Cleric

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 her god to make her god's will manifest.  And if a cleric uses her god's power to improve her own lot, that's to be expected, too.

     Adventures: Ideally, a cleric's adventures support her god's causes, at least in a general way.  A good cleric, for example, helps those in need.  If, through noble acts, she can bring a good reputation to her god or temple, that's even better.  An evil cleric seeks to increase the power of herself and her deity, so that others will respect and fear her.

     Clerics sometimes receive orders, or at least suggestions, from their ecclesiastical 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 of spells or divine magic items as payment.

     Of course, clerics are people, too, and they may have all the more common motivations for adventuring.

     Characteristics: Clerics 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 cleric 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.

     Clerics have some combat training.  For the most part clerics are restricted blunt, bludgeoning weapons.  Weapons that don't draw blood.  Some gods allow their clerics to arm themselves with more lethal armaments.  They are trained in the use of armor, since armor does not interfere with divine spells as it does with arcane spells.

     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 than 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.  Clerics will radiate an aura that is of the alignment of their deity, not their own.

     Religion: Every common deity has clerics devoted to him or her, so clerics can be of any religion.  The most common deity worshiped by humans within Thunder Rift is St Cuthbert.

     Some clerics devote themselves not to a god but to a cause or a source of divine power.  These clerics wield magic the way clerics devoted to individual gods do, but they are not associated with a religious institution or a particular practice of worship.  A cleric devoted to Good and Law, for example, may be on friendly terms with the clerics of lawful and good deities and may extol the virtues of a good and lawful life, but she is not a functionary in a church hierarchy.

     Background: Most clerics are officially ordained members of religious organizations, commonly called churches.  Each has sworn to uphold 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 reign to conduct their lives, as long as they do so in accordance with their gods' wishes.

     Clerics of a given religion are all supposed to get along, though schisms within a religion are often more bitter than conflicts between religions.  Clerics who share some basic ideals, such as goodness or lawfulness, may find common cause with each other and see themselves as part of an order or body that supersedes any given religion.  Clerics of opposed goals, however, are sworn enemies.  In civilized lands, open warfare between religions occurs only during civil wars and similar social upheavals, but vicious politicking between opposed churches is common.

     Races: Of all common races, humans, hobbits, and minotaurs make up the majority of the clerics in the Known World.  Elves, dwarves, and orcs have their own religious and divine traditions.  Thri-kreen have no gods and almost all spiritual needs are met by the druids of the race.  Half-elves (Hafu) and half-orcs (Uruk-hai) who have lived among humans often follow their gods and religious ways.

     Other Classes: In an adventuring party, the cleric is everybody's friend and often the glue that holds the party together.  As the one who can channel divine energy, a cleric is a capable healer, and adventurers of every class appreciate being put back together after they've taken some hard knocks.  Clerics sometimes clash with druids, since druids represent an older, more primal relationship between the mortal and the divine.  Mostly, though, the religion of a cleric determines how she gets along with others.  A cleric of Olidammara, god of thieves, gets along fine with rogues and ne'er-do-wells, for example, while a cleric of St Cuthbert rankles at such company.

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.  To cast a spell, a cleric must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell's level.  A cleric gets bonus spells based on Wisdom.  The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a cleric's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the cleric's Wisdom modifier.  A high Charisma also improves a cleric's ability to turn or command undead.

Alignment: Any, but must be within one step of the cleric's deity.

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills

The cleric's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hypnosis (Cha), Knowledge (Int, arcana), Knowledge (Int, history), Knowledge (Int, nobility), Knowledge (Int, planes), Knowledge (Int, religion), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).  Also note that clerical domains have bonus class skills associated to them.

Skill Points at 1st-Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the cleric.

     Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Clerics are proficient with the club, heavy flail, heavy mace, light flail, light hammer, light mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, sling, and the warhammer.  Clerics are also proficient with their deity's favored weapon.  Clerics are proficient with all types of armor (light, medium, and heavy) and with shields (except tower shields).  Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble.  Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor and equipment carried.

     Bonus Language: 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 her race.

