The INTERNET Broke Our Cleric!! | (r/RPGHorrorStories)

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Clerics are one of the strongest classes in the game, but in the dungeons & dragons community they're often written off as a "healbot." You can't take what the internet says too seriously, but in the RPG horror story I have for you today... a cleric player learns the hard way.

[@Jacksontruman92]

My first dnd character was a cleric, and I didn’t know many of the tropes of table top back then, yet I still made her to be an uber healer, buffer, and deal decent damage. And I had fun just building around dishing out as much healing as I could for a turn. There’s nothing more satisfying than healing a party member from near death to fully heal and watching the DM just shake their head as their big damage is undone in a single round. Clerics are awesome, there is fun in being a super, badass healer. Don’t forget that!

[@gio-gioarmani2268]

Clerics are indeed fun. Turning from 1d8 healing spells over to Weather controll and causing earthquakes. Goddamn lets create a 60ft radius flashbang that has the heat of the sun itself

[@bernkastel7438]

Even before I started getting into DnD I’ve always preferred support roles over hyper offense for some reason, I just find it more fun. My friends keep asking me why I only play Clerics and Bards lmao

[@JoshuaSmith-hl1xj]

My first character was a female wood elf light cleric, was fun healing people and throwing out the occasional fireball, and was how I found out how good faerie fire is.

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

In my experience healers are the best units. I play digital RPGs, usually MMOs, and when soloing the healer is a must.

[@DarkestStarryNights]

I... My first character was also a cleric, but I just went the complete opposite way and made him a necromancer (it was before I knew about all the tropes of DnD and such)... So he just channels negative energy and focuses on healing the dead. Yet I still have the healing spells. So I heal both living and dead at the same time but I love my necromancer, stereotype-defying boy. :) But am I seriously the only one who has made a necromancer cleric?

[@GiveMeMyFuckingHandleBack]

Want to hear a funny cleric joke I stole from the internet? What do you call a pot smoking cleric? A high priest! 😂

[@linda-0587]

….Ppfft

[@Connor_McKinnon]

That made me chuckle! That could be a funny character idea, actually.

[@GiveMeMyFuckingHandleBack]

Thank you for giving me such an idea if I ever make another DnD character! :)

[@noelnotcole7940]

@@Connor_McKinnon A "High Priestess" who's buff/debuff focused, but all the buff and debuff spells are reflavoured as giving her allies and enemies drugs.

[@jaythebigbro]

Boooo

[@wildsnivy7225]

I actually appreciate Cleric's philosophy here of "dealing damage shortens the fight and therefore reduces the need for healing." This is the Final Fantasy 14 meta and it's actually required to beat enrage timers on high-end boss fights. His issue is that he forgot Rule 0 of playing healers: dead party members do zero DPS

[@lawrencelopez9839]

yeah and ff14 has crazy health regen when out of battle

[@Terestrasz]

Unfortunately so do a lot of FFXIV healers. :/ Like 80% of white mages, 99% of sages, and about 85% of scholars (But only about 5% of Astrologians oddly enough. Must be because of their cards.) seem to think "Ew? I have to actually HEAL?!" and "Rez? What's that?" I can't tell you how many times I've seen some healer who is using a parser to boast about their huge DPS and saying "It's even better than the DPS". ...when the DPS was trying to keep themselves alive via using Second Wind off cooldown or bloodlust because the healer couldn't be arsed to even toss a regen on them because "That might make my fight go down by one damage per second!!" and they expect all the commendations because "I did DPS". Hell just before typing this I was playing Astrologian. I got grouped in an alliance raid a sage who was bitching at me for wasting my time casting Ascend and not DPSing because "That's the RDM's job" [When we were in *void ark*...], and was boasting about how he was doing more DPS than the bard and dragoon who he refused to heal while he just kept spamming his DPS button over and over again. -.-; Wouldn't even throw a shield on to people, except the tank. Then told the group not to commend me because "AST DPS was the lowest" and "AST never buffed me" I hope nobody commended you - cause I didn't.

[@bellumdorf3360]

Considering I left WoW a while back(Played a monk healer, got help with how to heal but still) so I was used to healing over damage dealing, now that I got into FF14, I'm surprised as to how much damage I am allowed to do considering I'm used to spamming healing spells/channeling heals to keep people alive.(I play a scholar, white mage was fun, haven't tried the astrologian yet but was thinking of trying it, then again, so close to sage.)

[@BiGGMiXX340]

@@Terestrasz You're like one of the first few people who actually criticized Ff14 healers for not healing at high level.

[@Kennisaurus]

@@Terestrasz If I had a nickel for everytime I had to clutch on spamming second wind to stay alive because the healer is too busy trying to be dps or worse tank, I'd be rich.

[@HannahNoell]

"good luck surviving without your cleric here lol" *Refuses to help team survive while he's there*

[@Terestrasz]

FFXIV healers be like. "Da da da I'm a green DPS." "Heal please." "i keep the party alive by killing them quicker!" "Dude I'm doing more damage than you! HEAL. PLEASE!" "No."

[@xiaocheng6643]

@@Terestrasz Not true. They be more like "Da da da I'm green DPS." "Heal plx." "Sure, but don't stand in AoEs you can easily avoid again. Would also be nice of you to use defensive cds." *stands in AoE again like an absolute moron* "Heal plx." "Use your self-heal. I'm busy." "Dude I'm doing more damage than you and I don't want to move! And defensive cds do no damage! Healer adjust and earn your loot!" "I see you chose death."

[@Terestrasz]

@@xiaocheng6643 Not been like any healer I've seen! "Hey, Orlandeau just dropepd us all to 1 HP and this mechanic requires you to heal. Why are you using Holy?"

[@xiaocheng6643]

@@Terestrasz I call bs on that. No WHM worth their salt would cast holy in that fight, since it's single target only.

[@Terestrasz]

@@xiaocheng6643 Well I see it happen all the time. :/ Most of the time it's Sprouts, but sometimes I see people with the fucking mentor Crown who think "I don't need no stinkin' healing, DPS."

[@WaveShock007]

Ah yes. The Cleric who saw Jester from Critical Role and said "Hold my Beer." Clearly the man didn't have the proper Cringe to protect him.

[@legomaniac213]

Even Jester started off geared towards buff and healing. She didn't become more offense based until Caduceus joined the party.

[@Zarlos01]

That's it, and have a second cleric in the party has so much to contribute

[@ruquang89]

i tried to make lapis lazuli from steven universe for a multiplayer game of stardew valley, my friends said i looked like jester, i was completely lost

[@zephloe]

@Jamie Beeney Honestly jester is better so that's a plus

[@aquicandaquak822]

I mean when a mercy pops her ult and whips out the pistol, she's indistinguishable from a woodchipper with antihistamine spray.

