Guide to Building the Cleric Class for Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024

Cleric is one of 12 classes you can choose from in the 2024 revised Dungeons & Dragons Players Manual (also known as One D&D, 5.5e, and a few other names). Clerics are divine spellcasters, and their primary Ability is Wisdom.

Before we begin, a quick disclaimer: There is no “best” in D&D. Classes are generally well-balanced when it comes to damage output. More importantly, D&D is a role-playing game and a combat game, so there’s more to it than just stabbing monsters. And that diversity of situations—from picking locks to kicking goblins to seducing dragons—means that “best” is entirely subjective.

Us Players Manual (2024) The D&D Cleric Guide walks you through the lesson and discusses some of the changes from D&D 5e.

It’s easy to categorize Clerics as healers, but the class can be so much more than that. But let’s face it, you’re expected to be the party healer when playing a Cleric. Clerics are versatile casters who channel divine powers but can also dish out respectable melee damage.

Because Clerics are so often reduced to this “team healer” identity, it can be very difficult to come up with unique inspiration for your character. But there are plenty of interesting fictional heroes that can really center your Cleric in a unique way:

Regardless of which class you ultimately choose, One D&D changes the way characters are created. Specifically, the Background you choose now comes with an Ability Score improvement (one point each in three Abilities, or two points in one Ability and one point in another). Additionally, each character gains an Origin Feat. We’ll cover both of these changes below.

The Cleric class in D&D now has a Divine Order that they choose at Level 1. This is a way to solidify your role in the group, whether as a holy fighter or a divine spellcaster. The Clerics of 5e chose their Domain at Level 1, so this replaces that and moves your subclass (domain) choice to Level 3.

Despite being an armored warrior, one of your most important class features as a Cleric is spellcasting — that stuff all nerd classes tend to do. Like them, you’ll gain more and more spell slots as you level up, which in turn allows you to cast more powerful spells.

As a Cleric, you can choose from two roles: Protector or Thaumaturge.

As a Protector, you are better equipped for close-quarters combat, using heavy armor and martial weapons.

Thaumaturges focus more on spell casting, as they grant you an extra Cantrip and a bonus to all Intelligence-based tests.

When you first create your character, you’ll need to allocate your attribute points. For Clerics, you’ll want to create a powerful battle caster and healer shoe that can absorb hits for your team, so here’s your priority list:

Backgrounds in One D&D are a way to codify your character’s personal history into their statistics. Backgrounds give you a stat boost, a few skills, tool abilities, and an Origin Feat.

For a Cleric, we start with anything that will increase Wisdom: Acolyte, Farmer, Guard, Guide, Hermit, Sage, Sailor, Scribe, or Wayfarer.

From this you will receive from Acolyte the Magical initiate (cleric) Origin Feat which gives you a few extra spells, and Hermit gives you the Healer Origin art that makes you a more effective healer (if you’ve settled into that role).

You don’t choose a Cleric subclass until Level 3, but you should start thinking about where you want to go from here pretty early on, especially in terms of Background and Origins (above).

Clerics can do a lot more than just heal, okay? But they’re also the best healers in the game, and if that’s the role you want to focus on, Life Domain is the obvious choice.

At level 3, you become a Disciple of Life, allowing you to give characters extra HP when you heal them. You also gain early access to powerful Life Domain spells like Bless and Cure Wounds.

At level 17, you don’t even need to roll to heal anymore, anyone you heal will simply get the maximum amount of HP possible from the spell being healed.

Light Domain Cleric lets you lean on your inner Paladin—your fellow Holy class brethren—to be a literal beacon of light for your group. In addition to gaining some of the Light Domain’s holy spells, you can also shine your holy symbol like a flashlight into dark places at level 3, making you an ideal partner for dungeon delving.

At level 17, you can shine with the power of the sun itself, causing enemies within a certain range to suffer disadvantage from a large portion of your spells.

Trickery Domain Clerics are stealthy magic users who can cast powerful spells to give their allies an advantage in battle.

When you first pick up Trickery, you can cast Trickery Domain spells and gain Invoke Duplicity, which lets you create a visual illusion of yourself. At 6th level, you can even swap places with your illusion using a Bonus Action.

At level 17, you can give your allies advantage on a target by placing your illusion within 5 feet of the enemy.

War Domain Cleric is what you think it is, and allows you to focus more on defeating enemies with physical force, in addition to your spells.

At level 3, you can cast powerful War Domain spells, giving your allies a greater chance to deal damage with their attacks.

The level 17 increase grants you resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage. That may not sound all that sexy compared to the other capstones, but it will greatly reduce the damage you take from all martial enemies, allowing you to be the last beacon of hope in a tough fight.