My favorite character idea I’ve ever created is a wood elf gloom stalker twilight cleric. Thematically the classes align perfectly to create the ultimate bringer of light in the darkness
I'm building a Twilight Gloomstalker Half Elf Half Goliath. Dual wielder(we are using a homebrew variant). Darker character. Tribe was murdered/disappeared by wizards. He was on a pilgrimage when this happened. So now he lives in the woods, training to be prepared for the day he can exact his revenge. Campaign starts in a couple weeks, and I'm stoked.
Yes, Shillelagh. It's worth noting that Rangers are one of the only classes that can get good use out of it since Tasha's added the Druidic Warrior fighting style.
What I think is cool about the fey wanderer is that it only specifies that an enemy can take the extra damage once per turn, so you can deal the extra d4 to multiple enemies if you spread your damage, pair this with a 1 level dip in war cleric for divine favor and war priest, your making three attacks per turn with 2d4 boost to all attacks if you hit 3 creatures, hunters mark will still help for focus fire but this would be kinda nuts
I think 1 level of war cleric is great for any bow using ranger because when you’re concentrating on hunters mark your bonus action gets wasted more often than not
Yeah ranger is one of the most obvious multiclass combo's with cleric. Druid is pretty good too if you are willing to take the hit of not being able to wear metal armor.
the dmg abilities of hunter, fey wanderer, monster slayer, swarmkeeper and horizon walker do look similar on the surface but there are important distinctions: 1. hunter-once per turn but the target has to be damaged already so it wont' work on the 1st round of combat if you only have 1 attack and are going 1st. can be used on reaction attacks as long as the target is damaged already. free action to use. you have 2 other options which are the better ones to pick but could be campaign dependent. 2. fey wanderer-once per enemy per turn which means if you pick different targets on your turn it can be applied to both. it also applies to reaction attacks. free action to use. 3. horizon walker-once on your turn. costs bonus action to use every turn. can't be used with reaction attacks. scales to 2d8. converts your dmg to force. this is the worst of the bunch. 4. monster slayer-once per turn but only to a specific enemy. costs bonus action to use at 1st then free action then bonus action again to mark another target. can be used on reaction action attacks as long as it was the target marked initially. 5. swarmkeeper-once on your turn. can't be used with reaction attacks. gives 2 other options which are actually the better options to pick than adding the small amount of dmg. free action to use.
Yeah, that's a pretty nice mix. Doesn't give you extra attack, but still gets you another one in the opening round, while also allowing you to get 9th level spells potentially. Good call.
I mean, nothing wrong with a bit of Twilight on anything. Just the first level 300 ft of darkvision allows you to use your bow at max range until you get Sharpshooter. True, the dim light might be a bit counter productive, but granting others darkvision does help convince them to turn off those torches. There is an argument for forge cleric and the +1 weapons or armor you can make with it.
One of the best combinations for this, as others have mentioned, is Gloomstalker/Twilight. Your adding your wisdom to initiative rolls, which you can give yourself advantage on. Both want to fight in dim light or darkness, Gloomstalker because because invisibility and therefore advantage, twilight because of the flight speed from level 6 in the class onwards. Dhampir, Ranger 6 Cleric 6, with the mobile feat, will have a 50ft flight speed, 60ft on the first round, a massive Initiative bonus, advantage on that initiative and the ability to do flyby strikes with advantage on the attack. Take the Tavern Brawler Feat, then suddenly, you can swoop down, bite someone in the neck, then drag them kicking and screaming into the sky. Add a couple of levels of Scout Rogue into the mix, and you become an absolutely lethal bastard, swooping on the casters, grabbing them off into the sky, then keeping them grappled whilst you bonus action dash several hundred feet into the air and drop them. Another point of note is, that channel divinity, creates a zone of dim light, even in the day, giving you your advantage and flight IN THE DAY.
im doing a simple wood elf 3 ranger/1 life cleric.+1 ac, colossus slayer 1d8, mithril half plate, shield, for 20 ac early on. much later on i can sell the half plate for a +1 studded when dex is maxed at 20. for some reason i still got 2 weapon fighting available on dnd beyound. so i got 2 rapiers one mithril making it a light weapon. add hunters mark for 1d6. took piercer feat to reroll a piercing damage once per turn. bassically an off brand paliden. with high ac doing melee damage and heals.