[@destinystrapper]

A friend of mine and I like playing duo mercy in no limits, I heal, they kill. It's funny seeing a mercy having the most kills

[@aquicandaquak822]

@@destinystrapper I literally love whipping out the pistol while ulted, bonus points if nanoed by Ana lmao

[@wilddara2792]

@@aquicandaquak822 I can't remember who it was, but I wandered onto overwatch side of youtube and saw some guy who was reviewing bronze ranked games. There was this great one of a mercy who pulled a "Fuck it! I'll do it myself!" after dying three times to lack of team support she popped her ult and wiped the enemy team on two separate occasions. It's hilarious watching battle mercies remind everyone they aren't defenseless.

[@aquicandaquak822]

@@wilddara2792 dude from what I've learned it's best to fear the high level mercy player, because they've realized they're not just moving heals vending machine, they've unlocked their true form: the school nurse ready to kick ass even without their ult

[@ajn_rules_5074]

If Cleric gets this offended off of Facebook, who knows what would happen if Cleric used Twitter

[@metalboo8491]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zquuh3eCj8hgrdE

[@chronix7946]

"Did you assume my cleric is a healer? Classist!"

[@SuperHGB]

​@@chronix7946it'd be funnier if you said "classicist"

[@ikonyk4370]

I'll do you one better, 4chan

[@ulvemann43]

An actual happy ending, what is this unicorn?! On a serious note, it seems that Cleric had a moment of insecurity from the arguments on Facebook, and that certainly bled into the game, as really bad moments of insecurity can, which is a damn shame. Triggering someone's insecurities can do a lot of harm, and spiral out of control quick, so it is really good that OP and the rest of the group managed to settle things well. In a way i can semi-understand, as a common issue with people's perception of clerics is that they are only healers, while a cleric can be anything from a full on healbot, to a DPS powerhouse without much in terms of support, and both are just as valid(as long as you make your DM/party aware of it so that they know you're filling a DPS role, not a support role). I've even been on the receiving end of that, building a tempest cleric for a one-shot not as a healer, but as a general DPS support, and there's been several such discussions on Reddit as well. But that does not excuse that behavior one bit, and it could have real quickly turned really ugly, and i'm glad that it didn't. And i certainly agree with your talk about how we only ever see the highest or lowest points of anything online, the fringe cases that barely ever happen. I can guarantee that pretty much any community and group of people most of us dislike or even despise is only viewed as such since we've only seen their lows, and that's a pattern i've often observed online. Hell, just imagine how many people have turned away from TTRPGs because of all of the stories of our "favorite" sub, and most of those stories ain't even real to begin with! But, seriously, the Cleric also showed some massive maturity by wanting the post to remain up, especially for their reasons to let people use it as a catalyst for learning and discussion. That is an immensely mature way of thinking, so kudos to Cleric!

[@Zynet_Eseled]

I'm a bit curious, is there any sort of specific tank classes that focus on a defensive and medical role, with high constitution, and the ability to roll speech checks using intelligence as opposed to charisma? I mean, when you're caught inside of a vault, especially one that's been given a repair order, it would make sense to recall that knowledge and use that to pass a speech check.

[@luisspragg1546]

@@Zynet_Eseled probably a cleric and paladin multiclass

[@Zynet_Eseled]

@@luisspragg1546 alright. Made my own comment in the chain that is regarding my character concept with all the nitty gritty. It's a bit out there, so feel free to rip it up if you want

[@TheGoodLuc]

That just shows that you shouldn't spend too much time on social sites.

[@linksstruepower7443]

Since we're talking clerics feeling unfulfilled, last campaign that I finished, my fiancee was playing a light domain cleric. She was rather fond of being able to burn her enemies. That said though, towards the end of the campaign we found ourselves regularly taking big beatings and she was of course, the best healer. As things went on she didn't feel particularly good about the fact that she would regularly not to getting to engage in combat beyond picking people up off the ground. Overtime she started getting a bit resentful of her role in the party, as she wanted to fight and didn't like the idea of being relegated to a healer. Though this was partly because she's not particularly good at asserting her self in situations with too many people. She talked to me about this, and then later she talked to the DM at my suggestion. The DM happened to be a cleric main himself, and told her straight out that if she wanted to go full damage as a cleric, he would defend her from anybody that would be upset about her decision. Saying that they don't have a right to dictate or be upset about how she plays her character, which she appreciated a great deal. But we eventually got the best of both worlds, as my wizard hit a level milestone in power and I was able to cast Simulacrum on my fiancee's cleric. So the Simulacrum had the full-time healer duty, and my fiancee was free to rain heaven's wrath down on our foes. A happy ending was had by all.

[@lliamthrumble]

Your fiance gave everyone a happy ending??? Dam i need to start playing DND!!

[@linksstruepower7443]

@@lliamthrumble no. I did.

[@JohnDoe-fg4xe]

We can all admit that Elisjsha Dicken is a fucking hero, the guy deserve to never pay for another drink in his entire life.

[@Gilasfelburher]

Unfortunately he died recently... he drowned in p*ssy

[@Ironbattlemace]

He's a good dude. Damn good for the mall attendees that he was there.

[@RealSeanithan]

You'd be surprised by the number of people who think he's just as bad as the sack of crap that he put down.

[@GameAlicornLuna]

"Clerics @*#&@" So the Vestal from Darkest Dungeon would be a good representation of them.

[@ravenouself4181]

or healer from redo of healer... or would he be a weird cleric/bard/sorcerer hybrid?

[@lilharm]

the “sentient wood chipper handing out bandages and orange slices” would’ve made me spit out my drink if I was drinking anything at the time

[@destroyerinazuma96]

The crazy thing is: I've heard ppl say Life Cleric isn't optimized and I should go for damage, but I decided not to listen and still had a blast!

[@cnkclark]

"My DPS is the entire rest of the party being unkillable"

[@WolfHreda]

One of the best things about Life Domain Clerics is if you give them access to Goodberry, like with Magic Initiate. It's insane.

[@cnkclark]

@@WolfHreda Yes the infamous infinite healing build. It's exquisite.

[@destroyerinazuma96]

@@WolfHreda Dope combo.

[@SteeleOkami]

"White Mages are badass as shit, bro. Watch this." Really comes to mind.

[@NegaHumanX]

I'm glad that a TTRPG horror story ended in everything turning out alright for once. Amazing what some healthy communication and genuine maturity can do.

