How to Build a Cleric (Shadowheart) for Beginners in Baldur's Gate 3

the cleric the least chosen class of all of  the classes in this video today we're going   to teach you how to build out your cleric now  maybe this is your main character maybe you're   trying to build out Shadow heart or maybe you're  just going to choose one of the other companions   or generic hirelings that you can get from Withers  to be a cleric so we're going to break this down   by looking at the cantrips the subclasses the  deities and stuff like that and taking a look at   what level one looks like and how to build it out  in the character creation screen what the future   of the cleric looks like after that and then some  multi-class options you can take advantage of you   can simply Jump Ahead to any part of the video  that interest you the most using the chapters   about the timeline and the description and please  don't forget to check me out on Twitch where I do   stream Baldur's Gate 3. let's get started here on  how to build out your cleric in borderscape 3. so   first things first let's choose your race now this  is not a min max video I'm not going to go through   this is the one you got to choose if you don't  choose it you're not going to have a good time   it's not at all what I'm saying each one of these  races is really going to be dependent upon you and   the character you want to play and how you want  to experience the game through that character's   eyes in the RP perspective there are certain  races that can take advantage of certain items   in the game and what have you but don't go into it  with that in mind go into it with the mind of what   you're going to enjoy the most so I would probably  say whatever you enjoy like I love drow so I would   probably start as a drow for no other reason than  that's what I enjoy but there are certain races   that are maybe better than others when it comes  to certain options but I'm not going to focus on   those things they do exist you can choose them  if you so wish but I'm not going to half valves   are really good options too just so you can get  advantage of their cantrips if you're a high elf   this me the movement speed if you're a Wood Elf  and then the draw gets certain things as they   progress through their levels and githyanki are  always amazing they're even though they're the one   of the least picked races because they get really  awesome abilities as they progress through their   levels they get the ability to jump really far  all sorts of cool things and this astral knowledge   thing gives them Proficiency in all skills of a  chosen ability meaning if I chose all the Charisma   skills then all of the conversational skills  I get my proficiency bonus on um until a long   rest so I can just always have that active  and never invest any points in Charisma to   constantly be getting my proficiency bonus on it  it's quite awesome but they also start off with   a Proficiency in light and medium armor as well  as short stored long sword and Greatsword so you   can choose the gith and get access to Great swords  and be more of a close combat cleric if you want   without even worrying about how you get access to  Great swords it's a really really cool thing that   you can do but plenty of other ways that you can  build your character across the race I just wanted   to have a quick conversation about it because  it is no longer dependent upon your stats in   um at Baldur's Gate 3 all stats are set to eight  and you increase them up to a Max of 15 then you   then assign two or one skill point r two or one  ability points to that so races do not matter   anymore you just simply choose whichever one you  want to play the most well I've gone ahead and   selected myself a tiefling and we're at the  cleric selection screen so if this is your   first time playing the game or any DND for that  matter I'm gonna just break this down very quickly   you start with cantrips and spells cantrips are  basically level zero spells that you can cast an   unlimited amount of times in a given day whatever  it is you can cast them every turn if you want   spells on the other hand you are limited to your  spell slots you gain two level one spell slots   which are restored on a long rest only so this  is a level one evocation spell evocation spell   so it would take a level one spell slot you can  use level one spells in all of the higher spell   slots like one two three four five whatever but  you cannot use higher level spells in lower spell   slots so a level two spell cannot be cast with  a level one spell but a level one spell can be   castle level two spell slot often times increasing  its effects so keep those things in mind   so before we even get into cantrips and spells  though we have to choose our domain and the domain   for our cleric is essentially how your cleric is  going to fit into your game world and how you want   to play them what do you have in mind for your  cleric now I'm going to go through each one of   these on a very high level there are things that  expand Beyond level one I'm gonna try to briefly   talk about them without getting too lost in it but  the life domain cleric is essentially your heel   bot that that is that is your bread and butter  subclass features your devotion empowers your   healing spells when casting a healing spell the  target regains additional hit points equal to two   plus the Spells level so just a kind of reminder  a refresher here the spell level was three this   would heal five more additional hit points which  is very nice and then you get domain spells every   single one of these will have domain spells and  you'll get domain spells every time you get to a   new set of domain spells I think it's like three  five seven and ten or something like that either   way those domain spells are spells you will  always have prepared and what that means is you   don't have to swap them in and out of your list of  things you do know you can cast they will always   be present