Just a note on my experience, I'm playing a 1 to 20 Rappan Athuk old school game as the party cleric, it was suggested that I go with light or life domain in this setting (took Light for the warding flare and the mini fireball channel divinity). Our "tank" after about 4 sessions dropped, I'm now the primary mele/tank since I took fighting initiate (protection) as a free Feat the GM gave out and originally planned to tuck up to the tank and provide protection on crits and such... I figured why not stop a hit I don't have to heal later. The tank was replaced by an dual wielding EK which I still use the protection shielding on all the time. The interesting piece is that the GM limited the racial pool at character creation, I only had two wisdom boosting races that were +1 at creation, I chose wood elf for the racials and the stats. So... my now 6th level Light cleric is in half plate, with a 17 dex, and a +1 adamantine shield of fearwarding = AC 20 unbuffed. Thanks to some boots of elven kind and an urchin background my stealth is relatively epic for a cleric. Damage output with channel divinity and 6 cleric is really sweet, I notice that I'm not hitting ANYTHING EVER with mele though... We have a gloomstalker in party now, but I do want to hit something as the front liner that I am. My thought is to go Fey Wanderer/Druidic Warrior ranger to level 5 for the points you make above, I won't have as many cleric spells but would get to level 9 spells at least. This would give me two attacks, shillelagh, hunter's mark, misty step, and let me use my Wisdom as a FACE stat (we have no FACE in the party either) as well as some ranger other good spells. With quarterstaff I'd be at 3 attacks and at level 2 ranger would take Defense fighting style for another +1 to AC = 21 AC unbuffed (will probably take medium armor master which will get me to AC22 unbuffed), with warding flare I'm very hard to hit. In some instances I've basically run up to the front line and started dodging to allow my rear line heavy hitters to seriously mutilate my opponents, eventually I'll get either Spiritual weapon and spirit guardians up, this has decimated a lot of baddies... My question is should I waste my time on ranger levels, I think your video has provided some ideas for me. Thanks!
I built wood elf gloom stalker 3 / war cleric 1 and it is going to be fantastic to play. DEX>WIS>CON>STR>INT>CHA Is the ability score priority here. Spells... I'm not using hunter's mark but instead I'm using divine favor. So from ranger: Goodberry, longstrider, zephyr strike. From cleric: Divine favor, shield of faith, Healing Word, cure wounds, bless and command. I think it's going to be fun with gloom stalker' s Extra attack on round 1 and also bonus action attack from war priest on round 2. Longstrider, bless and shield of faith can buff your allies and you also have different Healing spells. Thank you for video :)
In the Icewind Dale CRPG, one of your default party members is a Cleric/Ranger. He is beastly. He has the Ranger abilities, but he's restricted to the Cleric's weapon proficiencies. As of right now, I've managed to equip him with two +1 Warhammers. It's kinda disgusting. lol
I love this idea. I m actually going to make a Swarmkeeper/Twilight Focusing on 1 handed crossbow w/ cross bow expert doing 3 attack per round. I was worried about the idea of the build, but you gave me piece of mind. Thanks
i build a gloom stalker 11 twilight cleric 9 character, twilight sanctuary + conjure animal is a good combo, twilight sanctuary + warding bond a front line fighter is also good.
