Clerics get some nice at-wills with essentials. Granted two of them are for Constitution based clerics, but let’s look at them anyway!
- Storm Hammer: I almost passed this one over because it seemed like a lousy power that just does thunder damage and can be used with a charge. Then I realized that it targets Fort! Dude, it’s arguably better than the Rogue at-will power Piercing Strike! Even though Fort is more likely to be higher than Reflex or Will, this is still a great power to have available for use against skirmishers, controllers, and artillery. Plus, offering a wisdom cleric a decent way to charge is pretty nice too.
Storm Hammer is also the keystone of the Thor cleric build, which is the only way I’d be excited about being a cleric.
- Blessing of Battle: This power gives resist equal to the cleric’s Con modifier to the cleric or an ally w/in 5 on a hit. Resist is very nice to be able to throw down on a sticky defender that routinely marks 2 or more enemies, something that virtually all defenders can do these days.
- Blessing of Wrath: On a hit, this gives an ally w/in 5 a power bonus to damage rolls against the target equal to the cleric’s Constitution, making it yet another power that works well with two weapon rangers and those itching to pop an Action Point. Good times.
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Is there aleady a build that uses Con or is this new? I thought melee Cleric was Wis/Str?
I think it’s a new build that uses Con/Wis, which is always nice for the added HP and healing surges!
A Thor cleric build would be boss! You could have the noble goal of fighting the current god of thunder in honorable battle and taking his or her place!
Why would a Thor cleric want to fight Thor in battle? Or do you mean the current god of thunder is some made-up D&D god, who could get replaced by Thor? I have to admit that I just can’t get behind those D&D gods. I would much rather use real gods from real life (you know, like in Neil Gaiman! they are prostitutes and stuff) or make up amazing gods like Visc.
If you mean every Thor cleric is by definition secretly hoping to replace Thor as the god of thunder, that would actually be a pretty amazing dynamic. Does Thor pick up on the fact that all his clerics eventually challenge him? Is he too dumb to notice the pattern, or is he OK with it because he gets a lot of honor & glory out of them for like 29 levels and then he can kind of tap them with his hammer at the end and get some new clerics?
Maybe Thor clerics are like 1e druids; in order to get a promotion you have to defeat some superiors. Or it could be that Thor clerics just like measuring themselves against each other in friendly bouts of Valhalla-bound violence.
I’m completely new to this version of D&D (last time I played, there were no editions…)
Are these cleric powers a subset of existing powers, or are these completely new. I looked at a PH, and only Healing Word was listed in that book. Is this supposed to be its own little rules bubble or have I missed something? Where would you go from this box progression wise?
These are basically new powers. As well as providing a “starter game”, WOTC is, for the most part, providing all-new powers, so that longtime 4e players will have some new stuff to play with.
WOTC, I think, would recommend that your next step would be to get the rest of the Essentials products: Heroes of the Fallen Lands, DM’s Kit, Monster Vault, etc. The only problem: they’re not out yet! They’re all going to be published over the next few months.
I think it would be quite reasonable for your next purchase to be Heroes of the Fallen Lands, which should be released this month; at some stores, as early as September 10, I believe. That book is sort of analagous to the Player’s Handbook, but for Essentials characters.