10 Best Cleric Spells

The cleric is a versatile class in Dungeons & Dragons, capable of healing, buffing, and dealing damage. They have a wide range of spells at their disposal, but some are simply better than others. In this article, we will discuss the five best cleric spells and explain why they are so effective.

The first spell on our list is Cure Wounds. This spell is a staple of any cleric’s arsenal, and for good reason. It is a simple spell that can quickly heal a wounded ally, and it can be cast multiple times per day. Cure Wounds is essential for keeping your party alive in combat, and it is also useful for healing yourself or other party members outside of combat.

The second spell on our list is Bless. This spell is a great way to buff your party before combat. It gives your allies a bonus to attack rolls and saving throws, which can make a big difference in the outcome of a fight. Bless is a concentration spell, so it will last for up to 10 minutes, giving your party a significant advantage in combat.

Celestial Empowerment: Healing and Protective Miracles

Clerics, agents of the divine, wield an arsenal of potent spells that embody the transformative power of celestial grace. These spells, infused with the essence of their deities, grant them the ability to heal the wounded, shield the vulnerable, and bless the faithful.

Healing Miracles

Clerics possess a remarkable array of spells that mend wounds and restore vitality. Their touch alone radiates with healing energy, capable of mending broken bones and soothing aching muscles. More advanced spells, such as Lesser Restoration and Greater Restoration, completely heal diseases, neutralize poisons, and repair shattered bodies.

Spell	Effect
Healing Word	Heals a wounded creature for a modest amount of hit points.
Cure Wounds	Restores a significant number of hit points to a target.
Lesser Restoration	Removes diseases, neutralizes poisons, or heals minor injuries.

Protective Miracles

Beyond healing, clerics can also provide protection to their allies from harm. They cast sacred wards that shield against feindish attacks and inspire their companions with divine courage. Sanctuary grants a target temporary invulnerability, while Bless bestows bonuses to saving throws and ability checks.

Spell	Effect
Shield of Faith	Grants a bonus to AC to a target creature.
Sanctuary	Protects a target from being attacked for a short duration.
Bless	Gives a bonus to saving throws and ability checks to a group of creatures.

Divine Intervention: Summoning Aid and Influence

Aid

The Aid spell provides a useful boost to your party’s capabilities, granting a +1 bonus to attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks to up to three willing creatures. The spell’s duration of up to 8 hours makes it a versatile choice for a variety of situations, whether you’re preparing for an impending fight or needing to overcome a challenging non-combat obstacle.

Influence

The Influence spell is a powerful social tool that allows you to exert your will over a single target. By making a Charisma ability check, you can persuade, charm, or intimidate the target into your desired course of action. The spell’s versatility makes it useful in a wide range of situations, from negotiating with a guard to convincing a merchant to lower their prices.

Purpose	Cleric Level	Casting Time	Range
Summons a celestial to aid you.	10	1 action	30 feet
Forces a target to perform what you desire.	6	1 action	30 feet

Spiritual Guidance: Enhancing Perception and Wisdom

Heighten Awareness

This spell grants the target creature enhanced perception, allowing them to notice hidden objects, traps, and other details that might otherwise go unnoticed. Its duration of 1 hour provides ample time for thorough exploration or heightened vigilance in combat.

Guidance

Guidance provides a temporary bonus to ability checks, making it invaluable for skill-based tasks. Whether navigating treacherous terrain or attempting a delicate negotiation, the +1d4 bonus it bestows can significantly increase the chances of success.

Bless

Bless is a powerful spell that bestows a host of benefits upon the target. In addition to granting advantage on saving throws against curses or diseases, Bless also increases attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws against effects that inflict conditions. Its 1 minute duration makes it ideal for combat or other situations where multiple rolls will be made.

Spell	Duration	Effect
Heighten Awareness	1 hour	Grants enhanced perception
Guidance	1 minute	+1d4 bonus to ability checks
Bless	1 minute	Advantage on saves vs. curses/diseases, +1d4 to attacks/ability checks/saves vs. conditions

Astral Communion: Contacting the Beyond and Guiding Souls

Astral Communion allows clerics to establish a connection with the ethereal plane, communicating with celestial beings and departed souls. It has four distinct applications:

1. Contacting the Divine

Clerics can use Astral Communion to directly commune with their deity, receiving guidance, healing, or even casting powerful spells with augmented effects.

2. Communicating with the Dead

Through this ritual, clerics can interact with departed spirits, seeking knowledge, aiding in their transition, or performing rites to find lost souls or grant them peace.

