Cleric Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2018
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... Welcome to our in-depth video guide to the Cleric class in Dungeons and Dragons 5e!
We’ll cover everything you need to know to create your Cleric. We’ll help you choose the best ability scores, skills, divine domains, spells, and other build options to prepare your cleric to carry out will of the gods. We’ll also look at famous examples of clerics from history, movies, television shows, and more to inspire your next character, and as well as roleplaying ideas to help develop your cleric’s background and personality.
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Time Stamps
Why play a cleric? 1:00
Party role 2:43
Get inspired 4:58
Building your cleric 7:38
Ability scores 9:30
Races 11:22
Divine domains 13:36
Knowledge domain 15:38
Life domain 16:01
Light domain 16:30
Nature domain 16:57
Tempest domain 17:20
Trickery domain 17:45
War domain 18:12
Forge domain 19:02
Death & Grave domain 19:20
Arcana domain 19:38
Channel Divinity 19:52
Divine Intervention 21:51
Spellcasting 23:11
Cantrips 23:38
Damage dealing spells 24:18
Battlefield control spells 25:10
Support Spells 25:51
Healing spells 27:10
Ritual spells 28:15
Roleplaying a cleric 28:46
Backgrounds 31:22
Dude this is exactly what i was looking for. Thanks pal
@@julianasmith2407 You're welcome, dude
++
Youre doing gods work
You the real MVP
My actual first character in 5th Edition was a Cleric with the charlatan Background, he was a trickster who was going around towns and fixing "problems" for them in exchange for coin and recognition. (problems* he created or solved through clever ruse). One day, when he faked casting a clerical spell to solve an "issue", a proper spell occurred and he realized "Oh shit, A God noticed... and I don't know which one."
Nice backstory!
I am still playing with my first character and it is also a cleric with the charlatan background!
No doubt an amused trickster deity, toying with the potential follower..
This would be a great Trickster Cleric background :)
Sounds like the start of an Adam Sandler movie 😆
So... We could make a whole group of just different types of clerics and still have a good group?
Jason S yeah but just imagine the sheer number of religious arguments around the campfire each night... ;-)
Indeed. I could even see several clerics of the same religion or deity, except all with different domains embodying a different facet of their beliefs.
I've run a one-shot that does EXACTLY that.
Custom deity, the All-Father, to handwave that they're all different domains.
I wound up with a Hobgoblin Forge, Wood Elf Trickery, Aarakocra Life, and Goliath War Cleric.
We kinda ran out of time the first time, so we'll likely pick that up another time. And I can hardly wait. Being a DM for the first time was rather fun.
Even if I really should've known that throwing as many Undead at them as I have been wouldn't work.
Though, I forgot that any that are Turned shake free of that as soon as they've taken any damage.
That would've made the fight against some Ghouls and a Ghast a lot more interesting if 4 out of the 5 weren't stuck Dodging every turn for 3 turns..
Sounds cool, they could all be from the same pantheon like Norse mythology or Greek that would be awesome thematically.
A friend told me of a group he was apart of with nothing but Paladins who each worshipped a different god. They each asked their god what to do with a criminal they caught and came to different conclusions. So they released him and decided who caught him first gets to decide. The criminal ended up getting eaten by a monster before they caught him and they fought the monster
Would love to see a series of "How to play a Cleric" videos ^_^
Played a Death Domain Claric, he was basically an Aztec priest with a thing for bloody rituals
Constantly creeped out the rest of the party
My brother wanted to join in my DnD game so I rolled up a Tempest Cleric for him. He's a 6ft1 bodybuilder and my gods does he love roleplaying a cleric! Been introducing him to your videos and he's more inspired than ever to play - so thanks for the insight guys!
im a 6ft body builder watching this video thinking about playing a cleric. Are you my new brother?
It's fitting; clerics are basically like the defensive linemen of the D&D party.
Lol I know a guy who's a 6ft2 body builder and an ideal cleric. He also an ambulance worker, so yeah^^
is 6ft considered tall ?
Pretty much every cleric I've seen has been 6ft tall and is a body builder irl. I try to avoid restricting classes at my table as much as I can, but it's reached the point where if you want to roll a cleric, you better have a measuring stick and gym membership card handy.
IRL, I'm a Christian pastor, so when I'm not the DM (which I do most of the time), I like to play Clerics. I really appreciate what 5e does with the domains, making all the clerics feel really different. 3.x was good on clerics, but they really feel fun to play, I think, in 5e. I love that I can dabble in almost every other class as a cleric... trickery domain, arcana domain, war domain... that keeps it interesting. In 3.x, cleric was the class the person who got to pick last played, because as essential as they were, they were really pigeonholed into the healing role. But I'm playing a Life Cleric in a Decent into Avernus campaign right now, and much of my job is to blow things up (demons and devils being very prominent).
