It's not just tradition though. It's niche protection as well. If the cleric is dealing damage primarily through cantrips, what actually differentiates him from a wizard or sorcerer? Weapons and armor? Who cares, he's standing X feet away and blasting away with spells.
OK, an argument that is more than tradition, I can respect and engage with!
Sorry, but, I'm not really seeing much of a difference between firebolt every round and sacred flame or produce flame. Different die, I suppose. But, essentially, I'm doing the same thing as a wizard or sorcerer.
I mean, rogues stab or shoot dudes with weapons, but they're not fighters. I'm not sure I quite get where you're coming from, unless it's that cantrips should vary in effect more than they do. I don't see how this relates to whether any given class should have cantrips. Even if we agree that the cantrips are too much the same, most characters don't spend most of their time using cantrips when playing a full caster. They cast actual spells.
But let's check out thsoe cantrips.
Fire Bolt is long range spell attack, and can either burn a critter or set something aflame.
Produce Flame creates a harmless flame in your hand that works like a candle that lasts for 10 minutes. You can throw it at someone within short range (30ft) spell attack, ending the spell.
Sacred Flame brings searing radiance on someone's head within mid range (60ft), forcing a dex save. Radiant damage isn't available to wizards, and is especially useful against certain creatures. This is the most boring of the three, mechanically, but also very different from the others thematically.
Now, lets look at other cantrips these classes get, shall we?
Cleric and Druid get Resistence, but Wizards don't. Essentially cantrip level single target bless.
Wizards and Druids get Shape Water. I'd argue that only Druids should, but it's not a big deal. Clerics don't get much elemental magic.
Only Druid gets Thorn Whip. You could argue that it's similar to Lightning Lure, but Wizards are also less likely to want to pull things up next to them, compared to Druids.
Etc. Druids have more overlap with the other two than they have with eachother, but Druids also get wild shape, and some pretty crazy unique leveled spells.
War Clerics are solid warriors, also, while Moon Druids are oddball but solid melee combatants. Bladesingers are advanced difficulty gishes. Fun, but harder to play that other gish builds in the game.
The classes are very different. I...I don't get why this is a controversial statement, apparently.
If my primary function in combat is to stand off and lob spells, why bother having weapons and armor? What's the point?
I agree, though you won't like my conclussion. Why do those classes have those proficiencies? Druids shouldn't be using weapons, and clerics should be priests, not holy warriors. If they're going to use weapons and armor (no druids in armor!) they should be doing so either less well than actual warriors, or keep up via their divine blessings, not via martial might.
Sure, the spell lists are different. That's what I mean by themed wizard. A cleric casts essentially the same as a wizard and a Land Druid is essentially a Sorcerer with wild shape instead of meta magic. Heck, a good chunk of the land druid's spell list is actually drawn from wizard spells.
Because nothing screams cleric or druid like casting invisibility or fireball while mostly eschewing weapon attacks in favor of energy blasts from my fingertips.
It's a couple spells from their enormous list of spells. <shrug>
Invisibility especially shouldn't be remotely unique to wizards. At all. Fireball is iconic, sure, but so what? There are vastly more spells that wizards
don't share with either class than spells they do.
Oh, and bud, tone down the hostility just a touch. That I think that clerics and druids need a bit of work is not an attack on you in any way, shape or form.
I didn't act like it was, in any way, shape, or form. I also wasn't hostile. I genuinely don't know what you're talking about. If it helps, no hostility of any kind was intended to be put across in my post, because no hostility of any kind was felt. Rereading the post, I can't even figure out what may have come across as hostile, but if you point it out, I'll happily apologize for the hostility. Intended or not, what's done is done.
Also, we both think clerics and druids need some work. Just in opposite directions, apparently.