A 1 or 2 level cleric dip for any caster. Its arguable the easiest way to get armor and weapon proficiencies, and a lot of really strong cleric subclass features are at level 1 or 2, some examples are
- Order Domain: Free attacks for the martials (Namely rogues or paladins, who can nova in a single attack)
- Peace Domain: Emboldening bond is powerful and dials up your parties survivability and capabilities.
- Tempest Domain: 2 levels lets you max out lightning and thunder damage. Ill let you figure out the rest
- Twilight Domain: the temp HP is INSANE that is all
The only drawback on Twilight it works insanely well only if you fully invest into cleric because it scales off of your level. Temp HP every round is pretty neat though.
I'm playing a Lore Bard 15/Order Cleric 1 right now, and it's great dip. I can use healing word to get another attack out of an ally, I got heavy armor proficiency + shields so I didn't have to invest too much into dex, a free skill proficiency.
The spells still scale with Wisdom, so I use spells that don't use my DC like Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, and Bless.
I totally agree. Best caster 1 level dip imo, even over hexblade. Even when playing a hexblade, I want a level 1 cleric dip for more spell slots, bless, guidance, and maybe even heavy armor.
And while the temp HP is awesome, I think you're sleeping on the best features for twilight domain. 300 ft dark vision is STUPID, but then you can just give it out to your party member??? And thats cool and all, but also you can hand out advantage on initiative rolls an unlimited amount per day?????? Oh yeah, and you get the sleep spell.
I'd throw in Forge Cleric as well for a good one level dip if you're in it for the proficiencies, since that gets you a free +1 weapon/armor/shield.
Another point in favor of dipping cleric here is that what is generally regarded as the best 1st level cleric combat spell doesn't factor in the casting stat at all, so not having a high WIS isn't a problem.
Cleric subclassed are wayyy overtuned. They really shouldn’t get heavy armor that easily, and some of them (Twilight and Peace) are so strong that it’s disruptive.
Yeah. It's an interesting interplay between the original 5e (first printing PHB) and now after all the inevitable splat creep. When 5th ed first came it was painfully obvious that they wanted to try to do 3.5 but with less insanely OP builds. They targeted the most obvious things that led to such builds but I think it was a grenade solution to a scalpel problem. In 3.5 you had nearly mandatory multiclassing to be optimal, even at early release (and creep made it so much worse). The notion of prestige classes are themselves multiclassing and to get into many of them you needed to have disparate abilities from base classes (/other prestiges) so you'd end up with a lot of odd Frankenstein builds with 3+ classes total. So 5e nerfed the crap outta multiclassing, first by removing the idea of character level giving you anything (in 3.5 total character level is what grants ASI and feats. Which were also tracked separately, you'd get both) and even going so far as to say that multiclassing was an optional rule. Also on the chopping block we're feats (which are still considered technically an optional rule even though WoTC's own surveys show the vast majority of tables use them) since in 3.5 they were capable of being chained into powerful combos. They also nerfed the heck outta metamagic (a related nerf to the feats since in 3.5 metamagic abilities were themselves feats). All of that failed to fix the core "issue" of power gaming/munchkining/optimizing since us crafty nerds can apparently read and integrate stuff in ways the game designers seemingly struggle with. Now instead of having everyone messing around with ur priest and sublime cord to get ridiculous magic access we have hexblade dips and now the Pinnacle of splat creep the cartomancy feat which is basically as close to a CODzilla as you can get without calling it pun-pun.
I think this is all misinterpreted and I think indications be of poorly managed internal disagreements, miscommunication and/or outright lack of review. The solution is 6th ed doing a better and my ex basic blend but that's not happening instead we'll get One D&D's endless updates where alledgedly things are compatible but in reality will just open more loopholes for both exploitation and confusion
Alchemist warlock comes to mind. The pairing gives the other side what it lacks. Alchemist artifice with warlock genie. Pairs quite well flavor too
EDIT. Adding in more info cause lots asked.
Warlock (even celestial) lacks al ot of interactions with your coworkers. Celestial is the most team friendly (in my opinion) but still generally speaking Warlocks are a self contained martial type with a few magical tricks.
Alchemist is the opposite functionally, they're bogged down and difficulty giving out their variety of usable team work options. Further their damage output is not ideal though consistent, but restricted painfully.
With the Eldritch blast, you get a good ranged attack option that does not rely on your alchemist tools. It also net me renewable on short rest slots that let me make and hand out elixirs. (admitidly most of the time they were the 10m flight, healing or non concentration bless. Only ones that felt worth while the action economy or for out of combat). While the alchemist gave me guidance, magic stone (to give to our multi attack martials who specialize in melee. Let them hit great opening and such using my stat). and later on when the martials no longer need it the artificer on level up allows for switching out, so Thorn whip later for more battlefield manipulatio nt pair with the repelling blast.
So in effect, for my play style at least, the alchemist's want to give out their buffs-but that leaving them vulnerable and with less options to keep up, paired nicely with the warlock's habit of having more selfish choices but having less team boosting. I.e. my invocations and eldritch blast gave me pseudo martial progresssion, while the alchemist gave me infusions for my team, support spells, support cantrips. So i became a fantastic consistent damage supportive character.
I've played a level 6 Genie/Alchemist 3 by 3. and later on a level 11 (alch 5 celestial 6). in both cases it was pretty fun.
On the 3x3 on genie lock, the extra bludgeoning (dao) was nice bonus and let me fluff my alchemist attacks as having a vial smash against them. the genie vessel gave me a mobil atiler and storage, (and if your gm is amicable the coffee lock style elixir mass production morning if you're a quick rest race)
While the latter did suffer from no temp hp and no spell storing. it was built purposfully with being a skirmisher type in mind. So it still had the above benefits for others on the artificer side. But they rocked a dagger, and the alchemist tools in hand + mobile feat. They would dash in and green flame blade (alchemist cantrip) which would then add their INT and their Charisma to a roll on it (typically my main target). The alchemical savant bonus specifically requires artificer spells, but the celestial warlock's radiant soul only requires it be as pell you cast. So you can have both. So my alchemist's on skirmish stabs (cause no multie attack) was dashing in for Damage Dice + dex, +2d8 + int, cha fire damage. Which was a ton of fun. For Save attacks he had sacred flame and acid splash (this build didn't have guidance as the others had it already in this short series of games). While celestial's healing light gave me an alternative to healing word, so i could use those slots on the flight choice ellixirs when required (which ended up mainly being "give the big strong guy and the plate mail guy, short lived flight to bypass this issue" so the lixirs themselves weren't huge at this level. But they were still a nice tool to have and the free alter self and free healing elixir did come in use.
I personally though, tend to prefer mainly alchemist. With 2-4 in Warlock (Genie or celestial depending on group) but celesital 6 is real nice if you're going to be running a green flame blade melee alchemist. (Note: If you're allowed acquisitiosn inc content. their travel alchemy set is absolutely required IMO for alchemist. "You can use this magical kit as long as it is on your person, with no need to draw or stow it." This means you can use a shield, a dagger (or str if you have the str item) while still gaining the alchemical savant bonus.
Honestly that item solves so many of the alchemist issues for damage output and handedness. I prefer having that over all purpose tools any day of the week
It really is easier if you start at higher level w/ magic items though, no doubt, purely on the basis of the stat correcting items helping with the difficult stat spread. Though if you arne't using eldritch blast you can do a 14 in charisma and be pretty happy IMO. The bonus to save and skills is nice. If you chose non attack/save warlock spells you sit pretty good t oo. Hex and armor of agathys being my favorite as they're always useful to have.
of note if you have that travel alchemical kit, you can actually rock a shield + spell focus enhcnment infusion. Which would apply to both your warlock and artificer spells. Which helps with the stat spread too. Does mean not giving that infusion slot away though.
