Pestilence Cleric. Holy crap. Dungeons and Dragons noticed that us weird, gross little guys were feeling underserved by past nasty subclasses. Spores Druids, Swarmkeepers, and Necromancers are certainly flavorful, but they're not always fun to play. D&D's latest playtest, however, is a beacon of hope for lovers of grim subclasses. April 3's Unearthed Arcana gives us a Cleric who deals in sickness, poison, and - most excitingly - exhaustion.
The new potential DnD classes option is a carrier of supernatural plague. They worship rot, famine, and blight. Unsurprisingly, they're resistant to necrotic and poison damage, as well as magical contagions.
Their Cleric spells and features can also ignore resistance to these thematic damage types. There's also a caveat where you can swap the damage type of Cleric spells and features that deal these two damage types, but it's a lot more fiddly, and therefore less exciting.
In a move that will shock absolutely no one, D&D has given the Pestilence Cleric a swarm of sickening spells. Ray of Enfeeblement, Ray of Sickness, Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch, Blight, Contagion, and more are on show. Necrotic spells rarely make it onto 'best D&D spells' lists, but they're not bad - especially after a handful of 5.5e updates.
So far, this is sounding like most other necrotic-focused subclasses: fun, thematic, but not particularly powerful. But things get a lot more interesting with the Cleric's third level-three feature, Plague Blessing.
Spend an action and Channel Divinity, and you create a five-foot emanation of plague around you (or a buddy) for one minute. Creatures you choose that start their turn in the emanation must pass a Constitution save or gain one exhaustion level. The exhaustion levels you dole out can stack as high as your Wisdom modifier.
For years, exhaustion was the one D&D rule that made entire D&D parties say "oh, shit". The 5.5e rules defanged this condition somewhat, but it's still an imposing penalty.
For the unfamiliar, there are six levels of exhaustion - reach the sixth one, and you die instantly. Until then, your D20 rolls are reduced by two times your exhaustion level, and your speed is reduced by five feet for every level you currently have. A long rest heals one level of exhaustion, but they can stack up quickly.
I love exhaustion, because it's brutal in a way that D&D rarely dares to be. The Pestilence Cleric, in becoming its conduit, has found a creative way to use the rule, spicing it up again and turning it against the DM's monsters.
It's only a five-foot emanation, but if the Cleric can keep enemies close at hand, this is a major debuff for the opposite team. While the subclass wants you to focus on dealing poison and necrotic damage, I'd lean into the control potential as much as possible. Just be sure you have a high armor class if you're sticking to melee range for the entire fight.
The Pestilence Cleric has two remaining subclass features to talk about. Virulent Burst, arriving at level six, is a reaction that turns a dying enemy within 60 feet into an exploding burst of disease. This can reduce a target's speed to zero or deal 3d6 poison or necrotic damage if affected enemies fail a save.
Lastly, at level 17, we have Vermin Form. It's a bonus action that turns you into a swarm of tiny pests (Rats! Rats! Rats!, I cry). This makes you immune to a bounty of conditions and damage types, and it allows you to occupy another creature's space. When you do enter an enemy's space, or it ends its turn in your space, it takes damage equal to your Wisdom modifier.
While I can see a lot of cool utility options for this feature, 5 damage per turn feels alarmingly puny. The Pestilence Cleric certainly needs some fine-tuning, but I hope Wizards of the Coast publishes it eventually. This is the most excited I've been since that weird body horror Psion subclass. Or since the Reanimator Artificer. Dang, now I think about it, the future of Dungeons and Dragons doesn't just look exciting - it looks disgusting. More, please!
What do you think of the latest playtest? You can see the full Unearthed Arcana here. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the Wargamer Discord.