2024 DnD 5e Cleric Class Guide

Introduction

DnD 5.5 Clerics are among the most diverse and interesting classes in 5e DnD, mixing a variety of magical capabilities while still enjoing great diversity between subclasses. Because your choice of Divine Domain so greatly affects your capabilities, Clerics can fit a variety of roles and play styles. More generally, Clerics are the best healers in the game, and have among the best support, utility, and divination options in the game. However, they are by no means limited to healing and support roles.

In a party, the Cleric can serve effectively as a Healer, a Support caster, and can provide a little bit of Blaster, Scholar, and Striker, though they won’t match a Wizard in those roles. Different subclasses will offer different options which can expand your roles within the party, allowing Clerics to fill a variety of niches. Divine Order (Protector) adds heavy armor proficiency, but unfortunately that’s not enough to consider yourself a Defender.

You may also enjoy our other supporting articles for the Cleric:

This article is for the 2024 DnD rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Cleric Class Guide.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the 2024 DnD Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows. Also be sure to check for errata periodically.

Why Play a DnD Cleric?

The DnD Cleric is a spellcaster fueled by divine power, typically from a deity. Thematically, that makes your choice of deity a prominent and interesting part of your character. Mechanically, the Cleric has many of the best healing support spells in the game, plus exciting (and often exclusive) offensive options for defeating enemies. You choice of subclass can make your Cleric feel very distinct from other Clerics, while still providing core capabilities which any part will welcome.

Essential DnD Cleric Tactics

While playing any DnD character is difficult to summarize in a few points, these essentials will help you play your character effectively, especially if you’re new to the game.

  • Avoid Healing in Combat: DnD 5e (usually) doesn’t penalize characters for having low hit points, or for falling to 0 and then recovering. A characer at 1 hit point is just as strong as a character at full hit points. Healing characters who are still conscious can feel comfortable, but enemies will often undo that healing almost immediately. If you spend a spell slot to heal an ally for 10 hp, then and enemy deals 10 hp of damage to them, you’ve spent a spell slot and nothing else has changed. This creates an attrition scenario where players always lose even if you win the fight. Instead, heal allies
  • Be a Healer, Don’t Be a Heal Bot: The Cleric is the most iconic healer in DnD, getting access to all of the best healing spells in the game. Prepare healing spells, but remember that healing is not your only capability, and you don’t need to bring stuff like Raise Dead every day. Becuase you’re likely your party’s primary healer, be very sure that you don’t get reduce to 0 hp, as that can lead to the rest of the party quickly dying while you’re unable to help.
  • Spirit Guardians: One of the simplest and most reliable Cleric tactics is to cast Spirit Guardians and run around an encounter to apply the damage to each of your enemies. The reliable damage and speed debuff can quickly define the outcome of event the hardest fights.
  • Weapons are (Usually) a Bad Idea: For most Clerics, your Cantrips will be more impactful than using a weapon, especially once Cantrip damage begins to scale at level 5. If you’re planning to use a weapon, compare its capabilities to staple Cantrips like Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead.

Cleric Class Features

Hit Points: d8 hit points is good for a full caster, but it can be problematic since many Clerics fight on the front lines. Fortunately, Clerics have the best healing abilities in the game, so they can easily compensate for a small pool of hit points.

Saves: Wisdom and Charisma saves cover some of the most debilitating effects in the game.

Proficiencies: Medium armor and shields will give you a decent AC, especially if you’re not building for melee combat. Simple weapons will be fine, especially once your spells eclipse your damage output with weapons. Clerics don’t get any tools, and get two skills from a very short list of options.

1. Spellcasting: The Cleric is a Wisdom-based full caster. With the ability to prepare any Cleric spell at the beginning of the day, the Cleric’s spell list is even more open than the Wizard’s. Your choice of Divine Domain also grants up to 10 free prepared spells as you gain levels, allowing you to play to your domain’s theme without cutting into your normal prepared spells. Clerics have some of the best divination options in the game, all of the best healing options, many of the best buffs and debuffs, as well as iconic offensive options like Spirit Guardians.

1. Divine Order: Divine Order splits clerics between front-line clerics and back-line clerics, at least in concept. The reality is that Protector gets +1 AC, but Thaumaturge gets a cantrip and they’re actually good at Religion. A difference of 1 AC shouldn’t stop you from wading into melee.

  • Protector: Heavy armor is very nice, but Martial weapons aren’t significantly better than Simple weapons since Clerics don’t get Weapon Mastery.
  • Thaumaturge: Fantastic on any Cleric.

2. Channel Divinity: A flexible pool of resources used for various abilities. Divine Spark and Turn Undead are the default, but your subclass might offer more options, such as Life Domain’s Preserve Life. You get up to 4 uses per rest, and Channel Divinity recharges on a Short Rest, making it a deep resource pool to draw from.

Since Channel Divinity isn’t a spell, using it doesn’t run into the “1 leveled spell per turn” rule, which means that you can still use your Bonus Action for spells like Healing Word and Spiritual Weapon.

