The 3rd One D&D playstest document is out. Breaking with the pattern I had assumed we'd get after the Expert Classes UA, the only class getting previewed here is the Cleric, while the other two Priest classes - the Druid and Paladin - will have to come later.
The UA also gave us revisions to the new Dragonborn and Ardling, as well as a broader version of the Goliath that really explicitly ties them to Giants - giving us new varieties of Goliaths and considering the old-school one to be the Stone Giant-affiliated one.
For this post, I want to focus on the Cleric.
The biggest changes to the class come in the early levels. Because the levels at which one gains subclass features, including the first, are being standardized as 3, 6, 10, and 14, Clerics will now actually pick their subclass a bit later. But Clerics will nevertheless get some interesting choices to make at level 2. Let's get into it:
At 1st level, Clerics will get Channel Divinity, which no longer recharges on a short rest, and instead, you get PB uses of it per long rest. Now, while usually this sort of change means ultimately more uses, the 2014 Cleric later gets multiple uses of Channel Divinity per short rest, getting a second use at level 6 and a 3rd at level 18. Assuming a single short rest per adventuring day, this will be nearly even, but the Cleric can more easily burn through these in a particularly tough encounter (or regret having done so later in the day).
Channel Divinity has two baseline options, and I believe each subclass is likely to get their own option at level 3.
The base options are Turn Undead and Divine Spark.
Turn Undead works a little differently. Undead that fail their save are now Dazed - a new condition that limits a creature to only an Action or a Move on their turn, not both, and no bonus actions or reactions. The Dazed undead creatures can only take the Dash action (in other words, they can either Move or they can Move) and if they move, they can only end their turn farther from you. Damage breaks this effect, which otherwise lasts 1 minute (unless you become incapacitated or die).
The big takeaway is that the Undead are not forced to run from you - they can stand their ground if they really want to, though they won't be able to do anything other than stand there.
We'll also get into what's becoming of the Destroy Undead feature a bit further down.
The other option, Divine Spark, lets you either heal someone or blast them with radiant damage. You target a creature within 30 feet of you and roll d8s equal to your PB. You can heal the creature for that much or force them to make a Constitution saving throw, taking that much radiant damage on a failure or half as much on a success.
I actually really like Divine Spark, as it's a little extra healing, but if you're insistent on playing a damage cleric, you can use it for a bit of extra damage. Getting 4d8 healing or damage 4 times a day at level 9 is not bad.
Spellcasting uses the entire Divine Spell list (not exactly a surprise - given they share the list only with the Paladin, who else would be using 6-9th level Divine Spells?) Once again, they have you only prepare spells of each level for each spell slot of that level you have, which I still don't love (in other words, a 5th level cleric must have 2 3rd level spells, 3 2nd level spells, and 4 1st level spells prepared - they can't, say, leave out a 2nd level spell to get another 1st level).
Now, at 2nd level, the big change is Holy Order. This takes some minor features out of subclasses and puts them into a secondary choice (not unlike a Warlock's Pact Boon). At 2nd level, you choose between Protector, Scholar, or Thaumaturge.
Protectors get Heavy Armor Training and Martial Weapon Proficiency.
Scholars get proficiency in two of the following: Arcana, History, Nature, Persuasion, and History. They can then add their Wisdom modifier to ability checks made with these skills.
Thaumaturges get an extra Divine Spell cantrip, and they regain one Channel Divinity use when they finish a short rest.
So, I think these are all pretty interesting. Scholar lets you basically turn these skills into Wisdom-based skills (though if you have a good Intelligence, or Charisma in the case of Persuasion, all the better). Thaumaturge feels like probably the best option overall if you have a good Channel Divinity option. The only downside is that no one is going to be able to start off with heavy armor training, which means that you'll need to wait a level to get that Chain Mail.
At 5th level, Smite Undead is the replacement for Destroy Undead. Rather than automatically killing creatures that fail the save of a certain CR, you now get to add radiant damage to the creatures that fail their saves, with a roll of d8s equal to your PB.
This, I think, is a nerf. It's also something that could be phrased a little differently - it might be good just in case to clarify that this damage doesn't end the Dazed effect. But still, 3d8 at level 5 is an average of 13.5 - meaning that you're not going to destroy Zombies with that most of the time. On the other hand, this will put a bit of damage even on high-level undead creatures if they fail - if you've got a bunch of vampire spawn, you've now just slammed them all with radiant damage (though unlike Divine Spark, this is a "save for none" trait.)
At level 7, Blessed Strikes has become the default for all Clerics - you add 1d8 radiant damage to one cantrip or weapon attack's damage roll. Notably, this is no longer only on your turn, but rather says "once used, you can't add this damage again until the start of your next turn." That means that this will work on Opportunity Attacks.
If you preferred Divine Strikes, this is a slight nerf given that you never upgrade to 2d8, but its versatility might make up for it. Also, 1d8 is slightly less than the 5 you can eventually get from Empowered Cantrips, but only slightly.
At 9th level, you get to pick a second Holy Order option - so at mid-to-high levels, you're really choosing which of these you're not taking.
