I had an interesting conversation yesterday with our wizard player who recently traded in one of his wizards (he plays 2 of them in 2 games) and he commented that clerics were better blasters than wizards.
He was basically refering to light and tempest clerics here. I was one of those clerics and I retired that PC as it was so kind of over shadowing the wizard and it could buff, heal, blast and at low levels melee to some extent.
IN the limited time we played 4E I kind of liked the 4E laser cleric as far as clerics went as it had been a while since I had seen a blaster cleric/priest as the concept did exist in 2E with its specialty priests but it was rare. I missed the 2E specialty priest in 3E.
Back then (1990s) our wizard player said something similar and tried making a players option Cleric wirh all 8 wizard schools+ minor access to the healing school- I said no. His 2nd attempt was 7 schools and major access to healing and necromancy spheres so I still said no. Some priests in the Realms could pick up a wizard or elemental school and blast away though although I think the best one was a Greyhawk priest of Wee Jas IIRC (its been 15+ years).
In 1E the wizard was the blaster, The illusionist had some interesting spells and the Druid was the divine blaster of sorts, clerics had to make do with flame strike at level 9.
Long story short I'm not opposed to clerics blasting but its a fine line between them doing that and obsoleting the wizard. I'm not sure where that line is in 5E, the Tempest cleric may be getting close to it, the light cleric may have crossed it IDK. Radiant Dawn for example is great at low levels and recharges on short rests, the Tempest cleric can maximise boom spells once or twice per short rest and gets destructive wave at level 9.
So thoughts on the concept would be interesting.
I played a tempest cleric to level 5. High Dex with a rapier and shield made him pretty respectable in melee. Guiding Bolt, Shatter, Thunderwave and the ability to maximize thunder damage once per day were just HUGE. I think I somehow ended up being the biggest DPR machine in the party, plus I could heal, turn undead, pick locks and stealth (criminal background), etc. Never got to use Wrath of the Storm (because I didn't get hit barely ever) nor Call Lightning (because we were in a dungeon with low ceilings). Still, he ended up being one of the most fun characters I've played in any edition.
I like that not all clerics have to be healers/buffers/4e leaders. I specifically made this guy to be "not a healer" and it worked great (although he still had healing). Since they got rid of the explicit 4e combat roles, I think every class should have multiple options baked into the design so that players can choose different combat styles/roles for any class (beyond just choosing certain feats).
Reius wrote:
Clerics greatly outshine wizards for damage. The only thing the wizard has going is aoe and a tempest cleric really handles that untill high level. Its a shame. Worst armor class, worst health and reduced to being the utiility bag for the group. 
In my game with a Light Cleric and Wizard (now level 12), the Wizard is the:
Hardest to kill (Abjurer).
Most useful to the group. Rituals.
Best Scout. (Owl familiar).
Most damage over the course of the day. WAY more than the light cleric. Portent sacred flame is nice, but the Wizard has enough slots now that he doesn't need to resort to cantrips much. (Remember he has access to 6 more slots per day up to 5th level).
An Evoker (or Sorcerer) would be an order of magnitude higher in terms of damage dealing potential as well.
Clerics damage dealing potential drops way off at higher levels. Light Clerics are also pretty useless in terms of damage against anything immune to fire.
DaveDash wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
I haven't really looked too hard at the 5E cleric figuring it'll be the FvS that will be the powerhouse when they splat book it.
DLfan wrote:
Eric888 wrote:
mellored wrote:
Zardnaar wrote:
Sorcerer looks more like the beguiler given the spell list, general need to focus on the spell list, and ability to twin or force disadvantage on saves to match the spells. They even have CHA as well for synergy with charm. My bard, on the other hand, doesn't have any illusion spells or a focus on charms. Since desctructive wrath uses channel divinity, and channel divinity refreshes on a short rest, up to 3 maximized lightning or thunder spells per short rest is generally 9 times per day as of 18th level.
As for the OP, it takes more than simply having access to the spells on the spell list. If that were the case then lore bards would cover it just as well.
Tempest clerics have it pretty good with spending divine intervention on maximized damage, but they get a bit MAD on weapon damage for divine strike for consistent at-will damage, and they are lacking in higher level spells appropriate to the damage to which the ability applies. Casting shatter in a higher level slot because there's no room for call lightning requires destructive wrath to keep up to fireball with empowered evocation, for example, before overchannel is an option.
Light clerics don't have the big damage bonuses to go with the additional spells, potent spellcasting only applies to cleric cantrips, and radiance of the dawn caps at 31 avg damage before saves at level 20 three times with a short rest recharge. That adds damage beyond spell casting but the damage isn't that high.
It's easy enought to build a cleric for blasting, but I don't think they beat out a sorcerer, warlock, or wizard using a build for blasting.
"...ancient Light Clerics are no match for a good blaster, son..."
Ashrym wrote:
Mephi1234 wrote: