Are you guys ready for the second thread of the series? If you missed the previous one, go check it out! Here's the link to that and all future threads in this series will be linked as well go check them out!
First and foremost, this is an exercise for fun and is for us all to think about what might be a fun niche use for our 9th level spell slot that we have never thought about before, or maybe you get to play a high level campaign and were curious about what might be a fun spell to build around! Or maybe... just maybe you are a DM and want something big and flashy to happen with one of the npc's. Using these juiced spells could just be your ticket. Regardless of the reason, this is for fun and just to understand the potential power of your coveted highest power spell slot. If a spell does not do anything at a higher level, it will not be included in this list. I will put the maximum number of die in (parenthesis)after the spell if the spell deals damage or requires a roll such as healing or sleep, followed by the average damage/corresponding value of the die, and after i will explain if it hits multiple enemies, or if it stops increasing damage at a slot earlier then 9, etc. afterwards( and add some comments while I'm at it). I will start with level 1 spell slots and work my way up. Some of these options are surprisingly useful in your toolkit, and others are... interesting. I will also put a ranking at the end of the spell for 4 categories going F (terrible/unusable),D (bad),C (average),B (decent/above average),A (great/powerful), and S (one of, if not the best option in said category). The four categories are:
Pure Class Character (PC): What is the power of this spell if you are only in your one class? Some spells are edged out because higher levels spells can be a lot more powerful. Mass heal vs. cure wounds for example. This grade will tell you how powerful this spell is in the context of the entire spell list for just this one class.
Multiclass Character (MC): If you are multiclassing, usually you do not get access to the higher level spells even if you still have higher level spell slots to cast spells at. This makes some spells a lot more enticing and viable not only because you might have a different niche in the party, but their biggest competitors are gone. A high level spells ranking here doesn't matter as much since you are unlikely to have access to it, but if you do have access to it, this grade will reflect it.This grade will tell you how powerful this spell can be in the context of a multiclass character that doesn't have access to the highest level spells.
Utility (UT.): This ranks spells on their ability to handle niche situations compared to other spells cast at this level. While a spell like invisibility could rank low on power in multiclass or pure class characters due to not being that good in a lot of combat situations etc., it has a place and a use that can be strong when given a good opportunity. generic damage spells that are interchangeable will rank lower here usually. This grade shows how good a spell could be under certain circumstances, or can reflect a spell that has a lot of modes that are good in a variety of situations even if it is lower power compared to others.
Flavor (FL): Spells that, when cast at the higher level really flesh out a character or thematically make sense, rank higher here. The big evil enemy putting a bestow curse on someone is just full of flavor. This grade shows spells that really add to the story or to a characters personality.
We're doing the cleric today. The men of the cloth. The saints (or not) that are just as comfortable supporting the team as they are utterly destroying their enemies. Some of these spells really do feel like they were blessed from some divine power (and others cursed). You get your first level 9 spell slot at level 17. If you want to see the domain specific spells they will be right after the standard spell list if their spell is specific to that domain. Without further ado, let's get started!
1st level spells:
Bane Just like with the bard, this is entirely underwhelming at 9th level. 11 enemies have a "CHANCE" to be affected, and if they are it just makes them subtract a d4 from their attack rolls which has a "CHANCE" to matter. Okay so let's look at the extremes of what this spell can do. If it hits all enemies, you would be subtracting 1-4 (11-44 for all 11 enemies) from those targets attack rolls and saving throws. The effect is too spread out and too minor to warrant using it in about 99.99% of circumstances. I can't think of a time this would be better than a 9th level of some other spell, but I'm guessing someone could probably pose a hypothetical situation where it would be. Most of the time you wouldn't want a 9th level hold person anyway and this is basically worse, but we'll talk about that when we get there. The final nail in the coffin? Concentration. You disgust me bane, get out of my games. Sorry bane but you aren't even competing for this spot as far as power goes.
(PC): F (MC): D- (UT): C- (FL): B
Bless You know how I said all those things about bane? Well bless is about the same, only slightly more tolerable. First off, unless you miraculously have 11 people in your party, you won't be casting this at level 9. Now that that's out of the way, what does it do? Well it's like Bane, except that it always work and adds numbers to the rolls instead subtracts them. This can be quite a bit better than bane cause most player characters would appreciate that extra oomph to hit or succeed a saving throw and it always works on every person in your party. I wouldn't suggest this really unless you're maybe doing a pacifist character and your other 9th level spells just don't do anything, or this is one of your options for a multiclass character that is hard support. This isn't anything too exciting and it's not very helpful all the time and concentration makes me want to throw up almost, but casting it right before the big fight is very flavorful for a true cleric. This could also be fun as a divine intervention for the DM's to just literally bless the party if it seems appropriate. (Bane could also be fun as divine intervention if the DM makes it guaranteed for that matter)
(PC): D+ (MC): C (UT): B- (FL): B+
Command Now this spell is fun. Don't get the illusion that it's broken or anything, but it's flexible and could be pretty decent in some circumstances. Up to 9 creatures that fail wisdom saving throws obey one word you speak. Depending on your DM, you might be able to get away with words like betray to try and get them to fight each other which would be bonkers, and even if you don't have such a cool DM who would reward you for wasting your 9th level spell slot, you could always go to basics like flee, drop, distract, etc. This isn't the most powerful, but it is one of the most flavorful. ( imagine playing a chef themed character that cooked a massive meal, and then you command a whole bandit camp to "eat". See what I mean?)
(PC): D+ (MC): C- (UT): B- (FL): A
Create or Destroy Water Okay, so at level 9, you can create up to 90 gallons of water in a container, destroy up to 90 gallons of water in a container, or make it rain 90 gallons of water. That might sound like a lot, but that's actually about the same amount of water as a large fish tank. Unless the big evil guy has a pet fish that you just really, really hate, don't really bother here. I guess one real use for this spell is making it instantaneously rain in a 70 foot cube, or destroy fog in a 70 foot cube, but that's still not really worth the slot. Sorry create or destroy water, but you're not making the cut.
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): C (FL): D+
Cure Wounds (9d8)(45 average +spellcasting mod) So one of the most bread and butter spells for cleric is just a strict downgrade from mass heal and mass cure wounds at the highest level if you are a pure cleric. I'm sorry to say it, but if you have access to mass heal or even mass cure wounds then there is no reason to use this at a spell level when you can cast the others. If you don't have some of the stronger healing spells or access to them this becomes much more enticing compared to healing word, and is still good at the lower end of your spell slots to keep people topped off. This is not a good use of your level 9 spell even without access to some of the higher level spells though, and shouldn't be used unless you are absolutely desperate, but this having the utility to be cast at any spell slot level for different situations (albeit being a weak option usually) does help it in the multiclass department or on a cleric who doesn't invest many slots into healing spells.
(PC): D (MC): C+ (UT): B- (FL): C
Guiding Bolt (12d6)( 38 average) This spell is meh on a pure light cleric ( because of corona of light) and is still pretty bad compared to the inherit spells on a light cleric. It is a good chunk of damage but the chances of missing or just doing low damage at that high of a slot is pretty harsh. It gets better when you have opponents with disadvantage and a way to reroll the damage if it's low if you can swing that somehow, but you could also put that effort into... something else and get the same or better results? As far as flavor goes you are just shooting out a guided bolt of light so nothing really special, and the utility doesn't scale in level. My decree on this spell is: Decisively Below Average.
(PC): D+ (C if on a light cleric) (MC): C- (UT): D+ (C if on a light domain cleric) (FL): D (C if on a light domain cleric)
Healing Word (9d4)(22.5 average +spellcasting mod) No. Just NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Okay, maybe as a joke. But never cast this past your lowest spell slot usually okay? The increase is 1d4 which is pitiful and has no other bonus scaling. The main use for this spell is just raising someone that is out of health up as a bonus action. Amazing at 1st level spell slots, and terrible at every other spell level if you have any other form of healing (and still pretty bad without other healing). Okay I'll give a hypothetical situation. Somehow your action did a lot of damage to an ally (Why??? You're a cleric! Stop hurting your teammates by accident!) and you desperately need to heal as a bonus action and you don't have mass healing word prepared. Then, and only then, maaaaaaaybe. You could also just, you know, true resurrection if that person dies (i'm assuming that far into the game you have the money to afford it) and save yourself and them the embarrassment. While the power is terrible on this spell, the flexibility of it more than means it should be on your spell list do to what this spell can let you accomplish in a fight.
(PC): F (MC): D- (UT): A+ (FL): C
Inflict Wounds (11d10) (55 average) Barely better than guiding bolt and you have to be melee ( although you don't get disadvantage in melee like guiding bolt). It does have a chance to just high roll and deal a massive amount to a target, but you probably have a better toolkit to deal a lot of damage or more likely is someone else on your team does without blowing your load on this spell. Not much to see here. One thing that you can do, however, is if you are a death domain Cleric you can cast this at level 5 (7d10) and hit two targets due to improved reaper (35 average per target), and then add your channel divinity on top of it in order to go nova and deal a lot of damage if you hit one or both targets while still holding onto your higher level slots. ( +5 + twice cleric level if you channel divinity on one of the hits.) Can be good if you need high damage on two targets or even just one and ping another. Anyways, that's how the spell is useful, not at level 9 unless you're absolutely desperate, and even then healing the party is more likely straight better or your plethora of other damage options.
(PC): D (B- on a grave domain cleric) (MC): D+ (UT): F (B+ if you are grave domain) (FL): C (B+ on grave domain cleric)
2nd level spells:
Aid If you are a multi class cleric, this spell is really good to tank some of your team out during a fight preemptively. 40 health between 3 targets is 120 health total which is good. This can also "heal" one of your allies and bulk out two others. As a pure cleric you usually want to save your spell slots for healing cause you get more bang for your buck, but their is some situations where you would want to cast this at a high level for extra bulk (probably between 5th-8th level most of the time). If you are a tanky/support multi class character this is very powerful, and if you are a pure cleric this is situational.
(PC): C (MC): B+ (UT): B+ (FL): C+
Blindness/Deafness Strict upgrade over bane pretty much. Disadvantage is much better than -4 to rolls in most cases. It hits eight targets and it does a lot more if it sticks than bane. Not sure if bless is better still though. This is a meh support spell for a level 9 slot. Deafness almost never matters that late in the game unless your DM happens to through you against high cr bats for some reason.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): C+ (FL): B
Enhance Ability Okay, just hear me out. This is actually better than it looks. Envision this. You and 7 other people (8 total) group up and you enhance with the bull's strength. Now all 8 of you can carry twice the load, and if there is a goliath or two in the party (or anything else with powerful build) You guys can start collectively lifting things that weigh like 3,000 lbs+ (depending on the collective strength score of your party) and get advantage on lifting said object. You guys could pick up medium size boats and carry them around on your backs. You could carry a golden throne out of a room without breaking a sweat ( or any other similarly sized object that you might want to steal). I wouldn't know when that would matter, but it has too somewhere right? Right? On the extreme end, if you have eight 20 strength characters/npc's with powerful build, they could lift up an object that is 9'600 lbs!!! That's insane. Well, if you're about to go up against some mind flayers or some other enemy that targets a specific saving throw, you might want to preemptively cast this spell before shit hits the fan it could save someone's ( or multiple peoples) life. Just be wary that it requires concentration so try and play it safe while using this at 9th level (you won't be casting this at 9th level if you have less than 8 people anyways). Just like the other low level spells, this is better when multi-classing. A very flexible and flavorful spell, if lacking in the power compartment.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): B+ (FL): C+
Hold Person Oh boy we can paralyze up to 8 humanoids in your vicinity. Already beats bane so... yay haha. Situational spell, but if you're getting chased by the towns guard or something this is a non lethal way to drop some of them and make your escape easier. Can be good against a cult if you happen to fight one. The problem is it's not guaranteed (as well as only working on human like enemies), and it has a very limited range when multi-targeting.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): B (FL): B
Prayer of Healing (9d8) (36 average +spellcasting mod) So if you are a life cleric this is actually usable If you don't have mass heal prepared for whatever reason. As a life cleric this heals 72+ spellcasting mod hp per target for up to 6 targets. So if you have a 6+ party this could get you on your feet before a massive boss if for some reason you weren't able to fit mass heal into your spell list and are desperate to heal your party. I would still suggest mass heal since you can do it mid combat and heal for a lot more as well as remove curses and poison. This is strictly out of combat and heals a lot less. But if you have a vendetta against mass heal or are multiclass and lack access to it or mass cure wounds, this is an acceptable replacement in a sense. If you have the time though it might just be better to cast this once or twice at a lower level and save your 9 slot still.
