D&D 5E Clerics, Shields, and Spell Casting

[redrick]

No. You need warcaster. Even without the feat it's not much of a problem. Any round you want to cast, you sheathe your weapon. Any round you want to attack in melee, you draw your weapon. You don't get to cast and attack in melee too often, so you're ok doing this more often than not. If you can take Warcaster, it is a great cleric feat. I'd do it.

The cleric or paladin is allowed to emblazon a holy symbol on his or her shield, thereby turning it into a holy symbol.

Basic Rules page 49 (equipment section):

Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. The Player’s Handbook lists many gods in the multiverse and their typical symbols. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.

The Cleric and Paladin do not need to take the warcaster feat in order to cast spells requiring a material component (eg spell focus) using their holy symbol emblazoned on their shield. This is more of an issue for Eldritch Knights who want to go sword and board (or multi-class arcane casters), because a shield (or weapon) cannot double as an arcane focus.

It is worth noting that, for this to work, your shield does have to have a holy symbol visibly emblazoned on it. This means that anybody seeing your shield would immediately see (and most likely recognize) your holy symbol, which could have consequences under certain RP circumstances. (For instance, when adventuring in Glantri, being a cleric or paladin is punishable by death. A cleric would need to take care not to let any of the authorities see his shield, unless he wants trouble.)

On the other hand, as shown above, the holy symbol can also simply be worn in a visible location, so the cleric could simply wear the symbol around his or her neck — much easier to conceal around town.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Note this does create what some may view as a paradoxical situation where you need a free hand for a divine Verbal and Somatic spell, but for a divine Verbal, Somatic & Material (focus) spell you don't, since your symbol on your shield is doing the Focus & Somatic trick.

Not a major deal anymore though since putting away a weapon is easier than it used to be.

 

[Celtavian]

The cleric or paladin is allowed to emblazon a holy symbol on his or her shield, thereby turning it into a holy symbol.

Basic Rules page 49 (equipment section):

Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. The Player’s Handbook lists many gods in the multiverse and their typical symbols. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.

The Cleric and Paladin do not need to take the warcaster feat in order to cast spells requiring a material component (eg spell focus) using their holy symbol emblazoned on their shield. This is more of an issue for Eldritch Knights who want to go sword and board (or multi-class arcane casters), because a shield (or weapon) cannot double as an arcane focus.

It is worth noting that, for this to work, your shield does have to have a holy symbol visibly emblazoned on it. This means that anybody seeing your shield would immediately see (and most likely recognize) your holy symbol, which could have consequences under certain RP circumstances. (For instance, when adventuring in Glantri, being a cleric or paladin is punishable by death. A cleric would need to take care not to let any of the authorities see his shield, unless he wants trouble.)

On the other hand, as shown above, the holy symbol can also simply be worn in a visible location, so the cleric could simply wear the symbol around his or her neck — much easier to conceal around town.

I'm not worried about the holy symbol. Somatic components require a free hand. Warcaster eliminates that requirement.

Warcaster is a very good feat worth picking up for a cleric. No need for a free hand to cast somatic components. And advantage on concentration checks, which is great for a cleric.

 

[Li Shenron]

Can clerics cast spells with a somatic component with a shield in one hand a weapon in the other? What about V,S,M spells, with the M being their holy symbol (which happens to be their shield)?

Whatever you want, really. You can totally ignore spells components, and the game will play fine. You can strictly enforce them, and the game will be different, but still fine. My only caveat is that, try to be consistent across different characters for fairness, so that if the Cleric is free to cast and fight with sword & board, so should everybody else be mostly free to ignore how many hands they have free.

 

[Wik]

Whatever you want, really. You can totally ignore spells components, and the game will play fine. You can strictly enforce them, and the game will be different, but still fine. My only caveat is that, try to be consistent across different characters for fairness, so that if the Cleric is free to cast and fight with sword & board, so should everybody else be mostly free to ignore how many hands they have free.

Sure, until you're a player at a new GM's table, and want to have an idea of what the "official" rules are before you blast in and say "here's how we're doing it!"

 

[Mercule]

In the spirit of "rulings over rules", I usually cut Clerics quite a bit of slack on this one. An arcane caster is actually intricately shaping the fabric of reality through demanding laws with little room for error. A cleric is basically just painting a target for an airstrike; you can do that as easily while holding a mace as with an open hand. Any flourishes (including the holy symbol) are show to let the bad guys know that it's freaking Pelor who smote them clean to Hell and/or to inspire onlookers to respect his righteous might.

In a world like Eberron, where clerical magic may as well be just a different discipline of arcana taught only at temples, you might want to apply the same structure as with arcane magic. Depends on the flavor you want to evoke.

Also worth noting: I have never had a Cleric played with the daunting efficacy that some folks have. Through every group and every edition, I've only had one player who actually liked Clerics and he plays them in a very heavy support role (even in 5E with Heavy Armor Mastery, he's a second line fighter). I have no cause or desire to police the Cleric's power level. YMMV.