Thanks for the vid, guys. Great job.
I'm an atheist prepping a Light Cleric of Ra to go against Strahd, who's an equally strong fan of 5e Clerics and the DD videos.
IMHO a cleric in 3.5 was on par with wizard in their ability to control the battle field and bend reality, hands down the best buff and debuff, plus plate and weapon proficiency with decent BAB, 2 good saves, and lastly Miracle, which was Wish but *better*
Far from pigeon-holed if played that way
As an aside, it warms my heart to see a pastor playing D&D, after my experiences with fundamentalist evangelical upbringings
@@716monk I grew up in some of those same circles. People are afraid of what they don't understand. I'm sorry you had that experience, friend.
You should read Stigers Tigers, you remind me of Father Thomas.
@@kevinbaird6705 Sun against vampires wise.
I was thinking of a brand named Thoth.
I enjoy learning of other cultures pantheons.
Things I learned: half-orcs actually make surprisingly decent clerics. Con bonus + Relentless Endurance mean you're basically a stone wall.
Oh yes. I discovered this by accident, my 3rd character was a half-orc cleric, high con, armor class, relentless endurance, healing spells, aid, death ward... They were nigh unkillable.
Paladin's too....monks too....
I have a novel series I set aside years ago that involves a group of 6 half-orc of various lineage. Human x3, ogre, troll & halfling. They are each Paladin, each very high level rogue & clerics too. Waukeen, Tymora & Yondalla make for the beings they worship.
And of course make great candidates for killing all elves IN THE NAME OF GRUUMSH
Tell me One thing, how Is the dwarf Cleric not completely insane at low lvl?
The variant that gives +1 on wisdom and +2 con and 1 extra hit point for level, then pick Life domain and be Immortal.
The other side of the spectrum, dwarf of the other variant that gives +2 strenght and +2 constitution, pick war/storm Cleric and at lvl 4 talent for dual wielding 2 normal sized weapons, take 2 maces for 1d8 each and Simply punch and heal until you win.
I know dual wielding isn't good, but spiritual weapon + Spirit Guardian + 2d8 + strenght each round at lvl 5 Is kinda scary, also consider this Is 3 attacks so triple chance of critical, considering extra attacks from war domain or extra damage when you get hit from storm domain, the armor class and the healing, Is there anything that Beats It?
"Woe betide the party that lets their Cleric fall in battle" - Dungeon Dudes. I need to use this
My cleric is literally just an 84 y old lady. Thanks to her being human, and some good rolls, her wis is 20. And all her spells are things like; mend, purify food and drink, locate object and guidance. I haven't played her yet, but I already love her.
if you dont play her soon, she'll die of old age.....
So you are playing a good granny? Nice
You do realize Humans in D&D only live to about 60 or 70 something right???
I made an Human Fighter who's 68 years old. Terrible STR and END but above avarege in everything else.
He always complains about how soft youths are nowadays.
@Sonic ASMR yeah but this is medievel time so most peasants would live to 30-50 while rich people affording healing magic and of course eating healthier food would live from 70-80. officially humans live for 60-70 years but i like what i mentioned before more. even today with very advanced medicine the average age is still around 80 years old with only rarely people living over 100
Necromancer: Muhahahaha how are you going to deal with my ARMY OF UNDEAD!?
Dwarven Cleric: Hold my Mead and Ale!
Patrick Nalty - (Dwarven Cleric takes mead and ale back one second later) “Wait a minute, those are my holy symbols, I need those...”
@@queenannsrevenge100 My word! I total forgot they are Holy Symbols to the Dwarven Cleric!
*Gets Smitted by the God of Alcohol and in Intoxication*
God: Never take a Dwarf's Drink!
no holy symbols but holy water.
Mead and ale? What, was it breakfast time?
🤣🤣
My favorite cleric experience was when I made a Kenku Tempest Cleric by the name of "BOOOM CRAAASH!". He had the variant sailor background and his backstory was basically thus: a flock of kenkus wandered around stealing shit and pissing off the locals until they reached the coast where they encountered a cleric of Umberlee and learned that Umberlee may even grant them flight and so they became quick converts. Stole a ship and preceded to persecute people on the high seas as pirates. This went well for them for a while until eventually they raided the wrong ship and a storm destroyed their ship and poor BOOM CRAAAASH! was the sole survivor. All the noises out his mouth were the sounds heard on the high seas.