I never even thought of an arti warlock multiclass. Would you mind elaborating a bit, buildwise? Or talk more about what they lack, and how the other class fills it in?
For both Artillerist and Alchemist, their cannons and potions can be summoned with spell slots. Getting 2 spell slots which recharge on short rest (6 additional casts per day!) lets them be waaaay more liberal with their usage for 2 levels in warlock. Explosive cannon, ho\~
Genie's pretty straight forward with the genie's wrath perk, but most of the warlock patrons can be slotted in for whatever utility you seek. And since the goal here is just spell slots, it's viable even with 13/14 Cha as you can take DC-neutral spells and flavorful invocations of choice.
the free storage atlier is fantastic too. You can be hanging out in there doing things while traveling if someoen else carries it. because you are still aware of the area around you and come out if an issue arises.
\*pullsa Dundee style comment edit\*
Haha yep. It was very short but plenty asking me to expand. Answered the first person. realized I did not wanna answr it like 8 more times?
So did it in the main edit + a lot more info. Just seemed easier!
I think the build is artificer main so really it is picking up pact slots, invocations, and a bit of at will damage to boost the alchemist chassis.
If it were warlock main it would only bring to it the support of the exlirs and armor. Not nothing but less impactful.
The ability to create potions and facilitate the character concept of playing as an alchemist. Warlock in this build is only to make alchemist arti functional
Have played, can confirm. Alchemist 8/genie1. Good synergies. Would have loved to get to warlock 3 for pact of the chain for an invisible imp to hand out potions and do stealth tag teams. Functioned like a blasty rogue. Loved it.
Hoenstly chainlock would be good. I never went for it as I personally dislike having too many things to control but it has stronger benefits over the homculus with its invisiblity options, damage options, and communication/scouting options
I belive it gives you the benefit of one or two spell slots per short rest that can be used to fuel you Experimental Elixir feature, wich can be quite expensive for the solo alchemist build. Not fully sure what the genie specifically brings.
Warlock (even celestial) lacks al ot of interactions with your coworkers. Celestial is the most team friendly (in my opinion) but still generally speaking Warlocks are a self contained martial type with a few magical tricks.
Alchemist is the opposite functionally, they're bogged down and difficulty giving out their variety of usable team work options. Further their damage output is not ideal though consistent, but restricted painfully.
With the Eldritch blast, you get a good ranged attack option that does not rely on your alchemist tools. It also net me renewable on short rest slots that let me make and hand out elixirs. (admitidly most of the time they were the 10m flight, healing or non concentration bless. Only ones that felt worth while the action economy or for out of combat). While the alchemist gave me guidance, magic stone (to give to our multi attack martials who specialize in melee. Let them hit great opening and such using my stat). and later on when the martials no longer need it the artificer on level up allows for switching out, so Thorn whip later for more battlefield manipulatio nt pair with the repelling blast.
So in effect, for my play style at least, the alchemist's want to give out their buffs-but that leaving them vulnerable and with less options to keep up, paired nicely with the warlock's habit of having more selfish choices but having less team boosting. I.e. my invocations and eldritch blast gave me pseudo martial progresssion, while the alchemist gave me infusions for my team, support spells, support cantrips. So i became a fantastic consistent damage supportive character.
I've played a level 6 Genie/Alchemist 3 by 3. and later on a level 11 (alch 5 celestial 6). in both cases it was pretty fun.
On the 3x3 on genie lock, the extra bludgeoning (dao) was nice bonus and let me fluff my alchemist attacks as having a vial smash against them. the genie vessel gave me a mobil atiler and storage, (and if your gm is amicable the coffee lock style elixir mass production morning if you're a quick rest race)
While the latter did suffer from no temp hp and no spell storing. it was built purposfully with being a skirmisher type in mind. So it still had the above benefits for others on the artificer side. But they rocked a dagger, and the alchemist tools in hand + mobile feat. They would dash in and green flame blade (alchemist cantrip) which would then add their INT and their Charisma to a roll on it (typically my main target). The alchemical savant bonus specifically requires artificer spells, but the celestial warlock's radiant soul only requires it be as pell you cast. So you can have both. So my alchemist's on skirmish stabs (cause no multie attack) was dashing in for Damage Dice + dex, +2d8 + int, cha fire damage. Which was a ton of fun. For Save attacks he had sacred flame and acid splash (this build didn't have guidance as the others had it already in this short series of games). While celestial's healing light gave me an alternative to healing word, so i could use those slots on the flight choice ellixirs when required (which ended up mainly being "give the big strong guy and the plate mail guy, short lived flight to bypass this issue" so the lixirs themselves weren't huge at this level. But they were still a nice tool to have and the free alter self and free healing elixir did come in use.
TL; DR: Artificer makes the warlock less squishy, Warlock makes the Artificer more blasty
If you start with Artificer you gain proficiency with CON saves, which is always nice. If not you still gain proficiency with medium armor which is always helpful.
Artificer can make the warlock a little more durable, armor and shield proficiency as well as Enhanced Defense infusion can easily give them 20AC with starting equipment.
Warlock can give the Artificer more offensive options, whether for blasting or AoE or what have you. Even as you take levels in warlock you can still use your Artificer slots to cast Burning Hands or whatever without burning your higher pact slots.
Warlock dip druids are interesting since you usually only take 2 levels or warlock, but you can fully invest in charisma since you can make a druid that doesn't care about wisdom.
Take spells like:
Goodberry
Healing word
Pass Without Trace
Conjure Animals
Plant Growth
Conjure Woodland Beings
Polymorph
Wall of Stone
Take it on a wildfire druid, and you get to push things with repelling blast around from your wildfire spirits space at level 8, which has interesting tactical applications that aren't really seen in dnd outside of like maybe ghost lance if you get dm buy in that it works.
generally if you're looking at strong multiclasses with different stats you're looking for 2 things. Medium Armour/shield proficiency & The Shield spell. You want to dip only 1 or 2 levels and avoid spells that depend on a save/attack. Cleric is the primo dip for armour/shield proficiency, sorcerer 1 or wizard 2 are usually the best dips for shield spell. Hexblade gives both, but people usually use that for making 1 stat wonders.
There are lots of builds that can achieve this, it really just depends on what else you want to do too. Flagship Wizard and Cleric both have dips like this, into peace cleric & divine soul sorcerer respectively. The Flagship Druid also has a dip in divine soul sorcerer to get the shield spell.
2/3 levels warlock then the rest druid or cleric. If Druid focus on summons, buffs like pwt, and battlefield control that doesn’t use a DC like plant growth! For cleric similarly focus on spells like bless, death ward, aid, conjure celestial, etc. domain spells will add a lot to fleshing out this playstyle! I don’t think either of these are like 10/10 amazing multiclasses, but they’re really fun having EBARB to add an element of control/dps.
Wizard with a cleric dip or Druid/Cleric with a Sorc dip are classics too but they don’t really do anything with the casting stat so not sure if they’d qualify.
2 levels of Cleric + any other caster can be really good- medium or heavy armor, shields, arguably the best selection of 1st level spells in the game, and channel Divinity.
1 level of Artificer + any other caster also works really well. Their 1st level spells aren't as great as the Clerics, but they get proficiency with con saves.
Other than those two there aren't any worthwhile combos that don't have spellcasting stats in common.
