Life Cleric Build Guide – The Ultimate Healer – 2024 Update
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For all D&D guides on Nat1gaming, they only use the main sourcebooks (Player’s Handbook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) as well as Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (mostly for Silvery Barbs) as those tend to be the most commonly used books at tables. Always be sure that if you’re following a guide that you’re adhering to your tables rules about what sourcebooks you are allowed to follow.
Any spell, class, feature, or other game item that is linkable on this website is covered by the 5th edition Open Games License and will be in the Player’s Handbook, but not everything in the Player’s Handbook will be linked to. All other materials that aren’t linked to are from other sourcebooks or aren’t allowed to be linked to per the 5th Edition Open Games License, so please refer to the appropriate sourcebooks for that information.
For the purposes of this guide, it will be assumed that you would not be multiclassing. While multiclassing can be excellent for many of these, this is for those who want to play the build all the way through in the same class. Guides that use multiclassing will be separate from these.
For spellcasters, you may notice substantial overlap between the spell lists of builds with the same base class. This is due to each guide utilizing a generically good spell list and not considering extenuating factors that will influence how you particularly sculpt your spell list. When creating your own spell list, you should take into account the campaign setting, what spells any other party members are capable of casting, potential overlap (ritual spells tend to overlap so it’s rare you need multiple people capable of casting them), or potential shortcomings in the parties total spell list. While this guide can definitely help point you in the right direction for crafting a spell list, you should use your judgement and preferences to figure out what spells make the most sense for your character.
To that end, please refer to the Spell List and Spell Tier list for any substitutions you’d want to make to the build.
Cleric Spell List and Spell Tier List
Why Life Domain Cleric?
A common misconception in D&D is that a healer is a vital role as a lot of people pick up that idea from other RPGs. Healing in 5e is generally not that good and really only useful to bring back a downed ally. However, Life Domain Cleric looks to make that statement moot.
The most defensively oriented Cleric, Life Domain is really good at keeping your party members health high with their improved healing spells and make healing more than just bringing back downed allies. If you like playing the healer while still being useful when everyone is healthy, this is a solid choice for you!
Life Cleric Abilities Ranked
Disciple of Life (Level 3) – C- Tier – A bit of extra health when you cast healing spells can be useful, especially in earlier levels, but it’s never going to be super helpful as this isn’t too impactful for low level spells and it doesn’t scale well with higher level spells.
Preserve Life (Level 3) – C- Tier – This can be decent as you get into later levels and the health points start really piling up, but this is really only useful to full heal a party member that has a small health pool. This isn’t bad, but it is kind of specific and you really don’t have enough healing to meaningfully help more than 1-2 party members.
1st Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – Both spells are solid, but are options you had access to anyway.
2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Same deal as the first level spells, but your options here are slightly better.
3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C- Tier – Revivify is a decent pickup since that frees up a prepared spell, but that’s not a particularly big deal.
Blessed Healer (Level 6) – D Tier – A little bit of healing for yourself when you use healing spells is nice, but it’s unlikely to really add up unless you are using all of your spell slots on healing.
4th Level Spells (Level 7) – C- Tier – Death Ward is nice, but you probably would’ve taken that anyway so this isn’t that impactful.
5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C- Tier – Greater Restoration is a decent pickup, but again, you’re just getting spells you could easily take anyway.
Supreme Healer (Level 17) – D Tier – This would be a sweet ability if the late game healing spells were roll based rather than a flat amount. This still can be helpful if you’re upcasting lower level healing spells, but that’s pretty much the only way you can use this at all effectively.
