Spiritual Guardian

The (Spiritual) Guardian

Primary Combat Role: Area of Effect Damage (Spirit Guardians and Fireball), Buffs (Bless and Aid)
Secondary Combat Roles: Single-Target Damage (melee or blade cantrip), Heals (Healing Word)
Out of Combat Role: Resurrection (Revivify)
Lineage: Half Elf
Background: Acolyte

Build Notes

We start as Fighter for CON save proficiency, heavy armor proficiency, and the defense fighting style. At early levels, we’ll mostly be picking people up off the floor as needed, running Bless to buff the party, and doing mediocre melee damage. At mid-to-late levels, we’ll be upcasting Spirit Guardians to chew through our enemies while being really hard to kill thanks to heavy armor, shields, defense fight style, and the Shield spell. We will also be gaining some reasonable melee damage along the way (Sunlit Blade, then Extra Attack) along with a potent Channel Divinity (you can stun things!). This is probably the closest thing to an MMO-style "tank" that I use, as it has high survivability while also forcing the enemies to either try to deal with us (rather than attack the rest of the party) or die where they stand as our Spirit Guardians chips away at them. Along the way, we’ll dip Sorcerer to get access to the blade cantrips (Sunlit Blade and/or Resonating Strike) and the Shield spell. We take 1 or 2 blade cantrips as they are not reliant on our fairly weak CHA, and they mitigate just how long it takes to unlock Extra Attack as a Battle Cleric. We choose Battle as our Cleric domain as it allows us to ignore somatic components which is very handy for us. It also gets Fireball, extra attack, a Paladin like aura that boost saves/AC/to-hit/damage, a self-only temporary HP buff, and a smite-like ability that stuns. The only things it is missing are the Shield spell, CON saves, and heavy armor, which are easy to fix with small dips into Fighter and Sorcerer. For Sorcerer subclass, it really doesn’t matter. Our minimal CHA means our Sorcerer spell attack and save DC is not going to be great, so we are in it for spells Cleric normally doesn’t get. I favor Draconic as it gives us Shield and later Misty Step for free leaving us a free spell pick, plus a few additional hit points. We also do a deeper dip into Sorcerer than is strictly necessary for the metamagic fun and to get some level 2 Sorcerer utility spells we wouldn’t normally get (Blur, Knock, Invisibility, Misty Step). If you don’t favor the metamagic and extra spells, you can just stick with 1 level of Sorcerer and pick up a 2nd level of Fighter (Action Surge!) and 1 more cleric level for 5th level Cleric spells.

Ability Scores

STR: 14 +1
DEX: 8
CON: 15 +1
INT: 8
WIS: 17 +2
CHA: 13

Level Progression

1. Fighter 1 [Feature: Second Wind] [Fighting Style: Defense]
2. Cleric (Battle Domain) 1 [Feature: Battle Magic] [Feature: Divine Fortitude]
3. Cleric 2 [Channel Divinity: Turn Undead] [Channel Divinity: Decisive Strike]
4. Cleric 3
5. Cleric 4 [Feat: Flawless Concentration] or [Feat: Telekinetic (WIS)] if you have a Tinkerer that can give you Mind Sharpener
6. Cleric 5
7. Sorcerer (Draconic Bloodline) 1 [Feature: Draconic Resilience]
8. Cleric 6 [Feature: Aura of Battle]
9. Cleric 7
10. Cleric 8 [Feature: Scholar of Battle] [Feat: Telekinetic (WIS)] or [Feat: Tough] if your Tinkerer is still giving you Mind Sharpener
11. Sorcerer 2 [Feature: Sorcery Points] [Feature: Flexible Casting]
12. Sorcerer 3 [Metamagic: Empower Spell] or [Metamagic: Extend Spell] [Metamagic: Quicken Spell] Use Empowered to get more damage out of Spirit Guardians or Fireball, use Extended Spell on large maps where you want to insure Spirit Guardians will last the entire level.

Spell Selection

1. --
2. ^Magic Missile, ^Shield of Faith, Bless, Healing Word, Light, Guidance, Sparkle
3. --
4. ^Acid Arrow, ^Flaming Sphere, Spiritual Weapon, Aid
5. --
6. ^Fireball, ^Haste, Spirit Guardians
7. --
8. ^Shield, Sunlit Blade, Resonating Strike, Minor Lifesteal
9. --
10. ^Stoneskin, ^Phantasmal Killer
11. --
12. --
13. ^Misty Step, Knock, Blur or Invisibility

^spell denotes a spell granted by a subclass, spell denotes a recommended spell, and cantrip denotes a recommended cantrip