In the Basics of the Cleric guide, I talked about 1st level cleric spells. This time, I'm going to look at spells of 2nd to 4th levels. As usual, this guide will only look at the PHB. Also, there are a lot of good spells, and I'm covering multiple levels here, so I'm going to mostly focus on some of the best spells of each level, and at the end I will mention a few other spells worth mentioning.
Spiritual Weapon
I have always known how good this spell is, but it wasn't until I started preparing this guide that I re-read the spell's description and realized it's more awesome than I thought it was.
Spiritual weapon is a 2nd level cleric spell, which means a cleric gains access to this spell once they reach level 3. Honestly, sometimes I wished WotC didn't use "level" for every damn thing.
Spiritual weapon is a purely offensive spell, a rarity for clerics. Clerics typically use their spells to enhance the party or heal, but spiritual weapon is a pure blast spell, but it's better than just a blast spell. When you cast this spell, you create a weapon of pure force energy based on your deity or your alignment. Regardless of the shape of the weapon, the spiritual weapon deals 1d8 damage +1 per three caster levels up to a maximum of +5. However, it has the same critical range and multiplier of a normal weapon of its type, so creating a sword gives you a 19-20 critical range, or if you are a cleric of Nerull, you get a scythe for an x4 critical.
Unlike a normal weapon, the spiritual weapon isn't wielded by the caster, it is a ranged spell. The weapon floats and acts on its own, directed by you. It uses your own base attack bonus, and gets multiple attacks per round if you would, but it doesn't use your strength bonus, but your wisdom bonus. The weapon lasts for one round per caster level. It only makes one attack when it targets a new opponent, but after that it makes its full number of attacks each round. You must use a move action to choose a new target.
Now, spiritual weapon allows a spell resistance. The first time the weapon attacks a creature with SR, you make your caster level check. If you fail, the weapon is dispelled. If you succeed, the weapon overcomes that creature's resistance for the duration of the spell.
Being a force effect, spiritual weapon strikes incorporeal creatures ignoring the incorporeal miss chance, and ignores damage reduction.
Unfortunately, spiritual weapon does not benefit from flanking or grant flanking bonuses.
Every cleric should prepare spiritual weapon at least once per day, and if you have access to the war domain, it can fill your 2nd level domain slot. This is quite possibly the best blast spell available to a cleric at this level. It's my favorite type of blast: a blast that can do damage multiple times. Plus it ignores DR and incorporeal? Amazing.
Lesser Restoration
I'm not going to spend much time on this spell. It's a 2nd level cleric spell that can dispel an attribute penalty or heal 1d4 attribute damage. This is a must-take when you know you're facing undead, but can also counteract the effects of a ray of enfeeblement.
Aid
Another good 2nd level spell. Aid can only affect a single creature and has a touch range. Use it on your fighter or yourself if you're a front-line cleric. Aid grants a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear, so it doesn't stack with other morale bonuses, but it also grants temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your caster level (up to a maximum of 1d8+10.) Aid lasts for one minute per caster level, so cast it before going into a fight to give your front-line an extra buffer of hit points so you don't have to worry about healing as much. You could also use aid on your sorcerer/wizard if you are worried about them getting hit in the next fight, however the +1 attack bonus won't matter as much.
Create Food and Water
A great 3rd level spell. Has the party run out of rations? Do you want to put farmers out of work? This is the spell for you. Casting this spell once creates enough food and water to sustain three humans (or a single horse) for 24 hours... per caster level! This is a 3rd level spell, so when you get it, you'll be a level 5 cleric, meaning you cast this once and create enough food to feed 15 people! Granted, the spell's description says the food is bland, but nourishing, and if the food isn't consumed with 24 hours it spoils... unless you also cast purify food and water. Even still, a single cleric of level 5 could prepare this up to twice per day to feed 30 people every day. A level 6 cleric can prepare this up to three times per day and feed 54 people! Seriously, if there was ever a spell that could upset an economy, this is it. Yes, the food is bland, but a couple of clerics can wipe out hunger in a poor village, easily.
Alright, I'm obviously poking fun at D&D a bit here, but this really is a good spell for long adventures. Not one you'll prep all the time, mind you, but if the party runs out of rations, that's no problem, you can feed them all with enough left over for mounts, animal companions, beasts of burden, etc.
Prayer
This spell only lasts for one round per level, but it grants a luck bonus to attack, weapon damage, saves, and skills, and all enemies within the area take a -1 penalty to those rolls. What's better? The spell doesn't allow a save! Spell resistance applies, but not saves.
Freedom of Movement
This 4th level cleric spell is a "get out of grapple free" card, however it also lets you ignore entanglement, moving underwater, magic that would hinder movement such as the slow and web spells, it even lets you use slashing and bludgeoning weapons normally underwater. It lasts for 10 minutes per caster level, but can only target one creature at a time and has a touch range.
How to Stack Buffs
Cast bless and prayer, bless grants a morale bonus, prayer a luck bonus. You want to cast bless before a fight, if possible, it lasts for one minute per level, while prayer lasts for one round per level and you want to catch enemies in its area. Cast magic circle (hope you choose the right alignment) to grant everyone within 10 feet of you a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus to saves against that alignment. Finally, use freedom of movement on any party member you need to ensure maintains their mobility.