Id like to roleplay a cleric who stumbles upon a deity that isn’t well known, who maybe has very little followers or was on their out the door until you showed up (very Noragami-style if anyone is familiar). And part of your mission is establishing shrines, temples, and getting new followers, communing with the deity concerning tenets and rituals. (Lol i already have my new wip)
ah! that reminds me of a story I read somewhere it was so sad I don't remember what it's called though.
Does he appear as a tortoise?
"Clerics have one of the largest and most diverse spell lists"
Divine Soul Sorcerers chuckle in the background.
A cleric's divination ability is really under-appreciated in my experience. Most people play a cleric as little more than a glorified medic but they can be so much more valuable. Detect Evil, Augury (forces the DM to give you a hint!), Locate Object, Speak with Dead, Clairvoyance - these level 1-3 spells are all way, way more valuable than a little bit of healing. These spells can let you side-step vast amounts of damage - no need to heal damage not taken! These are skills not even a mage can bring to the table.
Currently playing a trickery domain cleric and I escaped getting jumped in a dark alley thanks to the channel divinity. I turned a corner, created my illusory self and had it keep walking in my place. After the two trailing me were far enough past me I had the illusion cast guiding bolt, which I got a nat 20 on, and instantly killed one of the two. The rest of my party was able to make it back to me before the other guy could realize he was fighting a clone.
🤣🤣 I did a very similar thing with my trickery cleric 🤣🤣
I've been thinking of a trickery cleric for my next cleric character. What do you love about it? What are the disadvantages?
My Cleric thinks he is a god and gets his power from himself
what if you die?
He believes he could just make another body
Are you playing a Kuo-Toa?
nah I was a homebrew Aasimar like race (but yeah I know about Kuo-Toas making gods :P)
Ooooooh ... like "Natureboy" Ric Flair!
Fire ball and heavy armor. Be a cleric heal people and burn evil with fire, Light shall be by your side!
Alkono Dival light domain doesnt typically get that heavy armor, but with the right race/dm you can. Light domain looks fun, but i typically gravitate to more martial characters. Lightning looks like a fun comprimise.
mysteryshadow5 m you are right, they only get medium, but they get some nice reaction for defence.
I am currently playing a Drow Elf Light Cleric who worships Apollo... just let that sink in.
@@kannonball5789 Lolth is not pleased with your antics.
@@JPatterson61586 The Spider Wuss can bite me. Would she rather I worship Eilistraee, the one good thing from my homeland?
I just started playing as a Tempest Cleric who worships a pantheon of gods, and I'm really enjoying the class, also trying to mix with the feats for reach weapons like halberd, inspired by your other video, and flavoring it as a lightning rod as I strike down my gods foes with the aid from the heavens. Great content guys!
Dwarf Forge Cleric with Guild Artisan background. Made a life as a smith and became a cleric of The Allhammer, Moradin as he aged and retired. Holy symbol looks like a hand holding the short handle of a hammer so when he grasp it, his hand wraps around the hand already holding the hammer. Love me some cleric!
The ONLY drawback that I see with Clerics, and it's not a huge one, is that unlike many classes they pick their sub-class right away instead of waiting until level 3. I like starting my campaigns at level 1 and giving the players those first couple of levels to gel before they begin making subclass choices. Clerics are locked in from level 1. That being said, my War Domain Cleric is one of my fave characters ever and the Forge Domain is a close second.
As always, great video!
I totally agree, the biggest choice a cleric has to make is at first level. It's a much more forgiving choice than say, the Sorcerer and the Warlock, who also have to choose at level 1. In all cases though the choice is heavily tied to the character's identity and story, though, which makes it important but also easier for newer players to grasp.
I play an Arcana cleric in my weekly game, and have been looking forward to this video for a while! My cleric worships Selune, so it never occurred to to me to say something like, "The night is dark and full of terrors"...but now I will be!
I kinda wanna make a Light Cleric that has that as his 'catch phrase'.. While he goes around lighting stuff on fire.
He.. may or may not be a pyromaniac with a religious cover.
BOY would he fit in with our group. We chose to name ourselves "Ember Company", in large part because we tend to solve our problems with fire.
Well, the flames don't discriminate. And beyond that.. Let the gods sort them out.
But that sounds like he would fit in pretty well, yeah.
I play an Arcana domain as well! Best cleric I've ever played. Hill Dwarf. Booming Blade. Warcaster. Build works like this essentially. Cast spirit guardians and spiritual weapon. Run up on a high value target (spellcaster, boss, etc) and Dodge. Bonus action attack with spiritual weapon and of course the spirit guardians. If they try to run from me, opportunity attack booming Blade for like 5D8+12 damage lmfao. Best thing ever.