  • Divine Spark: Divine Spark is the default use for your Channel Divinity. It’s not as much healing as Cure Wounds when you first get this, but as you gain more Channel Divinity uses and as Divine Spark’s healing improves, the total amount that you can heal in a day grows exponentially.
  • Turn Undead: Only situationally useful since it only affects one creature type, but it also mostly negates a common creature type as a threat. This upgrades at level 5 when you get Sear Undead to also deal damage, allowing you to easily clear out groups of low-CR undead.

    Turn Undead notably affects “undead of your choice” within range, which is a convenient way for you to include undead in your party without accidentally turning them.

3. Subclass: Cleric subclasses are briefly summarised below. See our Cleric Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.

  • Life Domain: The best healer in the game.
  • Light Domain: Expand the Cleric’s already excellent spellcasting by adding Fireball and a few other neat features.
  • Trickery Domain: The sneakiest Cleric you can get without multiclassing.
  • War Domain: Support your and your allies’ ability to hit stuff with weapons and generally thrive in melee combat.

5. Sear Undead: Not a ton of damage, but this is here to kill low-CR enemies, not as a way to attack big undead enemies. 5d8 averages to 22.5, which is just enough to kill a standard Zombie with 22 hp.

7. Blessed Strikes: Your choice here also locks you into Improved Blessed Strikes at level 14.

  • Divine Strike: Your cantrips will still deal more damage, and using a weapon effectively will require you to invest in Strength or Dexterity enough that you’re neglecting spellcasting. Even if you have a greataxe and 20 Strength, 1d12+1d8+5 damage (avg. 16), it barely beats Toll the Dead at this level (2d12, avg. 13), and cantrips improve earlier and faster than Divine Strike does. And that’s to say nothing of Potent Cantrips, which makes cantrips so much more effective that Divine Strike can’t hope to compete.

    War Domain may be the only viable use for Divine Strike. Since War Priest lets you attack as a Bonus Action, it gives you an opportunity to use this alongside other spells. If possible, get Shillelagh so that you can use Wisdom for attack and damage.

  • Potent Cantrips: Consistently useful.

10. Divine Intervention: Absolutely amazing. Raise Dead as an Action with no gold cost. Hallow mid-combat. Prayer of Healing as an Action to take a Short Rest mid-combat. You don’t need to have the spells prepared, either, so most of the Cleric’s spell list is available.

14. Improved Blessed Strikes: Remember that your choice at level 7 locks you into your choice here, too.

  • Divine Strike: More damage, but not nearly enough to make weapons viable for the Cleric. By now cantrips are dealing 3 dice of damage, which will easily outpace weapons even with Divine Strike.
  • Potent Cantrips: Absolutely fantastic. By now you likely have 20 Wisdom, and 10 Temporary Hit Points is pretty great. They also don’t have an explicit duration, so they last until you finish a long rest. Grab your bag of rats and start killing rats to hand out THP to your party before every fight.

20. Greater Divine Intervention: Wish lets you cast any spell of level 8 or below, opening up a huge range of options. You can use Wish for other purposes, but there’s a risk that you’ll never get to cast Wish again, which would mean permanently losing your level 20 class feature.

2024 Cleric Changes from 2014 Rules

This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.

  • 1. Divine Order. New. Lets you choose between a martial cleric or a caster cleric at level 1 independent of your domain. Protector gets heavy armor and martial weapons. Thaumaturge gets an extra cantrip and +Wisdom modifier to their Arcana and Religion checks so that they can finally compete with wizards on religious knowledge.
  • 1. Spellcasting. Now allows you to change a cantrip when you gain a Cleric level.
  • 2. Channel Divinity. Uses per rest now scale up to 4 instead of 3. New “Divine Spark” option added alongside Turn Undead, allowing you to heal or damage a creature for 1d8+Wis which adds more dice as you gain levels. It’s effectively Cure Wounds at range as an Action.
  • 5. Sear Undead. New. Now inflict Wisdom modifier d8 damage to undead that fail their save against Turn Undead. Much simpler and more useful than Destroy Undead, which this replaces.
  • 7. Blessed Stikes. Moved to level 7 from level 8. Now lets you choose rather than being split by subclass. Divine Strike now adds +1d8 radiant or necrotic damage; no more scaling (in this feature; see Improved Blessed Strikes at level 14), and no more variation in damage types between subclasses. Potent Spellcasting is the same as it was.
  • 10. Divine Intervention. Cast nearly any Cleric spell of 5th level or lower as an Action with no material components, such as Raise Dead or Hallow. Works once per long rest.
  • 14. Improved Blessed Strikes. New (technically). Divine Strike damage adds a second d8, or you can grant temporary hp when you deal damage with a cantrip.
  • 20. Greater Divine Intervention. You can now cast Wish instead of a 5th-level or lower Cleric spell, but it adds a 2d4 day cooldown if you do so.

Cleric Backgrounds

An increase to Wisdom is too crucial to forgo, so any Background which doesn’t include Wisdom is immediately out. Constitution is also good, especially if you’re planning to fight in melee. Wisdom-based skills are ideal, especially if you can get Perception. Also look for proficiency in Arcana if you’re taking Divine Order (Thaumaturge)

For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Cleric Feats section, below.