(PC): C- (B- on a life cleric) (MC): B (UT): B- (FL): B-
Spiritual Weapon (4d8) (16 damage average +spellcasting mod) This spell is deceiving and actually a lot better than it looks. It's only a bonus action to attack each turn so you can still take your action each turn, as well as not requiring concentration so it won't have a chance of going away unless you actually drop. You keep this for 1 minute, so approximately 10 rounds (160 average if you hit all ten attacks before adding your spellcasting mod). This might not be overpowered, but for long drawn out fights this can really help wear down an opponent's health pool if your spell list/domain is lacking. If your cleric domain gives you divine strike, between this and your melee attack you will be doing quite a bit of consistent damage. ( war domain and order domain have the most synergy with this by further increasing your damage output) Don't be sad at all if you want your concentration for something else however. The extra damage from the higher levels are nice but take a few turns to really shine so some 9th level spells might be better (cough, cough mass heal) unless you really need to add some consistent damage to a fight or are a damage focused cleric. If you are using other spells with concentration, spirit guardians could represent a good chunk of damage on top of whatever you are concentrating on. You could cast this at level 9 and have something like a level 8 spirit guardians or visca versa which makes this a pretty good way to just keep stacking up your damage per round on top of your other spells/abilities.
(PC): B+ (MC): B+ (UT): B- (FL): A-
3rd level spells:
Animate dead Alright now we're talking! If your part way through a fight and your wizard and fighter got some kills in, you can now turn up to 13 dead enemies into minions. This is potentially extremely powerful and if you have the access to do this, can flip a hard fight on its head. Be warned though that after 24 hours you lose control of the minions and you better have destroyed them before then or recast this spell because they will be mad. The skeletons or zombies you raise can either be really good or meh depending on the fight and how much aoe the opponent has. If they have a lot of humanoid minions and little area of effect damage, they will be in deep trouble. While the skeletons/zombies seem like they wouldn't be that good cause of their low cr, thirteen of them is no joke for the enemy because some of them are bound to hit, as well as soaking up resources from your opponent to deal with them while your party is still fighting them. A multiclass character gets more benefit from this spell due to how this spell scales better than other low level spells (controlling more undead is stronger than say, adding a d8).Overall a solid spell if the circumstances are right for it, and creating an undead army that stays with you isn't half bad either if you go that route.
(PC): C- (MC): B (UT): B (FL): A
Bestow CurseAnother great flavor spell. Cursing someone indefinitely until it is dispelled is pretty fun (albeit a little evil). Mid combat it would probably not be worth it past level 5 since a 5th level or higher version of this spell doesn't require concentration. Maybe if you are expecting said enemy to run away and you need to hunt them down later it could help down the road, but combat wise this isn't very good at 9th when you can get essentially the same effect level 5-8.
(PC): D- (MC): C- (UT): B (FL): S
Dispel Magic At 9th level this is the only way to guarantee breaking any and all magical effects from other spells, so it could be quite powerful. This can be entirely unimportant and the worst option on your adventure cause it won't do anything, or it can be one of the most important and powerful spells you can cast. Campaign/fight dependent, but quite strong in the right circumstance. Remove curse also makes this obsolete as a counter to a 9th level bestow curse, but this affects much more things besides curses making it a great catch all.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): A- (FL): C
Glyph of Warding (11d8) (49.5 average) Now this is a spell you can break. It's pretty meh if you set up one to use before a fight where the enemy "might" be, but being able to set this up before a long rest expecting the fight the next day is essentially free damage. That's not the best use for this spell though, and it's just meant to be broken by the players. If you can set up some elaborate trap using multiple instances of this spell, that is your golden ticket and is extremely fun to work with.
(PC): D+ (MC): C- (UT): A (FL): B
Magic Circle Now, this isn't really one you want to be casting at the highest level. If you alternate with another player, you can take turns alternating castings and long rests where you can indefinitely trap a creature. By yourself though this spell only lasts you 7 hours, so it's not quite enough. If you can cast this during a long rest without breaking the long rest though (depends on how your DM interprets the rules), you can keep this spell up forever without wasting your 9th level spell slot. It's just not quite enough on the returns for each level of spell slot you increase, and this effect is fairly specific and hard to find an optimal time to use it in the first place at this level. On the DM side though you can have a cult or a monastery that watch over an ancient evil keeping it trapped in this circle until the party ruins it somehow or were hired to slay it and they drop the circle. That would be an interesting story point.
(PC): D (MC): D (UT): B- (FL): B+
Mass Healing Word (7d4) (17.5 average) Again, this one is really bad compared to mass heal or mass cure wounds making it obsolete on pure casters when you are just looking to maximize healing, but most healing spells are. I guess if you are a life cleric (so you can maximize this out to be 28 healing each. 168 total) this is a lot more enticing even if it is still situational. It might be worth it as a bonus action if you just have something that is mandatory as an action bar none. Overall though not exciting at level 9 and is just a glorified healing word that isn't as flexible cause of the higher spell level, this is still a flexible spell meant for certain circumstances and can make your team hold out longer in a grindy fight. This spell is decent, but underwhelming a majority of the time and needs you to have multiple people near/at death to get the full potential of this spell.
(PC): D (MC): C (UT): B (FL): C
Spirit Guardians (9d8) (40.5 average) If you are super evasive and hard to hit, or you have war caster and/or resilient con, this could be an amazing spell for you. Getting damage in an area around you that still works even if the opponent succeeds the saving throw and continuing to do so for multiple turns is amazing, especially since the spell moves where you want it too. If you think this could trigger about 6-7+ times in a fight before losing concentration or the fight is over, this is probably one of the strongest spells you could cast unless your'e tempest or light domain. If you hit one target for the full duration of this spell at this level, you will hit 100 times with 405 average damage. and that's with one target. Now having something trapped in with you for that duration is impossible to say the least, but maybe you can do something like magic circle and trap a creature in with you, and now we're really talking. you could even stand outside the circle so it can't melee you, and you move so your guardians hits it in the circle each turn (is that too much metagaming? Maybe.). Just a solid damage spell mid combat if you can afford/support the concentration and spell slot, and not hitting allies with an aoe spell makes this have a strong use over the other aoe spells. If you have other good aoe spells for damage at higher levels like a fireball, this isn't as good for a multiclass character, but it is by no means a bad damage spell and is good on some situations over said fireball. Some amazing synergy.
(PC): A for offensive and balanced clerics, C for tempest, light, and support clerics (MC): B+ (UT): B- (FL):B
4th level spells:
Banishment This could be powerful and is a better option than like hold person if you want to use the spell for combat purposes. You can banish up to 6 targets to another plane of existence mid combat for as long as the concentration lasts ( or indefinitely if you keep the concentration up a whole minute and they weren't from your plane to begin with), which is arguably better than paralysis with hold person. This can target non-humanoid enemies as well and not letting them get a saving throw each turn really makes this compete. If you need to hold more enemies and they are human, or you specifically need to kill them or do a non-hostile take down, hold person could be better situationally, but I would suggest considering this first unless the situation calls for it.
(PC): C+ (MC): C+ (UT): B+ (FL):C+
5th level spells:
Flame Strike (12d6) ( 42 average) If you can hit a bunch of enemies in this spell, like 3+, this is a great option cause the damage still goes through on a failed save as well as doing both fire and radiance damage, letting you target an enemies weak spot more effectively. I actually wouldn't really suggest playing this past level 5 because the difference between 5th level-9th level is only 4d6 ( 14 average), so a majority of the time you should probably just cast this at level 5 or 6 since the returns per spell slot aren't much unless you hit 3+ targets or need to just burst someone down asap. Gets a lot better if you have a light clerics corona of light active, but light clerics also get fireball so you will probably use that a majority of the time instead balancing it out.
(PC): B (MC): B (UT): C (FL): C
Geas You can have a creature permanently charmed with this until it is dispelled and that alone is pretty cool. You can punish bad actions as well with the damage part and you can condition someone pretty hard with this spell to dominate somebody into being subservient to you, to any sort of sick ideas you have to rule the world (or a small town). Another spell that is good for rp purposes but not always that good for 9th level.
(PC): D- (MC): D- (UT): B+ (FL): A
Insect Plague (8d10) (44 average) This is the long range/crowd control version of spirit guardians. If you can't or shouldn't be thick in the fight this is your dot (damage over time) version of spirit warriors. Be careful though since you can hit allies, but if you can get a bunch of enemies in this spell or force them to go through it a few times, this represents a lot of damage. If you can afford the concentration and you can't stay in melee but need to do damage, there is a lot of worse options than this, and this can really do a number on the enemies, especially hordes. Just like spirit guardians, some multiclass builds get better aoe than pure clerics lowering the power of this a little, but it's still a good choice.
(PC): A- for offensive and balanced clerics, and C for tempest, light, and defensive clerics. (MC): B (UT): B (FL): B-
Mass cure wounds (7d8) (31.5 average per target+ modifier) Yet another spell that gets outclassed at level 9 by mass heal. This is great healing, but if you packed great heal this is obsolete unless you think your party would need even more supplementary healing. On a life cleric though, this is 56+ modifier healing each, 336+ 6xmodifier total which is almost half of a mass heal. This could be a viable replacement for mass heal on a life cleric since you can cast it level 5-9, making it more flexible for the slightly lower total healing. Mass heal is still a much better heal spell with double the total healing, but that can be cast only once. If you are doing really long slogs and multiple fights, a life cleric might prefer this spell to/or in addition to mass heal. This is the only other spell that can give mass heal a run for its money in the healing department, but only if you're a life cleric. For other clerics this is a strong option to be flexible with, but can't replace mass heal for an efficient 9th level slot. If you can swing this on a multiclass character this is probably the most powerful healing option available to you.
(PC): B (A+ on a life cleric) (MC): A (UT): B (FL): C+
Planar Binding If you have access to summoning an elemental or something else and making a magic circle in your party, you can start to make some strong minions to do your bidding theoretically. Outside of that, this is an incredibly powerful spell but good luck actually having this work on anything. I would say most DM's will actively try to prevent you to bind something if it isn't for story purposes since having free minions that you can increasingly add too will probably break your campaign ( unless it was broken to begin with)
(PC): F (MC): F(UT): ( F or S depending on campaign and DM) (FL): C+
6th level spells:
Create Undead A must have tool for all necromancers. An army of ghouls, ghasts, wights, and mummies are not to be underestimated and your undead army can really mow down enemies if you manage to build one up. You would only cast this at level 9 to reassert control over a bunch of undead minions and you used most of your 6th-8th level slots, but those minions represent a lot of damage and soak up resources from your opponent to kill, so it could be worth it if you create an undead legion.
(PC): B- (MC): B (UT): B (FL): A
Heal (100) Not really good pass level 6 on pure casters or life clerics, but this is strong. You heal 70 hp with a level 6 casting of this spell, and only get 10 extra hp per higher level. Maybe casting it at level 7 or 8 could be viable if you aren't a life cleric and you are out of level 6 spell slots while a single target needs a heal or you are multiclass, but at level 9 mass heal dominates it so you shouldn't ever use it in the 9 slot while that is available.