What if you just want to buff yourself? Well, swap bless for aid, since aid hits only one creature and grants a morale bonus, so it wouldn't stack with bless anyway. You can use protection instead of magic circle. Use divine favor and divine power, and cast prayer once you get into combat. With all of this, you have a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves against fear, a +3 luck bonus on attacks and weapon damage, a +1 luck bonus on skills and saves, a +2 deflection bonus to AC, a +2 resistance bonus to saves, a +6 enhancement bonus to strength, temporary hit points equal to your caster level, and the base attack bonus of a fighter. Also, any enemies too close to you when you cast prayer also have a -1 penalty to attacks, damage, skills, and saves.
Assuming a caster level of 9 (minimum to cast 4th level cleric spells) and we'll assume only a 10 strength to make things easy, and you have:
A base attack bonus of +9/+4
A total melee attack bonus of +16/+11
Your melee attacks deal +6 damage
You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8+9 (and if you wait until you lose some before casting divine power, you'll get 9 more from that spell)
Plus you'll gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC (which stacks with magic armor, because that grants an enhancement bonus, but doesn't stack with rings of protection), a +2 resistance bonus to saves (doesn't stack with a cloak of resistance, but you could wear a cloak of charisma instead to improve your turning ability) and a +1 luck bonus to saves, and a +1 morale bonus to saves (only against fear).
With the above spells cast at the right time, you could turn your cleric into a temporary tank.
Now I'll give some quick notes on a few other noteworthy spells.
Bull's strength, bear's endurance, eagles's splendor, and owl's wisdom: These are all excellent buff spells at low levels, but do not stack with magic items that grant enhancement bonuses to those attributes. However, since the cleric can change their spell's every day, you can freely prepare these if you want before your party has such magic items, and unlike the wizard, who could also do this, the wizard only learns a few spells from the entire list of arcane spells, while the cleric can freely prepare from the entire cleric list, which means spells such as these are better suited for the cleric so the wizard's spell choices aren't wasted once the party gains items with permanent bonuses.
Resist energy: If you know you're about to fight a dragon or an elemental, this is great, otherwise, this spell may go unused. When you prepare the spell, you don't have to choose which type of energy, only when you cast it, so you don't need to know what you're going to be facing, only that you're going to encounter one of these damage types.
Silence: Multiple party members automatically succeed at move silently. Hope you have worked out nonverbal communication.
Stone shape: A great, versatile spell, so long as you're not on a boat or inside a wooden building. There are a lot of uses for this spell, but if your party contains a druid, it may be better to let them worry about this so you can focus on spells they don't have access to.
Protection from energy: I want to like this spell, but I don't feel it's that good. It's one spell level higher than resist energy, but it makes you completely immune to the energy type you chose, until it has stopped a total of 12 points of damage per caster level, up to a maximum of 120 damage. I don't know, I'd rather have resist energy, which grants you 10, 20, or 30 resistance to the chosen energy type. Both spells have the same duration, but protection is eventually discharged once it blocks its limit. I guess it's a matter of preference. If a 7th level cleric were protecting you, would you rather have resistance 20 for 70 minutes, or be immune until the spell blocked 84 damage? I feel like the cleric can often do better things with their 3rd level slots.
Magic weapon and magic vestment: These spells make your weapon or armor magic, giving it an enhancement bonus. These are fine spells until you actually have magic weapons and armor, at which point you won't be using these any more.
Lesser planar ally: Here's a big one. You can summon an elemental or outsider of up to 6 HD and you give it a task to complete. This spell has a 10 minute casting time, so not something you'll do in combat, this is a spell you use to prepare for a situation. According to the spell's description, you don't get to choose the creature you summon unless you know the name of the specific creature you want, and this spell only summons creatures of your alignment. It even says if you try to call a specific creature, you might still get a different one, so this spell is basically "hey, GM, help us out here, what will you send us?" You ask the creature to perform a task, and you must be able to communicate with the creature, so you'd better hope you share a language with it. Unlike a normal summon, the creature is actually present, so it doesn't unsummon if defeated, it can actually be killed. However, the spell has no time limit. The creature will require a payment for its service which must be made before it does what you asked, which is typically dependent upon the danger of the task, how closely it follows the creature's alignment, and how long it will take, and this is in addition to a 100xp component cost of the spell, so you must cast this spell in a place where you will be capable of paying the cost the creature demands, because these costs could be a donation to the temple, paying the creature directly, or performing a task in exchange for its service, and if you are unable to do so, or are unable to come to an agreement, then you get NOTHING from this spell! Effectively, it is possible to burn a 4th level spell slot and 100xp and get nothing in return. However, it is also possible to have a 6 HD creature running around doing you a favor, so there's that. This spell is entirely up to your GM and yourself to negotiate.
If you choose and use your spells carefully, you will hopefully be casting the spells you want to cast more so than converting them to healing.