     Spells: A cleric casts divine spells according to the tables listed below.  A cleric may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list (page 160 of the Player's Handbook), provided she can cast spells of that level.  The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a cleric's spell is 10 + the spells level + the cleric's Wisdom modifier.

     Cleric's do not acquire their spells from books or scrolls, nor 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 she must spend an hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain her daily allotment of spells.  Time spent resting has no effect on whether a cleric can prepare spells.

     Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A cleric can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity's.  Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaotic, evil, good, and lawful descriptions.

     Domains and Domain Spells: Once you have chosen a deity and alignment for your cleric, choose two from among the deity's domains for your cleric's domains.  While clerics of a particular religion are united in their reverence for their deity, each religion encompasses different aspects.  You can only select an alignment domain (such as Good) for your cleric if her alignment matches that domain.

     Each domain gives your cleric access to a domain spell at each spell level, granted powers, and a bonus class skill.

     Orisons: Clerics can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted below.  These spells are treated like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

     Spontaneous Casting: A cleric who's deity allows her to channel positive energy can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time.  The cleric can "lose" any prepared spell that is not an orison or 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).

     A cleric who's deity allows her to channel negative energy 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).

     Aura (Ex): Clerics of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity give off powerful auras corresponding to their deity's alignment.

     Channel Energy (Su): Regardless of alignment, any cleric can release their divine energy by channeling the power of her faith through her holy symbol.  A cleric who's deity allows her to channel positive energy can heal, damage undead and evil outsiders, and turn undead.  A cleric who's deity allows her to channel negative energy can damage living creatures and good outsiders, heal undead, and command undead.  This channeling of energy can take two forms; either as a burst radius or by turning or commanding the undead.  A cleric can channel energy a number of times per day equal 3 + her Charisma modifier (clerics can increase this number through the feat Extra Channeling).  This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.  A cleric can choose who is affected and who is not affected (including herself) within this area of affect.  A cleric must be able to present her holy symbol for either use of this ability.

     Burst Radius: Channeling energy in a burst causes all creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric to be affected.  Clerics who channel positive energy can choose to either heal the living and good outsiders or damage the undead and evil outsiders (but not both).  Likewise those who channel negative energy can choose to heal the undead and evil outsiders or cause damage to the living and good outsiders.  The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on).  Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage.  The Difficulty Class of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 her cleric level + her Charisma modifier.  Creatures healed by channeled energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point total -- all excess healing is lost.

     Turn or Command Undead: By channeling energy to turn or command undead, all undead who can see the cleric and are within 60-feet of her are affected.  A cleric can affect undead who's Hit Dice are equal to her cleric level + her Charisma modifier.  When a cleric decides to take this action she then rolls 2d6 + her cleric level + her Charisma modifier for turning damage, this equals the amount of hit dice she can affect.  (Example: a 2nd-level cleric with a Cha modifier of +1 can affect undead who's Hit Dice are 3 or less.  Upon rolling 2d6 she comes up with a 4 + cleric level + 1 Cha modifier equal 7.  She can either turn or command 7 HD worth of undead who's individual HD are either 3 or lower.)

     Turned undead flee you by the best and fastest means available to them.  They flee for 10 rounds (1 minute).  If they cannot flee, they cower (giving any attack rolls a +2 bonus to hit).  If the cleric approaches within 10-feet of them they overcome being turned and act normally.  (The cleric can stand within 10-feet without breaking the turning effect, she just can't approach them.)  If you have twice as many cleric levels as the undead being turned have HD, you destroy any undead that would normally be turned.

     Commanded undead are under the mental command of the cleric, and the cleric must take a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity to give mental orders to the commanded undead.  At any one time the cleric may command any number of undead whose total HD do not exceed her cleric level + Cha modifier.  She may voluntarily relinquish command on any commanded undead creature or creatures in order to command new ones.

     If a cleric who channels positive energy attempts to turn the undead under the command of a cleric who channels negative energy, or a cleric channeling negative energy attempt to command an undead who has already been turned, then the clerics must make opposed level checks.  Roll 1d20 + cleric level + Charisma modifier and the high roll wins.  In this way clerics can even prevent undead from being destroyed by a turning cleric.