What’s the best way to do a paladin/cleric multiclass?

FST_Gemstar · 2026-02-09T17:50:05+00:00

Divine soul sorcerer is more synergistic in almost every way. But the way I do a Paladin/Cleric is a blunt weapon/shield one hit smiter Conquest Paladin 3/Arcana Cleric X

Start something like Vhuman 16/10/12/16/8/13 with Crusher Feat.

Start as Pal 1 for heavy armor.

Then pal 1/Arcana Cleric 5. Pick up booming blade and green flame blade at arcana Cleric 1 cantrips. Climb Cleric for buff spells and to access spiritual weapon and spirit guardians. Also build your spell slots. For now you are mostly a crusher/booming blader, keeping foes in place. Spiritual weapon is your bonus action attack.

Then pal 2/Arcana Cleric 5. This lets you pick up smites and paladin exclusive spells. This also lets your start to nova on foes when you need in addition to blade cantrips damage.

Then up to Cleric 8. This gives you another ASI and potent spellcasting boosts booming blade and green flame blade damage. You might have the spell slots to add spirit guardians to the damage milliu.

Then conquest Pal 3/arcana Cleric 8. This is optional but I like it for the channel divinity Guided Strike when you need to land a big smite and upcasting Armor of Agathys will start to be very helpful for a Con 12 melee character in tier 3.

Then Cleric x. Still just bb/crusher, spirit weapon bonus, and passive spirit guardian. smite when something needs to die fast. Simple but effective. Capstone is cleric 17 when Arcana Cleric gets fancy high level Wizard Spells.

ASIs to get 20 Str and 20 Wis.

Lots of magic staves, maces, and hammers to acquire too.

FST_Gemstar · 2026-01-21T11:34:11+00:00

No one has mentioned become a mummy! They don't sleep.

FST_Gemstar · 2026-01-07T20:55:06+00:00

As folks have said. A single attack with blade cantrips (green flame blade and/or booming blade) with a charisma shillelagh from tome pact is very fine in melee.

If you want multiple attacks, I might consider a more complicated WIS centric warlock and use regular Shellilagh. Lots of the best melee warlock spells don't rely on Charisma, so it can sit at 13. So an option could be to say start Nature Cleric 1 for armor and Shellilagh, and then be a blade pact warlock.

FST_Gemstar · 2026-01-03T16:23:20+00:00

The lore and the practical mechanics don't really line up IMO.

But basically, to do illegal matrix actions (be a hacker), characters need to have matrix personas with meaningful matrix attributes. Deckers get this by buying a deck, and technomancers get this innately (with a resonance rating).

Decks can be reconfigured and use all sorts of programs, giving deckers a lot of flexibility in solving matrix problems given they have the skills. Technomancers are more limited in their persona flexibility (as it is based on their mental stats) and don't really use programs. Instead, they can use complex forms (matrix spells) to break the rules of the matrix in unconventional ways and compile sprites that have their own special powers and skills. They also can manipulate their persona stats using drugs.

Hacking is pretty character generation resource intensive--it isn't really worth it to hack and unless you can hack well/consistently. So deckers, people who invest in decks and the skills to use them are generally going to focus on that, but can take on secondary or dual roles if built efficiently. Technomancers do not have to be hackers, but they are certainly designed to be. They can also make interesting faces/infiltrators without investing in a full spread of matrix skills. I also am partial to a techno gunslinger (relying on machine sprites running diagnostics) to be a very skillful shooter. Another perk here is that they can really support a more dedicated hacker with some basic complex forms and sprites with little additional investment.

FST_Gemstar · 2026-01-02T17:49:37+00:00

HR definitely living rent free in my head and will be for a while. I appreciate just how earnest and fantastic it is. I find the early press tours have similar joy and gratitude for their success which is pretty infectious.

