D&D 5E How is the Cleric in Actual Play?

[Stalker0]

My group is pretty meh to the cleric. They think the bard is amazing, the druid is solid, the wizard is awesome.

But the cleric...on paper it just doesn't seem that strong. On of my players tried out a cleric at 6th level for a few sessions and then promptly changed to a wizard, and has never looked back.

I'll admit that looking at the cleric's 2nd and 3rd level spell list I've never been particularly impressed. So for those who have played clerics for a while in game, what's your actual experience?

 

[DND_Reborn]

Odd, in our group clerics and wizards are great, druids are good, and we think bards suck.

One of my characters was a cleric and I enjoyed it a lot. He was a dwarf and I played him as almost a sort of holy warrior, choosing the War Domain. He was good in fights, with decent HP and a great AC, offered support via healing and buffs, and I enjoyed him. I remember at mid-levels when I could destroy undead, the party was surrounded and I blew a bunch away in a single turning. Everybody loved it!

Overall, I rate the cleric a firm 8 out of 10 and one of my top four classes to play. I suppose actual play experience will depend on what your game is like and such. What domain was the player using and how were they playing their cleric before switching to wizard?

 

[Oofta]

Define "strong" and what you want to get out of a character. The player in my current campaign is having a blast (literally) with a tempest cleric. My war cleric was a lot of fun. In my wife's campaign the life cleric did an amazing job of healing.

Everybody has their own personal taste of course, but the domain can make a pretty big difference in what the PC feels like in play. A cleric may not be for everyone, but no class is.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

In my experience, clerics are great at healing, but other aspects of the rules mean that magical healing is unnecessary. As such, clerics aren't that useful.

 

[LordEntrails]

Depends what players want out of their characters. Melee? Not a cleric. Ranged? Not a cleric. Jack of all trades? Not a cleric.

Healer? Now that's a cleric. Does your party need one? Nope, just like they don't need a wizard, a fighter, barbarian or any other class. It just means they have to play according to what they do have.

I've played characters that are fun, you just have to be wanting to play a cleric in order to enjoy playing a cleric.

 

[Azzy]

I've seen two clerics being played since we adopted 5e. One was a Life cleric, and one was a Forge cleric—each by different players in different campaigns. Both players loved the class. So, it may be just a matter of player preference.

 

[Zardnaar]

It depends on the domain and it requires a decent amount of system mastery. They kind of suck in melee except for a few exceptions.


Something like the Light cleric is very good and can buff via aid. Life is good at healing. For melee you really need feats.

melee clerics basically have to use spirit guardians once they reach the right levels. They also suffer from MAD using the default array. nature clerics are basically the best ones in melee without feas and with feats are still very competitive and the heavy armor ones kind of need to take heavy armor master. So there are feat taxes more or less.

Still good at support via guidance and healing/bless. if you have PCs with the -5/+10 feats and a non melee cleric blessing them is a very good option.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I love playing a 5e cleric. Especially the Life Domain. I very much enjoy playing the Healer, support role. It's just about picking a class that matches your expectations.

 

[cmad1977]

The storm cleric in my group was amazing.

 

[ccs]

Well, when i play a cleric (in 5e or PF) I never survive more than 3 sessions.
Not because clerics are bad, but due to random crits etc.

Of the 5 or 6 not-me 5e clerics I've played with/DM'd for?
All but one worked fine.
It didn't work because the player was just a bad cleric player. If someone else had been helm in it....
All were fine RP wise.