Errata (kind of): I forget sometimes that doffing/donning a shield technically requires an action (we treat it as a free action akin to drawing a weapon at our table) so, yes, for those mentioning it, it might be tricky to nova with a maul then pull out your shield for subsequent rounds if you're playing RAW.
If you're able to pull it off, hopefully the player of this build can convince their DM to allow the PC to find or craft an animated shield. It is an action, but it lasts 1 minute, and it could be something that's done before combat starts.
Haha, I came to the comments as soon as you said it to let you know and here you've already got it 🤣 "He throws down his shield... after using his other hand to undo the belts holding the massive disk of metal to his arm, and NEXT round, pulls out his weapon and leaves a crater where an enemy used to be." 😁 Yeah, Animated Shield is that guy's new BFF.
I forget this too sometimes. I hope one D&D gives you two object interactions. Open and close the door. Sheath one weapon and draw a different one. Draw both s Weapons at the beginning of combat, etc.
Hey Colby, I've been thinking about a Dhampir build (inspired by your tank Dhampir). What do you think of using the Ranger (hunter) tech with the diivine strike feature of the war cleric, then adding in battle master and hexblade's curse dip?
@Lloyd Lineske I'm pretty sure no one has actually worshipped the raven Queen, while people have and actually some still do worshipped or believe in Odin.
"... a hexblade warlock dip, that involves a patron that lives in a tree branch that you use as a club.. it could work.." what an idea. You have really good descriptions for stuff. Even the war priest description about how they are simply a support character but once in a while they drop their shield, pull out a giant hammer and make a crater. Immediately makes me visualize.
That sponser looks amazing! It's not every day we get new classes. I'm always excited to see more of them, especially with all of these character ideas are festering in my head
kibbles has a previous book called "compendium of craft and creation", it has a full class for "inventor" (legally distinct artificer) with I think 10 subclasses, a full psion, a bunch of subclasses in the themes of gadgedtry and psionics for exsisting classes, new spells, new monsters. And half of the book is a modular crafting system that tries to cover pretty much everything. The current kickstarter of legends and legacies does feature add-ons that allow you to get the prevous book.
VERY important note 10 months later. When Colby says add a -5 to hit at 16:44 before "correcting" himself, that's mathematically correct. Subtracting a -5 would technically be the same as +5.
Blessed Sigmar, by the comet and the hammer I pledge to the coming battle. I vow not to waver and never retreat, to stand tall against the flames of perdition, to drive back the shadow of Chaos with your holy light. VICTORY FAVORS THE FAITHFUL, LET US TEACH THEM FEAR!
Quite a surprise to hear about such a huge tome of player content from him tbh, my impression was that he kinda hates the crunch of D&D and much prefers RP-driven games like City of Mist. I recall a video (granted, a few years ago) in which he basically advocated for little-to-no dice rolling 😂
I think I would multiclass slightly differently. Keeping with your "mostly cleric" restriction, I would get to Cleric 5/Paladin 5 before moving into Fighter 2. Support abilities (your primary role) and extra attack would come a little bit faster, and then action surge pushes you ahead once the effectiveness of cleric abilities start tapering off. I haven't run the numbers, but my intuition says the power gain would be a little more steady rather than the massive power at level 6 and quick drop off seen in the video. But I bet the numbers wouldn't be that different, really. Too bad Guided Strike from conquest paladin doesn't somehow stack with Guided Strike from war cleric. That combo would be a perfect flavor win.
There are only 3 official deities that have both Nature and War as a domain (4 if you include Quajath from Exandria in the Wildemount book), two of which are from Eberron and the other an Elven deity. The two from Eberron's pantheon are Balinor and the Spirits of the Past, and the Elven god is Solonor Thelandria. So there's a small list to pull from for some character ideas...depending on the setting.