(PC): B (C- on life clerics) (MC): A (UT): C- (FL): B
Conjure Celestial As of the time of this writing, the only cr 5 celestial in the core book is a unicorn. Now a unicorn on your side could be incredibly powerful or can get destroyed right away depending on what you're fighting and how. If the unicorn can easily get one rounded by the enemies without much trouble, well that won't be too good. If the enemies wouldn't focus on the unicorn or you can protect it fairly well, it has some powerful abilities and attacks that include multiattack, healing, some spells, and a teleport as well as its attacks being counted as magical. It probably isn't worth it since it will probably just distract the enemies a little bit until it dies, but I'm an optimist and if this stays on the field for a few turns it might be worth it.
(PC): C- (MC): C- (UT): B+ (FL): B
Etherealness This spell doesn't really matter unless you need to go into the ethereal plane. It might be cool but it is bad unless you're hunting ghosts or need to go through it for story purposes.
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): A (FL): A
7th and 8th level spells:
None
9th level spells:
mass healNormally I won't do the 9th level spells since I want to showcase the spells that are a lower level, but I have been comparing so many things to mass heal I thought I would include it here so you can read the spell yourself and see why it is so much stronger when cast at the 9th level over all of your other healing options. 700 healing as you choose anywhere as well as removing diseases is quite powerful and makes casting the other healing spells in the 9 slot look terrible. I will say this is almost always a must have on any cleric interested in maximizing their 9th level slot, and should only rarely be put to the wayside for other spells. (life clerics can get away with a mass cure wounds though.)
(PC): S (A on life clerics) (MC): S? (you won't have access to this without magical secrets from a bard or only 3 levels in another class. (UT): S (FL): A+
Arcane Domain Clerics:
Magic Missile (1d4+1 x 11) ( 3.5 damage per dart, or 38.5 average total) This spell could be good if you need to finish off a few of low health enemies that are really spread out, or the final boss has less than 40 health or so and you really need to finish him off before he kills someone. Nothing exciting or too strong, but it does the job of magic missile well enough. Its power is equivalent of casting almost 4 separate uses of magic missile at 1 time, so take that as you will. ( probably not good enough usually, but just good enough when you need it now)
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): A (FL): C+
Magic Weapon It stops scaling past 6th level spell slots, so you shouldn't bother past that. +3 to both hitting and damage as well as making a weapon magical is very strong if you throw this onto your fighter or ranger if you don't have another use planned for your concentration. It makes their damage higher and more consistent at the same time and is a great support option at 6th.
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): B- (FL):A-
Death Domain:
False Life (1d4+44) (46.5 average, 45-48 hp) Even if you are playing solo, it is probably better to just heal yourself. It's not enough temp hit points to matter more than just healing yourself with heal or mass heal, and in parties this is almost straight outclassed by aid. At level 9 this is a waste, but their might be some optimal level to cast this spell (that I wont bother trying to find cause that's not the point of this post.) If I had to guess, it would be at 5th level (26.5 average health, 24-28 hp) since it doesn't compete with heal for a slot.
(PC): D- (MC): D+ (UT): C (FL): C-
Ray of Sickness (10d8) ( 45 average damage) This is bad for all the same reasons guiding bolt is bad. On a fail it does nothing. You use this at lower levels for the utility and that doesn't scale. Just like inflict wounds however at 5th level doubling down on two targets could be very strong depending on the circumstances, and you always have this for free as a death cleric. I'm assuming you haven't gotten improved reaper on a multiclass character, but if you do, the ranking should be the same as a pure cleric.
(PC): B+ (MC):D+ (UT):B+ (FL): B+
Vampiric touch (9d6) ( 31.5 average) As cool as this might be it's all for nothing like ray of sickness, guiding bolt, and inflict wounds. Just like inflict wounds this is only melee range and should be cast at 5th level. 5d6 at 5th level vs. 7d10 on inflict wounds means you should only use this over inflict wounds if you are down a good chunk of health. The nice thing is that the way spell is worded, you might be able to heal off this spell with your channel divinity and if your DM believes you can interpret the rules like that, you can get yourself a really big heal between the double casting and the channel divinity. Even without that, this is a solid spell for sustain and okay damage in a pinch at 5th level (not 9th)
(PC): B+ (MC): B+ with improved reaper, C otherwise (UT): A with improved reaper, C otherwise (FL): A
Blight (13d8) ( 58.5 average) This is basically what inflict wounds wish it was at the higher levels. This does half damage on a fail as well as being ranged. If the enemies you want to double cast this on at 5th level have high ac, you should use this over inflict wounds or vampiric touch for the guaranteed damage when you just need to deal damage. As a 9th level spell this is just alright, and is usually never going to be your best option even with the high damage potential if you highroll. ( unless some tree person really, really needs to die)
Cloudkill (9d8) ( 40.5 average) This is much worse then some of the other area dot damage spells in most circumstances cause it moves. Like the others the damage is guaranteed which is nice. If you are part of a large scale war where you just send this down through their ranks maybe? I would suggest just sticking to spirit guardians or insect plague since they are predictable in their placements. This could have a use over them in some situations but that shouldn't come up often. (this being poison damage unlike the others is also a very big negative)
(PC): C (MC): B- (UT): B (FL): B+
Forge Domain:
Searing Smite (9d6) (31.5 average) Since the initial damage scales only and nothing else as well as this requiring concentration and taking you a couple of possible swings to hit, I'm gonna go on a limb and say never use it at level 9...
(PC): D- (still better than bane arguably) (MC): D (UT): D+ (FL): B+
Heat Metal (9d8) (40.5 average) If the big bad evil guy is in armor, you just won this fight essentially if you can maintain concentration. Guaranteed damage and cooking someone alive will do it. If someone is not wearing heavy, metal armor than this spell does very little. It's okay initial damage but I'm assuming at this stage in the game the person will just pull out a new weapon cause they will drop their other one if you use this on like a sword or something. (although if they have a magical one of the kind weapon you can essentially keep them from using it until they break your concentration neutering your opponent a little.)
(PC): C+ (MC): B- (UT): A- (FL): B-
Elemental weapon This spell gives you +3 to hit and plus 3d4 (10.5) extra damage of an element of your choice. This spell gets no bonuses past level 7, so don't use this as a 9th level spell slot. Put this on your fighter and it makes them hit quite a bit easier and deal about 10 extra damage per hit. Could be good if you just don't have anything to do with your concentration and is a decent support option.
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): B (FL): B+
Wall of Fire (10d8) (45 average damage) This spell is a great way to block an area off from low health enemies as well as chunking big enemies and doing potential dot. If you can reliably hit a few creatures on cast as well as wall an area off this is a good spell. It is situational compared to the other area dot effects, but this can do a good bit more damage than them as well as keep your allies safe if they stand on the correct side.
(PC): B (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Animate Objects (I will copy and paste this over from the bard page cause their is so much to go through and it is about the same with the cleric)
For each size category, I will list the damage that you can get if you maxed out the spell and controlled the most of said size as you can.
You can have 18 tiny and/or small objects( Tiny: eighteen attacks of +8 to hit, 1d4 + 4 damage. Assuming half hit, 58.5 damage average)(smalls: eighteen attacks of +6 to hit, 1d8 + 2 damage. Assuming half hit, 49.5 damage average)
9 medium targets (nine attacks of 2d6+1 per hit. assuming half rounded up hit, 37.5 damage average)
4 larges and two smalls (four attacks of 2d10+2, and two attacks of d4+4 per hit. assuming half hit, 28.5 damage damage average)
or 2 huge and 2 small objects (2 attacks of 2d12 + 4 per hit, and two attacks of 1d4+4 per hit. Assuming half hit, 18.5 damage average)
This could lead to some really good damage if an enemy lacks the ability to knock out multiple objects at a time. The damage i posted above might not be realistic, but it can give an idea of the power of this spell still. It's very easy to have 18 tiny/small objects. a bag of ball bearings or caltrops have 20 each inside of them. This spell gets to levels of ridiculousness if paired with an aoe buff like the paladins holy mantle. Outside of strong paladin synergy, this still represents a lot of potential damage against an enemy and has to be dealt with right away or they risk dying, thus wasting the enemies resources. Huge objects might seem like a terrible idea given how low their potential damage is, but they are unique in that they can grapple enemies incredibly well. They count as HUGE. They can grapple "practically" anything in the game as long as your DM is not a buzzkill. They have the best HP out of the objects, so you can expect them to actually survive attacks reasonably well with their 80 hp. On top of that, having 2 huge objects both trying to grapple a GARGANTUAN enemy is just hilarious. They have 18 strength so it's not out of the question.
(PC): Hard to judge, but D+ to B+ depending on the target (more variance than other damage spells in this regard) (MC): C- to A- for same reason as (PC) (UT): A- (FL): B
Creation Okay so you can make a large cube of a specified material for a short amount of time? Meh. Unless you can come up with a way to break this spell, all you get out of it is 25 ft cube of something. You could make a massive boulder to block the entrance to a place I guess since you could probably cover the door with it. Maybe you guys are on the run, and you find a cave to rest in. You can make a large boulder with this spell to cover the entrance so nobody can get in and you can long rest to get the spell slot back. Just a thought but that's the best scenario I can think of, but I'd like to hear if you have a better one!
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B+ (FL): B-
Grave Domain:
False Life (1d4+44) (46.5 average) I already covered this over in the death domain. Still sucks!
(PC): D- (MC): D+ (UT): C (FL): C-
Ray of Sickness (10d8) ( 45 average damage) Same thing as false life I covered it under Death domain. It is actually quite a bit worse here on grave domain cause you don't have the improved reaper ability to give it the extra oomph at level 5 or lower.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Vampiric touch (9d6) ( 31.5 average) yet again, covered in death domain and death domain just does this spell so much better cause of improved reaper I'm sorry.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): C (FL): A
Blight (13d8) ( 58.5 average) And the last time, already covered in death domain. This is viable at level 9 if you need a high damage option to kill a low health enemy since this still does guaranteed damage, but not exciting or as powerful as some other options. At least this is inherent in your domain though so you can grab more support spells or other damage spells and still have access to an effect like this.
(PC): C (MC): C+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Knowledge domain:
Confusion Overall this is a great spell if you are just looking for a good time and it's a large battle. You can cause a 35 ft sphere to make everyone inside start acting randomly and can really add an element of randomness to an encounter that is incredibly enjoyable to watch (especially if you catch an ally or two in the spell *wink*)
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): A (FL): S
Life Domain:
Doesn't get any spells not on the original spell list or that scale if they aren't on the spell list
Light Domain:
Burning Hands (11d6) (38.5 average) When you would choose this over other spells, you have a perfect cone of a bunch of enemies in front of you to cast this on and your allies would be hit if you tried one of your other domain spells. I would say 4+ would be the perfect amount, and only if you can't get more enemies in one of your other area spells without hitting an ally. Situational, but can be very powerful in the right circumstance and is free for you if you're in this domain. Can be really good with corona of light on the field, but so are all of the other fire/radiance damage spells.
(PC): C+ (MC): C+ (UT): C- (FL): B+
Flaming Sphere (10d6) (35 average) This requires concentration so that is a concern, but this could be very strong if you aren't using your bonus action already (with like a spiritual weapon). Working on fails or saves as well as 35 average on damage makes this incredibly strong if you can make it last for... i'd say 4 plus rounds if you are mixing in your Corona of light. At that point it is very good and anything more than that is amazing.
(PC): C+ (MC): B- (UT): A- (FL): B+
Fireball (14d6) (49 average) Okay it's the mythic Fireball!!! This is actually not as impressive at 9th level as you think, but it is still incredibly powerful. Hitting 3+ targets and you got yourself winner. I would say this is probably the best aoe option you get unless you can get a lingering aoe spell to trigger over multiple turns, or your allies are positioned in such a way that fireball is bad. This out damages some of the single target spells as well and does guaranteed damage even if your opponent succeeds, which just shows you how strong this potentially could be if giving a clear line of sight for a good fireball. Your corona of light as a light domain cleric makes this consistent spell even more consistent which is always welcome.