Quick Level Up Guide
| Level | Class Features/Feat | Notes |
| 1 | Spellcasting, Divine Order (Protector) | + Guidance + Light + Sacred Flame + Detect Magic + Guiding Bolt + Healing Word + Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2 | Channel Divinity (x2) | + Command |
| 3 | Life Domain, Disciple of Life, Life Domain Spells, Channel Divinity: Preserve Life | + Bless (Life) + Cure Wounds (Life) + Aid (Life) + Lesser Restoration (Life) + Prayer of Healing |
| 4 | Feat: War Caster (WIS) | + Word of Radiance + Augury |
| 5 | Sear Undead | + Aura of Vitality + Mass Healing Word (Life) + Revivify (Life) + Spirit Guardians |
| 6 | Channel Divinity (x3), Blessed Healer | + Dispel Magic |
| 7 | Blessed Strikes (Potent Spellcasting) | + Aura of Life (Life) + Banishment + Death Ward (Life) |
| 8 | Feat: Resilient (CON) | + Divination |
| 9 | – | + Tongues + Commune + Greater Restoration (Life) + Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 10 | Divine Intervention | + Toll the Dead + Summon Celestial |
| 11 | – | + Heal |
| 12 | Feat: Wisdom to 20 | None |
| 13 | – | – Guiding Bolt + Conjure Celestial + Plane Shift |
| 14 | Improved Blessed Strikes | None |
| 15 | – | + Holy Aura |
| 16 | Feat: Heavy Armor Master (CON) | None |
| 17 | Supreme Healing | + Mass Heal |
| 18 | Channel Divinity (x4) | + Antimagic Field |
| 19 | Epic Boon: Boon of Fate | + Gate |
| 20 | Greater Divine Interventino |
Level One Build
Species: Human
Attributes:
| POINT BUY | |
| STRENGTH | 14 |
| DEXTERITY | 10 |
| CONSTITUTION | 15 (+1 background) = 16 |
| INTELLIGENCE | 8 |
| WISDOM | 15 (+2 background) = 17 |
| CHARISMA | 8 |
Class: Cleric
Class Features: Spellcasting, Divine Order (Protector)
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Medicine, and Perception (Human)
Background: Farmer
Human Feat: Musician (or Alert if two or more party members have Musician)
Starting Equipment: Mace, Chain Mail, Explorer’s Pack, a Shield, Holy Symbol, 5gp + 50gp from background
Starting Spells:
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
Species: Human
Humans are simple – you get an extra Origin feat, Heroic Inspiration each long rest, and an extra skill. This is a great species for those who didn’t get their origin feat of choice with their background.
Human Feat: Musician (or Alert)
Musician is an excellent feat that at least one party member should have, if not two. However, if your team doesn’t need a Musician, Alert is an excellent backup.
Attributes
| POINT BUY | |
| STRENGTH | 14 |
| DEXTERITY | 10 |
| CONSTITUTION | 15 (+1 background) = 16 |
| INTELLIGENCE | 8 |
| WISDOM | 15 (+2 background) = 17 |
| CHARISMA | 8 |
Like other casters, Constitution and their spellcasting attribute (Wisdom in this case) should be pumped as much as possible. Beyond that, you do have a little bit of flexibility in how you want to modify your character past that. I like having some amount of strength and a flat Dexterity so your DEX saves aren’t always awful (though they likely will be anyway with Heavy Armor). If you prefer a little but of Intelligence or Charisma, feel free to go for that instead.
Proficiencies: Insight, Medicine, and Perception (Human)
Solid proficiencies for Cleric as they’re all Wisdom based skills.
Background: Farmer
The best background for Clerics as it gives Constitution and Wisdom on top of the best Origin feat that you can get with this attribute split.
Starting Equipment – Mace, Chain Mail, Explorer’s Pack, a Shield, Holy Symbol, 5gp + 50gp from background
Standard fare for heavy armor Clerics.
Class – Cleric
Starting out, Clerics get two abilities – Spellcasting and Divine Order (Protector).
Spellcasting is pretty much the same as the other full casters and will be expounded on in other sections.
Divine Order lets you choose between Protector and Thaumaturge. Protection gives you heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency and Thamaturge gives you an additional cantrip and the ability to add your WIS modifier to Arcana and Religion checks. Obviously, there is no contest here on which to choose – Protector gives you substantially more value.
