life cleric dmg scaling

[mealar]

hey guys, my party just reached lvl 7 and realised the life clerics weapon dmg has fallen behind since she doesn't get a 2nd attack. her roll is the main tank of the grp so i guess it's not that important but i was wondering if there was a mechanic we missed. her dmg right now comes from using spiritual weapon and spamming sacred flame, and it seems fine numbers wise but i think she's missing crushing faces. so is this just how life cleric tanks work?

[MrStabby]

Is it how they work? Yes and no.

They are never going to be close combat masters like a full on barbarian but they have some tools at their disposal.

1) You picked up on spiritual weapon - extra d8 is nice. Remember you can cast it out of a higher slot if appropriate
2) At level 8 clerics get a damage boost - either wisdom to cantrips or d8 extra damage to one attack per turn
3) You can get a pretty solid damage dice if you go for a cleric that gets martial weapons

To keep up you will have to spend a couple of spells per combat - not a disaster as by this point you have a lot of spell slots to use through the day.

[WickerNipple]

hey guys, my party just reached lvl 7 and realised the life clerics weapon dmg has fallen behind since she doesn't get a 2nd attack. her roll is the main tank of the grp so i guess it's not that important but i was wondering if there was a mechanic we missed. her dmg right now comes from using spiritual weapon and spamming sacred flame, and it seems fine numbers wise but i think she's missing crushing faces. so is this just how life cleric tanks work?

Add in Spirit Guardians and that's what clerics do in combat this edition.

Personally I wouldn't bother with sacred flame.

[mealar]

thx guys good to know it has some nice flavour to the attacks.

[RulesJD]

thx guys good to know it has some nice flavour to the attacks.

Seriously, Spirit Guardians. That's the beginning, middle, and end of Cleric damage aside from maybe a Spiritual Weapon for the BBEG.

Also, find a way for the Cleric to either level dip or take Magic Initiate for Booming Blade/GFB. They are perfect for a Cleric.

[MaxWilson]

Without Extra Attack, you have some freedom to play around with your action a bit. You can throw nets (though you probably don't have proficiency in them, in this specific case), you can lay caltrops, you can Hide, you can Help other people attack, you can Push enemies prone or off cliffs, you can Grapple enemies and then Dodge on subsequent rounds, you can spend your action playing around with item interactions (doors/levers/windows/machinery). PCs with Extra Attacks are going to be more reluctant to do these things because the opportunity cost is higher (except for Pushing/Grappling, which scale with extra attacks).

My paladorc spends maybe 25% of all combats just grappling an enemy and then Dodging while the necromancer's skeletons shoot that enemy full of holes.

[Tanarii]

Generally speaking a non-optimized generic Cleric with a decent 1H weapon attack will: use weapon 1-4, use Sacred Flame 5-7, use weapon 8-10, then use SF 11+. (Edit: note there are still plenty of times when a Dex save is worse to attack than AC, especially considering +0 Dex is the equivalent of AC 14)

That's just the way it breaks down if you're using the basic damage. Note that even when you're not using your weapon for primary attacks, you're still using it for OA. That's important if you're tanking. Also, it might be worth considering Sentinel Feat at level 8 if you're the tank.