(PC): A+ (MC): A+ (UT): B- (FL):A+
Wall of Fire (10d8) (45 average damage) This is a great spell I already covered above with forge clerics, and it is even better on a light cleric with your corona of light. Take that as you will.
(PC): A- (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Nature Domain:
Animal Friendship 11 animals. That is a pack of wolves or anything else similar to that you can charm. It might not be that strong, but it's kinda cool you could just find a pack of wild animals and force them to let you join their pack I guess. ( this goes up in value a lot if your character is a crazy pet owner and wants all of the dogs/cats/birds/fish/ to be his loving pets.)
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B- (FL): A+
Dominate Beast There is no point in casting this past level 7 since it stops scaling. Overall this is a potentially useful but situational spell, and the extra hours added at the higher spell levels really open up more options and are worth it when needed. Overall a fun, flavorful spell but not necessarily powerful.
(PC): C (MC): C (UT): B (FL):A
Order Domain:
Heroism This one is kinda cool roleplay wise, but I'm just gonna stop you there. Unless you need the entire party to not be able to be frightened (which doesn't matter that much in 99% of circumstances), this isn't even an option. And when it is, you have to think really hard on if it's worth it or to hold onto the slot for something potentially better. You probably won't even need to cast this at level 9 most of the time since your party is most likely not 9 people+
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B- (FL): S
Dominate Person This spell stops scaling at level 8 so it's not really worth it at 9 unless desperate and out of 8 slots. This spell is flexible since you can control the target for 8 hours. If you hit a powerful person it could really help in combat, and if you land it on somebody important the rp can be amazing as well. Imagine controlling a king and bringing down his kingdom in 8 hours. It's mouthwatering.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): A (FL): A
Tempest Domain:
Thunderwave (10d8)(45 average) Okay this is amazing if you can even hit 2 enemies with it, and still amazing if you hit 4 enemies and all succeed. Using your Channel divinity to max the damage of this out, you are dealing 80 damage if they fail and 40 if they succeed. That's really freaking good once you factor in being able to hit enemies that surrounded you, as well as knocking the ones that failed back so you escape being surrounded. This spell is amazing as long as you have your channel divinity ready and a couple targets, and is still passable outside of that s well as being free for your domain. A good spell and outshines most others if you are this domain. Multiclassing this and the other tempest spells go up a lot in value cause of their high, consistent damage that multiclass sometimes lacks and not always competing with each other to being cast depending on how far into tempest cleric you get.
(PC): A- (MC): A (UT): B+ (FL): A-
Shatter (11d8) (49.5 average) 88 damage actually when you do your channel divinity on top of this, and 44 still if they succeed. Basically it's as good as thunderwave, ranged but a smaller area of effect and gets advantage on inorganic enemies. Your choice is always this or thunderwave if you need immediate burst damage to a group of enemies.
(PC): A+ (MC): A+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Call lightning (9d10) (55 average damage) Okay so I might have been gushing about the last two, but this is the breadwinner. Notice that on this spell and the previous two you can channel your divinity after a saving throw is made. If you can keep this up a couple of turns and save your channel divinity's for successes, that is 270 damage guaranteed (if you're level 18+, 180 if you're level 17) not counting the other damage that wasn't successes. If you do it on fails it is still 45 guaranteed damage which is powerful. Overall this is one of, if not your highest damage option. Just hitting once is good, and hitting multiple times is straight gravy. The others are good if you can catch multiple enemies in them, this is amazing if you can catch more than one enemy and is good if you need to burst down a single, troublesome target. If you can survive a couple rounds with concentration this here will win fights single handed. ( the others are better for burst to a group of enemies that this doesn't hit in one round, and this is good for single target damage and extended fights. Feel free to cast this instead if there is just two enemies standing within 5ft of each other and you don't need to get away with utility like thunderwave or break some machines with shatter.) The channel divinity of a tempest cleric turns this from just an above average spell to one that is over the top and is always your strongest option until you are out of channel divinity, and still being usable half the time when you are out of charges.
(PC): S (MC): S (UT): B (FL): S
Ice Storm (7d8+ 4d6) ( 45.5 average) It's basically a worse fireball in a majority of circumstances, which still make it a lot better than most other spells funny enough. A solid option if you ran out of channel divinity before casting your 9th level spell slot, and great at 8th level to pair up with a 9th level concentration on call lightning. Solid backup option that is better than most other backup damage spells since you have this for free in this domain as well as this hitting fairly hard and in a large area.
(PC): B+ (MC): A-(UT): A- (FL): A-
Trickery Domain:
Dominate Person I already covered this in the order domain above, and it's the exact same in this domain.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): A (FL): A
Modify Memory You can modify someone's memory in the history of forever, persuading an enemy you are a friend or making people forget or "remember" a tragic event in their pass. This spell is deceptively powerful, and too the keen of mind can do some amazing things you never thought you could do. (want to capture and brainwash an assassin or warlord that they're on your side? Just lock someone up and constantly recast this on them (it's not torture since you aren't hurting them right?) with your level 5+ plus spell slots and you now have a loyal minion until someone dispels them. A week is probably good enough (although if you have like a month in your campaign where your DM says there is down time, that would give much better results.)
(PC): D (MC): D (UT): A+ (FL): A
War Domain:
Magic Weapon I already covered this in the arcane domain, and it's about the same here. As a war cleric you are a much better target yourself than an arcane cleric, but is still probably better on your fighter or ranger or something. Again, doesn't scale past level 6, so don't bother with this at 9.
(PC): C+ (MC): B (UT): B- (FL):A-
Hold Monster Stunning up to 5 monsters in combat for the duration of this spell is incredibly powerful support. It's not game breaking or hands down better than your other options cause you probably won't hit 5 targets (although if you do... phew easy fight), but if you can target 5 powerful monsters and stun a couple for a few turns, that is some amazing value. Mass heal at 9th slot is probably better most of the time as a reactive support spell, but this is a great proactive spell that is almost as strong at 8th level as well.
(PC): B (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Phew that took forever, but we're done with clerics!!! Hope you enjoyed the read. This is 2 days behind when I wanted to release this, but there was a lot to cover. If there are any mistakes in here or you think I evaluated something wrong I would love to hear it in comments and see what's up. The next class we will be doing is druid! Until then, see you all!
There are two flaws that I see with your analysis: specific spells, and overall assumption of the "worth" of scaling spells.
First, Aid and Enhance Ability... Aid does not scale to affect more people. It scales to give more temp HP. Spending a 9th level spell slot on giving 3 people in your party a free 40 HP buffer for 8 hours is pretty dang great. It provides more temp HP than Enhance Ability with Bear's Endurance at all levels of spell slot used. It's also a great combo with Sorcerer levels & Extended Spell. You can dump your highest remaining spell slot into a 16 hour Aid, so you can take a long rest and start the next day with all your slots AND a huge HP buffer. It's a very underrated spell.
Second, you make your analysis on the faulty assumption that all characters with 9th level spell slots will also have 7th/8th/9th level spells, and that is simply not true. You also make the assumption (whether implicit or explicit) that the relative "worth" of a scaled lower level spell be comparable to a higher-tier spell with similar effects, and that is also not true. Multi-class casters frequently have 9th level slots without the higher-tier spells themselves. High-tier spells are supposed to be more effective than a low-tier upcast spell; that's your reward for sticking with a single class long enough to learn them, and versatility of spells/combination of potent features is your reward for multi-classing. If one does not have access to Heal, then there is no point in using it as the benchmark for the relative worth of Cure Wounds.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
There are two flaws that I see with your analysis: specific spells, and overall assumption of the "worth" of scaling spells.
First, Aid and Enhance Ability... Aid does not scale to affect more people. It scales to give more temp HP. Spending a 9th level spell slot on giving 3 people in your party a free 40 HP buffer for 8 hours is pretty dang great. It provides more temp HP than Enhance Ability with Bear's Endurance at all levels of spell slot used. It's also a great combo with Sorcerer levels & Extended Spell. You can dump your highest remaining spell slot into a 16 hour Aid, so you can take a long rest and start the next day with all your slots AND a huge HP buffer. It's a very underrated spell.
Second, you make your analysis on the faulty assumption that all characters with 9th level spell slots will also have 7th/8th/9th level spells, and that is simply not true. You also make the assumption (whether implicit or explicit) that the relative "worth" of a scaled lower level spell be comparable to a higher-tier spell with similar effects, and that is also not true. Multi-class casters frequently have 9th level slots without the higher-tier spells themselves. High-tier spells are supposed to be more effective than a low-tier upcast spell; that's your reward for sticking with a single class long enough to learn them, and versatility of spells/combination of potent features is your reward for multi-classing. If one does not have access to Heal, then there is no point in using it as the benchmark for the relative worth of Cure Wounds.
My bad with Aid I didn't read it right. My guess is I accidentally looked at enhance ability while I was seeing what aid does at higher levels instead of looking at aid ( I didn't know how aid scaled off the top of my head), so very good catch that is a million times better than I initially thought. I will go and fix that analysis and enhance ability at some point tonight thank you for catching that.
I never mentioned multi-classing nor did I say I will account for them in this thread, (so I believe what I said should still be mostly accurate) but you do bring up a valid point that is actually pretty important. Multi-class characters actually care more about this than solo-class characters and I should account for that. At least for now, the whole point is that if we are to compare the cleric's spell list to one another, what spells have a chance of being cast and why would you want to do that in comparison to your other Cleric spells. If you think it would help, at the end I could suggest the most "bang for your buck" cleric spells at 4th-6th level or lower that are the strongest at higher slots if you are multi-classing (the problem is some of characters have higher than level 4 slots but and some don't, so the comparison could be pretty wack). A list for multi classing should suffice under the choices of damage, utility, and tank/other. I already went into what each spell does at the highest level already and doing more of that would be overkill since this post is already massive, but if I add that too the end I could clear up which I think is the overall strongest low level spell used in a high slot when you actually are forced into that kind of a situation (i.e. multiclassing) without doubling the length of this already massive post. Maybe add a little footnote if something is particularly different in that case or just a snippet sentence for each spell as to why it would be better in a mult-class scenario would be sufficient. I could also tack on a statement if you are multiclassing at the end of each spell and assume 4th level or lower for the spell you are casting if you are 4th or lower, and only add the higher level spells into the equation as I reach them, that way you know how they work when you have less options. Both the list or editing the post seem like valid choices so I'll need to decide and then probably fix this post up tonight. Any thoughts on which might be more palatable?
Just to nitpick - it would be nice if you made the links tooltips instead using [ spell]Spellname[ /spell] (without spaces inside the square brackets). Then we can view them in the same tab and they can be clicked like links too.
Just to nitpick - it would be nice if you made the links tooltips instead using [ spell]Spellname[ /spell] (without spaces inside the square brackets). Then we can view them in the same tab and they can be clicked like links too.
Noted I will fix that tonight when I fix Aid thank you for the tip! :D
I'd recommend you follow the same pattern as most other "tier" lists and create a ranking index, and then split that ranking into 2-3 conditionals (general/multiclass/superior spell available). Something like:
Very good spell in general, extremely good for multiclassers, and not as good if you have access to Heal
This also gives you a framework to be objective in your rankings/revisions while still accounting for situational variance in value.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Okay so I didn't get to fixing this last night since I was busy, but after my college class tonight at 8pm I should have time. It'll probably take an hour to do the tooltips and fix the Aid spell, and then I'll decide on what to do about adding to the discussion with multi-classing. thank you guys for the help.
Edit: okay an hour might be long but I'd rather assume I might take more time than less XD
I'd recommend you follow the same pattern as most other "tier" lists and create a ranking index, and then split that ranking into 2-3 conditionals (general/multiclass/superior spell available). Something like:
Very good spell in general, extremely good for multiclassers, and not as good if you have access to Heal
This also gives you a framework to be objective in your rankings/revisions while still accounting for situational variance in value.