Starting Spells
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
This is going to be an extremely standard spell list for a level one Cleric. You have good cantrips and versatile level one spells with varying effects with buffs, damage, and healing. The only difference between this spell list and my standard choices is Protection from Evil and Good rather than Bless, as you pick up Bless at level 3.
The Build Level 2 Onward
Level 2-5
Level 2
Class Features: Channel Divinity (x2)
Spell Change Log: + Command
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
Level two brings another spell, but more importantly, your Channel Divinity!
Your Channel Divinity brings two charges per day and two features to the table with Turn Undead and Divine Spark. Turn Undead potentially makes undead run in fear if they fail a WIS save which is a unique feature, but not always the most useful as this obviously only works against undead. Divine Spark lets you use your action to either deal or heal a little bit of damage. Definitely not great, but the healing can be helpful in a pinch.
For your spell choice, you can pick up Command. While right now it’s not a great spell as using your action and a spell slot to potentially rid one enemy of their action is not a good trade. However, as you get to upcast it, trading a spell slot and action for potentially ridding multiple enemies of their action is a much better deal. Save this for a few levels from now.
Level 3
Class: Life Domain
Class Features: Disciple of Life, Life Domain Spells, Channel Divinity: Preserve Life
Spell Change Log: + Bless (Life) + Cure Wounds (Life) + Aid (Life)+ Lesser Restoration (Life) + Prayer of Healing
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
Level 3 brings your subclass which gives you many abilities and new spells!
Your first ability is Disciple of Life which makes your healing spells a smidge more potent. This will be decent in the early game, but does fall off later in levels as that health boost will become a smaller and smaller fraction of your maximum health.
Your second ability is your Domain spells, and you get a bunch right off the bat with Bless, Cure Wounds, Aid (Life), and Lesser Restoration (Life).
Bless is an excellent buff for the early game that stays surprisingly relevant even in later levels as 1d4 for attack rolls and saving throws is a pretty decent buff..
Cure Wounds, on the other hand, is a pretty bad healing spell that’s hilariously outclassed by Healing Word. If you’re close enough to someone and you want the chance of giving them more health, you could cast this spell, but it’s only going to average 2 health more, costs your entire action, and you need to touch the target.
Aid is an excellent temporary health buffer for your team as 15 total points for a second level slot is quite nice, and better yet, this scales quite well with higher spell slots put into it.
Finally, Lesser Restoration is a decent healing spell that can save yourself or an ally from a few status conditions as a bonus action. You won’t need this often, but it is nice when you do have it!
Your final ability is the Life Domain Channel Divinity – Preserve Life. This is a decent healing feature that can distribute a lot of HP, but is limited to those who are at half health or lower (also known as bloodied), really lowering it’s effectiveness. Without that clause, this would be a really good way to heal a squad of lightly injured members to full in between fights, but is definitely a lot more limited in that regard. This is still decent and scales reasonably well, even with the restriction.
For your actual spell choice, you can pick up Prayer of Healing. While this only works once per person per long rest, getting a decent amount of health and refreshing short rest abilities can be really powerful. If you don’t have party members that can take advantage of this, I would obviously opt for a different spell instead.
Level 4
Feat: War Caster (WIS)
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: + Word of Radiance + Augury
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
Level four brings a feat, cantrip, and new spells!
For your first feat, you absolutely have to pick up War Caster. Buffing your Wisdom to 18, getting advantage on concentration checks, and being able to spellcast when you don’t have two free hands is excellent.
For your cantrip, you already have the best ones, but Word of Radiance can be alright if you find yourself surrounded often enough. Since you may be getting into the fray relatively often, you should find ample opportunities to use this.
For this level, you can pick up a new spell with Augury.
Augury is a solid divination spell that lets you consult an otherworldly entity about a plan, and they can cryptically let you know if it’s going to go well, poorly, both, or neither. Information gathering spells are highly underrated as they tend to be free, even if you can only reliably use them once per day.
