Cleric Wizard build help

[Cyryl]

I want to build a character with a following split:

Cleric 9 (for 2 ASI and level 5 Cleric spells)
Wizard 2 (for level 6 Wizard spells from scroll scribing and speciallization)
Fighter 1 (respec at level 12 to start with this one for better AC and CON saves)

INT will be the main casing ability (so all offensive spells will be from Wizard list).

I need advice on:
1) Wizard school of magic: which level 2 bonus do you think is the best?
2) Cleric Domain: Tempest? Life? Anything else?
3) Race: Build does not require any racial proficiency. Any good synergies?

[guppy]

1) evocation, this lets you AoE your front liner with impunity. But do remeber that ground effects / surfaces created as a result isn't included.
2) Completely depends on what you want - war could be good for heavy armor
3) Half wood elf - darkvision, extra speed, charm resistance, and all the goodies from the human package

though honestly besides getting darkvision races are mostly eye candy in this game

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Cyryl:

Cleric Wizard build help
I want to build a character with a following split:

Cleric 9 (for 2 ASI and level 5 Cleric spells)
Wizard 2 (for level 6 Wizard spells from scroll scribing and speciallization)
Fighter 1 (respec at level 12 to start with this one for better AC and CON saves)

INT will be the main casing ability (so all offensive spells will be from Wizard list).

I need advice on:
1) Wizard school of magic: which level 2 bonus do you think is the best?
2) Cleric Domain: Tempest? Life? Anything else?
3) Race: Build does not require any racial proficiency. Any good synergies?

I am not sure what you plan will workout, but there is a circlet which gives you 17 INT. That in combination with cleric/warlock/sorcerer
should give you good allrounder spellcaster if you go for WIS/CHA.

Cleric you are best going with Tempest for the passive bonus and Thunderwave

Good racial synergies are High Elf, Half-Elf, Drow, Githyanki, especially the last one excels with Misty Step (teleport) and Astral Knowledge.

Personally I feel like you got the classes backwards, but then you are telling too little of your idea what kind of cleric you want to play or why you want wizard to begin with. Fighter is only a good dip if you go at least 2 levels for the action surge.

[Lani]

Originally posted by Cyryl:

I want to build a character with a following split:
Wizard 2 (for level 6 Wizard spells from scroll scribing and speciallization)

You won't be able to scribe level 6 spells as a level 2 Wizard.
The game (and D&D 5e RAW as well I thought?) us class levels as prerequisites, not character levels. This is a main reason some people aren't happy with the L12 cap.

Oh and I favour Abjuration

[Cyryl]

Originally posted by Lani:

Originally posted by Cyryl:

I want to build a character with a following split:
Wizard 2 (for level 6 Wizard spells from scroll scribing and speciallization)

You won't be able to scribe level 6 spells as a level 2 Wizard.
The game (and D&D 5e RAW as well I thought?) us class levels as prerequisites, not character levels. This is a main reason some people aren't happy with the L12 cap.

Oh and I favour Abjuration

The game follows D&D5 loosely... Unless they patched it this week, scribe scroll is restricted by caster level, not by Wizard level. So Cleric 11 / Wizard 1 can know all spells of both. This is why i found playing pure Cleric boring and wanted to diversify things a bit.

[Cyryl]

Originally posted by guppy:

1) evocation, this lets you AoE your front liner with impunity. But do remeber that ground effects / surfaces created as a result isn't included.
2) Completely depends on what you want - war could be good for heavy armor
3) Half wood elf - darkvision, extra speed, charm resistance, and all the goodies from the human package

though honestly besides getting darkvision races are mostly eye candy in this game

Thanks for the suggestions!

1) Unless I go Tempest Cleric, Evocation seems like the best option indeed.
If I choose Tempest, it's a toss between Diviner, Abjurer and Transmuter.

2) War does not help much with spellcasting. Tempest and Life give heavy armor as well while supporting lightning/healing spells.

