D&D 5E Life Cleric vs Light vs War in Practice

[Paraxis]

The only magical in combat healing you need early on is Healing Word. Ranged, bonus action, brings target at 0 h.p up again, simple. For after fights the Healer feat is very helpful, that and spending hit dice.

A good number of cleric abilities are about buffing the party to shorten the length of combat, a Bless spell does wonders to help your side hit and do damage reducing the number of overall attacks they take during the fight and letting them make saves they wouldn't have, that extra 1d4 on a Dexterity save to take half damage or Con save to avoid a big chunk of poison damage altogether is great and much better than a single cure wounds later.

The three clerics I see in regular play are War, Light, and Thunder the Thunder cleric seems to have the most fun out of all of them , followed by Light, and the War cleric seems to get bored.

 

[vlysses]

Wow, thanks guys/gals for all the responses - overall it seems like healing HP after encounters is not such an issue due to inherent/HD related and speard out general healing capabilities of each character.

So the really critical time is combat healing, for which any non-life cleric has enough up his/her sleeve.

We are going to convert and stat playing at level 7 so the enemy is starting to get a bit tougher, but I think I'm comfortable with the answers above anyhow.

Now the only decision is Light or Thunder Cleric?

What say thou? ;-)

 

[Paraxis]

Now the only decision is Light or Thunder Cleric?

What say thou? ;-)

Either, both are great. If you want to be melee Tempest(thunder) is crazy good, so much synergy between class abilities polearm master and sentinel feat. If you want to be a blaster caster type Light is wonderful, anytime the cleric is dropping fireballs and blasting things with scorching burst is fun.

 

[Uller]

It also depends somewhat on the DM. I'm running a game right now with no cleric (4th level). I'm generous with Potions of Healing. They are one magic item that is commonly available for purchase.

I played a cleric of Light in a 7th level one shot. I loved it. We had no wizard in the party so he filled both the AoE and healing niches well enough. I never felt like I had to over do it with stocking up on healing spells. I think the premise that you might need to really stock up on healing misses that spell casting doesn't "use up" prepared spells. If you have one 1st level healing spell prepared, you have it available as long as you have a slot available.

 

[Mistwell]

But are those other forms of healing as prevalent as the wand of cure light wounds?

Given the existence of hit dice? Yes. And given I've been playing for about 18 months now, I feel pretty confident saying any flavor of Cleric will do just fine n 5e. In fact one complaint about the game by some is it has too much healing, which resulted in options in the DMG to reduce healing. I've yet to hear anyone complain there is not enough healing in the game.

 

[keterys]

I've heard several complaints about healing during combat being too difficult / inefficient; like it almost never being worth healing someone who isn't already down, and no matter the size of the heal it's not going to stop an enemy from just going through it in one round.

Out of combat healing - Goodberry, Healer, Prayer of Healing, hit dice, etc - work great.

Which is probably the right mix; you need less spell slots for out of combat healing, so you're inclined to let damage pile up during combat, which increases tension without greatly increasing true risk.

 

[Rhenny]

I'm playing a Tempest Cleric in one campaign (only 3rd level so far). I'm enjoying and don't feel an overwhelming need to heal. That said, I prep healing word, cure wounds and prayer of healing and it doesn't stop me from using thunderwave or shatter when I need damage (especially with the max damage channel divinity feature).

In a campaign I run, there is a 5th level War Cleric and he also feels good about his options.

Honestly, the way clerics can have variety and feel more than healbots seems to be one of 5e's biggest successes.

 

[green_destiny]

Now the only decision is Light or Thunder Cleric?

What say thou? ;-)

For me, my answer is still:

Can't Tempest cleric included here? He can will do just fine in healing and blasting. He only prepare the Call Lightning a 'fun' AOE spell (max duration 10mins) and others are for healing/utility.

Zap! Zap! Heal! Zap! Zap! Zap!

Note: for open areas

But it depends, their almost equal at some points:

In a Dungeon Crawl - Tempest cleric can't be at their full potential. To note, their full potential is in an open area in the middle of a raging storm. Plus they get proficiency in martial weapons, heavy armors. You also get an ability to hurt whoever hurts you a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier. Damage is heavily dependent on Lightning damage.

Light Cleric only gains the Light cantrip (if you already don't know it). But Warding Flare feature can keep you from getting hit a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier. Damage is heavily dependent on Fire and Radiance damage.

 

[DaveDash]

Playing a War Cleric level 1-3, 11, 17, and 20. Also playing a Light cleric Level 11-14. Starting a Life Cleric at level 1.

To reiterate what most people have said, most healing happens out of combat. In combat healing is usually for emergencies only. The way the game is designed now is that healing (with the exception of a couple of spells, and Life Clerics) in combat is inefficient. It's better to take the hits and spend healing hit dice, or use other out of combat means to heal.

Clerics can focus on doing damage. Light Clerics do great damage with their cantrips and have fireballs, wall of fire, and such. Other spells like Spiritual Weapon helps stack on a lot of damage and is very efficient resource wise. All my Clerics usually get through the day with plenty of slots to spare (except at low levels).
The only thing I will say though is I usually hold back on some of the higher slots (6th, 9th) for the "big heals" just in case.

 

[Zardnaar]

My 2 cp the healer feat frees up a lot of spells for a cleric to do other things. THis is great on things like the light cleric. Having around 1.5 or 2 healers in the party helps.

Z's healer rating.

Healing feat counts as 1 healer
Paladin counts as 0.5 healer
Life Cleric counts as 1.5 healer
Cleric (the rest) count as 1 healer
Druids/Bards count as 0.75.
Druid(land)/Life cleric 1 MC counts as 1.5 or 2 healers.
Lore Bard 6+/life cleric 1 counts as 1.5 healers (assuming the Bard takes goodberry and aura of vitality)