D&D 5E Cleric Orisons/cantrips in Dnd Next?

[Bohemian Ear Spoon]

Cantrips have always been one of my favorite features of wizards, and I have always felt that cleric cantrips (sometimes called orisons) have never achieved the same coolness factor. I am hoping that 5e corrects this, and I wonder if we could compile a perfect list of Cleric cantrips. Here are a few I think could be useful:

Light
Purify food/water
Create Water
Detect evil/Opposite Alignment
Detect Divine Magic
Cure Minor Wounds (1 hp)
Bless/Bolster
Remove Affliction
Gentle Repose

It looks like a lot of the rituals from 4th edition are prime suspects for cantrip-ification. Any other ideas about cleric orisons in 5th edition?

 

[steeldragons]

I'm with you on Mage cantrips. And with the fact that orisons never really caught on the same way.

I use the former in my campaigns but not the latter. That is, there are no clerical orisons in the game world.

My thinking or interpretation for this is, Mages needed cantrips. It made them more "magicky" without giving them stuff that was "game-breaking" and let them feel like they could do more than just 1 spell a day and then nothing for the rest.

The cleric doesn't/didn't really need this. They had armor. They had weapons. They had, originally in AD&D, more spells when applying their high Wisdom (if the character had high enough) bonus spells to their daily allotment (another thing I borrowed/houserules into my mages for their enjoment).

So, I doubt we will see orisons in 5e. But I won't complain if we do. Maybe they will have them and only be allowed for the new "Priest" class, which it would seem, would be good flavor much the same way as cantrips did for MUs. Since, I believe, Priests are supposed to be the "divine-caster class" and won't get the armor and weapon options of the Cleric, that might work.

--SD
.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

IMO all primarily magical classes need something like cantrips which are low level, essentially "at will" capabilities that can be used creatively. Having that mechanic gets around the mechanical disadvantage that results in a mage who can be magical for all of ten minutes a day.

 

[Kaodi]

I do not think that create water really works as an at-will ability. I mean, casting once a round for eight hours a day, a group of casters could fill a 30' x 10' x 10' area with water for every caster level they possessed. Even with Pathfinders limit that the water disappears after 24 hours, that is a lot of potential for flooding from a 0-level spell.

 

[Tallifer]

Pathfinder already has these Orisons and they work very well. I dislike many things about Pathfinder, but I do like some of the things which it did for the cleric. Pathfinder also has better Domain rules than the Fourth Edition.

(I would however much prefer to see the Fourth Edition mechanics for clerical healing: minor [swift] action instead of a standard for the twice-per-encounter basic healing power.)

 

[Ahnehnois]

Clerics don't get anything like prestidigitation. Maybe they should get something that flexible and useful. A minor little divination with open-ended wording could be really interesting.

 

[GreyICE]

I've always been leery of those. If Clerical magic is miracles on tap from God, it seems somehow disrespectful to ask God 'hey can you make some cool flashy lights or move a light object a few feet?'

I've always actually considered it one of the differences between Clerics and Wizards. Wizards show off with their magic, Clerics only call on their God when it matters.

Now if there were some cool minor divination spells and other things that make sense in terms of 'praying to your God , etc.' that would be neat. Things like Guidance would be a neat little bennie - +1 to any skill check or other roll just by asking your God for a little guidance is a very cleric-flavored thing.

Overall I'd love it if each class got some unique things they could do outside of combat, but I think you lose something when every class gets similar lists of 'neat little magic tricks.'

 

[gyor]

I've always been leery of those. If Clerical magic is miracles on tap from God, it seems somehow disrespectful to ask God 'hey can you make some cool flashy lights or move a light object a few feet?'

I've always actually considered it one of the differences between Clerics and Wizards. Wizards show off with their magic, Clerics only call on their God when it matters.

Now if there were some cool minor divination spells and other things that make sense in terms of 'praying to your God , etc.' that would be neat. Things like Guidance would be a neat little bennie - +1 to any skill check or other roll just by asking your God for a little guidance is a very cleric-flavored thing.

Overall I'd love it if each class got some unique things they could do outside of combat, but I think you lose something when every class gets similar lists of 'neat little magic tricks.'

I'd think it would depend on the God, a diety concerned with entertainment would encourage using,divine magic for such purposes, while one of tempurence would perfer more conservitive usage.

 

[GreyICE]

I'd think it would depend on the God, a diety concerned with entertainment would encourage using,divine magic for such purposes, while one of tempurence would perfer more conservitive usage.

Good point!

In that case you could probably do 1-2 minor things (like Guidance) standard, and then each God gets anywhere from 1 to 5 things associated with it, depending on how the God feels about minor stuff like that.

 

[Li Shenron]

With the exception of Cure/Inflict Minor Wounds and Virtue, I think 3ed orisons were fine.

But I wouldn't mind if they removed orisons from 5e... As [MENTION=92511]steeldragons[/MENTION] says, clerics & druids have plenty of good things to do at level 1 compared to wizards, they don't really need orisons. I think they put orisons in the game in 3ed because at some point it seemed just aesthetically better to have divine spells go 0-9 levels just like arcane spells, but it's not written in the Bible that it should be so.