If you have the choice between concentrating on Bless, or concentrating on Hunter's Mark, always concentrate on Bless. By giving advantage to 3 (or more) allies with bless, you're going to net more dpr compared to the +7 average damage that Hunter's Mark gives you on two attacks. It also frees up your bonus action to use Spiritual Weapon.
i disagree. it's more nuanced than that. it depends on what your party members core tactics are and how many attacks you're doing as a ranger. if for example most of your party members are either forcing saves, playing support/healer, bless doesn't provide any offensive benefit. if for example you're playing the very popular fighter gloomstalker core that typically gets 6 attacks on round 1 you want that hunter's mark on round 1 as that's 6d6 worth of dmg for a level 1 slot which is more than what bless provides. all the more if that ranger is hasted. on round 2 onwards how many attacks is that ranger doing will also be a factor. if that ranger is doing 3-4, all the more to go with hunter's mark on round 1. moreover, bless is an action so that will lower the party dpr by taking away the striker's action. hunter's mark is just a bonus action. fact is bless is better cast by a support instead of the team's striker.
IF you're trying to capitalize on the assassin level 3 feature, the levels in fighter is wasted IMO. You'd be better off taking levels in Paladin and Warlock so you could double smite so all those dice are doubled as well.
@@KatanaKamisama gets you action surge and the third attack but champion fighter just isn't the ideal subclass in that case and it's not optimised to go so high level in fighter
@@lolka49hot Action Surge is nice to setup something like Path to the Grave... but otherwise fighter doesn't really synergize with an Assassin build much. IMO. It CAN work... I just wouldn't do it personally.
My favorite character idea I’ve ever created is a wood elf gloom stalker twilight cleric. Thematically the classes align perfectly to create the ultimate bringer of light in the darkness
I'm building a Twilight Gloomstalker Half Elf Half Goliath. Dual wielder(we are using a homebrew variant). Darker character. Tribe was murdered/disappeared by wizards. He was on a pilgrimage when this happened. So now he lives in the woods, training to be prepared for the day he can exact his revenge.
Campaign starts in a couple weeks, and I'm stoked.
I really like the idea of sheleyle (spelling?) to attack with wisdom aswell
shillelagh.
Sha La La La
Yes, Shillelagh. It's worth noting that Rangers are one of the only classes that can get good use out of it since Tasha's added the Druidic Warrior fighting style.
I was looking this up to make a character thats like the lord of Light brotherhood without banners cult from game of thrones.
Why not Swarm Keeper? 1D6 once per round, or another of 2 options.
Good point. Another great choice
What I think is cool about the fey wanderer is that it only specifies that an enemy can take the extra damage once per turn, so you can deal the extra d4 to multiple enemies if you spread your damage, pair this with a 1 level dip in war cleric for divine favor and war priest, your making three attacks per turn with 2d4 boost to all attacks if you hit 3 creatures, hunters mark will still help for focus fire but this would be kinda nuts
I think 1 level of war cleric is great for any bow using ranger because when you’re concentrating on hunters mark your bonus action gets wasted more often than not
I like it. That's a great idea, and the Wis fits perfectly too.
how is it 3 attacks per turn? or did you mean 3 attacks once in a while with war priest? that is a limited use ability (wis mod times per day).
Yeah ranger is one of the most obvious multiclass combo's with cleric. Druid is pretty good too if you are willing to take the hit of not being able to wear metal armor.
the dmg abilities of hunter, fey wanderer, monster slayer, swarmkeeper and horizon walker do look similar on the surface but there are important distinctions:
1. hunter-once per turn but the target has to be damaged already so it wont' work on the 1st round of combat if you only have 1 attack and are going 1st. can be used on reaction attacks as long as the target is damaged already. free action to use. you have 2 other options which are the better ones to pick but could be campaign dependent.
2. fey wanderer-once per enemy per turn which means if you pick different targets on your turn it can be applied to both. it also applies to reaction attacks. free action to use.
3. horizon walker-once on your turn. costs bonus action to use every turn. can't be used with reaction attacks. scales to 2d8. converts your dmg to force. this is the worst of the bunch.
4. monster slayer-once per turn but only to a specific enemy. costs bonus action to use at 1st then free action then bonus action again to mark another target. can be used on reaction action attacks as long as it was the target marked initially.
5. swarmkeeper-once on your turn. can't be used with reaction attacks. gives 2 other options which are actually the better options to pick than adding the small amount of dmg. free action to use.
