I like to play Tempest domain. It seems to have a fun role play part and wielding the power of the storm in both your spell casting and your attacks appeals more then storm sorcerer.
I'm personally not a fan of the front line melee clerics. They're a bit MAD for my tastes and I am not keen on their attack scaling. Plus, being in melee invites more concentration saves.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Life is undoubtedly the best healer. Forge gives it a run for the money for best classic Cleric, though. The Dwarf Forge Cleric isn't as good at healing, but it is tankier.
Tempest and Light Cleric aren't the classic Clerics, but they're two excellent choices for a blaster Cleric. Tempest vs Light would be a great debate thread, especially because there's no wrong answer.
Grave and Trickery are two great support choices. It's a shame the Trickery Cleric's channel divinity options are so weak and that it doesn't get any weapon proficiencies (although it can get them from race, such as a Wood Elf Trickery Cleric).
Grave cleric best cleric. Spare the dying for free, but better? Sure, I'll take that. The best use of healing in 5e is to get someone up from zero, would you like a class feature that lets you do that better than everyone else? Don't mind if I do. All your oh-no-someone's-dead spells automatically prepared? Nice. You get to tell the DM "haha, that's cute, but no" every time they crit? Even more nice. And when you absolutely positively need something reduced to a smoking crater, "I hold path to the grave until the paladin gets in melee."
Grave cleric best cleric. Spare the dying for free, but better? Sure, I'll take that. The best use of healing in 5e is to get someone up from zero, would you like a class feature that lets you do that better than everyone else? Don't mind if I do. All your oh-no-someone's-dead spells automatically prepared? Nice. You get to tell the DM "haha, that's cute, but no" every time they crit? Even more nice. And when you absolutely positively need something reduced to a smoking crater, "I hold path to the grave until the paladin gets in melee."
If you're using Healing Word, the Life Cleric is better at getting someone up from zero. And the negating crits ability has a limited number of uses per long rest. The Grave Cleric is good, but it doesn't match Life Cleric at healing.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I'm also quite peeved at all of the times that people make the mathematically incorrect claim that the Grave Domain is better than healing people with 0 health than the Life Domain. That definitely contributes to them being overrated.
And for some reason, people tend to treat some of the limited times per long rest abilities like the War Domain's bonus action attack or the Grave Domain's negate a crit like they're unlimited use abilities, and that also leads to those abilities being overrated.
The Grave Domain is still a really good Domain though. Even though they're limited uses, the abilities to negate a crit and to cause an enemy to have vulnerability to damage are quite powerful.
Negating a critical hit is a very useful ability; I mean they only have a 1 in 20 (ish) chance of happening, and when they do can turn a dragon's attack from bad to instant KO (or worse) so while the uses are limited you should have plenty for the really bad enemy crits in a battle. As much as I love War Domain, War Priest (bonus action attack) is way less important for the same number of uses, but then you get it at level one and comes in handy from time to time (usually in finishing off something that you know is nearly dead, or having a second go at an attack when you need to hit to trigger a spell, and don't want to/can't use a precious Guided Strike to do it).
I don't know if I'd say that Spare the Daying is overrated on a Grave Cleric; on its own, absolutely, it's usually a waste of a cantrip choice. But getting it for free and being able to cast it as a Bonus Action at range makes it a lot better (and you lose nothing by having it). A healer's kit requires your action so you can't usually do anything else, and requires you to be able to physically get to the ally. I know some people's campaigns don't feature movement as a critical element all that often, but if you do, then range matters, and this also means you can stabilise an enemy without moving away from whatever you're fighting (trigger an attack of opportunity). It's maybe not the most powerful first level feature, but on the Grave Cleric it also comes with a generally good bonus spell list (couple "meh" spells, but most lists have some) and a healing boost when you get your allies up. There are a lot of comments about whether Grave is better than Life at healing from 0HP, but does anyone really expect it to be? Being 2nd best at getting allies back up isn't exactly a bad place to be, especially when that's the main use of healing in a lot of groups anyway. 😉
Again though, I love all the cleric domains, I don't think there's any properly bad choice; they're all good for something, and cleric is a solid class on its own to begin with.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Tempest Cleric all the way here. There is a lot of fun in dropping a Channel Divinity+Shatter onto a pack of enemies. Or being able to zap enemies who try and hit you. And then if you're lucky enough to get a wand of lightning bolts, or a Staff of Thunder and Lightning, then there are so many shenanigans that you can get up to.
