The assumption that rituals do not have to be prepared is incorrect. Clerics can cast a ritual spell even if it has the ritual tag and is prepared. There are five types of Ritual casting: Artificers, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards. Clerics can cast any spell with the ritual tag as a ritual as long as it is on their spell list.
In Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, only five classes can cast Rituals by default: Artificers, Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards. These five classes can cast any appropriate spell they know or have in their spellbook as a Ritual, without having to prepare it. Clerics have available ritual spells up to level 6, making them one of the best options for ritual casters.
Clerics, Druids, and Paladins cannot cast ritual spells without first preparing them (unless they take the feat “Ritual”). Paladins do not have ritual casting, but they know their entire spell list and pray for the ones they will use. If you’re a prepared spellcaster like a cleric or a druid, you need to have the spell prepared for the day if you want to cast it as a ritual.
Sorcerers can’t do ritual casting. Clerics can use ritual casting for any cleric spell they have prepared, if that spell has the ritual tag. Wizards can cast a spell with the ritual tag as a ritual, even if the spell is not prepared. Other classes, even if they have ritual casting, must add the ritual spell to their prepared list, but casting it doesn’t use a spell slot. As you can change your prepared spells, you can change your prepared spells to cast a ritual spell.
📹 10 Devious Tactics for CLERICS and DIVINE CASTERS in D&D
And now for D&D cleric and divine spellcaster tactics for dungeon masters! Use these cleric and divine caster tactics to keep up …
Can clerics cast 2 spells?
As a 3rd-level cleric, you can cast a spiritual weapon as a bonus action, but if you wish to cast another spell during your turn, it must be a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action, such as sacred flame. This rule is commonly understood as saying that if you cast two spells on the same turn, one of them must be a cantrip. However, the lead rules designer of D and D, Jeremy Crawford, recently answered some questions on Twitter about bonus action spellcasting, which made it clear that the rule was not entirely clear. Crawford’s explanation of casting times is crucial for understanding the rules and ensuring that you are not misunderstanding the rules.
Can you cast ritual spells using a spell slot?
Ritual Casting is a useful method for utility casters, allowing a character to cast a spell without wasting a spell slot. However, this method requires a ten-minute extra casting time, which is not applicable to higher-level spells. Rituals are particularly useful for divination magic or preemptively preparing for tasks.
Not all spells can be cast via ritual casting, and spells marked as such are not available for all characters. To maximize the benefits of ritual casting, spellcasters must have available and ready spells.
Not all magic-wielding characters can cast their spells as rituals. To serve as a party’s utility caster, players must choose a class capable of doing so. The following classes are automatically capable of ritual casting their spells by default:
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Are rituals necessary?
Rituals are not just about marking time but also creating it by defining developmental or social phases. Anthropologists study social rituals to understand beliefs and values within groups. A particular interest is the class of rituals called rites of passage, which move participants from one state of social being to another. These rites, first coined by French ethnographer Arnold Van Gennep and popularized by American anthropologist Victor Turner, are crucial in shaping our understanding of time, relationships, and change.
Can Clerics cast unprepared spells?
Clerics and druids are able to utilize spontaneous casting in order to cast unprepared spells, thereby forfeiting the ability to cast a prepared spell in its place. In the context of spontaneous casting, the term “unprepared casting” is used to describe the practice of sorcerers, bards, favored souls, and spirit shamans casting their spells without preparation. However, these spellcasters typically possess a more limited repertoire of spells than those who prepare their spells in advance. Warlock invocations do not necessitate preparation and are not subject to a daily casting limit.
Do rituals need to be prepared by a cleric?
Ritual casting is a unique skill in D and D 5e that allows players to cast spells at the beginning of each in-game day. It is only available to a select number of character classes, but it can be a useful tool when used wisely. Ritual casting is particularly useful for cleric, druid, or artificer characters, as they can channel powerful magic and sling spells. The best classes for ritual casting include cleric, druid, and artificer. Ritual casting can be a valuable tool when used wisely, and a guide to it can be found in the 5th edition of D and D.
Can you cast cleric spells as rituals?
The text posits that bards and clerics are able to cast any known bard spell as a ritual if it bears the requisite tag, and a cleric spell as a ritual if it is tagged similarly and is prepared.
