Dungeons & Dragons is getting a revision for its 50th anniversary. It’s been ten years since the highly successful 5th edition came out. But in the decade since, there have been rule expansions, changes, and more spells and more subclasses. The 2024 updates seek to improve the 5th edition overall. Now that the new sourcebooks are available for preorder, D&D has slowly been revealing what changes players can expect. And they just showcased what changes are coming to the cleric class.
Clerics in Dungeons & Dragons act as faithful servants of a god. As such, they have many divine-based abilities and spells. It is quite a versatile class with a diverse range of subclasses. Players can choose to emphasize healing, combat, protection, or support depending on the subclass and spells they choose. As someone who has played a cleric for many years now, I was excited to take a look at what is in store.
Here’s a breakdown of the key changes:
- Subclass Delay: Clerics used to get their subclass, or Domain, at Level 1. Now it is moved back to Level 3 to keep it consistent with all the other classes. This makes for a more aligned play experience across the party.
- Level 1 Adjustment: Since there is no more Level 1 subclass, Clerics can instead choose if they want to take a more martial, or more magic-focused, direction at Level 1. They can choose to be a Protector which gives them martial and armor proficiencies. Or they can choose Thaumaturge which gives them an extra cantrip and a bonus to either Arcana or Religion checks.
- Channel Divinity Expansion: A new option is added to Channel Divinity, allowing players to heal or harm a target of their choice (it doesn’t have to be undead!).
- Improved Turn Undead: This feature no longer relies on enemy challenge ratings for effect. Instead, undead make a saving throw. This makes it more effective against a wider variety of enemies.
- Subclass Spell Changes: Certain Cleric Domains have new subclass-specific spells, or have the level in which they get subclass-specific spells moved. For example, the Life Domain now gets Aid, and the Light Domain’s Warding Flare is available at Level 3.
- Increased Damage: An update from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything gets put into the core rules, enabling Clerics to deal more melee or spell damage at Level 7 with Blessed Strikes or Potent Spellcasting.
- Epic Boon: At Level 19+ Clerics can choose an Epic Boon from a list of twelve such Boons that will be in the new Player’s Handbook.
- Divine Intervention Change: This is a big change, and I’m torn on how I feel about it. No more will Clerics roll a d100 with an extremely low percentage chance of successfully calling on their god for aid. Now, players can use Divine Intervention for a free use of a Level 5 or lower Cleric spell once per Long Rest and without needing materials. On one hand, this allows for more action to happen. On another, it does limit the creativity Clerics can have when calling on a god for help. Especially at higher levels.
- Level 20 Divine Intervention Change: Previously upon reaching Level 20, the Cleric’s Divine Intervention would automatically succeed. The vagueness of what you can request has been replaced. A Level 20 Divine Intervention is now casting the Wish spell word-for-word from the Player’s Handbook, including the potential toll it may take. Clerics must wait 2d4 Long Rests before using it again. This is an interesting change meant to give more clarity to a very powerful ability, and to enforce the risks associated with channeling a god’s energy directly. But it’s worth noting that classes like a Bard get the Wish spell at Level 17.
These are all interesting changes being made to the Cleric class. Overall, they seem less drastic than the changes made to the Druid class and Circle of the Moon subclass.
You can pre-order the new Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual today for $49.99 a piece.
