The cleric immediately getting offed is literally how I run my games. I always go hard and try to put the fear of God in the players asap so that they look forward to finding treasure and levels, giving them a push to find interesting solutions to simple problems.
However, in −790 DR, drow from the Underdark began raiding the emirates of Tethyr and Iltkazar in earnest, looking to acquire human slaves. These raids, known as the Night Wars, occupied Calimshan’s garrisons, allowing those dissatisfied with the government to begin organized resistance against it
It’s the cleric equivalent of fireball. An almost overly strong spell that is basically a must-take and must-use as soon as it becomes available. It’s almost always the best thing a cleric can concentrate on.
I have definitely blinded a fair share of people (and goblins) haha. Didn’t work so well when I tried to use it on a beholder and forgot the whole “anti-magic field” thing
Bless is one of, if not the best defensive and offensive spell. It gets way better if you have party members making attack rolls.
Then as you approach level 12-20 saving throws become way more common, so the floating d4 on every save and attack roll becomes dead useful. I would even upcast this to cover you + the whole party. It seems like not a huge deal, but if you turn one weapon attack into a hit, and can save one party member from taking full damage from a spell, etc you have caused an extra ~10-30 damage, and protected your party from 10-30 damage (or from control spells!)
I’m also a big fan of Word of Recall, Death Ward, Holy Weapon, and Aura of Vitality.
Word of Recall can be very clutch. Especially if your party does not have a Wizard/Sorc with any fast travel spells.
Death Ward can protect squishies.
Holy Weapon can supercharge a fighter ( or monk of your DM let’s you cast this on their unarmed strikes). Definitely fun, and dead useful if someone else is already casting Bless.
Aura of Vitality is essentially ~70 HP you can dole out to your party. That’s basically a short rest at lower levels. I’d use this out of combat.
As others have mentioned, those Spirit Guardians are phenomenal.
My personal honorable mentions are Silence to mess with enemy spellcasters, Beacon of Hope if you're in a tough fight and keep losing your front liners, and Spirit Shroud, if you are a melee Cleric
I always wanted to see a huge battle scene, like Lord of the Rings thousands of fighters… and before they start fighting, two gigantic d20s drop from the sky and make a roll.
I’m not saying I would have preferred that to what the Dungeons and Dragons movie was, but… okay, I’m saying that.
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