cleric 101

[Iron Bonny Shades]

need a quicky guide for playing a cleric for my 3.5 game

What advice would you give for a player playing such a character at levels 4.

What about at 9th level?

Come on guys let's get brainstorming

[nodwyck]

What kinda cleric are you playing? A caster, holy warrior or something else?

[venatus]

whats your alingment and deity becasue if your the right alignment with the right deity (if i remember right) 3.5 was the first to allow clerics to both raise and control the undead if you shoose death has your domain

[Iron Bonny Shades]

the cleric has death and magic as domains.

[nodwyck]

So, more of the Caster type cleric then?

You'll probably be channeling negative energy, so remember to prep at least one healing spell for every level and, if you like, Summon Monster spells are great. If you use these, conjuration and necromancy focuses might be in order (or conjuration focus and Augment Summoning).

Good weapon choices for this type cleric are spear (the regulas, or the long one) and spiked chain (I know, it uses up a feat). anything with reach is good. Don't bother with ranged weapons, just a couple javas for emergencies. Stay in the back (even if you take up the heaviest armor money can buy), and if somebody comes a-calling, use inflict wounds as the weapon of choice, then that nasty death touch you have as domain power.

Stats: Really a no-brainer. Priority in wisdom, then con and cha in the order of your personal preference. The crappy one goes to dex. You don't have to worry about encumbrance, at least is you go for the tin man look. Initiative isn't a concern - you don't lose much even if you lose initiative. Max out concentration (very important), and if you're not satisfied with your CON score, take up the combat casting feat. 5 ranks of Knowledge [religion] gives your undead turning check a +2 boost, and if you don't like your CHA score, get a friendly wizard to make a circlet of persuasion for you (+3 to all CHA related checks for 4.5k gold is a bargain). Heal is a good skill to have, and if you need any justification, it's anatomy studies for ya. Moreover, it leaves more spell slots for something less useless than healing (your healing check can be used as a poison or disease save, if you use the skill).

You'll be wanting a 3rd domain by the time you're at level 9. Check for prestige classes like Divine Disciple (FRCS), but remember that most prestiges do not advance in turning/rebuking undead. And, as death priests go, you want the maximum amount of power you can have, so choose one with a good domain power (you still get only one domain spell per day per level).

Nothing much has changed from 3.0 to 3.5 edition, except for spells. Spells have been pushed around a lot, making your old and trusty 3.0 PHB pretty useless there.

Party boosting spells make everybody happy, so prayer, recitation, protection from alignment and all that are still trendy, but if you are a conjuror-type, you'll be wanting your critters to get the boost too. So summon first, boost second. You can always convert healing spells to inflict spells if the need arises.

If you're going for a melee type priest, you might want to consider taking feats like power attack (maybe cleave), extra turning, improved toughness (CW) and some divine feats like Divine might. With precious few feats, don't bother with weapon foci. If you want those divine feats, you'll still be wanting your charisma as high as possible, even higher than wisdom. But that's another rant.

[ShonenSenshiDave]

1. Extra turning. Depending on your alignment, you can either zap the undead away, or make em your friends. Either way, keep the Cha score at a decent level.

2. Who's your Diety? When I see Death and Magic, I immediately think of Wee Jas. Either way, this may impact your weapon of choice, since to give more flavor to the game each Deity has a weapon of choice, and hers would be a dagger.

3. Consider going with light or medium armour and get some ranks in Hide and Move Silently. Great for tossing around the touch attack spells such as inflict wounds on the sly. I know that clerics can get the best armour, but it may be worth the sacrifice to have a bit of fun.

4. Speaking of which, what is your cleric's flavor? Is it a gruesome, dead raising type or is the death domain related to your role as a cleric (ie: presiding over funerals, running rituals to honour the dearly departed and cataloguing their knowledge)? Thats certainly going to have an impact. Or is it an undead hunter? Again, lots of different flavors here for a cleric with these domains to play...

Skills:
the basics: Spellcraft, Concentration, Heal (depending on if the char is not a dead raising freak), Kn (Religion), Kn (Arcana). Perhaps Kn (Planes), focusing on the Negative Energy Plane.

Feats: Extra Turning. Perhaps an Item Creation Feat to help protect against the undead. No matter what the flavor, you'll be the one dealing with the undead the most, so it's worth investing the time and money at higherlevels to craft a ring, for example, to protect you from negative energy. Or a wand of [insert spell] to help zap the suckers. I think you see where I'm going with this one...

