Special powers for clerics

[Rigon]

Just wondering how you all would handle special powers for clerics. I was thinking of using class abilities at a reduced level (ex. Bard's Lore ability at half level, rounded down for a deity of knowledge), spells (ex. Cause Fear 1/day for a deity of fear), and appropriate modifiers (ex. +1 to attack with sacred weapon for a deity of war).

Basically fishing for some ideas. Thanks

R-
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The Book of the Mind

[Nelzie]

The clerics in my gameworld have one special power.

They can sense intense, radiating evil. It is not a "Detect Evil" power, like that which a Paladin has or is revealed through use of the "Detect Alignment" spell. Therefor, it doesn't work in the same fashion.

This isn't something that the character can control or otherwise use to his/her advantage. In a way it's almost like a "Spidey Sense" and it will only work for truly despicable evil that permeates a location.

Goblins? Nope.

Goblin Den, where many humans have been eaten? Still nope.

Goblin Den that is the home of a foul Goblin Shaman who has sacrificed humans to their Dark God, souring the area with a pervasive Evil? Yep.

Large group of evil beings? Nope.

Basically, desecrated locations of really bad evil touched by the Dark Gods.
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[Maliki]

IMC the clerics of the god of war have no weapon restrictions, the clerics of the god of healing may swap out a memorized spell for a healing spell of equal level.
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[irda ranger]

Rigon wrote:
Just wondering how you all would handle special powers for clerics.

They're called "Spells"
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[Omote]

irda ranger wrote:
They're called "Spells"

Honestly, I still think the Cleric class is a bit underpowered based on the XP requirement for the class based on the other classes XP req.

I give clerics "domains" much like those presented in the 2nd edition GH books (From the Ashes, Monster Mythology, etc). In this instance the cleric gets a "power" at differing levels. Most clerics have a slight power upon beginning their career as a cleric of a specific deity.

.......................................Omote

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[irda ranger]

Omote wrote:
Honestly, I still think the Cleric class is a bit underpowered based on the XP requirement for the class based on the other classes XP req.

I give clerics "domains" much like those presented in the 2nd edition GH books (From the Ashes, Monster Mythology, etc). In this instance the cleric gets a "power" at differing levels. Most clerics have a slight power upon beginning their career as a cleric of a specific deity.

.......................................Omote

FPQ

Shudder. Anything that reminds me of Kits/ Prestige Classes seriously gives me the willies. I realize that lots of people like them, but I can't stand them. Plus, it's so hard to 'balance' and still be true to the cleric's god's "porfolio." If we were being "realistic" no one would ever be an adventuring Priest of Oghma, because Priests of Tempus (or Kiri-Jolith, or Eyrnthul, or whoever) would always have access to the "Kick butt & take Names" abilities.
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[Omote]

irda ranger wrote:
Anything that reminds me of Kits/ Prestige Classes seriously gives me the willies. ... Plus, it's so hard to 'balance' and still be true to the cleric's god's "porfolio." If we were being "realistic" no one would ever be an adventuring Priest of Oghma, because Priests of Tempus (or Kiri-Jolith, or Eyrnthul, or whoever) would always have access to the "Kick butt & take Names" abilities.

That is an acceptable response, and normally I would agree with you however, to get off topic a little bit, the "specialty priests" described in From The Ashes are pretty neat. I also think they are "relatively balanced."

That's kinda where I was coming from in my above post.

.........................................Omote

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[Rigon]

irda ranger wrote:
They're called "Spells"

Yes, but I wanted something to seperate the "generic" cleric from the clerics in my world.

R-
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Rigon o' the Lakelands, Baron of The Castles & Crusades Society
The Book of the Mind

[irda ranger]

Rigon wrote:
Yes, but I wanted something to seperate the "generic" cleric from the clerics in my world.

R-

It's not about the spells they know, it's about the spells they choose to use, and how they choose to use them.

Seriously, any class which can raise people from the dead, heal with a touch, breath un-life into corpses, banish demons, etc. etc. has all the special abilities they need. The point made above about whether or not they are a fair / balanced progression for their EPP is a reasonable argument, but arguing they need more abilities to make them Clerics of a particular deity is a little weak. At most one signature spell per faith is all they need, and most don't need that.