Great idea. I wasn't sure about tiering them but you're right doing it that way is a great idea. The categories would probably be pure cleric damage vs. multiclass cleric (probably assuming up to 4th level). The thing is that I just wanted to focus on discussing on what each spell did at the highest slot, but since I emphasized how much the damage spells compare to one another (and the healing spells to mass heal) that it probably would be much cleaner with a ranking system. Thank you for the great idea you'll see it on this post and the bard post once I decide how I'm gonna do it. Also, what are your thoughts on adding an additional ranking for if a spell is a good magical secrets target for bard? (tack it on at the end maybe?) Or should I just list the best options specifically on the bard thread?
Okay, I finally finished the updates and I do say this thread looks a bit cleaner than before. I will be doing the same to Bard sometime soon, and then I will start on the next class! I believe druid is next, so be on the lookout!
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Are you guys ready for the second thread of the series? If you missed the previous one, go check it out! Here's the link to that and all future threads in this series will be linked as well go check them out!
Bard
First and foremost, this is an exercise for fun and is for us all to think about what might be a fun niche use for our 9th level spell slot that we have never thought about before, or maybe you get to play a high level campaign and were curious about what might be a fun spell to build around! Or maybe... just maybe you are a DM and want something big and flashy to happen with one of the npc's. Using these juiced spells could just be your ticket. Regardless of the reason, this is for fun and just to understand the potential power of your coveted highest power spell slot. If a spell does not do anything at a higher level, it will not be included in this list. I will put the maximum number of die in (parenthesis)after the spell if the spell deals damage or requires a roll such as healing or sleep, followed by the average damage/corresponding value of the die, and after i will explain if it hits multiple enemies, or if it stops increasing damage at a slot earlier then 9, etc. afterwards( and add some comments while I'm at it). I will start with level 1 spell slots and work my way up. Some of these options are surprisingly useful in your toolkit, and others are... interesting. I will also put a ranking at the end of the spell for 4 categories going F (terrible/unusable),D (bad),C (average),B (decent/above average),A (great/powerful), and S (one of, if not the best option in said category). The four categories are:
Pure Class Character (PC): What is the power of this spell if you are only in your one class? Some spells are edged out because higher levels spells can be a lot more powerful. Mass heal vs. cure wounds for example. This grade will tell you how powerful this spell is in the context of the entire spell list for just this one class.
Multiclass Character (MC): If you are multiclassing, usually you do not get access to the higher level spells even if you still have higher level spell slots to cast spells at. This makes some spells a lot more enticing and viable not only because you might have a different niche in the party, but their biggest competitors are gone. A high level spells ranking here doesn't matter as much since you are unlikely to have access to it, but if you do have access to it, this grade will reflect it.This grade will tell you how powerful this spell can be in the context of a multiclass character that doesn't have access to the highest level spells.
Utility (UT.): This ranks spells on their ability to handle niche situations compared to other spells cast at this level. While a spell like invisibility could rank low on power in multiclass or pure class characters due to not being that good in a lot of combat situations etc., it has a place and a use that can be strong when given a good opportunity. generic damage spells that are interchangeable will rank lower here usually. This grade shows how good a spell could be under certain circumstances, or can reflect a spell that has a lot of modes that are good in a variety of situations even if it is lower power compared to others.
Flavor (FL): Spells that, when cast at the higher level really flesh out a character or thematically make sense, rank higher here. The big evil enemy putting a bestow curse on someone is just full of flavor. This grade shows spells that really add to the story or to a characters personality.
We're doing the cleric today. The men of the cloth. The saints (or not) that are just as comfortable supporting the team as they are utterly destroying their enemies. Some of these spells really do feel like they were blessed from some divine power (and others cursed). You get your first level 9 spell slot at level 17. If you want to see the domain specific spells they will be right after the standard spell list if their spell is specific to that domain. Without further ado, let's get started!
1st level spells:
Bane Just like with the bard, this is entirely underwhelming at 9th level. 11 enemies have a "CHANCE" to be affected, and if they are it just makes them subtract a d4 from their attack rolls which has a "CHANCE" to matter. Okay so let's look at the extremes of what this spell can do. If it hits all enemies, you would be subtracting 1-4 (11-44 for all 11 enemies) from those targets attack rolls and saving throws. The effect is too spread out and too minor to warrant using it in about 99.99% of circumstances. I can't think of a time this would be better than a 9th level of some other spell, but I'm guessing someone could probably pose a hypothetical situation where it would be. Most of the time you wouldn't want a 9th level hold person anyway and this is basically worse, but we'll talk about that when we get there. The final nail in the coffin? Concentration. You disgust me bane, get out of my games. Sorry bane but you aren't even competing for this spot as far as power goes.
(PC): F (MC): D- (UT): C- (FL): B
Bless You know how I said all those things about bane? Well bless is about the same, only slightly more tolerable. First off, unless you miraculously have 11 people in your party, you won't be casting this at level 9. Now that that's out of the way, what does it do? Well it's like Bane, except that it always work and adds numbers to the rolls instead subtracts them. This can be quite a bit better than bane cause most player characters would appreciate that extra oomph to hit or succeed a saving throw and it always works on every person in your party. I wouldn't suggest this really unless you're maybe doing a pacifist character and your other 9th level spells just don't do anything, or this is one of your options for a multiclass character that is hard support. This isn't anything too exciting and it's not very helpful all the time and concentration makes me want to throw up almost, but casting it right before the big fight is very flavorful for a true cleric. This could also be fun as a divine intervention for the DM's to just literally bless the party if it seems appropriate. (Bane could also be fun as divine intervention if the DM makes it guaranteed for that matter)
(PC): D+ (MC): C (UT): B- (FL): B+
Command Now this spell is fun. Don't get the illusion that it's broken or anything, but it's flexible and could be pretty decent in some circumstances. Up to 9 creatures that fail wisdom saving throws obey one word you speak. Depending on your DM, you might be able to get away with words like betray to try and get them to fight each other which would be bonkers, and even if you don't have such a cool DM who would reward you for wasting your 9th level spell slot, you could always go to basics like flee, drop, distract, etc. This isn't the most powerful, but it is one of the most flavorful. ( imagine playing a chef themed character that cooked a massive meal, and then you command a whole bandit camp to "eat". See what I mean?)
(PC): D+ (MC): C- (UT): B- (FL): A
Create or Destroy Water Okay, so at level 9, you can create up to 90 gallons of water in a container, destroy up to 90 gallons of water in a container, or make it rain 90 gallons of water. That might sound like a lot, but that's actually about the same amount of water as a large fish tank. Unless the big evil guy has a pet fish that you just really, really hate, don't really bother here. I guess one real use for this spell is making it instantaneously rain in a 70 foot cube, or destroy fog in a 70 foot cube, but that's still not really worth the slot. Sorry create or destroy water, but you're not making the cut.
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): C (FL): D+
Cure Wounds (9d8)(45 average +spellcasting mod) So one of the most bread and butter spells for cleric is just a strict downgrade from mass heal and mass cure wounds at the highest level if you are a pure cleric. I'm sorry to say it, but if you have access to mass heal or even mass cure wounds then there is no reason to use this at a spell level when you can cast the others. If you don't have some of the stronger healing spells or access to them this becomes much more enticing compared to healing word, and is still good at the lower end of your spell slots to keep people topped off. This is not a good use of your level 9 spell even without access to some of the higher level spells though, and shouldn't be used unless you are absolutely desperate, but this having the utility to be cast at any spell slot level for different situations (albeit being a weak option usually) does help it in the multiclass department or on a cleric who doesn't invest many slots into healing spells.
(PC): D (MC): C+ (UT): B- (FL): C
Guiding Bolt (12d6)( 38 average) This spell is meh on a pure light cleric ( because of corona of light) and is still pretty bad compared to the inherit spells on a light cleric. It is a good chunk of damage but the chances of missing or just doing low damage at that high of a slot is pretty harsh. It gets better when you have opponents with disadvantage and a way to reroll the damage if it's low if you can swing that somehow, but you could also put that effort into... something else and get the same or better results? As far as flavor goes you are just shooting out a guided bolt of light so nothing really special, and the utility doesn't scale in level. My decree on this spell is: Decisively Below Average.
(PC): D+ (C if on a light cleric) (MC): C- (UT): D+ (C if on a light domain cleric) (FL): D (C if on a light domain cleric)
Healing Word (9d4)(22.5 average +spellcasting mod) No. Just NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Okay, maybe as a joke. But never cast this past your lowest spell slot usually okay? The increase is 1d4 which is pitiful and has no other bonus scaling. The main use for this spell is just raising someone that is out of health up as a bonus action. Amazing at 1st level spell slots, and terrible at every other spell level if you have any other form of healing (and still pretty bad without other healing). Okay I'll give a hypothetical situation. Somehow your action did a lot of damage to an ally (Why??? You're a cleric! Stop hurting your teammates by accident!) and you desperately need to heal as a bonus action and you don't have mass healing word prepared. Then, and only then, maaaaaaaybe. You could also just, you know, true resurrection if that person dies (i'm assuming that far into the game you have the money to afford it) and save yourself and them the embarrassment. While the power is terrible on this spell, the flexibility of it more than means it should be on your spell list do to what this spell can let you accomplish in a fight.
(PC): F (MC): D- (UT): A+ (FL): C
Inflict Wounds (11d10) (55 average) Barely better than guiding bolt and you have to be melee ( although you don't get disadvantage in melee like guiding bolt). It does have a chance to just high roll and deal a massive amount to a target, but you probably have a better toolkit to deal a lot of damage or more likely is someone else on your team does without blowing your load on this spell. Not much to see here. One thing that you can do, however, is if you are a death domain Cleric you can cast this at level 5 (7d10) and hit two targets due to improved reaper (35 average per target), and then add your channel divinity on top of it in order to go nova and deal a lot of damage if you hit one or both targets while still holding onto your higher level slots. ( +5 + twice cleric level if you channel divinity on one of the hits.) Can be good if you need high damage on two targets or even just one and ping another. Anyways, that's how the spell is useful, not at level 9 unless you're absolutely desperate, and even then healing the party is more likely straight better or your plethora of other damage options.
(PC): D (B- on a grave domain cleric) (MC): D+ (UT): F (B+ if you are grave domain) (FL): C (B+ on grave domain cleric)
2nd level spells:
Aid If you are a multi class cleric, this spell is really good to tank some of your team out during a fight preemptively. 40 health between 3 targets is 120 health total which is good. This can also "heal" one of your allies and bulk out two others. As a pure cleric you usually want to save your spell slots for healing cause you get more bang for your buck, but their is some situations where you would want to cast this at a high level for extra bulk (probably between 5th-8th level most of the time). If you are a tanky/support multi class character this is very powerful, and if you are a pure cleric this is situational.
