Tier 2 Cleric Spells and Spellcasting in 5E D&D

Over on the Nerdarchy YouTube channel one of our popular video series is Go To Spells for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the series Nerdarchists Dave and Ted go through each D&D spellcaster class and discuss the most all-around useful spells. The discussions are divided by the tiers of play. Tier 1 is 1st-4th level, tier 2 is 5th-10th, tier 3 is 11th-16th and tier 4 is 16th-20th. For each discussion they choose a go-to spell for attack, defense, buff and utility plus an iconic class spell. Since I am involved with the video planning, we’re all on the same page with the selections. So let’s look at what tier 2 spellcasting means for the D&D cleric.

Tier 2 D&D cleric spellcasting — 3rd-5th level spells

Reaching 3rd level traditionally signals a significant power shift in D&D. Spellcasters earn the ability to cast 3rd level spells, like fireball. For clerics there wasn’t anything so flashy in the early days, but they did acquire an array of restorative magic. Prayer was a big bump for clerics, providing a simultaneous buff and debuff without requiring 1st edition AD&D’s equivalent of concentration.

In 5E D&D a 5th-level cleric can bring the dead back to life! Revivify is the No. 1 indicator of what cleric tier 2 spellcasting represents. In tier 1, a cleric is a powerful representative of their deity. The low level cleric’s faith allows them to perform amazing deeds. Protecting others, restoring health and vitality and controlling creatures thoughts and actions are strong manifestations of a clerics devotion.

But none of that is raising the dead.

A cleric as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

Miraculous magic

We’re into miracle territory in tier 2 play for clerics. Magic can do a lot of different things. Wizards can warp reality and sorcerers can cause massive destruction, druids can…well they can reincarnate people. We need a new reincarnation table by the way, right? Back in the day you might reincarnate as a badger, or an ogre mage!

The point is at 5th level a cleric’s connection with their deity or ideal is strong enough to defy death. If they can reach the fallen and cast revivify within 1 minute, the dead return to life with 1 hit point. This is a stupendous moment for the cleric, the deceased, the party and the campaign world. In any given campaign setting the portion of adventurers is much smaller than the rest of the world. And among that group a 5th-level cleric is one quarter as powerful as anyone in the group could ever be. By the time tier 3 rolls around that’s more than half of all potential adventurers. So overall, pretty rare.

Anyone who witnesses a tier 2 cleric bring a dead creature back to life will never forget it — they witnessed a miracle. Cleric spells in this tier really start showing off to the world the awesomeness of the cleric’s deity or ideal. With their magic clerics interact with the supernatural elements of D&D, either protecting allies from them or controlling them against enemies.

There’s great opportunities for character development, roleplaying and even a bit of worldbuilding through the cleric spells you cast. Even in a setting with an established, developed pantheon, spells like spirit guardians and spiritual weapon give you a chance to think about and show your cleric’s faith. How does your cleric see themselves, and how do they view their deity or ideal? A cleric of St. Cuthbert whose spiritual weapon takes the form of a book because is much different than one whose spiritual weapon is a mace. St. Cuthbert is a god of common sense, after all. Maybe they were drawn to the faith through a book of Old-Timey Country Wisdom they read that really had a profound effect on their outlook. Consider your cleric’s faith and perspective when casting your tier 2 cleric spells and I bet your Dungeon Master will appreciate you and your character’s engagement with the divine aspect of the campaign setting.

A tier 2 D&D cleric really comes into their own. No matter what your cleric Domain, you can look to the cleric spells you get automatically and get a sense of the kind of miraculous deeds you’ll be performing at these levels. A War cleric’s god directly aids in battle, Trickery gods help their clerics out of a jam, Knowledge gods grant and restrict the flow of information and so forth.

The 5 go to cleric spells for tier 2 5E D&D discussed in the video are solid selections for any cleric. With those cleric spells on your list, along with the Domain spells granted by the Divine Domain, tier 2 spellcasting for a cleric expands their ability to bolster allies and confound enemies in miraculous ways. The average folk of a campaign setting should be astounded by these deeds, and clerics players have excellent opportunities to display their devotion to these higher powers.