I think you'd get more mileage out of "pure roleplaying" then any rule changes: make sure the Churches are active politically; require the PC to observe certain rites or abide by certain oaths; give the PC perks and welcome in homes / lands where Priests of his faith are revered; have laws passed against his faith; make sure that he knows who his enemy faiths are (and that his enemy faiths know who he is, on a very personal level). Seriously, Clerics bring so many roleplaying opportunities they are a boon to any GM with a bit of imagination and some time to apply it.
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[Treebore]

Irda,

I agree with what your saying, and even follow that "philosophy" to a certain extent. However I am still open to a "specialty priest" idea if one of my family (players) were to approach me wanting to try it out.

This is because one of my favorite priests of all time was a priest of Kelemvor in the Faerun setting. The write up helped me focus that character so well, and to play him so differently from how I would have without the write up, that I can see why a player would be interested in playing one.

So I don't really bother with having Specialty Priests in general, but I would go ahead and implement it if a player wanted to try playing that way.

Oh, yeah, the Specialty Priest of Tempus, Fallin of Delhumide, was pretty awesome as well. Again, because the write up helped me play that character in ways I would never have thought of if it weren't for trying to adhere to the write-up.

[irda ranger]

All fair points, and I've done the same thing for the same reasons. I was making the opposite case mainly in an attempt to make this thread a "complete resource" for the lurkers. Sort of a way to help folks consider all sides of the issue.
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[Omote]

These are all good points, but some times players need a little kick in the pants to get a certain roleplaying concept going. We've all seen probably hundreds of Clerics being played in our lives and most of us would agree that they were probably, mostly vanilla types of clerics. A general healer type if you would.

Adding even one signature spell or ability some times adds just enough extra "umph" for the player to make his cleric stick out from the rest of the pack. This has been my experience.

............................................Omote

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[Moorcrys]

I've been going through my old Priest Spell Compendiums and giving clerics of each deity a few converted special spells (3 per deity) that they can cast once per day when they reach the appropriate level (1st, 5th, and 10th). Pretty much 'flavor' spells.

I'm trying to work up a priest class that gains 2 deity-specific abilites (such as the spontaneous healing option Maliki implemented for the goddess of healing) and a 1/day deity-specific spell per spell level in exchange for dropping heavy armors, a lower bth progression, and a d6 instead of d8 hit die.
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Moorcrys

[anglefish]

I work more with resources. What can the church offer the cleric as a support system? Free loding for the priest and pilgrims? Cheap healing herbs? Or could you get some banned poisions if you belong to a darker faith?

[Omote]

Anglefish, i could see this in addition to some of the suggestions above. matter of fact, in particularly low-magic worlds your ideas would stand out as potentially very powerful "church-borne abilities."

.........................................Omote

FPQ
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[Rigon]

Thanks for all the responses everyone and I usually tend to go with rolelaying differences, but I was fishing for some ideas on how to make the cleric less "vanilla". Funny thing is, as I'm typing this, I am thinking is that I don't have any plans to "mechanically" enhance fighters to make them different. So this thread may have become a moot point for me.

However, I do like what Moorcrys is doing.

R-
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The Book of the Mind

[csperkins1970]

Rigon wrote:
Thanks for all the responses everyone and I usually tend to go with rolelaying differences, but I was fishing for some ideas on how to make the cleric less "vanilla". Funny thing is, as I'm typing this, I am thinking is that I don't have any plans to "mechanically" enhance fighters to make them different. So this thread may have become a moot point for me.

However, I do like what Moorcrys is doing.

R-

Here's my take on Cleric Domains. For spells that don't appear in the C&C PHB, you can use my conversions (see the AD&D 3rd Edition file) on my website. That file also lists what armors are light, medium or heavy and describes background skills and their use:
Agriculture: Priests of agricultural gods must take profession (farmer) as a background skill. They add the following spells to their repertoire:

Level 1: Goodberry

Level 2: Detect animals or plants

Level 3: Plant growth

Level 6: Move earth
Air, wind: Clerics of wind and air gods gain additional air spells but lose access to earth spells. They may not wear heavy armor.

Add the following spells to the clerics spell list:

Level 1: Feather fall

Level 2: Gust of wind

Level 3: Wall of wind

Level 5: Control winds

Level 7: Wind walk

Level 8: Whirlwind

Level 9: Elemental swarm

Remove the following spells from the clerics spell list:

Level 1: Magic stone

Level 3: Meld into stone

Level 7: Stone tell

Level 8: Earthquake

They may not conjure earth elementals, nor may they create clay golems. Air elementals conjured by these clerics gain 2 additional hit points per hit die.
Animals: Clerics of this domain add the following spells to their spell list: Level 1: Calm animals

Level 2: Charm person or mammal

Level 3: Dominate animal

Level 4: Animal summoning I

Level 5: Animal summoning II

Level 6: Animal summoning III

They must choose profession (animal handler) or knowledge (nature) skill as one of their background skills at 1st level. In place of raise dead, priests of this domain gain reincarnation. They are restricted to the use of light armor but may use any shield.
Arts: Clerics of this domain worship the gods of artistic inspiration and the performing arts. They must choose a performance skill as one of their background skills and gain an additional performance skill at levels 5, 10 and 15.

