Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RainerNader 04-29-07, 04:59 AM	I'm in several different D&D groups (not all of them run at the same or meet regularly, obviously) which means several characters, yet I inevitably end up playing a cleric every single time. Luckily the cleric is actually one of the most customizable classes possible, so in my 2+ years playing D&D 3.5, I've basically played these three "themes" so far: Healer -- Standard Radiant Servant of Pelor stuff. Tank -- Patron deity Kord, lots of combat feats. Archer -- Elven, Corellon Larethian, will probably end up becoming a Seeker of the Misty Isle. Now, I do like playing clerics, so the problem isn't that I'm playing a cleric, but I'm kind of having trouble thinking of a new spin on it that would also translate well to the crunchy game mechanics. Anyone got any ideas that I can run with and develop? The only requirement is being good-aligned, since I generally don't like playing neutral or evil characters.
draco1119 04-29-07, 06:43 AM	The paldin-esque seeker of justice/vengeance who worships St. Cuthbert? The happy-go-lucky roguish halfling cleric of Yondalla? The doughty tankish dwarf battlepriest of Moradin?
Rosary 04-29-07, 06:50 AM	The character I'm playing at the moment is a bit more like a real-life priest - he cares about his community and the spiritual well-being of his comrades more than slaying monsters. Being more of a scholar and doctor than adventurer, he's sometimes reluctant to go on far-fetched quests of resputable morality, but he looks after his friends and never lets them down. We play in Eberron, and he worships the Sovereign Host. A bit of a challenge RP-wise, but I found great ideas and fluff in Faiths of Eberron that can be applied to many other deities in other worlds.
Tusalu 04-29-07, 07:19 AM	Cleric of Boccob + Mystic Theurge
jaw4ever 04-29-07, 07:53 AM	Don't forget about the brutal almost-Catholic-Nun-disiplinarian cleric of Hextor.
Callista 04-29-07, 10:25 AM	You could play a guy with vow of nonviolence. That's a real challenge, strategically and RP wise--you have to find a way to be effective in battle (which isn't too hard, between healing and crowd control, but does take some thought), and figuring out what to do with all those prisoners you're going to be taking, not to mention party members who don't get why you don't just stick a sword into the enemy. Playing exalted characters is always a challenge... not just your basic good guy or even your basic paladin, but somebody on the level of, say, Mother Teresa... Remember you can still kick undead/construct butt with that kind of character; and yes, exalted guys can still have fun!
MattBlacke 04-29-07, 01:22 PM	Using the Cloistered Cleric variant from PHBII: The scholar/spellcaster. It's basically a bard without the music, but free Knowledge domain plus the usual two choices, even if your deity doesn't have it.
JulesCARV 04-29-07, 01:50 PM	Necromancer cleric of the Blood of Vol. -Domains: Necromancer and Evil. -Has a Wand of Death Knell (or just prepares it) and a Grey Bag of Tricks to sacrifice animals for the CL boost (unless there's something better to sacrifice). -Orange Prism Ioun Stone ASAP. -Feats: Divine spell power? Maybe. Fell animate too, perhaps. Grab some Libris Mortis corpsecrafter feats. Tomb-tainted soul too, probably. The only regrettable thing is that you can't make spell-stitched undead. Darn WotC giving arcane necromancers some tiny marginal benefit that divine necromancers don't get. Actually, though, thematically, I'm not sure how the Blood of Vol feels about necromancers who just animate the corpses of random dolgaunts they fought (and such). They agree to creating sentient undead from volunteers who agree to give up true life and the immortality of blood to act as shepherds of the living, and they agreed to helping Karrnath out in its war efforts, but I'm not sure how they'd feel about "adventurer-style" necromancy. Well, I guess thematically, my point is "Lord of the Undead Necromancer" is a cleric theme.
mercutio531 04-29-07, 02:12 PM	I played a Cleric/Bard of Olidamarra. Lotsa fun. Think Robin Hood with a touch of Man-*****. Cleric/Bard, but I played him like a Ranger with Archery feats.. heh. I suppose you could replace bard with rogue or maybe some fighter.. Or hell.. even ranger. Also, the Celestial Domain is pretty sweet. You gain Smite like a paladin, add that with Glory for Anti-Undead.. Be some sort of Rightous Zealot for Good or Celestia or something. Im looking forward to Complete Champion next month.