(PC): C (MC): B+ (UT): B+ (FL): C+
Blindness/Deafness Strict upgrade over bane pretty much. Disadvantage is much better than -4 to rolls in most cases. It hits eight targets and it does a lot more if it sticks than bane. Not sure if bless is better still though. This is a meh support spell for a level 9 slot. Deafness almost never matters that late in the game unless your DM happens to through you against high cr bats for some reason.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): C+ (FL): B
Enhance Ability Okay, just hear me out. This is actually better than it looks. Envision this. You and 7 other people (8 total) group up and you enhance with the bull's strength. Now all 8 of you can carry twice the load, and if there is a goliath or two in the party (or anything else with powerful build) You guys can start collectively lifting things that weigh like 3,000 lbs+ (depending on the collective strength score of your party) and get advantage on lifting said object. You guys could pick up medium size boats and carry them around on your backs. You could carry a golden throne out of a room without breaking a sweat ( or any other similarly sized object that you might want to steal). I wouldn't know when that would matter, but it has too somewhere right? Right? On the extreme end, if you have eight 20 strength characters/npc's with powerful build, they could lift up an object that is 9'600 lbs!!! That's insane. Well, if you're about to go up against some mind flayers or some other enemy that targets a specific saving throw, you might want to preemptively cast this spell before shit hits the fan it could save someone's ( or multiple peoples) life. Just be wary that it requires concentration so try and play it safe while using this at 9th level (you won't be casting this at 9th level if you have less than 8 people anyways). Just like the other low level spells, this is better when multi-classing. A very flexible and flavorful spell, if lacking in the power compartment.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): B+ (FL): C+
Hold Person Oh boy we can paralyze up to 8 humanoids in your vicinity. Already beats bane so... yay haha. Situational spell, but if you're getting chased by the towns guard or something this is a non lethal way to drop some of them and make your escape easier. Can be good against a cult if you happen to fight one. The problem is it's not guaranteed (as well as only working on human like enemies), and it has a very limited range when multi-targeting.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): B (FL): B
Prayer of Healing (9d8) (36 average +spellcasting mod) So if you are a life cleric this is actually usable If you don't have mass heal prepared for whatever reason. As a life cleric this heals 72+ spellcasting mod hp per target for up to 6 targets. So if you have a 6+ party this could get you on your feet before a massive boss if for some reason you weren't able to fit mass heal into your spell list and are desperate to heal your party. I would still suggest mass heal since you can do it mid combat and heal for a lot more as well as remove curses and poison. This is strictly out of combat and heals a lot less. But if you have a vendetta against mass heal or are multiclass and lack access to it or mass cure wounds, this is an acceptable replacement in a sense. If you have the time though it might just be better to cast this once or twice at a lower level and save your 9 slot still.
(PC): C- (B- on a life cleric) (MC): B (UT): B- (FL): B-
Spiritual Weapon (4d8) (16 damage average +spellcasting mod) This spell is deceiving and actually a lot better than it looks. It's only a bonus action to attack each turn so you can still take your action each turn, as well as not requiring concentration so it won't have a chance of going away unless you actually drop. You keep this for 1 minute, so approximately 10 rounds (160 average if you hit all ten attacks before adding your spellcasting mod). This might not be overpowered, but for long drawn out fights this can really help wear down an opponent's health pool if your spell list/domain is lacking. If your cleric domain gives you divine strike, between this and your melee attack you will be doing quite a bit of consistent damage. ( war domain and order domain have the most synergy with this by further increasing your damage output) Don't be sad at all if you want your concentration for something else however. The extra damage from the higher levels are nice but take a few turns to really shine so some 9th level spells might be better (cough, cough mass heal) unless you really need to add some consistent damage to a fight or are a damage focused cleric. If you are using other spells with concentration, spirit guardians could represent a good chunk of damage on top of whatever you are concentrating on. You could cast this at level 9 and have something like a level 8 spirit guardians or visca versa which makes this a pretty good way to just keep stacking up your damage per round on top of your other spells/abilities.
(PC): B+ (MC): B+ (UT): B- (FL): A-
3rd level spells:
Animate dead Alright now we're talking! If your part way through a fight and your wizard and fighter got some kills in, you can now turn up to 13 dead enemies into minions. This is potentially extremely powerful and if you have the access to do this, can flip a hard fight on its head. Be warned though that after 24 hours you lose control of the minions and you better have destroyed them before then or recast this spell because they will be mad. The skeletons or zombies you raise can either be really good or meh depending on the fight and how much aoe the opponent has. If they have a lot of humanoid minions and little area of effect damage, they will be in deep trouble. While the skeletons/zombies seem like they wouldn't be that good cause of their low cr, thirteen of them is no joke for the enemy because some of them are bound to hit, as well as soaking up resources from your opponent to deal with them while your party is still fighting them. A multiclass character gets more benefit from this spell due to how this spell scales better than other low level spells (controlling more undead is stronger than say, adding a d8).Overall a solid spell if the circumstances are right for it, and creating an undead army that stays with you isn't half bad either if you go that route.
(PC): C- (MC): B (UT): B (FL): A
Bestow Curse Another great flavor spell. Cursing someone indefinitely until it is dispelled is pretty fun (albeit a little evil). Mid combat it would probably not be worth it past level 5 since a 5th level or higher version of this spell doesn't require concentration. Maybe if you are expecting said enemy to run away and you need to hunt them down later it could help down the road, but combat wise this isn't very good at 9th when you can get essentially the same effect level 5-8.
(PC): D- (MC): C- (UT): B (FL): S
Dispel Magic At 9th level this is the only way to guarantee breaking any and all magical effects from other spells, so it could be quite powerful. This can be entirely unimportant and the worst option on your adventure cause it won't do anything, or it can be one of the most important and powerful spells you can cast. Campaign/fight dependent, but quite strong in the right circumstance. Remove curse also makes this obsolete as a counter to a 9th level bestow curse, but this affects much more things besides curses making it a great catch all.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): A- (FL): C
Glyph of Warding (11d8) (49.5 average) Now this is a spell you can break. It's pretty meh if you set up one to use before a fight where the enemy "might" be, but being able to set this up before a long rest expecting the fight the next day is essentially free damage. That's not the best use for this spell though, and it's just meant to be broken by the players. If you can set up some elaborate trap using multiple instances of this spell, that is your golden ticket and is extremely fun to work with.
(PC): D+ (MC): C- (UT): A (FL): B
Magic Circle Now, this isn't really one you want to be casting at the highest level. If you alternate with another player, you can take turns alternating castings and long rests where you can indefinitely trap a creature. By yourself though this spell only lasts you 7 hours, so it's not quite enough. If you can cast this during a long rest without breaking the long rest though (depends on how your DM interprets the rules), you can keep this spell up forever without wasting your 9th level spell slot. It's just not quite enough on the returns for each level of spell slot you increase, and this effect is fairly specific and hard to find an optimal time to use it in the first place at this level. On the DM side though you can have a cult or a monastery that watch over an ancient evil keeping it trapped in this circle until the party ruins it somehow or were hired to slay it and they drop the circle. That would be an interesting story point.
(PC): D (MC): D (UT): B- (FL): B+
Mass Healing Word (7d4) (17.5 average) Again, this one is really bad compared to mass heal or mass cure wounds making it obsolete on pure casters when you are just looking to maximize healing, but most healing spells are. I guess if you are a life cleric (so you can maximize this out to be 28 healing each. 168 total) this is a lot more enticing even if it is still situational. It might be worth it as a bonus action if you just have something that is mandatory as an action bar none. Overall though not exciting at level 9 and is just a glorified healing word that isn't as flexible cause of the higher spell level, this is still a flexible spell meant for certain circumstances and can make your team hold out longer in a grindy fight. This spell is decent, but underwhelming a majority of the time and needs you to have multiple people near/at death to get the full potential of this spell.
(PC): D (MC): C (UT): B (FL): C
Spirit Guardians (9d8) (40.5 average) If you are super evasive and hard to hit, or you have war caster and/or resilient con, this could be an amazing spell for you. Getting damage in an area around you that still works even if the opponent succeeds the saving throw and continuing to do so for multiple turns is amazing, especially since the spell moves where you want it too. If you think this could trigger about 6-7+ times in a fight before losing concentration or the fight is over, this is probably one of the strongest spells you could cast unless your'e tempest or light domain. If you hit one target for the full duration of this spell at this level, you will hit 100 times with 405 average damage. and that's with one target. Now having something trapped in with you for that duration is impossible to say the least, but maybe you can do something like magic circle and trap a creature in with you, and now we're really talking. you could even stand outside the circle so it can't melee you, and you move so your guardians hits it in the circle each turn (is that too much metagaming? Maybe.). Just a solid damage spell mid combat if you can afford/support the concentration and spell slot, and not hitting allies with an aoe spell makes this have a strong use over the other aoe spells. If you have other good aoe spells for damage at higher levels like a fireball, this isn't as good for a multiclass character, but it is by no means a bad damage spell and is good on some situations over said fireball. Some amazing synergy.
(PC): A for offensive and balanced clerics, C for tempest, light, and support clerics (MC): B+ (UT): B- (FL):B
4th level spells:
Banishment This could be powerful and is a better option than like hold person if you want to use the spell for combat purposes. You can banish up to 6 targets to another plane of existence mid combat for as long as the concentration lasts ( or indefinitely if you keep the concentration up a whole minute and they weren't from your plane to begin with), which is arguably better than paralysis with hold person. This can target non-humanoid enemies as well and not letting them get a saving throw each turn really makes this compete. If you need to hold more enemies and they are human, or you specifically need to kill them or do a non-hostile take down, hold person could be better situationally, but I would suggest considering this first unless the situation calls for it.
(PC): C+ (MC): C+ (UT): B+ (FL):C+
5th level spells:
Flame Strike (12d6) ( 42 average) If you can hit a bunch of enemies in this spell, like 3+, this is a great option cause the damage still goes through on a failed save as well as doing both fire and radiance damage, letting you target an enemies weak spot more effectively. I actually wouldn't really suggest playing this past level 5 because the difference between 5th level-9th level is only 4d6 ( 14 average), so a majority of the time you should probably just cast this at level 5 or 6 since the returns per spell slot aren't much unless you hit 3+ targets or need to just burst someone down asap. Gets a lot better if you have a light clerics corona of light active, but light clerics also get fireball so you will probably use that a majority of the time instead balancing it out.
(PC): B (MC): B (UT): C (FL): C
Geas You can have a creature permanently charmed with this until it is dispelled and that alone is pretty cool. You can punish bad actions as well with the damage part and you can condition someone pretty hard with this spell to dominate somebody into being subservient to you, to any sort of sick ideas you have to rule the world (or a small town). Another spell that is good for rp purposes but not always that good for 9th level.
(PC): D- (MC): D- (UT): B+ (FL): A
Insect Plague (8d10) (44 average) This is the long range/crowd control version of spirit guardians. If you can't or shouldn't be thick in the fight this is your dot (damage over time) version of spirit warriors. Be careful though since you can hit allies, but if you can get a bunch of enemies in this spell or force them to go through it a few times, this represents a lot of damage. If you can afford the concentration and you can't stay in melee but need to do damage, there is a lot of worse options than this, and this can really do a number on the enemies, especially hordes. Just like spirit guardians, some multiclass builds get better aoe than pure clerics lowering the power of this a little, but it's still a good choice.
(PC): A- for offensive and balanced clerics, and C for tempest, light, and defensive clerics. (MC): B (UT): B (FL): B-
Mass cure wounds (7d8) (31.5 average per target+ modifier) Yet another spell that gets outclassed at level 9 by mass heal. This is great healing, but if you packed great heal this is obsolete unless you think your party would need even more supplementary healing. On a life cleric though, this is 56+ modifier healing each, 336+ 6xmodifier total which is almost half of a mass heal. This could be a viable replacement for mass heal on a life cleric since you can cast it level 5-9, making it more flexible for the slightly lower total healing. Mass heal is still a much better heal spell with double the total healing, but that can be cast only once. If you are doing really long slogs and multiple fights, a life cleric might prefer this spell to/or in addition to mass heal. This is the only other spell that can give mass heal a run for its money in the healing department, but only if you're a life cleric. For other clerics this is a strong option to be flexible with, but can't replace mass heal for an efficient 9th level slot. If you can swing this on a multiclass character this is probably the most powerful healing option available to you.
(PC): B (A+ on a life cleric) (MC): A (UT): B (FL): C+
Planar Binding If you have access to summoning an elemental or something else and making a magic circle in your party, you can start to make some strong minions to do your bidding theoretically. Outside of that, this is an incredibly powerful spell but good luck actually having this work on anything. I would say most DM's will actively try to prevent you to bind something if it isn't for story purposes since having free minions that you can increasingly add too will probably break your campaign ( unless it was broken to begin with)
(PC): F (MC): F(UT): ( F or S depending on campaign and DM) (FL): C+
6th level spells:
Create Undead A must have tool for all necromancers. An army of ghouls, ghasts, wights, and mummies are not to be underestimated and your undead army can really mow down enemies if you manage to build one up. You would only cast this at level 9 to reassert control over a bunch of undead minions and you used most of your 6th-8th level slots, but those minions represent a lot of damage and soak up resources from your opponent to kill, so it could be worth it if you create an undead legion.
