Lads, I'm going to be having my first D&D game in a

Which edition?

>>52311740
What edition? What kind of cleric?
Ultimately, though, have fun. Make you and the DM both have a similar picture of what sort of world you're going into in your heads. I hate it when I'm trying to run a supernatural mystery campaign and the PCs turn it into a murderhobo crusade.
Oh yeah, avoid murderhoboing. It's not fun for very long.

>>52311793
>>52311805

5e, I've decided on a Cleric in the knowledge Domain, with a background as a sage.

And apparently it's going to be some political intrigue, so I'm looking forward to more roleplaying and less rollplaying.

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>>52311740
Don't go full healer. Just grab a couple healing spells on the side. Being a cleric should make this effortless. Full healer gets boring except in emergencies, and most of the time, the best tactic is to burn down the baddies, then heal up after.

Also clerics kick way more ass than vidya tend to give them credit for.

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Be holy. Not holier-than-thou, but holy. Make sure you keep your faith in mind when it comes to decisions, advice (especially when it's not asked for), and activities you partake of when you're not kickin' arse in the name of the Lord or Lordess. Lordess is a word now.

DESU, your character's behavior might depend on the deity he worships. One sect of priests might speak only in phrases taken from their holy book, while another might tend to seabirds so they can be better augurs.

>>52311902
Oh ok, awesome. If it's a political intrigue campaign, you might want to think about what it means to be a cleric a lot. What is your status? How strong is your connection to the church, if any? How do you view others outside of your faith? How do they tend to view you?

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>>52311902
>knowledge domain
>sage

PTHHHHHHHHHH

AHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

>>52311956
begone munchkin

>>52311955
Right now, to be more specific, it's sort of a "4 principalities in an uneasy peace" kind of thing. The DM is finishing the touches, but the general gist is that one of the princes was overthrown, and me and the other PCs are in the city where the coup took place to check out the new ruler.

Since I'm in the knowledge domain, I was thinking be an emissary from a monastic order dedicated to a God of knowledge that controls an important library (sort of like candlekeep). But it's really just an idea.

>>52311956
What's wrong with the picks?

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>>52311973
Your "picks" are fucking fedora cringe material, and your background is generic.

>I'm a le intelligent priest who READS ALL THE BOOKS WOAHHH

>>52312149
What an absolutely abhorrent post

>>52312149
What's wrong with clerics being educated and scholarly?

Historically speaking, some of the greatest centers of leaning were in monasteries. Hell, if it wasn't for priests, alot of the classical works would have been lost after the fall of Rome. Not to mention literacy tended to be the highest in the clergy.

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Okay, I'm going to assume that since you're new and you're playing cleric, you got pressured into doing it because "we need a healer".
So.

>Combat healing is a bad meme. You will not be able to outheal the damage monsters are dealing, and even if you could, you're wasting your valuable spellslots. The best way to mitigate damage is to kill the monster before he does it.
>Thus the only healing spells you should use at combat are Healing Word and Mass Healing Word - and only to raise those, who are bleeding out, because your party members are equally good at fighting when they have 50hp and 1hp.
>Out of combat, pop a prayer of healing to recover from the battle.
>Bless is the spell you're supposed to be concentrating on most of the time.
>Bestow Curse and Contagion are also powerful against a single enemy, like a hydra.
>Spiritual weapon is a nice bonus action source of damage, and doesn't take concentration.

>>52312267
Nono, I actually wanted to be a Cleric, though I was considering being a warlock. I thought it would be interesting, plus if I was pressured into being a healslut I'd probably pick the life domain.

Thanks for the tips though! From what I understand, it's more important to buff than to heal.

By the way, which of the cattrips would you say are particularly good?

Knowledge Clerics. Intrigue

Go about learnimg secrets, have people confess secrets to you to be faithful. Build a network of faithful ears to tell you everyones business. Don't be a dick about it unless thats the kind of character you want to play. Just tell the DM that your religion has tenents of confession, that faithful members don't lie, because it obsures Truth & such. Become the ultimate secretkeeper/spymaster. Use this to do good work. Unburden the nubile daughter of the king of her secret feelings toward her father's knight champion. Task a layman to instruct the knight in his faith while reporting back to you. See if the dude is a dick or not. Influence the king that pairing them would be good/bad based on evidence. Upturn plots & schemes. That sort of thing. Be a good natured not just "Good"

My advice is not to worry about if you're a "good" player or not. I've seen so many people spend their entire first session freaking out about how well or poorly they're playing. Just relax and do what makes sense in the context of the game and it should go well.

Remember to kill them with implosion

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>>52312149
Man. I wish I got to use this bait image more. I'm whipping out one of my favorites just for you anon.

Character generation revolves around who the character is, not what they are. There are ways to make any character archetype interesting regardless of how frequently it's done. It's the entire tropes vs. cliches argument all over again. Without wishing to project, this kind of shit makes me think you're a spectacle obsessed fuck that dismisses any character that isn't running two different Unearthed Arcanas, or some really weird background that you make a writing exercise out of trying to justify.


As for you OP, my advice to you is as follows. Give your character a few hobbies and interests outside of adventuring, they give the character a little more depth and give the DM something to run with. Have a backstory with maybe a couple of loose ends the DM can use as plothooks. Avoid trying to optimize your build, and just look for fun spells/abilities you like and you think fit the character. Otherwise, stay frosty, read up on the rules, use a coaster, and have fun.

>>52312067
Sounds like a good start to the campaign. Going along with what another anon said about having outside interest, I'd try to find a particular area of interest your character has within the broad spectrum of religuous knowledge. Most scholars have at least one area of expertise and you would be surpirsed how much nailing down something like that helps with your roleplaying decisions. Maybe you study the history of nobility in this area or are compiling a treatise on the great successful coups of history. Or you're really in to tile work. Specificity is always appreciated.

>>52312335
Guidance is good all the time. Use it whenever you possibly can.
Mending is good in a city campaign, or when your DM is making you count arrows.
Sacred Flame is their only attack cantrip. Gotta have one unless you have good str/dex

>>52311933
source?

>>52311903

Seconding this. Go Life Cleric so you'll spend less time on healing spells, grab Healing Word because it's both ranged and bonus action so you won't have to use your main actions on healing. *Don't* worry about trying to keep people topped off, just use your Healing Word to keep people from getting fully unconscious-ed and ending death saves.

Most health is actually going to be coming from Hit Dice, so lean on that (as in don't spend heals between combats if you can avoid it.)

Oh, and bonus tip: don't feel obligated to go Str build just because you *can* use Heavy armor. Dex is going to give you a better Initiative roll and it's as good if not better for your AC (and cheaper to boot.) If you're going to be "healing" from the back (and you should be) your damage will probably be coming from a ranged weapon or a damage cantrip anyway.

>>52312335
What the other guy said. Guidance is really good and Sacred Flame is very useful. Your mileage may vary on Mending depending on your DM.