D&D 5E Cleric spells that don't suck

[eprieur]

One of the problem with the healing bot and healing in general is the fact that most of the times it seem that direct healing like cure light wound is simply better.

Cure light wound work and does exactly what it is supposed to do. But take shield of faith, a spell that give you +1 ac. +1 ac is in theory decent, but it's also a gamble. What if the monster all miss me by 2 or more? What if the dm don't even attack the target of spell for whatever reason? What if the wizard decide to fireball the room and kill all the goblins in 1 round? I've juste wasted my spell.

The problem between cure light wound and shield of faith is one of power level versus the fact they both take 1 daily slot. I argue that shield of faith is too weak. Here is a version that would have you ask twice between casting this and cure light wound at least:

-Shield of faith. After you or an ally take damage use your reaction to give resistance to that damage for that attack (half damage). The target also get +1 ac for 1 minute or until your concentration is broken.

If it scale too well you can use fixed value (1D6 + X), etc.

Another line of spell could be buffs that have an active component. We will randomly call them seals, you can have only 1 seal active at a time:

-Divine Favor (seal). You gain +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls with weapons attacks. When you hit a target with a weapon attack you can release the seal to deal an additionnal 1D6 holy damage to the target. (This destroys the seal).

What I like about these versions? They have an active component. In the case of shield of faith you can react to incoming damage instead of simply healing it and you also give buffs that help prevent further damage.

There could be more example, but let's stay with these 2 for now.

What do you guys think?

 

[kerleth]

Personally, I like them. But let's not forget that strategy is a part of the game for many people. Deciding who to buff and protect and when is part of the fun. WOTC really has their work ahead of them trying to please everyone without a 1,000 page PHB.

 

[GreyICE]

Huh, if only there was some way weaker things like Shield of Faith could be used every battle. Some sort of mechanic to stop them from consuming a daily resource, and let them be useful in battle, without knocking the power level through the moon.

...

Nope, I got nothing. Anyone think of some mechanic that could let you do that?

 

[Blackbrrd]

The problems with the cleric's spells are in my opinion that they are just too weak. Even if a daily spell like Shield of Faith that increases AC by 1 for a minute can be cast without consuming an action, it's just too weak for a daily resource.

 

[eprieur]

Huh, if only there was some way weaker things like Shield of Faith could be used every battle. Some sort of mechanic to stop them from consuming a daily resource, and let them be useful in battle, without knocking the power level through the moon.

...

Nope, I got nothing. Anyone think of some mechanic that could let you do that?

Having something like shield of faith lvl 0 but not possible to cast as an at-will would be helpfull, you get 4 total per day at lvl 2+ I think, and it would compete with another weak spells so it would not be that bad.

I think though that the way is to make spells interesting in an active way like the examples I gave above. Another one for wizard, level 0 non at-wills:

Shield: When you are hit by a melee or ranged attack, use a reaction to give youself +4 ac versus that attack. The attack can then hit or miss based on your new ac.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I think comparing the low-level wizard and cleric spells makes for a vivid contrast. First off, try to guess the effects of the following spells from their names:

Guidance
Resistance
Bless
Divine Favor
Shield of Faith
Aid
Prayer
Divine Power

First off, most of them could pass as general descriptions of ALL cleric spells. By contrast, every single wizard spell is pretty clear in what it does just from the name (except maybe for Blink and Rope Trick, which are pretty memorable and unique anyway once you read the description).

When you actually read the descriptions, it doesn't get a whole lot more interesting. How many ways do you need to grant +1 to attacks or AC? Is it really worthwhile to slow down gameplay by tracking a bunch of fiddly +1 bonuses?

A lot of these spells are traditional for clerics, maybe even mechanically powerful for their level, but they're simply not that interesting. Compare with wizard spells like Feather Fall and Mirror Image. Is Mirror Image really more powerful or useful in combat than Aid? I'm not sure, but I AM sure that it's a lot more interesting.

I hope that cleric spells are in for a bit more development. I really like the wizard spells this time around and hope that cleric spells are in for more revamping as well.

One idea would be to add more reaction spells for clerics. For example, what if Bless was a reaction that let an ally reroll a missed attack? I know they're trying to reduce out-of-turn actions in this edition, but (a) this wouldn't slow down play anymore than tracking temporary bonuses, (b) the spells could still fit within the action economy as "reactions," and (c) it would make the reactive and defensive nature of clerical magic a bit more interesting.

 

[Raith5]

OP - I agree. I quite like the idea of daily cures CLW etc being rarely used, use a full action, but do serious healing. Then have divine spells that have various effects and do a modest bit of healing. I quite like the 4th ed spell diving glow which hurts enemies and heals allies. Or healing strike which could do a small heal (maybe a d6) to an adjacent ally.

Generally I think DDN cleric spells need a lot more pizazz.

 

[gyor]

They need to draw on 4e cleric spells for ideas, the traditional cleric spells are mostly dull.

 

[frankthedm]

What if the wizard decide to fireball the room and kill all the goblins in 1 round? I've juste wasted my spell.

Then your group has a problem with teamwork.