I very much agree. I played one for Mine of Phandelver. It was fun, but it is needs to be improved for D&D One. I think adding Inspiring Leader as an eventual skill that and maybe a weaker than paladin divine smite could help.
its just not punchy enough. Warpriest and divine strike don't substitute for extra attack. But, because of warpriest, and divine favor as a domain spell, they are good dips for characters that have extra attack
I had a friend who would call war clerics "better paladins." I would generally push back that war clerics don't get smites, and she'd dismiss it, thinking smites weren't that big of a deal. Then she played a paladin for a while, and suddenly she stopped talking about how good war clerics are.
War Cleric is definitely one of my favorite Cleric subclasses. I like taking War Cleric dips on martial builds that make a lot of attacks, since they get Divine Favor from a 1st-level dip, adding 1d4 to each hit for a minute from a 1st-level slot.
In my games, it will be a bad support character at level 6, as for he will have total 6 spell slots, best half of them used for nova round burst. But it wont stop me for starting as strict fighter 2 then converting to cleric of Tempus at least for 4 (or even 5) levels, and the becoming some of holy guard for some Eldath`s groves and multiclassing to paladin and then progressing cleric/pally to the same effect. Cool story of a soldier who converted to a faith and then finally found out what is worth to be protected. Good for me, I don`t make damage reports at certain levels! Thanks for video.
Walnut from the C Team was a druid of Meilikki, the militant goddess of nature reclaiming society, and spring and summer (and subsequently, her other half, Maelyth, the goddess of nature reclaiming the living, winter and fall).
Is it just me, or is there... what I can only describe as unsettling haunted eldritch warbling in the background of this video? It really clashes with Colby being wholesome and peppy, it's like I'm watching creepypasta. "At level 6, we're taking a level in _offer your spawn to the dweller on the threshold."_
This is perfect advice for my fallen angel PC in a Hell-based campaign that’s about to kick off. Was thinking sorcadin but this fits my concept way better.
Three out of four of those new classes you mentioned in the Kickstarter were originally in fourth edition. Gotta love how people constantly say they hate that edition, but still take ideas from it.
I loved so much of the flavour and ideas of 4th edition, but make no mistake it was absolute drudgery! All the classes were well balanced because they felt the same, and it wasn't a roleplaying game anymore, it was just an MMO that you did all the math for.
@@johannesstephanusroos4969 “you may use this ability on a short or long rest” is just 4e’s “encounter power” with extra words. Same with long rest recharge and “daily power”. I’ve been at multiple different tables that straight up adapted 4e’s minion monsters (1 hp, no damage if they succeed on saves) with the only real difference being “which of 5e’s six different saving throws would these be proficient in?” To the people claiming “every class felt the same”, go watch Matt Coville’s “Dusk” streams and find the points where those players feel like they’re all doing the same thing in combat.
This to me is kinda like not liking Warlords of Draenor expansion for WoW. The raids were great, the quest lines were amazing, the zones were beautiful, the story was cool, but the systems SUCKED, so it all felt shit to play, while having tons of good elements.
There was a homebrew feat i came across a long time ago that let Orc races switch their casting stat to STR by engraving runes on their skin. always wanted to build a war cleric with that!
I really love all your support/damage character builds. I always get put into the support role (which I don't mind so much), but I wanna hit things too. So these builds have been really helpful.
For a nature oriented aggressive deity in Forgotten Realms, I would recommend Lathander Greater God of: Spring, Dawn, Birth, Youth, Vitaliy, and Athletics. He is NG and has a long history directing his faithful to take the fight to evil, especially undead.
Cool build and thank you for your great job Colby! I'm a big fan of your sustained damage builds over nova damage builds but , in this case, I feel the combination of power and support is amazing and makes play it as soon as I can 😍
So, I finally got into my very first group. We had our session 0 last Sunday and our first session is this Sunday. I'm trying the Clockwork Sorcerer TANK, with some twists.
Death Ward let us take down Strahd. Had a rogue with the lightsaber carving him up, she got got by one of his minions, but Death Ward kept her up and the next minion missed by 1. Our healer went next, dropped an epic 3d8 Cure Wounds that was max on the dice roll. With a bit of luck on Strahd's turn, she lived through till her next turn. She chased down the vampire, stride for stride with our Frenzy Barbarian and landed the killing blow sneak attack once they were both there.