Please give more info on what you want this character to be, and I can give more details back

[Iron Bonny Shades]

here's a few threads I've made on the topic, when I was inquiring on behalf of another character

Wizards
boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=172233

Mortality.net
mortality.net/board/read.php?TID=8322

[Iron Bonny Shades]

Cleric 101

The holy man of dnd is probably one of the hardest to roleplay and use within dungeons and dragons. It is easily the least represented of the various classes in fantasy fiction. Fighter types have examples of arragon, the knights of the grail, madmartigan, zorro, and the musketeers of fiction. Wizards have merlin, gandalf, and medea. Even the scoundral rogue has such excellent examples as bilbo and the grey mouser. But the concept of the cleric is for the most part a fabrication of the system itself. It has given “stats” to organized religion, for good or ill, which is often not properly protrayed by the faiths that they are based on. Earlier editions drew heavily on christianity for it’s concepts, ranging from such biblical examples as jesus, and the knight templars. In 3rd edition, there was a serious attempt to diversify this unusual class. In this article we attempt to break down this class and make it easier for people to play this class.

Cleric an Overview.

What is a cleric? Webster’s dictionary gives the following as a definition:

A member of the clergy

Alright, that’s not very helpful, let’s look up clergy:

A group ordained to perform pastoral or sacerdotal functions in a Christian church

So, removing the Christian from the phrase, what are we left with.

A individual who is part of a religious organization and has accepted responsibilities within it.

That’s good for a start, but it misses one key function.

That the clergy are “blessed” as a conduit for his particular entity.

So in all decisions, one must consider what is best for his god, and his religious order. Note that it is possible for even lawful good organizations to end up in bitter rivalrys so while it has a component of blind faith, it also includes a great degree of critical thinking to balance what’s best for the party, his god, and the order he belongs to. And the later two aren’t always interchangable.

Pick a God, any God…

Before one can suggest weapons, feats, spells, powers and the like, one must select a entity to worship to follow. While one can follow a philosophy (such as good) or a force (such as the sun) and still retain powers, the cleric gets most interesting when following an actual entity.

Before you select a god for the cleric. Remember one thing.

PICK ONE THAT WON’T CLASH TOO MUCH WITH THE PARTY. Now it’s okay to have one’s own objectives that are different then a party, and even one that may eventually betray the party in the name of his (or her) god, if your fellow party members are fighting tooth and nail to get you on the same game page, nobody will have fun.

Thus don’t worship that kewl death/war god if your party is a bunch of goody goodies. Conversely a cleric that is too holier then thou will be a serious pain in the butt in a group of less then ethical adventurers. Or at least, don’t go crying to the gm if you feel your words are being ignored. And while a pacifist cleric might be fun for an experienced player, for a novice you would probably not enjoy yourself.

Now there is an easy way to figure out what sort of priest would be useful. Ask the GM. He will be able to narrow down the choices and suggest a few. Also look at your party and see what they would need in their time and need.

Note that this doesn’t mean that you’re a mindless automaton of your god. Using the example of christianity, St. Jeanne de Valois, Moses, Friar Tuck, and Hugues de Payens are all examples of clerics, but all have their own personalities and styles . Realize that there are many ways to accomplish your god’s work. Also, some of the most divine have some rather unusual quirks. Use these to help flesh out your cleric and make him (or her) stick out.

Clerics and their world.

Also, more then any other player, you need to bone up on the gaming world. A cleric rarely exists in a vaccum, and it would be nice to know who and where you can turn to within your organization when you need help, as well as which areas to avoid to avoid being burned as a heretic. Also learn which places are holy and sacred sites and occasionally steer the party towards such sites, especially if it will help with a particular quest.

The Clerical Concepts

Now it is no coincidence that I selected the four examples above. Each represents a facet that the cleric can represent.

St. Jeanne de Valois represents a cleric of healing. Also known as the living medkit, the main function of a cleric like this is to be able to cure and heal the party using both spells, skills and other abilities. It can also be used for defending ones protectorites by using one’s spells. Namely it includes a defensive view of the world.

Moses represents a more smiting cleric. He channels his entities power to inflict his gods wrath upon his enemies. This type of cleric uses his spells and powers to blast enemies of his faith and self.

