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Ask any veteran ofDungeons & Dragons, and they’ll tell you players spend most of their time working on their characters. Classes are balanced between strength and endurance, defense and dexterity, physical and mental, while there are also options to create balanced and versatile characters.
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This is perfectly captured in the opportunity to multiclass, allowing you to take abilities and perks from more than one class. One interesting combination is the Cleric Wizard, or Clizard, which can take some careful planning and chemistry to make stable.
Clerics And Wizards
While they both may be spell-casting classes,the Cleric and Wizard are on opposite ends of the magical spectrum. Clerics gain their power from faith in service to a particular deity, and this is reflected in their main stat Wisdom. Wizards have gained their magic powers through copious amounts of study and research which feeds into their primary stat of Intelligence.
Clerics are frequentlyplaced into the supportive role due to their easy access to healing spells, but they can also learn some offensive magic. On the other hand, Wizards are all about wielding destructive magical power to the point where they can clear who battlefields with a wave of their hand. The balance of power comes in the form of their physicality.
ThoughWizards are magically powerful, they’re physically weakto almost a comical degree. Clerics on the other hand have tank-like properties, being able to wear medium to heavy armor and wield strong weapons like axes and hammers. The desire to combine these two classes in orderto create a beefy and resilient character that can hurl some of the most powerful spells in the gamemakes sense, but it has to be earned.
Start With Cleric Or Wizard?
The first question you need to ask when starting this build is which class should start things off. Well,the Cleric of course. This is because multiclassing doesn’t guarantee a reliable boost in physical stats.
From Wizard to Cleric,you’ll gain proficiencies in Light Armor, Medium Armor, and Shields, but this won’t do much unless you’re strong enough to use them or have enough health to take hits. That’s why, although Cleric to Wizard doesn’t gain proficiencies, you’ll at least have a strong foundation.
Next, the goal is to qualify enough to multiclass into Wizard. This is between you and the Dungeon Master to decide when and how you qualify,but the baseline is that you need a minimum of 13 in your Intelligence score. This lets you gain access to some of the most basic Wizard spells.You either need to hope for good dice rolls during character creation or begin pouring at least one point into Intelligenceper level gained.
Finally, you need to determine how to control your leveling. When you have multiple classes, your levels become cumulative. For example,if you’re a level five Cleric but a level one Wizard, your total level will be six. That means in order to level up either class, you need to earn enough XP (as dictated by the DM) to reach level seven.
This is why choosingthe Cleric class as the base is important because multiclassing makes leveling up noticeably slower. By starting with the tougher class, you’re able to endure more to gain more levels for the purpose of leveling up your Wizard side to learn those powerful spells.
Best Ability Scores For Clizard
When building a character, the initial dice rolls are essentially everything. Of course, it’s based on luck, and you’re not always guaranteed high numbers, butthere’s also the safer if more limiting point-buy system. Regardless of which you choose, the Clizard should prioritize some abilities over others.
Explanation
Wisdom
This is what the Cleric side of your character will rely on to use spells.It’s necessary to make your healing and support magic more effectiveand any offensive magic more powerful.
Intelligence
To qualify for the Wizard class and use its magic,this ability needs to be one of your main scores. Without high intelligence, the power of Wizard magic will be significantly reduced.
Constitution
The main advantage that Clerics have over Wizards is their heartiness which comes from this ability.The higher this is, the more your Clizard will be able to surviveas they fight to get more levels.
Strength
Closely following Constitution, this ability is also something that Clerics can use to improve their combat abilities. Considering their proficiencies with armor,this will let them wield stronger gear for physical attack options.
Charisma
Clerics and Wizards don’t really draw many benefits from being smooth talkers andwon’t lose much by hanging back, supporting, or charging to the front lineof combat situations.
Dexterity
Due to all the bulky gear and equipment that your Clizard can wear and wield to an effective degree, this ability isn’t necessary asthe other physical stats will allow you to take plenty of punishmentand return it in kind.
Best Backgrounds For Clizard
When creating a character, you’re welcome to make up any backstory that you wish to help you fully realize them. However, there are also Background labels that can be applied to your characterthat brings with it skill proficiencies, languages, and sometimes equipment. For making a Clizard, you should consider taking certain labels.
Clan Crafter
Insight (Wisdom) History (Intelligence)
You have crafting experience thatendows you with Artisan’s Tools and any additional language of your choice. This is useful for understanding and analyzing the world and situations your Clizard may find yourself in.
Haunted One
Choose two: Arcana (Intelligence) Investigation (Intelligence) Religion (Intelligence) Survival (Wisdom)
This creepy-sounding label offers a lot of story potential for a Clizard who seeks both faith and truth through science and knowledge. The options allow for your character togain some bonuses from knowing more about magic and how to survive. You also get a choice of an additional language as well as one “Exotic” language which can be quite useful.
Shipwright
History (Intelligence) Perception (Wisdom)
Taking this label gives you knowledge of carpentry which is complemented by a set of Carpenter’s Tools. You don’t get more languages, butyou’re much sharper and even get access to aquatic vehicles if needed.
Best Domain And School Combo For The Clizard
Since they’re on different sides of the magic scale, Cleric and Wizard classes get their magical training or drive from distinct sources. For Clerics, this isa Domain under which they serve their deity, and for Wizards, it’sthe School Of Magic where they studied. The key is to mix and match them to create an adaptable and versatile Clizard.
Life/Evocation
Healing Spells Warfare Spells
A balance between support and destruction, this pair combines the magical strength of a Cleric with that of the Wizard. You’ll havea Clizard that can heal as much as it can harm.
Light/Necromancer
Light and Fire Spells Poison and Undead Spells
A more thematic combo, it embodies the idea of Clerics and Wizards being opposites. Whileone side shines a restorative light and burns with righteous flames, the other side wears down enemieswith poison while at the same time commanding death.
War/Conjuration
Power and Enhancement Spells Summoning and Support Spells
This combo basically makes your Clizard a Tank that can charge into the middle of combat.The Cleric magic enhances physical strength and performance while the Wizard magic aids the teamand summons additional forces to fight.
Best Early Wizard Spells For Clizard
Once you’re able to adopt the Wizard class, the first spells you get will be crucial.Since leveling will be more costly and every level that you put into the Wizard will have to count, there are certain spells you should learn as soon as possible to take advantage of the class in its early stages.
Booming Blade
Cantrip
Great for enhancing your physical attacks, this adds an effect to your weapon that passes on to the enemy you hit. If they move,they’ll take a chunk of Thunder damage.
Sapping Sting
A support attack debuffs an enemy bydamaging them and knocking them proneif they fail a Constitution check.
Ray Of Frost
A chilling contrast to the heat of Cleric magic,you can spray a cone of ice magic that damages enemies and temporarily reduces their speed.
Witch Bolt
One
This is a focused attack that links you with a target via lightning, andyou can do additional lightning damage on your turn as long as you’re linked, giving you an extra attack.
Ray Of Sickness
Every little bit helps and spraying a cone of sickly energygives you the chance to deal damage and poison enemies.
Healing Elixir
One of the few healing abilities that a Wizard can gain,this lets you create a health potion that you can drink or give to one of your allies.