I love how often you upload videos about characters concept that I was thinking about few days ago. Because of you i can really enjoy my characters, thank you!
I think assuming the monster is going to lose a strength save is bad. Strength saves are usually very high for monsters, especially as the levels go up, so that source of advantage on all subsequent attacks in the nova round is giving this build a lot of boost. Moreover the build stays at 12 constitution for the entire campaign, which must feel awful without warcaster or resilient constitution.
I love Clerics, my curent character is a bow wielding orc. I grabbed 2-3 levels of Rogue, which gets us extra damage on bow weapons. Damage round is Guiding Bolt followed by Sneak Attack bow, Guided Strikes almost guarantees both attacks hit.
Just had to say that the idea of you Warlock patron of nature living in your club is sick.. I imagine having the massive centipede that lives in there and speaks telepathically, everyone just thinks it's a familiar but in reality it's your god 😆👍
I had a fun idea for a build I’d like to see. A monk tank. The dwarf racial feat dwarves fortitude lets you spend a hit die to heal when you dodge, and combined with durable you regain twice con mod minimum. So it would be an ancestral guardian / monk that primarily uses ki for the dodge action. Starts as barbarian actually for the alternative unarmored defense that they get
Love the idea for the build! Combat Clerics are fun! Side note, I've used trip attack a lot and I'm not sure I've actually tripped anything. Mostly we fight big stuff so their Str is huge, but maybe one day...
I’m so glad you did this build now! I created a backstory around it for the upcoming campaign and got the best anticipation to play a character I’ve had in years! Kudos to you Colby!
Played in a game where the player played a single-class war cleric like he wanted to be the heavy hitter you’ve made here. I appreciate the “rules/restrictions” you impose on some of these builds.
Oh ho ho... death ward story: I'm playing a Grave Domain cleric in a Curse of Strahd campaign. One of the items we need to seek is in the castle. While crossing the draw bridge, a plank breaks under my foot (really bad roll on a d100). I fail my Dex save and the guy walking in front of me fails his perception check to notice in time that I'm in trouble. As I'm falling I call up something to the effect of "find me at the bottom!" and cast death ward on myself, which I never would have previously prepped, but it is auto-prepped for Grave Domain. I end up at the bottom of a thousand foot drop, having died and been brought back to life at 1 hp with multiple broken bones, waiting for rescue. Grave Clerics... short for "never-dig-a-grave clerics"
I’m currently playing a Gish rework of this build and I absolutely love it. Because this build does such nice melee damage my spellbook is almost all utility and my parties survivability went through the roof
I played a Wood Elf War Cleric of Tempus for the Rage of Demons campaign until level 13. He had been given some cool magic items like a Rod of Lordly Might, Slippers of Spider Climbing, and a Belt of Storm Giant Strength, as well as a magic shield +3 with special powers which had to be rolled for but eventually lost while captured. Eventually, I decided to have him multiclass into a Fighter. Still deciding what subclass to choose but Rune Knight, Echo Knight, and Eldritch Knight are candidates. His feats were War Caster, Heavy Weapon Master, Resilient Constitution, and Magic Initiate Wizard to get Find Familiar (a Tressym, which automatically detects poison and also flies). The campaign ended with the cleric deciding to fight a battle against the demons inside the Drow city of Menzoberranzan. It resulted in destruction of the city, which caused the Tempus priesthood to censure him for causing destruction to "innocent bystanders" but he hated the evil works of the inhabitants anyway so he didn't care about the judgment and will just fight for Tempus as his Fighter without advancing in the cleric ranks. Now he's temporarily retired until another campaign opens up for level 15 and upwards.
The "Warp" Preist: Lvl1 War preist variant human+crossbow expert , 6 levels battlemaster archer (precision strike) +sharpshooter +ASI, 13 levels your favorite wizard. Obvs Dex and INT are your main stats here, we're only using cleric spells for bless and word of healing on downed party members. Point of this build is to get bonus attacks and damage early in game-play but not be boring at later tiers of play.