Divine Intervention now comes at level 11. It still works by having you roll at or under your level with percentile dice. The rules now specify that casting any cleric spell (of any level) would be a reasonable representation of Divine Intervention, though it still leaves it up to the DM to interpret it. The "cooldown" on it has also changed from 7 days (after a success) to 2d6 days - meaning if you're lucky, you could get it back in two days. Or 12, if you're not.
With 20th-level capstones moved to 18th level, you now get "Greater Divine Intervention" at 18, which causes it to automatically succeed and also reduces the cooldown period to 2d4 days.
So, ultimately, I think the intent is to keep the Cleric relatively similar to how it is now. It's still going to get a lot of its power out of its spell list (though we need to talk about one particular staple spell) and, I think, has some more interesting tools at early levels.
We're going to touch on the Life Domain subclass first. Appropriately, Life is kind of the "default" subclass, and is very similar to its 2014 version.
At 3rd level, you get Lesser Restoration, Prayer of Healing (which has gotten some revisions), Mass Healing Word, Revivify, Aura of Life, Death Ward, Greater Restoration, and Mass Cure Wounds as Domain Spells.
This does see a few swapped out, I think in part owing to some formerly Paladin-only spells now simply being "Divine" spells. Everything here is very on-brand and makes it clear that you're a healer. The other real notable thing here, though, is the lack of any 1st-level Domain Spells. Currently Life gets Bless and Cure Wounds as domain spells. While you do have 2nd level spells when you get this subclass, I don't see why you'd remove those 1st level domain spells.
At 3, you also get Disciple of Life, which is nearly identical, except that it requires you cast the spell with a spell slot to get the benefit. If you, for example, have a free Healing Word thanks to taking Magic Initiate or something (the new Cleric Initiate) it will not apply.
At level 6, you get Channel Divinity: Preserve Life. This works identically to its 2014 version, with the exception being that it does not exclude Undead and Constructs (I hope we'll see that applied to other healing spells and thus open the door to more diverse player race creature types - we do have the Autognome already).
At 10, you get Blessed Healer, which is once again nearly identical, but has the same change as Disciple of Life.
Finally, at 14, you get Supreme Healing, which... again is nearly identical except for the requirement you spend a spell slot.
So, basically, Life Domain is almost exactly the same subclass it was before. The levels you get these features, of course, have changed, requiring a bit more investment in the class to get most of them, though Supreme Healing comes in 3 levels earlier, which is quite nice.
Now, let's go over some changes to some classic Cleric Spells.
Guidance:
Once again, Guidance has been changed, but rather than the kinda-buff, probably nerf that we got in the Expert Classes version, this is a near pure buff - it's a reaction you use when someone fails an ability check, but unlike the previous UA's version, there's no limit to how many times you can use it on someone. Honestly, I think that this solves the problem I have with the spell as a DM, given that people will only be shouting out Guidance if a check fails. There's now even less of a reason not to pick this up... except that another spell got a similar buff.
Resistance:
While Guidance has been historically easier to use because it's generally used outside of combat, Resistance sees less play. Now, however, it's a perfect reflection of the new Guidance, only for saving throws rather than ability checks. This makes it... actually very good, and very in keeping with a Cleric's role supporting the group. To be clear: it's a reaction spell that you use when someone fails a saving throw, and you add a d4 to their roll, potentially turning the failure into a success.
Prayer of Healing:
This spell now affect creatures equal to your Spellcasting Ability Modifier - which is a nerf, as the old version can get 6. The creatures gain the benefit of a Short Rest and regain 2d8 hit points. The creatures cannot be affected by the spell again until they finish a long rest. Upcasting adds 1d8 hit points of healing per spell level.
Now, the healing is similar, and the once-per-day thing is clearly a real restriction on it but... hold on, what was that? They get the benefits of a Short Rest? Assuming Warlocks, Monks, and Fighters are still very much Short-Rest-based classes, they will adore you for casting this spell. And let's not forget that that also means players can roll hit dice to heal up if that 2d8 wasn't enough. I think this is probably a buff - how often are you casting this multiple times a day anyway?
Spiritual Weapon:
At first I thought this was a buff, because the spell now adds 1d8 damage to its attacks for every upcast level, rather than every 2 levels. But the huge nerf here is that the spell now requires concentration. The spell is otherwise the same, but I think that fact is going to be a big deal, as one of the classic Cleric set-ups was to pop that out in every fight and feel free to toss up Spirit Guardians or other concentration spells. It also becomes vulnerable to broken concentration if the Cleric takes damage. While Jeremy Crawford cited this as just an intentional nerf to the power of an overpowered spell, I'd sort of thought it was there to intentionally overpower the Cleric and encourage players to play a healer.
So there you have it. I'll confess I'm a bit sad we didn't get more classes, but at the very least this one seemed easy to roll out, given how limited the changes are. I personally love the 2014 Paladin, so I hope we don't see that changed too much - I wonder if they're going to try to align it more as a potential primary healer - if they do, I hope they still let it be a beast in melee combat, because that, to me, has always been the appeal of the Paladin class (my main in World of Warcraft is a Protection Paladin, and I've never healed on him as Holy in 16 years playing the game).
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