  • Acolyte (PHB) : Better skills than Sage, but Sage’s ability scores are better, and you already get Cleric spellcasting.
  • Archaeologist (EFotA): A potential fit for Trickery Clerics. The additionals proficiencies from Skilled, plus good ability scores make a great basis for a high-Dexterity build. Unfortunately, the built-in skills aren’t a great fit. Chondathan Freebooter is a better option if you want Skilled.
  • Artisan (PHB): Bad all around.
  • Carouser (ABoH): Bad ability scores, and Charisma-based skills are hard for most Clerics.
  • Charlatan (PHB): Maybe a good choice for Trickery Clerics, but lacking a Wisdom increase is hard to justify. Chondathan Freebooter is a better option if you want Skilled.
  • Chondathan Freebooter (FRHoF): An easy choice for Trickery Clerics. Grab increases in Dexterity and Wisdom, then use Skilled to cover whatever proficiencies you need to cover for a Rogue. You already get Sleight of Hand, which is fantastic.
  • Criminal (PHB): Maybe a good choice for Trickery Clerics, but lacking a Wisdom increase is hard to justify.
  • Dead Magic Dweller (FRHoF): Good ability scores, but you don’t need Healer, and the skills are bad.
  • Dragon Cultist (FRHoF): Cult of the Dragon Initiatiate is a great feat for the Cleric, but the ability scores and skills only work well for a Trickery Cleric, and you can’t get a Wisdom increase.
  • Emerald Enclave Caretaker (FRHoF): The feat is attrocious.
  • Entertainer (PHB): Musician is great, but it’s not enough.
  • Farmer (PHB) : Excellent ability scores for the Cleric, and more hit points never hurt, but the skills aren’t great.
  • Flaming Fist Mercenary (FRHoF): No Wisdom increase, but otherwise a passable option for a melee build.
  • Genie Touched (FRHoF): Comparable to Sage. Good ability scores, workable skills, and Magic Initiate (Wizard).
  • Guard (PHB) : Excellent for front-line builds intending to use weapons.
  • Guide (PHB) : Excellent for melee clerics. You can increase Constitution and Wisdom and grab Shillelagh from the Druid’s spell list. The skills aren’t fantastic unless you’re going for Trickery Domain to use Stealth, but the other benefits may be enough to make up for it.
  • Harper (FRHoF): Bad all around.
  • Hermit (PHB) : Decent ability scores, but the skills are middling, and there’s little reason for Healer when you can cast Healing Word.
  • House Agent (FRHoF): Bad ability scores and skills. If you want Lucky, look elsewhere.
  • Ice Fisher (FRHoF): Bad ability scores and skills. If you want Alert, look elsewhere.
  • Inquisitive (EFotA): Bad ability scores and skills. If you want Alert, look elsewhere.
  • Knight of the Gauntlet (FRHoF): Bad feat, bad skills, mediocre ability scores.
  • Lords’ Alliance Vassal (FRHoF): Bad all around.
  • Lorwyn Expert (LFL): Good ability scores, you can get Faerie Fire, and the skills are passable. Magic Initiate will typically be more impactful than Child of the Sun, so consider Guide or Moonwell Pilgrim instead.
  • Merchant (PHB): Bad ability scores, bad skills.
  • Moonwell Pilgrim (FRHoF): Good ability scores, one decent skill, and Magic Initiate (Druid)
  • Mulhorandi Tomb Raider (FRHoF): No Wisdom increase, but otherwise good.
  • Mythalkeeper (FRHoF): Crafter is an awful feat.
  • Noble (PHB): No Wisdom increase and both skills are based on dump stats for the Cleric.
  • Purple Dragon Squire (FRHoF): Decent ability scores, one good skill, and Purple Dragon Rook is a great feat.
  • Rashemi Wanderer (FRHoF): No Wisdom increase, bad skills.
  • Sage (PHB) : Great ability scores, decent skills despite being Intelligence-based, and Magic Initiate (Wizard). You might enjoy some of the Wizard’s spells like True Strike and Find Familiar or Shield.
  • Sailor (PHB) : Decent ability scores for a melee build, plus one good skill, but you’re absolutely not going to use Tavern Brawler.
  • Scribe (PHB) : A good choice for Trickery Domain. Be sure to pick up proficiency in Thieves’ Tools with Skilled.
  • Shadowmasters Exile (FRHoF): No Wisdom increase, and most Clerics will rarely benefit from Savage Attacker since Clerics do so little with weapons.
  • Shadowmoor Expert (LFL): The appeal here is getting Hex, which the Cleric doesn’t have a great way to use.
  • Soldier (PHB): No Wisdom increase, and most Clerics will rarely benefit from Savage Attacker since Clerics do so little with weapons.
  • Spellfire Initiate (FRHoF): You already have tons of options for radiant damage, and this doesn’t offer a Wisdom increase.
  • Vampire Devotee (ABoH): Bad all around.
  • Vampire Survivor (ABoH): Decent, but Vampire Hunter isn’t a good feat.
  • Wayfarer (PHB) : A good choice for Trickery Domain.
  • Zhentarim Mercenary (FRHoF): Bad all around.

