I also love Lucky as a great safety net for concentration saving throws. But it helps also with everything else - and is even great outside of combat helping to persuade or intimitade or whatever…
5:32 I don't blame you for getting this wrong, but saving throws don't have critical successes nor critical failures. So rolling a 1 doesn't automatically fail the saving throw, you still get to roll and add all of your other bonuses to pass the saving throw. And its why War Caster isn't a good way to go about concentration saving throws. Its _a_ way, but its the worst way. If you don't already have Con saving throw prof, then Resilient: Constitution is much much better. The con +1 can pump your minimum roll up by 1 in addition to the +2/3/4 proficiency bonus to your *minimum* result, and I'll explain why this is objectively better. Concentration Saving Throw must meet or exceed the DC check of a damage source. The DC is calculated by DMG / 2 OR 10, whichever is higher. So if damage taken is 1 to 21, the DC is 10. If damage taken is 22 or 23, the DC is 11. So given that your roll must always meet or exceed a 10 at minimum, and that once concentration is broken, thats it, its broken, the goal is not to have a higher average roll, the goal is to *guarantee* that your *minimum roll* exceeds the damage that you might take. You don't want a higher average, you want a higher minimum. So assuming you roll a 1 on the d20, between your Con mod and +Saving Throw gear its possible to reach a minimum of 10, but not early game. For early game its best to start out Sorc or Fighter for the +2, get 16con for +3, Safeguard Shield +1, Ring of Protection +1, and then with Bless 1d4 you can bring that minimum roll up to 9, which is nearly uninterruptible once you reach the grove. You wont be taking damage higher than 20 anyways, and so just dont roll a 1 on your d20 AND a 1 on Bless and you'll meet the DC 10. Once you reach level 5 and your prof bonus becomes +3, you can reach that minimum of 10 with Bless. And at level 9 you won't even need Bless. This is with a modest 16con, so theres plenty of ways to get meet the DC 10. After you raise your minimums to the all important DC 10, War Caster STILL is not the next best investment because the next best investment is to lower the maximum damage that you can take. That is to say, reducing spike damage, or rather, getting crittededED. The Adamantine armors and the Adamantine shield are the easiest ways to gain crit immunity. These aren't really anything too exotic. Adamantine Split Armor is excellent for a life cleric. Especially if you Warding Bond others, stacking Adamantine Split with Heavy Armor Master usually reduces the damage split to your cleric to 0 damage. In addition if you use these stacking damage reductions, it also lowers attacks to the cleric's concentration DC by 3. Next feat that is better than war caster would be Shield Master, basically for big spell damage like Fireballs. You might not pass the saving throw, but you only take half damage even if you fail. From a perfect roll fireball that lowers it from 48 to 24. Armor would lower that perfect fireball to 22 making the DC 11 which we already covered can be reached with d20 roll of 1 +4prof +3con +2newbgear +1bless. The next most likely thing to break concentration isn't even the DC check, its slipping or getting knocked prone. For that, Boots of Striding. Followed by Wisdom saving throw spells. Control spells and fear. Control spells and fear are a whole nother animal, and there isn't always something you can do about it. If you happen to have less than 25 health and something sleeps you, you're asleep theres no check you're just asleep. Other control spell DCs can be around 15 and you just need to not roll poorly. (skill issue, roll gud nub) I wouldn't go crazy trying to become completely uninterruptible. Really just the things I suggested at game start. Con st prof from fighter1/sorc1, 16+con, Safeguard Shield, Ring of Protection, Bless. Boots of Striding or something to prevent getting knocked on your aas. Later on, an item to prevent critical hits if at all possible. And against control spells... idk... Magneto's helmet? lol xD
To be un-mind-controllable is really easy, just be Paladin with Aura of Protection, do the Shadeclinger Armor trick and drink Elixir of Heroism and bam, you can tank Stunning Gaze, Hold Person and Slow literally all day
The DC is the greater of (Damage / 2) or 10. So a hit that does 30 damage results in 15 which is higher than 10 so DC=15. Therefore things that reduce damage(resistance, flat damage reduction, arcane ward, force conduit) can keep the DC to something manageable.
Going from 15 to 16 Resilent: Con is insanely good. I was able to solo Myrkul on Honor Mode with a Lightfoot Halfling Gloom Stalker thanks to it. All I had to do was cast Protection From Evil and Good. Necrotic damage resistance and Minthara's Boots (to be immovable) made my concentration literally unbreakable.
Don't sleep on level 1 sorc for con st proficiency. More spell slots, 4 out of the best selection of cantrips in the game, and 2 out of the best level 1 spell selections in the game. Storm Sorcery for Tempestuous Magic, flying all over the map. Enhanced Leap is a great ritual for pre-combat, or just exploration in general. Sleep is really nice in early game. Disguise self is always nice. Mage hand, minor illusion, fire bolt, shocking grasp. All in addition to Con saving throw prof. Its pretty sick. Get a couple ways to disengage without triggering reactions. If surprised in the middle of combat and people are on you, can cast bless on everyone as your opener and then fly out trouble. Because of this its actually really good on a cleric. And with two levels of sorc, having some extra range on bless on that first round can be pretty useful. Or twinned sanctuary is incredibly clutch and can ruin the enemy's entire opening strategy, wasting all of their movement while your dudes drink potions and reposition while giving them the middle finger Don't sleep on sorc!