Nice summary and break down.
If we’re talking cleric/ranger multiclass I’m thinking forge cleric 17/gloom stalker 3.
Yeah, that's a pretty nice mix. Doesn't give you extra attack, but still gets you another one in the opening round, while also allowing you to get 9th level spells potentially. Good call.
I mean, nothing wrong with a bit of Twilight on anything. Just the first level 300 ft of darkvision allows you to use your bow at max range until you get Sharpshooter. True, the dim light might be a bit counter productive, but granting others darkvision does help convince them to turn off those torches.
There is an argument for forge cleric and the +1 weapons or armor you can make with it.
Agreed.
It's a real shame that the skulker feat only removes disadvantage from perception checks in dim light and not also from attacks in dim light 😕
One of the best combinations for this, as others have mentioned, is Gloomstalker/Twilight. Your adding your wisdom to initiative rolls, which you can give yourself advantage on. Both want to fight in dim light or darkness, Gloomstalker because because invisibility and therefore advantage, twilight because of the flight speed from level 6 in the class onwards. Dhampir, Ranger 6 Cleric 6, with the mobile feat, will have a 50ft flight speed, 60ft on the first round, a massive Initiative bonus, advantage on that initiative and the ability to do flyby strikes with advantage on the attack. Take the Tavern Brawler Feat, then suddenly, you can swoop down, bite someone in the neck, then drag them kicking and screaming into the sky.
Add a couple of levels of Scout Rogue into the mix, and you become an absolutely lethal bastard, swooping on the casters, grabbing them off into the sky, then keeping them grappled whilst you bonus action dash several hundred feet into the air and drop them.
Another point of note is, that channel divinity, creates a zone of dim light, even in the day, giving you your advantage and flight IN THE DAY.
Good point on the channel divinity (well, good input in general, but I really like the use of that ability to give you dim light and advantage).
im doing a simple wood elf 3 ranger/1 life cleric.+1 ac, colossus slayer 1d8, mithril half plate, shield, for 20 ac early on. much later on i can sell the half plate for a +1 studded when dex is maxed at 20. for some reason i still got 2 weapon fighting available on dnd beyound. so i got 2 rapiers one mithril making it a light weapon. add hunters mark for 1d6. took piercer feat to reroll a piercing damage once per turn. bassically an off brand paliden. with high ac doing melee damage and heals.
Nice, I like it.
Just a note on my experience, I'm playing a 1 to 20 Rappan Athuk old school game as the party cleric, it was suggested that I go with light or life domain in this setting (took Light for the warding flare and the mini fireball channel divinity). Our "tank" after about 4 sessions dropped, I'm now the primary mele/tank since I took fighting initiate (protection) as a free Feat the GM gave out and originally planned to tuck up to the tank and provide protection on crits and such... I figured why not stop a hit I don't have to heal later. The tank was replaced by an dual wielding EK which I still use the protection shielding on all the time. The interesting piece is that the GM limited the racial pool at character creation, I only had two wisdom boosting races that were +1 at creation, I chose wood elf for the racials and the stats. So... my now 6th level Light cleric is in half plate, with a 17 dex, and a +1 adamantine shield of fearwarding = AC 20 unbuffed.
Thanks to some boots of elven kind and an urchin background my stealth is relatively epic for a cleric. Damage output with channel divinity and 6 cleric is really sweet, I notice that I'm not hitting ANYTHING EVER with mele though... We have a gloomstalker in party now, but I do want to hit something as the front liner that I am. My thought is to go Fey Wanderer/Druidic Warrior ranger to level 5 for the points you make above, I won't have as many cleric spells but would get to level 9 spells at least. This would give me two attacks, shillelagh, hunter's mark, misty step, and let me use my Wisdom as a FACE stat (we have no FACE in the party either) as well as some ranger other good spells. With quarterstaff I'd be at 3 attacks and at level 2 ranger would take Defense fighting style for another +1 to AC = 21 AC unbuffed (will probably take medium armor master which will get me to AC22 unbuffed), with warding flare I'm very hard to hit. In some instances I've basically run up to the front line and started dodging to allow my rear line heavy hitters to seriously mutilate my opponents, eventually I'll get either Spiritual weapon and spirit guardians up, this has decimated a lot of baddies... My question is should I waste my time on ranger levels, I think your video has provided some ideas for me. Thanks!