Cleric Species

Because Clerics are so diverse, what you want from your Species scan vary quite a bit. Front-line clerics will want durability. Trickery Clerics may want additional skills so that they can replace a Rogue more easily. Cast clerics might enjoy Innate Spellcasting.

  • Aasimar (PHB): Two damage resistances, Darkvision, a once per day heal, and a once per day combat transformation. You’re mostly here for the transformation, which could be appealing for melee builds. You can do more with spells, but there’s nothing stopping you from using Celestial Revelation and Spirit Guardians at the same time.
  • Changeling (EFotA): Clerics generally can’t afford to be good at Charisma, but Shapechanger’s persistant Advantage on Charisma checks paired with two additional Face skills could offset relatively poor Charisma.
  • Dhampir (ABoH): Spider Climb is a good substitute for flight, Darkvision is always great, and you get a damage resistance, but you’ll get very little value from Vampiric Bite.
  • Dragonborn (PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and once per day flight are great, but you will likely never use the breath weapon beyond very low levels.
  • Dwarf (PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and more hit points. Tremorsense is neat, but you have spells to handle invisible or hidden enemies. The durability is great for melee builds, but less appealing for ranged builds.
  • Elf (PHB): Darkvision and an extra skill are both great, plus you can get access to some spells from outside of the Cleric’s spell list. The Drow’s Faerie Fire gives you a great offensive support option, the High Elf’s cantrip can get you a great offensive cantrips from the Wizard’s spell list, and the Wood Elf’s access to Pass Without Trace simplifies stealth for the whole party.
  • Gnome (PHB): Darkvision and Gnomish Cunning are both great, and the added cantrips from Gnomish Lineage offer some interesting utility options. Paired with good Wisdom and proficiency in Wisdom saves, failing those saves will be exceptionally rare.
  • Goliath (PHB): Giant Heritage offers some great options. Cloud Jaunt offers teleportation, which normally isn’t an option for the Cleric. Stone’s Endurance offers some excellent damage mitigation. Other options mostly offer damage, which will only be useful if you’re building to use weapons, and very few clerics can do that effectively. Large Form is neat, but probably only useful to make Spirit Guardians 5 feet wider.
  • Halfling (PHB): Lucky is the only part of the Halfling’s traits which will be consistently useful. Brave is great, but you already have fantastic Wisdom saves. Halfling Nimbleness is rarely useful; if you need to heal at range you have Healing Word, and if you get dragged into melee, something has volunteered to be hit with Spirit Guardians. Naturally Stealthy is functionally useless in combat without Cunning Action.
  • Human (PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
  • Kalashtar (EFotA): Dual Mind makes the Kalashtar comparable to the Gnome, but you trade Advantage on Intelligense saves for Resistance to Psychic damage.
  • Khoravar (EFotA): Very versatile. The additional Cantrip may remove the need for Magic Initiate if you wanted to grab Cantrips from another class, and the additional proficiency will give you more options without dipping into your limited spell slots.
  • Orc (PHB): Adrenaline Rush is an excellent option for getting out of dangerous positions quickly without a spell, and the Temporary Hit Points are great. If you’re running Spirit Guardians, Adrenaline Rush might help you hit more targets, too. If that doesn’t keep you alive, Relentless Endurance provides some insurance, which is great since you’re probably your party’s healer.
  • Shifter (EFotA): Beasthide and Swiftstride could be very helpful when you’re running Spirit Guardians.
  • Tiefling (PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and some innate spellcasting almost entirely from outside of the Cleric’s spell list. The spell choices aren’t crazy, but there are some consistently useful options here.
  • Warforged (EFotA): Durable and versatile. A good fit for literally any class.

Cleric Ability Scores

The Cleric’s features all center around Wisdom, but beyond that your needs vary depending on your choice of Divine Order.

Divine Order (Protector)

Heavy armor requires 15 Strength to avoid the speed penalty from wearing it. If you’re planning to be in melee, you’ll also want more Constitution than Thaumaturge Clerics in order to expand your hit points and to help with Concentration.

Unfortunately, the 2024 rules have yet to make using weapons an appealing choice. Unless you can get True Strike as a Wisdom-based spell (Magic Initiate is literally the only way at the moment), cantrips like Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead will still be consistently more effective. You might still use weapons for Opportunity Attacks unless you also take War Caster, but otherwise the only good reason to use weapons is War Domain’s War Priest feature. Even then, you probably want Shillelagh so that you don’t need to invest in Strength.

Str: 15 for heavy armor. You’ll probably use this for weapons, if you use weapons at all. Don’t expect to increase your Strength beyond 15.

Dex: Dump.

Con: Hit points and saving throws, including Concentration.

Int: A few useful skills, but you’ll be fine if you dump this.

Wis: Your primary ability score.

Cha: Dump.