I'm very new to dnd and your thoughtful videos have helped me understand how things work, thanks especially for the life cleric/lore bard support character video!
Always love the videos!! I was pretty surprised at just how robust this build was. I was honestly expecting a worse paladin. One of my players used Death Ward to great effect!! He put death ward on the party's front line (a rogue/paladin) while they were up against a mummy lord. The mummy lord's Rotting Fist was negated because the health reduction would have killed the player. Then the player was able to take a turn right after, getting sneak attack, extra attack, and smiting (on an undead) meaning a fantastic finish to the short campaign I was running!!
"... and then use a quarterstaff and a shield all the time instead of pulling a big maul in your nova round"... What about a big ass wooden mallet xD? That's shillellag approved.
Because I can't stand to stretch all of my ability scores too thin, and I'm tired of Paladin Smites......I instead ending up creating a Mountain Dwarf Echo Knight / War Domain Cleric starting w/ 17 STR, 17 CON and 15 WIS. Start with fighter for CON saves, take War Domain at 2 to get access to Bless and the WIS bonus attacks, then go back and take Echo Knight up to 6. With the ASI's at 4 and 6 take Great Weapon Master and +1 to STR/CON together to get better hits/damage and an extra Unleash Incarnation by getting CON up to +4. At that point the build is basically online. I'd probably stick with Cleric from there, along with maybe a half feat at Cleric 4 to get WIS up to 16/+3, but also maybe maxing out STR since its about hitting hard more than anything else. This dude is blessed by Moridin and wants to go hit things super hard as much as possible!
You were right the first time when you said "add -5". If you subtract -5, that becomes a positive, and now you have a +5. Yay, math. I agree that going paladin feels more like a "war priest". If you went more fighter, it'd arguably be more of a "templar" instead. Fun fact: Pathfinder 1e has a warpriest class. It's a hybrid of the cleric and fighter, and has paladin utility. Colby needs a recording deal at this point. Too great of a voice to be ignored for this long. Appreciate the Counting Crows name drop. So many people don't even know them. They're a really good band, and I'm glad I have their albums and got to see them in concert. I wonder if the military base had scheduled some maneuver training that day. We have that here too. Less so during the freezing winter though.
You could use a god of the Hunt as a War/Nature god too? What's a hunt beyond nature at its most violent, after all. Edit: Especially someone who marshals or oversees a hunt, given the nature of the build.
FWIW, the War domain's limited number of BA attacks per day isn't so bad when you remember that Spiritual Weapon is a domain spell for them, so you'll almost always have access to at least one other way to weaponize your BA (at least from level 3 onward). On a straight classed Cleric, you'll probably have at least an 18 Wis eventually (even if you want to max your Str as a War Cleric), which should be enough War Priest attacks to get you through at least one combat a day before you can fall back on good old Spiritual Weapon/Spirit Guardians in later fights
Won of my most FAVORITE Duunlee Coppercoat. 13 War Domain/7 Battle master Hill Dwarf with the tough feat. He got a weapon that could ad Temp HP for every one he killed. When he was able to suck a large HP creature, Dude could be dropped from ORBIT and still get up to fight. He had 220 base HP before the Temp HP. One of the biggest thing I stumbled on to by accident was Crusader's Mantle and Conjure Animals combo. The ranger summoned 8 (just the base level) panthers. When they hit with a claw they have a chance to knock it prone. If the creature is prone they get a second bite attack. Crusader's Mantle would as 1d4 of radiant damage on EVERY ATTACK. If all hit that would be 8d4 + 16 slashing, 8d6 +16 piercing, plus 32d4 radiant damage. Sure there are better CR 1/4 creatures then the panther but that was kind of his thing, Beast Master with a panther. I think the DM picked Panther.