Can clerics ritual cast 5e?
Clerics in Dungeons and Dragons can switch out their spell list during long rests, as long as they have the spell slots to cast them. They can take as many spells as their wisdom modifier plus their current cleric level and are not restricted to the spells attached to their deity’s chosen domain. Clerics can also cast ritual spells, which do not require a spell-slot and take 10 minutes to cast. However, only certain types of spells can be cast this way, and they should be kept for quieter moments when there is an extra 10 minutes to spare.
Clerics can walk a dark path, as long as they have the right deity to guide them along the way. Gods in the world of Dungeons and Dragons can range from being entirely benevolent to being outright evil. The moral alignment system is a long-standing element of the Dungeons and Dragons series, but it is a more restrictive and dated aspect of the game. It is up to the player whether they want to use it to define their chosen deity and cleric. There are many evil gods to choose from, from Bane, the God of Tyranny, to Myrkul, the God of Death, if they want to use the moral alignment system.
Can you use ritual spells without preparing them?
Ritual casting is an alternate form of spellcasting for many spellcasters, allowing them to casually cast a few spells during downtime and between encounters where the action economy isn’t as important. In the 5th edition, ritual casting is tucked into the main spellcasting section of the player’s guide. Certain spells have a special tag called “ritual”, which can be cast following the normal rules or as a ritual. The ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal and doesn’t expend a spell slot, meaning it can’t be cast at a higher level.
If you have a set list of spells you know, like a bard or a sorcerer, you need to know the spell to cast it as a ritual. If you’re a prepared spellcaster, like a cleric or a druid, you need to have the spell prepared for the day.
Do sorcerers have to prepare spells?
Sorcerers and bards are skilled magicians who cast arcane spells without the need for spellbooks or preparation. Their class level limits their spell casting abilities, with high Charisma scores allowing them to cast extra spells. To cast a spell, they must have a Charisma score of at least 10 and the spell’s level. They must focus their minds on casting their spells daily, taking 8 hours of rest and 15 minutes of concentration. This refreshment helps them regain spell slots from the previous day. Any spells cast within the last 8 hours count against their daily limit, similar to wizards.
Are cleric spells always prepared?
Domain spells are prepared at the appropriate cleric level and do not contribute to the total number of daily preparations. In the event that a spell does not appear on the list of cleric spells, it is nevertheless considered to be a spell that can be cast by a cleric. At the second level, the player is able to channel divine energy from their deity in order to fuel magical effects. The spell “Turn Undead,” along with an effect determined by the cleric’s domain, is the foundation of the spell list. As the cleric advances in levels, additional effects are granted by certain domains.
Which cleric spells are rituals?
In Dungeons and Dragons, certain spells can be cast as part of an arcane ritual, such as alarm, ceremony, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, comprehension of languages, detection of magic, poison and disease, finding familiar, identification, and illusiony script. These spells require preparation or have their level increased to make their effect stronger. However, not all spellcasting classes in D and D have the knowledge to perform rituals. The Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard can cast ritual spells, while the Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard cannot.
Non-magical spellcasting subclasses like the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster cannot cast ritual spells. The spell lists in the Player’s Handbook only list spells alphabetically within their levels. This article lists all spells that can be cast as rituals in D and D, with their associated school and marked in official rulebooks like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Xanather’s Guide to Everything.
📹 Ritual Spells Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e
Most rituals aren’t directly useful in combat, but they can have a big impact on how player characters navigate the world. Instead of …
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My favorite divine spell-caster is the sahuagin high priestess with spirit guardians, spiritual weapon, and healing word prepared instead of the crappy spells in her official stat block. The players parted the waters next to the sahuagin temple so the foes tactically relocated and are setting up an ambush for when the players head back to their ship, encumbered with the 600lb spelljammer helm they removed from the wreck next to the temple. I wasn’t going to use a cleric in the ambush party because the published statblock is so crap. Thanks for the reminder the statblock may be published but it’s not set in stone!
I like to make sure the cleric has two acolytes standing beside them: one to cast “Bless” and the other to cast “Bane”. This leaves the main guy open to cast another concentration spell (probably Spirit Guardian). Then they both also cast “Spiritual Weapon”. They both have “Dispel Magic” prepared, with instructions to use it at every opportunity.
