"Isn't that the class that just casts spirit guardians?"
Veteran player: "It can do other things?"
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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I love how unexpectedly complex some classes are.
Like the Ranger, which mashes together a half dozen different playstyles but balances it by being mediocre at most of them.
Or the Druid, which mashes together a half dozen different playstyles and doesn't bother to balance them whatsoever (to quote Order of the Stick: "I have class features more powerful than your entire class").
Who wants two health bars?
Not anymore! 5.5e gives them temp HP when they wild shape, not an entire beast worth of health bar.
Boooooooo
And (before the 2024 edition) once you reach lvl20 that second healthbar can replenished once per round forever and ever...
Holy shit. Why did they nerf it?
I remember the first time I played 3.5 dnd and my DM was explaining how the classes worked and I was like wow cleric sounds super strong, but I'm sure the negatives will show as we learn the game more..... Cleric is like.....the goddamn strongest class (I know druid is supposedly stronger but no one ever played a good druid with us)
I felt like a literal god playing a wizard in 3.5. The summon table was silly.
Cleric is strong, druid is broken. A druid played by someone who wants to be invited back will be about as strong as the cleric
The first time I played D&D it was 3.5 as a druid, and it was kind of overwhelming how much stuff I could do. My wolf was nearly as powerful as a whole other martial character, in addition to me being a full caster, in addition to being able to go into melee myself if I wanted to. And then there's entangle which is a ridiculously OP first level spell, with a 40ft radius letting you alter the entire battlefield. Then there's summoning and wild shape.
But clerics are crazy too (my second character was a cleric). Domain powers are basically two feats at level 1, you get to poach spells from other classes, like Druids you can wade into melee, and with the right feats you can use turn undead charges for all sorts of useful abilities even when not facing undead. Cleric 1 is so good that nearly any build that isn't a different full spellcaster can take it. There's also tons of flexibility (even more in PF1e) in terms of what the domains give you.
The fact that a Druid gets a free extra character at level 1 might push them over the edge, but it's close.
I think the thing that makes druid stronger than cleric is that whilst a cleric can spend 3 rounds hyper uffing to become an unstoppable anti magic melee class capable of 1v1ing ancient dragons. The druid can do ALL that but since the buffs go on the animal companion, they still get to play full castor doubling the amount of carnage a cleric can get up to.
The only reason our game never had valid druids was that none of my players could conceptualize BEING a druid and would fuck themselves in RP. The power fantasy was always about capital expansion and leadership roles in society at the expense of nature, and of course, Sylvanus would take exception to that
The day I learned you could magically rip someone's heart out I was sold
The power words are all mega sick, but my favorite has always been Harm
What about Warlock?
My Cleric just clubbed the hell out of enemies while low-key tanking and healing party members. ^^
Spirit guardians + spiritual weapon + 19 AC!
I would use total defense and tie up the most dangerous thug while the rest of the party picked off the lesser threats. Most of the time I'd never get hit at all. Then once they finished them off after a few rounds I'd step back and let them pound away while I did the real clericing.
My first ever character was an ad&d 2e cleric, and even back then I did other things. Especially tanking and bearing monsters with a big fuck off hammer.
My tempest cleric heals you with zapping.
CLEAR!!!
Direct heals, heals over time/regeneration, hit reactive heals, temp HP pre-healing, aoe heals, single target heals, complete heals, near death heals, touch heals, pbaoe heals, ground based heals, healing rays/beams, healing summon,
Yes, my trickery domain, arcane trickster multi-class can in fact heal people... among just a few other things.
Yeah, Camilla in WotR is a cleric and she ... just sucks. The other cleric is amazing at healing everyone.
Shadowheart in BG3 i can't get to hit anything the entire game.
I immediately respec her as soon as I find Withers. Tempest cleric is OP in the end game.
Yep. By the time you have the big defensive fight in act 2 she was sailing around and causing radiant explosions everywhere she went.
I always forget we can respec companions for next to nothing
Isn't she a shaman? A dex shaman?
Correct, she's not a cleric at all, she's a sort of half cleric the same way a paladin is.
Install the player handbook 2024 rules mod. That fixes her inability to hit things. But otherwise respec her. She has weird stats right out the gate. I usually go 16/14/12/8/16/8.
I had to stop using the 2024 mod because of the short rests not working. It's a small thing, but it's not advertised at all so it really ruins a game on ya.
That got me too at first but now i just stock up on healing potions. That’s the only part (short rest only healing one hp) not working i think. I get my action surge and warlock spells back.
I don't see why you'd bother when you can just cast spirit guardians and instant win every fight instead. Plus it kind of makes her story ring hollow... Probably matters less to a player on a second playthrough.
Huh, it's been a while since I played WotR, but I seem to recall using her as DPS. Maybe I respecced her or something.
Though my MC was a merged spellbook oracle/angel, so past a certain point the competency of the rest of my party didn't really matter.
heheheheh. I miss PF1e's clerics, they were such freak beasts even after being 'nerfed' from 3.5.
warlock is where its at.