(PC): B- (MC): B (UT): B (FL): A
Heal (100) Not really good pass level 6 on pure casters or life clerics, but this is strong. You heal 70 hp with a level 6 casting of this spell, and only get 10 extra hp per higher level. Maybe casting it at level 7 or 8 could be viable if you aren't a life cleric and you are out of level 6 spell slots while a single target needs a heal or you are multiclass, but at level 9 mass heal dominates it so you shouldn't ever use it in the 9 slot while that is available.
(PC): B (C- on life clerics) (MC): A (UT): C- (FL): B
Conjure Celestial As of the time of this writing, the only cr 5 celestial in the core book is a unicorn. Now a unicorn on your side could be incredibly powerful or can get destroyed right away depending on what you're fighting and how. If the unicorn can easily get one rounded by the enemies without much trouble, well that won't be too good. If the enemies wouldn't focus on the unicorn or you can protect it fairly well, it has some powerful abilities and attacks that include multiattack, healing, some spells, and a teleport as well as its attacks being counted as magical. It probably isn't worth it since it will probably just distract the enemies a little bit until it dies, but I'm an optimist and if this stays on the field for a few turns it might be worth it.
(PC): C- (MC): C- (UT): B+ (FL): B
Etherealness This spell doesn't really matter unless you need to go into the ethereal plane. It might be cool but it is bad unless you're hunting ghosts or need to go through it for story purposes.
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): A (FL): A
7th and 8th level spells:
None
9th level spells:
mass heal Normally I won't do the 9th level spells since I want to showcase the spells that are a lower level, but I have been comparing so many things to mass heal I thought I would include it here so you can read the spell yourself and see why it is so much stronger when cast at the 9th level over all of your other healing options. 700 healing as you choose anywhere as well as removing diseases is quite powerful and makes casting the other healing spells in the 9 slot look terrible. I will say this is almost always a must have on any cleric interested in maximizing their 9th level slot, and should only rarely be put to the wayside for other spells. (life clerics can get away with a mass cure wounds though.)
(PC): S (A on life clerics) (MC): S? (you won't have access to this without magical secrets from a bard or only 3 levels in another class. (UT): S (FL): A+
Arcane Domain Clerics:
Magic Missile (1d4+1 x 11) ( 3.5 damage per dart, or 38.5 average total) This spell could be good if you need to finish off a few of low health enemies that are really spread out, or the final boss has less than 40 health or so and you really need to finish him off before he kills someone. Nothing exciting or too strong, but it does the job of magic missile well enough. Its power is equivalent of casting almost 4 separate uses of magic missile at 1 time, so take that as you will. ( probably not good enough usually, but just good enough when you need it now)
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): A (FL): C+
Magic Weapon It stops scaling past 6th level spell slots, so you shouldn't bother past that. +3 to both hitting and damage as well as making a weapon magical is very strong if you throw this onto your fighter or ranger if you don't have another use planned for your concentration. It makes their damage higher and more consistent at the same time and is a great support option at 6th.
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): B- (FL):A-
Death Domain:
False Life (1d4+44) (46.5 average, 45-48 hp) Even if you are playing solo, it is probably better to just heal yourself. It's not enough temp hit points to matter more than just healing yourself with heal or mass heal, and in parties this is almost straight outclassed by aid. At level 9 this is a waste, but their might be some optimal level to cast this spell (that I wont bother trying to find cause that's not the point of this post.) If I had to guess, it would be at 5th level (26.5 average health, 24-28 hp) since it doesn't compete with heal for a slot.
(PC): D- (MC): D+ (UT): C (FL): C-
Ray of Sickness (10d8) ( 45 average damage) This is bad for all the same reasons guiding bolt is bad. On a fail it does nothing. You use this at lower levels for the utility and that doesn't scale. Just like inflict wounds however at 5th level doubling down on two targets could be very strong depending on the circumstances, and you always have this for free as a death cleric. I'm assuming you haven't gotten improved reaper on a multiclass character, but if you do, the ranking should be the same as a pure cleric.
(PC): B+ (MC):D+ (UT):B+ (FL): B+
Vampiric touch (9d6) ( 31.5 average) As cool as this might be it's all for nothing like ray of sickness, guiding bolt, and inflict wounds. Just like inflict wounds this is only melee range and should be cast at 5th level. 5d6 at 5th level vs. 7d10 on inflict wounds means you should only use this over inflict wounds if you are down a good chunk of health. The nice thing is that the way spell is worded, you might be able to heal off this spell with your channel divinity and if your DM believes you can interpret the rules like that, you can get yourself a really big heal between the double casting and the channel divinity. Even without that, this is a solid spell for sustain and okay damage in a pinch at 5th level (not 9th)
(PC): B+ (MC): B+ with improved reaper, C otherwise (UT): A with improved reaper, C otherwise (FL): A
Blight (13d8) ( 58.5 average) This is basically what inflict wounds wish it was at the higher levels. This does half damage on a fail as well as being ranged. If the enemies you want to double cast this on at 5th level have high ac, you should use this over inflict wounds or vampiric touch for the guaranteed damage when you just need to deal damage. As a 9th level spell this is just alright, and is usually never going to be your best option even with the high damage potential if you highroll. ( unless some tree person really, really needs to die)
(PC): A- (MC):A- with improved reaper, B- otherwise (UT):B+ (FL): B+
Cloudkill (9d8) ( 40.5 average) This is much worse then some of the other area dot damage spells in most circumstances cause it moves. Like the others the damage is guaranteed which is nice. If you are part of a large scale war where you just send this down through their ranks maybe? I would suggest just sticking to spirit guardians or insect plague since they are predictable in their placements. This could have a use over them in some situations but that shouldn't come up often. (this being poison damage unlike the others is also a very big negative)
(PC): C (MC): B- (UT): B (FL): B+
Forge Domain:
Searing Smite (9d6) (31.5 average) Since the initial damage scales only and nothing else as well as this requiring concentration and taking you a couple of possible swings to hit, I'm gonna go on a limb and say never use it at level 9...
(PC): D- (still better than bane arguably) (MC): D (UT): D+ (FL): B+
Heat Metal (9d8) (40.5 average) If the big bad evil guy is in armor, you just won this fight essentially if you can maintain concentration. Guaranteed damage and cooking someone alive will do it. If someone is not wearing heavy, metal armor than this spell does very little. It's okay initial damage but I'm assuming at this stage in the game the person will just pull out a new weapon cause they will drop their other one if you use this on like a sword or something. (although if they have a magical one of the kind weapon you can essentially keep them from using it until they break your concentration neutering your opponent a little.)
(PC): C+ (MC): B- (UT): A- (FL): B-
Elemental weapon This spell gives you +3 to hit and plus 3d4 (10.5) extra damage of an element of your choice. This spell gets no bonuses past level 7, so don't use this as a 9th level spell slot. Put this on your fighter and it makes them hit quite a bit easier and deal about 10 extra damage per hit. Could be good if you just don't have anything to do with your concentration and is a decent support option.
(PC): C- (MC): B- (UT): B (FL): B+
Wall of Fire (10d8) (45 average damage) This spell is a great way to block an area off from low health enemies as well as chunking big enemies and doing potential dot. If you can reliably hit a few creatures on cast as well as wall an area off this is a good spell. It is situational compared to the other area dot effects, but this can do a good bit more damage than them as well as keep your allies safe if they stand on the correct side.
(PC): B (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Animate Objects (I will copy and paste this over from the bard page cause their is so much to go through and it is about the same with the cleric)
For each size category, I will list the damage that you can get if you maxed out the spell and controlled the most of said size as you can.
You can have 18 tiny and/or small objects( Tiny: eighteen attacks of +8 to hit, 1d4 + 4 damage. Assuming half hit, 58.5 damage average)(smalls: eighteen attacks of +6 to hit, 1d8 + 2 damage. Assuming half hit, 49.5 damage average)
9 medium targets (nine attacks of 2d6+1 per hit. assuming half rounded up hit, 37.5 damage average)
4 larges and two smalls (four attacks of 2d10+2, and two attacks of d4+4 per hit. assuming half hit, 28.5 damage damage average)
or 2 huge and 2 small objects (2 attacks of 2d12 + 4 per hit, and two attacks of 1d4+4 per hit. Assuming half hit, 18.5 damage average)
This could lead to some really good damage if an enemy lacks the ability to knock out multiple objects at a time. The damage i posted above might not be realistic, but it can give an idea of the power of this spell still. It's very easy to have 18 tiny/small objects. a bag of ball bearings or caltrops have 20 each inside of them. This spell gets to levels of ridiculousness if paired with an aoe buff like the paladins holy mantle. Outside of strong paladin synergy, this still represents a lot of potential damage against an enemy and has to be dealt with right away or they risk dying, thus wasting the enemies resources. Huge objects might seem like a terrible idea given how low their potential damage is, but they are unique in that they can grapple enemies incredibly well. They count as HUGE. They can grapple "practically" anything in the game as long as your DM is not a buzzkill. They have the best HP out of the objects, so you can expect them to actually survive attacks reasonably well with their 80 hp. On top of that, having 2 huge objects both trying to grapple a GARGANTUAN enemy is just hilarious. They have 18 strength so it's not out of the question.
(PC): Hard to judge, but D+ to B+ depending on the target (more variance than other damage spells in this regard) (MC): C- to A- for same reason as (PC) (UT): A- (FL): B
Creation Okay so you can make a large cube of a specified material for a short amount of time? Meh. Unless you can come up with a way to break this spell, all you get out of it is 25 ft cube of something. You could make a massive boulder to block the entrance to a place I guess since you could probably cover the door with it. Maybe you guys are on the run, and you find a cave to rest in. You can make a large boulder with this spell to cover the entrance so nobody can get in and you can long rest to get the spell slot back. Just a thought but that's the best scenario I can think of, but I'd like to hear if you have a better one!
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B+ (FL): B-
Grave Domain:
False Life (1d4+44) (46.5 average) I already covered this over in the death domain. Still sucks!
(PC): D- (MC): D+ (UT): C (FL): C-
Ray of Sickness (10d8) ( 45 average damage) Same thing as false life I covered it under Death domain. It is actually quite a bit worse here on grave domain cause you don't have the improved reaper ability to give it the extra oomph at level 5 or lower.
(PC): D+ (MC): D+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Vampiric touch (9d6) ( 31.5 average) yet again, covered in death domain and death domain just does this spell so much better cause of improved reaper I'm sorry.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): C (FL): A
Blight (13d8) ( 58.5 average) And the last time, already covered in death domain. This is viable at level 9 if you need a high damage option to kill a low health enemy since this still does guaranteed damage, but not exciting or as powerful as some other options. At least this is inherent in your domain though so you can grab more support spells or other damage spells and still have access to an effect like this.
(PC): C (MC): C+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Knowledge domain:
Confusion Overall this is a great spell if you are just looking for a good time and it's a large battle. You can cause a 35 ft sphere to make everyone inside start acting randomly and can really add an element of randomness to an encounter that is incredibly enjoyable to watch (especially if you catch an ally or two in the spell *wink*)
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): A (FL): S
Life Domain:
Doesn't get any spells not on the original spell list or that scale if they aren't on the spell list
Light Domain:
Burning Hands (11d6) (38.5 average) When you would choose this over other spells, you have a perfect cone of a bunch of enemies in front of you to cast this on and your allies would be hit if you tried one of your other domain spells. I would say 4+ would be the perfect amount, and only if you can't get more enemies in one of your other area spells without hitting an ally. Situational, but can be very powerful in the right circumstance and is free for you if you're in this domain. Can be really good with corona of light on the field, but so are all of the other fire/radiance damage spells.
(PC): C+ (MC): C+ (UT): C- (FL): B+
Flaming Sphere (10d6) (35 average) This requires concentration so that is a concern, but this could be very strong if you aren't using your bonus action already (with like a spiritual weapon). Working on fails or saves as well as 35 average on damage makes this incredibly strong if you can make it last for... i'd say 4 plus rounds if you are mixing in your Corona of light. At that point it is very good and anything more than that is amazing.