I’ve found that having a spell that obscures your spellcaster is usually helpful, such as an illusion spell to make a smokescreen that my spellcasters know is fake, they can see trough it and annoy players, but players need to figure out it’s an illusion before they can retaliate. It keeps my spellcasters safe, and at the same time stops the “bad game design” of counterspell.
My favorite divine spell-caster is a Light Domain cleric, cast Spirit Guardians. Next round when bad guys run up, blow off the Radiance of the Dawn to all near, then cast Spiritual Weapon in the same round. Can also cast Fireball. Good article. In my games, living enemies usually get Death Saves like any other. This can lead to issues of bad guys being alive to be questioned, but with some prep, this is a great after battle role play.
Long before Tasha’s came out with the “Metamagic Adept” feat, I gave my Cleric bad guy the ability to cast spells in the same vein as “Subtle Spell”. It threw my players of when the frontline went down and got up again (Healing Word is Verbal only). It took several rounds before they realised what was happening, and when they did, the WIzard saw that he could nog counter it, because the “Subtle Spell” negated the Verbal component of Healing Word; ergo, the Wizard had no audible or visible cue that the spell was being cast. Another tactic I used was pairing my Cleric Bad Guy wit a Wizard/Sorcerer Bad Guy. While the Cleric remained in view, the other spellcaster stayed hidden behind a curtain or some other obstacle (sometimes even an illusion). When the player caster threw spells at the Cleric, the hidden Wizard/sorcerer countered it with “Counterspell”. Because the players didn’t knew of the existence of the hidden spellcaster, they had no clue and thus could not counter the counterspell with their own counterspell. In short: it’s all about using terrain. When you face the bad guy, it’s usually on his/her turf and that means that he/she has the advantage of having the terrain prepared. Especially if you have a caster that is intelligent and has a strategic mind. Those are things that I like to foreshadow during a campaign. The first encounter goes to the party. The next encounter, the party is surprised that their adversary had a counter to some of their actions. Tis keeps the whole thing interesting, as well as portaing your recurrent BBEG as a smart adversary.
A tactic I used once for counter-spell, and it only worked with the correct setup and using consistent gameplay as a DM… So my baddies aren’t suicidal, they believe in tactical retreats. So on encounters a low-level minion would probably run away at some point. But see, the thing is – the monsters can talk to one another. When that little low-level guy got backed to the boss, sure he may have been whacked for being a coward…but the boss would get information. My party had a tendency to cast counterspell at the first time a spell was being casted. Because generally the baddies would cast their heavy hitting spells first. But after learning their spells were constantly getting blocked…they would cast cantrips first. Force the party to expend their 3rd level spell to counter something mundane. Then BAM! The big spell would come out
I really appreciate this take! I’m DM-ing a group through Tyranny of Dragons, and it’s my first time pushing beyond Tier 2 play. I’ve been considering building an “anti-party” of 3-4 members of the Cult of the Dragon to antagonize them at this point, and your guidance here is a great starting point to set up a Cleric/Pally (of Tiamat) combo that can harrass my players for months to come 🙂
I’m still a fairly new DM, but in absence of divine stat blocks you can just give another npc/monster 2 or 3 divine spells. A divine caster will only last a few rounds before being focus-fired into the ground, anyway. Maybe roll a d4 or d6 ahead of time to see how many spell slots they have. I’m planning a low level boss that is a worg with a couple of druid spells.
The ability to add other modifiers; proficiency or double proficiency; d6 or d8 per character level, or spell level, or per proficiency; or double the healing, or that amount more per each heal or per each dice, combine a few of these with a sufficiently high level character and you can get up to tarrasque hp levels of restoration with just (mass) healing word or heal. Any healing spell can do this. Imagine the party dispels and the enemy cleric smirks bemusedly and brings back the enemy barb at max HP for a bonus action.
