...I misread the rules about the free spells for clerics, reading it as free - cast as may as you want. I have been using this is my two campaigns. All clerics must tithe to the church and take on various beliefs for their church and role play them. Life clerics cannot kill (Demons/Devils and Undead are fair game) but get free cure wounds - not as helpful as you may think - you still have to get around the bodies...
How high do your games get? for example what you are saying would allow some crazy things to happen later on.
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Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves, I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.
Free as in ignoring spell slots and the like as well (basically turning everything into a cantrip)? That seems like it could get sort of ridiculous with the amount of healing you could do.
I currently play a cleric in the life domain, and I have to say that the domain spells do not give enough specifics as to how those work. I have become confused several times as a result of wording and lack of clarification when it comes to them. It's taking me three or four times trying to figure it out to finally feel like I understand that they don't count towards your "spells known" limit. I wish there was a better explanation from the handbook.
It seems relatively clear in the SRD/PHB. This section comes after the Preparing Spells section for the Cleric, so this is a specific rule after the general rule of preparing Cleric spells.
Domain Spells
Each domain has a list of spells (its domain spells) that you gain at the cleric levels noted in the domain description. Once you gain a domain spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you have a domain spell that doesn't appear on the cleric spell list, the spell is nonetheless a cleric spell for YOU.
The bold section is what would be considered free, it doesn't have anything to do with spell slots, just the number of spells prepared.
Also, "spells known" vs "spells prepared" are 2 very different things... Clerics know all their spells, but only have a certain number prepared per day, which domain spells are always prepared and don't count against the number you can have prepared... Whereas a Wizard knows a number of spells in their spellbook to prepare from without knowing their full spell lists...
Yeah, I got all this as I said I misread the rules and am happy with it. I have a Tempest Cleric playing in one group at the moment who can't wait to spam Thunderwave but who is always to close to everyone else to cast it...all that power, unable to cast. Also a Life cleric with all that power but they are not allowed to kill.
Unlimited castings of domain spells would be unbalanced especially if you could cast them at higher levels (9th level cleric being able to constantly dish out 4d8+wis of healing per round without burning spell slots? Talk about a heal-bot). I find it interesting that you haven't been receiving complaints from other spell casters in the party. Are there others, or is this the only spell caster in the party?
I... too have misread the rules. Now I cast Mass Heal at 9th level. I mean, it IS a 9th level spell... yes, I am very happy with this misreading. It's not as helpful as you may think...
A very laid back wizard (who is in charge due to the law of the land) He is using the spell point system to cast - doesn't seem overly bothered. The cleric has been unable to cast many of his domain spells due to the possibility of damaging other players.
No one wants to play a life cleric (they cannot kill) and it has been made clear healing is to be used only if the need is great enough - no spamming spells to ensure everyone is always at 100% hits - they end up being just over 70%. Also the Life cleric has to save all life so goes around healing the monsters. (I manged to let another DM let me play one for a couple of sessions - big pacifist half-orc stood at the front telling people to stop fighting)
I can understand how if you have never played D&D before that it can become complicated with casters behaving completely differently.
The major problem I see is that I don't think this can last a long time into a game. Even fireball can potentially be cast where it isn't going to hit the party member in front of the orc.
And if you are constantly able to heal the party ( exactly how many times is good in a fight?) that can take some fun and danger out of the game as you can always restore everyone back to health.
Also bad that an option (life cleric) has been made useless while every other cleric option doesn't have a penalty.
Played for 35 years now - every other cleric does have a penalty - what D&D has lacked for many years is that many clerics are just wizards in armour. Mine have fully fledged Gods with Sins and strictures - spamming healing is disrespectful to the god it is intended for battles with many injured. Casting a mass heal because you a few points down is not allowed. It's down to role playing - do you really deserve healing and will you listen to this sermon about my god...small tithe, attend church for a month. Disrespectful to the god no more healing for you...
I think a Cantrip of Healing Word would make sense though. A Cleric using his/her turn to heal only 1d4 + would not be unbalanced. It would make a Life Cleric with high Wisdom very happy but nevertheless, still not too bad. Even if a Cleric could use a healing cantrip that did 1d4/level it would still not be unbalanced as it would take a Cleric 6 turns to heal a typical 6 person party during a combat. (I am also only making this comment based on my relatively inexperienced (2 months) 5e knowledge. I am a 1980's player.)
Only if they are worthy...and complete healing is a misuse of power...they have to be alive not at full health - big difference. Also all have to be healed - including any of the monsters. They are not instakilled in my campaign - they bleed out slowly....and have to be dispatched if you want them dead.
I played with a group that still used old cleric/druid preparation rules... I pointed it out like 10-15 times and even said I wouldn't play a cleric until the DM realized that mistake but everyone was more content to complain about no cleric heals then realizing every class is basically a wizard now.
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For my attack I will throw my spear...two handed...for 1d8...
As mentioned below a healing cantrip would be over-powered due to being able to stand around for a few minutes after each fight using the cantrip and healing everyone up.
Maybe a channel divinity - max uses per long rest heal might be ok so once per day you can use prayer of healing for free at a short rest rather than using a spell slot or something like that. But then that is what you can use hit dice for at a short rest.