Point BuyAdjustedStandard ArrayAdjustedPHB RecommendedAdjusted
Str151514151415
Dex888888
Con151613141314
Int8812121010
Wis151715161516
Cha8810101212

Divine Order (Thaumaturge)

With less need to focus on defense, you have more flexibility in your ability scores than Protector Clerics. Leaving your Dexterity and Constitution at 14 leaves room to invest in Intelligence and/or Charisma, depending on what skills you plan to take.

The PHB recommended ability scores for the Standard Array assume that you’re going for Protector, which is absolutely going to be a problem for new players. If you have a new player in your party, referring them to this section for help is a kindness even if they’re not ready to dig further into character optimization.

Str: Dump.

Dex: 14 to max out medium armor.

Con: Hit points and saving throws, including Concentration.

Int: A few useful skills.

Wis: Your primary ability score.

Cha: Persuasion is on the Cleric’s skill list, so you could technically play your party’s Face.

Point BuyAdjustedStandard ArrayAdjustedPHB RecommendedAdjusted
Str88881414
Dex1414131488
Con141514141314
Int101012121010
Wis151715171517
Cha101010101212

Cleric Skills

  • History (Int): A useful knowledge skill, but skip it if anyone else in the party takes it.
  • Insight (Wis): Helpful for a Face, and you have the Wisdom to back it up. Since many Faces tend to have low Wisdom, it’s a very good idea for you to pick this up even if you’re not your party’s Face.
  • Medicine (Wis): This skill is useless. Medicine is best done magically.
  • Persuasion (Cha): Crucial for a Face, but you can skip it if someone in the party has more Charisma than you.
  • Religion (Int): The Cleric’s best Knowledge skill, and important to the theme of the class. Thaumaturge Clerics also get to add their Wisdom modifier to Intelligence (Religion) checks, making this an easy choice.

Cleric Feats

This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices. For more specific advice on individual feats, see our 2024 DnD Feat Guides.

Origin Feats

These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.

  • Alert (PHB): Great for starting big area control spells like Spirit Guardians or Blade Barrier or for dropping big area damage spells before allies get in the way or enemies get into melee range.
  • Child of the Sun (LFL): Decent, but Magic Initiate offers both more spellcasting and more choices.
  • Crafter (PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
  • Cult of the Dragon Initiate (FRHoF): An easy fear effect with a Wisdom-based DC. An easy fit for the Cleric.
  • Emerald Enclave Fledgling (FRHoF): Bad. Take Ritual Caster if you want to talk to animals.
  • Harper Agent (FRHoF): The Help Action isn’t useful enough to justify this unless you’re a Hobgoblin.
  • Harper Agent (FRHoF): The Help Action isn’t useful enough to justify this unless you’re a Hobgoblin.
  • Healer (PHB): Rerolling dice on healing spells is nice, but not especially impactful. The vast majority of hit point restoration is either Healing word to rescue dying allies or hit dice during a Short Rest. Sources of healing intended to bring creatures up to a significant portion of their hit points usually use a static number rather than dice (ex: Heal).
  • Lords’ Alliance Agent (FRHoF): Clerics don’t do enough with attack rolls to justify this.
  • Lucky (PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
  • Magic Initiate (PHB): Druid spells to get Shillelagh for melee builds or Wizard spells to get options like Fire Bolt and Shield can both have a huge impact.
  • Musician (PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
  • Purple Dragon Rook (FRHoF): The ability to give your whole party Heroic Inspiration once per Long Rest is amazing. The extra skill is nice, too, but Insight is the only good choice for the Cleric.
  • Savage Attacker (PHB): Not impactful enough even if you’re building to use weapons.
  • Shadowmoor Hexer (LFL): Clerics don’t make enough attack rolls to make Hex useful.
  • Skilled (PHB): Decent, but you can probably get all of the skills you want between your Background and your class skills unless you’re trying to fill in for a Rogue, which is a possibility or Trickery Domain.
  • Spellfire Spark (FRHoF): Clerics have plenty of options to deal Radiant damage, and using Sacred Flame as a Bonus Action a few times per day isn’t impactful enough to justify the cost.
  • Tavern Brawler (PHB): Clerics have very little business making Unarmed Strikes.
  • Tireless Reveler (ABoH): A great choice on literally any character. While it doesn’t set you up for any specific build, Heroic Inspiration is always useful.
  • Tough (PHB): Helpful for keeping your party’s healer alive.
  • Tyro of the Gauntlet (FRHoF): Only worthwhile if you Ready actions frequently.
  • Vampire Hunter (ABoH): Too situational, and too ineffective when it does matter.
  • Vampire’s Plaything (ABoH): Timely Retreat is really good.
  • Zhentarim Ruffian (FRHoF): Clerics don’t do much with Opportunity Attacks, but the ability to give your whole party Advantage on Initiative is great on anyone.

