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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6817056" data-attributes="member: 37579">No, it's going to be "what type of character do you want to play?" which is the exact same meaning but in a more common phrasing.Clerics principally function as supportive . . . A study of the spells usable by clerics . . . will convey the main purpose of the cleric. That is, the cleric serves to fortify, protect, and revitalize.In 5e, you wouldn't point towards the assassin, would you? Or the champion fighter? There are other builds that it would make more sense to point towards.</blockquote>That's nice. But we're not talking about AD&D. We're talking about 5e. And have you looked at the 5e cleric? The main role section of the 5e cleric is "Healers and Warriors" and puts as much focus on "call[ing] down flames from heaven to consume their enemies" as using "the helpful magic of healing and inspiring their allies". There are seven domains: lore, light, life, nature, tempest, trickery, and war. Lore is all about being the knowledge skill monkey, light and tempest are about blasting, trickery is the stealthy skill monkey, war is damage or tanking, and nature is... unfocused. Only life is really the buffer/healer.  The cleric has divine spells that can buff and heal and remove negative ailments. But so does the bard and druid and to the lesser extent the ranger and paladin. There is nothing in the cleric class apart from 1/7th of its subclasses that denotes the class as either a "support class" or a "buffer". So, on paper, "cleric" isn't really a good answer for the question "I want to play a buffer, what class do I play". Other than "buffer".[/QUOTE]

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