D&D 5E D&D without the Cleric

[Kobold Stew]

Thanks, lots of great responses!

Reading through made me realize that my main issue is with the "cleric as healbot". In one game I'm running, one player is playing a 5e life cleric, so he has been hitting that trope pretty well, though he much prefers to wade into melee.

I'm going to be playing in a game my daughter is running soon, and we're going to be running 2 characters each. I've rolled up a paladin and a bard. One of the players said "I guess I'll play a cleric", and I told him he didn't need to, figuring I had healing covered. He went with a light cleric, so he's going to be blasting! I'm waiting to see how it plays out.

If he can be an elf (or, better, a human with a magical initiate feat), and a 14 INT (or possibly CHA, if human), the blasting can include an attack cantrip. The only weakness of the laser-cleric trope is that there are no damaging cantrips that require a to-hit roll (as there are for sorcs, druids, wizards, and warlocks). For the light cleric, that (for me) does take away the fun a little bit, because players like to roll dice. (or if not, perhaps the DM can let the player roll the saving throw of the target of sacred flame).

Clerics aren't essential, but they can be so much fun to play in 5e. Playing with an unexpected background can also be fun: criminal, outlander, sailor...

 

[Tony Vargas]

Reading through made me realize that my main issue is with the "cleric as healbot".

That can really be minimized in 5e. 5e cribbed the Healing Word Leader-role-support 'spell' from 4e, which allows a Cleric (or any other caster with it on his list), to heal an ally, at a distance, while still attacking on his turn. That undercuts the all-I-get-to-do-is-heal bandaid role, right there. 5e also brought in a bowdlerized from of 4e healing surges, and called them HD. Along with retaining 4e overnight healing, those factors, while they don't make having some caster with magical healing unnecessary, do leave such characters plenty of room to do other things, both with their actions and their spell slots. Because 5e Cure Wounds and Healing Word (unlike the 4e version) do consume spell slots that could be used for other spells, some pressure to go the 'healbot' route is still there, but it's not as defining as it was in classic D&D.

One of the few cases in which 5e, wisely, eschewed 'classic feel' in favor of playability.

One thing 5e could have done to further reduce the 'healbot' problem, would have been the 3.5 solution: the cheap & easy Wand of Cure Light Wounds or the like. Actually, IIRC, 5e can make it pretty easy to manufacture healing potions, so it's close, there, too.

 

[collin]

I am in a group with six players and we have no cleric and only 1 quasi-healer in the party: a paladin. The rest of the group consists of a rogue, a barbarian, a warlock, and 2 monks. We do okay. I think the DM is giving us a little help with "finding" some healing potions, but otherwise it's all good.

 

[DMCF]

I do a healing surge variant. 1 combat action to use a single surge. Out of combat there is no limit. Short rest regains 1/4 surge and and long regains 1/2. I did this to encourage anyone who wants to play a cleric not to prepare cure wounds. I am vocal regarding this rule at my table. I feel it really opens the RP options and tactical mindset of all players to have a limited resource readily available that is in their control. Relying on a single other person leads to table frustrations and accusations. I hate drama unless I planned the drama to happen in game.

Despite the healing surge rule you'd be surprised how many cleric-less groups are full of people with eyes shining on the 1/20 crit chance instead of dodging, disengaging or taking a surge.

In groups with clerics it is often the clerics who think they are tanks but forget to heal themselves. Those who have heals only really heal others out of combat. My support of this action has quelled table drama and lead to better overall tactics from the group.

 

[Tormyr]

The only weakness of the laser-cleric trope is that there are no damaging cantrips that require a to-hit roll (as there are for sorcs, druids, wizards, and warlocks). For the light cleric, that (for me) does take away the fun a little bit, because players like to roll dice. (or if not, perhaps the DM can let the player roll the saving throw of the target of sacred flame).

The cleric could also make an attack roll at with a -2 tacked on to their normal spell casting modifier vs. 10 + the target's save bonus.

 

[aramis erak]

I think a druid can do pretty well with the healing role as well. 5e Clerics aren't much different in healing unless you get the life domain.

Agreed. But I'm old-school enough to consider Druids as a specialty cleric.

I've had groups with NO MAGICAL HEALERS AT ALL...

No Bards, no Clerics, no Druids, no Paladins. That's what I was talking about. All the healing available was potions and rests.

 

[transtemporal]

Anyone scrap clerics?

We don't disallow clerics (except in Dark Sun) but I can count on one hand the number of times someone has played a cleric in a campaign, explicitly to heal. I honestly don't think they're needed for that function. For pew pew though, sure.

 

[Herobizkit]

Cleric is generally my go-to class when I want to immerse myself into a new campaign world. I enjoy the RP flavour that many pre-gen faiths have, which helps me shape my character's world view.

It's also a very versatile class. You can have a "Fighter" Cleric, a "Bard" Cleric or a "Rogue" Cleric out of the gate via your Archetype.

That said, it's perfectly feasible to have a non-Cleric group. Half-healers are everywhere now, and even IF your party doesn't have those, the players still have their 'healing surges' (and optionally the Healer feat).

In many cases, a strong offense is better than a HP endurance race. After all, if enemy HP = 0 then PCs = win. It's likely easier to manage the damage race; healing HP doesn't suddenly give you better attacks or damage.

This also means the PCs may have to fight 'smarter' - stealth/guerrilla tactics in and outside of a dungeon, more ranged/cover-based action, using traps/terrain to their advantage and the like. So, with that in mind, make some dynamic terrains where players HAVE such things to use; if you're more of a narrative DM who makes it up on the fly, remember the "yes, and..." rule of improv and give the PCs (and your monsters!) a fair shake.