My group members come from the "glory" days of 3.5 clerics, where the divine reigned supreme. Having come to 5e, they are soured on the class. I have had one player play a Knowledge cleric for about 4 sessions, and then dropped the character as they felt "worthless" compared to other classes they have played so far. No other member has even considered a cleric, and most I've talked to think its a waste of space.
My group's general complaints are as follows:
1) The divine "buff and slay" class is no longer the cleric, but the paladin. My group universally agrees that the paladin won big in 5e, and is an awesome demonstration of a class that wants to wield divine power and kick butt. So...why play a cleric for that concept?
2) Cleric spellcasting isn't all that interesting. Sure spiritual weapon is decent, guidance is the best cantrip, spirit guardians is amazing (and therefore boring, as every cleric on the planet has it), and bless is the best buff in the game. And that's it...compared to wizards or bards (my group loves the bard class in 5e), cleric spells have very little variety. You have the kingpin spells I mentioned, but everything else feels generic. So the group feels that every cleric plays basically the same exact spells.... or if you do choose other spells you are going to be anemic.
So in summary: Paladins got combat strength, Wizards have the spell power, and Bards have the variety, flexibility, and an array of buffs combined with other very nice mechanics. Meanwhile, the cleric has a few winning spells and nothing else to show for it.
I am sure there are many people on the board who would disagree with my group's notions, so tell me where they went wrong, help me make the cleric look interesting and cool to play.
My group's general complaints are as follows:
1) The divine "buff and slay" class is no longer the cleric, but the paladin. My group universally agrees that the paladin won big in 5e, and is an awesome demonstration of a class that wants to wield divine power and kick butt. So...why play a cleric for that concept?
2) Cleric spellcasting isn't all that interesting. Sure spiritual weapon is decent, guidance is the best cantrip, spirit guardians is amazing (and therefore boring, as every cleric on the planet has it), and bless is the best buff in the game. And that's it...compared to wizards or bards (my group loves the bard class in 5e), cleric spells have very little variety. You have the kingpin spells I mentioned, but everything else feels generic. So the group feels that every cleric plays basically the same exact spells.... or if you do choose other spells you are going to be anemic.
So in summary: Paladins got combat strength, Wizards have the spell power, and Bards have the variety, flexibility, and an array of buffs combined with other very nice mechanics. Meanwhile, the cleric has a few winning spells and nothing else to show for it.
I am sure there are many people on the board who would disagree with my group's notions, so tell me where they went wrong, help me make the cleric look interesting and cool to play.