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...I misread the rules about the free spells for clerics, reading it as free - cast as may as you want. I have been using this is my two campaigns. All clerics must tithe to the church and take on various beliefs for their church and role play them. Life clerics cannot kill (Demons/Devils and Undead are fair game) but get free cure wounds - not as helpful as you may think - you still have to get around the bodies...
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....
How high do your games get? for example what you are saying would allow some crazy things to happen later on.
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves, I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.
Free as in ignoring spell slots and the like as well (basically turning everything into a cantrip)? That seems like it could get sort of ridiculous with the amount of healing you could do.
I currently play a cleric in the life domain, and I have to say that the domain spells do not give enough specifics as to how those work. I have become confused several times as a result of wording and lack of clarification when it comes to them. It's taking me three or four times trying to figure it out to finally feel like I understand that they don't count towards your "spells known" limit. I wish there was a better explanation from the handbook.
How do you want to do this?
It seems relatively clear in the SRD/PHB. This section comes after the Preparing Spells section for the Cleric, so this is a specific rule after the general rule of preparing Cleric spells.
The bold section is what would be considered free, it doesn't have anything to do with spell slots, just the number of spells prepared.
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Also, "spells known" vs "spells prepared" are 2 very different things... Clerics know all their spells, but only have a certain number prepared per day, which domain spells are always prepared and don't count against the number you can have prepared... Whereas a Wizard knows a number of spells in their spellbook to prepare from without knowing their full spell lists...
Yeah, I got all this as I said I misread the rules and am happy with it. I have a Tempest Cleric playing in one group at the moment who can't wait to spam Thunderwave but who is always to close to everyone else to cast it...all that power, unable to cast. Also a Life cleric with all that power but they are not allowed to kill.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....
When i first read the rules, was pretty clear to me how it works. Free ready spells is not the same that free to cast spells
Negruss
Unlimited castings of domain spells would be unbalanced especially if you could cast them at higher levels (9th level cleric being able to constantly dish out 4d8+wis of healing per round without burning spell slots? Talk about a heal-bot). I find it interesting that you haven't been receiving complaints from other spell casters in the party. Are there others, or is this the only spell caster in the party?
Yeah, I probably wouldn't let that roll longer that the first session. Spell-slotless Revivify sounds a little over the top.
I... too have misread the rules. Now I cast Mass Heal at 9th level. I mean, it IS a 9th level spell... yes, I am very happy with this misreading. It's not as helpful as you may think...
A very laid back wizard (who is in charge due to the law of the land) He is using the spell point system to cast - doesn't seem overly bothered. The cleric has been unable to cast many of his domain spells due to the possibility of damaging other players.
No one wants to play a life cleric (they cannot kill) and it has been made clear healing is to be used only if the need is great enough - no spamming spells to ensure everyone is always at 100% hits - they end up being just over 70%. Also the Life cleric has to save all life so goes around healing the monsters. (I manged to let another DM let me play one for a couple of sessions - big pacifist half-orc stood at the front telling people to stop fighting)
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....
I can understand how if you have never played D&D before that it can become complicated with casters behaving completely differently.
The major problem I see is that I don't think this can last a long time into a game. Even fireball can potentially be cast where it isn't going to hit the party member in front of the orc.
And if you are constantly able to heal the party ( exactly how many times is good in a fight?) that can take some fun and danger out of the game as you can always restore everyone back to health.
Also bad that an option (life cleric) has been made useless while every other cleric option doesn't have a penalty.
Played for 35 years now - every other cleric does have a penalty - what D&D has lacked for many years is that many clerics are just wizards in armour. Mine have fully fledged Gods with Sins and strictures - spamming healing is disrespectful to the god it is intended for battles with many injured. Casting a mass heal because you a few points down is not allowed. It's down to role playing - do you really deserve healing and will you listen to this sermon about my god...small tithe, attend church for a month. Disrespectful to the god no more healing for you...
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....
I think a Cantrip of Healing Word would make sense though. A Cleric using his/her turn to heal only 1d4 + would not be unbalanced. It would make a Life Cleric with high Wisdom very happy but nevertheless, still not too bad. Even if a Cleric could use a healing cantrip that did 1d4/level it would still not be unbalanced as it would take a Cleric 6 turns to heal a typical 6 person party during a combat. (I am also only making this comment based on my relatively inexperienced (2 months) 5e knowledge. I am a 1980's player.)
That would allow a cleric to heal up the party completely between fights for no cost. That would give you problems.
Only if they are worthy...and complete healing is a misuse of power...they have to be alive not at full health - big difference. Also all have to be healed - including any of the monsters. They are not instakilled in my campaign - they bleed out slowly....and have to be dispatched if you want them dead.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe....
I played with a group that still used old cleric/druid preparation rules... I pointed it out like 10-15 times and even said I wouldn't play a cleric until the DM realized that mistake but everyone was more content to complain about no cleric heals then realizing every class is basically a wizard now.
For my attack I will throw my spear...two handed...for 1d8...
As mentioned below a healing cantrip would be over-powered due to being able to stand around for a few minutes after each fight using the cantrip and healing everyone up.
Maybe a channel divinity - max uses per long rest heal might be ok so once per day you can use prayer of healing for free at a short rest rather than using a spell slot or something like that. But then that is what you can use hit dice for at a short rest.