for you to cast They will be level  one spells and whatnot but still it remains that   you'll you won't have to use a preparation slot  and I'll show you that in a second here into the   light domain we get a character that is focused on  both um fire damage and on uh light damage which   has a word that I cannot think of off the top  of my head for some weird reason but this is a   cleric that is very close combat oriented in the  sense that they do a lot of AOE capabilities they   are still definitely a ranged destroyer of worlds  or they're hurling magic downrange that is both   fire and light based but they have an AOE ability  that is like 30 40 meters around or feet around   them they just blow everything up with light it is  really really goddamn cool they also have a very   cool subclass feature here called warding flare  Shield yourself with Divine Light use a reaction   to impose disadvantage on an attacker possibly  causing their attacks to miss so when someone   attacks you they roll two die and choose the lower  of the two and you use this as a reaction meaning   that anytime they attack you you can trigger this  and only could be a triggered once per turn so   this is great but you eventually get improved  warning player where if any of your allies are   getting attacked you can do this instead it is a  really really awesome ability it is probably one   of my favorite things about the light domain  cleric not to mention of course their Channel   Divinity capability which allows them to accept  I said blow up everything around them it's really   fun and you'll find a lot of things that are  weak to light damage radiant radiant is the   name of it it's radiant it's radiant damage  that's the name of it finally clicked in   trickery domain is really kind of linked to um a  lot of CC type stuff crowd control trying to trick   things try to Blind things try to inflict some  sort of disadvantage onto them you have blessing   of the trickster Grant another creature advantage  on stealth checks so trickery domain clydarks work   really well if you have a gloomstocker ranger  if you have a rogue in your Billet in your in   your party anything like that can that can really  benefit from this and they get a channel Divinity   capability that allows people to get an advantage  on anyone they're attacking by creating clones   like these little Shadow clones next to enemies so  that they can take advantage of doing more damage   your your party can take advantage of doing  more damage to anyone that is next to one of   those Shadow clones but is definitely focused  on you can see here charm person disguise self   taking advantage of really kind of a lot of  subterfuge and um trickery here knowledge domain   is focusing a lot more on basically your your  skill capabilities as well as your capabilities as   um as a Caster kind of leaning heavier into that  having more Spells at your disposal that are less   of the divine nature more of like the wizard type  nature but also a heavy emphasis on skill choices   nature domain here kind of Blends the the border  between Druid and cleric in some way you'll get   access to Druid capabilities as far as Druid  spells go um and certain cantrips here like   sheleighly which is going to help out with staff  or Club making it magical deal with one to eight   bluging damage and uses your spellcasting ability  for attack rolls so your character maybe they are   not a close combat character but with sheleighly  it makes it so that their weapon now pulls off of   your wisdom for all of its checks so it does  actually kind of make you a little bit more   um it does allow you to have a little bit more  close combat capability nature also grants you   heavy armor just like life domain does light  life nature and War are the only three that   grants you heavy armor kind of turn you into  a little bit of a juggernaut here but you also   get this too you learn a druid can trip and become  proficient in animal handling nature and survival   Tempest domain clerics are similar to knowledge  domain and light domain in that you are a ranged   Blaster but with Tempest domain you are focusing  on thunder and lightning damage and there are a   lot of abilities in the game that pull from this  that can take advantage of it there are a lot of   items that give you lightning charges there's  tons of ways to do lots and lots of lightning   and thunder damage there is a feat called War  Caster where if someone moves out of your range   of attack and you get to use an attack of  opportunity on them you can use warcaster   to use shocking grasp basically and Tempest  domain can pull tons of Advantage here so they   get this Wrath of the storm try strike back in  an attacking creature potentially dealing 2 to   16 lightning damage on a failed saving throw you  deal half of two of a 2 to 16 Thunder damage roll   um but they also get an ability at level two  where they can do Max damage with a lightning   or a thunder damage capability what I mean here  is thunderwave does 2 to 16 damage if I have   that level two ability up and I go ahead and cast  then my Tempest domain allows me to cast this at   16 full damage it's a way to just dish out tons  of damage use Thunder Wave use call lightning   you use uh shatter there's so many destructive  lightning and or thunder capabilities in this   game The Tempest domain is a ton of fun I lied  to you tempus domain also gets heavy armor and   doesn't see that I'm dumb but tepus domain  is is is really really really really fun and   you can Splash Tempest domain into a lot of  other classes to get even more functionality   out of it like a tempest domain cleric and a  storm subclass sorcerer are really fun options   lastly we have the war domain and War domain is  kind of like if if a paladin is like a fighter   cleric hybrid than a war domain cleric is like a  cleric fighter a hybrid with more of an emphasis   on the cleric portion you get some spells here  like Divine favor and shield of Faith