Summary

  • Clerics, while not essential, are highly desired for their healing abilities in D&D parties.
  • Divine Order allows clerics to choose between Protector and Thaumaturge playstyles.
  • New Channel Divinity options like Divine Spark offer more versatility in combat encounters.

While clerics aren't a necessary addition to every Dungeons & Dragons party, you'll be hard-pressed to find a group of players that isn't interested in adding a cleric to their ranks. clerics are the most well-reputed healing class in D&D, and any player who has experienced character death knows that a good cleric is worth more than their weight in gold.

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All of this being said, D&D was designed to allow parties consisting of all kinds of classes to work. Many novice D&D players feel that a cleric is a necessary part of any functioning adventuring party; however, this is not actually true. Even so, this stigma has led to the cleric becoming one of the most beloved classes in the game.

6 Divine Order

Choose Your Playstyle

Candlekeep Mysteries Cover Art by Clint Cearley

At first level, clerics now make the decision on whether they will be a heavy armor-clad, martially inclined fighter or a spell-focused priest type of character. Divine Order lets you choose between two options: Protector and Thaumaturge.

Divine Order Choice

Benefits

Protector

  • Proficiency with Martial weapons.
  • Heavy armor training.

Thaumaturge

  • Additional cantrip from the cleric spell list.
  • Bonus to Arcana and Religion checks equal to your Wisdom modifier.

One reason this new feature has been added was to give clerics something in exchange for losing their subclass choice at first level. Secondly, Divine Order allows players to choose between two very different kinds of clerics. This is a great addition as it provides meaningful mechanics to cleric players who don't want to cover themselves in metal shields.

5 New Channel Divinity Options

More Than Just A Tool Against Undead

Far Traveler by Alix Branwyn

The Turn Undead mode of Channel Divinity is an incredibly potent tool that can turn a potential total party kill (TPK) into the easiest of encounters. Unfortunately, it's typically the only thing Channel Divinity is good for in the 2014 edition of the game. This means that the feature can sometimes go wholly unused if your party fails to encounter undead during an adventure.

To negate this problem, Channel Divinity now has a new use mode called Divine Spark, which can prove helpful in any kind of combat encounter. Furthermore, the effects of Turn Undead have been greatly clarified from their previously abstract language.

Channel Divinity Option

Details

Divine Spark

  • Heal or harm a creature you can see within 30 feet.
  • Roll a d8 and add your Wisdom modifier when healing or harming.
  • Harming requires a Constitution saving throw from the target. On a success, the creature still takes half your choice of radiant or necrotic damage.
  • Scales to 2d8 at level 7, 3d8 at level 13, and 4d8 at level 18.

Turn Undead

  • Undead creatures that can see or hear you within 30 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to your spell save DC.
  • Creatures who fail this save suffer the frightened and incapacitated conditions. In addition, they must use their movement to get as far away as possible from you.

As before, subclasses will also provide an additional unique use for your Channel Divinity feature. While many of the subclass Channel Divinity uses were underwhelming in the 2014 Player's Handbook, they have been updated to be more useful.

4 Sear Undead Replaces Destroy Undead

Less Powerful But More Reliable

Acererak by Tyler Jacobson

At fifth level, the Destroy Undead feature has been scrapped and replaced with Sear Undead. This new ability deals radiant damage to all Undead, no matter their challenge rating, when they fail their save against your Turn Undead Channel Divinity.

Previously, Destroy Undead made for a clunky feature that would either completely undo a combat encounter your dungeon master might have painstakingly prepared or result in your cleric wasting their turn to do nothing at all against more powerful foes.

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Thus, it has been replaced with this new ability, which is much easier to use and will reduce gameplay pain points for dungeon masters and players alike.

3 The New Blessed Strikes

More Than Bigger Bonk Damage

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Gained at seventh level, Blessed Strikes replaces another cleric feature, Divine Strike, that often went wholly unused. Blessed Strikes still gives you the option to gain the benefit of Divine Strike; however, you now have another option in case you're not interested in building a cleric that makes melee attacks.

Blessed Strikes Options

Benefits

Divine Strike

  • Deal an extra 1d8 necrotic or radiant damage when you hit with a melee attack.

Potent Spellcasting

  • Add your Wisdom modifier to your damage when dealing damage with a cleric cantrip.

This feature also gets even better at higher levels thanks to Improved Blessed Strikes gained at level 14. If you chose Divine Strike, the additional damage increases to 2d8. If you chose Potent Spellcasting, you can give temporary hit points to yourself or another creature when you deal damage with a cleric cantrip.

2 Divine Intervention Will Always Work

Gods Actually Answer Prayers Now

Delver's Torch by Bram Sels

Despite being one of the coolest abilities found in the 2014 Player's Handbook, Divine Intervention rarely did anything at all. Rolling a number on a d100 equal to or less than your cleric level was a lot to ask, even if this ability was allowed to grant some game-breaking benefits.

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For improved clarity and usefulness, Divine Intervention now lets you replicate the effects of any fifth level spell or lower found on the cleric spell list without the need for material components or a spell slot. The feature comes back on a long rest.

Notably, Divine Intervention can be used to cast Raise Dead, which was specifically intended by the designers. After all, what's a more thematic moment for the gods to intervene than with the death of a player character?

Once you reach twentieth level, this feature also improves to allow you a single casting of Wish, which refreshes in 2d4 days.

1 Subclass Updates

Generally The Same With Some Minor Improvements

Shessra, Death's Whisper by Marie Magny

While the cleric's core class features needed a lot of help, the cleric subclasses were actually done quite well in the 2014 Player's Handbook. This is one reason why multiclassing a single level in cleric is such a popular build option: immediate access to powerful subclass abilities for a single level dip is something any character can get behind. Unfortunately, that will no longer be so easy, as cleric subclasses are now gained at level three to match all other classes.

Nonetheless, the subclasses have been revisited with a handful of new additions to their current kits. Below is a table with all the information about new additions we currently possess. Unmentioned subclass features remain the same with the caveat that the features gained before third level will now be picked up upon unlocking the subclass at level three.

Subclass

Changes

Life Domain

  • Aid has been added to your Domain spell list, which also includes Bless, Lesser Restoration, and Cure Wounds.

Light Domain

  • See invisibility has been added to your Domain spell list.

Trickery Domain

  • Mirror Image Domain spell replaced with Invisibility.
  • At sixth level, gain a bonus action to either move or swap places with your illusion.
  • At seventeenth level, your illusion grants advantage to melee attacks against enemies within five feet of it. You can also restore a number of hit points equal to your cleric level to a creature within five feet of your illusion by dispelling it.

War Domain

  • Guiding Bolt has been added to your Domain spell list.
  • At sixth level, War God's Blessing changed to allow a free casting of Shield of Faith or Spiritual Weapon without requiring concentration.

Clerics aren't a necessary class for an adventuring party, but they are often the class other players want to see added to their party above all others. Keeping in mind that the power of healing spells have been improved across the board in the 2024 Player's Handbook, the cleric may somehow see even more popularity than it currently has. For one of the already most respected classes in Dungeons & Dragons, that would be an impressive accomplishment.

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