| Classes - Cleric |
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The handiwork of the gods is everywhere, in places of natural
beauty and 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 h is god to make his god’s will
manifest. And if a cleric uses his god’s power to improve
his own lot, that’s to be expected, too.
Adventures: Ideally, a cleric's adventures support his god's
causes, at least in a general way. A good cleric, for example
helps those in need. If, though noble acts, he can bring a good
&nbpb;reputation to his god or temple, that's even better. An evil
cleric seeks to increase the power of himself and his deity, so
that others will respect and fear him. Clerics sometimes recieve
orders, or at least suggestions, from their ecclesatical superiors,
directing them to undertake missions for the church. They and their
companions are compensated fairly for these missions, and the
church may be especially generous with casting spells or divine
magic items as payments. Of course, clerics are people to, and
they may have all the more common motivations for adventuring.
Characteristics: Clercs are masters of divine magic. Divine
magic. is especially good at healing. Even an inexperienced
cleric can bring people back from the brink of death, and an
experienced clerc can even bring back people who have crossed
over that brink. As Channelers of divine energy, clerics can
turn away or even destroy undead creatures. An evil cleric,
on the other hand, can bring undead under his control.
Alignment: Like the Gods they serve, clerics can be of any
alignment. Because people more readily worship good deities
than neutral or evil deities, good clerics are more
numerous that evil ones. Clerics also tend toward law
instead of chaos, since lawful religions tend to be
more structured and better able to recruit and train clerics.
Typically, a cleric is the same alignment as his deity,
though some clerics are "one step" away from their respective
deities. For Example, most clerics of Heironeous, god of valor
(who is lawful good) are lawful good themselves, but some are
lawful neutral or neutral good. Additionally, a cleric may not
be neutral unless his deity is neutral. Exceptions are the
cleris of St. Cuthbert (a lawful neutral deity), who may
only be lawful good or lawful neutral.
Background: Most clerics are offically ordained members
of religious organizations, commonly called churches. Each
has sworn to upholds the ideals of his or her church. Most
clerics join their churches as young adults, though some feel
themselves devoted to a god's service from a young age and a
few feel "the call" later in life. While some clerics are
tightly bound to their churches' activities on a daily basis,
others have more free rein to conduct their lives, as long as
they do so in accordance with their god's wishes.
::Game Rule Information::
Clerics have the following game statistics:
Abilities: Wisdom determines how powerful a spell a cleric
can cast, how many spells the cleric can cast per day, and how
hard those spells are to resist. A high Constitution improves a
cleric's hit points, and a h igh Charisma improves his ability
to turn undead.
Class Features:
Armor and Weapon Proficiency: Clerics are proficient with
all simple weapons. Clerics are proficient with all types of armor
(light, medium, and heavy) and with shields.
Spells: The Cleric may prepare and cast any spell on the
cleric spell list, provided he can cast spells of that level.
Clerics do not aquire their spells from books or scrolls, not
prepare them through study. Instead, they meditate or pray
for their spells, receiving them through their own strength
of faith or as divine inspiration. Each cleric must choose
a time at which he must spend an hour each day in quiet
contemplation or supplication to regain his daily allotment
of spells (typically, this hour is at dawn for good clerics
and at dusk or midnight for evil clerics.) Time spent resting
has no effect on whether a cleric can prepare spells. In
addition to h is standard spellsm a cleric gets one domain
spell of each spell level, starting at 1st.
Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells: Choose a deity for
your Cleric. The cleric's deity influences his alignment,
what magic he can perform, his values, and how others see
him.
When you have chosen a deity and an alignment
for your cleric, choose two from among the deity's
domains for your cleric's domains. While the clerics
of a particularreligion are united in their reverance
for their deity, each religion encompasses different
aspects. You can only select an alignment domain (such
as Good) for your Cleric if his alignment matches that
domain.
Spontaneous Casting: Good Clerics (and neutral clerics
of good deities) can channel stored spell energy into
healing spells that they haven't prepared ahead of time.
The cleric can "lose" a prepared spell in order to cast
any cure spell of the same level or lower. A cleric
who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither
good nor evil can convert spells to cure spells or
to inflict spells (player's choice), depending on
whether the cleric is more proficient at wielding positive
or negative energy. Once the plater makes this choice, it
cannot be reversed. This choice is also determines whether
the neutral cleric turns or commands undead. A cleric can't
use spontaneous casting to convert domain spells into cure
or inflict spells. These spells arise from the
particular powers of the clerics deity, not divine energy
in general.
Choatic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells:
A cleric can't cast spells of alignment opposed to his own
or to his deity's. For example, a good cleric or a neutral
cleric of a good deity cannot cast evil spells. Spells
associated with the domains of Choas, Evil, Good, and law
are identified as such on the "Level" line of the spell
description.
Turn or Rebuke Undead: A good cleric (or a neutral
cleric who worships a good deity) has the supernatural
ability to turn undead, such as skeletons, zombies, ghosts,
and vampires, forcing these unholy abominations to recoil
from the channeled power of the god the cleric worships. Evil
clerics (and neutral clerics who worships an evil deities)
can rebuke such creatures. Neutral clerics of neutral
deities can do one or the other (player's choice),
depending on whether the cleric is more proficent at wielding
positive or negative energy. Once thie player makes this
choice, it cannot be reversed.
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