D&D 5E All I do is Bless, Bless, Bless

[UngeheuerLich]

I feel like I just got inspiration! Some great advice here, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I somehow forgot about Voice of Authority... I'm really looking forward to tonight's game, thank you very much for the wise words.

I overlooked your +8 con save. That alone should make your life as a melee bulwark a lot easier.
Imagine going in with spirit guardians in the middle of a group of people and upcast command with a simple "drop" or "grovel (works depending on interpretation of" directly harm", I would say it is rather indirectly... ).

 

[FrogReaver]

I've been playing an Order cleric, now at 11th level. It's a heavy combat game and I'm feeling like my contributions are pretty limited. The other PCs are a bard, moon druid, and two barbarians, so my first round is usually bless and a cantrip, then spiritual weapon second round.
In heavy armour I've got the best AC in the party, but my spear isn't much of a contribution to melee and my reaction attacks aren't much of a threat. Con save is +8, so failing concentration checks isn't usually an issue but casting a cantrip is almost always a better option than a melee attack, so why be in melee?
So here I am, heavily armoured with just over 100hp and I hang about in the back with the bard, maintaining concentration on the bless. My main contribution is to make a lot of noise any time the Blessings of the Mocker Gods turn a miss into a hit or make a saving throw succeed. I really have to sell myself to remind everyone I'm contributing!
My healing hardly even matters at this point. I can burn my 6th level slot and just barely mitigate one round of damage on one character.
Bless is almost always the best option for concentration so I barely use spell slots. I end each day with a big chunk of unused potential.
I feel like I'm not doing enough and I'm trying to decide if there's a way to up my game or if I should just talk to the DM about switching to a light domain cleric so that I'm not wasting the heavy armour and radiant melee damage. And I don't think I've ever used the Order domain's channel divinity. Not once.
Thanks for any advice, opprobrium, or commiseration!

Cheers,
Meshon

What is your Str and Wisdom? Are you using a shield? Do you have warcaster? Is your spear magical?

 

[Rune]

I mainly save Bless for fights where we’re going to need to make a lot of saving throws. The hit bonus is nice, but not necessary in a lot of fights. At low-levels, I did use it in most fights, if I could, though. Less (really good) concentration spells competing.

Also, best use for Command I’ve found: ending the party’s violently mad (as in, delusional) barbarian’s rage with a command to sleep before he could murder an NPC. Twice in one fight.

 

[FrogReaver]

My take on Bless. It's defensive properties are more important than it's offensive properties at your level.

My suggestion would be to use Bless when fighting something with nasty save effects. For other encounters consider Summon Celestial for a better single target DPR (especially when upcast to a 6th level slot for the 3 attacks, about +17 or +28 DPR depending on spell slot used). Consider Spirit Guardians when you could hit many enemies with it's AOE. Also, Banishment is great as well for when you need a bit extra control.

While healing isn't super effective, granting attacks is. Healing word makes for one of the best bonus action low level spells you can use to trigger the bonus action. Mass healing word and mass cure wounds are also great spells to have on standby. Also note that lesser restoration, dispel magic and greater restoration can be cast on allies which can eliminate a nasty effect while also granting them an attack. These are great spells to have in your reserves.

Aid was already mentioned as a prebuff spell. Animate Dead can fulfill that same kind of role. Also, spells like Augury and Commune can be really powerful spells to gather intel on your enemies so you can infiltrate, bypass or ambush them.

Also at level 11 depending on your stats and magical weapons I'd be prone to switch over to using cnatrips as my primary method of attack.

Oh and don't be afraid to drop a low level bless in favor of spirit guardians or summon celestial mid fight (your bless only takes a bonus action and you'll only potentially be losing a 1-2 level slot and the alternative concentration spell you switch to could potentially be much more useful)

 

[Stoutstien]

My take on Bless. It's defensive properties are more important than it's offensive properties at your level.

My suggestion would be to use Bless when fighting something with nasty save effects. For other encounters consider Summon Celestial for a better single target DPR (especially when upcast to a 6th level slot for the 3 attacks, about +17 or +28 DPR depending on spell slot used). Consider Spirit Guardians when you could hit many enemies with it's AOE. Also, Banishment is great as well for when you need a bit extra control.

While healing isn't super effective, granting attacks is. Healing word makes for one of the best bonus action low level spells you can use to trigger the bonus action. Mass healing word and mass cure wounds are also great spells to have on standby. Also note that lesser restoration, dispel magic and greater restoration can be cast on allies which can eliminate a nasty effect while also granting them an attack. These are great spells to have in your reserves.

Aid was already mentioned as a prebuff spell. Animate Dead can fulfill that same kind of role. Also, spells like Augury and Commune can be really powerful spells to gather intel on your enemies so you can infiltrate, bypass or ambush them.

Also at level 11 depending on your stats and magical weapons I'd be prone to switch over to using cnatrips as my primary method of attack.

I do think there needs to be special consideration for order clerics casting bless due to the fact you have a lot of freedom on who you use VoA on and can buff that reaction attack all at the same time. Don't have the best PCs to target with the given party make-up but it does stretch the efficiency of spells like bless and healing word.

But yeah summon celestial has a good chance to match the Damage of one of the big hitters in the party.

 

[FrogReaver]

I do think there needs to be special consideration for order clerics casting bless due to the fact you have a lot of freedom on who you use VoA on and can buff that reaction attack all at the same time. Don't have the best PCs to target with the given party make-up but it does stretch the efficiency of spells like bless and healing word.

Unless you need the saves or just don't want to spend the higher level slot, then spirit guardians or summon celestial are both much better concentration spells compared to bless even with the single attack grant (that might have changed if he had a rogue in his party or the barbarians are wielding flametongues or something... maybe).

 

[FrogReaver]

But yeah summon celestial has a good chance to match the Damage of one of the big hitters in the party.

Yea. If you use Summon Celestial in a 6th level slot and a cantrip like toll the dead / sacred flame you would outdo the DPR of all but the most DPR optimized characters. If the other characters aren't DPR optimized you might even output as much damage as 2 of those characters.

 

[Stormonu]

Spirit Guardians is damn good.

I'll also throw in for Hold Person. Any spell that makes the enemy skip their turn and let the rest of your party wail on them (usually at a bonus to hit) is a good spell. Upcast, it can affect multiple targets, allowing you to sideline minions so the party can concentrate on other threats.

 

[Rune]

Command to flee is good, too. It takes it’s target(s) out of the fight for two turns. One turn spent running away and another spent running back.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Considering how often this comes up, I was thinking about a magic item that maintains concentration on a 1st level spell for you, but I'm not sure how powerful that would be in play. It'd be pretty popular, I'm sure.