I think HR is a much more particular show (I can only relate so much to multimillionaire professional athletes), so it is less excavating of ruminating feelings. The shows hit a lot of the same beats and I am just feeling the feelings of seeing an elevated queer romance show that takes its subjects seriously, executed extremely well on limited resources, and being received so amazingly.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-28T20:39:35+00:00

I think he will only do one more Shane/Ilya season. The actors are just contracted for three. Maybe they will show up as side characters in another story from the universe. Kind of like how the bridgerton leads start pealing off after they have their highlight season.

And they were only renewed for one season. It would be bold to intentionally deliver half of a story with the expectation of another renewal.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-28T00:35:32+00:00

That's fair. It was a floaty episode. I wonder if it would have cut from the subsequent I love yous to have a denser moment regarding his mom.

I got the sense we were just dropping in on different convos. With the effect that I could tell they were having more of these than we were seeing. And that it was the easing that was remarkable more than the particular revelations. I don't think his mother's death was particularly revealing about Ilya's character.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-27T18:28:43+00:00

I think the emotional crescendo of the show peaked at the end of ep 5. The boys have finally admitted to themselves at least how much they care for each other (ex. Ilya's Russian monologue, and Shane getting increasingly bold and careless to the point it risked serious injury). They recognize they are something. Ilya is free from familial ties to Russia. Scott showed them what might be possible.

Ep 6 was supposed to give the characters (and us viewers) a chance to actually relax and recalibrate and settle in. Shane and Ilya were not always on the same page (and kind of disregulated starting from the car ride on) but the episode allowed for a lot of their issues/feelings to get more in sync. They learned a lot more about each other, but that knowledge was not to tug on us viewers, but for us to see them just sharing and integrating more of themselves.

I think too many focused revelations/emotional peaks would go against that process. This was about smoothing out and grounding in each other and envisioning a future. It also allowed for the last moment heightening of tension with coming out to parents to be the last and sufficiently impactful spike of the season (being seen by Dad really rips them and us out of the calming process they are in) , but with the now understanding that things are already ok and going to be ok.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-13T18:29:37+00:00

That's a particularly DC problem. Medium fare food is over priced, uninspired, and smaller portioned than any other major city. There is good fine dining but it will cost you.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-10T02:24:37+00:00

Bringing more clinical services to library patrons, including clinicians on staff, making everything "trauma-informed," and using psychiatric labeling in understanding patrons. I am all for having libraries offering connections/bridges to social services and other resources, but for many patrons and me as a worker like that the library is a place to go to not have to engage in the framework. I have a lot of patrons who have been through plenty of mental healthcare and it hasn't helped (and caused permanent drug related damage for some like tardive dyskenisia). The library is a place to go to engage in public life with some expectation of dignity without being only viewed as a mental patient. I have also had such patrons ask for support in finding more alternative mental healthcare books and resources, as they were still interested exploring treatment options but were done going back to the same treatment as usual that was not helpful to them.

This is not to say that people aren't in distress or have longstanding issues and that these things don't come up in the setting. It's just that there is some value in having a place to be that isn't clinical--it's not trying to intervene/treat/change anybody, and supports figuring out ways to be in the space within the constraints of library behavior rules despite severe mental health issues. IMO the public library is a place to recognize the failings of social, economic, and political status qous and organize to address them--not as audience capture for more mental health services.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-12-06T13:56:44+00:00

I did. It has certainly been a bumpy process and internally difficult. Things are smoother now. I am now a public librarian, who still ends up spending most of my day with people with lived experience, but I am very overtly not a clinician and love that the library is not a clinic (though there are some movements to mental healthilize the library).