I also love Lucky as a great safety net for concentration saving throws. But it helps also with everything else - and is even great outside of combat helping to persuade or intimitade or whatever…
5:32 I don't blame you for getting this wrong, but saving throws don't have critical successes nor critical failures. So rolling a 1 doesn't automatically fail the saving throw, you still get to roll and add all of your other bonuses to pass the saving throw.
And its why War Caster isn't a good way to go about concentration saving throws. Its _a_ way, but its the worst way. If you don't already have Con saving throw prof, then Resilient: Constitution is much much better. The con +1 can pump your minimum roll up by 1 in addition to the +2/3/4 proficiency bonus to your *minimum* result, and I'll explain why this is objectively better.
Concentration Saving Throw must meet or exceed the DC check of a damage source.
The DC is calculated by DMG / 2 OR 10, whichever is higher. So if damage taken is 1 to 21, the DC is 10. If damage taken is 22 or 23, the DC is 11.
So given that your roll must always meet or exceed a 10 at minimum, and that once concentration is broken, thats it, its broken, the goal is not to have a higher average roll, the goal is to *guarantee* that your *minimum roll* exceeds the damage that you might take. You don't want a higher average, you want a higher minimum.
So assuming you roll a 1 on the d20, between your Con mod and +Saving Throw gear its possible to reach a minimum of 10, but not early game. For early game its best to start out Sorc or Fighter for the +2, get 16con for +3, Safeguard Shield +1, Ring of Protection +1, and then with Bless 1d4 you can bring that minimum roll up to 9, which is nearly uninterruptible once you reach the grove. You wont be taking damage higher than 20 anyways, and so just dont roll a 1 on your d20 AND a 1 on Bless and you'll meet the DC 10.
Once you reach level 5 and your prof bonus becomes +3, you can reach that minimum of 10 with Bless. And at level 9 you won't even need Bless. This is with a modest 16con, so theres plenty of ways to get meet the DC 10.
After you raise your minimums to the all important DC 10, War Caster STILL is not the next best investment because the next best investment is to lower the maximum damage that you can take. That is to say, reducing spike damage, or rather, getting crittededED. The Adamantine armors and the Adamantine shield are the easiest ways to gain crit immunity. These aren't really anything too exotic. Adamantine Split Armor is excellent for a life cleric. Especially if you Warding Bond others, stacking Adamantine Split with Heavy Armor Master usually reduces the damage split to your cleric to 0 damage.
In addition if you use these stacking damage reductions, it also lowers attacks to the cleric's concentration DC by 3.
Next feat that is better than war caster would be Shield Master, basically for big spell damage like Fireballs.
You might not pass the saving throw, but you only take half damage even if you fail. From a perfect roll fireball that lowers it from 48 to 24. Armor would lower that perfect fireball to 22 making the DC 11 which we already covered can be reached with d20 roll of 1 +4prof +3con +2newbgear +1bless.
The next most likely thing to break concentration isn't even the DC check, its slipping or getting knocked prone. For that, Boots of Striding. Followed by Wisdom saving throw spells. Control spells and fear.
Control spells and fear are a whole nother animal, and there isn't always something you can do about it. If you happen to have less than 25 health and something sleeps you, you're asleep theres no check you're just asleep. Other control spell DCs can be around 15 and you just need to not roll poorly. (skill issue, roll gud nub)
I wouldn't go crazy trying to become completely uninterruptible. Really just the things I suggested at game start. Con st prof from fighter1/sorc1, 16+con, Safeguard Shield, Ring of Protection, Bless. Boots of Striding or something to prevent getting knocked on your aas. Later on, an item to prevent critical hits if at all possible. And against control spells... idk... Magneto's helmet? lol xD
To be un-mind-controllable is really easy, just be Paladin with Aura of Protection, do the Shadeclinger Armor trick and drink Elixir of Heroism and bam, you can tank Stunning Gaze, Hold Person and Slow literally all day
The DC is the greater of (Damage / 2) or 10. So a hit that does 30 damage results in 15 which is higher than 10 so DC=15. Therefore things that reduce damage(resistance, flat damage reduction, arcane ward, force conduit) can keep the DC to something manageable.
heeelllloooooo warding bond!!!
Going from 15 to 16 Resilent: Con is insanely good. I was able to solo Myrkul on Honor Mode with a Lightfoot Halfling Gloom Stalker thanks to it. All I had to do was cast Protection From Evil and Good.
Necrotic damage resistance and Minthara's Boots (to be immovable) made my concentration literally unbreakable.
Don't sleep on level 1 sorc for con st proficiency. More spell slots, 4 out of the best selection of cantrips in the game, and 2 out of the best level 1 spell selections in the game.
Storm Sorcery for Tempestuous Magic, flying all over the map. Enhanced Leap is a great ritual for pre-combat, or just exploration in general. Sleep is really nice in early game. Disguise self is always nice. Mage hand, minor illusion, fire bolt, shocking grasp. All in addition to Con saving throw prof. Its pretty sick. Get a couple ways to disengage without triggering reactions.
If surprised in the middle of combat and people are on you, can cast bless on everyone as your opener and then fly out trouble.
Because of this its actually really good on a cleric. And with two levels of sorc, having some extra range on bless on that first round can be pretty useful. Or twinned sanctuary is incredibly clutch and can ruin the enemy's entire opening strategy, wasting all of their movement while your dudes drink potions and reposition while giving them the middle finger
Don't sleep on sorc!
if I play storm sorcerer il get a natural con st proficiency. would it still be worth it to get war caster?