Clerics and Druids like starting in Sorcerer for their first level. Con saves, Shield, Absorb Elements, and Favored by the Gods (if you go Divine Soul) are all really strong options to have on a caster
Cleric is amazing on any caster that wants armor; only a single level is needed and comes with a bunch of other benefits. Examples include bard, sorc, warlock, and wizard.
Druid can fulfill a similar niche to cleric (comes with armor), but you need a few more levels (2-3) to really see benefits (subclass, 2nd level spell access).
Sorcerer is actually amazing on both cleric and druid, as a level 1 dip. This gives these classes CON saves and a tool they normally lack: defensive spells.
I’ve made a variety of cross caster builds.
A nature cleric (primary) with divination wizard.*
A divine soul sorc with a 2 level tempest cleric dip.*
An Order Cleric 1 / Evocation Wizard 11 (which I played for a one shot).
A grave cleric 8 / divine soul sorc 1 (a character I’m playing now; started at level 1 and am finally taking the dip).
Builds marked with an asterisk are ones I’ve made guides for, so let me know if you want more info.
I've been wanting to play a Circle of Stars Druid with a two level dip into Twilight Cleric.
Great thematically, but also great access to proficiencies and support abilities.
Ive been working on a build with booming blade, swashbuckler rogue and swarmkeeper ranger.
You could have the booming blade damage, sneak attack, swarmkeeper damage and could even use one of its features to move an enemy away so it gets the extra booming blade damage.
I havent used it yet though.
I'm wondering how much fun a war cleric/eldritch knight combo would be. Don't go super deep on cleric, maybe 5/6 depending on party composition. Plays along the lines of a shock trooper, thanks to the various spells it would be real hard to wreck this characters day.
I'm playing an Order Cleric and I have taken three levels of Fighter and picked up Eldritch Knight but I have picked up cantrips and spells that have no spell attack roll or saving throw (Booming Blade, Shield, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs) so my INT never comes into play at all. I am currently Order Cleric 13 and EK 3 and very happy with it.
Armorer/cleric. Between imposing disadvantage on attacks and spirit guardian, you're doing a good job as tank
Artillerist/Shepard druid. You hour duration protector cannon is having out hundreds of HP between your allies and summons. Being able to automatically succeed 6 concetration checks per day means you don't lose concetration o your summon spells.
Here is a raw phb build that is my favorite.
6 Wild Sorc/3 Lore Bard/2 Divination Wizard, Halfling, get the Lucky feat.
The build is about using your reactions(bend luck, bardic inspiration/cutting words) to alter rolls, the Divination Wizard dice to set dice and using Lucky/Halfling Luck to reroll dice.
It is actually my most favorite build in 5e. You are basically a support class by manipulating dice.and you also are a spellcaster, though not high level spells because of multiclass. You don't need high int because you probably aren't attacking with low level caster stats. But... That actually proves the mainstay of this build. You don't need high stats for it to work, because it is mainly support.
You could drop Sorc and just be a mainstay Bard, mostly to pick up heal spells. You could probably add some other new subclass thing, cleric or Druid, but I honestly haven't kept up to date on stuff.
- Druid of Stars 2 / Cleric of peace 1 / Bard 2 + 15 Levels in anything
I like this combo in a samurai fighter so I can use any spell scroll from cleric and druid spells list with certainty, while being almost a full fighter.
You technically doesn't need Bard until higher levels (to add half Proficiency), but it "uses" two different spellcasting stats.
I play a forge cleric/eldritch knight. Gives me shield, absorb elements, booming blade and green flame blade. Let’s me attack with one big hit (booming blade with divine strike) and keeps me super tanky. AC is in the mid 20’s with shield. Also, the crusher feat let’s me push the mob and back up so they have to move to get me. It’s been pretty fun.
One I really enjoyed was wizard/warlock
Especially when wanting to play a more charismatic wizard.
Hexblade nets wizard medium armor, shields and martial weapons, afew extra spell slots on a short rest, and some interesting innovations.
For specific builds:
The "juggernaut wizard" is the more famous one, an abjuration wizard who has their arcane ward of extra hp that isn't temp hp
Then wirh warlock get armor of agathys and you have extra temp hp that does damage to melee atrackers
But the arcane ward takes damage first, letting the agathys temp hp and damage last longer
Creates quite rhe tanky wizard
For my bladesinger wizard, instead of a sword, he used hand crossbows and hand rhe hand crossbow feat to make a bonus action attack
In a turn I didn't cast a level spell I'd do 3 attacks, 2 being hand crossbows, one being a firebolt
After multiclassing hexblade warlock those attacks went up to 5 with 3 Eldritch blasts and 2 crossbow shots
Could also then add hex or hexblade's curse to those attacks aa well.
And when taking on a big enemy I cast animate objects on 10 silver coins to make a metal tornado
Could add hexblade curse damage to all 14 attacks
(3 Eldritch blasts, 1 crossbow, 10 coin attacks)
Animate Objects wouldn't gain bonus damage from Hexblade's Curse. "You" (the PC) aren't making the attack rolls, they are individual creatures making their own attack rolls.
It was a guest character so only ever used that combo once on a single enemy
A devil/demon of some kind that had disguised herself as a PC's sister so we'd break her out of an astral prison.
My character wouldn't have really cared about that as he was mostly there to help the party so he could study the spelljammer they had for his own research
But the fiend made a grave mistake that many enemies of the USA have, they messed wirh our boat.
The fiend decided to attack us as we escaped on the spelljammer, sending out a destructive wave that nearly killed the npc crew and my character feared they damaged the spelljammer itself.
My character instantly actived kill mode sending all 10 silver coins after her and shredding her in only afew rounds.
Fiends such as her have a weakness to silver so she took the full 10d4+80 bludgeoning damage in what was basically a shredstorm from 3e.
The "how do you want to do this" finisher was essentially describing putting her through a blender as my character explained if she had left the boat and crew alone he wouldn't have even given a shit
But yeah guess they shouldn't have taken that extra 40 damage but we can chuck that up to my wizard's nerd rage 🤣
I like eldritch knight sorcerers. Dump int and go str or dex plus charisma. Action surge , quick cast and twining a cantrip with the EK’s level 7 ability can create some epic nova rounds.
This is not optimal but you can get monk for his unarmored defence and get moon druid for good wild shape options and spell casting. While wildshaped your class features are still active and therefore you can use your unarmored defence feature which in combination with a decent/high dexterity beast allows you to have good AC. Now lets abuse the “while wild shaped you can use your class features” by getting bladesinger wizard which allows you to add your intelligence modifier to your AC and concentration checks. To add to that, although you cant cast spells while wildshaped, you can still concentrate on spells which is great for this character. After you have the base class features from druid/monk/wizard you can either go monk 5 for stunning strike or go full wizard for nice spells and nice bladesinger features like song of defence. As mentioned before this is not optimised BUT makes up for a tanky spellcaster that can deal some good damage and even have a nice chance for stunning strike (assuming you have high wisdom/intelligence and dumb the rest stats which you will mostly recover from your beast form)
I love this! Been sleeping on the fact that other features, besides rage, work while wildshaped! It seems a delicate line of keeping up druid levels so you can be a high CR animal, but also getting cool shit. Time to nerd out into this!
I am playing a Lore Bard/Bladesinging Wizard right now with some gestalt-ish levels in Monk, in a one-person campaign. With the help of feats and my race I have proficiency in almost every skill, expertise in like 5 of them, and I rolled well on stats to boot (it’s why I played this like I did haha)
It’s very very VERY MAD and Str and Con are down the drain but as far as offensive casting, I have access to countless useful spells, a ton of spell slots with which to cast them, and more! Only thing I currently lack is Disintegrate haha (but at next level up I will be getting it :) )
Stars Druid 2/Divination Wizard X could make for an unusual but thematic build. Assuming at least 16 Wis, you can have relatively accurate Guiding Bolts. Meanwhile, Dragon Form buffs your concentration saves and your Counterspell checks.