[@Arcticmaster1190]

Completely right on the roles of Cleric having a tool for any situation. They are a Swiss Army knife when they have time to prepare with the ability to turn anyone and everyone into Sherman Tanks with the right spells. Clerics can be pure combat but it is doing them and your team a huge disservice if your teammates need support and are dying on the floor and you’re trying to Rambo your enemy better than the fighter. As a Cleric, you have to be what the group needs. If they need a healer, be a healer. If they need a buffer/de-buffer, do that. If the need a buffed up smiter, by all means, Deus Vult, MF. This story is what happens when your party needs support and you want to smite heretics because some morons on the internet said you can’t. -Hope it was worth it, Cleric. You really proved those naysayers wrong.- Edit: Oh wow, things went well. Glad that things went good this time. That’s a rarity in these stories.

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

Not JUST M4s, they make the party become Sherman Fireflys with the APDS round ready to shove it up the BBEG's ass.

[@FreedomAndPeaceOnly]

As someone who played a Ret-Paladin in WoW and only healed for raids... I can only sympathize. And for some people a Cleric is just another Paladin. Ironically in the BaldursGate 3 videogame I often find the offensive spells vastly outclass the defensively one's.

[@destroyerinazuma96]

In Dragon Age Origins you can play a warmage and have melee defensiveness for days, but nothing's as fun as Palpatine-ing a dragon!

[@HappyAspid]

Melee mage in that game was completely broken killing machine.

[@Lorlic1138]

That comment you made about how the Internet is influencing us hit a very close to home for me. I’m 35 and constantly worried that I’m failing at life because I haven’t accomplished anything of note. I know it’s a false perception and I am getting help with it but it just kinda made me think “wow, I know that feeling.”

[@jesternario]

Even back in the days of first and second edition AD&D, clerics weren’t just healers. They were off-tanks who could deal damage, support their companions, and heal. Hell, in basic D&D, clerics didn’t get healing spells until level TWO. I don’t know where this concept of the heal-bot came from, but it needs to stop.

[@jaroslawwasila8884]

I blame korean MMOs

[@jesternario]

@@jaroslawwasila8884 It's really just video game RPGs in general. Anyone who is a healer in video games tends to be only good for healing and nothing else. They're clearly not the "less powerful fight that can heal" of D&D.

[@cdnxman1326]

A lot of jrpg and anime. White Mage is the bane of cleric players. You could be playing an 8 foot tall, chainmail clad Tempest cleric, with a warhammer, and someone is going to think you are the whit mage, unsuitable to combat. Gods help you if your character is female, because you are instantly waifu.

[@lordruxlinhogie5912]

I think most of this healbot stuff is carried over from 3rd edition. Back then you had to prepare the exact spells you wanted in the exact quantity with clerics being the only ones who could spontaneously switch out any prepared spell for an equivalent cure wounds instead. Eventually they released a feat that allowed others to do it too, but for a long while Clerics were the main healers and everyone else were backups.

[@PackTactics]

This was a good video! I enjoyed it! There seems to be more to the story but that doesn't matter much too much now because they're over it. They talked it out and everyone is happy so that's good! What the cleric said about spirit guardians is correct, that's mathematically true. Other than that, I don't think he said that many things I would agree with. He needs to listen to his team. Never casting healing word or Aid is outright silly and very suboptimal. There are times where you need to cast them. Everyone being downed like in this story is exactly the correct time to cast Aid, absolutely. Spiritual weapon would be a wasted turn and a wasted slot. Aid would be more DPR due to collective action economy from the team. Why do I say Aid? Aid says: "Choose up to three creatures within range. Each target's hit point maximum and current hit points increase by 5 for the duration." This isn't temp hp so everyone would be conscious with an automatic 5 hp. Then from there, like I said, the collective action economy of doing damage would solve the fight. Knowing normal games though, people would use an action to drink pots but ah... It gets the job done either way so it doesn't matter that much what the correct order is from there. The fight is solved. Anyways, the team shapes the meta of your game. The internet doesn't. Optimizers always forget that lesson and yet its one of the most important ones to know. Have a nice week!

[@DenoftheDrake]

Appreciate the input, brother!

[@ApocGenesis]

10/10 Faerunians agree that the internet was a mistake

[@EthanDarke]

I was a Medic in the Army and that's how I see clerics on average, like his woodchipper analogy. Ready to seriously mess someone up while making sure everyone is hydrated xD

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

*Sound of a Rolls-Royce Meteor starting up in the distance, before revving and then accelerating, getting louder, until a Cleric arrives and starts beating the shit out of the hostiles while literally bringing the team back from the brink*

[@darakin5172]

Im glad you chose the voice you did for the cleric, cause now i just hear Alexander Anderson of Hellsing Abridged and its suprisingly fitting

[@huntedbystingrays371]

I love the ending message. For the last ~6 years I've been with a group that puts heavy emphasis on "making characters that are 8's or 9's on this scale" and I just haven't had the most fun with it, I've felt like I've been funneled in to a character someone else made and not one I have connections to. I've recently decided to toss out the notions of that power gaming scale and just build something fun to me, and enjoy RP so much more now.

[@EnderCorePL]

The thing about seeing only the highest highs and lowest lows was something I needed to hear oddly enough, thanks cartoon internet dragon!

[@DenoftheDrake]

I got you, homie 💪

[@finnthecheese2846]

Eli Dickens' nurse GF was also there and helping people as the event unfolded, Eli clapped and she patched

[@Amayagma]

Ok.....the talking about internalizing things has been hitting me so hard lately. I've been doing not great and basically I've been feeling so bad and guilty with my fellow players.... I felt so upset that they were getting frustrated with my character and his secrets bc the DM kinda kept shoving my rogue in the spotlight. I felt so bad I gave up and spilled the story on discord, spoiling the text in case they chose not to read it. They read it and they weren't as frustrated bc then it started to make sense, why he was the way he was, why he would sometimes be self contradictory ways.... and then add on top of that just random comments and other things that had piled on like being told that for someone who enjoys rogues I am shit at it and stuff just.... it's.... been rough.... I feel pretty worthless when I linger on the thought and how I make my characters... I feel like I don't add anything enjoyable to the plot or situation and I also don't add to anything in combat bc I make such poorly constructed characters. Neither of these are true but it feels like it is

[@bunnybutt5664]

Dude I absolutely understand where you're coming from. I don't necessarily play DnD myself, but if there is one thing I love it's creating characters and giving them their own original backstory to explain their actions. I've been trying to get back into drawing as well as writing, but before that I stopped altogether because I felt I was not good enough or that they were too cliche or yada yada. Since a lot of it was a bit fanfictiony with franchises I love a lot. It can be hard to escape from this mindset, and it still is. So don't be ashamed of what you create because others don't understand it yet. I'm sorry that you had to reveal something that crucial due to that and hope things did or have gotten better for you.

