Best Cleric Feats, Clerics in Dungeons & Dragons

[@thunderdragonish]

Not a bad list, just not sure why Observant and Mage Slayer made the cut. Cleric is not the class I would be using to make a “mage hunter” type character to begin with. No counterspell, no extra attacks, they just don’t have the skill set to put Mage Slayer to effective use. Observant just isn’t a very good feat to begin with... If your starting stats cursed you with an odd wisdom score I could maybe see taking this to even it out, but not until much higher levels, and only if my constitution and weapon attack stat are already even. Being able to read lips makes you a better spy, not necessarily a better cleric. You tear apart the main ability of this feat in the same video you list it as one of your best picks, so why include it to begin with? I would have included Tough. With your main damage dealing spell (Spirit Guardians) having only a 15ft range, you are going to get targeted fairly often, so an extra 4 Constitution’s worth of HP will go a long way. For clerics using a melee weapon rather than cantrips for “at-will” damage, I would suggest Sentinel and Magic Initiate. For magic initiate, you will want to take Wizard, grab Booming Blade, a flavor cantrip, and 1st level spell of your choice (shield and find familiar are my top picks). Booming blade gives you better damage scaling and still triggers your divine strikes ability, and it can be used in combination with War Casters’s cast-on-an-OA ability. Sentinel isn’t just for tanks. The immunity to disengage and the immobilizing opportunity attacks are nice, but if you’re in the melee and not already the dedicated tank, then chances are your enemies are going to be spreading attacks around, triggering the reaction attack with some reliability. Clerics are woefully short on abilities that use their reaction, so this helps fill out your action economy. Note that this reaction isn’t an “opportunity attack”, so you can’t double down on it with War Caster and Booming Blade, and it doesn’t trigger your Divine Strikes ability.

[@TheRPGDaily]

This also made me catch an editing error that i had missed.. I think you're completely right in your options, and yes Mage slayer and Observant are not the great compared to others. I know I was trying to give some ideas that don't directly relate to combat, and In a lot of the game I play the Cleric has always ended up being the talker of the party. even with a CHA dump they still are always the ones in the middle of gathering info. and I think that was the main influence on choosing Observant. Mage slayer was again meant for the situation of being in a magic heavy campaign where having a bit more advantage over enemy spell casters can help. That's my justification for including them, but I agree your picks are better. Thanks for sharing them!

[@quietandsimple5134]

@@TheRPGDaily my cleric of twilight with human mark of sentinel gets counterspell haha

[@plotholedetective4166]

I took chef for my life cleric. He is a cleric of Elpis and his divine symbol is the jar of Pandora which he refers to as the cookie jar of life. I make fortune cookies that instead of fortunes contain spell scrolls like bless and beacon of hope with help from the groups wizard, they also heal you a little. I also have cookies that contain spells scrolls like shatter and yes every time one is used the person who uses it always says "that's just how the cookie crumbles" which is absolutely hilarious every time.

[@jackykimes]

"soma" (Greek & Latin) means 'body'. Therefore somatic uses body gestures, in this case possibly hand gestures.

[@Haris-zw6bw]

exactly. it's spelled "σώμα", like the video horror game

[@Choklar_]

I think they called it somatic because they figure their customers would be literate.

[@Odinium]

For a straight up healing battery early game I choose to make a human (variant) cleric with the life domain at level 1 for the feat, 2 points split among 2 ability scores. I choose to take the Healer feat. 1d6 + 4 + HD of target hit points restored per target per long rest. It also makes so you can do a version of spare the dying. For 10 uses per healers kit, it’s the best 5 gold I ever spent. I should also mention it can persevere spell slots for emergencies.

[@ThorDog81]

If you don't use passive perception then you should make observant add a +5 to the perception score to make up for it. The stat exists for a reason.

[@andrewhazlewood4569]

Somatic means relating to the body. It isn’t the most obvious name for gestures but it isn’t wrong

[@CosmicBingo]

Passive perception is great for DM's to utilize in order to drop plot threads or hooks, especially if you've got a party that might need a nudge in the right direction before or after they make a bunch of rolls. Observant makes this even easier, and also rewards a player for picking up the feat when you use it this way.

[@TheRPGDaily]

It definitely has its use, but it also has to be clear that the players don't get to decide to use passive scores over rolling. I've had that come up quite a bit.

[@CosmicBingo]

@@TheRPGDailyI 100% agree. It's not a player asset. If a player is actively looking for something, they need to roll.

[@camerontroscianiec5320]

I think one of the best feats a cleric could have is elemental adept. A good bit of the cleric domains are focused on one element, so it can be very helpful to get some better damage, with no pesky resistances

[@TheRPGDaily]

Ooh! That's a great point!

[@junsonofjack3740]

Maybe a strange choice, but I took healer, yes healer, at level four with my tempest. I think it keeps pace with cure wounds (which I am not keen on up casting) and frees up spell slots to kick booty! It also freed me up to not take spare the dying. For a more damage dealing cleric, I think it’s a fine choice, but can’t say yet if it’s top five.

[@TheRPGDaily]

That is an interesting one. Instead of putting all your eggs in one basked, you spread them out!

[@CGlied]

Since it’s common for Clerics to be the party healer and buffer, I’m surprised more don’t take inspiring leader which grants the party temporary HP every short rest.

[@TheRPGDaily]

That's not a bad point, Personally in the game i play we haven't really had much use of short rests so I hadn't really thought about that.

[@arcticwulf5796]

Inspiring leader's temp Hp are lvl + charisma, so that feat is better used by the face of the party or sorcerer, bard or paladin that have high charisma scores. 5 hit points more per character means overall 30 extra points for the party of 6 , if the cleric has the minimum 13 charisma that the feat requires they still lose on about 24 extra temp hitpoints every short rest or beginning of day. I get that if you want to be the support character only then it can make sense, but other feats can make you harder to kill or keep those important concentrations spells on.

[@junsonofjack3740]

Martial Adept for commanders strike and now bait and switch with my somewhat tanky order cleric.

[@Ulfhednir9]

For my forge cleric I do love that fighters initiate: Defencive feat. Combine with shield of faith that's 22 ac in chainmail and shield. Booya

[@Wolfphototech]

*Looks like time to update this video .* *Tasha's added a bunch of feats that would be great for clerics .*

[@TheRPGDaily]

Yeah Tasha's is going to make me update a bunch of videos haha!

[@crownedtrout5068]

Is this for 3.5? Or 5e

[@gabo2703]

What did you think of "shielded master", I have a Tempest Cleric, my dex is low (I use the str for heavy armor) so when cast to me fire bolts, usually I receive the damage, I'm a new player, but this fate can save for this kind of spells, no?

[@TheRPGDaily]

I think shield master could be useful, but not against Fire bolt Specifically, Fire bolt is a ranged attack spell not a Dex save spell, so you don't get to add the bonuses to avoid that one. But it is useful for some other spells you might encounter.

[@gabo2703]

@@TheRPGDaily sorry I made a mistake, I want to say fireballs actually haha

[@TheRPGDaily]

@@gabo2703 Ok so Fireball is another one that only partially benefits from Shield master, since its a dex saving throw, but it is an AOE spell(not just targeting you) you don't get to add the shield bonus to your dex saving throw against it. BUT you can use your shield master to reduce the damage from the spell according to the 3rd bonus of Shield master.

[@jameshunt4611]

Lucky is a broken feat, my playgroup have all agreed to never take that feat in our games lol

[@SomeHoe69]

"Clerics are wise, they're not smart..." -RPG Daily, 2020