Put this improved healing together with everything else the base cleric gets, and you have one of the best monoclass characters in the game. By adding flat bonuses to any spells cast by the cleric, healing the cleric whenever they heal others, and eventually maxing any healing dice rolled, the Life cleric is able to efficiently maintain the health of the party, a function not easily found outside of multiclassing. Without getting too far into the mechanical weeds, these features remedy a major issue faced by all other healers in 5th Edition: healing damage with spells simply isn’t efficient. The other major strengths of Life clerics are their Disciple of Life, Blessed Healer, and Supreme Healing features, found at levels 1, 6, and 17, respectively. Heavy armor is incredibly good in 5th Edition and allows the cleric to function as the party’s healer, tank, and even damage dealer * without suffering in any of those roles. Life clerics have a few key features going for them, the first being Heavy Armor Proficiency. However, after reviewing each option, I believe the strongest choice combines effectiveness with a unique power-set, and that would be the Life Domain. Clocking in at a somewhat absurd sixteen subclasses, choosing the strongest was no easy task.
#Bearbarians 5e full#
ClericĬleric, the first of D&D’s original classes we’re looking at, is a powerhouse in 5th Edition, being one of the only full casters capable of mixing it up on the front lines. * While other colleges such as Whispers and Glamour are certainly capable, nothing comes close to Lore’s breadth of options and raw power. Spell stealing is both powerful and flexible, allowing for combinations of spells that were never intended to be played together. The bard can already do this without any subclass, but Lore bards can do it more often, and that makes all the difference. One of the original subclassing options, the College of Lore’s most important feature is letting the bard steal spells from other classes’ lists. Though each of these options has its place, * it is the College of Lore that earns the gold in barding. But which of their five subclasses stands atop the rest? Shall we dazzle our enemies with the College of Glamour, cut them with words using the College of Whispers, or cut them with swords using the College of Valor? Alternatively, you can cut your enemies with swords even better using the College of… well, Swords. Now full casters with a range of delightful abilities, bards rank as one of the best classes in the game. Bardīards, long the laughingstock of D&D, have finally found their time in the 5th Edition spotlight. Bearbarians effectively double their hit point total, a feature simply not matched by other options in the class. This is a massive improvement over other barbarian’s resistance to only bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. * While this option has several features unique to it, the one that really matters is found at level three, granting the barbarian resistance to all damage types, excluding psychic, while raging. Specifically, the Path of the Bear Totem. Unfortunately for players wanting balanced options, * there is one option that stands head and shoulders above the rest: the Path of the Totem Warrior. Players can opt for protecting their allies with the power of their Ancestral Guardians, doing extra damage at the cost of exhaustion with the Berserker, doing far less damage with the Path of the Storm Herald, * or saying no to the god of death with the Zealot. Grumpy fighters who believe clothes are for chumps, barbarians have six subclasses available to them starting at level three. Let’s start with the angriest kid on the playground: barbarians. I also ignore multiclassing in most cases, as I assume no one wants to read a 200-page examination on my descent into incoherence. As noncombat abilities are almost impossible to quantify from table to table, I am limiting my examination to the combat viability of each subclass. These subclasses range from slight variations to complete changes in play style, and with that variation comes the unavoidable specter of imbalance.īut which subclasses stand at the top of the pile? Today, we find out. 5th Edition takes this idea a step further, breaking each main class into a multitude of subclasses. * Over the intervening 45 years, the class system has been changed a multitude of times, but at its core, it has always played the role of allowing players to easily understand the flavor and mechanics their characters will be employing. Classes have been a key part of Dungeons and Dragons since 1st Edition all the way back in 1974, when players could choose between fighter, wizard, and cleric.