[@cmhsky]

"neither of these are true but it feels like it is". It sounds like it's time to talk to your teammates on how your character interacts with everyone, what they bring that's missing to the group, and what they can do better, or work on. That way everyone's on the same page, and honestly it sounds like you might need some confidence in your play style. This is a game. It's supposed to be fun. Not bring you anxiety. I have social anxiety too so I know how it is. But having an honest conversation will at least affirm what you're doing right, and what you can improve on. With anxiety, we usually play out the worst scenario in our heads, and it starts feeling real. The problem with that is, it's not real, it's what we've built up over and over in our heads. Maybe you're right on some points but it's no where near as bad as you make it out to be. Honestly, the worse case scenario is that these people are not supportive at all and are super negative. In which case you'll know to move to a less toxic group. I doubt that will be the case. Good people will affirm what you do right, offer criticism on areas you can improve on, and be patient with you because they have an understanding you're trying to improve.

[@DenoftheDrake]

What your feeling is perfectly natural. Just keep an open line of communication and everything will work out in your game👍

[@Amayagma]

@@cmhsky Thank you for the kind response. I've been communicating this with my group but... the feelings still there even with their words of encouragement and even with them affirming the way things have played out isn't really my doing. The DM has gotten better and balancing things and the problem I see and feel isn't anything that really has been an actual issue for the party, it's just my internalized feelings and I know that, it's just so annoying that the feeling doesn't go away even with affirmation from the people I play with and respect.

[@Amayagma]

@@DenoftheDrake will do my best thanks for the response!

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

Back when I was in my early twenties, I abandoned something I liked because of obnoxious fans and stereotypes. How does it connect? Well. Never abandon what is your nature because of someone on the internet.

[@tmage23]

Clerics are awesome and extremely versatile but have to be built properly to fulfill different party roles. If you build a pure healer for several levels you can't just turn around and be a front line damage dealer. It's best to know what sort of cleric you want to be from the start and work towards the goal.

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

Actually you can, if we're talking about 5e. Life cleric is all you need really, chef or healer feat. Because you get heavy armor and shield you get basically 18 to 20 AC easily. And of course SPIRIT GUARDIANS then doing the dodge action. Every "Build" with a pure cleric is the best one. Tank, healing DPS? Easily fill each role.

[@1stCallipostle]

You don't really need a healer in 5e anyway, most of the healing spells are kinda trash mitigation compared to the best mitigation of "having it be dead before it hurts the party again" So the question shouldn't be "are clerics more than healers" it's "do clerics need to pack more than healing word for that entire niche to be filled"

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

@@1stCallipostle You are so damn right like at 3rd level healing can be done when someone is at half health or less because really the range (On a cure wounds for example) is 1d8+spell mod let's say its 20 so that's 5 to 13 hp if healing. Past level 5 for a martial with 16 con that is literally nothing at all.

[@1stCallipostle]

@@WhyYouMadBoi 9 hp really do be kinda doodoo when the fighter has 50 and the alternative is 16.5 damage when you're inflicting wounds at the same level And when your damage gets better at a faster rate

[@Drakon_Minaka]

My first character was a death cleric but I decided I wasn't really happy with that domain and asked my DM if I could swap to grave, which he allowed and would later regret. Basically in both incarnations (Death or Grave) my character was a former army doctor who worshipped the god of death but in his own way, viewing it has his responsibility to save people before their time. So for instance when one of our party members accidentally set a town on fire, he frantically pushed past the enemies we were fighting to get to the villagers and get them out of the fire and to save as many as he could. He has no problems with killing, and he sees it as someones time being up when he has to actually fight them, but he often tries to save who he can on the grounds of "my presence means their time should not come." I had good spellcasting and health but was poor in everything else as it was my first character. I would also take recommendations on spells I should take, and would look up spells on my own time. (Yes I know now that cleric knows their whole spell list but I didn't' really want the whole spell list on my character because then it would be confusing what spells I had prepared). I ended up becoming a beast of a healer accompanied by our homebrew player who had a class that allowed them to heal allies with fire spells, though it was nerfed to do half healing. But due to my use of beacon of hope, plus the fact I could use spare the dying at range and heal for max regardless of rolls so long as the ally is down (and even if they're up when under beacon of hope), the DM had a hard time keeping us down. That and there was a running gag in the party that I couldn't hit inflict wounds, but when I do hit it, it's terrifying because I usually annihilate or damn near annihilate the enemy.

[@richardduska1558]

11:58 Very nice and an excelent call from the DM. Since 1 character is being...well deffective the party realy needs all the help that they can get and so a grey area like this is the perfect way to help them out witouth making it obvious.

[@AlexThePyroshark]

Honestly, I also had a bit of envy torwards the more damage-oriented classes sometimes when I started playing Cleric, heck, I ended being more of a cheerleader than anything in a fight connected to my backstory because I had to focus on healing, but after a while I realized something: I wasn't the third wheel just because I had healing and support spell, I was there to help the group from a different angle than just pure damage numbers. Like Drake said, if the team wins, you win. Cursed by a deity with an ancient plague? Divine Intervention that sucka back to arcane quarantine. Allies being manipulated by an antagonist with fake memories? Remove Curse and investigate what they didn't want you to find. An enemy dragon is flying away and the Barbarian can't fully make a jump to reach it? Yes, hello, Barbarian Delivery Service here, I CAN SUMMON ANGELS to toss him onto its back. If I just wanted to beat stuff with a stick for "bIg DaMaGe" while having heal spells as a panic button, I'd be playing Skyrim, not a cooperative tabletop. Also, this may be because of my awesome DM, but if the issue is not "having a spotlight" in the game, I found that Clerics can be a close second to Paladins for RP investment by class alone: considering that they're preachers of faith and, at high enough levels, almost embodiments of their divine power, you can explore a LOT of how your character approaches those things.

[@Zulk_RS]

Small addition regarding Cleric's abilities: I don't think having a healing ability automatically gives you a responsibility to keep people alive. What I DO think though is regardless of what class you're playing or what build you're working with, you should let your party know early on how you plan to play. (If you yourself don't have any idea of what specific role you're going to play and are more just playing/building a character that you think would be fun and want to play but doesn't have a fixed role. That's fine too.) Hell, you don't even have to tell them outright. They'll figure out what your character's shtick is after the first few encounters. But please don't suddenly shift gears. You could have 18s in all your stats. If you built a character for Ranged combat and suddenly switch to melee; if you build a support caster and suddenly go all in on healing; if you build a healer and suddenly switch to tank... you're not going to be doing it very well. Because at that point you're trying to fit a circle in a square hole. And sure, maybe there's some story reason you did this and you and the DM and the other Players have all agreed to put up with it. That's okay. But don't blindside them with this. It is going to hurt the party dynamic even if your table is filled with sub-optimal builds and RP focused players. In fact, it might hurt the party dynamic MORE if you are in a table with a RP focus.