Clerics really get a lot of advantages at lower level than any other class they are spell caster but not to squishy and auto get armor n weapon proficiency. The list of spell to prepare for is also not to restrictive. They need to specialize in one area to be effective. but they still can do a lot of different things, sort of becoming a jack of all trades. What not to like about them.
Btw the most time I spend to make a cleric is to choose what God of what domain to worship. This is the hardest part of making a cleric lol. So many different pantheon to choose from
I'm going to my first ever D&D taster session tomorrow and this was incredibly useful. Thank you both.
YESSSSSS JUST STARTED A NEW CAMPAIGN AND WAS GOING TO PLAY A CLERIC, what a coincidence. Thanks guys!
We are playing in a brutal 5e campaign and my druid been dropped a few times lol. I need a backup and a Cleric was exactly what I was thinking and was making one on dndbeyond when I got this notification. Perfect timing and wonderful video as always. I like that you guys go over mechanics and RP. Well done.
The Bane spell is also good against one to three strong enemies to make them weaker against your teammates' attacks and spells.
I've been looking into clerics for our next campaign, and I instantly fell for Forge. Looks like a great archetype for both being a support and a front line.
So glad I subbed to this Chanel. Have a session in like 5 minutes so this will just be open and ready for when I get home.
I'm currently playing a forge domain cleric who is a warforge. He was created by a dwarf and worships the god Moradin. For him, I really focused on his ability to create things and defend others.
you know the Rogue assassin i was playing became a friend of the Tymora cleric in Phandelver and double class as trickery.
its a great convination and made sense in the context of the story.
love these class based videos! Thanks for keeping 'em coming so quickly, and generally running a great channel.
I run our Dungeons and Dragons club at our secondary school (as a staff member). Your videos are really helpful for me to help teach our students to play and LOVE this rpg. Thanks for helping so much!
Your class series is shaping up brilliantly. It just might push you to 10K before you know it. As ever, thanks for your good work
Love you guys. Just threw this on gonna watch it through but i wanted to say im running a LVL 5 fighter in a friends campaign and watching your fighter video helped me tons. The shove - action surge move is great and i never considered it.
If i can make a request, at some point can you guys do guides for cities in D&D? With descriptions of the city and maybe adventure ideas for that city in particular? I would very much enjoy that. Regardless if that sounds good to you guys or not im loving the channel keep up the great content!
For the first time in about 20 years as a D&D player, I am running a Cleric. Sure, I had many Cleric NPCs in my campaigns, but as a player it is being a great experience.
Kharad Khazûnd, The Black Beard, Master of the Deep Gates, Shield of Delzoun is a Dwarf Noble from Citadel Felbar, in Forgotten Realms.
Chosen by Ghorm Gultrin when it willingly accept his own sacrife to defend his people from the attack of a Behir who invaded the Halls of the Deep Gates coming from the Underdark, he abandoned his own holds, leaving his uncle on charge of his lands, to seek in the world the materialization of his vision: a Delzoun Empire reborn, a place where all the dwarves can live in peace and prosper.
I am just loving to play this War Cleric. The DM was amazingly helpful with my background allowing me to pick followers as my background feature, one a diplomat, also the diplomat's daughter (with whom Kharad is developing a relationship) and an Acolyte of Moradin who thinks my person isn't only chosen by Ghorm Gultrym, but by all dwarven gods.
We are already at level six and I never visited my own lands, but the trip is being awesome. I ever thought Clerics to be boring, but now I just discovered they are my new favorite class after two decades... Hehehehe
And thanks for this video, by the way. I loved it and it gave me some nice ideas to improve my char a bit more.
Coming back to D&D after like 15 years with a hill dwarf cleric acolyte. This video was super helpful and made me more comfortable with my build. Kudos!
I have an interesting cleric (Death Domain) who's life goal is to prove Necromancy can be used for good and thus tries to focus on the Necro spells more and fight alongside the undead he raises.
I'm playing a twilight cleric right now! The campaign is set in a school for adventurers, so I wanted to play a cleric that at first does the right things for the wrong reasons but overtime learns to think critically about religion and ethics. As a freshmen, he felt called to serve Selune because he enjoyed feeling needed and liked the pretty robes lol! After a few instances of being punished (or even just ignored!) for doing the right thing, he's questioning his faith and purpose in the party.
