It's guaranteed to work, so it can be useful at low levels when you have a higher chance of not rolling at least a 10 on a medicine check. Plus, if you're a Grave Cleric or a Divine Soul Sorcerer, you can target a second creature with it in dire emergencies, which you can't do with a medicine check.
I think on its own Spare the Dying is a bit of a tough sell for one of your cantrip spots; it requires your action, which you could use to administer a potion instead (if you have any), or do a Medicine check or use a Healer's Kit. While Spare the Dying is guaranteed to work, it stops you from taking a cantrip you might use a lot more frequently, and with good Wisdom and Medicine proficiency you should have a good chance to stabilise someone without it.
For a Grave Cleric though, you get it for free and can use it as a bonus action with a 30 foot range, which makes it significantly better, as you can stabilise someone while continuing to fight an enemy within melee range, without being able to get to them etc. Though even so, a lot of the usefulness of this comes down to conserving spell slots, as Healing Word will not only stabilise but also return the target to battle, but if a fight is nearly over, or you're running real low on slots, then you might prefer to stabilise for free and then use something stronger after the battle to heal them (or multiple characters) by a lot more.
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Healer kits is the better way to go. As an added bonus, if you go down, a party member (who presumably doesn't have the cantrip) can use the kit on you.
It's almost more of a NPC/Roleplay cantrip honestly. The Life cleric in my campaign ran around casting it in the after math of a Kuo-Toa attack, saving villagers. I don't think she has ever used it in combat, though. I've toyed around with giving her a boon to make the grave cleric version, or like a 1/day 60ft AOE use as a reward at some point. Otherwise it seems to be only useful for extra Life Cleric-y flavor, or maybe saving a slot as a battle ends.
I have a character that multiclassed into Cleric for a theme but has the minimum wisdom for it. As such attacking with spells is useless because he can't hit with them and save DC's are too low. So she has background/support type spells. Spare the dying comes in handy because it can be cast at range, She normally sits in the back ranks and uses Hex / EB with agonising and maddening invocations. So in the event that a party member does go down she can hit them from where she is without moving into melee range with the monsters. But yeah it wouldn't be on my list for a regular cleric.
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Maybe the search isn’t working or I did t find it. What is the point of this cantrip? You can use a skill for the same effect, or a kit. Thanks
It's guaranteed to work, so it can be useful at low levels when you have a higher chance of not rolling at least a 10 on a medicine check. Plus, if you're a Grave Cleric or a Divine Soul Sorcerer, you can target a second creature with it in dire emergencies, which you can't do with a medicine check.
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Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
I think on its own Spare the Dying is a bit of a tough sell for one of your cantrip spots; it requires your action, which you could use to administer a potion instead (if you have any), or do a Medicine check or use a Healer's Kit. While Spare the Dying is guaranteed to work, it stops you from taking a cantrip you might use a lot more frequently, and with good Wisdom and Medicine proficiency you should have a good chance to stabilise someone without it.
For a Grave Cleric though, you get it for free and can use it as a bonus action with a 30 foot range, which makes it significantly better, as you can stabilise someone while continuing to fight an enemy within melee range, without being able to get to them etc. Though even so, a lot of the usefulness of this comes down to conserving spell slots, as Healing Word will not only stabilise but also return the target to battle, but if a fight is nearly over, or you're running real low on slots, then you might prefer to stabilise for free and then use something stronger after the battle to heal them (or multiple characters) by a lot more.
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.
Thanks for the help. I was looking at just picking up some healing kits, and saving the spell slot.
Healer kits is the better way to go. As an added bonus, if you go down, a party member (who presumably doesn't have the cantrip) can use the kit on you.
It's almost more of a NPC/Roleplay cantrip honestly. The Life cleric in my campaign ran around casting it in the after math of a Kuo-Toa attack, saving villagers. I don't think she has ever used it in combat, though. I've toyed around with giving her a boon to make the grave cleric version, or like a 1/day 60ft AOE use as a reward at some point. Otherwise it seems to be only useful for extra Life Cleric-y flavor, or maybe saving a slot as a battle ends.
I have a character that multiclassed into Cleric for a theme but has the minimum wisdom for it. As such attacking with spells is useless because he can't hit with them and save DC's are too low. So she has background/support type spells. Spare the dying comes in handy because it can be cast at range, She normally sits in the back ranks and uses Hex / EB with agonising and maddening invocations. So in the event that a party member does go down she can hit them from where she is without moving into melee range with the monsters. But yeah it wouldn't be on my list for a regular cleric.