[@naturallyartificial4090]

Awesome Healbot Cleric: *Exists* Internet: Imma bout to ruin this man's entire character.

[@2to5Raccoons]

This reminds me of the time my group wanted to try Starfinder (in its really early days) and I decided to play healer. And when I checked online to see if anyone had any helpful tips, everyone was bashing on the class and play style I wanted, saying "healers are useless". Then those same people would be complaining about how hard it was to get back health. So I took that as a challenge and created a character who could fix anything mechanical or biological and specialized in prosthetics. A long story short, nobody ever died, the ship was never broken for long and I helped my team avoided a huge combat by replacing a rescued slaves heart that had a tracker and bomb in it. We threw it out the airlock and flew away!

[@susannahmitchell5558]

The Almighty Drake has blessed us with another glorious video! Rejoice, my friends! 🌟

[@Midnight3Wonder]

I can say from experience that playing the party healer isn't something to laugh at or be taken so lightly. I play a multiclass cleric (life domain)/druid (circle of the shepherd) whose spells are dedicated to healing, buffing, and her love of animals. I literally only have the spells Moonbeam, Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Summon Beast, Sacred Flame, and Wild Shape to cause any form of damage, and I've so far I've only used Spiritual Weapon and Sacred Flame only a handful of times. All my other spells are dedicated to healing and buffing my allies, animal communication/bonding, and messing with the environment. To top things off, my only forms of non-magical weaponry are a parasol and a pair of scissors from my sewing kit, but I am still an essential member of the party even in combat. In our latest session, I had no choice but to fight exclusively while Wild Shaped into a wolf due to one of the creatures we are fighting having the ability to negate spells, so I can't use any of my healing or buffing spells in this fight until we take that creature out. I'm not able to do any major damage, but I've been able to really mess with it by biting it and slowly draining it of health without getting making it focus too much on me. I even managed to save one of my party members who was grappled by the thing by biting its arm and giving that party member the chance he needed to escape. This is the first combat when I haven't been able to heal or buff anyone, and I'm worried of what will happen if we can't take that monster down before anyone gets seriously hurt since I can't properly heal them. This combat has really made me realize just how important my role as the healer is and I am honored to be the party healer even if I do wish I could sometimes dabble a bit more into a more combat heavy build. I'm really looking forward to when we finally beat that monster and can use magic again so that I can better help my party beyond biting that nasty creature and actually provide spells that can heal and buff the party, making us even more deadly in combat. Outside of combat, my character is still very important to the party. She's sort of the heart/child of the party and everyone really adores her. We've actually joked multiple times throughout the campaign that she's the party mascot and that the others would sooner die than let anything happen to her. I don't try to invite this kind of viewpoint on my character at all or anything. Everyone just really likes her. Very much a situation of that meme about a lady having a dog for only a day or something but loving it so much that she'd kill everyone if anything happened to it. I actually made a version of that meme for my character and a former party member who sadly left the game due to scheduling conflicts: www.deviantart.com/midnight3wonder/art/DnD-Only-A-Day-And-A-Half-Meme-884433843. My character also surprisingly has the darkest backstory and is very much tied into the overall story of the campaign without me realizing it until it all came to light. We all actually had a big laugh about how the party's heart/child had the most messed up past without me intending it. Beyond that, my character has built up quite the strong bond with most of the party now and they all really care about her. We're actually in the midst of a pretty important part of her character arc where she's forced to confront her creator (she's a living doll homebrew race) and she might discover a way to fulfill her goal of becoming a real girl capable of actually feeling things. If she achieves this goal, she's gonna have a new character arc of learning to understand her own feelings and what it truly means to be alive. Throughout this development, I can defiantly see her helping out the others with their arcs in a supportive role. I'm really looking forward to it! I'm glad that the cleric in this video was able to get over some haters on FaceBook and work things out with the party. Hopefully they continue to be of great service to the party and realize just how important their role as the party healer is.

[@supermarioblacktiger]

I've heard other readers read this story but I think you're the first one to actually include the ending update.

[@clericofchaos1]

We can fill literally any party role, but it's a good idea to know exactly what role you want to fill at character creation. Trying to switch mid-game results in...this. If you want to be a front-line damage dealer, you need to pick one of the domains that give you heavy armor and martial weapons. Cause the mace and scale mail ain't gonna cut it after level 2. You should also always keep healing word prepared, if nothing else, because healing word is fucking amazing. I usually keep two or three healing spells prepared at later levels (including revivify) and try to save at least one spell slot for each of the spells in case of emergency.

[@hexbox2182]

Dps clerics can be fun, I’ve played one of the tempest cleric subclass. But the difference from this game vs what the guy from the post did, is that I told my table ahead of time that I wanted to be an offensive cleric not switch mid game.

[@redroachofficial7388]

Reminds me of the time i was playing a cleric and had to tank for the entire party of wizards while they refused to even use spells. They were all elves. I was a dwarf. I now have level dnd 6 racism and don't trust elves because they started getting mad about being carried and left one by one

[@redroachofficial7388]

Should probably mention that i don't maliciously shit on elves i just joke about them when i play as a dwarf

[@Barakon]

If you wanna make a cleric who heals but is still capable of dealing damage, think instead of Mercy from Overwatch, think of Medic from TF2.

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

agreed, the Crusader's Crossbow (Yes, the Syringe guns exist, but why. why use the Blutsauger or stock [or hell, even the Overdose, it is quite helpful for if your pocket dies!] when the Crossbow exists?) can be quite the damage dealer, especially on a crit at range.

[@danhatter6823]

I would argue that clerics aren’t meant to fill a specific role, but rather to fill any role the party doesn’t have yet. Having a lack of healers? Life domain. No debuffers? Death domain. Need more damage? War domain. The list goes on.

[@neila128]

That was a nice ending, good communication from the table. DM did great having a talk with Cleric, OP was thoughtful for offering to delete the post and the throwaway account after they've made peace, Cleric owning up to his mistake... hoping for all the best for this group!

[@CptPhilippnes]

My first and, to date, my only cleric, was a warforged cleric reskinned as a healing droid who's main function was to keep organics in working order. It came to the point that the character was a compulsive healer and willing to put the "meat bags" in danger of injury just so he can heal them. Originally I was gonna play him as a heal bot with a god complex but, I think this was better.

