Cleric

The cleric is the most common type of priest, a suitable representative for a variety of deities, not a single deity. Clerics are sturdy soldiers with formidable spell powers, defenders of the faith and proselytizers. Overall, they are the most versatile and well-rounded priest characters. Clerics with Wisdom scores of 16 or better earn a +10% bonus to their experience gained. Clerics may be of any alignment acceptable to their patron deities.

Clerics have Major Access to only three spheres (one must be All; the other two are player's choice) and Minor Access to two spheres (player's choice). The player must choose his four sphere options when the Cleric is first created (or converted it may not be changed afterwards. Each Cleric may choose a different set of spheres.

Clerics retain all the powers and abilities described in the Player's Handbook. They may wear any armor and use any wholly Type B (bludgeoning) weapon. (No combination weapon types are allowed.) They may also wield a variety of magical items. Clerics turn undead and attract followers as described in the PHB. At 9th level, a cleric may receive permission from his or her order to establish a religious stronghold and govem it in the name of the faith.

Clerics are sturdy soldiers, although their selection of weapons is limited. They can wear any type of armor and use any shield. Standard clerics, being reluctant to shed blood or spread violence, are allowed to use only blunt , bludgeoning weapons. They can use a fair number of magical items including clerical scrolls, most potions and rings, some wands and rods, staves, armor, shields, and magical versions of any weapons allowed by their order.

The cleric receives his spells as insight directly from his deity (the deity does not need to make a personal appearance to grant the spells the cleric prays for), as a sign of and reward for his faith, so he must take care not to abuse his power lest it be taken away as punishment.

The cleric is also granted power over undead - evil creatures that exist in a form of non-life, neither dead nor alive. The cleric is charged with defeating these mockeries of life. His ability to tum undead enables him to drive away these creattures or destroy them utterly (though a cleric of evil alignment can bind the creatures to his will). Some of the more common undead creatures are ghosts, zombies, skeletons, ghouls, and mummies. Vampires and liches (undead sorcerers) are two of the most powerful undead.

As a cleric advances in level. he gains additional spells, better combat skills, and a stronger turning ability. Upon reaching 8th level, the cleric automatically attracts a fanatically loyal group of believers, provided the character has established a place of worship of significant size. The cleric can build this place of worship at any time during his career, but he does not attract believers until he reaches 8th level. These followers are normal warriors, 0-level soldiers, ready to fight for the cleric's cause. The cleric attracts 20 to 200 of these followers; they arrive over a period of several weeks. After the initial followers assemble, no new followers trickle in to fill the ranks of those who have fallen in service. The DM decides the exact number and types of followers attracted by the cleric. The character can hire other troops as needed, but these are not as loyal as his followers.

It's good to remember that the priest's followers, are not mere spear-carriers or meat for the monsters. They haven't shown up so that they can be thrown to the jaws of dragons in order to give the priest more time to get away. They've shown up to serve the god and the priest.

These followers should be given names and personalities, and as explained above, the priest will get fewer and fewer replacements if he wastes the followers he has.

This is a sign that the priest cannot act with utter impunity. He is dependent on the good will of his god, and his god will not look kindly on a priest who brings about the deaths of other followers of the god. The god who says, "Yes, my son, kill off my other followers so that you can have more gold" is a foolish god indeed.

At 9th level, the cleric may receive official approval to establish a religious stronghold, be it a fortified abbey or a secluded convent.

Obviously, the stronghold must contain all the trappings of a place of worship and must be dedicated to the service of the cleric's cause. However, the construction cost of the stronghold is half the normal price, since the work has official sanction and much of the labor is donated. The cleric can hold property and build a stronghold anytime before reaching 9th level, but this is done without church sanction and does not receive the benefits described above.

Requirements: Wisdom 9
Prime Requisite: Wisdom
Races Allowed: All

The cleric class is similar to certain religious orders of knighthood of the Middle Ages: the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Templars, and Hospitalers. These orders combined military and religious training with a code of protection and service. Members were trained as knights and devoted themselves to the service of the church. These orders were frequently found on the outer edges of the Christian world. either on the fringe of the wilderness or in war-torn lands. Archbishop Turpin (of The Song of Roland) is an example of such a cleric. Similar orders can also be found in other lands, such as the sohei of Japan.