The Most Powerful Cleric Subclass? The Moon Domain Cleric: D&D 5e Critical Role

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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:32 Spells
0:58 Level 1
2:00 Level 2
3:44 Level 6
5:27 Level 8
5:34 Level 17
7:16 Conclusions

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[calebelliott]

I’ve played with a Moon Domain cleric. It’s not as broken as you think. It was powerful, but not the same tier as Peace or Twilight. It’s incredibly resource intensive. And it can’t be broken, there’s no exploits you can do with Mind of Two Moons. Dropping concentration is devestating, and it’s more likely than you think with disadvantage. While Resilient Con and Warcaster can abate it, that isn’t a guarantee. It also means you haven’t maxed Wis by that point so enemies have an easier time passing saves. Honestly the other Channel Divinities got more mileage more of the time, the Mind of Two Minds one feels like a Paladin chugging through all their smite slots in one turn, which is much more situational than you first think.

[nikcantsnipe]

I actually really like the thematics of this subclass. I think it does a better job of conveying what it is going for far better than Twilight ever did. The domain spells are pretty great. I don't know how broken it is until I really play it but this is the only class from the book that I was looking forward to playing. That aside, 11 levels of rune sorcerer with the spelldriver feat is pretty nutty. If you ask me.

[alejandrogomezdelmoralguer]

regarding the 17th level feature, it’s also worth remembering that at this tier of the game many of your potential foes will have legendary resistances. So that hypnotic pattern might be saved at disadvantage, but they can also just choose to succeed. As others have said, this is a potent mechanic, and particularly so when you get Mind of Two Moons at 6th level, but as you note it is also very possible to offload concentration in other ways in 5e - this just provides a streamlined option that also contains actual limitations, unlike for instance a spell-storing ring (since any spell up to 5th level’s gonna fly with that one)

[godminnette]

I think the restriction of *both* spells needing to be moon domain is the biggest limitation, and is enough that I actually don't think this is super broken a lot of the time. As you mentioned, moonbeam + faerie fire is not so insane. Greater invis + hypnotic pattern is pretty strong, but think about it: two turn setup, and you're still expending both spell slots... I don't know. I guess I don't think this is in the same tier of game-breaking, because there isn't the every-combat consistency of twilight or peace. You only have so many spell slots. Until 3rd and 4th spell slots are cheap, this will be strong for one or two fights a day where casting two spells of your higher levels is worth it anyways, and where there's value in casting both hypnotic pattern and greater invis. Or perhaps two castings of GI instead of up casting to fifth... Which is trading two turns, two fourth level spell slots, for the effect of a one turn one fifth level spell slot. I guess I'm just not seeing it. It's very strong, but with the small list restriction and natural limit of spell slots, it's not S-tier imo.
Edit: I thought GI could be upcast for more targets like Invisibility, my bad. My point still stands. Being able to make yourself then an ally invisible is still quite strong when it's needed, but I suspect it will not be game breaking.

[gavinerickson]

Matt Mercer really just doesn't like concentration, apparently, but I feel like the problem is that some concentration spells are way underpowered for using such a resource and not that you can only concentrate on one at a time.

[cem]

So a couple of things I noticed here. -I think the biggest one is regarding level 6 with level 17. Unless I have totally missed something, Eclipse of Ill Omen is not a domain spell, and so would not work with Mind of Two Moons 'as long as both spells are on your list of Moon Domain spells'. It specifies both spells, meaning no exception for either spell. Whilst Eclipse is absolutely very powerful, for a level 17 feature it could be a lot worse considering you get Wish at that level.-

For dual concentration in general, the power combos seem to include Greater Invisibility, which Sorcerer's Twinned Spell already allows for a similar, if not better, version of dual concentration for. Mind of Two Moons reads to me very similarly to Twinned Spell but with different limitations and a longer setup period, and I have to paraphrase yourself here a little as this is very much a controller Cleric: "Spellcasters should seek to control a combat from turn one, and if done well can effectively end a fight by doing so". Turn one is unchanged.

I usually lurk and agree with you on about 95% of stuff, but I think there be a wee bit of overreaction to this one, to me it lacks the Matt Mercer nonsense value.

Edit as I cannot read, thanks @fakjbf3129.