(PC): C+ (MC): B- (UT): A- (FL): B+
Fireball (14d6) (49 average) Okay it's the mythic Fireball!!! This is actually not as impressive at 9th level as you think, but it is still incredibly powerful. Hitting 3+ targets and you got yourself winner. I would say this is probably the best aoe option you get unless you can get a lingering aoe spell to trigger over multiple turns, or your allies are positioned in such a way that fireball is bad. This out damages some of the single target spells as well and does guaranteed damage even if your opponent succeeds, which just shows you how strong this potentially could be if giving a clear line of sight for a good fireball. Your corona of light as a light domain cleric makes this consistent spell even more consistent which is always welcome.
(PC): A+ (MC): A+ (UT): B- (FL):A+
Wall of Fire (10d8) (45 average damage) This is a great spell I already covered above with forge clerics, and it is even better on a light cleric with your corona of light. Take that as you will.
(PC): A- (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Nature Domain:
Animal Friendship 11 animals. That is a pack of wolves or anything else similar to that you can charm. It might not be that strong, but it's kinda cool you could just find a pack of wild animals and force them to let you join their pack I guess. ( this goes up in value a lot if your character is a crazy pet owner and wants all of the dogs/cats/birds/fish/ to be his loving pets.)
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B- (FL): A+
Dominate Beast There is no point in casting this past level 7 since it stops scaling. Overall this is a potentially useful but situational spell, and the extra hours added at the higher spell levels really open up more options and are worth it when needed. Overall a fun, flavorful spell but not necessarily powerful.
(PC): C (MC): C (UT): B (FL):A
Order Domain:
Heroism This one is kinda cool roleplay wise, but I'm just gonna stop you there. Unless you need the entire party to not be able to be frightened (which doesn't matter that much in 99% of circumstances), this isn't even an option. And when it is, you have to think really hard on if it's worth it or to hold onto the slot for something potentially better. You probably won't even need to cast this at level 9 most of the time since your party is most likely not 9 people+
(PC): F (MC): F (UT): B- (FL): S
Dominate Person This spell stops scaling at level 8 so it's not really worth it at 9 unless desperate and out of 8 slots. This spell is flexible since you can control the target for 8 hours. If you hit a powerful person it could really help in combat, and if you land it on somebody important the rp can be amazing as well. Imagine controlling a king and bringing down his kingdom in 8 hours. It's mouthwatering.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): A (FL): A
Tempest Domain:
Thunderwave (10d8)(45 average) Okay this is amazing if you can even hit 2 enemies with it, and still amazing if you hit 4 enemies and all succeed. Using your Channel divinity to max the damage of this out, you are dealing 80 damage if they fail and 40 if they succeed. That's really freaking good once you factor in being able to hit enemies that surrounded you, as well as knocking the ones that failed back so you escape being surrounded. This spell is amazing as long as you have your channel divinity ready and a couple targets, and is still passable outside of that s well as being free for your domain. A good spell and outshines most others if you are this domain. Multiclassing this and the other tempest spells go up a lot in value cause of their high, consistent damage that multiclass sometimes lacks and not always competing with each other to being cast depending on how far into tempest cleric you get.
(PC): A- (MC): A (UT): B+ (FL): A-
Shatter (11d8) (49.5 average) 88 damage actually when you do your channel divinity on top of this, and 44 still if they succeed. Basically it's as good as thunderwave, ranged but a smaller area of effect and gets advantage on inorganic enemies. Your choice is always this or thunderwave if you need immediate burst damage to a group of enemies.
(PC): A+ (MC): A+ (UT): C+ (FL): B+
Call lightning (9d10) (55 average damage) Okay so I might have been gushing about the last two, but this is the breadwinner. Notice that on this spell and the previous two you can channel your divinity after a saving throw is made. If you can keep this up a couple of turns and save your channel divinity's for successes, that is 270 damage guaranteed (if you're level 18+, 180 if you're level 17) not counting the other damage that wasn't successes. If you do it on fails it is still 45 guaranteed damage which is powerful. Overall this is one of, if not your highest damage option. Just hitting once is good, and hitting multiple times is straight gravy. The others are good if you can catch multiple enemies in them, this is amazing if you can catch more than one enemy and is good if you need to burst down a single, troublesome target. If you can survive a couple rounds with concentration this here will win fights single handed. ( the others are better for burst to a group of enemies that this doesn't hit in one round, and this is good for single target damage and extended fights. Feel free to cast this instead if there is just two enemies standing within 5ft of each other and you don't need to get away with utility like thunderwave or break some machines with shatter.) The channel divinity of a tempest cleric turns this from just an above average spell to one that is over the top and is always your strongest option until you are out of channel divinity, and still being usable half the time when you are out of charges.
(PC): S (MC): S (UT): B (FL): S
Ice Storm (7d8+ 4d6) ( 45.5 average) It's basically a worse fireball in a majority of circumstances, which still make it a lot better than most other spells funny enough. A solid option if you ran out of channel divinity before casting your 9th level spell slot, and great at 8th level to pair up with a 9th level concentration on call lightning. Solid backup option that is better than most other backup damage spells since you have this for free in this domain as well as this hitting fairly hard and in a large area.
(PC): B+ (MC): A-(UT): A- (FL): A-
Trickery Domain:
Dominate Person I already covered this in the order domain above, and it's the exact same in this domain.
(PC): C- (MC): C (UT): A (FL): A
Modify Memory You can modify someone's memory in the history of forever, persuading an enemy you are a friend or making people forget or "remember" a tragic event in their pass. This spell is deceptively powerful, and too the keen of mind can do some amazing things you never thought you could do. (want to capture and brainwash an assassin or warlord that they're on your side? Just lock someone up and constantly recast this on them (it's not torture since you aren't hurting them right?) with your level 5+ plus spell slots and you now have a loyal minion until someone dispels them. A week is probably good enough (although if you have like a month in your campaign where your DM says there is down time, that would give much better results.)
(PC): D (MC): D (UT): A+ (FL): A
War Domain:
Magic Weapon I already covered this in the arcane domain, and it's about the same here. As a war cleric you are a much better target yourself than an arcane cleric, but is still probably better on your fighter or ranger or something. Again, doesn't scale past level 6, so don't bother with this at 9.
(PC): C+ (MC): B (UT): B- (FL):A-
Hold Monster Stunning up to 5 monsters in combat for the duration of this spell is incredibly powerful support. It's not game breaking or hands down better than your other options cause you probably won't hit 5 targets (although if you do... phew easy fight), but if you can target 5 powerful monsters and stun a couple for a few turns, that is some amazing value. Mass heal at 9th slot is probably better most of the time as a reactive support spell, but this is a great proactive spell that is almost as strong at 8th level as well.
(PC): B (MC): B+ (UT): A (FL):B
Phew that took forever, but we're done with clerics!!! Hope you enjoyed the read. This is 2 days behind when I wanted to release this, but there was a lot to cover. If there are any mistakes in here or you think I evaluated something wrong I would love to hear it in comments and see what's up. The next class we will be doing is druid! Until then, see you all!
There are two flaws that I see with your analysis: specific spells, and overall assumption of the "worth" of scaling spells.
First, Aid and Enhance Ability... Aid does not scale to affect more people. It scales to give more temp HP. Spending a 9th level spell slot on giving 3 people in your party a free 40 HP buffer for 8 hours is pretty dang great. It provides more temp HP than Enhance Ability with Bear's Endurance at all levels of spell slot used. It's also a great combo with Sorcerer levels & Extended Spell. You can dump your highest remaining spell slot into a 16 hour Aid, so you can take a long rest and start the next day with all your slots AND a huge HP buffer. It's a very underrated spell.
Second, you make your analysis on the faulty assumption that all characters with 9th level spell slots will also have 7th/8th/9th level spells, and that is simply not true. You also make the assumption (whether implicit or explicit) that the relative "worth" of a scaled lower level spell be comparable to a higher-tier spell with similar effects, and that is also not true. Multi-class casters frequently have 9th level slots without the higher-tier spells themselves. High-tier spells are supposed to be more effective than a low-tier upcast spell; that's your reward for sticking with a single class long enough to learn them, and versatility of spells/combination of potent features is your reward for multi-classing. If one does not have access to Heal, then there is no point in using it as the benchmark for the relative worth of Cure Wounds.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
My bad with Aid I didn't read it right. My guess is I accidentally looked at enhance ability while I was seeing what aid does at higher levels instead of looking at aid ( I didn't know how aid scaled off the top of my head), so very good catch that is a million times better than I initially thought. I will go and fix that analysis and enhance ability at some point tonight thank you for catching that.
I never mentioned multi-classing nor did I say I will account for them in this thread, (so I believe what I said should still be mostly accurate) but you do bring up a valid point that is actually pretty important. Multi-class characters actually care more about this than solo-class characters and I should account for that. At least for now, the whole point is that if we are to compare the cleric's spell list to one another, what spells have a chance of being cast and why would you want to do that in comparison to your other Cleric spells. If you think it would help, at the end I could suggest the most "bang for your buck" cleric spells at 4th-6th level or lower that are the strongest at higher slots if you are multi-classing (the problem is some of characters have higher than level 4 slots but and some don't, so the comparison could be pretty wack). A list for multi classing should suffice under the choices of damage, utility, and tank/other. I already went into what each spell does at the highest level already and doing more of that would be overkill since this post is already massive, but if I add that too the end I could clear up which I think is the overall strongest low level spell used in a high slot when you actually are forced into that kind of a situation (i.e. multiclassing) without doubling the length of this already massive post. Maybe add a little footnote if something is particularly different in that case or just a snippet sentence for each spell as to why it would be better in a mult-class scenario would be sufficient. I could also tack on a statement if you are multiclassing at the end of each spell and assume 4th level or lower for the spell you are casting if you are 4th or lower, and only add the higher level spells into the equation as I reach them, that way you know how they work when you have less options. Both the list or editing the post seem like valid choices so I'll need to decide and then probably fix this post up tonight. Any thoughts on which might be more palatable?
Just to nitpick - it would be nice if you made the links tooltips instead using [ spell]Spellname[ /spell] (without spaces inside the square brackets). Then we can view them in the same tab and they can be clicked like links too.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Noted I will fix that tonight when I fix Aid thank you for the tip! :D
I'd recommend you follow the same pattern as most other "tier" lists and create a ranking index, and then split that ranking into 2-3 conditionals (general/multiclass/superior spell available). Something like:
Cure Wounds B/A/C
Very good spell in general, extremely good for multiclassers, and not as good if you have access to Heal
This also gives you a framework to be objective in your rankings/revisions while still accounting for situational variance in value.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Okay so I didn't get to fixing this last night since I was busy, but after my college class tonight at 8pm I should have time. It'll probably take an hour to do the tooltips and fix the Aid spell, and then I'll decide on what to do about adding to the discussion with multi-classing. thank you guys for the help.
Edit: okay an hour might be long but I'd rather assume I might take more time than less XD
Great idea. I wasn't sure about tiering them but you're right doing it that way is a great idea. The categories would probably be pure cleric damage vs. multiclass cleric (probably assuming up to 4th level). The thing is that I just wanted to focus on discussing on what each spell did at the highest slot, but since I emphasized how much the damage spells compare to one another (and the healing spells to mass heal) that it probably would be much cleaner with a ranking system. Thank you for the great idea you'll see it on this post and the bard post once I decide how I'm gonna do it. Also, what are your thoughts on adding an additional ranking for if a spell is a good magical secrets target for bard? (tack it on at the end maybe?) Or should I just list the best options specifically on the bard thread?
Okay, I finally finished the updates and I do say this thread looks a bit cleaner than before. I will be doing the same to Bard sometime soon, and then I will start on the next class! I believe druid is next, so be on the lookout!