Wednesday 16 March 2011

3 cool ideas for clerics


Back in the early days of Dungeons and Dragons, when 0e emerged from the primordial soup of wargaming, Clerics were the class to be. Not only could they be armed to the balls, they had the power to make the undead spin around and make a beeline for the exit as if they had just seen mummy and daddy skeleton boning on the sofa. Sometimes these rotting shamblers would burst into flame just from a point of the Cleric's finger. If that wasn't enough they could smear the holy savlon of goodness on a booboo to heal it, as well as having a bunch of other spells at its disposal. Clerics were the bee's knees.

In honour of these heathen-smiting god botherers, here are three interesting ideas for your Cleric:

1. Stranger in a strange land - Make your Cleric a wanderer from a distant land. Maybe he or she worships a deity that nobody in the campaign location has never heard of. Does he or she go around converting people? Or does he/she have to wrestle with their own faith and the lure of other gods?

2. Taboo spell - Choose a spell that the Cleric will only use as a last minute resort for one reason or another. Make it a higher level spell that you will only be able to use rarrely anyway - no use in making it 'cure light wounds'. This gives great roleplaying opportunities.

3. Demonic vice - Everybody's got their vice, but what if it were moreso for a cleric? Maybe he/she has become the vessel of a weak demonic entity who forces them into gambling, excessive drinking or maybe murder? How does the cleric battle this demon in his mind? Choose a vice for your cleric and have it cropup every once in a while.

2 comments:

  1. Clerics never made sense to me until this moment. But the idea of tormented saints or dudes like Rasputin roaming around, that would be awesome.

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  2. I read a post the other day on how clerics were rubbish they were described as "the magical band-aid"
    This is the exact opposite of how you have described them. If only i could remember the post and the blog. If i find it i will send it to you.

    I do have a character who is a cleric who has a little side issue of self harm. The rush it brings him makes his day worth living.

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