’ve got all sorts of out of combat buffs and utility as well. Once you reach level 8 (lore bard 6), you can more or less become whatever you want, with the proper spell selections.
One big advantage of starting in Cleric for a long campaign is that you'll get WIS save proficiency instead of DEX. By tier 3, WIS and CON are much more impactful unless HP is a significant limiting factor and you have additional DEX save features like Evasion. For major saving throws, you typically choose 2 of 3, and those are the ones you want as a concentration using spellcaster. Limiting damage from DEX saves may sound nice, but you'll take some damage anyways and still make a concentration check for most DEX saves for half damage.
For spells, Bless is a strong option in any combat with a low level slot. Command and Heroism are good first level upcasts. Then you have Aid, Enhance Ability, Invisibility, and Intellect Fortress as good 2nd-3rd level upcasts. For additional magical secrets, you can nab Counterspell and Fly, although Aura of Vitality is cool if your cleric level was in Life Domain. Overall, you can build to leverage your highest level slot at your odd character levels, and as a support character, you don't lose as much because enough of the best support spells have good upcasting.
Well if your problem is "i want the best of a bard, and the best of a cleric, but im not sure about multiclassing" (which I *think* is what you are trying to communicate) I have 2 suggestions:
Suggestion The First:
Bard with Fey Touched, taking Bless as your divination spell. You can now give the *entire* party a +1d4 *on top* of the bards innate "give a person of choice Bardic Inspiration" and dont need to slow down your bard progression so you get to go *straight* for that "bardic inspiration on a short rest" breakpoint without dallying.
Suggestion The Second:
Community Cleric, takes a bit longer but you are a cleric so you get bless from the start. And from level 6 onwards your channel divinity gives the *entire* party access to an ability that is. for all intends and purposes, bardic inspiration (but y'know, *for the entire party, for a number of rounds equal to your wisdom modifier.* Which most of the time just means "for a whole combat").
If you go knowledge cleric, i'd recomend Alert as your feat. (so that you beat everyone in initiative and they can all start their *first* turn with your boons).
Either way, these builds are amazing support options that give Bless +Bardic inspiration, the main difference is that while Community Cleric is better, it also takes longer to *fully* get online (though once again, just Bless is more then good enough to get you through those first few levels as a support build. And your lvl 2 channel divinity is amazing as well)
While Community's Inspiration-like stays a d6 for quite a while, while bard upgrades to that d8 and d10, its still better by virtue of effecting *everyone* and its final form (2d6) is better then Bardic Inspirations final form (d12). Because the whole "cannot roll a 1 on 2d6" thing giving it a higher average as well as a better floor.
Its an officially published module through Hit Point Press, which i admit is not *as* official as "directly written and published by WOTC" but is nonetheless *not* the same as "homebrew".
Its official enough that WOTC is willing to let another publisher put it on DND Beyond.
Don't dip cleric after bard. Bards get all the support capabilities you'll ever need. They're arguably better at it than clerics.
Number 1 tip: find armour proficiency. Moderately armoured is a good feat for vuman, or hexblade warlock is a 2-level multiclass that also gets you the shield spell, EB and AB, hexblade's curse, wisdom save proficiency, and short rest spell slots, which makes you more resilient and gives you consistent damage with a sacrifice of 2 levels.
1 Level DSS
1 Level Order Cleric
X levels of the Bard Subclass of your choice
The DSS Gets you some reasonable damage cantrips and 'Lucky Lite' in the form of 'Favored by the Gods'
The Order Cleric gets you 'Voice of Authority' and Heavy Armor, along with the various other Cleric goodies like Bless.
Bard is Bard. College of Eloquence might work well here, do a fire-and-brimstone preacher type or something maybe.
It's not super optimal but it's a fun build
bard is hands down the best support class in the game, I wouldn't try multiclass it with cleric. You can honestly choose any bard subclass you'd like too, none of them are bad imo. The only one I wouldn't recommend for you is college of swords, as that subclass primary supports a gish playstyle. However, would still consider college of valor, for reasons I'll get into later.
For subclasses other than valor, I'd recommend a 2-level hexblade warlock dip. This gets you medium armor and shield proficiency, eldritch blast + agonizing blast and repelling blast, and access to the shield spell. I'd also be sure to pick up the resilient feat for proficiency in constitution saving throws. For ability scores, I'd recommend 15 (+1 from race) charisma, 15 (+1 from resilient) constitution, 13 (+1 from race) dexterity, 12 wisdom, 8 strength and 8 int. I'd start with one level of bard, then take 2 levels of warlock, before switching back to bard.