General Feats

  • Actor (PHB): Not useful for the Cleric.
  • Athlete (PHB): Not useful for the Cleric.
  • Bloodlust (AboH): Clerics don’t rely enough on attack rolls to justify this. The War Cleric might use this in conjunction with their Bonus Action attacks, but it’s really not necessary on a class that can cast Heal.
  • Bomber (AboH): Terrible.
  • Charger (PHB): Clerics almost never take the Attack action.
  • Chef (PHB): A Wisdom increase and a source of Temporary Hit Points without cutting into your spell slots.
  • Cloying Mists (AboH): This can make Fog Cloud a decent area control option, but it’s hard to justify concentrating on it when you can cast Spirit Guardians.
  • Cold Caster (FRHoF): The save debuff is great, but Clerics don’t have any built-in options to make attack rolls which deal Cold damage, and Ray of Frost generally isn’t enough on its own.
  • Crossbow Expert (PHB): Clerics don’t rely on weapons enough for this to make sense.
  • Crusher (PHB): A simple and easy way to control enemies’ positions in combat if you plan to use weapons.
  • Defensive Duelist (PHB): An interesting defensive option or front-line melee builds, but it’s not a great fit for most Clerics.
  • Delicious Pain (AboH): The damage mitigation is only useful if your AC is bad and you’re taking a lot of hits. Don’t do that.
  • Dual Wielder (PHB): Clerics don’t get the sort of damage boost which makes two-weapon fighting worthwhile.
  • Durable (PHB): Cast Healing Word.
  • Elemental Adept (PHB): Most Clerics don’t rely enough on elemental damage for this to have any impact. Light Domain is a notable exception since so much of their damage is fire.
  • Enclave Magic (FRHoF): Terrible.
  • Fairy Trickster (FRHoF): Interesting, but not an easy fit. You can’t get a Wisdom increase, which is already hard, and you need to hit with an attack to trigger the debuff. A Dexterity-based War Cleric might be able to use this to attack as a Bonus Action, then follow it with a big save-or-suck spell.
  • Fey Touched (PHB): Two more prepared spells and access to some 1st-level spells from outside of your spell list. Misty Step is great on any spellcaster.
  • Genie Magic (FRHoF): The Sorcerer’s spell list includes a lot of spells that aren’t on the Cleric’s spell list, and having broad access to the Sorcerer’s level 1 spells on a moment’s notice offers a ton of flexibility.
  • Grappler (PHB): Clerics aren’t build for grappling.
  • Great Weapon Master (PHB): Clerics don’t make enough attack rolls to make this impactful.
  • Harper Teamwork (FRHoF): The Harper Agent feat is too heavy a text to justify this.
  • Heavily Armored (PHB): If you’re going for heavy armor, either choose Divine Order (Protector) or take a level of Fighter.
  • Heavy Armor Master (PHB): If you’re in heavy armor, this is a huge amount of damage reduction. The reduced damage will also reduce the DC for Concentration saves since you’re taking less damage. Since this can’t increase Wisdom, you shouldn’t rush to take this at low levels, but it’s a good option once you’ve hit 20 Wisdom.
  • Inspiring Leader (PHB): A massive amount of temporary hit points.
  • Keen Mind (PHB): Only situationally useful.
  • Light Bringer (ABoH): Only situationally useful. I would only consider this in a campaign that takes place in the Underdark or in a game with vampires as common enemies.
  • Lightly Armored (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
  • Lordly Resolve (FRHoF): The Bonus Action buff is neat, but not enough without a Wisdom increase.
  • Love Bites (ABoH): Clerics don’t do enough with attack rolls to justify this. Even War Clerics may find this hard to justify.
  • Mage Slayer (PHB): Clerics are already proficient in two mental saves, and they’re really good at Wisdom saves, which is the important one, so the benefits here are minimal.
  • Martial Weapon Training (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
  • Medium Armor Master (PHB): Borderline worthless. Put +2 into Dexterity and wear light armor.
  • Moderately Armored (PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
  • Mounted Combatant (PHB): With no way to get a special mount of any kind, there’s no reliable way to make this work.
  • Mythal Touched (FRHoF): Unpredictable, dangerous, and self-destructive.
  • Observant (PHB): This is only helpful if your DM likes to use stealthy enemies and/or likes to include traps in combat encounters.
  • Order’s Resilience (FRHoF): Strength saves are not common enough to justify this.
  • Piercer (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify using this.
  • Poisoner (PHB): Clerics don’t have good options for dealing Poison damage.
  • Polearm Master (PHB): Clerics should not be taking the Attack action enough to make this useful.
  • Purple Dragon Commandant (FRHoF): This is what your spellcasting is for.
  • Putrefy (ABoH): You have surprisingly few options to trigger this. Most of the Cleric’s sourced of Necrotic damage call for saving throws.
  • Rebuke (ABoH): You could use this with Guiding Bolt, but that’s not a good enough combo to make this an easy choice.
  • Resilient (PHB): high Constitution saves are crucial for maintaining Concentration. War Caster may be better if you’re building for the front lines so that you can use Reactive Spell, but, if you only care about Concentration, Resilient is better.
  • Ritual Caster (PHB): There are some great level 1 Ritual spells like Comprehend Languages and Find Familiar, but the fact that this only lets you get level 1 spells significantly limits its usefulness. Getting rituals from outside of your own spell list is nice, but unless there are specific Rituals that you want, this isn’t worth a feat.
  • Sentinel (PHB): Even if you’re built to fight in close quarters, War Caster is a better choice.
  • Shadow-Touched (PHB): Two more prepared spells are always nice, and Invisibility is a staple spell, but Shadow Magic’s options for 1st-level spells simply aren’t as good as those available via Fey Touched.
  • Sharpshooter (PHB): Clerics don’t make enough attack rolls to justify this.
  • Shield Master (PHB): Clerics shouldn’t take the Attack action often enough to make this useful.
  • Skill Expert (PHB): There are some great Wisdom-based skills that might be worth Expertise.
  • Skulker (PHB): Without Cunning Action to allow you to Hide as a Bonus Action, you lose much of the benefit.
  • Slasher (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify using this.
  • Speedy (PHB): Potentially helpful for reaching allies quickly, or for running Spirit Guardians through crowds of enemies.
  • Spell Sniper (PHB): Very few cleric spells involve ranged spell attacks.
  • Spellfire Adept (FRHoF): There is no spellcaster better suited to use this feat than the Cleric. Note that the damage only applies to one damage roll of the spell, so you get the best results from instantaneaous spells like Guiding Bolt, Flame Strike (by the gods, we found a use for it! Not a good one, but it’s there!), and Sunburst.
  • Street Justice (FRHoF): Clerics aren’t build for grappling.
  • Telekinetic (PHB): An easy choice on any spellcaster. Telekinetic Shove will compete for your Bonus Action with options like Healing Word and Spiritual Weapon, but you won’t be able to use it effectively every turn, so it’s not really an issue. Remember that creatures can willingly fail saving throws, allowing you to use this on allies in order to move them out of dangerous positions, break grapples, or otherwise help them.
  • Telepathic (PHB): Very cool, but usually talking works fine.
  • Treacherous Allure (ABoH): Charm Person is not good enough to justify a feat, and Clerics don’t rely enough on attacks to capitalize on attacking charmed enemies.
  • Vampire Touched (ABoH): Access to some great spells from other spell lists. Most Clerics have almost Illusion options, and there are many great Enchantment spells on other spells lists which will remain useful for your whole career.
  • War Caster (PHB): Great for Clerics built for the front lines. If you only care about Concentration, Resilient (Constitution) provides a bigger bonus, but War Caster can improve your mental ability scores, so it’s often easier to fit into a build.

