D&D 5E Booming blade and green flame blade for clerics

[Rexwell]

I believe these cantrips were directed to melee oriented spell casters, but were only added to wizard, sorcerer and warlock spell lists.

They seem perfectly suited for clerics and I’ve seen many guides and threads describing the various ways to obtskn these cantrips for clerics: would it break anything to just include them in the cleric and/or Druid spell lists? Why exclude clerics in the first place?

 

[Ganymede81]

Generally speaking, the contents of a class' spell list is a ribbon; their spell lists are curated based on thematics and niche protection rather than power level. Granted, there are a handful of spells that are notably more powerful than others of their level, but spells are by-in-large fungible.

With that in mind, I don't think it would matter much to swap in/out various spells in any class' spell list (though, BB and GFB might be considered two of those more powerful spells).

 

[mellored]

Clerics already have extra melee damage at level 8, as well as armor and shields. They are already good in melee.

But no, it wouldn't break anything.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Generally speaking, the contents of a class' spell list is a ribbon; their spell lists are curated based on thematics and niche protection rather than power level. Granted, there are a handful of spells that are notably more powerful than others of their level, but spells are by-in-large fungible.

I very strongly disagree with this statement. There is very much a balance reason why nobody except the warlock was given Eldritch blast; why the Bard was only given Vicious Mockery as a base attack cantrip and a sharply limited spell list. Why access to early blasting spells like Fireball are strictly limited outside the base arcane casters. Why only the ranger was given Swift Quiver.

While many people are disappointed with the cleric's melee ability, it was inherently intended design that the Divine Strike given to several domains merely put their melee attacks on par with base attack cantrips.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Giving it to them as a freebie is definitely OP.

As is, it requires a feat or choosing high elf or half-elf with high elf variant. That's a significant opportunity cost to get. Without that, you're allowing races to be chosen with better synergy for the cleric with no balancing factor.

I have a human arcana cleric that–at 20th-level–does 4d8+15 to a primary target and 3d8+10 (not including magical items or other spells like spiritual hammer and spirit guardians) to a secondary target with Shillelagh and Green-Flame Blade. That requires the Magic Initiate feat to make reality and it is, so far, the best melee damage cleric I've seen.

 

[hejtmane]

I very strongly disagree with this statement. There is very much a balance reason why nobody except the warlock was given Eldritch blast; why the Bard was only given Vicious Mockery as a base attack cantrip and a sharply limited spell list. Why access to early blasting spells like Fireball are strictly limited outside the base arcane casters. Why only the ranger was given Swift Quiver.

While many people are disappointed with the cleric's melee ability, it was inherently intended design that the Divine Strike given to several domains merely put their melee attacks on par with base attack cantrips.

Kind of funny because then they give early access and allow multiclassing and Bard can get Swift quiver before ranger and out ranger him.

Then they have a feat that allows just that, cleric domains give out exactly spells like that, let's not forget Paladin's also get non Paladin spells. I have to disagree when they provided multiple v ways to cross get spells from other classes

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[Cap'n Kobold]

Giving it to them as a freebie is definitely OP.

As is, it requires a feat or choosing high elf or half-elf with high elf variant. That's a significant opportunity cost to get. Without that, you're allowing races to be chosen with better synergy for the cleric with no balancing factor.

Making them outright Cleric spells would be even more powerful. Obtained though the feat or race means they key off Intelligence IIRC. Putting them in the Cleric spell list would allow them to use Wisdom as their casting ability.

 

[Caliban]

Making them outright Cleric spells would be even more powerful. Obtained though the feat or race means they key off Intelligence IIRC. Putting them in the Cleric spell list would allow them to use Wisdom as their casting ability.

With Booming Blade it doesn't matter what your casting stat is - the spell doesn't use it for anything. Green Flame Blade only uses your casting stat for the damage to the secondary target.

 

[TwoSix]

Two reasons.

1) They were originally Swordmage (an arcane class) in 4e, which is why they were added to arcane classes, not divine ones. Purely a flavor decision.
2) As you noted, they're perfectly suited to Clerics and Druids, which have good weapon choices but never gain Extra Attack. Giving a class a new no-brainer best attack option in a sourcebook is generally a bad idea.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I put a level of Sorcerer into my War Cleric just to get those cantrips.