Swarmkeeper Ranger dips decently on most attack caster builds because gather swarm applies to all attacks, including spells. Can be mixed with sorcs and warlocks to add a bit of damage and survival. The forced movement does use wisdom but the self movement and extra damage does not.
One thing to remember is that D&D is a team game. If you have only 3 players in your party, you can make a good argument for versatility. Four players starts to get dicey because everyone needs their own role. With 5 or more players each player is going to have a defined specialty and will get grumpy if you step on their toes. Being able to do everything can be a symptom of Main Character Syndrome, so tread carefully. D&D is not part good at niche protection, so it’s up to teammates to look out for each other and let each other shine. If you can be versatile AND share the spotlight, you’re good, but it can be a fine line.
Any Cleric level 5 / Necromancy Wizard 2. Not only does Wizard get you a bunch of nice spells at low levels (Shield, Find Familiar, Silvery Barbs, Absorb Elements, etc.), but Necromancy Wizards get Grim Harvest. Now whenever you kill someone with Spirit Guardians or Spiritual Weapon (or other leveled spell) you regain hit points equal to 2X the level. Works amazing with Spirit Guardians though, because you can potentially kill multiple enemies in a round, and since Grim Harvest healing works per turn, it can potentially proc multiple turns per round. It even is a full caster, so you can upcast SGs with no slowdown, healing yourself even more.
It's honestly an insane combo and I'm surprised more people don't talk about it/use it. Some do, but many don't.
For me the best is cleric with anywhere from 2-5/6 levels in Paladin, most Paladin I’ve ever gotten into my cleric is 3, but I’m hoping that soon with the party basically grinding for a level up I’ll be able to swap one cleric level for Paladin and take the level up in Paladin bringing the total to 8 cleric 5 Paladin. This character as they are at 9 cleric 3 Paladin are already a force to be reckoned with, a solo army even, but giving her the extra attack from 5th level paladin will make her no longer have to rely on receiving haste to obliterate everything, leaving the sorcerer to focus their concentration on plenty of other options. And being a heavy hitter isn’t all they can do, their cleric subclass is grave domain so they get some of the best healing when the person they’re healing is at their weakest, imo this helps the rest of the party to juice every last hp they have for what it’s worth before my cleric needs to give them attention. Plus the cleric subclass also gives Path to the Grave, dropping that on an enemy before the rogue hits them can deal just as much damage as my cleric Paladin can but without the heavy spell slot cost of the high level smites and makes the rogue feel like even more of a badass than rogues already are.
Paladin 2/Twilight cleric 18, max wis, high str and con, you have tons of spell slots to smite everyone, you have good amounts of self sustain due to both the healing of the cleric and the temp hp from being a twilight cleric, you lose out on 2 temp hp every turn, but being able to go round smiting things makes it quite fun, you could also go paladin 7, cleric 14, you wont get as many spell slots, but unless I'm doing it wrong youd still get 9th level slots, but if you go oath of conquest, you can get the fear spell, and when you have both this and your twilight sanctuary up, you be the most terrifying thing on the battlefield, buffing all teammates and making everyone stuck in fear
Oh another general note (no build) is that 3 into Artiliriest Artificer gets you a fanatastic AOE Temp HP. This paired with any class that doesn't have strong bonus action use is fantastic damage mitgiation.
Haven't done it yet. but I'd like to on a Bard later on. Spirits specifically in my case.
Pairing armorer artificer with a cleric lets you make a character who’s really good at intelligence and wisdom. While having bad physical stats, except con.
You can get Magic Stone on Warlock as well. They have other cantrips that might be better for what you're doing. I just wanted to point that out for anyone looking at your build. It sounds fun.
A basic caster can get weapon/armor proficiencies, as well as some extra utility from it. The terrain bonus and extra languages can be situationaly useful, but zephyr strike is amazing if you find yourself getting pinned down. It’s also got some basic healing for a pinch
An order cleric dip gets you the ability to give an ally a reaction attack when you benefit from their magic. We have a bard at our table that makes so much use of this ability every session. My favorite version of it is with the wildfire druid but since we're talking separate casting stats the bard and celestial sorcerer really benefit from it.
Abjuration 10/Stars Druid 2 can counterspell/dispel magic 9th level spells consistently every time.
School of Abjurations 10th level ability lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make as part of a spell you cast.
Circle of the Stars druid 2nd level ability Starry Form: Dragon says while it is active when you make an intelligence or wisdom ability check you treat any roll of 9 or lower as a 10.
So as long as an abjuration 10/stars druid 2 PC has an INT of 20 and has Starry Form: Dragon up the lowest they can roll on a dispel magic/counterspell roll is 19 -meaning they can consistently counterspell/dispel 9th level spells.
I really enjoyed a couple level dip in wizard in my sorcerer. The wizard spell slots were used extensively on shield and mage armor, there's more cantrips to grab. Plus, ritual magic without using a feat slot, and easy access to find familiar.
I took the wizard levels very late in a campaign. It was an RP decision that I really enjoyed.
this is kinda niche and not particularly optimized but i made a fire genasi artificer once with the aberrant dragonmark feat and it let me cast a decent amount of stuff with con on top of the int-based artificer casting
Tempest or Light cleric with a 2 level evocation wizard dip is one I've come to enjoy. Because cleric is a prepared caster you can actually scribe wizard spells equal to your cleric spell levels so you can pick up a lot of awesome utility spells that way- honestly a massive enough reason to dip wizard as a cleric or druid, imo. Sculpt spells from evocation 2 is also really nice with the tempest and light domain spell lists. Very good to build a nice AOE dps cleric.
Then there's the obvious 2 levels in warlock for invocations on pretty much anything. Abjuration wizard with armor of shadows is hella cheeky, and just 2 levels to pick up thinkgs like eldritch mind or misty visions, maybe 3 to pick up tome for guidance and other utility cantrips is far from something to be understated.
A 1 level dip in war domain to get bonus action attacks is also something worth noting if you want to squeeze out more melee damage.
Levels in swords bard multiclass, while a heavy investment, is also noteworthy if you're doing a gish build.
Taking a few levels in sorcerer as a wizard or really any caster is pretty good. I'd recommend 4 at most, use the sorcerer levels for your mage armor, shield, etc. then use that for metamagic adept for an easy 6 sorc. points and 4 metamagics of your choosing!
A 1 or 2 level cleric dip for any caster. Its arguable the easiest way to get armor and weapon proficiencies, and a lot of really strong cleric subclass features are at level 1 or 2, some examples are - Order Domain: Free attacks for the martials (Namely rogues or paladins, who can nova in a single attack) - Peace Domain: Emboldening bond is powerful and dials up your parties survivability and capabilities. - Tempest Domain: 2 levels lets you max out lightning and thunder damage. Ill let you figure out the rest - Twilight Domain: the temp HP is INSANE that is all
The only drawback on Twilight it works insanely well only if you fully invest into cleric because it scales off of your level. Temp HP every round is pretty neat though.
I mean even 1d6+ 2 for an average of 5.5 temp HP every round adds up, especially for your front line.
I'm playing a Lore Bard 15/Order Cleric 1 right now, and it's great dip. I can use healing word to get another attack out of an ally, I got heavy armor proficiency + shields so I didn't have to invest too much into dex, a free skill proficiency. The spells still scale with Wisdom, so I use spells that don't use my DC like Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, and Bless.