Friar tuck is more of a “diplomatic cleric.” Even though outside of his order, he often acted as a go between between different people and faiths. He (or she) is often a politician at heart. Note that this doesn’t just include the sentient races either. It can include animals, plants and extradimentional forces as well.

Finally, we get to Hugues de Payens who is the archtype for a “fighting cleric”. He wades into combat and swings a stout weapon at the unbeliever. Often spells and other special abilities are cast on oneself to enhance their combat capabilities.

Now realize that with the cleric, that it is possible to fullfill all of these functions within the party. However, it often makes building a character easier by taking one of these as a basis. Specialization makes it easier to define your role within a party. It also allows for a few dropped jaws when you do something a little different then your traditional role. All further explainations will use these four classifications.

The standard building setup: By deciding these things first, it makes the rest of the questions much easier. We now work down the standard progression

Attributes: A high Wisdom is almost always universal across the board, for it is the bases of your spells. However, a high charisma is also useful for divine powers and diplomacy (if you following the diplomatic style priest). A good strength is useful for force of arms and intelligence would be good for skills. Constitution is okay, but most useful for a fighting cleric, for the clerics hit points are pretty good. Dex is probably the weakest of the stats, but it might be more useful for a more sneaky cleric.

Here is a list of descending priorities based on clerical archtypes.

Healing Cleric: Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma, Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity.

Smiting Cleric: Wisdom, Charisma, Constitution, Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity.

Diplomatic Cleric: Wisdom, Charisma, Intelligence, Constitution, Dexterity and Strength.

Fighting Cleric: Wisdom, Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Charisma, and intelligence. In some cases, it may be preferable to swap wisdom for strength, but do realize that this comes with a loss of spell power.

Race: Again some races are better at some archtypes at others. However, the following are only suggestions:

Human: The extra feat can help with any of the archtypes, especially fighting and smiting. However, the extra skill points really help with diplomatic clerics.

Dwarf: The nature of dwavern culture tends to give a polarized view of the world. As a result, Dwaves make good smiting and fighting clerics.

Elf: Elves aren’t often clerics, but when they are, they are most often healing and diplomatic clerics. However, some pro-elf zealots are common within their society, and often their smiting clerics are of elven gods.

Gnome: The nature of gnomish society is practical jokes and good humor. Often a diplomatic cleric is the best choice

Half-Elf: With their bonuses to diplomacy and to seen as connected, yet an outsider, a diplomatic cleric is an excellent choice for a half elf.

Half:-Orc: The obvious choice with their physical bonuses is a fighting cleric. While the charisma penalty reduces their communicating and turning ability, a smiting priest might be good as well.

Halfling: Since Halflings think defensively and on comfort, so healing cleric is the logical choice.

[Iron Bonny Shades]

Powers/special abilities: Besides spells, the main powers is the ability to spontaneous casting and turn/rebuke undead.

If working within a group, spontaneous healing is probably the better of the two choices, for it frees up your spell slots to do other stuff, yet allows you to heal your party members. However, if your going for a smiting cleric, spontaneous harm may be more suitable, especially if spellcasting feats are used.

Turning undead is oddly of limited use, but very effective when it is used against the undead. On the other hand rebuking undead is extremely useful, for it allows one to use their own weapons against them. It also gives the ability to use undead as “polish mindsweepers” to fall to traps and ambushes on behalf of your party. This is one of the reasons why clerics often make more effective necromancers then wizards.

Feats: Despite the few proficiencies, these often determine the capabilities of the cleric. One of my favorite abilities is that of reach spell. It allows your spontaneous heal or harm spells to be cast at a distance, which is useful when you are not at your best. It also is pretty to hit, because the cleric has one of the best base attacks in the game. However, do not take it until 4th level, for it will be useless till then.

Other metaspell feats that are useful are empower spell (for smiting mostly), enlarge (for increasing a defensive area) and extend spell (for increasing duration of protections and enhancements), when your cleric gets to the higher levels

Also, you might want to take a feat that allows you to use your turn/rebuke check in another manner, but only if your charisma is high, as it is often dependent on it. If you take it, you may consider taking extra turning at a later level.

Fighting clerics may want to select the smaller feat trees available for fighter (power attack remains a favorite), or divine might (to use those turnings in a more offensive manner).