A spell that I haven’t seen given enough love is Crusader’s Mantle it can be found on PHB pg230 it works like a mass Divine Favor which can be found on PHB pg234. Crusader’s Mantle is most effective wen the frontline (or backline) fighters are making a lot of attacks the spell also has no lingering visual effect so if the cleric casts it around the corner the players won’t know what is happening and another up side for you the dm is that the spell is a Paladin and war domain exclusive
Trickery Domain cleric is the best and has been my fav for over half a decade in 5e, well… even longer really but I only started playing clerics about half a decade ago. I can’t wait until Sept. 17th when the new PHB. drops and the new and improved (and juiced up) Trickery Domain cleric is available.
My favorite caster to use as a DM is a Bard (or a monster with bard–like abilities). Most spells aren’t deadly, but they completely wreck a party if you hit one or two PCs. Even better with Fey creatures. One of my groups (the one that was playing Into the Fey) was getting absolutely dominated by Sleep, Confusion and other stuff during the whole campaign (and we extended it up to level 10). Edit: also, Heat Metal + hiding is hilarious.
My players were used to the bog standard Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears. They were understandably cocky when they encountered an encampment that was a training ground of a Goblinoid War Horde. They still defeated them, but were not ready for Goblins with the Ranger’s Volley feature, Bugbears with the Escape the Horde feature, Hobgoblins using Phalanx formation and the Hobgoblin Captain that was also a Priest of Maglubyet. It was definitely a “hold up” moment when they used Healing Word to bring back subordinates that had dropped previously… Oh yes, and the Hobgoblin Devastator and Goblin Illusionist who had Counterspell prepared because they had intel on the party being spellcaster heavy.
From what I know, there are six divine spell casters in the game: the priest, war priest, drow priestess of Lolth, sahuagin priestess, kraken priest and drow matron mother. An easy way I can think to add more is to simply create a PC at the same level as the players. (You can go higher if you want more of a challenge or lower/take away class abilities from them if you want less of a challenge.)
Cleric Tactics: 1. Give your Cleric a familiar and cast touch spells up to 100 ft. away (owls are a good option). Cure and Inflict Wounds are touch spells. 2. Use Sanctuary for escape. Returning bad guys can be fun. 3. A Clrric might purposely let their minions fall, so they can be raised as handy undead. 4. Clerics are not just good at buffs, but also good at shutting down other casters. Use continuously damaging spells (Spiritual Weapon is a versatile option) to force multiple concentration checks. 5. PC Clerics often get away with casting Guidance on allies during social encounters. If they do this, then you can too. Generally, I wouldn’t advise a DM to set this precident before the players. 6. Oh, and a well-timed Resistance can make the enemy wizard’s target a difficult one. Eh, I didn’t pull it off. 6 is close enough to 10
RAW you cannot ready a spell, then move the next turn and release it. If the trigger does not occur by the start your NPC’s next turn, they lose the readied action and with that, the spell. It’s kind of meh and I don’t personally see a big problem with allowing the NPC to immediately use their action at the start of the next turn, to continue holding the spell until they have line of sight, so they can then move. Funnily enough, even Jeremy Crawford says he runs it like that if he DMs, but it’s not the official rules. Of course, players should have the same options in that case though 🙂
Even multiple low-level clerics behind cover or out of range (pro tip, even in dungeons use big rooms often) can be amazing supports if your main baddy is a heavy bruiser. Stack it up with bless and shield of faith, and remove conditions with lesser restoration. If it has some saving throws to impose on enemies, do Bestow Curse to give disadvantage on it. Also throw out guiding bolts to give it advantage, it’s great damage anyway. Oh, and have people run 2 PCs, and you don’t need to worry about using spells that take the player out of the game. I’m not even against using those types of spells, but this erases the issue. Plus the players have more to do in combat in general. I just don’t recommend this if you have 4 players, but I also don’t recommend having more than 5 as absolute maximum P.S. pro tip 2: Whatever you do, don’t use Multiverse, they butcher spellcasters. No more spell slots, it’s just limited uses per spell a day, way less flexible in combat, and therefore less interesting and less fun. P.P.S. Actually just don’t use Tasha or beyond, and problem solved. You don’t need to follow these tips to keep up with PC power, you just do it to design better fights
Having played several clerics, I know just how critical they can be, so I try and add them as soon as the encounters get above a certain level. Distance is your friend. I am also a huge fan of Spirit Guardians, but let me also give a shout out to the lowly cantrip Toll the Dead. For a cantrip, especially against creatures or other un-wise types, it can be huge, especially after the creature is injured, when the d8 turns into a d12. For a cantrip to cause 2d12 + your spell modifier (after level 5), it’s pretty huge when you’re trying to save those spell slots.