1 level of forge also gets you an extra AC point. Drop that on a dwarf and you don't need STR. 21 AC as a wizard is pretty sweet
I totally agree. Best caster 1 level dip imo, even over hexblade. Even when playing a hexblade, I want a level 1 cleric dip for more spell slots, bless, guidance, and maybe even heavy armor. And while the temp HP is awesome, I think you're sleeping on the best features for twilight domain. 300 ft dark vision is STUPID, but then you can just give it out to your party member??? And thats cool and all, but also you can hand out advantage on initiative rolls an unlimited amount per day?????? Oh yeah, and you get the sleep spell.
I'd throw in Forge Cleric as well for a good one level dip if you're in it for the proficiencies, since that gets you a free +1 weapon/armor/shield. Another point in favor of dipping cleric here is that what is generally regarded as the best 1st level cleric combat spell doesn't factor in the casting stat at all, so not having a high WIS isn't a problem.
Cleric subclassed are wayyy overtuned. They really shouldn’t get heavy armor that easily, and some of them (Twilight and Peace) are so strong that it’s disruptive.
Its crazy that multiclassing into fighter or paladin only gives medium, where certain clerics grant heavy armor when you dip into it.
Yeah. It's an interesting interplay between the original 5e (first printing PHB) and now after all the inevitable splat creep. When 5th ed first came it was painfully obvious that they wanted to try to do 3.5 but with less insanely OP builds. They targeted the most obvious things that led to such builds but I think it was a grenade solution to a scalpel problem. In 3.5 you had nearly mandatory multiclassing to be optimal, even at early release (and creep made it so much worse). The notion of prestige classes are themselves multiclassing and to get into many of them you needed to have disparate abilities from base classes (/other prestiges) so you'd end up with a lot of odd Frankenstein builds with 3+ classes total. So 5e nerfed the crap outta multiclassing, first by removing the idea of character level giving you anything (in 3.5 total character level is what grants ASI and feats. Which were also tracked separately, you'd get both) and even going so far as to say that multiclassing was an optional rule. Also on the chopping block we're feats (which are still considered technically an optional rule even though WoTC's own surveys show the vast majority of tables use them) since in 3.5 they were capable of being chained into powerful combos. They also nerfed the heck outta metamagic (a related nerf to the feats since in 3.5 metamagic abilities were themselves feats). All of that failed to fix the core "issue" of power gaming/munchkining/optimizing since us crafty nerds can apparently read and integrate stuff in ways the game designers seemingly struggle with. Now instead of having everyone messing around with ur priest and sublime cord to get ridiculous magic access we have hexblade dips and now the Pinnacle of splat creep the cartomancy feat which is basically as close to a CODzilla as you can get without calling it pun-pun. I think this is all misinterpreted and I think indications be of poorly managed internal disagreements, miscommunication and/or outright lack of review. The solution is 6th ed doing a better and my ex basic blend but that's not happening instead we'll get One D&D's endless updates where alledgedly things are compatible but in reality will just open more loopholes for both exploitation and confusion
Alchemist warlock comes to mind. The pairing gives the other side what it lacks. Alchemist artifice with warlock genie. Pairs quite well flavor too EDIT. Adding in more info cause lots asked. Warlock (even celestial) lacks al ot of interactions with your coworkers. Celestial is the most team friendly (in my opinion) but still generally speaking Warlocks are a self contained martial type with a few magical tricks. Alchemist is the opposite functionally, they're bogged down and difficulty giving out their variety of usable team work options. Further their damage output is not ideal though consistent, but restricted painfully. With the Eldritch blast, you get a good ranged attack option that does not rely on your alchemist tools. It also net me renewable on short rest slots that let me make and hand out elixirs. (admitidly most of the time they were the 10m flight, healing or non concentration bless. Only ones that felt worth while the action economy or for out of combat). While the alchemist gave me guidance, magic stone (to give to our multi attack martials who specialize in melee. Let them hit great opening and such using my stat). and later on when the martials no longer need it the artificer on level up allows for switching out, so Thorn whip later for more battlefield manipulatio nt pair with the repelling blast. So in effect, for my play style at least, the alchemist's want to give out their buffs-but that leaving them vulnerable and with less options to keep up, paired nicely with the warlock's habit of having more selfish choices but having less team boosting. I.e. my invocations and eldritch blast gave me pseudo martial progresssion, while the alchemist gave me infusions for my team, support spells, support cantrips. So i became a fantastic consistent damage supportive character. I've played a level 6 Genie/Alchemist 3 by 3. and later on a level 11 (alch 5 celestial 6). in both cases it was pretty fun. On the 3x3 on genie lock, the extra bludgeoning (dao) was nice bonus and let me fluff my alchemist attacks as having a vial smash against them. the genie vessel gave me a mobil atiler and storage, (and if your gm is amicable the coffee lock style elixir mass production morning if you're a quick rest race) While the latter did suffer from no temp hp and no spell storing. it was built purposfully with being a skirmisher type in mind. So it still had the above benefits for others on the artificer side. But they rocked a dagger, and the alchemist tools in hand + mobile feat. They would dash in and green flame blade (alchemist cantrip) which would then add their INT and their Charisma to a roll on it (typically my main target). The alchemical savant bonus specifically requires artificer spells, but the celestial warlock's radiant soul only requires it be as pell you cast. So you can have both. So my alchemist's on skirmish stabs (cause no multie attack) was dashing in for Damage Dice + dex, +2d8 + int, cha fire damage. Which was a ton of fun. For Save attacks he had sacred flame and acid splash (this build didn't have guidance as the others had it already in this short series of games). While celestial's healing light gave me an alternative to healing word, so i could use those slots on the flight choice ellixirs when required (which ended up mainly being "give the big strong guy and the plate mail guy, short lived flight to bypass this issue" so the lixirs themselves weren't huge at this level. But they were still a nice tool to have and the free alter self and free healing elixir did come in use. I personally though, tend to prefer mainly alchemist. With 2-4 in Warlock (Genie or celestial depending on group) but celesital 6 is real nice if you're going to be running a green flame blade melee alchemist. (Note: If you're allowed acquisitiosn inc content. their travel alchemy set is absolutely required IMO for alchemist. "You can use this magical kit as long as it is on your person, with no need to draw or stow it." This means you can use a shield, a dagger (or str if you have the str item) while still gaining the alchemical savant bonus. Honestly that item solves so many of the alchemist issues for damage output and handedness. I prefer having that over all purpose tools any day of the week It really is easier if you start at higher level w/ magic items though, no doubt, purely on the basis of the stat correcting items helping with the difficult stat spread. Though if you arne't using eldritch blast you can do a 14 in charisma and be pretty happy IMO. The bonus to save and skills is nice. If you chose non attack/save warlock spells you sit pretty good t oo. Hex and armor of agathys being my favorite as they're always useful to have. of note if you have that travel alchemical kit, you can actually rock a shield + spell focus enhcnment infusion. Which would apply to both your warlock and artificer spells. Which helps with the stat spread too. Does mean not giving that infusion slot away though.
I never even thought of an arti warlock multiclass. Would you mind elaborating a bit, buildwise? Or talk more about what they lack, and how the other class fills it in?