I feel bad for that necromancer lol
"BEHOLD MY UNDEAD"
Turn undead
"...... Well shit."
"I kick ass for the Lord!"
I'm currently running a Grave Cleric/Shadow Sorcerer who follows Kelemvor. I love the flavor of this character and the darker ideals that he brings, such as having the power to bring someone back to life, but maybe this is their time to move on and I am there to shepherd their soul to the afterlife. The idea that he exists between the realms of life and death from the sorcerer, which gives him a deeper connection to Kelemvor, is a lot of fun.
On the flip side, I also love my Divine Soul Sorcerer/Life Cleric who follows Lathander. As a child he was blessed by this god of birth and renewal. Not really knowing what else to do, his parents took him to the monastery where he trained to become a cleric. Both have been so much fun to role play.
One thing I do for every character is giving them some sort of faith they may curse at it or prays it but they all have it. A rogue asking for luck a Wizard for knowledge or a warrior for survival. It gives most my characters one extra layer.
I only started playing a month ago, and this video made me feel even happier about my choice in cleric. Building a character was tough, but my cleric got there, even for a tiefling XD
Yesss! I knew this was the next one coming! Tempest Cleric all the way! Another awesome video dudes!
Love the class guides. Really looking forward to the Bard episode.
Im gearing up for my first time game of DnD and this is such a helpful guide!
Really enjoy your guys content! Keep up the awesome work!
Super helpful, thanks guys! I'm thinking of starting as a tiefling cleric of the life domain who is tempted by the allure of the death domain. This guide was perfect for setting up my character and how to roleplay as him!
I recently got into my first DND campaign with some mates of mine and are a war cleric worshipping Torm. Watched this as research. Very informative!
Been on a binge of your cleric videos. Making a cleric based on Whitelighters from charmed and these have helped so much.
Thanks for another great vid. I appreciate how much info you guys had to cover in this one, and I think you moved through it comprehensively without bogging down. Props :)
I tell ya, the one domain that seems to have been ignored, that I'd really like to see developed, is travel/journey. Many faiths have the concept of a pilgrimage, and in some cases it isn't to a specific destination, but rather to seek an enlightening experience. I can see a mix of movement enhancing features as well as divination type features, and maybe some ribbons like learning new languages as needed or something similar to embody the traveler concept.
Really informative video. I felt like I was being forced into the role of a Cleric in an upcoming campaign. You have given me lots of RP ideas and completely changed my perspective of the cleric.
One of my friends played a Life domain Cleric in a campaign I ran for a couple of months, and his background was Soldier. He was essentially the medic who didn't have a ton of weapon training. but he wore his squad's banner as a cape.
Probably the best overall cleric guide/breakdown online. Great work!
I was actually working on a Loki-inspired build for 5e when this came out, and now I am thinking that the trickery domain might be the best fit for it, although i feel that the arcane trickster might be a good choice as well, I would appreciate any help with this, good job again guys!
WonderTraders I LOVED the Trickery Domain Cleric I played in our previous campaign. Highly recommend it!
Going to be playing a Tempest Cleric and I think I will be following Godzilla. :) Great vid guys. You have earned my updoot and sub.
Thanks for the video. I always played fighters and barbarians in the past but our group needs a cleric and so I decided to step up, so I've been reading up on it and this video really helps .
I’m surprised the Contagion spell wasn’t mentioned considering the numerous amount of times I pulled that out on Monty’s baddies in our previous campaign!
Monty said the Trickery Domain’s Channel Divinity was “meh”.... but I used that in almost every battle to gain advantage when casting the Contagion spell which really helped our party take down the larger bosses!
I loved playing my cleric, Ol’ Felix “Tricky” Nixon!
An ex-Life Domain who was injured in battle by an evil Sorcerer’s flock of crows which gave Tricky a huge fear of winged creatures and a real sarcastic look on life, which led him to a life of Trickery.
Cleric will always be my favorite class to play because of how diverse and useful they are in almost any situation!
Great video guys! xo
I made a tempest cleric with the shipwright background from ghosts of saltmarsh. He came to his faith after surviving a storm at sea.
Thankyou for the breakdown of the character. I’m new to dnd and this really helped me understand the role I am going to play for an upcoming campaign
I have a trickery domain cleric with a guild artisan background. She's super fun!
A new player with sooo much to learn. I feel overwhelmed!
Played a war cleric of Crom from the Conan movies. Too much fun!
I'm a first-time 5e player. But I have been a dungeon the master since the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons. I played all serieses but this one. I've been invited to the game as a sixth level cleric because of my knowledge for role-playing and past military history and Stage Productions have given me Advantage for role-playing and I have been challenged.