Negating a critical hit is a very useful ability; I mean they only have a 1 in 20 (ish) chance of happening, and when they do can turn a dragon's attack from bad to instant KO (or worse) so while the uses are limited you should have plenty for the really bad enemy crits in a battle. As much as I love War Domain, War Priest (bonus action attack) is way less important for the same number of uses, but then you get it at level one and comes in handy from time to time (usually in finishing off something that you know is nearly dead, or having a second go at an attack when you need to hit to trigger a spell, and don't want to/can't use a precious Guided Strike to do it).
I don't know if I'd say that Spare the Daying is overrated on a Grave Cleric; on its own, absolutely, it's usually a waste of a cantrip choice. But getting it for free and being able to cast it as a Bonus Action at range makes it a lot better (and you lose nothing by having it). A healer's kit requires your action so you can't usually do anything else, and requires you to be able to physically get to the ally. I know some people's campaigns don't feature movement as a critical element all that often, but if you do, then range matters, and this also means you can stabilise an enemy without moving away from whatever you're fighting (trigger an attack of opportunity). It's maybe not the most powerful first level feature, but on the Grave Cleric it also comes with a generally good bonus spell list (couple "meh" spells, but most lists have some) and a healing boost when you get your allies up. There are a lot of comments about whether Grave is better than Life at healing from 0HP, but does anyone really expect it to be? Being 2nd best at getting allies back up isn't exactly a bad place to be, especially when that's the main use of healing in a lot of groups anyway. 😉
Again though, I love all the cleric domains, I don't think there's any properly bad choice; they're all good for something, and cleric is a solid class on its own to begin with.
The biggest problem with spare the dying is it's a total jerk move to use that at the table to just leave your buddy laying on the ground for the duration of a fight.
I do agree with you that most of the domains are pretty solid, none of them are true stinkers. I also agree that Grave is solid, I just don't consider it near the top. When I see people all OMG grave is the best, I just don't see that. I see solid but not spectacular.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I was agreeing with him? I guess reading isn't your strong suit.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tempest cleric. Thunder spells go boom. No really, I've wrecked encounters with that channel divinity. Had a decent initiative, 4/5 enemies failed their shatter save....boom.
Also, heavy armour, damaging attackers, free flight and a nice spell list.
I've just started playing my first cleric (Light Domain) and we've just hit level 5. So far, it's been awesome, and with my character worshiping truth instead of a deity, it's also pretty thematic.
Warding Flare... man, that feature is AMAZING. I'm just itching to get into our next combat, where between that, Spiritual Weapon, Blindness/Deafness, Radiance of the Dawn, and Fireball, I'm expecting it to just be a vicious light show.
He's a follower of Arthur Brown.
I like to play Tempest domain. It seems to have a fun role play part and wielding the power of the storm in both your spell casting and your attacks appeals more then storm sorcerer.
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100% agree. Tempest Domain is very versatile both in RP and combat as both a healer and front line fighter. Plus who doesn't want to be Thor?
I'm personally not a fan of the front line melee clerics. They're a bit MAD for my tastes and I am not keen on their attack scaling. Plus, being in melee invites more concentration saves.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
You can't beat Life for the classic cleric. The game's best healer AND a heavy mace hitter? Sign me up.
Got to admit, though, Grave is also pretty fun. NOBODY dies at low levels, not on your watch.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Life is undoubtedly the best healer. Forge gives it a run for the money for best classic Cleric, though. The Dwarf Forge Cleric isn't as good at healing, but it is tankier.
Tempest and Light Cleric aren't the classic Clerics, but they're two excellent choices for a blaster Cleric. Tempest vs Light would be a great debate thread, especially because there's no wrong answer.
Grave and Trickery are two great support choices. It's a shame the Trickery Cleric's channel divinity options are so weak and that it doesn't get any weapon proficiencies (although it can get them from race, such as a Wood Elf Trickery Cleric).
Grave cleric best cleric. Spare the dying for free, but better? Sure, I'll take that. The best use of healing in 5e is to get someone up from zero, would you like a class feature that lets you do that better than everyone else? Don't mind if I do. All your oh-no-someone's-dead spells automatically prepared? Nice. You get to tell the DM "haha, that's cute, but no" every time they crit? Even more nice. And when you absolutely positively need something reduced to a smoking crater, "I hold path to the grave until the paladin gets in melee."
