[5e] What to do with actions on cleric?

[Kaiwen]

What do I do with my actions on a cleric? Once I bless someone or do something else that occupies concentration, do I just hang around casting spells for damage?

My current campaign is low level (I'm level 6, and we're going to level 10) and doesn't allow very many rests, so that would basically boil down to spamming Toll the Dead and Spare the Dying to save spell points for patching up and utility.

[stoutstien]

Comes down to domain and play styles. What domain do you have?

[Laserlight]

What do I do with my actions on a cleric? Once I bless someone or do something else that occupies concentration, do I just hang around casting spells for damage?

My current campaign is low level (I'm level 6, and we're going to level 10) and doesn't allow very many rests, so that would basically boil down to spamming Toll the Dead and Spare the Dying to save spell points for patching up and utility.

It depends on your build, the situation and your party. If you're a heavy armor cleric, you can get into melee; a Tempest cleric, for instance, has a punishment mechanic to do damage when she's hit.

If there are just a few monsters, you might not waste a spell slot on Bless; just let the martials handle it, and throw in some cantrips to help them out.

If there's a horde of monsters coming, Call Lightning (if you're Tempest) or Spiritual Guardians (if you're armored) can be better than Bless.

Don't worry about keeping too many spell slots for heals. I like to keep a slot in reserve for Revivify and a slot for an emergency Healing Word, but generally it's better to kill stuff than to heal.

[Aerogellin]

Spiritual weapon is amazing for making the best of your action economy, regardless of what domain you picked (Though War I suppose does have its own bonus action). Sure it takes a spell slot, but at 6th 2d12 from Toll the Bell with your standard action and 1d8+WisMod from Spiritual Weapon (Which doesn't take up your concentration, so you can still keep Bless up) is a good chunk of damage you can throw out every turn. If you're not getting very many rests you can always save it for bigger fights where it'll have the greatest effect.

[R.Shackleford]

What do I do with my actions on a cleric? Once I bless someone or do something else that occupies concentration, do I just hang around casting spells for damage?

My current campaign is low level (I'm level 6, and we're going to level 10) and doesn't allow very many rests, so that would basically boil down to spamming Toll the Dead and Spare the Dying to save spell points for patching up and utility.

First, what are your stats/character options.

Clerics get some really neat bonus action spells so really you can use your actions for things that others might pass up!

But at the end of the day, what do YOU want to be doing?

You could make a grappler who grabs a creature, dashes away, and then just uses dodge action so that you do get hit (putting creatures in time out). Remember, grappler gives you advantage on attack rolls... Spiritual weapon is an attack roll.

You could make a cleric that uses the help action and then uses their bonus action to attack with spiritual weapon.

Want to run around doing weapon attacks or shoving creatures? Cleric is about the only class that actually can take the Charger feat and it not be a waste.

Take the Actor feat. Doesn't really matter if you have a good cha or not. Try to listen in to different people or creatures talking. When in battle with said people, use your Actor ability to sound like the person/creature/whatever. Say something stupid like "omg I'm XYZ and I like to smell farts". Yes, they will know it's fake. But it should make them target you. This also works for any political, religious, or famous person that the target may like. Bonus points if you sound like someone's mom. Now, why the cleric? You can heal yourself. Take the dodge action and be the center of attention for all the attacks from said creature/person. Dodge action + bonus action spiritual weapon + laughing = win. This kinda works with any character class but I think the cleric has the best defenses and abilities to pull it off pretty darn well.