PHB Cleric = Unbalanced?

[Uder]

There's a difference between blast spells and diversity. Clerics spells from 1st through 4th certainly are diverse IMO. The fact is that many of them are downright mandatory for a party to have access to, especially around the time the PCs are getting access to 3rd-4th level spells.

I'm of the opinion that clerics get more perks than all the other classes, but they need to. If the group doesn't have a cleric, their long-term survival is anything but certain.

Put me in the "unbalanced, with good cause" camp.

 

[Hussar]

Bead of Karma?

OIC. The original post wasn't clear on this since it mentioned the Bead of Karma after saying that a 13th level cleric can wipe out the 13th level opposition. I understand now.

As far as spells go in the 1st-4th range, what spell is so powerful that every cleric will memorize it every time? Certainly Holy Word is a spell that's going to see lots of use in a heavy combat campaign, but, then again, so will Circle of Death or Fireballs. Like I said before, yes, the clerics have lots of versatility in their spells, but, so many of them are of such limited use, that, unless you KNOW that you need them, you can't prepare them before hand. Who's going to memorize a Water Breathing spell unless you know you are going near water? Make Whole can be an excellent spell, but, no one is going to memorize it over Delay Poison unless they specifically need it. Zone of Truth? Great! But, then again, only if you intend on interrogating someone. How often is this going to come up that people will memorize Zone of Truth over memorizing Hold Person or Sound Burst?

Yes, clerics get access to the whole list, but, then again, 75% of the list is only useful in very specific circumstances. Basically, you need to rest and regain spells whenever you want to use any of the really specific spells. That assumes that you can wait a day to cast the spell. Otherwise, the spells are useless. A spell that's never cast is a waste of a slot. I suppose you could fill lots of scrolls, but then again, wizards can do that without burning a feat.