If you're using Healing Word, the Life Cleric is better at getting someone up from zero. And the negating crits ability has a limited number of uses per long rest. The Grave Cleric is good, but it doesn't match Life Cleric at healing.
grave is imo, the most overrated domain.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I would definitely say that Spare the Dying is the most overrated spell. Even the improved version the Grave Domain gets is overrated. The Healer's Kit and Potion of Healing both are very cheap ways to help unconscious allies - see the sage advice on administering a potion of healing to an unconscious ally:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/09/04/can-potions-be-administered-to-unconscious-characters/
I'm also quite peeved at all of the times that people make the mathematically incorrect claim that the Grave Domain is better than healing people with 0 health than the Life Domain. That definitely contributes to them being overrated.
And for some reason, people tend to treat some of the limited times per long rest abilities like the War Domain's bonus action attack or the Grave Domain's negate a crit like they're unlimited use abilities, and that also leads to those abilities being overrated.
The Grave Domain is still a really good Domain though. Even though they're limited uses, the abilities to negate a crit and to cause an enemy to have vulnerability to damage are quite powerful.
Negating a critical hit is a very useful ability; I mean they only have a 1 in 20 (ish) chance of happening, and when they do can turn a dragon's attack from bad to instant KO (or worse) so while the uses are limited you should have plenty for the really bad enemy crits in a battle. As much as I love War Domain, War Priest (bonus action attack) is way less important for the same number of uses, but then you get it at level one and comes in handy from time to time (usually in finishing off something that you know is nearly dead, or having a second go at an attack when you need to hit to trigger a spell, and don't want to/can't use a precious Guided Strike to do it).
I don't know if I'd say that Spare the Daying is overrated on a Grave Cleric; on its own, absolutely, it's usually a waste of a cantrip choice. But getting it for free and being able to cast it as a Bonus Action at range makes it a lot better (and you lose nothing by having it). A healer's kit requires your action so you can't usually do anything else, and requires you to be able to physically get to the ally. I know some people's campaigns don't feature movement as a critical element all that often, but if you do, then range matters, and this also means you can stabilise an enemy without moving away from whatever you're fighting (trigger an attack of opportunity). It's maybe not the most powerful first level feature, but on the Grave Cleric it also comes with a generally good bonus spell list (couple "meh" spells, but most lists have some) and a healing boost when you get your allies up. There are a lot of comments about whether Grave is better than Life at healing from 0HP, but does anyone really expect it to be? Being 2nd best at getting allies back up isn't exactly a bad place to be, especially when that's the main use of healing in a lot of groups anyway. 😉
Again though, I love all the cleric domains, I don't think there's any properly bad choice; they're all good for something, and cleric is a solid class on its own to begin with.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Tempest Cleric all the way here. There is a lot of fun in dropping a Channel Divinity+Shatter onto a pack of enemies. Or being able to zap enemies who try and hit you. And then if you're lucky enough to get a wand of lightning bolts, or a Staff of Thunder and Lightning, then there are so many shenanigans that you can get up to.
I like war domain for multi-class dips. I like arcana and light best though. A cleric who can true polymorph into a dragon? Yes please!
Wish I could like life more, but the channel divinity's weird half of maximum hit points limit really turns me off.
The biggest problem with spare the dying is it's a total jerk move to use that at the table to just leave your buddy laying on the ground for the duration of a fight.
I do agree with you that most of the domains are pretty solid, none of them are true stinkers. I also agree that Grave is solid, I just don't consider it near the top. When I see people all OMG grave is the best, I just don't see that. I see solid but not spectacular.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I was agreeing with him? I guess reading isn't your strong suit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Spare the Dying's only real use is if you're out of spell slots.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Tempest cleric. Thunder spells go boom. No really, I've wrecked encounters with that channel divinity. Had a decent initiative, 4/5 enemies failed their shatter save....boom.
Also, heavy armour, damaging attackers, free flight and a nice spell list.
Tempest Cleric gives you Destructive Wave at level 9, something Paladins have to wait until level 17 to access.
Tempest Cleric goes *BOOM!*
I've just started playing my first cleric (Light Domain) and we've just hit level 5. So far, it's been awesome, and with my character worshiping truth instead of a deity, it's also pretty thematic.
Warding Flare... man, that feature is AMAZING. I'm just itching to get into our next combat, where between that, Spiritual Weapon, Blindness/Deafness, Radiance of the Dawn, and Fireball, I'm expecting it to just be a vicious light show.
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