This video that you produce here has tons of information and I'm using it for my script format studying guide very good I would suggest next time though that you use some visual aids besides conversation to such a long video thank you very much for your knowledge I enjoy listening to geek talk.
Thanks for the great explanation!
Especially the mention of talking with your GM about the role of your religion is one of the things I have the most fun with. We are playing a heavily customised campaign with a mix of 2.5, Pathfinder and house rules and started creating and shaping the world together with our GM while playing. It's so much fun to have ways to work together giving your world more depth with each game session.
We started with just a name for the order of my cleric and the list of domains to choose from. Then we added what kind of mindset the order has and how it interacts with the world when we returned to the city after surviving our first mission.
At the end we had a private wiki page with the names and jobs of all people who are part of the order. We created the story how the god became a god. What basic agenda he has and what kind of actions he would support or just ignore.
We ended up with an order that is not spreading the name of his god but has the agenda of doing good and talk about it. Help the people to help them self by telling stories. The worst thing you could do is helping someone without telling other people about it.
My cleric is a new faction of the order that believes actively going out into the world and doing good things makes talking about it more convincing. The rest of the order prefers to talk about stories from books, without taking chances and risking there lives. It's also always the truth if you tell people that things are better done one way over different options because it was written in a book. Even if you wrote that book yourself the day before...
We even had a little spin of with just two players, playing two clerics of the order. The goal was to keep a strong influence on the mayor of the city while a high raked noble tried to place a family member as a new head of the city guards. Political discussions are always a pain but if you GM is sadistic there's a paladin present who detects any lie. But to make things easier that paladin was sent by the emperor, who rules over all of the known world and declared himself to be the only God that people are allowed to believe in.
Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D
Great video lads , very detailed .
Slainte~
watching this while making my nature domain cleric :D
Dude ... I love the old school CBC logo shirt! I'm old enough to remember when the animated version newly appeared on TV in the days before US cable TV hit Canada!
Just in time for a cup of tea and some warhammer painting !!
So happy with these class-focus vids !
UA-cam and miniature painting is a wonderful combination. Perfect to go with a brew (coffee, tea, or beer, your pick) on a summer afternoon. What's on your painting table?
Exactly, it´s my favourite relaxing time after work.
Currently it´s project of passion... 30k Thousand Sons Praetor.
But also a Dreadclaw drop-pod for my 40k Black Legion, which is needed for the upcoming weekend battle !
Thanks for your help, Blokes. Had a great first session today! Managed to use all cantrips & spells i'd chosen. Picked Wood Elf/Light Domain & had a blast utilising dps/support aspects. Roleplay was a lot more intense than i expected, will have to practice interractions before next session. Cheers again!
Playing my first cleric in a campaign, and I still come back and reference some of the tips given in this video.
Excellent. This helps me bunches.
A good example of how a you can look at how a cleric or paladin might have come to serve a particular deity look at the Knight Radiants from the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. (They also function a lot like warlocks)
My Firbolg Nature Cleric completely lost his faith when his home was destroyed for the war-effort in my home-brew campaign. He found the joys of creation and regained faith through the Forge.
I am playing a 5th level Cleric (Death Domain) in a campaign set in Tal'Dorei setting. My god is Vecna, though I am undercover serving Pelor. I am human (variant), with a custom background of cultist (spy). Below is a breakdown of stats, and then roleplaying ideas for him.
Stats: Str (16) Dex (14) Con (16) Int (12) Wis (20) Cha (10). My background gives proficiency in Deception, Insight, Disguise Kit, and Thieves Tools; the feature is named Subterfuge (my DM named it), which grants advantage on Deception & Performance checks when passing as a Cleric of Pelor. We also borrowed "Life of Seclusion" flavor of "I was a caretaker of an ancient artifact or ruin" from the Hermit background (in this case, I guarded the siphon in Whitestone), which we renamed "Undercover Mission". I chose medicine and Religion for my Cleric skills, and Investigation as my human variant skill. Our DM gave us all a feat at 1st level, which I used to choose Warcaster, and my human variant feat is Spell Sniper. I wear scalemail, and carry a shield and longsword.
Roleplaying: I am playing a Vecna worshiping spy who pretends to worship Pelor, his arch enemy; Vecna loves secrets, which I aim to provide him. As far as looks and voice, I modeled him after Ron Perlman. My Personality Traits are "I am sure that my god has chosen me for a great destiny", and "I can stare down a hell hound without flinching". My Ideal is "(Destiny) Nothing and no one can steer me away from my destiny"; my goal is to become like Vecna (first a Lich, and then a god). My Bond is "I would die to recover an ancient artifact of my faith that was lost long ago (Hand of Vecna)." My Flaw is "Secretly, I believe that things would be better if I were a tyrant lording over the land." My holy symbols (spell focus) are on my shield; Pelor on the front, and Vecna on the back.