Best cleric you ask? Trickery Domain. The Invoke Duplicity feature makes this cleric a beast. The player can hide or take cover while moving your duplicate all over the battlefield to deliver spells without putting the player at risk. As long as you can get a line of site (and being hidden doesn’t necessarily mean your vision is obstructed) you can fire off any spell from the duplicate and if need be even move them in 3Dbspace because the illusion ignores physics. Imagine a flying creature’s surprise when it is suddenly hit by Spirit Guardians and Inflict Wounds at the same time!
In my current game, 3 out of 5 of the PCs have counterspell… I completely agree on the “bad game design” comment. It gets worse if one or two enemies have it too. Fights often go: NPC1’s turn -> NPC1 Starts casting Player 1 -> Counterspell! NPC2 -> Counterspell! Player 2 -> Counterspell! NPC1 -> Counterspell! Player 3 -> Counterspell! Next round: Player 1 -> I start casting! NPC1 -> Counterspell! Player 1 -> What the hell? that’s so unfair… stop picking on me Player 1 -> Counterspell! NPC2 -> Counterspell! Player 2 -> Counterspell! I try to avoid spell casting enemies since it bogs everything down (Counterspell! -> Actually you used your reaction -> Did I? When… hold on let me retrace what happened last round just in case I actually do have my reaction) and everyone burns their spell slots in a few rounds of spellcasting. Combat feels more like MTG dueling blue decks
Well, akshully…. Just like NPC’s technically die instantly at 0 HP so Healing Word technically can’t bring them back up, spell lists only apply to PC’s. NPC’s are made according the monster rules, which means they can have any spells or abilities the DM desires. So if DM chooses to base an NPC on a Cleric of a certain level, and chooses to mostly adhere to the cleric spell list to keep that flavour, the NPC cleric absolutely can cast Counterspell if the DM so desires. And all those optimized character builds all over the internet? Instead of complaining about them, use them as NPC’s. Imagine the Barbarian PC taking 100+ HP, before the taking a turn and raging, and thus without resistance, from a Bugbear with Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert…. Give your cleric NPC a few body guards – Bugbears wearing heavy armour, wielding halberds, and having the Polearm Master and Sentinel feats. If PC’s can do it, so can NPC’s!
A few things I enjoy doing with enemy clerics: -Spirit Guardians + Thorn Whip. Yes, thorn whip is a Druid cantrip, but you can get it as a Nature Cleric. Pulling an enemy into Spirit Guardians using forced movement triggers its effect immediately, so the character takes a lot of bonus damage. Having the enemy’s allies push/pull/grapple characters in the Spirit Guardian range can also be very nasty. -I don’t care for Banishment, but I really like Hold Person as a DM because it puts the fear of God into the players. Yes, it takes players out of the battle, but they can make a save every turn, and it’s a Con save which most PCs are decent at, so most PCs will either make the save immediately or will pretty quickly. But cast at 5th level lets you target 4 PCs, so there’s a decent chance you’ll catch somebody and then watch the party scramble to protect the player who is threatened by a barrage of auto-crits. -Warding Bond! You can use this to have your Cleric protect the BBEG or another high-priority target and greatly reduce the damage they take. -Blindness/Deafness. Targets multiple characters when upcast. Annoying effect. No concentration. Great spell for those 4th or 5th level spell slots. -Guardian of Faith. Lasts for 8 hours so can be precast. Players might not really recognize what it is. -Hallow. The ultimate badass boss cleric spell. Create an area where your cleric’s enemies all suffer a vulnerability to your favored damage type, then load the area with creatures to exploit that vulnerability.
I swear I’m a DM…as well as a player. Not in the same game, that would be awkward…🤔 I’ve got my players stuck in plant growth, and now it’s time for Sleet Storm, hehe. Bad guys are lead by a druid. I figure that druids can be bad guys also, especially in an outdoors encounter. They foiled my Call Lightning by hiding in a darkness spell.