[@CompletelyNewguy]

I once had a friend who ran a Fire Emblem campaign using a modified version of the DnD 5th edition rules. We had a Warlock, a monk, a bard, a rogue (who eventually had to leave) and me the cleric named Alice. I was lucky enough to roll an 18 for stats ( that's three 6 The DM himself saw it too so he allowed it) and being a human I got a couple feats that put my WIS to 20 so I decided to go ALL into healing, not just with magic but ALSO with feats such as Healer, Doctor, and healing kits out the wazoo. (VERY handy when we ran into a dead magic zone I'll tell you what!) Let me tell you something, Alice was a nice woman, but she would be screaming her head off every battle because she'd ALWAYS be running ragged to injured player to injured player to injured NPC. She ended up having quite the foul mouth and alot of anger issues, they even got bad that her hair was starting to turn grey at age 26. Healers are RARELY calm, they're usually angry and threatening to kill you more than the enemy, and if you wonder why, ask anyone who PLAYS a healer.

[@nvfury13]

Ahh, you played her as a military Medic.

[@Noctaru]

Now I imagine a FE Valkyrie and they're fuckin scary . Heals a lot but with that luck, magic and horse they NEVER miss if you give them a single tome.

[@IronicCliche]

It's interesting that of the three games I've played regularly in recently(pf2, Cyberpunk Red and 5e), 5e is actually the one with the least dedicated healer. It's just that of those three, 5e is also the one with the most powerful healing.

[@ciceroakatenza4887]

The first campaign I Co-DM'ed for my friend group was nicknamed the 'Budget Clerics', in which 3 out of 4 players were clerics (Subclassed with something else, there was a Life Cleric/Barbarian, Nature Cleric/ Druid, Death Cleric/Pirate [Homebrew]). So its safe to say Clerics can sufficiently fill many roles of the party just as well as any other class.

[@linda-0587]

Remember a friend of mine who was in a party of 3 clerics, and a Pally, basically mirroring the “Mage and Paladin” combo from WoW, according to him, they pretty much steamrolled everything the DM threw at them, even a Chromatic(?) Dragon. The Paladin and one Cleric were tanks, second cleric was a healer, though styled like a war mage, and the third was pure healing

[@carolynwilliams5918]

Why do people get sad about being healers? My stars druid's ability to keep dishing out bonus healing has been what our DM has had to balance around for the entire campaign. She's stupidly good at her job, and the only non-revivify deaths she's had to contend with at this point were due to a certain party member engaging in planar shenanigans.

[@12SickOne34]

Good thing about being "old" by internet standards and to have seen the internet becoming the space it is but remembering a time before the internet is, not giving a flying fluff about anonymous nut cases talking sheit online. For clarification I'm in my thirties

[@JonnyStarwind]

I am currently playing a Tortle War Cleric. He initially only had 2 healing spells prepared at all times with the majority of his spells being damaging spells because he was all about the fight. He is still a frontline fighter, and he is designed to be a full battle tank. He learned to have more prepared as this would allow for glorious battles for his allies as well.

[@No0neat]

When i started out playing ESO i was a fully healer orc. Restoration staff, only healing skills, templar. The works. I still had no idea about builds, sets, motifs, optimization and etc. I was just playing to mess around and i always knew that healers are usually hard to come by in MMOs, specially in dungeons and well, up until that game i always played games where everyone had their roles and that was it. No way to mix builds up. You're a cleric? You heal. You a warrior? You beat people up. And if you didn't play the exact way you were supposed to play as that class then everyone would gang on you and yell about how you were wrong and how much of a fuckup you are. Then, during a dungeon one of the guys asked me why my damage was so low (i was only using H.A to attack enemies in order to restore my mana and get back to healing.) And i just said that well, i was a healer, i'm supposed to keep everyone else alive so they can cause damage. Cue all of the other teammates stopping the entire dungeon to tell me that it was not needed. I could heal and deliver some pain all at the same time. They taught me about main and sub weapons, how i could mix up some skills from other trees to my secondary and how i could for example, use an area heal or HoT and while that was in effect i could swap to my secondary and beat the absolute daylights out my enemies while those were in effect. That was nice. And quite friendly. The entire ESO community is friendly as heck. What i'm saying here is that there is negativity in a lot of places. People that will scream to you that you are supposed to play their way and that you're wrong and they're right. But... When that happens... Just seek another community. Seek other friends. Don't get involved in internet pettiness, or in any pettiness at all for that matter. it will only serve to make you petty and negative like them and ruin you as a person, ruin your fun and your friendships. Meanwhile Mr. Greasy hands will not care at all and just continue what he does best. Ruin everything for others.

[@cnkclark]

Reminds me of Final Fantasy XIV where even the healers can and are expected to contribute to party DPS in most content, because overhealing is a thing. There is usually plenty of opportunity for the healers to attack and they have some respectable offensive spells. Hell, the new Sage job leverages heals and shields via their pewpew laser drone offense. FFXIV is quite good at letting even dedicated healer roles dish out enjoyable offense. And then there is Star Wars: The Old Republic with my favorite healer class to date: the Commando Trooper, wearing heavy armor and wielding an AoE-heavy 2-handed blaster cannon. Healing via drones and medical bombs while blazing away with a smoking cannon is a literal blast. I love the 'I'm a healer, but...' meme. But the important thing is to remember that your primary role is to keep the party standing.

[@alexanderrahl7034]

Eli Dickens is an absolute legend. I remember hearing that story when it broke. Real life hero right there. Also, this story talking about how OP a cleric can be, is why I roled a cleric in Neverwinter Nights on my phone, and why I want to play one in the future when I finally play D&D lol

[@iank472]

An important secondary lesson from this story is that while you should expect healing from your cleric you should definitely have emergency backup healing like potions. My bitter old ex Kelemvor cleric has terrible Constitution and even with heavy armour I can (and have) been KOed in nasty fights. My party used a potion to revive my old ass and I continued helping out.

[@JustToSaveYou]

Sentient woodchipper with bandaids is possibly the best possible description for our cleric. Thank you for giving me a good description. lol

[@rayanderson5797]

Drake: "Clerics do not make love. Clerics F***." Cleric who has taken a vow of chastity: "I... I do not do that."

[@manxiefeathermoon9888]

Social media sucks for sure. My mom taught me that I should never compare myself to people I see on Facebook, because people only post the good stuff. That's why I never went into Instagram or Twitter. Too many ways to compare yourself

[@weirdlycurlyplantstem8231]

Clerics are awesome! My brother played a cleric that waded into the melee and dished out damage while slinging healing around like candy. My cleric casually commands some undead from the sidelines while debuffing the enemy until they're as tough as cardboard cutouts. Clerics can kick butt while chewing bubblegum, and anyone who thinks that all they can do is heal is just wrong!

