Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

===[[Cleric]]===
Domains, domain spells, domain bonus proficiencies and once-per-rest abilities, all the common stuff. Still the best healer with the Life domain. Former Turn Undead now became Channel Divinity, which has a number of uses - including turning undead. Domains grant additional ways to use Channel Divinity. Basic clerics are no longer so heavily-armoured like before, and have access to basic weapons only, so they don't make paladins look like copycats. Don't worry, War and Tempest domains grants both Heavy Armor and martial weapons back, while Life domain grants heavy armour and Death martial weapons.

The Cleric archetypes are Domains, and there's a '''lot''' of them.

* '''Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War domains''' (PHB): I mean a '''lot'''. The Cleric offers a lot of versatility, losing out to the wizard only because of a somewhat less-comprehensive spell list. Knowledge clerics are skillmonkeys without the Rogue's technical skills but more versatility, Life's your best bet if you want a healbot. Light spams radiant-damage beams of light and blinds stuff, Nature is just Druid with serial numbers filed off, Tempest makes you Thor and blast shit with lightning, Trickery makes you an armored Rogue with some illusion stuff in it and War proteccs but also attacks. See the article on clerics for individual details.
* '''[http://i.imgur.com/slrKm8D.jpg Death] domain''' (DMG): A "villainous option" that only appears in the DMG. Doesn't make you a minion-master like the Necromancer Wizard -- not even giving you Command Undead, which means the Necro-Wizard is '''finally''' better at being a necromancer than a Death Cleric -- the way it did in editions past, but gives you some bonus necromantic spells and features revolving around pumping out necrotic damage. Hilariously, the ''PHB itself'' acknowledges that death and its clerics aren't necessarily evil, and lists ''multiple'' non-evil death gods in its various appendices.
* '''City domain''' (UA: Modern Magic): Enhanced Charisma, Perception, and Insight in urban areas, a Channel Divinity that lets you mentally control all city utilities (and knock over or grab enemies by making the city grab them), bonus Psychic damage with melee attacks, and free teleportation between mass transit points (so bus stops, subway entrances, train stations, etc). Unfortunately won't do you much good in a classic "out in the wilds" campaign since it's made explicitly for urban fantasy settings so you'll have to work with your DM with this one.
* '''Arcana domain''' (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide): For if you miss the [[Mystic Theurge]]. Wizard cantrips, the ability to Turn aberrations, celestials, fae, elements and fiends, add Wisdom to cantrips, and gaining 1 Wizard spell from each of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level options, which don't count against your daily prepared allotment, at 17th level. Pretty fucking dope, but can feel a little powergamey. The downside being that it doesn't seem to have been designed with a specific party role in mind.
* '''Forge domain''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): For Clerics worship smithing creator deities like [[Moradin]]; as such they get bonus spells relating to manipulating fire, augmenting gear, and creating stuff, like Heat Metal, Searing Smite, Animate Objects, Magic Weapon, etc. They get bonus proficiency with heavy armor; the ability to turn a non-magical weapon or suit of armor into a +1 version for a day, which is a power they can only use once per day; the ability to create nonmagical items worth 100gp or less and which contain metal as part of a short rest (which could theoretically let you do things like duplicate a book with a paperclip in it or built a suit of adamantine full plate piece-by-piece, depending on whether your DM thinks adamantine objects count as magical), +1 AC in Medium or Heavy Armor, Fire Resistance (which ultimately improves itself to Fire Immunity), a once-per-turn Divine Strike that lets yo deal bonus fire damage, and the ability to gain Resistance to non-magical physical damage whilst wearing heavy armor.
