The handiwork of the gods is everywhere - in places of natural beauty, in mighty crusades, in soaring temples, and in the hearts of worshipers. Like people, gods run the gamut from benevolent to malicious, reserved to intrusive, simple to inscrutable. The gods, however, work mostly through intermediaries - their clerics. Good clerics heal, protect, and avenge. Evil clerics pillage, destroy, and sabotage. A cleric uses the power of their god to make their god's will manifest. And if a cleric uses their god's power to improve their own lot, that's to be expected, too.
More than capable of upholding the honor of their deities in battle, clerics often prove stalwart and capable combatants. Their true strength lies in their capability to draw upon the power of their deities, whether to increase their own and their allies’ prowess in battle, to vex their foes with divine magic, or to lend healing to companions in need. As their powers are influenced by their faith, all clerics must focus their worship upon a divine source. While the vast majority of clerics revere a specific deity, a small number dedicate themselves to a divine concept worthy of devotion—such as battle, death, justice, or knowledge—free of a deific abstraction.
Clerics can be of any alignment, but it must be within one step of that of the deity they worship.
Hit Dice
1d8
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light and medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).
- Weapons: All simple weapons, plus the signature weapon of their deity (if they have one).
- Class Skills: Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (histroy) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
- Skill Points Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are features of the Cleric class.
Aura ()
A cleric of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's
Alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). Clerics who don't worship a specific deity but choose the Chaotic, Evil, Good, or Lawful domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding
Alignment.
Deity and Domains
A cleric's deity influences their
Alignment, what magic they can perform, their values, and how others see them. A cleric chooses two
Domains from among those belonging to their deity. A cleric can select an
Alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if their
Alignment matches that domain.
If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, they still select two
Domains to represent their spiritual inclinations and abilities (subject to DM approval). The restriction on
Alignment Domains still applies.
Each domain grants a number of domain powers, dependent upon the level of the cleric, as well as a number of bonus spells. A cleric gains one domain spell slot for each level of cleric spell they can cast, from 1st on up. Each day, a cleric can prepare one of the spells from their two
Domains in that slot. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list, a cleric can prepare it only in their domain spell slot. Domain spells cannot be used to cast spells spontaneously.
In addition, a cleric gains the listed powers from both of their
Domains, if they are of a high enough level. Unless otherwise noted, activating a domain power is a
Standard Action. If a domain power calls for a saving throw, the DC of the save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the cleric’s cleric level + their
Wisdom modifier.
A complete listing of cleric domains can be found here:
Domains.
Spells
A cleric casts divine spells, which are drawn from the
Cleric Spell List. However, their
Alignment may restrict them from casting certain spells opposed to their moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells, below. A cleric must choose and prepare their spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, a cleric must have a
Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the
Spell Level. The
Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a cleric's spell is 10 + the
Spell Level + the cleric's
Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each
Spell Level per day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Cleric. In addition, they receives bonus spells per day if he has a high
Wisdom score.
Each of a cleric's
Domains gives them access to a domain spell at each
Spell Level they can cast, from 1st on up. Clerics have one domain slot at each level, with which they can only prepare spells from their domain's spell lists. If a domain spell is not on the cleric's spell list, that spell can only be prepared in domain slots.
Clerics meditate or pray for their spells. Each cleric must choose a time at which they must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain their daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether a cleric can prepare spells. A cleric may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list, provided that they can cast spells of that level, but they must choose which spells to prepare during their daily meditation.
Spontaneous Casting
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that they did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same
Spell Level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name).
An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric of an evil deity) can’t convert prepared spells to cure spells but can convert them to inflict spells (an inflict spell is one with “inflict” in its name).
A cleric who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can convert spells to either cure spells or inflict spells (player’s choice). Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed. This choice also determines whether the cleric channels positive or negative energy (see channel energy).
Orisons
Clerics can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Cleric under “Spells per day.” These spells are treated like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.
Any cleric, regardless of
Alignment, has the power to affect undead creatures by channeling the power of their faith through their holy (or unholy) symbol.
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) channels positive energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) channels negative energy and can choose to deal damage to living creatures or to heal undead creatures. A neutral cleric of a neutral deity (or one who is not devoted to a particular deity) must choose whether they channel positive or negative energy. Once this choice is made, it cannot be reversed. This decision also determines whether the cleric can cast spontaneous cure or inflict spells (see spontaneous casting).
A cleric may
Channel Energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + their
Charisma modifier.
Bonus Languages
A cleric’s bonus language options include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively). These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of their race.
Divine Proxy
At 20th level, the cleric forges a direct, personal connection to their deity. They know instinctively whether their deity would approve or disapprove of a given course of action or idea (though deities rarely bother to form opinions about overly mundane or trivial events). In addition, they can select an additional domain from the list offered by their deity.
Ex-Clerics
A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by their god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. They cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until they atones for their deeds (see the atonement spell description).
Cleric Variants
Many variations exist that alter or replace aspects of the Cleric class.
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