3. Empowering Allies

Clerics can channel divine energy into their allies through Astral Communion, bolstering their abilities or providing them with protective wards.

4. Guided Souls and Spirit Oasis

Spell	Description
Guided Soul	This spell summons a spectral guide that protects and assists a specific ally or protects them from harm. It can also be used to grant allies extra actions or attacks.
Spirit Oasis	Creates a small oasis that heals and restores allies and can also summon a protective spirit guardian to aid in combat.

Blessed Immunity: Shielding from Harm and Disease

In the divine arsenal of cleric spells, none is more crucial than those that protect against harm and disease. These spells grant the faithful an immunity to the afflictions that plague the mortal realm, ensuring their resilience amidst danger.

1. Cure Wounds

A staple of every cleric’s repertoire, Cure Wounds heals injuries and revitalizes the wounded. Its simplicity belies its efficacy in mending severed flesh and broken bones.

2. Bless

Enhance the prowess of allies with Bless, which grants a bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. Its divine energy bolsters the spirits of companions, increasing their chances of success.

3. Sanctuary

Transform your allies into inviolable bastions with Sanctuary. This spell creates a sanctuary around an individual, protecting them from harm and granting them advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

4. Protection from Evil and Good

Shield your party against the malevolent forces of the planes with Protection from Evil and Good. This spell grants advantage on saving throws against spells and other effects cast by creatures of the chosen alignment.

5. Banishment

Consign extraplanar entities to their own realm with Banishment. This powerful spell allows you to send a creature from another plane back to its home dimension, effectively removing it from the current encounter. It is a particularly effective defense against dangerous outsiders or summoned creatures.

Creature Type	Banishment Duration
Celestials, Elementals, Fiends	10 minutes
Fey	1 hour
Demons	24 hours

Elemental Fury: Unleashing Natural Forces with Divine Power

Subsection 6: Spiritual Weapon

The spiritual weapon spell conjures a radiant weapon that hovers near the caster and follows their commands. This weapon can be used to make melee or ranged attacks, dealing force damage. It is a versatile spell that can be used to support allies or deal damage to enemies. The spiritual weapon remains active for 1 hour, or until the caster dismisses it.

Level	Casting Time	Range	Components	Duration
2	1 bonus action	60 feet	V, S	1 hour

Spiritual weapon is a powerful spell that can be used to great effect in a variety of situations. It is a good choice for clerics who want to deal damage without getting too close to the front lines. It can also be used to support allies by providing them with a ranged weapon to attack with.

Sanctified Smithing: Forging Holy Artifacts and Weapons

Sanctified Smithing is a divine art that allows clerics to imbue weapons and armor with holy power. This process, often performed in sacred forges or holy workshops, requires a deep connection to the divine and mastery of both arcane and physical craftsmanship.

Steps in Sanctified Smithing:

1. Preparation:

Gather the necessary materials, including precious metals, enchanted gems, and holy texts. Cleanse and bless the workspace.

2. Invocation:

Invoke the blessings of your deity and channel divine energy into the forge.

3. Purification:

Purify the metal through intense heat, removing impurities and preparing it for infusion.

4. Shaping:

Use hammers and anvils to shape the metal into the desired form. Guide the process with divine intuition.

5. Blessing:

Chant holy incantations and anoint the weapon or armor with sacred oils, imbuing it with divine protection and power.

6. Enchantment:

Etch runes or symbols representing divine attributes into the surface, granting it special abilities and bonuses in battle.

7. Tempering:

Subject the finished piece to a specific cooling process to enhance its durability and resilience, infusing it with the unyielding strength of the divine.

Sanctified weapons and armor are more than just tools of war. They are sacred artifacts that represent the power and protection of the divine realm. Clerics who wield these holy creations inspire fear in their enemies and become beacons of hope for their allies.

Banishment and Exorcism: Repelling Evil and Protecting the Sacred

Clerics possess a powerful arsenal of spells to combat evil and protect the sacred. Among these, banishment and exorcism spells stand out as potent weapons against the forces of darkness.

Banishment Spells

Banishment spells forcibly remove a creature from the material plane, sending it back to its own realm or a designated location. These spells target a single creature, such as a demon or undead, and can provide respite or a strategic advantage in combat.

Exorcism Spells

Exorcism spells are specifically designed to expel malevolent spirits or demonic possessions from living creatures. These spells are particularly effective against creatures that seek to control or harm the host’s body or soul.