    The text of the Opportunity Attack rules allow you to make an Opportunity Attack whenever a creature leaves your reach. War Caster’s Reactive Spell feature allows you to replace that attack with a single-target spell. This is intended to be used on enemies, but RAW this also allows you to cast buffs or healing spells on your allies when they leave your reach.

  • Weapon Master (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify using this unless you’re going for War Domain, and even then it’s not a fantastic choice. Take a level of Fighter.
  • Zhentarim Tactics (FRHoF): Cleric’s attacks aren’t powerful enough that the Opportunity Attack feels impactful. Expertise is great, especially since you can change it, but that’s not enough on its own.

Epic Boons

  • Boon of Blazing Dawn (ABoH): Immunity to Radiant damage is great, but you’re not going to get much out of the attack stuff.
  • Boon of Bloodshed (FRHoF): Clerics don’t make enough attacks to justify this even if you’re a War Cleric.
  • Boon of Bountiful Health (FRHoF): The Temporary Hit Points benefit could be useful. Clerics have a lot of options for THP, so you could get a lot of mileage here, but you might not be casting them often enough to make it worthwhile.
  • Boon of Combat Prowess (PHB): Nice for War Domain, but otherwise skip it.
  • Boon of Communication (FRHoF): Clerics are not built to be a Face.
  • Boon of Desperate Resilience (FRHoF): You’re probably your party’s primarily healer, and not dying makes it a lot easier to be a healer.
  • Boon of Dimensional Travel (PHB): Basically free Misty Step every time that you cast a spell as an Action. Unfortunately, Bonus Action and Reaction spells don’t qualify. According to the Rules Glossary: “When you take the Magic action, you cast a spell that has a casting time of an action or use a feature or magic item that requires a Magic action to be activated.”

    Outside of combat, you can still use this to get around obstacles. Cast a harmless spell like Thaumaturgy and you can teleport without making a mess.