This is difficult AF to build a war cleric and do not fall into a Warhammer Fantasy Setting's war priest mood... God, I have to return to the Vermintide 2
My God man... the Counting Crows reference sold it for me. One of my top five bands from being a teen. August and Everything After was a masterwork. It was the best of times it was the worst of times...
As soon as you said God of War and Nature... I was like the Cheesy Colby Jack is back at it. Points for Anna Begins. Agreed they missing out. Got to check out the entire August and Everything After album. Especially Perfect Blue Buildings.
The trick to playing a support is to not play a lazy bottom that doesn't really help out making some energy, but instead everyone should bring what they like and preferably something that brings some energy to the table.
You should do a mini series where you challenge yourself to not multiclass. Do one character for every class, but no multiclassing, just to see how much you can get out of each class alone.
Really love your videos. When the calm intro start I just relax and know I'm about to be entertained and learn something new. Thank you very much for all the content. And now I want to know what the other 4 things on the to-do list older than war cleric are!
Hello there, Colby. Recently, my head came up with the question for myself: "How do you wanne progress your character, that is in core the "Whispers of Veangence?" (How I'd like to name the mutliclass between Veangence Paladin and Whispers Bard) She started as a pali, is now lvl 6 and I think about progessing pali first to get the aura, for being a better tank. Dispite starting as a pali she got "Viscious Mockery," "Mind Sliver" and "Healing Word" via a variant human free feat "Magic Initiate" for the purpose of being unique as well as fun to play. So I came up with a little bit of an idea for a challenge for you: What if you would be forced to go "Whispers of Veangence" as early as possible (lvl 6) for the negotiation option to combine the "Abjure Enemy" channel divinity option with the "Words of Terror". Dispite me going pali first lvl, be free in picking either starting class. I'd like to see how your build would progress and questioning myself what would you end up with. Maybe you go Nova as did it so many times before, maybe you come up with an idea to make a pretty solide tank or maybe just maybe you character would focus on a very cruel way to negotiate with npc's. If you for some odd reason become tempted to accept this challange, I would very much love to see, where you maybe find a hidden gem, I overlooked. And last but not least, thank you for inspiring so many tables all over the world. Just a german dude taking his hat off to your work.
Late to the replies but my favourite Death Ward story was against the BBEG at the end of a high-level campaign. I was an Eladrin Spore Druid, had the Staff of the Magi, and had been Death Warded by the party cleric. Needless to say, I Fey Stepped up to the top of the BBEG's head and snapped the staff with full charge. The lumbering giant failed their death save and took 400 force damage, while fate did not whisk me to safety. I took 800 damage, and would have been atomized if not for that Death Ward.
Not a war god but I think Silvanus might be a decent fit. Described as ‘wrathful towards those who threaten wild places’ and represents the more wild and dangerous side of nature.
Woot! Had the idea for this kind of build. But I was thinking 5 or 6 levels of kensei monk then full war cleric. Yeah, it takes a bit to ramp up with cleric. But then using the aoe version of divine favor for allies. xD
Video idea: druid and monk. When you wildshape, you make weaponles attacks, and your ac is higher, because of armourless defence. I got this from DnD-Schorts, Im sure you will make a great build out of this.
To round it out, if you take three more levels: Take either 1 in Paladin for that extra ASI bump to Charisma and 2 in Cleric to pick up Divine Intervention, or throw the 2 levels into Fighter to get Battlemaster or Champion subclasses and another extra Feat and Resilient Constitution.
I really enjoyed the One Hit Wonder build you made and it was a niche I never really thought possible which is super cool, so am super hyped to see more of these types of builds. I also really like you keeping the build mostly the same class which makes it easier to present to my DM as a character concept without them throwing up at the multiclassing :)
Glad ya finally got around to building one. War Priest is one of those archetypes that just calls to ya. Always looking for ways to make one. Think you did well! Now just waiting on your take of an Aladdin genie Warlock/Bard build support character or the astral self/spore druid mix (think Groot or a certain fellow RU-vid personality 😉🤣) Keep up the good work sir!