I’m a DM and a player. Different games, same playgroup. I think it’s safe to watch this? 😅 I already pull the healing word trick.. Only with Balm of the Summer Court. Very overlooked ability for the Circle of Dreams Druid. Can’t be counterspelled! The game I DM for, the players got themselves tpk’d. They’re going to awake in the Shadowfell. Now I need to put in an evil cleric flavored to be a necromancer. Thanks for that. I wonder about a spell that can heal undead while wounding the PCs..
I did reference your DM Tips to a former DM, particularly the Banishment part. He brought “The Borg” over as the main enemy and it got really frustrating as they could learn after every battle. Now, it’s not that a smart enemy is bad, but from 1-20 it was practically the same fight because they offered no variety in combat and no social options outside of combat. So invisibility, counterspell, and dispel magic were always a threat, including from non-casters which limited us to just martial combat. Eventually my Fighter was enough of a threat to be constantly banished and with poor CHA, I’d lose literal hours of play time. So it got boring very quickly and had to find other ways to entertain myself while everybody else got to participate. The only reason I stayed was because the group was pretty good and I had fun with them. Definitely sourced many Youtube articles to help the DM in the future.
Thank you for pointing out the value of support casting. Like, yeah, Spiritual Guardians IS a strong spell, but the DM already has the advantage of action economy. You can have a dozen enemies and a cleric against a party of 4, and Spirit Guardians may not get the same value as Crusader’s Mantle, Bless, or Holy Weapon on your martial front-line.
One older DM to a slightly younger one—if you think an ability is game breaking like counter spell—just say that it doesn’t work in your world. You’re not bound to any published rule you don’t agree with or ones that change the character of the game you’re trying to run. DM’s really need to take this passage from the first Ed DM’s guide to heart: “As the creator and ultimate authority in your respective game, this work as written as one DM equal to another. Pronouncements there may be, but they are not from on high as respects to your game.”~Gary Gygax. In other word, all the rules are optional. Players will either get it or they aren’t in the right game anyway. It’s your game–your world—welcome to it. Best of rolling in your future. Cheers!
“The goblin shaman points at the barbarian and utters something vile and pulls at the air. Make a DC12 Wis save or 7 necrotic damage as the shaman pulls part of the barbarians spirit out of his chest and tosses it at the the fallen goblin warrior who gets to his feet ready to fight again” What I did: take the CR 1/4 Acolyte and reskin to a monster class, have it cast ‘toll the dead’ (D12 necro cantrip) and Healing word, with some nice embelishment. Its going to scare the PC’s and get them very worried about the shaman.
I disagree with not using Hold Person and Banishment, the reason is most wizard or divine PC’s will have dispel magic, (or counter spell) so that is a chance to burn through spell slots. If the players want to keep the Barbarian in the fight they need to dispel that hold. Also I use a modified version of Banishment (I took inspiration from Guild Wars 1), where when the player is banished it creates a “shadow” that fights for the caster, adding a active enemy. The player is banished to a realm where they have fight a creature. If they win, or the shadow is defeated the player returns. This gives the player something to do, gives the other PC’s a reason to defeat the shadow and it gives the cleric another ally in the battle. It literally checks every box.
Counter spell can be Counter spelled by the caster being counter spelled allowing your spell to still be cast. Also readying a spell and casting as a reaction while hiding behind cover can negate a counter spell, but comes with a lot of downsides. You sacrifice your mobility, action, reaction, concentration, and flexibility all for the sake of a wizards reaction. I smart player that is playing a wizard has dozens of counters to this strategy. The most straightforward being to just throw a fireball in your general vicinity which will very likely break concentration. And counter spell is a somatic spell. Silence will not stop it…
As a player and DM, If I run a cleric typically run a Twilight or tempest cleric with a dip in either fighter or Monk depending on my stat rolls, placement of the stats, and how I want to play the character. My two go to feats are either War Caster or Eldritch Adept and take Eldritch mind depending on the flavor/background of the character. A big thing to pay attention to is website divinity, twilight domain gives temp hit points to everyone wishing 30 feet of you and a cool feature outside of the website divinity is getting or giving advantage on initiative rolls…. So at higher levels you have a shot at casting blade barrier at the beginning of combat to pin in non teleporting or misty stepping BBEG, effectively separating the rival party/enemy or forcing them to use a spell slot to dispel or counter spell the barrier.