8. Divine Intervention

Divine Intervention allows the cleric to directly petition their deity for divine aid. This spell has a 10% chance of summoning a powerful celestial creature to assist the cleric in combat or other situations of urgent need.

Spell	Level	Casting Time	Duration
Banishment	4th	1 action	1 minute
Exorcism	5th	10 minutes	24 hours
Divine Intervention	10th	1 action	Instantaneous

Restoration and Revival: Restoring Life and Hope

In the realms of divine magic, clerics wield powerful spells capable of resurrecting the fallen, offering them a second chance at life. These sacred incantations not only mend shattered bodies but also reignite hope in the face of adversity. Depending on the level of the cleric, they have access to various spells that can restore both physical and spiritual vitality.

Revivify

This 3rd-level spell is a beacon of hope when a comrade falls in battle. With a touch, the cleric channels divine energy to revive a fallen ally within 1 minute of their demise. The restored individual regains 1 hit point and consciousness, but their wounds remain.

Raise Dead

At 5th level, clerics gain the ability to cast Raise Dead, a powerful incantation that can bring back a creature that has been dead for up to 10 days. However, this spell requires the use of a diamond worth at least 500 gp, which is consumed in the process. The creature is restored to life with full hit points and any missing body parts, but their memories may be affected.

Resurrection

The ultimate spell of restoration, Resurrection, becomes available to clerics at 7th level. This mighty incantation can revive a creature that has been dead for up to a year, restoring it to full health and vitality. Like Raise Dead, this spell requires a diamond worth at least 1,000 gp, which is consumed in the casting.

Greater Restoration

Beyond restoring life, clerics also possess the ability to mend spiritual wounds through spells like Greater Restoration. This 5th-level incantation can remove curses, diseases, and other debilitating conditions, restoring the target to full health and vitality. It can also restore lost limbs or other physical impairments, making it a versatile spell for healing both body and soul.

Spell	Level	Effect
Revivify	3	Revives a fallen ally
Raise Dead	5	Revives a creature dead up to 10 days
Resurrection	7	Revives a creature dead up to a year
Greater Restoration	5	Removes curses, diseases, and restores lost limbs

Divine Wrath: Punishing Transgressions and Guiding Souls

Cleric spells are powerful tools that can be used to heal the sick, protect the innocent, and punish the wicked. Divine Wrath is one of the most powerful of these spells, and it can be used to deal devastating damage to enemies or heal allies.

1. Punishing Transgressions

Divine Wrath deals 2d8 radiant damage to a single target. This damage is increased by 1d8 for each level of the spellcaster above 5th level.

2. Guiding Souls

In addition to dealing damage, Divine Wrath can also be used to heal allies. If the spellcaster targets an ally, the spell will instead heal the target for 2d8 + the spellcaster’s Wisdom modifier.

3. Spellcasting Components

The material component for Divine Wrath is a holy symbol.

4. Casting Time

Divine Wrath has a casting time of one action.

5. Range

Divine Wrath has a range of 60 feet.

6. Targets

Divine Wrath can target a single creature or object.

7. Duration

Divine Wrath lasts for one round.

8. Saving Throw

The target of Divine Wrath must make a Constitution saving throw. The target takes half damage on a successful save, and no damage on a critical success.

9. Spell Lists

Divine Wrath is on the cleric spell list.

10. Divine Smite

The Divine Smite cantrip is a powerful tool that can be used to deal additional damage to enemies. When the spellcaster hits a target with a melee weapon attack, they can choose to expend a spell slot to deal extra radiant damage to the target.

| Spell Level | Damage |
|—|—|
| 1st | 2d8 |
| 2nd | 3d8 |
| 3rd | 4d8 |
| 4th | 5d8 |
| 5th | 6d8 |

Best Cleric Spells

Clerics are powerful spellcasters who can heal the sick, buff their allies, and damage their enemies. They have a wide variety of spells to choose from, but some of the best cleric spells include Cure Wounds, Bless, Healing Word, and Spiritual Weapon.

Cure Wounds and Healing Word are both essential healing spells for clerics. Cure Wounds is a single-target healing spell that can restore a significant amount of hit points, while Healing Word is a quick and efficient way to heal multiple allies. Bless is a buff spell that can increase the attack rolls and saving throws of your allies, making them more likely to succeed in combat. Spiritual Weapon is a combat spell that summons a magical weapon that can attack your enemies on its own, dealing consistent damage over time.

These are just a few of the best cleric spells, and there are many other great spells to choose from. With their versatility and power, clerics are a valuable asset to any party.