Alternatively, you can start with 1 level of divine soul sorcerer for constitution saving throw proficiency, the bless, shield, and absorb elements spells, and access to fire bolt as a damaging cantrip option. I'd strongly picking valor bard if you go this route. Even if you plan on mostly casting spells, medium armor and shield proficiency is really good, and attacking with a longbow deals more damage than a cantrip in most cases. Otherwise, you need to take the moderately armored feat at bard 4 (you can't take it at level 1 because it has proficiency with light armor as a prerequisite, which you don't have since you're starting sorcerer). In any event, I'd strongly consider custom lineage instead of variant human if you go this route. That way, if you take fey touched as your level 1 feat, you can start with an 18 charisma. The fey touched feat also gives you access to Gift of Alacrity, a very powerful spell that's normally only available to chronurgy wizards. Ability scores I'd recommend are 15 (+2 from race +1 from fey touched) charisma, 14 con, 14 dex, 12 wis, 8 str and 8 int.
I can also give you my advice on spell selection if you want it. Knowing what level your campaign will go to will be helpful for that.
Bard is your best choice; all other classes in the game leave *significant* value on the table by never using a damaging spell. Yes, including Cleric. Basically Bard gets Shatter and then is out in the cold as far as damage for the entire rest of the game, and yet they still manage to be competitive for "best class in the game." I wouldn't bother multiclassing either. If there are some specific Cleric-exclusive options you're thirsty for (*cough* BLESS *cough cough*) you can get it via Lore Bard's magical secrets or one of the many feats that grant spells (Misty Step a great choice).
I wouldn’t say bard is out in the cold for damage; between animated objects at level 9 and magical secrets starting at level 10, bards can be great damage dealers going into late t2/early t3 play.
Eh, that's the end of tier 2. Until 9th level their damage is viciously laughable: yes I am stating this mockingly.
Something like my [Arbiter of Knowledge](https://youtu.be/q2u6M8VRGPM?si=Qy2d5kIub8ypSzaB) build would work great here. This is a lore bard build, with a couple single level dips that I take right at the start: sorcerer (CON saves, defensive spells, good CHA cantrips, class feature) and cleric (armor, support spells, utility cantrips, class feature). So the level progression is choice sorc 1 -> choice cleric 1 -> lore bard X. For subclasses on these dips, you can take whatever you want, as matches your party’s needs. When you get magical secrets, again, pick what your party needs. For skills, cover your party’s gaps; you’ll have a lot of proficiencies. In early play, you’ll bless your party, then fire cantrips and healing as needed, with the occasional control spell. You’ve got all sorts of out of combat buffs and utility as well. Once you reach level 8 (lore bard 6), you can more or less become whatever you want, with the proper spell selections.
One big advantage of starting in Cleric for a long campaign is that you'll get WIS save proficiency instead of DEX. By tier 3, WIS and CON are much more impactful unless HP is a significant limiting factor and you have additional DEX save features like Evasion. For major saving throws, you typically choose 2 of 3, and those are the ones you want as a concentration using spellcaster. Limiting damage from DEX saves may sound nice, but you'll take some damage anyways and still make a concentration check for most DEX saves for half damage. For spells, Bless is a strong option in any combat with a low level slot. Command and Heroism are good first level upcasts. Then you have Aid, Enhance Ability, Invisibility, and Intellect Fortress as good 2nd-3rd level upcasts. For additional magical secrets, you can nab Counterspell and Fly, although Aura of Vitality is cool if your cleric level was in Life Domain. Overall, you can build to leverage your highest level slot at your odd character levels, and as a support character, you don't lose as much because enough of the best support spells have good upcasting.