[@reuvengritters2983]

It's amazing how refreshing it is to hear about people discussing things from a place of respect and of a person reflecting on their behavior and looking to do better. Maybe the internet WAS a mistake... No, that can't be right. How else would I feed my omnipresent sense of self loathing and general cynicism about the world?

[@Ser_Matticus]

I actually had an idea for a good balanced cleric in plate, wielding essentially a weaponized incense burner with a trail of blessed smoke trailing after the weapon head. Good for support in the back with other casters or in the front with the melee fighters.

[@eraphtasofstet8645]

One of the funniest moments in my DnD campaign was when no one rolled higher than a 13 (with modifier) the entire session, but the DM always rolled ‘slightly’ worse. It was a very fun moment in mediocrity.

[@hallofguns8174]

I certainly did not expect to hear about the Indiana mass saving in a DnD video, but was happy to see you showing it to people who may not have heard of it.

[@airplanemaniacgaming7877]

one of those times where not listening to the signs that might as well say "Free vulnerable mass of unarmed citizens here for you to mass shoot!" saved who knows how many lives! (aside from the....I think it was 2 people who were killed by that example of why abortions should stay legal, IT doesnt count as a body. It was a THING who tried to be a piece of monkey's shit and was dropped like a full bag.)

[@gbuttersland7757]

That point about the internet being a showcase of the best of the best has affected me for a really long time, and I can't say I'm over it even to this day. I've wanted to create art for as long as I can remember, and part of my lack of skill is my reluctance to do anything new as a kid. Everytime I'd try to make something- even something small- I'd always feel awful about it afterwards because I saw someone else's art online. I'm still absolutely working to better my art as it stands, but fighting back the urge to curl up and cry when I see a super-detailed piece that's leagues better than mine is difficult.

[@davidpotts7116]

I personally love playing a dpr-tanky cleric. But even then, I’m using what I can do to help my party. For every Sanctuary I cast on myself, I also use Bless on the others, for example. One of my favorite builds is actually a mixed hyper-dpr / party support multiclass with druid. Have you guys ever tried encircling Wall of Fire on a group of enemies after casting Plant Growth? It allows for some really cool use of the shove action so the enemies you trap don’t escape easily. At the same time, Calm Emotions basically allows you to talk your way out of any sticky situation with the town guard, and you can combine it with Zone of Truth (which doesn’t need concentration) to make sure you’re getting more than passive info from someone (since Zone of Truth doesn’t require the target to tell the entire truth, so long as they say something truthful to you). It’s all about balance with this kind of build. Cleric gets incredible offensive options, but can also be a dominating force in making sure social situations go well.

[@christhedicemaniac4318]

The funny thing is my favorite character I play is a Ranger and My DM thinks I play this character so crazy. I'm that guy who uses the environment to my advantage. I always ask for details about the setting I'm in. I set traps.... I use pelts to blend in... I hide in trees and pick enemies off from far... I use stuff like Cargo nets to entangle enemies... It's more a case of how you play the class.

[@BusterBuizel]

Drake, you saying you have no talent is like saying Dickens has no aim. Words of encouragement from a fellow DND nerd/gun guy

[@gigaslayer1058]

With talks about cleric being the go to healer (and me loving to make characters who can heal and support) made me want to broaden my horizon with other classes that can heal. Whenever I play, I usually go as the defacto healer but will ask if someone else could prepare healing spells just in case. Also, to those who doesn't want to play a healer or support character, just ask if the other party members can support one another. This could be through healer's kit, spells, potions, or even abilities. Hell, a party consisting of Monk, Paladin, Druid, and Sorcerer can all heal and support each other pretty damn good.

[@jblask2]

Glad to hear Cleric eventually came around the party is playing happily again.

[@spoonyluv19]

If you want a combat based cleric the light domain keeps even the most sadistic DMs up at night.

[@drakephoenixfeather4056]

In my 3.5e game, I'm currently the party healer as an Alchemist (ported over from Pathfinder) because our clerics player got a job 8hrs away. Now I'll happily admit, my Alchemist isn't acting like a healer in the last couple sessions, but it has nothing do with out if game crap -_- My warforged that isn't used to being considered a person yet was just turned evil by a Deck of Many Things and is (currently) overcompensating the free-will, not-a-heal-bot-is-a-person thing. And still gave the barbarian the last healing potion they were holding when the barbarian just about killed himself in a fit of barbarian derp and warned him (and by extent the rest of the remaining party) thst this was the last healing item they had. You can be "nope, I'm not healing!" without putting the party at risk, you just need to be reasonable about it. Also the party doesn't know in game about the alignment/attitude shift yet as the last 2 sessions have gone over one day, they've just noticed the Alchemist is having a "bad day"

[@dragonturtle2703]

Cleric: “this is my holy Glock. Praise the lord!”

[@thedigodragon]

I often play the healer because support is my favorite role. You know you are in a wonderful group when you get the MVP award from your team mates for your contribution that kept the party alive in a hard boss fight over the other PCs that did all the damage to the boss.

[@eaglescott17]

The first game I was in that I got above level 4 was the Curse of Strahd game. I played a Druid and we didn't have a Cleric. Even though I picked the Moon spec (shapeshifting), there were multiple times where it would not have been efficient for me to be yet another frontliner, so I stayed in the back casting healing spells and Moonbeam. My Moonbeam shenanigans prevented the DM from swarming us with werewolves (area denial), and would force them back to their human when I would move it over them. I was so effective that I basically ended up carrying the team.

[@rivvitt102]

i’m playing my first campaign ever this week, and i’ll be honest, i at first picked cleric because no one in the party wanted to be one, but i’ve been slowly growing into my little healer dwarf, and reading about the class there’s so much i can do other than just heal, so if you’re a new cleric and kind of unsure, read, i promise you’ll be surprised

[@blackstone1a]

“The ability to heal and deal massive damage is busted” * Flashbacks to my team getting ganked by a Type 2A wielding Medic in BFV intensifies * Yeah… can confirm from experience

[@jm6456]

Type 2A?

[@LoboGuara5bruxaria]

Wait... WHAT? People on RPG Horror story actually talking things out like mature adults and learning their lesson, rather than remaining defensive, oblivious or unapologetic? What miracle is this?!!😲

[@Zathurious]

For all your faults Drake, you are right. I'm from the 80s and I don't understand why people don't simply disconnect from the internet instead of getting drawn into pointless bickering.

[@DrPluton]

Cleric is really fun. You can heal and still crack skulls with a big old mace (or warhammer if you play a dwarf). They have a nice offensive spell kit, but they have the best healing and support spell progression in the game.

[@SuperBatSpider]

My main class Sorcerer is often seen as the most basic caster. Unlike Fighter I rarely see people argue against this, the most praise I see is it’s a great dip for other casters. But what did I do? Did I try becoming the main character and be the best character in the party as a Sorcerer? Nope. I just kept playing my class normally.