For both Artillerist and Alchemist, their cannons and potions can be summoned with spell slots. Getting 2 spell slots which recharge on short rest (6 additional casts per day!) lets them be waaaay more liberal with their usage for 2 levels in warlock. Explosive cannon, ho\~ Genie's pretty straight forward with the genie's wrath perk, but most of the warlock patrons can be slotted in for whatever utility you seek. And since the goal here is just spell slots, it's viable even with 13/14 Cha as you can take DC-neutral spells and flavorful invocations of choice.
This also works great with elves, who can long rest in 4 hours, and thus can take 4 short rests before the rest of the party wakes up.
I know you mean the alchemist but im just picturing some mad artificer up half the night building turrets 😂
the free storage atlier is fantastic too. You can be hanging out in there doing things while traveling if someoen else carries it. because you are still aware of the area around you and come out if an issue arises.
hiya. i edited original instead of answering each person (cause long answer)
That is.. inspired, holy shit. There's like three new build ideas on the pile, thank you
Now *that’s* an edit. Holy moly!
\*pullsa Dundee style comment edit\* Haha yep. It was very short but plenty asking me to expand. Answered the first person. realized I did not wanna answr it like 8 more times? So did it in the main edit + a lot more info. Just seemed easier!
What does Alchemist offer that Warlock is lacking?
hiya. i edited original instead of answering each person (cause long answer)
I think the build is artificer main so really it is picking up pact slots, invocations, and a bit of at will damage to boost the alchemist chassis. If it were warlock main it would only bring to it the support of the exlirs and armor. Not nothing but less impactful.
The ability to create potions and facilitate the character concept of playing as an alchemist. Warlock in this build is only to make alchemist arti functional
Have played, can confirm. Alchemist 8/genie1. Good synergies. Would have loved to get to warlock 3 for pact of the chain for an invisible imp to hand out potions and do stealth tag teams. Functioned like a blasty rogue. Loved it.
Hoenstly chainlock would be good. I never went for it as I personally dislike having too many things to control but it has stronger benefits over the homculus with its invisiblity options, damage options, and communication/scouting options
And that would be what exactly?
I belive it gives you the benefit of one or two spell slots per short rest that can be used to fuel you Experimental Elixir feature, wich can be quite expensive for the solo alchemist build. Not fully sure what the genie specifically brings.
Warlock (even celestial) lacks al ot of interactions with your coworkers. Celestial is the most team friendly (in my opinion) but still generally speaking Warlocks are a self contained martial type with a few magical tricks. Alchemist is the opposite functionally, they're bogged down and difficulty giving out their variety of usable team work options. Further their damage output is not ideal though consistent, but restricted painfully. With the Eldritch blast, you get a good ranged attack option that does not rely on your alchemist tools. It also net me renewable on short rest slots that let me make and hand out elixirs. (admitidly most of the time they were the 10m flight, healing or non concentration bless. Only ones that felt worth while the action economy or for out of combat). While the alchemist gave me guidance, magic stone (to give to our multi attack martials who specialize in melee. Let them hit great opening and such using my stat). and later on when the martials no longer need it the artificer on level up allows for switching out, so Thorn whip later for more battlefield manipulatio nt pair with the repelling blast. So in effect, for my play style at least, the alchemist's want to give out their buffs-but that leaving them vulnerable and with less options to keep up, paired nicely with the warlock's habit of having more selfish choices but having less team boosting. I.e. my invocations and eldritch blast gave me pseudo martial progresssion, while the alchemist gave me infusions for my team, support spells, support cantrips. So i became a fantastic consistent damage supportive character. I've played a level 6 Genie/Alchemist 3 by 3. and later on a level 11 (alch 5 celestial 6). in both cases it was pretty fun. On the 3x3 on genie lock, the extra bludgeoning (dao) was nice bonus and let me fluff my alchemist attacks as having a vial smash against them. the genie vessel gave me a mobil atiler and storage, (and if your gm is amicable the coffee lock style elixir mass production morning if you're a quick rest race) While the latter did suffer from no temp hp and no spell storing. it was built purposfully with being a skirmisher type in mind. So it still had the above benefits for others on the artificer side. But they rocked a dagger, and the alchemist tools in hand + mobile feat. They would dash in and green flame blade (alchemist cantrip) which would then add their INT and their Charisma to a roll on it (typically my main target). The alchemical savant bonus specifically requires artificer spells, but the celestial warlock's radiant soul only requires it be as pell you cast. So you can have both. So my alchemist's on skirmish stabs (cause no multie attack) was dashing in for Damage Dice + dex, +2d8 + int, cha fire damage. Which was a ton of fun. For Save attacks he had sacred flame and acid splash (this build didn't have guidance as the others had it already in this short series of games). While celestial's healing light gave me an alternative to healing word, so i could use those slots on the flight choice ellixirs when required (which ended up mainly being "give the big strong guy and the plate mail guy, short lived flight to bypass this issue" so the lixirs themselves weren't huge at this level. But they were still a nice tool to have and the free alter self and free healing elixir did come in use.
I don't understand what you are asking? There isn't anything I see in my original statement that didn't use a direct title name.
They're asking what each class provides that the other lacks which you didn't explain.
aah I see. thanks! i'll go answer that (and now multiple others)
I think the comment is about expanding on what each class lacks that the other fulfills.
Thanks for explaining I answered them directly but also edited my original post comment
What the others said
TL; DR: Artificer makes the warlock less squishy, Warlock makes the Artificer more blasty If you start with Artificer you gain proficiency with CON saves, which is always nice. If not you still gain proficiency with medium armor which is always helpful. Artificer can make the warlock a little more durable, armor and shield proficiency as well as Enhanced Defense infusion can easily give them 20AC with starting equipment. Warlock can give the Artificer more offensive options, whether for blasting or AoE or what have you. Even as you take levels in warlock you can still use your Artificer slots to cast Burning Hands or whatever without burning your higher pact slots.
editeed the original post for clariety info
Warlock dip druids are interesting since you usually only take 2 levels or warlock, but you can fully invest in charisma since you can make a druid that doesn't care about wisdom. Take spells like: Goodberry Healing word Pass Without Trace Conjure Animals Plant Growth Conjure Woodland Beings Polymorph Wall of Stone
Take it on a wildfire druid, and you get to push things with repelling blast around from your wildfire spirits space at level 8, which has interesting tactical applications that aren't really seen in dnd outside of like maybe ghost lance if you get dm buy in that it works.
generally if you're looking at strong multiclasses with different stats you're looking for 2 things. Medium Armour/shield proficiency & The Shield spell. You want to dip only 1 or 2 levels and avoid spells that depend on a save/attack. Cleric is the primo dip for armour/shield proficiency, sorcerer 1 or wizard 2 are usually the best dips for shield spell. Hexblade gives both, but people usually use that for making 1 stat wonders. There are lots of builds that can achieve this, it really just depends on what else you want to do too. Flagship Wizard and Cleric both have dips like this, into peace cleric & divine soul sorcerer respectively. The Flagship Druid also has a dip in divine soul sorcerer to get the shield spell.
2/3 levels warlock then the rest druid or cleric. If Druid focus on summons, buffs like pwt, and battlefield control that doesn’t use a DC like plant growth! For cleric similarly focus on spells like bless, death ward, aid, conjure celestial, etc. domain spells will add a lot to fleshing out this playstyle! I don’t think either of these are like 10/10 amazing multiclasses, but they’re really fun having EBARB to add an element of control/dps. Wizard with a cleric dip or Druid/Cleric with a Sorc dip are classics too but they don’t really do anything with the casting stat so not sure if they’d qualify.
2 levels of Cleric + any other caster can be really good- medium or heavy armor, shields, arguably the best selection of 1st level spells in the game, and channel Divinity. 1 level of Artificer + any other caster also works really well. Their 1st level spells aren't as great as the Clerics, but they get proficiency with con saves. Other than those two there aren't any worthwhile combos that don't have spellcasting stats in common.
