Cleric Subclass High Concepts | Patreon Weekly #284 (Patreon)

Hey Patrons, in this weekly I’m going to share some overall concepts for the Cleric’s subclasses! The content of this weekly is largely taken from Shattered Secrets #36, which Shattered tier Patrons got to read back in April.

There’s also a new Patreon Poll this week! Poll #59 gives you guys a choice as to which Cleric subclass you’d like me to prioritize.

Overview

I generally try to have each hero subclass emphasize different things, so that players may tend toward one or the other based on playstyle or build preferences. As the most straightforward example of that, the Mage’s subclasses emphasize gameplay where the staff remains the primary weapon (battlemage) or where a different weapon is equipped instead (warlock). Oftentimes these choices boil down to more power attached to the starting abilities and the equipment they work with (champion) or new power that complements these base abilities and works with different items (monk).

The Cleric is a little different here though, as more than any other class they pull power from their spells instead of existing equipment or specific strategies. With that in mind I’m leaning toward Cleric subclass choice being about choosing a set of abilities/spells that each synergize with different classes of items, rather than one which extends base abilities and another which adds something new.

The Priest would focus more heavily on direct spell power and synergy with more magical items like wands, rings, and artifacts. Their abilities will likely not do much for existing weapons and armor or attacking in melee range. Experienced players tend to prefer more positional gameplay and use of wands, so the priest is likely to be the more popular choice for them.

One possible ability is holy lance, a ranged spell that would act as a source of powerful single-target damage, but at a considerable charge cost and cooldown. This could serve as an excellent delete button for particularly nasty enemies. For builds that want to rely on charge-based ranged damage or lack much armor, such a panic button would be invaluable.

Another potential ability is holy arrow, a weak and very low cost spell that gives the priest a ranged option that’s similar to the Huntress’ bow. Something like this would be very gameplay-shaping, which is both a potentially cool and dangerous idea, so no promises on this one yet.

The Paladin would, by contrast, more heavily focus on weapons and armor synergy over raw spell power. Somewhat like the berserker, I expect the Paladin would lean more toward defense than offense. The Paladin will probably be simpler to play due to their reliance on simpler equipment, and so they’ll probably be the more popular subclass overall.

One possible Paladin ability is Smite, the fantasy paladin classic. This ability would likely let the Paladin make an empowered strike against an enemy, dealing bonus damage and/or applying some other effects. I like the idea of this ability potentially dealing a certain minimum amount of damage, even on fairly weak weapons, which might give the paladin a reason to invest more heavily in armor.

Another possible ability is an upgrade to holy weapon and holy ward. Perhaps letting the Paladin access a more powerful version of these spells that doesn’t conflict with existing enchantments and glyphs. I don’t want these to just boil down to “Paladin gets bonus armor and damage” though.