Best Feats for Nature Cleric 5e
by Prince Phantom
The Nature domain is a bit of a weird one. At first glance it seems pretty weak, especially at higher levels when plant and beast enemies are practically non-existent. However, if you ignore the features that relate to plants and beasts, you’ll find some real gold in this subclass. The ability to grant resistance to elemental damage to any ally or ourself is similar in power to Absorb Elements, a spell that Clerics don’t get but really wish they did.
Surprisingly however, the real power of this domain comes from gaining a single Druid cantrip of our choice, which should basically always be Thorn Whip. That cantrip synergizes great with Spirit Guardians, allowing us to pull creatures into the area of the spell, dealing the damage to the creature potentially twice in one round. Most Clerics need to take Telekinetic to pull this strategy off. Despite this, our feat selection will remain very similar to other clerics, as we don’t really have any features that are radically changing our playstyle.
Best Feats for Nature Cleric 5e
War Caster (Lv 4): This is a Cleric that definitely wants to be in the midst of things with Spirit Guardians, so we definitely need to protect our concentration. Granted, all clerics should probably be taking this feat, so that’s not saying very much. We probably won’t be in the market for holding weapons, but we might find a cool magic item to hold alongside our shield, so this will be necessary if we want to cast many spells with our hands full.
Telekinetic (Lv 8): You know how I mentioned that synergy with Thornwhip means we can do double Spirit Guardians damage to a creature without this feat? Well, with this feat we can be doing it to two creatures! Mage Hand and a bump to our wisdom is also very nice to have.
Fey Touched (Lv 8): Fitting with the nature theme, this feat provides two spells that clerics desperately want. Misty Step is useful for a lot of different reasons, including allowing you to more easily reposition yourself to get the most out of Spirit Guardians. Silvery Barbs won’t be an every turn cast, as sometimes we will be using our reaction for Dampen Elements, but when we need a creature to fail a save it will be very good to have in our back pocket.
Resilient Constitution (Lv 12): There’s no good reason not to take this as we enter high level play. Concentration saves are going to become tougher as enemies start to deal more damage, and War Caster won’t be enough anymore. The two feats combined will keep us making our checks consistently throughout the campaign.
Ritual Caster (Lv 12): I suppose you could go with the Druid list to really commit to the theme, but Wizard is objectively the best selection. The rituals available are leagues better, and they will generally be easier to obtain in most campaign settings as wizards actually write their spells down.
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