Level 5
Class Feature: Sear Undead
Spell Change Log: + Aura of Vitality + Mass Healing Word (Life) + Revivify (Life) + Spirit Guardians
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
For level five, your Turn Undead feature upgrades with Sear Undead. Now undead that fail the saving throw for Turn Undead take damage equal to your WIS modifier in d8s. While this is still a pretty niche ability, it’s much better than the Clerics old features.
You get two more Forge Domain spells at opposite ends of the spectrum in Mass Healing Word and Revivify.
Mass Healing Word is not the most helpful spell unfortunately as the healing is minimal for the spell slot, but if you have multiple allies who are down, then this can be useful.
Revivify, on the other hand, is a staple spell that can bring back a freshly killed friend back, but generally, that’s more than good enough. You want minimum one Revivify user on your team to ensure that nobody has to go down permanently.
For your third level spell choices, you get two excellent spells immediately with Aura of Vitality and Spirit Guardians.
Aura of Vitality is a cool healing spell that can be useful in combat to keep healing your team, but out of combat, can be really potent. This will dole out an average of 70 points of healing over the full length of the spell which is really nice. If you want your team to conserve hit dice, you can use this instead to potentially help!
Your next choice is yet another Cleric staple – Spirit Guardians. This spell is egregiously good and really shines on tanky clerics as enemies will have a very hard time breaking your concentration on this. Walking up to a group of enemies, triggering this and then moving slightly out of the way so allies can shove them back into this is going to be a super common play pattern.
Level 6-10
Level 6
Class Features: Channel Divinity (x3), Soul of the Forge
Spell Change Log: + Dispel Magic
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
You get your third Channel Divinity charge for level 6 and the your next subclass ability – Blessed Healer.
For level 6, you get Blessed Healer which is functionally the inverse of Disciple of Life! For the most part, getting healed a little bit here and there really isn’t that relevant, but it is a nice feature.
For your spell choice, you can pick up Dispel Magic, and since Clerics don’t naturally have Counterspell, this is the next best thing.
Level 7
Class Features: Blessed Strikes (Potent Spellcasting)
Spell Change Log: + Aura of Life (Life) + Banishment + Death Ward (Life)
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
Level 7 brings a new class ability and more spells to the table.
Your ability for this level is Blessed Strikes which gives your melee weapons an additional 1d8 damage per turn (Divine Strike) or you get to add your WIS modifier to cantrip damage (Potent Spellcasting). At this point you’re almost certainly moving away from attacking with your weapon, so the cantrip improvement would be my choice.
For your Domain spells this level, you get to pick up Aura of Life and Death Ward.
Aura of Life is a weird spell that prevents your squad from taking hits to your hit point maximum, gives them resistance to necrotic damage, and heals your allies by 1 on their turn. If you have multiple allies down at the same time, this can be a convenient way to bring them up and keep them up.
Death Ward is a unique spell that prevents you or an ally from going down for 8 hours which can be useful to save an ally from going down normally or prevent an instant kill effect from cheesing you which is the more common use of this spell.
For your actual spell choice, you can pick the best one available with Banishment. Banishment is a solid CC spell that can take an enemy out of the fight for the length of the spell, but if the enemy is an extraplanar being, you have a chance to send them back to their home plane if they fail both saving throws! This can obviously be helpful in campaigns with a lot of extraplanar enemies, but will still be good in your average campaign.
Level 8
Feat: Resilient (CON)
Class Features: None
Spell Change Log: + Divination
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
Level 8 brings a new feat and new feature!
Level 8 brings your second feat and this is a good time to pick up Resilient (CON). Getting more health on top of proficiency in constitution saving throws is really good for casters, especially in conjunction with War Caster.
For your spell choice, you can pick up Divination,
Divination is a really nice ritual spell which lets you ask a god or their servant a question and you’ll receive a truthful reply, even if it’s a bit cryptic. Free information is really powerful in D&D and generally underrated as well, so I like picking this up at this point.