Spells: This is already a rather long post, so I won't list all of my spells, which took 4&1/2 pages of paper to write out. Sufficed to say, besides Domain Spells (all necromantic), I have a few prepared spells of the necromantic variety, like Toll the Dead, but also about 75% of my prepared spells are heals/buffs, to help with my cover of serving Pelor. Also, I chose "Chill Touch" as my Domain's "Reaper" feature, and "Produce Flame" from the Druid list as my Spell Sniper cantrip, because I am Wis focused (my DM ruled that, based on the fact that Reaper doesn't say what Spell Sniper does about using that class's spellcasting ability, and the fact that it is part of my Cleric Domain, I use Wis for my Reaper spell of "Chill Touch", even though I took that from the Wizard's list).
You should be able to deduce my skill numbers, AC, etc. from the facts that I listed, should you care to do so. I would be happy to provide any spell, equipment, etc. info upon request (this is already too long). Same goes for roleplaying info; oh, I forgot- I have a mastiff (doberman pinscher) named Roscoe, who I play to make undead once he dies (his HP is low, so I expect that to happen soon). Also, obviously I am NE.
What do you think? Not your typical "goody-two-shoes" Cleric, although I pretend to be. I never really liked Clerics much, because they seemed boring, but the Death Domain and campaign setting gave me some great ideas (at least my DM and I think so) for making them more interesting, and having a different flavor than "I am a mere healer" or "I will smite evil with my divinity's wrath!" Let me know what you guys think.
P.S. Since I am basically a Cleric necromancer, I am trying to convince my DM to replace my 5th level "Destroy Undead" feature with the Oathbreaker's 3rd level "Control Undead" feature. This is a brand new campaign (we are starting at fifth level), and we start playing in 12 days, so he said he will make a ruling by then (fingers crossed). I think it is reasonable, both in terms of mechanics and roleplaying- as a necromancer I wouldn't destroy undead, I would try to control them, but also it isn't overpower or made up; we are borrowing actual rules from a similar class (Oathbreaker), and they get it at 3rd level, instead of me getting it at fifth (I am borrowing a lesser feature as far as level, not one from a higher level). Let me know if you would allow it, in a situation wherein you were allowing other customizations, so long as they made roleplaying sense, and were not overpowered mechanically (not sure if you guys are the type to allow custom backgrounds, etc.).
I play an atheist cleric who thinks he's just a really lucky soldier. Lots of bless, aid, warding bond, etc and encouraging allies who fall to stand up (healing word). It's 5e but he uses the 3e concept that you can draw your powers from an ideal rather than a god, and draws from the Universal Mind (making him a borderline hippy). His holy symbol is a tiny stuffed teddy bear that his little sister gave him, which lets him relax and focus.
He's the solidarity domain (from Plane Shift Amonkhet) and a Mark of the Sentinel human from the Wayfinder's guide, which play into his "I'm just lucky and bring luck to my allies" concept, while he gets into combat as a decent soldier who just happens to have things go well for him.
It's a blast.
I wanna make aithest jokes, but fuck that.
I really like how you've set it up, I dig it.
I just want to say on top of this being a super helpful video, that Metroid shirt is dope as hell.
Im developing and running a new mesoamerican style campaign in order to present a fresh setting for my play group, mostly based in Mayan culture, but with hints of Olmecs and Aztecs there to be explored.
In this setting, Ive seen many gods with overlaping domains, but with a twist, and I really love that.
Making holy journeys to cenotes full of jade, gold and bones.... encountering ruins with the feathered snake god carved in the stones, that compels my cleric player to advance and try to understand the signs presented in the stars...
Man, this class pushes my campaign forward. Im really glad there is a cleric in the party.
I'm working on a cleric of Shar, that is also multi-classed with dream druid, and Divine soul sorcerer. Not very strong but pretty versatile
Currently homebrewing an Elemental Domain Cleric. Taking bits from Nature domain, but adding some spice to twist into a bit more of a WOW Shaman class. Think itll be interesting and excited to start playin with him!
Thank you, I was so lost with my cleric, this video helped so much
Glad it helped!!
I have had great roleplaying oportunities when playing a kalashtar cleric. It was outside the eberon domain. They search the world to get stronger so you can make him a wandering cleric of Iliana( light domain).