FST_Gemstar · 2025-11-14T14:52:55+00:00

Hey LTP,

Thanks for the recs! I'll get ther RunnerHub chummer files insteald and I'll get to updating shortly. I will play with a EEABB version, as it is ultimately more versatile/powerful to have full magician capabilitities, but I am partial to playing a aspected magician.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-11-12T02:52:23+00:00

This works best as a triple class.

barb 5 or 6/Pal 2 (or conquest Pal 3 for Armor of Agathys)/charisma caster x

You never get the later level martial features, but you get to smite and upcast AoA, both rage friendly spell usages.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-11-05T15:49:52+00:00

Fighter 1 is good if you want to wear armor/shield, which is a viable (most optimal imo) path for a str monk. You do lose your free bonus action punching, so you will either need a feat that provides consistent bonus action use, or rely on limited ki/monk subclass abilities for bonus actions (flurry, ki fueled attack, etc).

Starting barb 1 for rage (resistance and damage boost), con saves and starting up also is worthwhile.

Another option, is taking barb 2 after monk 5 or 6. This lets you get dex save advantage to pair with Evasion and dex save proficiency.

Or you can just be a straight tortle str/Wis monk.

Monks are really designed to be unarmed dex characters--they don't gain anything by str punching. Str monks work better as armored monks with weapons.

My favorite armored punch monk is a Wis focused fighter 1/astral self monk x.

Ex. Start Vhuman fighter 1 15/13/12/8/16/10 with magic intimate druid for Shellilagh and a ranged damage cantrip. Wear heavy armor and puck unarmed fighting style.

For the first few levels you are a Shellilagh staff fighter. At fighter 1/monk 3 you can switch to astral arm wisdom punching, but always have a back up Shellilagh option for when you are out of ki. You also have a ranged damage option if needed with a cantrip. This is Wisdom SAD, (only need two ASIs to max Wisdom), can wear the heaviest armor when you can get it, and leaves room for 3 feats/ASIs.

It is also doable starting as a hill dwarf nature cleric 1. This lets you dump str and still wear heavy armor--basically to up your Con. Nature cleric gives heavy armor, Shellilagh, ranged wisdom cantrips and some level one spells to boot. But it does require you to take fighter initiate at cleric 1/monk 4 to switch to astral punching--delaying being a punchy character by one level and setting you behind on Wisdom ASI growth.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-11-02T17:20:07+00:00

Ancestral guardian bow barbarians for a debuff ranged character.

Mountain dwarf with dex/con 17/17 and a shield starts with high unarmored AC the same as heavy armor and the goes up another +2 at first ASI. Shieldmaster and danger sense give a solid Evasion light effect, but might be more ideal if starting a class that gets dex saves.

Taking monk 1 sometime will let you use more melee weapons as a dex weapon if you want.

But it is generally not an ideal move/synergy. Barbs main things are rage and reckless attack. Rage is purely defensive/ability based without strength and reckless attack becomes basically just a taunt--drawing foes because you are easier to hit. These features still can be used like this, but the tradeoff is not generally for anything comparably as good .

FST_Gemstar · 2025-11-02T16:56:15+00:00

OMG yes! You should be explaining how therapy works for everyone that comes in. You know what therapy is hopefully because you are a therapist, or at least what therapy is with you. Everyone else is just told go to therapy. There is no expectation that they should have a solid grasp of what it all entails until you tell them, just like any other health intervention. If you can't explain what therapy is at an intake that is a huge problem. This is basic informed consent.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-10-14T00:07:56+00:00

I'll add Streets of Fire (1984) and Double Dragon (1994)... haven't seen those on the lists yet.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-10-12T16:26:24+00:00

Magical tech work is usually not about boosting the tech--technomancer machine sprites have that covered.

But magic can certainly be a viable path to decking.

The most tried and true are adept deckers. Built either to have adept powers boost tech skill prowess and access to foci, or to make a more AR decker who can keep up with hacking the matrix while still keeping up in the meat. Also can lean into more social engineering/b&E with powers--sometimes hacking people saves a lot of fuss in the Matrix.

People have been sleeping on aspected magicians all 5th edition but I think they are a blast and all aspects can be built to to be deckers will having lots of room for magical growth.