Glad I could help! Also, I love Frog God Games, and Rappan Athuk is one of their best, IMO. So that's cool too.
I built wood elf gloom stalker 3 / war cleric 1 and it is going to be fantastic to play. DEX>WIS>CON>STR>INT>CHA
Is the ability score priority here.
Spells... I'm not using hunter's mark but instead I'm using divine favor.
So from ranger:
Goodberry, longstrider, zephyr strike.
From cleric:
Divine favor, shield of faith, Healing Word, cure wounds, bless and command.
I think it's going to be fun with gloom stalker' s Extra attack on round 1 and also bonus action attack from war priest on round 2. Longstrider, bless and shield of faith can buff your allies and you also have different Healing spells.
Thank you for video :)
Nice.
In the Icewind Dale CRPG, one of your default party members is a Cleric/Ranger. He is beastly. He has the Ranger abilities, but he's restricted to the Cleric's weapon proficiencies. As of right now, I've managed to equip him with two +1 Warhammers. It's kinda disgusting. lol
It's been a long time since I played that, but I think I remember him :)1
I mean the war cleric + battle master fighter is a thing.
Very true.
I love this idea. I m actually going to make a Swarmkeeper/Twilight Focusing on 1 handed crossbow w/ cross bow expert doing 3 attack per round. I was worried about the idea of the build, but you gave me piece of mind. Thanks
Glad I could help!
i build a gloom stalker 11 twilight cleric 9 character, twilight sanctuary + conjure animal is a good combo, twilight sanctuary + warding bond a front line fighter is also good.
That does sound nice.
If you have the choice between concentrating on Bless, or concentrating on Hunter's Mark, always concentrate on Bless. By giving advantage to 3 (or more) allies with bless, you're going to net more dpr compared to the +7 average damage that Hunter's Mark gives you on two attacks. It also frees up your bonus action to use Spiritual Weapon.
Good point. Bless is highly underrated, especially since it's both a damage bonus (through more hits), and a saving throw bonus.
i disagree. it's more nuanced than that. it depends on what your party members core tactics are and how many attacks you're doing as a ranger.
if for example most of your party members are either forcing saves, playing support/healer, bless doesn't provide any offensive benefit.
if for example you're playing the very popular fighter gloomstalker core that typically gets 6 attacks on round 1 you want that hunter's mark on round 1 as that's 6d6 worth of dmg for a level 1 slot which is more than what bless provides. all the more if that ranger is hasted. on round 2 onwards how many attacks is that ranger doing will also be a factor. if that ranger is doing 3-4, all the more to go with hunter's mark on round 1. moreover, bless is an action so that will lower the party dpr by taking away the striker's action. hunter's mark is just a bonus action.
fact is bless is better cast by a support instead of the team's striker.
Good muticlass combo is assassin rouge 3/ gloomstalker ranger 3/ grave cleric2/ champion fighter12
IF you're trying to capitalize on the assassin level 3 feature, the levels in fighter is wasted IMO. You'd be better off taking levels in Paladin and Warlock so you could double smite so all those dice are doubled as well.
good damage , if i am DM i will let my monster avoid the first round XD .. one question, grave cleric "path to the grave" use action.
@@sebastianliang6294 action surge, my friend.
@@KatanaKamisama gets you action surge and the third attack but champion fighter just isn't the ideal subclass in that case and it's not optimised to go so high level in fighter
@@lolka49hot Action Surge is nice to setup something like Path to the Grave... but otherwise fighter doesn't really synergize with an Assassin build much. IMO. It CAN work... I just wouldn't do it personally.