They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 0: Prestidigitation

Level 1: Charm person

Level 2: Tashas hideous laughter

Level 3: Suggestion

Level 4: Charm monster

Level 7: Charm plants

Level 8: Ottos irresistible dance

Level 9: Mass charm

All clerics of this domain are limited to the use of light armor and small shields.
Blacksmith, the forge: These clerics must take a craft skill related to smithing as a background skill. At 18th level they may create iron golems using the same spells needed to make a clay golem but using the same materials (incurring the same expenses) for creating an iron golem.

The following spells are added to their spell list:

Level 1: Unseen servant

Level 6: Enchant an item

Level 7: Mordenkainens sword (favored melee weapon)

Level 8: Glassteel
Chaos: Priests of chaos are immune to insanity and confusion spells and spell effects. They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 4: Confusion

Level 7: Insanity

They may never work to restore a creatures sanity by any means.
Darkness: Servants of darkness are skilled at blending into the shadows. They gain the hide and move silently abilities at 4th level, using these abilities as a thief of their cleric level 3. At 5th level they gain the ability to sneak attack for double damage. The damage dealt by their sneak attacks never increases. They may only wear light armor and use the weapons of thieves in place of those of clerics.

They may never cast light spells of any sort and suffer a 1 to all attack rolls in brightly list conditions.
Death: Death priests add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 6: Death spell

Level 8: Finger of death

At 3rd level and beyond they may feign death once per day in addition to their usual spell allotment. Both evil and neutral clerics of death gods command undead rather than turn them. They must take profession (embalmer) as a background skill.
Disease: Clerics of this mythos are immune to all diseases, regardless of their origin. At 3rd level they may cause disease once per week with their touch. This ability improves as the cleric rises in levels. At 9th level, the cleric can cause disease two times per week and, at 15th level, three times per week.

They may not cast cure disease or use the healing skills to treat those suffering from illness or disease.
Earth: Clerics of earth gods gain additional earth-based spells but lose access to air-based spells.

Add the following spells to the clerics spell list:

Level 2: Soften earth and stone

Level 3: Stone shape

Level 5: Transmute rock to mud, transmute mud to rock

Level 6: Wall of stone

Level 8: Animate rock

Remove the following spells from the clerics spell list:

Level 4: Air walk

Level 6: Aerial servant, wind walk

Level 7: Control weather

They may not conjure air elementals. All earth elementals summoned by these clerics gain 2 additional hit points per hit die.
Fire: Clerics of the fire domain gain access to fire-based spells but lose access to water-based spells.

Add the following spells to the clerics spell list:

Level 2: Flame blade (favored melee weapon)

Level 4: Produce fire

Level 5: Wall of fire

Level 7: Fire storm

Remove the following spells from the clerics spell list:

Level 3: Water breathing, water walk

Level 4: Control water

Level 7: Control weather

They may not conjure water elementals. All fire elementals summoned by these clerics gain 2 additional hit points per hit die.
Forests, wilderness: Clerics of this domain add survival as a class ability. They are restricted to the use of leather or hide armor and wooden shields. They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 1: Detect animals or plants

Level 2: Tree

Level 3: Dominate animal

Level 4: Antiplant shell 10 radius

Level 5: Plant door

Level 6: Transport via plant

Level 7: Changestaff

At 5th level they add woodland stride as a class ability. They may never create golems of any sort and gain the turn undead ability at level 3 instead of at 1st level. Their effective cleric level, with regards to turning, is equal to their cleric level 2. In place of raise dead, priests of this domain gain reincarnation.
Healing: Clerics with this domain refrain from combat in all but the direst of circumstances, and use the BtH progression of magic-users due to their limited martial training. They are immune to all diseases, regardless of their origin.

At 3rd level they may cure disease once per week with their touch. This ability improves as the cleric rises in levels. At 9th level, the cleric can cure disease two times per week and, at 15th level, three times per week. When casting any cure spell, clerics of the healing domain may reroll all 1s and 2s rolled on each d8.