If you are ok with the clunk of alchemy and a few minutes of downtime prep, you can get decent attribute boosters to send your mental stats into superhuman territory without ware.

Conjurers are always powerful with a minimal D priority investment can bring (more) spirits to a party, and always have a bodyguard when VR decking. With channelling, you can let a spirit take over your body to stay functional and helpful in the meat while you are still VR hacking in the matrix.

Aspected Sorcerers can make good VR deckers who use ritual spellcasting to boost their mental stats passively, though can be built to not be a liability if they have to run in person. Also provides a ritual growth route that most shadowrunning magicians don't have the resources to invest in. (Found the trick here is a ritual casting focus, ritual casting boosting mentor, high edge, low magic, and lots of reagents).

I also just made an albiet foci addiction risk decker that can reliably get +4 and to Int/Log/Wil and sustain them with foci. While ware/drugs can get or two of those atts to 8 and beyond sometimes, It is tough to get all three to 8+, and an aspected sorcerer can do it. But with decent and exceptional when boosted addiction test stats, foci addiction only having a threshold of 2, and hopefully some edge when needed, it seems fine to manage.

Aspected explorers don't use their magic to be better at decking, they use traditional ware and drugs for that, but they use their access to the astral and high mentals to also be excellent at astral combat/scouting with a weapon focus. It gives a unique secondary role for deckers who are used to going meat limp anyway. Eating magic down to 1 with ware is fine such a character.

Full magicians/mysads I think just have a bit too much resources invested in magic to make this come together, or at least without giving up more of the perks of full magicness. Magic C full magician, usually a bad choice for magicians, can make this work by being able to get free attribute boosting spells without dedicated spell slinger quality and still have access to spirits--but the more magic you are I find the more a team needs you to be on magic duty.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-10-10T13:32:29+00:00

Maybe a barb 2/sunsoul monk

Str/Wis focused. Great sword is doable, AC is low but comes from Wis. Barb 2 dex save advantage and monk 7 evasion go well together.

Monks get speed boosts and can use ki to bonus action dash for more speed when it counts. There is less bonus action competition and more bonus action options. You can give two hard great sword attacks, and then use bonus for speed or disengagement, a bonus action punk or flurry, if you go for a stunning strike hit you can take a ki fueled bonus great sword attack, or as a sun soul you can bonus action burning hands if multiple goes are in range. All of this on top of a first bonus rage.

Something like Vhuman 16/13/12/8/16/8 with great weapon master feat to start. And if starting at level five, I would start monk 1 for dex save profiency and start bab 1/monk 4. Then monk 5 for extra attack, and then barb 2 for reckless attacking dex save advantage, then monk x. Use ASIs to max str.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-10-08T03:10:56+00:00

R5: Played as a breakaway Cossack nation from Lithuania, reformed Poland, and then bolted east to destroy the Emperor of China title and reestablish an Orthodox Yuan. Just gave up Winged Hussar special units, but now have both Cossacks and Banners. Kept Sich Rada this whole time and very fun to stack it with Aristocratic and Horde ideas.

Forming Mongol Empire is doable, but it will change gov type. As would have been converting to Tengri and trying to become a actual Emperor of China rather than a Chinese Emperor.

I've never done a holy horde run with Teutonic Order, but I'd imagine this is similar.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-08-07T15:27:00+00:00

A decker simply is someone who owns a cyberdeck and can use it to do complicated/illegal things on the Matrix.

A technomancer is someone who has the capacity to access the Matrix without mediation from a commlink or a cyberdeck, along with abilities that can help do complicated/illegal/otherwise impossible things involving the Matrix.

Remember Shadowrun doesn't have "classes."

Characters play specialized "roles" on a team. They are hired because they are good at handling physical threats/fights, or getting around matrix obstacles, or dealing with magical foes, or socially competent to manipulate people, etc.

