AsDungeons & Dragonscontinues to prepare to make the jump from 5th Edition to 6th, developer Wizards of the Coast should take another look at the Cleric class. While a good Cleric can easily be one of the most important parts of any adventuring party, a few improvements could make it one ofD&D’s best spellcasting classesthat goes beyond just being the dedicated healer.
Similar to many of the classes from the current edition ofDungeons & Dragons, one place where the Cleric class can best improve is from the way that each level improves the character. As is often the case for spellcasters, the biggest incentive a player has to gain more experience comes from expanding their repertoire of known and available spells. Addressing this progression could be the key to attracting more players to the Cleric class.
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More Class Features for Clerics
One of the best ways thatD&Dhas to give players a feeling of progression as their characters complete encounters and gain experience is by doling outpowerful class featuresat milestone levels. For some classes, these special features come frequently, improving the bag of tricks available to Rogues and Fighters as frequently as a character’s health is improved. However, many spellcasting classes like the Cleric forgo a large amount of these features. In the specific case of the Cleric, the last major feature comes at 10th level, only getting an upgrade at 20th, instead of a totally new ability.
Similar to the5EWizard class, much of this seeming lack of progression is balanced by gaining new spells with every level, and progressively more spell slots after leveling up a few times. Making the right or wrong choices when building a spell list can give players the chance to customize their Clerics, either to be impressively powerful or to fit with a certain role that they are playing. The problem with the class features is that the Cleric becomes dependent on these spells after 10th level to progress, which leaves the difference between it and any other spellcasting class up to the specific spells available.
In the case of improving these features, new ways for a Cleric to dish out damage, possibly to more than one target at a time, could be an interesting way to improve the flexibility of the class. On the other end of the spectrum, giving a Cleric more options for healing outside of the use of spells could also help to help the class stand out fromD&D’s Paladins, or other spellcasters. Then there is also the subclasses that could be tapped into, taking some of the already existing features from the Divine Domains and adding them to the levels of the base Cleric class.
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Clerics and Divine Domains
Given the wide variety of outer, greater, and old gods in thearcane history ofDungeons & Dragons, the list of Divine Domains available for a Cleric to draw gifts from is quite expansive. So, to claim that there is a sudden need for more Domains to give Clerics more options to choose from might be asking too much of Wizards of the Coast. Instead, the best improvement might be to look at the current list of Divine Domains and see about giving the Cleric the ability to shift from one to the other.
Being able to change the gods a Cleric worships on a whim wouldn’t exactly be well-balanced in the metagame sense, nor would it be all too immersive from the role-playing end of things. In this case, the improvement could come from allowing different deities or schools of Clerical studies to invoke multiple Divine Domains. The choice of which Divine Domain to invoke at any given time would best be done at the start of each day, requiring specific preparation to know which Domain to call on for any given encounter. This means that a cleverDungeon Mastercould still catch a Cleric off guard.
In addition to making the devotion to a Divine Domain more fluid, there are several aspects of theD&D’s backstory that could better be explored through the Cleric class. While the Cleric is often seen as an impressive healer and fighter, often devoted to the good end ofD&D’s alignment chart, there is a host of darker powers to better draw from. Combine these good and evil Domains with the ability to slip between connected ones and the Clerics could become one of the most complex classes to play both in and out of combat.
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