  • Boon of Energy Resistance (PHB): A powerful defense on any character.
  • Boon of Exquisite Radiance (FRHoF): Clerics have many of the best options for dealing Radiant damage, so this is an easy boost. Unfortunately, it only works once per day.
  • Boon of Fate (PHB): 2d4 averages to 5. Adding +5/-5 to a saving throw can rescue you or an ally, or it can cause an enemy to fail a save. On a d20 scale, 5 means that there’s a 25% chance on any given roll that this will have an impact. Granted, it is still a dice roll, so the smaller the gap, the safer this is to use. On a full caster where save-or-suck spells are such a huge part of your arsenal, this is devastatingly effective. The fact that you can use it once per encounter is amazing.
  • Boon of Fluid Forms (FRHoF): Clerics don’t have other built-in shapechanging options, so it’s hard to get consistent value out of this.
  • Boon of Fortitude (PHB): You will benefit more from Resilient (Constitution).
  • Boon of Fortune’s Favor (FRHoF): Excellent on literally anyone.
  • Boon of Irresistible Offense (PHB): You should not be using weapons enough to justify this.
  • Boon of Looming Shadows (ABoH): You won’t use the Attack part often, but Dodge as a Bonus Action can be very useful for spellcasters since most big spells are an Action.
  • Boon of Misty Escape (ABoH): Great insurance for any character. Compare this to Boon of Recovery.
  • Boon of Poison Mastery (FRHoF): Clerics don’t have good options for Poison damage.
  • Boon of Recovery (PHB): The Last Stand feature is great insurance, but definitely not enough to justify your first Epic Boon. Try to get someone to cast Death Ward on you.
  • Boon of Revelry (FRHoF): Otto’s Irresistible Dance is a great save-or-suck spell, and it’s not on the Cleric’s spell list.
  • Boon of Siberys (EFotA): The Cleric and the Sorcerer’s spell list have very little overlap.
  • Boon of Skill (PHB): Potentially useful in a small party with poor skill coverage.
  • Boon of Speed (PHB): Take Boon of Dimensional Travel instead.
  • Boon of Spell Recall (PHB): This gives you a 25% chance to retain your spell slot when casting spells of up to level 4. You get 4 level 1 spell slots and 3 of each of levels 2, 3, and 4. On average, you get 1 extra level 1 spell slot, and slightly less than 1 for levels 2, 3, and 4. This is fine, but definitely don’t make it your first boon.
  • Boon of Terror (FRHoF): Charisma is a dump stat for Clerics, which makes this hard to choose.
  • Boon of the Bright Sun (FRHoF): Give yourself and your allies 10 Temporary Hit Points each turn. Boon of Bountiful Health is a a good complement to this, giving you extra THP whenever you gain any.
  • Boon of the Furious Storm (FRHoF): The damage resistance/immunity is nice, but Clerics don’t have many spells which rely on Lightning or Thunder damage.
  • Boon of the Night Spirit (PHB): Be invisible at all times outside of combat. Take advantage of invisibility at the start of combat, then look for ways to become invisible as frequently as possible. Even if you’re not making attack rolls (and you almost certainly aren’t doing so often), the defensive benefits of invisibility are massive. However, remember that a lot of things are an Action, so it’s very easy to break this invisibility. Notable examples that people easily overlook include Hide, Search, and Study.
  • Boon of the Soul Drinker (FRHoF): You’re only here for the damage resistance. The healing is negligible on a class that can cast Heal.
  • Boon of Truesight (PHB): You have magic options to handle invisible enemies.

Cleric Armor

The Cleric is proficient in light armor, medium armor, and shields. Divine Order (Protector) can add proficiency in heavy armor.

  • Leather: If you have 18 Dexterity, this will match Scale Mail. Otherwise Scale Mail is strictly better starting armor.
  • Scale Mail: Starting gear for most Clerics.
  • Chain Mail: Starting armor for Clerics who get heavy armor proficiency from their domain.
  • Half plate: Most Clerics will max out at Half plate.
  • Shield: You can put your holy symbol on your shield, so there is almost no reason not to have one.
  • Full Plate: Clerics with proficiency in heavy armor should absolutely upgrade to Full Plate as soon as they can afford it.

Cleric Multiclassing

This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing.

  • Artificer: Starting at level 1 as an Artificer gets you proficiency in Constitution saves without slowing your spell slot progression, but the multiclassing ability score requirements are hard for the Cleric.
  • Barbarian: Rage and Reckless Attack won’t be particularly useful since Clerics don’t get Extra Attack, and Unarmored Defense requires you to have too many high ability scores.
  • Druid: The Cleric and the Druid share Wisdom-based spellcasting, so a few levels to get low-level class features and some low-level spell options like Shillelagh and Faerie Fire can be very effective. However, Magic Initiate will typically suffice if you just want spellcasting.
  • Fighter: Starting with 1 level in Fighter gets you Constitution saves, heavy armor, shields, martial weapons, Fighting Style, Weapon Mastery, and Second Wind. All of that makes you immediately better than Divine Order (Protector). Two levels gets you Action Surge, but you can’t use Action Surge to cast spells, so it’s not especially appealing.
  • Monk: The Monk’s Unarmored Defense works well for Clerics since they need so much Wisdom. 14 Dexterity and 20 Wisdom with Unarmored Defense will match Half plate, but remember that Unarmored Defense doesn’t work with shields, so you’ll need 18 Dexterity to match the AC of a normal Cleric with a shield. Martial Arts is a great way to use your Bonus Action offensively without cutting into your spells.
  • Ranger: Whatever you want from the Ranger, you can get it from the Druid, the Fighter, or the Rogue.
  • Rogue: One level for Expertise or two for Cunning Action can be very powerful on a Trickery Domain Cleric.
  • Sorcerer: Two levels for Font of Magic can be very powerful, but the multiclassing ability score requirements are hard for the Cleric
  • Wizard: Clerics and Wizards have access to some of the best spells in the game, but the multiclassing ability score requirements are hard for the Cleric.