* '''Grave domain''' (Xanathar's Guide to Everything): As you'd expect, the "non-evil necromancy clerics!" domain; whilst Death is mechanically aimed at gods of the undead, murder and other "death as an evil force to be feared" deities, the Grave Domain is aimed at gods of "death as a natural part of the cycle", like [[Kelemvor]], [[Pharasma]] and [[Wee Jas]]. They get bonus spells relating to "good" necromancy (false life, gentle repose, antilife shell) and "neutral" necromancy (blight, animate dead, bane), the Spare The Dying cantrip for free, the ability to always heal maximum damage with their healing spells, the ability to spend 1 minute to sense all undead within 1 mile once per day, the ability to use Channel Divinity to remove immunity/resistance (if present) or grant vulnerability to the next attack to strike that creature, the ability to negate a critical hit on an ally once per short rest, a Divine Strike that can deal bonus necrotic damage, and the ability to give themselves or an ally some free healing in response to an enemy's death once per turn.
* '''Protection domain''' (UA: Divine Domains): For those who worship guardian deities, obviously; their powers basically make them more castery [[paladin]]s. They get protective bonus spells, the ability to impose disadvantage on combat rolls by enemies within 5 feet who're attacking someone else, a Channel Divinity that lets you armor an ally with an aura that burns the next guy to strike that ally, gaining healing when you cast a heal-spell on others, a radiant damage Divine Strike, and the ability to gain two damage resistances from the list of Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning, Necrotic and Radiant, which you can change every short rest and which you can transfer to someone else with a touch.
* '''Order domain''' (Guildmaster's Guide to Ravinca): An enchantment-based domain with a bunch of spells to charm and the ability to let your allies attack using their reactions when you cast a spell of 1st level or higher at 1st level. The special Channel Divinity is basically a mass Charm Person that lasts until the end of your next turn or if the target takes damage, but you get the choice to knock those charmed creatures prone. At 6th level, you get the [[Awesome|ability to regain a spell slot of 5th-level or lower when you cast an enchantment spell of 2nd-level or higher]] (the spell slot regained must be equal to or lower than the spell slot used to cast the enchantment spell). Much like the War and Tempest domains (among others) you get Divine Strike at 8th level, dealing force damage in this case. The capstone at 14th level lets your allies deal bonus force damage to a creature that you hit and deal Divine Strike damage to. Overall, many of its features wouldn't feel out of place in a Love domain, as of now, gods of love and/or beauty get saddled with the Life domain or the Light domain, or both.
** This saw an official release in ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravinca'', replacing the 6th level ability with a limited ability to quicken the casting of enchantment spells. It was also reprinted in ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything''.
* '''Twilight domain''' (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything): This domain is for those who seek to delve into peril to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You gain darkvision by default as well as advantage on initiative. Your Channel Divinity grants an aura of THP and protection from charmed or fear, while the rest of the domain grants protection from fear, the ability to fly in darkness, and the ability to let your party see through the Darkness spell.
**The rewrite for Tasha makes the darkvision and Initiative boost both be features that can be shared with allies, though Darkvision requires you to burn spellslots to share it more than once; in exchange, you can share darkvision with multiple allies while Initiative is only shared to one.
* '''Peace Domain (Formerly Unity)''' (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything): Your focus is to keep the party as close as possible, as they can bolster each other and mitigate each other's damage thanks to your powers. This ability eventually extends to even downed members of your party, which grants them protection from damage as well as the ability to accept allied hit die to get back up.
**When it got republished for Tasha, it got a few changes, including the name. For one, it's channel divinity feature now provides an effective way to run and provide some quick healing to an ally. Its capstone power also no longer has the ability to help downed members of the party, but now anyone who takes the damage via the bond gain resistance, improving the effectiveness of the tanking.