but really   the war priest when you make an unarmed or weapon  attack you can send spend a warp release charge   to make an additional attack as a bonus option or  action so what's cool here about the war domain   is you could start maybe as a fighter put five  levels in and get extra attack and the war priest   capability to take to do an additional attack  as a bonus action just layers in tons of damage   let me kind of paint this picture for you you get  level 5 fighter that gives you action surge which   gives you an extra action and you get extra attack  which means you attack twice with each action War   priest here you can spend a war priest charge  to make an additional attack as a bonus action   so you get to basically attack adults with level  five fighter and level one uh War domain cleric   you're attacking five times that's a disgusting  amount of damage so you really can pour on tons   and tons and tons of melee damage using the war  domain it is a really really good emphasis there   also get access to martial weapons which pretty  much covers all of your weapons from simple and   Marshall if you start as a war domain if you  start as a fighter it doesn't matter but those   are your domain options here for your cleric for  your deity just simply go with whatever you want   um in the past your deity option limited your  your domain or vice versa right you're like   okay if I'm gonna choose life domain then I only  have certain access to certain deities or one   deity would only give me access to certain  domains whatever it was so that is not the   case anymore you can just simply pick and choose  whichever one you want go ahead and go crazy with   that same thing with background choose whatever  background fits the role play for your character   if you want to really min max this you would  probably choose a background that gives you   a skill proficiency that you didn't naturally  get because the nice thing about choosing your   background is you can kind of fill the gaps of  what your classes proficiencies lack so let's   take for example looking at this uh oh you know  what I don't have deception well let's go ahead   and choose all right well here we go criminal and  charlatan both give us deception so this is how   I'm gonna go with my background because I wanted  deception on my character and this is a great way   to get access to it so use your background  either as a min max but I would say choose   it based off of how you want your character to  react to certain things in the game because your   background gives you inspiration points you're  maxed out at four inspiration points and they   give you a free re-roll on anything so if you want  to be a character who's really kind of like a folk   hero or a soldier because that's how you role play  the character and what your decisions are through   um conversations then that's what you should do  try not to min max away the skills because it's   just going to be arbitrary for your ability points  this is going to be probably the one that most   people check out this is going to be dependent  upon which domain you choose you go with war   and are you going to go heavy into strength then  you're going to make that decision for yourself   but I'm going to assume you're not going a war  domain and you're not trying to go close combat so   let's kind of put this the way I would build out a  um cleric so I'm going to put Max points here into   wisdom and then plus two because everything's  going to be based off of wisdom or I'll have   an ability that'll allow me to use wisdom as a  check so that's that's that's like option Numero   Uno then I'm going to put up my Constitution  and dexterity to 10 just as a bare minimum   now you can choose if this is your main character  you probably want to do this just to make it so   you don't have any minus ones if this is not  your main character don't feel bad doing that   um I I probably would keep my Charisma 10 just  so I can help out with any kind of roles against   Charmed person or anything that's kind of holding  me down Charisma is a nice thing to just kind of   have as a baseline of 10. then I would probably  increase here constitution of 14 and my dexterity   to 14 and I'd probably put one point in a DEX  and then put my plus one at a decks this way   I'm getting plus three to my initiative and my  dexterity bonus is plus three as well meaning   if I'm using light armor I get my AC plus three  from dexterity I use medium armor I get my AC   plus two unless noted by certain situations like  Feats and other armors that would give you more   dexterity bonus to your AC and it's a really good  option here now the Counterpoint to that though is   you do this for additional checks against your  concentration and I think this kind of comes   down to you and where you're going to put your  character if they're going to be in a lot of   combat then um maybe you want to have higher  AC on them there you go but this is probably   the better route to go if you're trying to stay  backline and support because constitution does   dictate your health yes but it also dictates  your ability to maintain concentration roles   concentration roles are any of your abilities that  tell you on them or any of your spells let's say   concentration if you lose concentration when  you're hit then this spell drops off or if you   use another concentration spell then this spell  drops off so having a high concentration and   keeping concentration up is absolutely crucial to  cleric and on that note let's have a conversation   here about spells so the way you're going to  want to do this is go ahead and just unselect   all these this is going to be based off of your  wisdom right so if I go ahead and take a look at   this my wisdom right now is 17. watch my prepared  spells zero to four three two one so your prepared   spells amount at the beginning of the game is  dependent upon your wisdom ability modifier   so it's at zero now so we just get one spell now  