Level 9
Spell Change Log: + Tongues + Commune + Greater Restoration (Life) + Mass Cure Wounds (Life)
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
Level 9 brings you fifth level spells and the final spell additions from your Domain spell list.
Your
Your first Domain spell is a bit niche, but still great, with Greater Restoration. While this is not something you’re going to cast often, it’s definitely invaluable when you need to cure conditions like exhaustion, petrification, or cursed item attunement. While these sometimes can wait, sometimes fixing this quickly can be extremely important and time sensitive.
Your final Domain spell is unfortunately not a great one with Mass Cure Wounds. Sure you can dole out healing to a bunch of allies, but you already have multiple spells that do the same thing, but are better in different situations.
For your first chosen spell this level, and since your Domain spell list took most of the spells you’re already interested in, you can pick up Tongues. This isn’t something you’re going to need often, but can be invaluable when you’re dealing with entities you want to speak to but can’t normally.
For your second chosen spell, you can pick up the best Divination spell in the game – Commune. Unlike the other Divination spells, you get three questions rather than just one. This is a lot of information to gather and getting specific answers is extremely good.
Level 10
Class Features: Divine Intervention
Spell Change Log: + Toll the Dead + Summon Celestial
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
Level 10 brings you a really unique feature in Divine Intervention. Now once per day, you can call upon your deity to get a spell effect that’s 5th level or lower without using a spell slot or any components. Even if it’s one free spell per day, being able to choose any lower leveled spell is extremely powerful as you aren’t limited to spells you actively prepared, giving you a much wider pool of spells to pick from.
You get your final Cleric cantrip now, and since you already have all the good ones, you just have to pick from what’s left. You can now pick up Toll the Dead which isn’t particularly helpful as you already have an attack cantrip, but it can deal a little more damage than Sacred Flame which is nice.
This is also a good opportunity to pick up a Cleric’s best summoning option – Summon Celestial. While it’s not the greatest at level 5, upcasting it to level 6 gives your summon more health, AC, and attacks making it a substantially better option and a sixth level spell in spirit!
Level 11-15
Level 11
Class Features: None
Spell Change Log: + Heal
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
Level 11 brings sixth level spells!
For your spell, it’s hard to go wrong with the classic Heal. 70 flat points of recovery with some status recoveries is some solid in combat healing, even if it’s a bit pricey.
Level 12
Feat: Wisdom to 20
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Guiding Bolt |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
Twelfth level brings your third feat and you can now max out your Wisdom for the strongest spells possible.
Level 13
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: – Guiding Bolt / + Conjure Celestial + Plane Shift
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
Seventh level spell time and you can pick up really good ones with Conjure Celestial and Plane Shift.
For your first spell, you can pick up Conjure Celestial! You create a pillar of light that you can move for free to sear enemies while healing allies. In a tough fight, this can be invaluable as the hit point differential you can make with this spell is massive.
For your second spell, you can pick up the best teleportation option available to Clerics – Plane Shift. While you can’t use it for travel within the same plane, this can be a decent escape tool provided you aren’t in combat and you have the magic fork attuned to the plane you’re trying to go to. What’s nice about this, though, is that if you’re going back to your original plane, this doesn’t have a fail chance like Teleport would. In a real pinch, you can try to banish creatures with this as well making it rather versatile.
Level 14
Class Features: Improved Blessed Strikes
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
You get a somewhat new feature this level with Improved Blessed Strikes, and now you get some temporary health to dole out when you cast cantrips. Even just a bit of temporary health can go a long way.
Level 15
Spell Change Log: + Holy Aura
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
Eighth level spells and you may as well pick the best one – Holy Aura. Granting advantage on saving throws and disadvantage on attacks made against those covered by the aura is really strong and makes your allies very hard to meaningfully hurt for the extent of the combat.
