D&D 5E Clerics in 5e - how do they play? The mega-buffs are gone...

[MostlyHarmless42]

I have played a Tempest cleric in two games and can attest that it is quite the competent melee. The fighter, barbarian, or paladin will be and bit better at just fighting, but I'm a hell of a lot better switch hitter with spells like call lightning (especially with the channel), or spirit guardians. I was having a hell of a good time as a hill dwarf cleric of Thor welding a warhammer. And the most recent Tempest cleric I recently sunk an entire raiding party using a well timed control water.

Ironically, war domain is perhaps slightly less competent at melee than tempest, at least at low levels (though I'd imagine taking half damage later helps), though with a war cleric npc I had I've found them quite better at buffing the party (War gods blessing is great for that), and they do have a slightly better set of domain spells for melee than the tempest cleric.

 

[Hastati]

I'm playing a Cleric (Life)/Fighter in one campaign who is currently 5th/5th level. I find the combination of cleric healing spells and fighter staying power makes a good combination. Being in the front line for melee in plate armour, improved critical (from the Fighter), able to make two melee attacks (Fighter again), and with a Sprit Guardians spell going makes for a very competent offense oriented character. It is also then handy to be the person who can then do a Prayer of Healing mass heal after the battles with the additional hit points from the Life path. Personally, the cleric is one of my favourite classes in D&D 5e.

 

[Magil]

Clerics are great. Speaking from a low-to-mid-level perspective (as that's where I've played a cleric and played with clerics in the group), there are a lot of offensively powerful cleric spells to go along with some buffing and healing. Bless, as previously mentioned, is probably the best first-level buff spell out there, and it remains potent throughout the leveling process. If you want to be the king of healing, the life cleric features are for you. Spiritual weapon and spirit guardians can be used together and create a cleric that can output damage in a way that makes a fighter jealous. Prayer of healing is pretty awesome out-of-combat healing (cleric only!), and for your in-combat emergencies you can turn to healing word and its mass version--the bonus action heals mean you don't have to stop the mace swinging or cantrip blasting.

My personal experience was a wood elf arcana domain cleric that utilized the new weapon-based cantrips with a short sword. It was a fun experience to play a character who had so many varied options and was all-around competent at spell casting, melee combat, as well as healing/support.