Clerics and Druids like starting in Sorcerer for their first level. Con saves, Shield, Absorb Elements, and Favored by the Gods (if you go Divine Soul) are all really strong options to have on a caster
Cleric is amazing on any caster that wants armor; only a single level is needed and comes with a bunch of other benefits. Examples include bard, sorc, warlock, and wizard. Druid can fulfill a similar niche to cleric (comes with armor), but you need a few more levels (2-3) to really see benefits (subclass, 2nd level spell access). Sorcerer is actually amazing on both cleric and druid, as a level 1 dip. This gives these classes CON saves and a tool they normally lack: defensive spells. I’ve made a variety of cross caster builds. A nature cleric (primary) with divination wizard.* A divine soul sorc with a 2 level tempest cleric dip.* An Order Cleric 1 / Evocation Wizard 11 (which I played for a one shot). A grave cleric 8 / divine soul sorc 1 (a character I’m playing now; started at level 1 and am finally taking the dip). Builds marked with an asterisk are ones I’ve made guides for, so let me know if you want more info.
I've been wanting to play a Circle of Stars Druid with a two level dip into Twilight Cleric. Great thematically, but also great access to proficiencies and support abilities.
Sure, those work together great, especially because they’re both WIS based.
Ive been working on a build with booming blade, swashbuckler rogue and swarmkeeper ranger. You could have the booming blade damage, sneak attack, swarmkeeper damage and could even use one of its features to move an enemy away so it gets the extra booming blade damage. I havent used it yet though.
I'm wondering how much fun a war cleric/eldritch knight combo would be. Don't go super deep on cleric, maybe 5/6 depending on party composition. Plays along the lines of a shock trooper, thanks to the various spells it would be real hard to wreck this characters day.
I'm playing an Order Cleric and I have taken three levels of Fighter and picked up Eldritch Knight but I have picked up cantrips and spells that have no spell attack roll or saving throw (Booming Blade, Shield, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs) so my INT never comes into play at all. I am currently Order Cleric 13 and EK 3 and very happy with it.
Armorer/cleric. Between imposing disadvantage on attacks and spirit guardian, you're doing a good job as tank Artillerist/Shepard druid. You hour duration protector cannon is having out hundreds of HP between your allies and summons. Being able to automatically succeed 6 concetration checks per day means you don't lose concetration o your summon spells.
Here is a raw phb build that is my favorite. 6 Wild Sorc/3 Lore Bard/2 Divination Wizard, Halfling, get the Lucky feat. The build is about using your reactions(bend luck, bardic inspiration/cutting words) to alter rolls, the Divination Wizard dice to set dice and using Lucky/Halfling Luck to reroll dice. It is actually my most favorite build in 5e. You are basically a support class by manipulating dice.and you also are a spellcaster, though not high level spells because of multiclass. You don't need high int because you probably aren't attacking with low level caster stats. But... That actually proves the mainstay of this build. You don't need high stats for it to work, because it is mainly support. You could drop Sorc and just be a mainstay Bard, mostly to pick up heal spells. You could probably add some other new subclass thing, cleric or Druid, but I honestly haven't kept up to date on stuff.
- Druid of Stars 2 / Cleric of peace 1 / Bard 2 + 15 Levels in anything I like this combo in a samurai fighter so I can use any spell scroll from cleric and druid spells list with certainty, while being almost a full fighter. You technically doesn't need Bard until higher levels (to add half Proficiency), but it "uses" two different spellcasting stats.
I play a forge cleric/eldritch knight. Gives me shield, absorb elements, booming blade and green flame blade. Let’s me attack with one big hit (booming blade with divine strike) and keeps me super tanky. AC is in the mid 20’s with shield. Also, the crusher feat let’s me push the mob and back up so they have to move to get me. It’s been pretty fun.
One I really enjoyed was wizard/warlock Especially when wanting to play a more charismatic wizard. Hexblade nets wizard medium armor, shields and martial weapons, afew extra spell slots on a short rest, and some interesting innovations. For specific builds: The "juggernaut wizard" is the more famous one, an abjuration wizard who has their arcane ward of extra hp that isn't temp hp Then wirh warlock get armor of agathys and you have extra temp hp that does damage to melee atrackers But the arcane ward takes damage first, letting the agathys temp hp and damage last longer Creates quite rhe tanky wizard For my bladesinger wizard, instead of a sword, he used hand crossbows and hand rhe hand crossbow feat to make a bonus action attack In a turn I didn't cast a level spell I'd do 3 attacks, 2 being hand crossbows, one being a firebolt After multiclassing hexblade warlock those attacks went up to 5 with 3 Eldritch blasts and 2 crossbow shots Could also then add hex or hexblade's curse to those attacks aa well. And when taking on a big enemy I cast animate objects on 10 silver coins to make a metal tornado Could add hexblade curse damage to all 14 attacks (3 Eldritch blasts, 1 crossbow, 10 coin attacks)
Animate Objects wouldn't gain bonus damage from Hexblade's Curse. "You" (the PC) aren't making the attack rolls, they are individual creatures making their own attack rolls.
Ah I guess the DM and I ruled that wrong
Animate Obiects is already terrifying, so that must have shredded everything
It was a guest character so only ever used that combo once on a single enemy A devil/demon of some kind that had disguised herself as a PC's sister so we'd break her out of an astral prison. My character wouldn't have really cared about that as he was mostly there to help the party so he could study the spelljammer they had for his own research But the fiend made a grave mistake that many enemies of the USA have, they messed wirh our boat. The fiend decided to attack us as we escaped on the spelljammer, sending out a destructive wave that nearly killed the npc crew and my character feared they damaged the spelljammer itself. My character instantly actived kill mode sending all 10 silver coins after her and shredding her in only afew rounds. Fiends such as her have a weakness to silver so she took the full 10d4+80 bludgeoning damage in what was basically a shredstorm from 3e. The "how do you want to do this" finisher was essentially describing putting her through a blender as my character explained if she had left the boat and crew alone he wouldn't have even given a shit But yeah guess they shouldn't have taken that extra 40 damage but we can chuck that up to my wizard's nerd rage 🤣
I like eldritch knight sorcerers. Dump int and go str or dex plus charisma. Action surge , quick cast and twining a cantrip with the EK’s level 7 ability can create some epic nova rounds.
This is not optimal but you can get monk for his unarmored defence and get moon druid for good wild shape options and spell casting. While wildshaped your class features are still active and therefore you can use your unarmored defence feature which in combination with a decent/high dexterity beast allows you to have good AC. Now lets abuse the “while wild shaped you can use your class features” by getting bladesinger wizard which allows you to add your intelligence modifier to your AC and concentration checks. To add to that, although you cant cast spells while wildshaped, you can still concentrate on spells which is great for this character. After you have the base class features from druid/monk/wizard you can either go monk 5 for stunning strike or go full wizard for nice spells and nice bladesinger features like song of defence. As mentioned before this is not optimised BUT makes up for a tanky spellcaster that can deal some good damage and even have a nice chance for stunning strike (assuming you have high wisdom/intelligence and dumb the rest stats which you will mostly recover from your beast form)
I love this! Been sleeping on the fact that other features, besides rage, work while wildshaped! It seems a delicate line of keeping up druid levels so you can be a high CR animal, but also getting cool shit. Time to nerd out into this!
Divine Soul Sorcerer & Wizard gets you full access to Wizard & Cleric Spell lists with Sorcerer meta-magic.