Level 16-20
Level 16
Feat: Heavy Armor Master (CON)
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
You get your final ASI and you can pick up Heavy Armor Master (CON)! Being able to reduce the damage of attacks hitting you can add up really quickly, especially since your proficiency bonus is quite high at this point.
Level 17
Class Feature: Supreme Healing
Spell Change Log: + Mass Heal
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
| 9th Level Spell | Mass Heal |
Level 17 brings your final subclass feature and most importantly, ninth level spells.
Your final subclass feature is a mixed bag with Supreme Healing. Now all your healing spells heal the max amount, but the issue is, there are functionally no healing spells you’re using at this point that even involve a die roll. That being said, this also works extremely well with Aura of Vitality making it a consistent 17 points of healing per action. Now your out of combat healing potential goes to 170 points for a third level slot which can definitely fully heal at least one party member. Not an incredible ability, but good enough as long as you’re using Aura of Vitality.
For your spell choice, you’re going to pick up the best ninth level option available to Clerics with Mass Heal. Simply put, this heals 700 damage split how you choose, so this will be a full heal for every party member more often than not. In fights where multiple party members are heavily injured, this can easily turn the tide back in your favor.
Level 18
Class Features: Channel Divinity (x4)
Spell Change Log: + Antimagic Field
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Antimagic Field |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
| 9th Level Spell | Mass Heal |
Level 18 gives you four charges of Channel Divinity and an additional spell!
For your spell choice, you can pick up Antimagic Field. While this isn’t a spell you’ll need often, having the ability to turn magic off when needed is really powerful.
Level 19
Epic Boon: Boon of Fate
Class Features: None
Spell Change Log: + Gate
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Antimagic Field |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
| 9th Level Spell | Gate |
| 9th Level Spell | Mass Heal |
Level 19 brings your Epic Boon, and it’s hard to go wrong with Boon of Fate. Being able to potentially turn a failure into a success and vice versa, even if it’s once per short or long rest, can be the difference between surviving an encounter and not.
Clerics have very few ninth level options, but in terms of versatility, your next best option is Gate. There are a lot of interesting uses for this spell, but one of the most interesting is the forced transport of a creature in a different plane from you, no save given. If you have an enemy that you know is hiding in a different plane, force them out. If they’re on the same plane as you, Plane Shift away and then gank them with a Gate spell.
Level 20
Class Feature: Greater Divine Intervention
Spell Change Log: + True Resurrection
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Light |
| Cantrip | Sacred Flame |
| Cantrip | Toll the Dead |
| Cantrip | Word of Radiance |
| 1st Level Spell | Bless (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Command |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic (R) |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 1st Level Spell | Protection from Evil and Good |
| 2nd Level Spell | Aid (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Augury (R) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Lesser Restoration (Life) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Prayer of Healing |
| 3rd Level Spell | Aura of Vitality |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Mass Healing Word (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify (Life) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Spirit Guardians |
| 3rd Level Spell | Tongues |
| 4th Level Spell | Aura of Life (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Banishment |
| 4th Level Spell | Death Ward (Life) |
| 4th Level Spell | Divination (R) |
| 5th Level Spell | Commune |
| 5th Level Spell | Greater Restoration (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Life) |
| 5th Level Spell | Summon Celestial |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 7th Level Spell | Conjure Celestial |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Antimagic Field |
| 8th Level Spell | Holy Aura |
| 9th Level Spell | Gate |
| 9th Level Spell | Mass Heal |
| 9th Level Spell | True Resurrection |
Your final level up gives you Greater Divine Intervention, which is the Wish spell in a sense! Every week or so, you can entreat your deity to give you a Wish which is obviously super sick.
For your spell choice, this is a decent opportunity to pick up True Resurrection if you want it. It’s rare that you’re going to need this over the humble Revivify, and even rarer you’ll be in a scenario where it can’t wait a day, but you have it if you need it. Realistically, between this level and next, anything you pick here isn’t going to matter much as you’ve more or less exhausted every option you’d normally be interested in.