Item creation is also useful for spreading for decentralizing the healing capabilities of a party. A wand of cure light wounds if created is cheaper per healing then a potion, but should be carried by another member, with the rogue being the prefered in a typical 4 person party (fighter, mage, cleric, thief). This is because he is the most likely to sneak away and usually has use magic device which can use the wand in a pinch (but the first option is still to return your wand in such cases). Creating scrolls are also useful for "utility spells" that you don't need too often, but when you absolutely need it when it is required. potions are pricy, but can be used by anyone, so use them as a final back up alternative. If you must make potions, give them to the fighters and mages, in that order of preference.

Skills: Clerics have few skill points, so one must be selective of one takes. Concentration is imperative for casting spells in the heat of battle, for one day your comrades will depend on it. 5 ranks of Knowledge [religion] gives your undead turning check a +2 boost and also helps with your knowledge of your own faith and it’s “secrets” as well as knowledge of other religions. Healing is useful if your playing a cleric of healing and to save up spell slots for other work, Spellcraft can be useful, but is often superflueous if you have a wizard in the party that already has the skill (check with party). If you have any points left (a rarity), the knowledges are a good place to put them (arcana and planes are a favorite).

Weapon: The obvious choice is the chosen weapon of the deity. Often this gives a reason to take the war domain, for they will receive this feat free, which is usually a good martial or exotic weapon if from a war god. However, even if one doesn’t there are a number of options.

The morningstar is often the primary weapon, for it is big and does reasonable amounts of damage, and can be used with a shield. It also is 2 pounds lighter and 4 gp cheaper then a heavy mace, yet has identical stats, so it is a good way to save a bit of weight and money.

If one doesn’t intend to use a shield, a spear is a good choice, for it give reach, can be set for charges and can be thrown.

When it comes to ranged attacks, a light crossbow is probably the best choice, for it balences damage, range with ease of use. However a sling is also a good choice, for you might be able to convince the gm that it can throw small vials, allowing extended range of holy water and greek fire. It also can be fairly cheap to find ammo.

Now that the “no edged weapon” has been lifted, It is almost essential to have a dagger as a utilarian tool and a back up weapon

Armor: Because clerics often have dex as their lowest stat, it is critical that the cleric has good armor. For the most part, the cleric armor should only be limited by his funds and his strength. Even if there is a hit on speed, the extra armor may protect you when healing your comrades in a hostile environment. A shield is also useful for both protecting yourself and injured comrades. It may also be used as a focus (gm’s choice), if the far side has the symbol of the god on it.

Equipment: No Cleric doesn’t start with a holy symbol. It is the focus for the majority of your spells and is small and easy to carry. It also should be made of a fairly sturdy material to insure

Other then that, the idea is to travel light. The cleric isn’t as strong as the fighter, and often is wearing equally as heavy armor. Carry the traditional backpack, waterskin, whetstone, and flint and steel, and little else. Rations may not be necessary, if your willing to use a spell slot to create food. Same thing with Lighting gear.

[Iron Bonny Shades]

Spells: The overwhelming majority of spells of the cleric are often indirect and or support. However there are a number of spells that are useful for each of the four roles

Healing Cleric:

0th level – guidance, resistance, purify food and drink, read magic, virtue

1st level – Endure elements, Entrophic shield, Protection from chaos/evil/good/law, remove fear, shield of faith

2nd level – calm emotions, delay poison, lesser restoration, resist energy, shield other

3rd level - magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, remove curse, remove blindness/deafness, remove disease, protection from energy, wind wall

4th level – death ward, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, spell immunity, dismissal, restoration

5th level – atonement, dispel chaos/evil/good/law, spell resistance, break enchantment, raise dead

6th level – anti-life shell, banishment, find the path, greater gylph of warding, heros feast.

7th level – greater restoration, repulsion, resurection, regenerate

8th level – anti-magic field, cloak of chaos/evil/good/law aura, greater spell immunity

9th level – atral projection, etherealness, mass heal, miracle, true resurection

Also don’t forget the various cure spells, if you cannot spontaneously cast them.

Smiting Cleric:

0th level – inflict minor wounds, resistance, virtue

1st level – bane, cause fear, inflict light wounds, sanctuary

2nd level – inflict moderate wounds, shatter.

3rd level - bestow curse, contagion, blindness/deafness, searing light

4th level – giant vermin, poison, summon monster IV

5th level – flame strike, slay living, symbol of pain.