Plane Shift: [[Amonkhet]] takes place on a world ruled by worship of five gods, and as such you shouldn't be surprised that there are new Cleric Domains to be had from it; Solidarity, Strength, Ambition, and Zeal. There's also a God of Knowledge, but that's in the PHB.
*'''Solidarity domain''': Sort of a cross between the War and Life Domains, as it's all about fostering team-work and unity. Its bonus spells relate to group-targeting heals and buffs, such as Bless, Guiding Bolt, etc. It grants proficiency in Heavy Armor and several features. At level 1, Solidarity's Action lets you spend a bonus action when using Help to assist an ally's attack to make a weapon attack of your own, which you can do Wis bonus times (minimum once) per day. At level 2, you get the Channel Divinity feature "Preserve Life", which lets you heal others as a bonus action without expending a spell slot. At level 6, Channel Divinity "Oketra's Blessing" lets you spend a Channel Divinity use as a reaction to a creature within 30 feet of you make an attack roll; this grants them a +10 bonus to their roll. At 8th level, you get Divine Strike, which lets you bump up the damage on one weapon attack per turn by +1d8 (+2d8 after you hit level 14). Finally, at level 17, you get Supreme Healing, where you automatically heal the maximum possible amount when using a random roll-based healing effect.
*'''Strength domain''': All about proving your strength, physically and mentally. As such, its bonus spells are an odd mix of physical boosters, protective buffs, and also includes the Dominate Beast and Insect Plague spells. At level 1, you gain Acolyte of Strength (1 Druid cantrip, Proficiency in 1 of Animal Handling, Athletics, Nature or Survival) and proficiency in Heavy Armor. At level 2, your first Channel Divinity, "Feat of Strength", allows you to use Channel Divinity to grant yourself a +10 bonus to any Strength based check. The level 6 version, "Rhonas's Blessing", is the same thing, but targeting somebody else within 30 feet instead. You get the same Divine Strike feature as the Solidarity Domain at level 8, and finally, level 17 gives you Avatar of Battle; permanent resistance to all physical damage that comes from non-magical sources.
*'''Ambition domain''': Second only to Death as the most evil-flavored Domain, because of course wanting to push yourself to the top is most appealing to selfish jerkasses. Its bonus spells are all about cheating or manipulating; Bane, Ray of Enfeeblement, Vampiric Touch, Dominate Person, etc. At level 1, you get the Warding Flare ability, which you can use 1 or Wisdom modifier times per day, whichever is greater. This lets you impose Disadvantage on an assailant's attack roll against you as a reaction, provided that you can see them and they're within 30 feet - oh, and they're not immune to being blinded. Your level 2 Channel Divinity is "Invoke Duplicity", which lets you use your CD to create an illusionary double, which is sustained as per a Concentration spell. Aside from the obvious misleading effects, although it's only got a 120 range, you can cast spells through it, and you can tag-team with it to gain advantage on attack rolls. In comparison, your level 6 Channel Divinity, "Cloak of Shadows, is much simpler: you turn invisible, until your next turn ends, you attack somebody, or cast a spell. Level 8 gives you the Potent Spellcasting feature, where your offensive Cleric cantrips inflict +Wisdom modifier bonus damage. Finally, at level 17, Improved Duplicity lets you make up to 4 duplicates with Channel Divinity instead of 1.
*'''Zeal domain''': This one's a weird mixture of the War and Tempest Domains, in practice. Its bonus spells are all offensive based, either directly (Destructive Wave) or indirectly (Searing Smite), and heavy on the thunder and fire damage. You get free proficiencies with martial weapons and heavy armor, and the Priest of Zeal feature at level 1. Usable 1 or Wisdom modifier (use the higher of the two) times per day, it lets you use a bonus action after making an attack to make an extra weapon attack. Your level 2 Channel Divinity, Consuming Fervor, lets you spend Channel Divinity uses to maximize fire and thunder damage. At level 6, you get Resounding Strike, which means your thunder attacks will knock any target that is Large or smaller back 10 feet when they hit. At level 8, you get Divine Strike, which functions the same as Solidarity and Strength's version. Finally, at level 17, you get Blaze of Glory: once per day, when reduced to 0 hit points by an attacker that you can see, you can use your reaction to move at full speed towards that bastard and make a melee weapon attack with Advantage that deals +5D10 (weapon damage type) damage and +5d10 fire damage if it hits. Whether it hits or not, you then collapse on the spot, either dead or dying, depending on how badly hurt you were beforehand.


Mearls produced his own [[Cleric Domain]]s, three so far, releasing them variously in his Twitter or his Stream. So far, he's created the '''Beauty''', '''Darkness''', and '''Destruction''' domains.