[perezo]

I've played a Moon Domain Cleric for a short 8 session campaign, going from 5th to 9th level.
The concentration sounds very powerful in theory, but in play, it's not as good. Taking into account the domain list in specific, it taking your Channel Divinity which you may want for Pact Tactics, the action economy required to get two spells going, and at what levels you get it while multiclassing for stronger concentration like Stars Druid/Sorcerer/Fighter/Artificer, it's often just not super desirable to use.

[WexMajor]

I had a bard with an Instrument of the Bard.
I can assure you, that giving disadvantage to a group of enemy to a Hypnotic Pattern is a combat shortcircuit.

[coldfusion]

Eclipse of Ill Omen is strong but it's lvl 17! By that time most enemies will be immune to charm or have legendary resistances and/or magic resistance. Even if they don't they're gonna have +9 to +12 on their saves anyway. It's a very nice support feature but is not broken by the time the cleric gets there. The movement reduction is probably more important but I'd be interested to see if it can be used to cheese mythic encounters...

[ilovethelegend]

Hmm... while I agree that mechanics to play with the concentration mechanic need to be handled carefully, and mind of two moon does make this a very powerful subclass, the only reason I'd say that it's broken is because Hypnotic Pattern, a known encounter-ender, is one of the spells you can dual concentrate on; otherwise, since both of the spells need to be on the domain list, which as you said is kind of just okay, I don't think it's as big a deal as you're making out.

[indigoblacksteel]

When they nerf Hypnotic Pattern and other spells in the new version, I suspect concentration on 2 spells won't be as insane as it is now.

[TTRPGSarvis]

I'm actually about to play this subclass in a campaign starting in a few weeks. I'm not planning on a druid dip, but War Caster and Resilient are definitely on my list of feats to pick up.

I'll get to see how broken it is for myself.

[hy_nano]

I'm starting up a new campaign where I allowed a player to play this. I do have Hypnotic Pattern banned so that massively reduces power level. I think this subclass is very powerful in low encounter days, but pretty fine (with exception to double Hypnotic Pattern) in a proper adventuring day.
I think the problem with this subclass is less the subclass, and more so hypnotic pattern
As for low encounter adventuring days, there's a lot more things which get more broken than this subclass in that environment, so it's not the subclass, but the adventuring day ran.

[Adurnis]

Pack Tactics will be pleased—Blessing of the Blood-Drenched Moon basically turns the target into the old kobold with no sunlight sensitivity!

[aidandunne]

Hot take: Moon domain spells aren't synergetic enough for concentration on two at a time to be an issue.

I think your best bet would be the invisibility and something else? Make you harder to hit and improve your defenses? But it's not THAT synergetic. Is it better than most other options? Yeah. Will it break the game for the DM or other players? Probably not

[fredflintstone]

I dont know about this being broken. It seems quite strong. Way above the other (not broken) cleric subclasses. But I dont know about broken. Though I'm used to DMing, not playing. I've banned Peace and Twi clerics and Silvery Barbs for being too strong, but I'm having trouble seeing this on the same level. Double Hypnotic Pattern is strong, but so is a single Hypnotic Pattern. Maybe I'd need to see it in action. Maybe my players just arent munchkins, but I feel this should be in the high A-tier, not low S-tier.

[logancuster]

Correct me if I’m wrong. But from what I can tell, every single spell on this Domain list is not on the standard Cleric list.

That’s really impressive, and greatly expands the versatility of what a cleric can do in terms of Illusion magic in particular.

Like this isn’t as good as the Trickery Domain list but it’s up there with the best in the game I think.

[ncpolley]

The Moon Domain makes far more thematic sense in the Exandria setting.

[ventrue]

I feel like the issue is the spell list except 5th level spells are really powerful to have that concentration feature. If you look at sth like lunar sorcery they have things that interact with their lunar spells but the spells themselves are not super impactful to make it strong in any way.

[Rolling_with_Hope]

Currently getting ready to play one of these. I don't think the mind of two moons is too broken. It takes two rounds to set up, the list of potential spells is very limited. I think the circumstances where you would want two hypnotic patterns up is pretty circumstantial and is burning through lots of resources to set up until you're high level. Most of the other spell combos are good but not broken good. The 17th level feature is probably too good as a bonus action, but it's 17th Level. It's a good subclass, but I don't think it's too good overall. I'd rate it A not S.