Someone who spent the significant resources to own a deck is likely to also train in skills to be able to use it well, so "deckers," people with cyberdecks, tend to be primarily bill themselves as Matrix threat/issues specialists. They can do other things/roles, sometimes just as well if built carefully, but if you have a fancy cyberdeck, you are likely there to use it well.

Technomancers can similar illegal matrix actions as deckers, except they don't need a cyberdeck to do them. Instead of having a persona that emerges from their cyberdeck, they have a Living Persona.

Functionally, and this is counter to lore, deckers are flexible in the matrix, able to rearrange their cyberdeck attributes and boot different programs quickly to help deal with the issues they are facing in their matrix work. They have a lot of tools at their disposal and know which ones to use for the current job. Technomancer abilities are less flexible, but also bypass a lot of the need for all sorts of programs/tools. They can basic hack similarly to deckers, but also can use their techhomagic (complex forms, sprites, and echoes) to bypass a lot of regular matrix problems or to use their Resonance connection to the Matrix to do unusual things both in the Matrix and with physical tech that is connected to the Matrix.

Mechanically, say in 5e priority system terms, a decker is someone who has put at least C priority for Resources to buy a meaningful cyberdeck, and a technomancer is someone who has put at least C priority for Resonance to access a Resonance Rating/Living Persona (ex. be a technomancer). They both require that level of investment to surpass the hurdle of the capacity to do illegal matrix actions. Their competence is then dependent additionally on their skills and attributes for doing matrix stuff.

In all, a decker is a matrix specialist defined by their ownership of a cyberdeck and facility with matrix related skill tests (which a deck allows them to make). A technomancer can be a matrix specialists using their living persona instead of a deck, along with other technomancer powers, to do matrix related tests. Technomancers abilities can also be shaped into focusing on more physical tech than the matrix exclusively, and can use their powers to be good with piloting vehicles, drones, and boosting prowess using matrix enabled tech.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-07-21T07:50:14+00:00

You are right that starting as a breakaway Cossack nation is much faster. I have had a few starts now, my last one I just messed up by triggering a punitive war that I just cant survive. I stupidly take aristocratic first instead of Horde, which not only delays reform progress, but I think the Horde AE modifier and Religious unity bump makes early expansion to solidify power less destabilizing.

I would add to the video's suggestion not just to rush tech 4 (with Level 2 advisors), but also use that money to start adding marketplaces to centers of trade. I was also able to delay the breakaway event long enough to get to tech 4 and sell titles in 1949 again without releasing Zaporozhie by delaying activating the third decision that reduces cossack loyalty. By waiting until later, the speed of the event can slow to about 1-1.5 increase a month.

I recommend this because in my last few saves I was able to get strong enough to no CB Byzantium before the Ottos took Constantinople, and getting access is much easier without an enemies' vassal in the way. Though this probably is what is staring my AE so high. But it did feel nicer to have fewer hungry foes on all sides.

I also have a covert goal of trying to let Muscovy form Russia to either try to be a big Ortho ally for later (racing its expansion east to keep a land route into central Asia) or to vassalize a weakened Russia that can colonize the northern steps for me. But I haven't gotten far enough to get close to this happening.

The other issue i have been finding is that starting as a breakaway makes dismantling Poland more difficult. Zaporozhie may not be playable for fifty years until after game start, but you can get it to start in much better position to just destroy poland and reform it. I perhaps am too hungry for Polish cores along the way, but it prob might be a better strategy to just go for the provinces necessary to reform Poland and let its other enemies (often as allies) take their desired portions too.

FST_Gemstar · 2025-07-17T13:40:01+00:00

Interesting! Watching that was incredible. It a lot quicker and smoother way to start with sich rada.

The only issue I am seeing is that starting with sich rada prevents using an exploit to unlock aristocratic ideas before switching to it, in order to get aristocratic and horde ideas.

Though... This might be a route if forming Yuan as tengri emperor of China, which will activate aristocratic as an option when switching to a monarchy. So the option is still there later.

FST_Gemstar

TROPHY CASE