Kelly always with the sickest shirts. Also, great videos, so glad I found you guys!
Thank you! Glad you like the show, and my many nerdy shirts! - Kelly
Gonna play a ghostwise grave domain cleric for my upcoming game of tomb. Really looking forward to playing her.
Thank you so much for this vid! This helps so much especially as I just started playing the class. I’ve played D&D for at least a year by now but I’m just as new still haha and all the more amusing you guys started talking about how to role-play as one and backgrounds. Long story cut a little shorter is that I have an ex-rogue with trust issues turned cleric after having a life changing encounter with an elderly cleric who served as his father figure before going out on his adventure. He’s a life domain cleric as well since he’s really admires his father figure too and wants to be like him. Ngl though, I wrote him to be a bit of a prankster (he thankfully isn’t the edgelord everyone assumes rouges would be) so it’s kind of funny for him to be a life domain when trickery seems to be his true domain..but like you guys said, sometimes the gods choose their clerics and clerics choose their deities.
Anyways thanks so much for this vid and totes going to review the others and looking forward to the next ones!
I like the irony of playing a Teifling Redemption Paladin/Light Cleric, with that constant struggle of doing good but having that fiendish nature. 👍
Thanks for posting the 5e Class Guides! :) I have been slowly going through this series to quickly compare the 5e and the 1e AD&D (which I played as well as DM-ed over 20 years ago!). Of course, this is also a means of getting a rough idea of how the D&D has evolved over several decades.
The cleric class, eh? I tend to view the fighter and the cleric classes as the "bread & butter" of a party--i.e., gotta have these two classes at all times. The classic healer is perhaps the most straightforward of the cleric types to hop on board as a newbie. Healers are always welcome!
I once played as a half-elf cleric/magic-user, but, on hindsight, I think this was not the most economic selection. Our party consisted of 2 fighters, 1 barbarian, 1 dark-elf thief, and 1 half-elf cleric/magic-user. Oh my! If my half-elf ever went kaput, our party would have been immediately deprived of its source of healing and magic simultaneously. It might have been significantly better for me to pick just the cleric and ask one of my buddies to play a magic-user or vice versa. Or, I select fighter/cleric and have someone else select fighter/magic-user.
Unfortunately, I have never experienced clerics, both as a player and as a DM, whose levels were high enough to seek divine intervention. Divine intervention would have been very fascinating to play out, from the player's perspective, and use it as a major literary plot device, from the DM's perspective. It was difficult for us to sustain a campaign due to many abrupt or diverging personal schedules, resulting in having to stop when we were about or just over the 5th level. After a pause, we gathered again and started from the scratch, but we ended up having to stop when we were once again just over the 5th level. And repeat this wash-and-rinse cycle!
The good old tabletop RPGs have their unique place--i.e., there are things that are best interacted in person as opposed to through computer screens.
In our current game, I'm playing a dwarven forge cleric who is also an apprentice armor smith. Her forge at our base is where she typically communes with her deity. The ring of hammer on metal is her hymn. She is super fun to roleplay!
I always wanted Jeremy Mckinnon to give me D&D advice. Thanks. This truly is a video to remember.
Drowbard, made a video of unconventional ways to make a cleric. All of his builds didn't follow a particular deity, but they inhabited an ideas like chaos, wraith, temptation, and the more carnivorous forms of nature. I even made one that follows the allegory of the Danse Macabre.
I love your guys videos. All the other how to videos are just jokes that arent overly informational. Don't get me wrong, they are a good laugh, but as a fairly new player I really needed this much info to get me confident to start playing my cleric.
I missed you guys
Even at one year old I recommend your class videos to all of my players and this one especially.
My cleric is of the War and Light domain. I had special weapons forged that had a place that my holy symbol can fit into allowing me to cast a spell into the blade of the weapon allowing for physical and magical damage
veeery versatile, rp-wise! i'm playing a snobbish knowledge domain cleric, who serves ioun by being a theatre critic and treats her power as her salary for her services and i'm having a blast!
new favorite channel!!
I’ve got a Tiefling Cleric of Lliira. For background I used Plaintiff from Acquisitions Incorporated, just adjusted legalese to using religious babble the same way.
When I was first introduced to 1st Edition, back in 1990, I was almost 12, and my FIRST character was a 1/2 Elf Male Cleric of Pelor. -- One thing I remember about the 1st Edition rules, the way Turn Undead worked, a certain number of undead of certain types as you gained level were just DESTROYED by a successful use. Not like now, where they "withdraw" and try to keep their distance.