They may not cast cause disease, cause blindness/deafness, harm, wither or inflict wounds spells of any sort.
Hearth: Priests of the hearth typically stress the safety of home and their community to their flock. They are rarely adventurers. Clerics of this domain add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 1: Alarm, hold portal

Level 2: Wizard lock

Level 3: Leomunds tiny hut

Level 4: Leomunds secure shelter
Hunt: Clerics of the hunt gain the track class ability at 1st level and must take the profession (hunter) background skill. They are restricted to the use of light armor. In place of raise dead, priests of this domain gain reincarnation.
Industry: The clerics of this god worship the gods of item creation, whether that creation be of works of art, magical items or mundane items of any sort. They must choose a craft or profession skill tied to creative processes as one of their background skills.

They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 0: Mending

Level 2: Obscure object

Level 4: Minor creation

Level 5: Major creation

Level 6: Enchant an item
Knowledge: Clerics of the knowledge domain are usually cloistered clerics (qv). If this new class is not used in your game, the following changes may be made to the standard cleric class.

Clerics of the knowledge domain may not wear armor but may use protective devices, such as rings of protection or bracers of defense. They gain the lore and decipher script class abilities at 1st level and begin play with 2 additional knowledge skills.

They use the BtH progression of magic-users due to their lack of combat training.
Law: Clerics of law, upon reaching 3rd level, may cast zone of truth once per day in addition to their usual spell allotment. At 7th level, they may also cast detect lie in addition to their daily spell allotment. They gain a +3 bonus to dispel chaos, confusion, insanity and symbol of insanity spells and may not cast these spells under any circumstance.
Light: Clerics of light gain a +2 bonus to all turn undead checks and may radiate a nimbus of light (as the light spell) for up to 1 turn per level per day.

They may never cast any darkness spell of any sort, nor may they animate dead.
Luck: Servants of the gods of luck are aware of fortunes fickle nature. Once per day they may add their level to any single ability check or attack roll they make. They must announce their intent to do so before making the roll. Should this roll fail, the cleric suffers a 1 penalty to all saving throws for 1 day.
Love, beauty: Clerics of this domain are usually not the sort to seek adventures or crusade in their faiths name. Adventuring clerics of this domain may not wear armor but may use protective devices such as rings of protection or bracers of defense.

They have a +2 bonus to resist all charm, dominate, enthrall, fascinate, or suggestion spells or spell-like abilities.

At 4th level they gain the bardic fascinate ability with an effective level equal to their cleric level minus 3.
Magic: Clerics of the gods of magic are usually cloistered clerics (qv.) but may use the following modifications if cloistered clerics are not used in your game.

Clerics of this domain may not wear armor but may use protective devices such as rings of protection or bracers of defense. They fight as magic-users, using the BtH progression for that class. They may use all wands, rods and staves that may be used by clerics or magic-users, and gain access to the following spells:

Level 0: Prestidigitation

Level 1: Armor

Level 3: Arcane sight

Level 5: Minor globe of invulnerability

Level 6: Antimagic shell

Level 7: Globe of invulnerability

Level 9: Mordernkainens disjunction
Mischief: Clerics of the mischief domain tend to be roguish pranksters. They are restricted to the use of light armor, may not use shields, and gain the move silently, hide and pick pockets abilities at level 4, with an effective level equal to their cleric level minus 3. They may also cast the following in addition to their usual spells:

Level 0: Prestidigitation

Level 1: Change self

Level 2: Tashas hideous laughter

Level 8: Ottos irresistible dance
Moon: Clerics of the ever-changing moon are often shapeshifters and may turn or control lycanthropes as a typical cleric turns or controls undead. They never destroy lycanthropes with this ability. The following spells are added to their spell list:

Level 2: Alter self

Level 4: Polymorph

Level 9: Shapechange

Clerics of this domain are restricted to the use of light armor, though they may use all shields.
Peace: Clerics of peace are almost always cloistered clerics (qv.) or non-adventuring clerics. They may not wear armor but may use protective devices such as rings of protection or bracers of defense. They may not cast cause disease, cause blindness/deafness, harm, wither or inflict wounds spells of any sort. To reflect their lack of martial training, clerics of this domain use the BtH progression of magic-users.