3) In this case Wood Elf would be slightly better
(they get Perception and this build does not need any racial proficiencies)

[Cyryl]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Cyryl:

Cleric Wizard build help
I want to build a character with a following split:

Cleric 9 (for 2 ASI and level 5 Cleric spells)
Wizard 2 (for level 6 Wizard spells from scroll scribing and speciallization)
Fighter 1 (respec at level 12 to start with this one for better AC and CON saves)

INT will be the main casing ability (so all offensive spells will be from Wizard list).

I need advice on:
1) Wizard school of magic: which level 2 bonus do you think is the best?
2) Cleric Domain: Tempest? Life? Anything else?
3) Race: Build does not require any racial proficiency. Any good synergies?

I am not sure what you plan will workout, but there is a circlet which gives you 17 INT. That in combination with cleric/warlock/sorcerer
should give you good allrounder spellcaster if you go for WIS/CHA.

Cleric you are best going with Tempest for the passive bonus and Thunderwave

Good racial synergies are High Elf, Half-Elf, Drow, Githyanki, especially the last one excels with Misty Step (teleport) and Astral Knowledge.

Personally I feel like you got the classes backwards, but then you are telling too little of your idea what kind of cleric you want to play or why you want wizard to begin with. Fighter is only a good dip if you go at least 2 levels for the action surge.

Context: considering how scroll scribing works right now, I don't want to go pure Cleric. Cleric 11 / Wizard 1 is an option, but since you only have 1 level 6 spellslot, I would rather use it for Wizard spell than Cleric one. Thus, 2 levels freed to be used elsewhere.

It is more a Wizard build than a Cleric one. Instead of having full Cleric in the party I will have a Wizard that knows most Cleric spells instead. Someone who supplements party sorcerer with great spell diversity and can pass INT checks. INT is the main Ability here, so sadly the Circlet will not help here much...

Thank you for the races suggestions: Elf, Drow and Githyanki seem best indeed :)

What level 2 wizard would you pair with Tempest Domain? Evocation is not needed since Lightning is more party friendly than Fireball ;)

[LordAnubis]

Any scrolls you scribe will use INT as your casting attribute. Have you considered how you will have good enough WIS for cleric spells and good enough INT for WIZ spells? Will you only use Cleric spells for casting buffs and not use any attack/save spells? If so you don't need very much WIS.

[Cyryl]

Originally posted by LordAnubis:

Any scrolls you scribe will use INT as your casting attribute. Have you considered how you will have good enough WIS for cleric spells and good enough INT for WIZ spells? Will you only use Cleric spells for casting buffs and not use any attack/save spells? If so you don't need very much WIS.

I know, it is offensive Wizard and buffing/healing Cleric. Abilities go like this:

STR 8
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 16 -> 20
WIS 12
CHA 8

If I wanted decent Cleric spell difficulty as well I would go:

STR 8
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 16 -> 20 (Wizard offensive spells are still more important)
WIS 16
CHA 8

[Indure]

I might be wrong on my math, but did you consider instead of 2 levels or wizard, 1 fighter; instead 2 levels paladin, 1 level of wizard?

You lose the con saves, but I think the spell progression is the same and you gain Smites.

[Cyryl]

Originally posted by Indure:

I might be wrong on my math, but did you consider instead of 2 levels or wizard, 1 fighter; instead 2 levels paladin, 1 level of wizard?

You lose the con saves, but I think the spell progression is the same and you gain Smites.

Your math is spot on :)

Still, it is offensive spellcaster mostly, so I prefer better saves and minor wizard bonuses. In case anyone wishes to try the Paladin version, I strongly suggest going 16 DEX and 14 CON instead, to increase chance to hit with a rapier. In such case War Domain gets quite appealing.

[jonnin]

cleric wizard is a tough split to get 14 dex (armor class), 16+ int, 16+ wis, and say 14+ con... its just a hard path to take.
try a bard/sorcerer for a healing wizard, or druid for a damage caster warrior cleric, perhaps?

[Indure]

Originally posted by jonnin:

cleric wizard is a tough split to get 14 dex (armor class), 16+ int, 16+ wis, and say 14+ con... its just a hard path to take.
try a bard/sorcerer for a healing wizard, or druid for a damage caster warrior cleric, perhaps?

It's only bad if you want to hit enemies with cleric spells, which is not the case if you have a full suite of wizard's offensive spells.