6th level – blade barrier, undeath to death

7th level – destruction, blasphemy, dictum/holy word/word of chaos/

8th level – earthquake, firestorm

9th level – energy drain, implosion, storm of vengence.


Diplomatic Cleric:

0th level – create water, detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic

1st level – comprehend language3s, death watch, Protection from chaos/evil/good/law, remove fear

2nd level – calm emotions, eagle’s splendor, owl’s wisdom, zone of truth

3rd level - create food and water, empowered owl’s wisdom, locate object, helping hand, speak with dead

4th level – discern lies, divinition, sending, tongues

5th level – atonement, commune, greater command, mark of justice

6th level – geas/quest, heros’ feast, mass eagles splendor, symbol of persuation

7th level – greater scrying, refugee, repulsion

8th level – antimagic field, greater planar ally, discern location, symbol of insanity

9th level – astral projection, miracle, true resurection.

Warrior Cleric:

0th level – guidence, virtue, resistance

1st level – bless, divine favor, magic stone, protection from Protection from chaos/evil/good/law, sanctuary, shield of faith

2nd level – Aid, align weapon, bull’s strength, death knell, shatter, shield other, spiritual weapon

3rd level - bestow curse, blindness/deafness, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, magic vestiment, prayer, protection from energy, searing light

4th level – death ward, divine power, greater magic weapon, holy smite

5th level – dispel chaos/evil/good/law, disrupting weapon, insect plague, righteous might, spell resistance

6th level – animate objects, blad barriers, heros feast, mass bear’s endurance, mass bull’s strength, symbol of fear

7th level – destruction, repulsion, greater restoration, empowered mass bull’s strength

8th level – antimagic field, cloak of chaos, earthquake, firestorm, holy aura/shield of law/unholy aura, greater spell immunity, symbol of death

9th level – energy drain, implosion, miracle, storm of vengence, summon monster IX, true resurection.

Spells of note

Create water is one of the most useful spells in the game. Besides saving your party from thirst, it is good for determining slants, cleaning up gunk, fungus and slimes, and distracting people with gouts of water. Also, never forget the phrase "slippery when wet." Also in cold temperatures, the water can be frozen into ice fairly quickly.

Glyph of warding: This spell can be put on portable objects that can be closed (such as clay jugs and glass vials), and used as missile weapons. If you can add something to the container to enhance them (greek fire + fire glyph). Go for it.


Domains:

The following domains are useful to the particular specialists of the cleric.

Healing Cleric: The most obvious one to take is that of healing. Earth is often useful in putting large objects between yourself and the party. And a good sense of luck often helps have things turn your way. Plant is also helpful for restricting actions and helping with herbal remedies. Magic is good for turning the spells of those spell casters for naught.

Smiting Cleric: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Fire have tremendous offensive abilities. Good and evil are often chosen to help reinforce the polarized world view of the smiting cleric. Sun is good for a blend of protective and offensive spells.

Diplomatic Cleric: Knowledge and Law are crucial for influencing and obtaining knowledge for politiking. Animal is good for transacting with the animal world. Travel is good for getting from one area to the next without being hampered too much. Trickery is also good for convicing people of things. Water can be used for protection and misdirection.

Fighting Cleric: War is the obvious choice for bringing the power of one's god. Protection is good for preventing your enemies weapons from hurting you, strength is good for increasing one's power in combat.

Prestige Classes: Although Prestige classes are fairly common, you should always ask yourself two things.

1. Would it fit my god – not all prestige classes are useful.
2. Would it fit my character

Also try to select a prestige classes that adds spell levels to your cleric, unless your emphasizing your combat capabilities.

Miscellaneous:

While playing a fighting cleric, you might be able to enhance your capabilities to being superior to a fighter, it will only be for a limited duration. Choose that time wisely.

An idea I have heard along my travels is the idea of a stealth priest. Basically a neutral or evil priest that has taken the trickery domain, wears considerably lighter armor then normal, and puts most of his points in move silently and hide, and takes the reach spell feat to cast harm spells from a hidden location. He often takes silent spell shortly afterwards to disguise his (or her position).

Clerics make better Necromancers then wizards. Besides the turning/rebuking ability, many of the spells are associated directly with life and death. They also can cast “undead enhancement” abilities on their undead.

Another scarry concept is that of an missiler cleric. Either using a light crossbow , or the missile weapon of their god (such as a long bow for Corellon Larethian
), and using enhancement magic, one can be one of the most potent missilers in the game.