To balance this, priests of peace gods may cast sanctuary three times per day, in addition to their usual spell allotment. They may lay on hands, just as a paladin does and add 2 to each die rolled for any cure spell.
Strength: Clerics of this domain are quick to demonstrate their physical prowess through feats of strength. They receive a +1 bonus on all opposed strength checks, add 1 to all unarmed combat damage, and add the strength spell to their spell list. These bonuses replace the weapon training ability of clerics.
Storms: This domain affords its clerics with the ability to predict the weather with near certainty. At first level, clerics of storm gods may predict the weather for the next 8 hours with a wisdom check. At 3rd level, this check allows them to predict the weather for the next 24 hours. At 7th level the prediction covers the next 3 days weather and, at 11th level, they may accurately predict the weather for an entire week.

The following spells are added to their spell list:

Level 3: Call lightning

Level 7: Control weather

Level 9: Storm of vengeance
Sun: Clerics of sun gods must choose a performance skill as one of their background skills, as sun gods are commonly patrons of the arts. They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 2: Flame blade

Level 7: Sunray

Level 8: Sunburst

Level 9: Chariot of Sustarre
Time: Priests of this domain are usually learned chroniclers of the ages and masters of astronomy. As such, clerics with this domain must have the knowledge (astronomy or history) or profession (clockmaker, embalmer, librarian or scribe) skill. This list can be expanded to include other skills connected with marking the passage of time.

They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 0: Know direction

Level 3: Haste, slow

Level 8: Temporal stasis

Level 9: Time stop
Travel: Clerics of the travel domain move 15 (3) faster than is usual for a member of their race so long as they are not wearing heavy armor or carrying more than a light load.

They must take a profession related to traveling (teamster, guide, sailor, navigator) as a background skill and are restricted to the use of light armor. They may use any shield.

They add the following spells to their spell list:

Level 0: Know direction

Level 1: Run

Level 4: Dimension door

Level 5: Teleport

Level 7: Teleport without error
War: Priests of war gods gain a +1 bonus to hit with their deitys favored weapon, even if that weapon is not normally allowed by clerics.
Water, oceans: Clerics of this domain must chose a profession or craft skill tied to living off of a body of water as a background skill. They add the following spell to their spell list:

Level 5: Airy water

Remove the following spell from the clerics spell list:

Level 5: Flame strike

They may not conjure fire elementals. All water elementals summoned by these clerics gain 2 additional hit points per hit die.

[Metathiax]

Very thorough work!
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[irda ranger]

Wow ... just skimming through that it looks pretty good.

Quick point thought: The Animal Domain is limited to light armors. I'd take the other approach. I think the Animal Domain should be limited to any Metallic armor, since they'd rather wear steel than the skins of their furry friends.
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[Lurker]

Wow

Good stuff! I likeit & will be folding it into my home brew pot of goodies! Thanks
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[csperkins1970]

irda ranger wrote:
Wow ... just skimming through that it looks pretty good.

Quick point thought: The Animal Domain is limited to light armors. I'd take the other approach. I think the Animal Domain should be limited to any Metallic armor, since they'd rather wear steel than the skins of their furry friends.

I figure if druids wear animal hides and use wooden shields, clerics of the animal domain shouldn't have a problem with it.

It all comes down to respect for nature and not wasting her resources (dig it!). Clerics who worship animal gods would be grateful for those animals because they typically hunt those animals (for food and to make items from their pelts and skins) or use them for labor.

[Omote]

As I have added some thing like this to the clerics in my C&C games, you have some damn fine ideas here that I shall pilfer. Nice work CSP!

............................................Omote

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[ironbull]

I second that. I'll be lifting a few ideas from this thread...

[Jason Vey]

We imported domains straight from 3.5, with no changes. Doesn't really hurt the game at all...just gives the cleric one extra spell per day and a minor special ability based on his deity.

[Moorcrys]

Awesome list, csperkins!
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Moorcrys

[Zudrak]

The Grey Elf wrote:
We imported domains straight from 3.5, with no changes. Doesn't really hurt the game at all...just gives the cleric one extra spell per day and a minor special ability based on his deity.

That has been our approach, as well. Still, I have to say csperkins' list is very well done.

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[irda ranger]

csperkins1970 wrote:
It all comes down to respect for nature and not wasting her resources (dig it!). Clerics who worship animal gods would be grateful for those animals because they typically hunt those animals (for food and to make items from their pelts and skins) or use them for labor.

Ah. More of a "Recycle & Sustainable Development" crowd than "Vegan Greenpeace Weanie" crowd.

I can did it.

Nice list. I don't like the idea of mix-and-match domains for priesthoods, but it gives me good ideas for god-specific domains.
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