I like the idea of this as a reaction, “Not on your turn if you meet the following conditions you can spend your reaction to make an attack to attempt to force a concentration check on a Mid Cast spell to interrupt it. This forces a Concentration check on damage dealt to succeed at the casting.” The conditions would be this. 1: Make a Knowledge Archana check to know there is something to interrupt in the first place. This may not be needed but that’s up to you. Enemy NPC’s should need to do this also. This can work for both sides after all. 2: Have either a ranged weapon ready to fire or a cantrip damage spell & be able to cast it at the time of the casting you are trying to interrupt. 3: Have not used their bonus action from the last turn on top of spending their reaction for making this attempt. DM’s discretion but you could make this also their next full action. IE Sacrifice their upcoming turn bonus action or even full action. (Not so sure about this last part but eating this much action economy to stop a spell mid cast vs using future actions to do something now doesn’t feel right. This could just be a last grasp at not dying now to the spell for someone to sacrifice themselves to help allies escape.) Even enemies have bros that will take a hit for a friend.
Guardian of faith is a good spell to have as a kind of body guard for your divine caster. It lasts 8 hours, so it can be cast beforehand, and doesn’t require concentration. Plus, if melee players come up to the enemy cleric, ideally you would have this up, plus spirit guardians, for a good amount of passive damage. Then use sanctuary to get away.
I noticed that most if not all the spells you mentioned for the divine casters (Clerics) are on the base class casting list… each Cleric starts at lvl 1 with Domain, and that Domain has a bunch of spells that are always prepared, some of which are not even Cleric spells. Having access to a few ‘curveballs’ when it comes to spells could be fun and interesting.
For the most part yes, do what your players would do lol. Oh no that’s cheating! Hahaha. I ran a pair of twins, one Arcane and one divine. Cast greater invisibility on the divine caster and watch him go. While the Arcane caster was constantly mirror imaged, inviso’d etc. It was chaos. I did make sure it had some of the best loot they ever got their hands on though.
You missed one of my favorite facets of Dispel Magic: targeting objects to suppress its magic powers. Nothing freaks out a player more than having a spell cast on them with no immediate effect, only for that wand they’ve been saving for a clutch moment is currently a just a stick. I’ve used Zone of Truth for a gatekeeper because the caster knows when a creature succeeds or fails the check, alerting the caster to someone entering the area if they are unseen. Plant Growth, Erupting Earth, and Warding Wind are excellent for some creative terrain control to maintain space. I often use these and things like Fog Cloud to cover up the difficult terrain.
Hello, totally legitimate DM here, this has been a very informative take for me as a DM in regards to the use of divine spellcasters in situations pertaining to party combat. This has been very helpful and will certainly help me when I create encounters against the party using these divine spellcaster tips.
Last time I pitted a Cleric against my players, I picked a statblock for a monster (Vampire Spawn) and just added 5 levels of Cleric on that. Add some proficiencies, a whole bunch of spell levels, some nice abilities, like reacting with Lightning whenever you are atttacked. For HP, I just upped the HD of the creature by the number of levels I have them. Worked like a charm, got a nice, sturdy caster, and it felt fair to the players, since they recognised the abilities I used.
Keeping these 3rd level and under. While Bless is great for PCs, Bane is great for DMs. Debuffing PCs is usually a better tactic than buffing enemy allies. Along those lines, Blindness/Deafness can be as helpful as a Slience spell. I tend to use B/D as it is concentrated at a singular player – a spellcaster or the frontliner tearing through the minions. Using Blindness means that a spellcaster can still use SOME spells but not all and they aren’t entirely screwed. Silence also has problems since AoE means I can’t move as much in the space. Casting Aid isn’t a terrible idea. If it’s upcast even better. Heck, a 3rd level Aid is beefier and likely better than Spirit Guardians. That’s 30 hps to get through. Is the cleric’s SG gonna do 30 points of damage? Unlikely As a BBEG, taunting your players with Sending spells is fun. For Druids: Absorb Elements – must have. With fjreballs left and right – halving the damage is key. Entangle and Faerie Fire for 1st level debuffs. Did the players make massive noise in the room prior? Cast Pass Without Trace to get the jump on them. You and your gang having surprise on the PCs will be a huge swing in the DMs favor. Earthbind will kick your flying PCs in the gut real quick. Heat Metal against armored PCs. Any mix of Entangle / Spike Growth / Sleet Storm / Erupting Earth with Plant Growth. keeps them locked down. Wither and Bloom is a great way to do consistent healing and damage at the same time. Conjure effing Animals. Oh, 8 wolves with pack tactics is a DMs worst nightmare?