[@Kaiser8513]

My party's sorcerer would argue against it. He plays a Divine Soul sorcerer and took a feat at level 4 to dip into Warlock for eldritch blast without losing a level to multiclassing stating that is the only thing they wanted from warlock as the rest is too much baggage

[@rvbfan18]

Support Sorcerer is one of the best feelings. Twin spell haste? Greater invis the rogue? Always feels great when your friends get to be awesome

[@alexsullivan323]

I have played two clerics both being the party parent and I love it. I also make sure I hit like a train but support first.

[@rufinator]

I remember my (inadvertent) cleric massive damage bonus… Party is in a wagon going through a canyon with bandits hot on our heels… having stabilized the kidnapped children we were escaping with I cast a sonic spell I forget and it ends up stunning the bandit’s lead horse… which fell over, and tripped the riders behind him, who also fell over… several furious dice rolls by the DM and we have a 30 horse pile up with most the bandits dead or crippled. Fun times.

[@TheTrifour]

Drakes voice for cleric makes me think Alexander Anderson from HAB

[@phobiawitch835]

My first character I played was a Cleric. It was Pathfinder 1e and J was a Fire and Healing domain. Think a walking flame knight who was capable of explosive spells, swinging a silver scimitar, and would unleash waves of healing when the party needed it. If you can guess, my MAIN role was the Tank (I had the highest AC), with pretty big damage too (a high Str with a nice bonus to hit with my scimitar that also did fire damage on crits thanks to a Trait I had). Healing was there, but more an after thought. I had a few support spells too, which I’d use if I needed to, but rarely since I couldn’t cast in Melee without either failing my Defensive Casting rolls, or being attacked and then failing my concentration check to continue casting. Well, I was happy with that role, even BEING the “Party Mom” occasionally. But, I was forced to retire the character because it lost the fun because my dm decided a few things. These things were that 1) I needed to heal and support more, so I lost several spell slots and my high ac when he tricked me into taking the Angelfire Apostle archetype. 2) I STILL needed to heal and support more, killing me several times if I tried to use melee damage still, and dropping the most useless magic item for me, which raised the dc of spell saves by 2, but only if they didn’t harm things. This also hurt the party if they ever did coup de grace, or I’d lose the benefits of this item until I went out of my way to “Attone” for doing even NONLETHAL damage to anything considered Humanoid (which is like 45% of Pathfinder enemies, and was 95% of what we were fighting at the time). So I was being forced to become the “Heal Bot” that most people complain clerics are, despite being built around Tanking and High Damage output. I left that table almost a year ago. Best decision of my life. But I still haven’t played a cleric again because I can’t bring myself to build one after that torture I endured under that dm over the course of a year and a half.

[@Darkman9000]

"I have zero talent whatsoever" Says the dragon who can operate a tank despite being several times larger than the intended occupant of such a vehicle

[@bsseb2914]

As long as someone's standing, clerics are not obligated to heal in Combat, because it's usually inefficient. Go nuts with offensive or buff spells. As soon as one (or more) Teammates go down clerics are the one best suited to get them back up. You don't have to be the full-time healer of the group, but you're still going to be the best one to revive people.

[@atiredfloridian777]

To borrow a quote from the Doctor... "How much blood will spill until everybody does what they're always going to have to do from the very beginning -- sit down and talk! Listen to me, listen. I just -- I just want you to think. Do you know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind." Applies to everything, from war to dungeons groups who just need to communicate better. Wise woirds from a wise person! Glad this horror story had a happy ending.

[@Mrinsecure]

Clerics have enough versatility that they can fill just about any role in the party, depending on what domain they choose. Tempest and War clerics can make for excellent frontline fighters, trickster clerics can substitute reasonably well for a rogue or bard, and a forge cleric can DPS nearly as well as an evocation wizard. But if your cleric is the designated party healer, they'd best be healing people. Otherwise, your entire party is going to suffer due to their lack of support.

[@williamhahs1586]

Never played d&d but love your stories

[@hankdedalus]

This is what happens when some one lets problems run rent free in their head, they start to take it out on anyone they can. I have had to deal with some one like Cleric befor and it was the worse...

[@zontiky]

just as i was searching for an unwatched den of the drake video… it fell right into my lap.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Yo, nuhuh. When i think cleric, I think "tank." They can take damage, deal damage, prevent damage and, after all that, undo damage.

[@okamineo]

I, as a Bard, had that sentiment some time ago, not doing too much damage. Heck, I even celebrated that one meekly kill with a cantrip. But then over and over again, Cleric and I make sure the party gets up on their feet, control the battlefield and have the nope-out-of-here spell ready. Back to Cleric, he's quite something I wouldn't challenge him in PvP. He giveth health, he taketh health, and is the better voice of reason in the party. We didn't want a Cleric, but we got what we needed.

[@willellis153]

I complained about Rangers being useless... Now whenever my group runs a oneshot with pre-made characters they stick me with the Ranger... I don't want them to know that I'm actually enjoying playing a Ranger, then they'd make it stop

[@starburst7681]

I swear D&D players would lose their minds if they ever played Gloomhaven and find out games exist which allow and expect every character to fill multiple roles and play tactically

[@nvfury13]

I’ve been playing since the 80s, every character should be made to play multiple roles and everyone should play tactically, and that has been an understood unwritten rule (and written suggestion in the rule books) up until 5E.

[@solouno2280]

True story, relatable. Long time ago in the early days of social media, a DM I met actually found a post of someone telling the world that a good vampire the masquerade master would make their players feel guilty and psychological fearing their own characters. She put it in practice and we had the most boring session ever. I usually play low mankind characters so guess who was going for a ride that time. Instead, we just feed on that session making the hunt overly long, imagine going to rest in D&D when every single party character roleplays their dreams. When it was my turn, I was not having the ride I expected, was called on conciseness but TBH I have little respect for "sapient" life so nothing interesting happened that night. TLDR: never listen to social media. The best way to deal with social media is commit account suicide and get yourself banned

[@roryscott2941]

"F**k 'em", definitely my favorite advice. Great job as always Drake!

[@emberfist8347]

I thought the stereotype about Clerics was they were like Kif from Futurama. By that I mean a character who has to babsit the rest of the party to keep them from doing something stupid.

[@Homiloko2]

Honestly I think that's perfectly fine, in theory. I don't think every character should always be "played" strategically and metagamed to milk 100% battle performance out of them. In-game, it could even be a whole character arc where he questioned his own powers, motivations, and divinity. But in this case, the player did act out of touch. He should've just communicated better out-of-game with his friends, especially the DM who would've made preparations, and help him properly plan for it.