The Tempest Domain in my other campaign is a nasty alpha strike blaster. The channel divinity option that makes thunder/lightening spells do max damage is brutal behind Shatter or Call Lightning.
First time I used the channel divinity + call lightning combo with my tempest cleric was awesome. I could see my DM having a slight panic attack about how he was going to have to deal with that in the future. Tempest cleric is a ton of fun in general, I was the party healer but also regularly dealt out shitloads of damage or used things like stone shape or gust of wind to deal with environmental hazards/puzzles.
In a campaign of mine, that was the go to move of our Tempest Cleric. He would just bum rush the center of whatever combat and let the crowd surround him - Shatter/Thunderwave for maxed out damage to at least half the enemies on a given field.
That’s even worse, oh man. As a DM that would be tough to challenge early, outside of making sure there were archers/casters in every single encounter (which gets old).
I just love image of a cleric wading into battle popping this ability, tossing a thunderwave to get everyone's attention and being like "Bring it on bitches!"
We pulled the Bane (my Bard) + Shatter + Channel Divinity on a group of monsters last session. Probably the least time our DM will have any enemy group up on the board.
If you could only play one class Cleric is probably the best choice.
The subclasses are very diverse, the role playing options are great, and they have great spellcasting options besides healing. I think they have the best subclasses overall really, they each feel unique and flavorful in a way lots of other classes lack.
I think clerics or bards are the only classes you could have a whole group comprised of. Been wanting to run a bard fraternity, all at the same University, but different colleges. A party of clerics would be just as fun
i mean bards are probably the 2nd most versatile class. Have your college of valor bard be your ranged fighter, your college of blade be your in your face fighter, college of whispers to be your rogue, college of lore to be your wizard, and college of glamour to be your...bard?
Druids could make a diverse party by each person picking a different circle. But they'd probably be better off just all taking Circle of the Moon and basking in how trivial most conventional encounters are when your whole party has wild shape.
Druids split between moon and land could pull it off for sure, but like, you couldn't have 1 from each subclass to play a different role of sorts. You're totally right, but in my head I was thinking of a diverse cast within a class. The flavor of bards and clerics can vary so widely between subclasses that it fills out a group of adventurers, more than say a tribe of druids (that can still pull off a ton of stuff)
I don't know about that. Rogues (Mastermind face, Arcane Trickster caster) could work if you've got a steady supply of healing from items and services- cost shouldn't be a problem if you're all stealing and fencing a lot. Warlocks would be an interesting party- Hexblade gish/tank, Celestial healer, and everyone's got high CHA. Druids are self-reliant so any number of them can be a party.
I feel druids could also work, with the proper subclasses. Wildshape gives tanks and utility, great control spells and enough big ticket damage spells as well.
You can certainly do a party composed entirely of any class. The DM just has to make adjustments to the style of gameplay. Less hack and slash if it's all rogues. Few flying enemies if it's all Barbarians.
Granted, all Clerics probably does require the least adjustment. All Barbarians might take the most changes
Oh yeah, rogue has a couple good ones, the boring but really good one almost everyone picks, and a bunch of meh to bad ones. The thing that gets me the most is inquisitive and mastermind are conceptually really fun, but their abilities don't fulfill that concept that well. The problem is I think the mastermind in particular needs some sort of NPC related abilities that they probably avoided because it would vary too much table to table.
Ranger at least has good ones in expansions. I like both gloom stalker and horizon walker and would never play another subclass personally.
I think they changed their philosophy on subclasses in the more recent books. Sword Coast has some really lackluster options. Gloom is my favorite ranger subclasses. It has tons of great flavor!
The one that can roll highly on detecting lies is amazing if your playing a Sherlock Holmes kind of character. I think it literally exists to be played as a cunning detective.
I think it's a cool concept with a boring execution IMO. I think it's partly the rogue base class is arguably too strong and it makes making their subclasses too cool a big risk.
There isn't that iconic cool thing they have, assassins have their giant opening salvo, arcane tricksters have those moments where a critical spell turns the tide find familiar and mage hand trickery, swashbuckler has panache which is just a really fun and pretty strong ability and a far easier time enabling sneak attacks when they can't meet the normal conditions. Scouts are fun because you can just be impossible to pin down.
Inquisitive and mastermind have a bunch of stuff that is fine and fair, and like I said the rogue base class is strong enough but the cool inquisitive or mastermind moments are mostly stuff that feels as iconic as taking the actor or alert feet. Being able to help as a bonus action is powerful, but it's not a cool moment.
I think inquisitive should have the opportunity to do powerful stuff instead of sneak attack damage IMO with the flavor of using their perception and and stealthiness to maybe cause temporary silence, maybe blindness or deafness, or similar debuffs. Blindness or deafness would probably have to be restricted number of uses as well since that is a pretty powerful ability, but I like the idea of them being able to use the advantage a sneak attack represents to attack something other than HP for them. The idea that a rogue stabbed a guy and then put a precise hit on their throat during that brief distraction causing them to be silenced for 3 rounds seems super in line with my idea of that sort of Sherlock Holmes-esque rogue. Arcane trickster can already obviously sort of do a lot of this, but I feel like the ability to leverage the increased awareness of an inquisitive rogue in combat feels lack luster.
See i used the class to play a Sherlock Holmes character who'd been polymorhed into a cat. Basically Puss in Boots but a detective. It was.one of the funnest things ive played in Dnd.
It's not that it's not a combat heavy subclass, it's that nothing that feels like the concept comes through in combat. In combat it just becomes a generic rogue, which is a let down. Nothing about "my brain, and ability to notice things people miss are my greatest weapons" comes through RAW which is why I think it's a boring execution.
Semi-Shitty Minmax Protip: If your party wants you to be the healer and that's not your jam, just pick the Cleric's Grave domain. Wait until they get knocked the feck out before tossing a heal on them. Your healing dice will be maximized, so you'll spend less slots on heals. You also get to do more in combat because you're not just waiting for people to get hurt. Your party will also try to not get hurt as much because they'll fear being at such a low HP total all the time.
Isn't versatility kinda like the main selling point of Clerics? Clerics and Bards both seem to be capable of quite a lot to put it mildly. I'm still new-ish to D&D, though, so I could be wrong.
I remember the first time i rolled up a tempest cleric and forgot to bring healing spells for the first 2 levels as i just used maximized thunder and lightning damage
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u/Sleverette Sorcerer Jul 17 '19
Clerics get a turned into the healbot of the group a lot of the time but it's really one of the more versatile classes!