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Cleric is one of the 12 classes you can choose from in 2024’s revised Dungeons & Dragon’s Player’s Handbook (also known as One D&D, 5.5e, and a few other names). Clerics are divine spellcasters, and their primary Ability is Wisdom.
Before we get started, a quick disclaimer: There’s no “best” anything in D&D. Classes tend to be well-balanced when it comes to damage output. More importantly, though, D&D is a roleplaying game as well as a combat game, so there’s more to it than stabbing monsters. And that diversity of situations — from picking locks to punting kobolds to seducing dragons — means “best” is entirely subjective.
Our Player’s Handbook (2024) D&D Cleric guide will walk you through the class and talk about some of the changes from D&D 5e.
Is Cleric the best class for you in D&D?
It’s easy to pigeonhole Clerics as just healers, but the class can be a lot more than that. But also, let’s be honest, you’re going to be expected to be the party healer if you’re playing a Cleric. Clerics are versatile casters who channel divine powers, but can also deal out respectable melee damage.
Inspiration for your Cleric
Because Clerics so often get boiled down to this “team healer” identity, it can be really difficult to come up with unique inspiration for your character. But there are plenty of interesting fictional heroes that can really center your Cleric in a unique way:
- The religious zealot is always a fun way to take a Cleric. For this one, think about Van Helsing, the Catholic monster slayer, or Thoros of Myr from Game of Thrones. These are characters whose stalwart belief in their religion not only compels them to help their allies, but it propels them forward into battle against the forces of evil.
- The religious skeptic is one of the most interesting angles to take your Cleric. When your power is a gift from a god, what does that look like when you don’t like that god or even barely believe in it? Jesse Custer from Preacher is a great example of a powerful Cleric that doesn’t exactly live up to their religious origins.
- The peaceful warrior is a more generic Cleric idea, but it’s also a great one. Think about Luke Skywalker or your favorite Jedi here from Star Wars — but in their ideal form. These are characters who are here to help others with their magical powers of faith, but are able to wield weapons of war to protect the innocent.
- The doctor archetype really lets you lean fully into the “healer” identity for your party, but you can do it in some interesting and unconventional ways. Take the EMH (Emergency Medical Hologram) from Star Trek: Voyager, for example. He’s not even a “real” person, but is still an important member of the crew who uses advanced technology (and sarcasm) to heal his teammates. Trying to make something like that work in a D&D setting would take your Life Cleric to a whole new level.
What’s new for Cleric in One D&D?
No matter what Class you end up picking, One D&D changes the way characters are created. Specifically, the Background you choose now comes with an Ability Score improvement (one point each in three Abilities, or two points in one Ability and one point in another). In addition, every character gets an Origin Feat. We’ll deal with both of those changes below.
D&D’s Cleric class now has a Divine Order that they choose at Level 1. This is a way to solidify your role in the party either as a holy brawler or a divine spellcaster. 5e’s Clerics chose their Domain at Level 1, so this kind of replaces that and moves your choice of subclass (domain) to Level 3.
Cleric class features overview
- Primary Ability: Wisdom
- Hit Point Die: d8 per level
- Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma
- Skill proficiencies: 2 of: History, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion
- Weapon Proficiencies: Simple
- Armor Training: Light, Medium, Shields
Despite being an armored warrior, one of your main class features as a Cleric is spellcasting — that stuff all the nerd classes usually do. Like them, you’ll progressively gain more and more spell slots as you level up, which will in-turn allow you to cast more powerful spells.
As a Cleric, you’re able to choose between two “roles” to follow: Protector or Thaumaturge.
As a protector, you’ll be better equipped to deal with up-close and personal combat, wielding heavy armor and martial weapons.
Thaumaturges lean more into spellcasting, as you’ll gain an extra Cantrip and gain a bonus to any Intelligence-based checks.
How to build an effective Cleric
When you first make your character, you’ll need to assign your attribute points. For Clerics, you’re looking to make a powerful battle caster and healer shoe capable of taking hits for your team, so here’s your priority list:
- Wisdom
- Constitution
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Charisma
- Intelligence
Best Cleric Backgrounds and Origin Feats
Backgrounds in One D&D are a way to codify your character’s personal history into their stats. Backgrounds give you a bump to your stats, a couple of skills, tool proficiencies, and an Origin Feat.
For a Cleric, let’s start with anything that lets you bump Wisdom — Acolyte, Farmer, Guard, Guide, Hermit, Sage, Sailor, Scribe, or Wayfarer.
Of those, Acolyte gets you the Magic Initiate (Cleric) Origin Feat that gives you a couple extra spells, and Hermit gets you the Healer Origin Feat that makes you a more effective healer (if you’ve resigned yourself to that role).
You don’t pick a Cleric subclass until Level 3, but you’ll want to think about where you’re heading pretty early on — especially in terms of Background and Origin Feat (above).
Clerics can do a lot more than heal, OK? But they’re also the best healers in the game, and if that’s the role you want to lean into, Life Domain is the obvious choice.
At level 3 you’ll become a Disciple of Life, which allows you to cause characters to gain additional HP whenever you heal them. You’ll also gain access to powerful Life Domain spells like Bless and Cure Wounds early on.
At level 17, you don’t even have to roll for healing anymore, as anyone you heal will just get the maximum HP possible from that spell restored.
Light Domain Cleric lets you lean into your inner Paladin — your fellow holy class brethren — to be a literal beacon of light for your party. In addition to gaining some holy spells from the Light Domain, you’ll also be able to light your holy symbol like a flashlight in dark places at level 3, making you an ideal partner for dungeon delves.
At level 17, you’ll be able to shine with the power of the sun itself, causing enemies within a certain range to have Disadvantage against a good chunk of your spells.
Trickery Domain Clerics are stealthy magic users that are able to use powerful utility spells to give their allies a leg up in battle.
When you first pick up Trickery, you’ll be able to cast Trickery Domain spells and gain Invoke Duplicity, which allows you to make a visual illusion of yourself. At level 6, you can even swap places with your illusion using a Bonus Action.
At level 17, you can give your allies Advantage on a target by having your illusion stand within five feet of the enemy.
War Domain Cleric is what you think it is, and allows you to focus more on beating down enemies using physical violence in addition to your spells.
At level 3, you’ll be able to cast powerful War Domain spells and empower your allies to have a better chance to hit with their attacks.
The level 17 increase gives you resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage. That might not sound very sexy compared to the other capstones, but that will massively decrease the damage you take from all martial enemies, allowing you to be the last beacon of hope in a tough fight.