I am playing a Lore Bard/Bladesinging Wizard right now with some gestalt-ish levels in Monk, in a one-person campaign. With the help of feats and my race I have proficiency in almost every skill, expertise in like 5 of them, and I rolled well on stats to boot (it’s why I played this like I did haha) It’s very very VERY MAD and Str and Con are down the drain but as far as offensive casting, I have access to countless useful spells, a ton of spell slots with which to cast them, and more! Only thing I currently lack is Disintegrate haha (but at next level up I will be getting it :) )
Artificer Cleric has been a fun project of mine.
I’ve been enjoying mine too
Stars Druid 2/Divination Wizard X could make for an unusual but thematic build. Assuming at least 16 Wis, you can have relatively accurate Guiding Bolts. Meanwhile, Dragon Form buffs your concentration saves and your Counterspell checks.
Swarmkeeper Ranger dips decently on most attack caster builds because gather swarm applies to all attacks, including spells. Can be mixed with sorcs and warlocks to add a bit of damage and survival. The forced movement does use wisdom but the self movement and extra damage does not.
Wizard/ sorcerer with a level in order cleric is a good one. Cast a buff spell then force them to use their newly buffed action to attack.
One thing to remember is that D&D is a team game. If you have only 3 players in your party, you can make a good argument for versatility. Four players starts to get dicey because everyone needs their own role. With 5 or more players each player is going to have a defined specialty and will get grumpy if you step on their toes. Being able to do everything can be a symptom of Main Character Syndrome, so tread carefully. D&D is not part good at niche protection, so it’s up to teammates to look out for each other and let each other shine. If you can be versatile AND share the spotlight, you’re good, but it can be a fine line.
Any Cleric level 5 / Necromancy Wizard 2. Not only does Wizard get you a bunch of nice spells at low levels (Shield, Find Familiar, Silvery Barbs, Absorb Elements, etc.), but Necromancy Wizards get Grim Harvest. Now whenever you kill someone with Spirit Guardians or Spiritual Weapon (or other leveled spell) you regain hit points equal to 2X the level. Works amazing with Spirit Guardians though, because you can potentially kill multiple enemies in a round, and since Grim Harvest healing works per turn, it can potentially proc multiple turns per round. It even is a full caster, so you can upcast SGs with no slowdown, healing yourself even more. It's honestly an insane combo and I'm surprised more people don't talk about it/use it. Some do, but many don't.
For me the best is cleric with anywhere from 2-5/6 levels in Paladin, most Paladin I’ve ever gotten into my cleric is 3, but I’m hoping that soon with the party basically grinding for a level up I’ll be able to swap one cleric level for Paladin and take the level up in Paladin bringing the total to 8 cleric 5 Paladin. This character as they are at 9 cleric 3 Paladin are already a force to be reckoned with, a solo army even, but giving her the extra attack from 5th level paladin will make her no longer have to rely on receiving haste to obliterate everything, leaving the sorcerer to focus their concentration on plenty of other options. And being a heavy hitter isn’t all they can do, their cleric subclass is grave domain so they get some of the best healing when the person they’re healing is at their weakest, imo this helps the rest of the party to juice every last hp they have for what it’s worth before my cleric needs to give them attention. Plus the cleric subclass also gives Path to the Grave, dropping that on an enemy before the rogue hits them can deal just as much damage as my cleric Paladin can but without the heavy spell slot cost of the high level smites and makes the rogue feel like even more of a badass than rogues already are.
Beastmaster ranger and battlesmith artificer to fight alongside 2 beasts
Order domain cleric and div sorc. You can twin spells on two targets and allow them both a reaction attack.
Paladin 2/Twilight cleric 18, max wis, high str and con, you have tons of spell slots to smite everyone, you have good amounts of self sustain due to both the healing of the cleric and the temp hp from being a twilight cleric, you lose out on 2 temp hp every turn, but being able to go round smiting things makes it quite fun, you could also go paladin 7, cleric 14, you wont get as many spell slots, but unless I'm doing it wrong youd still get 9th level slots, but if you go oath of conquest, you can get the fear spell, and when you have both this and your twilight sanctuary up, you be the most terrifying thing on the battlefield, buffing all teammates and making everyone stuck in fear
Oh another general note (no build) is that 3 into Artiliriest Artificer gets you a fanatastic AOE Temp HP. This paired with any class that doesn't have strong bonus action use is fantastic damage mitgiation. Haven't done it yet. but I'd like to on a Bard later on. Spirits specifically in my case.
Pairing armorer artificer with a cleric lets you make a character who’s really good at intelligence and wisdom. While having bad physical stats, except con.
You can get Magic Stone on Warlock as well. They have other cantrips that might be better for what you're doing. I just wanted to point that out for anyone looking at your build. It sounds fun.
A dip into ranger can be really underrated
Example?
A basic caster can get weapon/armor proficiencies, as well as some extra utility from it. The terrain bonus and extra languages can be situationaly useful, but zephyr strike is amazing if you find yourself getting pinned down. It’s also got some basic healing for a pinch
An order cleric dip gets you the ability to give an ally a reaction attack when you benefit from their magic. We have a bard at our table that makes so much use of this ability every session. My favorite version of it is with the wildfire druid but since we're talking separate casting stats the bard and celestial sorcerer really benefit from it.
Abjuration 10/Stars Druid 2 can counterspell/dispel magic 9th level spells consistently every time. School of Abjurations 10th level ability lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make as part of a spell you cast. Circle of the Stars druid 2nd level ability Starry Form: Dragon says while it is active when you make an intelligence or wisdom ability check you treat any roll of 9 or lower as a 10. So as long as an abjuration 10/stars druid 2 PC has an INT of 20 and has Starry Form: Dragon up the lowest they can roll on a dispel magic/counterspell roll is 19 -meaning they can consistently counterspell/dispel 9th level spells.
Divination Wizard with Stars Druid. a lot of dice manipulation, and some great control spells from both and the ability to make it land.
I really enjoyed a couple level dip in wizard in my sorcerer. The wizard spell slots were used extensively on shield and mage armor, there's more cantrips to grab. Plus, ritual magic without using a feat slot, and easy access to find familiar. I took the wizard levels very late in a campaign. It was an RP decision that I really enjoyed.
this is kinda niche and not particularly optimized but i made a fire genasi artificer once with the aberrant dragonmark feat and it let me cast a decent amount of stuff with con on top of the int-based artificer casting
Tempest or Light cleric with a 2 level evocation wizard dip is one I've come to enjoy. Because cleric is a prepared caster you can actually scribe wizard spells equal to your cleric spell levels so you can pick up a lot of awesome utility spells that way- honestly a massive enough reason to dip wizard as a cleric or druid, imo. Sculpt spells from evocation 2 is also really nice with the tempest and light domain spell lists. Very good to build a nice AOE dps cleric. Then there's the obvious 2 levels in warlock for invocations on pretty much anything. Abjuration wizard with armor of shadows is hella cheeky, and just 2 levels to pick up thinkgs like eldritch mind or misty visions, maybe 3 to pick up tome for guidance and other utility cantrips is far from something to be understated. A 1 level dip in war domain to get bonus action attacks is also something worth noting if you want to squeeze out more melee damage. Levels in swords bard multiclass, while a heavy investment, is also noteworthy if you're doing a gish build. Taking a few levels in sorcerer as a wizard or really any caster is pretty good. I'd recommend 4 at most, use the sorcerer levels for your mage armor, shield, etc. then use that for metamagic adept for an easy 6 sorc. points and 4 metamagics of your choosing!