I’m thinking it’s a bad idea, and there’s probably somewhere that tells GMs not to do this, but I was thinking of subverting the rules of adventuring. Where we don’t know what #5 is and #1 is always trust a flumph. I was thinking Illusion or mimic flumph that tricks the party. That throws everything off, that’s the point. I’m not sure ripping the foundation, not just the rug, from under existence will be well handled by my players, though.
Dnd5 would have been interesting to run. When reading through the dmg, I could not figure out how to stat out things like clerics, let alone custom quirked guards, goblins, anything. If it doesn’t have a stat block somewhere, tough cookies I guess. So yeah, I couldn’t just make my own stat blocks. Nor did I have the time/patience to track down the how to. If it’s hidden somewhere in 1-4 places, well that was a really bad idea.
This might be fun to use when my party ends up in a fracas with the Dark Quartet of the Druid Council they have to fight. Using the four druids like this, while having their melee guards fight in the fray will be fun. A Circle of the Land Coast Druid, Circle of the Shepherd Druid, Circle of Dreams Druid, and Circle of Spores Druid covering one another.
The solution for counterspell is using scrolls. A scroll use no components, so counterspell cant counter it since require the caster to see the components casted to counter it. Same for magic items that Activate to use magic, didnt require components, no counterspell Also, good loot for the party after the fight, a wand of X spells, but not rechargeable, so not broken
“If an enemy cleric casts healing word the round after an enemy is reduced to 0 HP, the enemy gets back up.” First I’ll mention the DMG has rules for “Reduced to 0 hp” where it says when a creature drops to 0, they make death saves. So, you most definitely can cast a healing word on an NPC that has dropped to 0. It’s a good book you should check it out, because “get back up” makes it sound like you are bypassing 4 of the things that happen when you drop to 0. They can stand without using half movement? Do they have all their equipment equipped again without having to pick it up? They aren’t unconscious? Secondly, I feel like there is some more to this house rule you use than what’s written here. Is there a limit to this? Did you mean turn or do you mean round? Because a round would mean if the enemy cleric is after the enemy dropped to 0 hp in that round, they would need to wait until their next turn if they wanted to trigger this, but it also means they could bring back up “enemies” that fell to 0 after them in the turn order. So, maybe it’s intentional. The cleric can target themselves and it brings EVERYONE that dropped to 0 back up? If the Cleric cast healing word, the round after the enemy dropped to 0, and then THAT cleric dies later in the round they cast Healing Word, they come back up? Also, using the verbiage enemy is weird to me for this type of rule, you say in this article “if the PCs can do it why not the bad guys?”, implying it goes both ways, right? Meaning if the enemy of the your NPC, like your cleric, that means the PCs now can cast Healing Word and bring everyone up?
This is a timely article as the Party is searching for an evil priest at present. For the character, you can also multi-class the character. Give them a few levels of sorcerer so they can pick up some nifty sorc spells like Shield and Absorb Elements, Meta Magic for Subtle Spell and Twin Spell. Be sure to pick up a feat like Fey Touched so they have Misty Step and Silvery Barbs.
This is right on time! In the campaign I’m running I have a secret group/cult of evil druids. They’re about to make their grand entrance. Now, with these tips, it’ll be a memorable and interesting encounter. Bonus Points: I’m playing a Light Cleric and this tips will help me run him better, as well. Win! Win! P.S. Do you sell Lair magazine separately? I’m at my Patreon budget and can’t add any more. 🙁 (Edit) Which Lair magazine has the additional Cleric stat blocks? When will it be available for purchase? Thanks! ❤