it's back up to plus three so we get four spells   so there you go that that's how that all works  itself out and your spells here you prepare from   the list that you know unlike say a wizard where  you have to transcribe all of your spells from   Scrolls you are going to just know these spells  every time you level and you have these spells   plus your domain spells your domain spells will  always be added in so if you think about this   you actually at the when I press start game  I would have six spells to choose from right   I would just simply have these two plus my  four I've prepared and prepare no uh your   spells options are going to be just based off of  whatever you really want to do for your character   um let's see here I'm trying to think it's  probably how I would go here in the very   very absolute beginning of the game is probably  something like this because command allows me to   send people prone or drop their weapon if I'm on  a ship fighting with a guy with a big huge flaming   sword make him drop his weapon Guiding Light or  guiding bolt here is going to give me Advantage   give anyone who attacks that a Target Advantage  healing word is nice because it's a ranged heel   um liqueur wounds or whatever is a melee class  heel and shield of Faith protector creature   from a tax increase its armor by two AC I would  Swap this out for bless the second I got it then   our cantrip selection choices um you just want  guidance it doesn't matter what anything else is   guidance is super important but so is pharmaturgy  gain an advantage on intimidation and performance   checks it's very nice resistance is good for you  personally make a Target more resistant to spell   effects and conditions I'm sorry I was thinking  of Blade Ward blade Ward is really good take only   half the damage from bludgeoning piercing and  slashing attacks so if you think your character   is going to be up close and personal blood this  is very very nice I like sacred flame because   it's a very nice just easy ranged can trip it's a  range damage ability so it gives you some sort of   ability that you can use every turn for range  damage if you don't want to use a spell slot   it's kind of how I I personally look at that look  at that but guidance you just need it's so strong   you'd use it every time you do a um a ability  check because it is a can trip so you can just use   it infinitely now feet is going to be dependent  upon the type of cleric domain you've chosen   once again and I would probably go with something  like War Caster so you get an advantage on saving   throws to maintain concentration on a spell that's  probably my my my go-to choice here but then you   also as a reaction you cast shocking grasp at  a Target moving out of melee range now I said   this is very good with the Tempest cleric because  they can maximize the damage here but it's still   good on a light cleric or any other cleric even if  you're playing a war domain cleric that's a really   really good option another option here too is  spell sniper you learn a can trip which is one of   these abilities here and uh the number you need to  roll a crit hit while attacking with the spell is   reduced by one this effect can stack meaning that  rather than rolling a 20 to get a crit I can roll   a 19 or a 20 which is a nice way to get a little  bit more damage and then you get access to these   additional can trips which which are just always  very nice now um another option here too is to get   a magic initiate which grants you can trips and  spell slots uh whichever one you'd want to go into   maybe something like wizard here to get access to  these can Trips Again I just really like camtrips   because it's basically a spell that you can use  every single turn if you want getting access to   shocking graph just as an actual cantrip is is  actually kind of cool right here so that's why   it's it's nice here for spell sniper if you  want to use more of a ranged blastile style   of character now another really good one is just  simply ability Improvement to just put more points   into wisdom getting wisdom up to 20 as fast as  possible with the cleric is is really really   particularly good and I quite like it but you can  still also go with elemental adapt which is going   to be very good here depending upon the type of  damage you're doing as a light cleric Elemental   adaptive fire is still really good even though  this doesn't include radiant damage you get both   radiant and fire damage spells as a light cleric  but maybe I'm gonna go with elemental adapt light   or Elemental adapt Thunder because I'm playing  a tempest this depends on what you're playing as   acid would be really good for nature or knowledge  even cold would be really good for knowledge too   and what these do here is your spells the spells  that you cast ignore resistance to that specific   damage type in addition when you deal lightning  damage with a spell you cannot roll a one meaning   you just cannot outright fail so it's a really  nice capability to add a little bit more range   punching power to your character if you need  it now these feet selections you choose that   I'm talking about right now can be choosed from  this point onward so you're going to get a feat   at 4 8 and 12. you've got three feet as a cleric  uh Fighters and Rogues get one additional one so   you can use these as you see fit across all of  your feet options you could even go with stuff   if you're trying to go really heavily into being  a shield user you can go Shield Master if you go   heavily into fighter you can pick up some of the  fighter based things but these are kind of some of   my uh my go-to picks if I were playing um a cleric  here there's some multi-classing options which you   can do with cleric is a tempest cleric and a storm  magic sorcerer now you'd want to get one to level   six first and then the other one to level six  first so however you want to play your character   do you want to be a sorcerer that has