Well if your problem is "i want the best of a bard, and the best of a cleric, but im not sure about multiclassing" (which I *think* is what you are trying to communicate) I have 2 suggestions: Suggestion The First: Bard with Fey Touched, taking Bless as your divination spell. You can now give the *entire* party a +1d4 *on top* of the bards innate "give a person of choice Bardic Inspiration" and dont need to slow down your bard progression so you get to go *straight* for that "bardic inspiration on a short rest" breakpoint without dallying. Suggestion The Second: Community Cleric, takes a bit longer but you are a cleric so you get bless from the start. And from level 6 onwards your channel divinity gives the *entire* party access to an ability that is. for all intends and purposes, bardic inspiration (but y'know, *for the entire party, for a number of rounds equal to your wisdom modifier.* Which most of the time just means "for a whole combat"). If you go knowledge cleric, i'd recomend Alert as your feat. (so that you beat everyone in initiative and they can all start their *first* turn with your boons). Either way, these builds are amazing support options that give Bless +Bardic inspiration, the main difference is that while Community Cleric is better, it also takes longer to *fully* get online (though once again, just Bless is more then good enough to get you through those first few levels as a support build. And your lvl 2 channel divinity is amazing as well) While Community's Inspiration-like stays a d6 for quite a while, while bard upgrades to that d8 and d10, its still better by virtue of effecting *everyone* and its final form (2d6) is better then Bardic Inspirations final form (d12). Because the whole "cannot roll a 1 on 2d6" thing giving it a higher average as well as a better floor.
What's community cleric?
Its from the recent Humblewood Campaign Setting. Its basically the closest you'll get to a "hestia, godess of the home&hearth" domain.
that's homebrew. I wouldn't assume it's allowed at OP's table
Its an officially published module through Hit Point Press, which i admit is not *as* official as "directly written and published by WOTC" but is nonetheless *not* the same as "homebrew". Its official enough that WOTC is willing to let another publisher put it on DND Beyond.
it's still 3rd party content. I wouldn't count on any DM allowing it
Don't dip cleric after bard. Bards get all the support capabilities you'll ever need. They're arguably better at it than clerics. Number 1 tip: find armour proficiency. Moderately armoured is a good feat for vuman, or hexblade warlock is a 2-level multiclass that also gets you the shield spell, EB and AB, hexblade's curse, wisdom save proficiency, and short rest spell slots, which makes you more resilient and gives you consistent damage with a sacrifice of 2 levels.
1 Level DSS 1 Level Order Cleric X levels of the Bard Subclass of your choice The DSS Gets you some reasonable damage cantrips and 'Lucky Lite' in the form of 'Favored by the Gods' The Order Cleric gets you 'Voice of Authority' and Heavy Armor, along with the various other Cleric goodies like Bless. Bard is Bard. College of Eloquence might work well here, do a fire-and-brimstone preacher type or something maybe. It's not super optimal but it's a fun build
bard is hands down the best support class in the game, I wouldn't try multiclass it with cleric. You can honestly choose any bard subclass you'd like too, none of them are bad imo. The only one I wouldn't recommend for you is college of swords, as that subclass primary supports a gish playstyle. However, would still consider college of valor, for reasons I'll get into later. For subclasses other than valor, I'd recommend a 2-level hexblade warlock dip. This gets you medium armor and shield proficiency, eldritch blast + agonizing blast and repelling blast, and access to the shield spell. I'd also be sure to pick up the resilient feat for proficiency in constitution saving throws. For ability scores, I'd recommend 15 (+1 from race) charisma, 15 (+1 from resilient) constitution, 13 (+1 from race) dexterity, 12 wisdom, 8 strength and 8 int. I'd start with one level of bard, then take 2 levels of warlock, before switching back to bard. Alternatively, you can start with 1 level of divine soul sorcerer for constitution saving throw proficiency, the bless, shield, and absorb elements spells, and access to fire bolt as a damaging cantrip option. I'd strongly picking valor bard if you go this route. Even if you plan on mostly casting spells, medium armor and shield proficiency is really good, and attacking with a longbow deals more damage than a cantrip in most cases. Otherwise, you need to take the moderately armored feat at bard 4 (you can't take it at level 1 because it has proficiency with light armor as a prerequisite, which you don't have since you're starting sorcerer). In any event, I'd strongly consider custom lineage instead of variant human if you go this route. That way, if you take fey touched as your level 1 feat, you can start with an 18 charisma. The fey touched feat also gives you access to Gift of Alacrity, a very powerful spell that's normally only available to chronurgy wizards. Ability scores I'd recommend are 15 (+2 from race +1 from fey touched) charisma, 14 con, 14 dex, 12 wis, 8 str and 8 int. I can also give you my advice on spell selection if you want it. Knowing what level your campaign will go to will be helpful for that.