cleric  abilities or do you want to be a cleric that has   Source or abilities you would choose that first  as in what kind of weapon and armor proficiencies   and what have you and also I guess maybe what role  you'd want to have for your party the reason you'd   get sorcerer to level six is these two abilities  you are resistant to lightning and thunder damage   when you cast a spell of level one or higher that  deals lightning or thunder damage you cause a   small local storm all enemies within 20 feet take  three lightning damage or three Thunder damage   and also what you get from your cleric  capabilities I can find it on here that   is in here somewhere well they get the  ability to do Max damage with all of their   um lightning and damage spells right we talked  about that I guess it's not going to show it up   in here but that happens at level two of selecting  your domain as a cleric and really that that kind   of goes to just give you more and more um domain  spells from cleric like at level three you get   shatter and gust wind level five you get call  lightning and sleet storm then at level six you   get Thunderbolt strike and when you deal thunder  or lightning damage to a creature that is large or   smaller you can then push it back 10 feet so you  do get a lot of great abilities there but mainly   the big thing here is your channel Divinity which  is going to give you that destructive wrath and   the ability to maximize your thunder and lightning  damage and keep in mind too if anyone attacks you   in melee you can return back and do lightning  and thunder damage to them because you're a   tempest cleric now another route you can take  is six fighter 6 cleric this is or six cleric   six fighter again depending on which route you  want to take the reason I went with six fighter   rather than just Five Fighter is that it gives me  an extra feat to take advantage of as a fighter   you can you can dodge that if you want because  you get feeds again at 4 8 and 12 right total   uh respective class level so it just it's the best  way to get to maximize your Feats I would suppose um but outside of that then you would go with  your clerics domain can trips you would go with   blade Ward which is really going to help you here  right um and you're going to get access to your   fun subclass features like the war priest again  which is going to allow you to make additional   attacks we already get all the bonus juicy attacks  we get from um it's not our extra attack and then   we also have our action surge now you can also  choose a um fighting style with fighter so you   can choose dueling if you want to use one-handed  weapons you can use dual wielding if you want to   use dual wielding if you want to go down that  route or defense to get more AC or protection   if you I'm sorry the defense is the one that gives  disadvantage protection if you want to get more AC   there's a lot of really cool ways to go sword and  board with your cleric to have a really do a lot   of cool stuff once we jump into the level two  on cleric is where we start to get a lot of fun   things from our Channel Divinity capability from  war domain here so guided strike you gain a plus   10 bonus to your attack roll and that will just  kind of spiral out of control here for you because   when you're going with your your War domain as  you kind of get it up to level six you're gonna   get that guided strike here at level two which  you'll get magic weapon which is going to give you   um a infused weapon here which is gonna be a  plus one bonus to attack and damage rolls you'll   get Spirit Guardians which is that AOE which is  really good the Crusaders mantle at level five   two as well nearby allies allies do extra radiant  damage on attacks which is so lovely then you'll   eventually at level six get War God's blessing  so you get a lot of really cool close combat   capabilities putting both the fighter and the  cleric together as the war domain to really just   kind of Stack this up you are a far more utility  Caster than maybe a paladin is it just depends   on how you want to approach this role a fighter  first or cleric first and now what role you have   in mind now there are plenty of other multi-class  options here for cleric these are just two to kind   of really kind of marinate on and how ways you  can approach them and if you guys know in the   comment section below different ways to approach  even these two subclasses like hey you know what   I actually wouldn't do six fighter I'd maybe just  top at five for the extra attack and do this or   you know what I wouldn't do six and six on Tempest  and sorcerer I'd actually just do this instead   again there's plenty of ways to approach these  classes guys so please take a look at them in   as many ways as possible you have any questions  comments concerns anything like that go ahead and   let me know in the comment section below this  is my very first of this style of video and   let me know how this format works is there more  information you'd like to see hey you know this   would be really cool if you had an equipment  section anything like that would just be love   or would love to just show off for you guys to  make it easier when you are building out your   next class but as always thank you so much for  watching here today have a good one and take care [Music]   foreign [Music]

Channel: ItalianSpartacus

Views: 55,405

Keywords: How to Build a Cleric (Shadowheart) for Beginners in Baldur's Gate 3, baldurs gate 3, baldur's gate 3, bg3, bg3 classes, bg3 shadowheart build, baldurs gate 3 build, bg3 shadowheart, baldurs gate 3 shadowheart build, bg3 tips for beginners, bg3 cleric guide, bg3 cleric multiclass builds, bg3 cleric multiclass options, bg3 cleric beginner guide, bg3 cleric build guide, bg3 cleric sorcerer, bg3 cleric tempest, light domain, war domain, trickery domain, nature domain, knowledge

Id: wombJWjo63I

Length: 27min 47sec (1667 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 23 2023