Metafictional 04-29-07, 02:42 PM	My best Cleric character to date: X'ellisar Laer'alagos was an unusual Elf, coming from a long line of Elven Wizards. Sadly, he had no real talent for Wizardry, and was seen as the "black sheep" of his family. Then one day a Human came to his lands, a Cleric of the Magic Goddess. Intrigued, Xelis (as he came to be known), talked to the man at great length, and discovered his true calling. He left his homeland and became a Cleric. Unfortunately, he ran afoul of the Church heirarchy, as he had his own ideas about the Goddess, and he railed against the self-serving bureaucracy. He was falsely accused and tried as a heretic, sentenced to die by a corrupt and jealous Bishop (who saw that young Xelis had the favor of the Goddess, while he did not). However, the Goddess appeared to Xelis multiple times, in different forms, saving him, and setting him on a quest to seek enlightenment. On the run from his own Church, Xelis went out into the world, seeking to find his way, and temper his Faith, hoping to one day become the Champion of his Goddess. One of the Goddess'es tenets was to demand a slight tribute from anyone that her magic aided. While the Church inflated this to insane prices, in order to make themselves wealthy, it was never meant to be more than someone could spare. The idea, the Goddess taught, was to make sure that people did not abuse her gifts; if someone knew that there was a cost, however slight, they would try to find other ways. This ensured that no one would become reliant upon her. So Xelis asked others for donations. He kept the monies separate in a different pouch, which bore the symbol of the Goddess. Whenever he could, he would donate this wealth to the needy. Of course, his fellow adventurers weren't happy at his constant asking for donations, but once they figured out how useful he was, it was never a problem to give him a few coins from time to time. Which is all the Goddess ever wanted. Xelis could fight (Clerics with Spring Attack ftw!), but he would generally hang back and use buff spells or powerful heals to give his party an advantage in battle. They too, were on a quest, that coincided with his own. Hope this was useful to you!
RainerNader 04-29-07, 02:50 PM	Hey guys, Thanks, those are some cool ideas! I actually was thinking about a cleric/bard of Olidamma. But are there any feats or prestige classes that would help those two classes synergize better?
mercutio531 04-29-07, 03:13 PM	In the COmplete Adventurer there is Devoted Performer which requires Smite and Bardic music, meant for Paladin Bards.. Take the Celestial Domain and see if your DM will let you Sub it as it lets your levels stack for bardic Music and Smite Ability. Also the Temple Raider of Olidamarra is kinda cool.. But not really worth it if you dont start out as a rogue. Also, as I was going kinda a Robin Hood archery kinda thing... I was thiking of taking either Arcane Archer and/or Deepwood Sniper which is pretty cool if you can find it in one of old books from 3.0.
aushlo 04-29-07, 03:16 PM	I recently played a cleric in a friend's homebrew. She'd set up a pantheon based around a kind of Odin figure and his consorts/wives. Him being the overgod but being unattached and inattentive to his creation, each of his wives overseeing a certain something and with different aspects of personality. My character was a worshiper of Sawa, Goddess of Flowers. Which sounds lame. But she was a devotee of the pale bloom-rather than being bright and colorful and fertile and happy, the cult dwelled and worked at night and stretched its roots into the shadowed places (ancient history, dark crypts, forgotten woodland depths). They basically looked for and kept safe secrets of the darker feminine aspect and occult creepiness. Not evil, but flirting with it I guess. The normal followers of the diety were about what you'd expect, but these were sort of the secret dark inquisitors. Which was fun, because who' expect freaky pale mildly disturbing fanatics to worship the flower goddess? It was a really interesting character-I took plant and knowledge as domains I believe, and she used some kind of thorny whip from some supplement... d6 damage and had the skills to poison it. Also, she was a total no-nonsense badass in a very subtle way. Kind of a jerk, but more because of her focus than anything else. Playing an interseting cleric is about coming up with an interesting take on the religion or philosophy.... if your cleric's beliefs make you think, you're on the right track.
Prator_the_Legendary 04-29-07, 04:12 PM	I designed a black Baptist minister-type cleric of Pelor, which I'm currently still running. You can combine it with most other cleric-theme varieties, as it's more of a roleplaying preference than a build. Whenever he cures, he puts his hands on people's injuries and says something to the effect of "By the power of the Shining Spirit, you're healed! Go forth!"
Oakes 04-29-07, 04:23 PM	Don't forget Fharlanghn's Cleric 20 drifter / bum. "Spare some change?" -Said with a straight face by Ted while wearing a glowing fullplate.
MikEye 04-29-07, 05:10 PM	I play a Lawful Nuetral cleric of St. Cuthbert. It seems very paladin like, minus the weenie. You have more options. I personaly love it, because the domains allow for offensive capabilities and your spontaneous casting handels the healing well as well. It's quite the well rounded cleric.
Saraqual 04-29-07, 06:22 PM	i play a cleric based mostly of ghandi, his main trick is casting calm emotions, and using his ungawdly diplomacy to turn the bad guys into good guys. with a str4 dex8 and con8, its not as he should attract any aggro on himself though.
Evil DM Mk3 04-29-07, 06:30 PM	Don't forget about the brutal almost-Catholic-Nun-disiplinarian cleric of Hextor. Recalls monty python scit (or rather 3 1/2 second sight gag) Atilla the nun, who has taken a vow of eternal butality.
spartanguard 05-01-07, 06:44 PM	I am going to be playing in a game soon using a cleric idea that I came up with and my friend refined. I was looking through the complete divine and I came across the summoner domain. I thought hey this could be cool. So I was going to make a cleric using the good and summoner domains, granted abilities : cast conjuration[summoning] and conjuration[calling] at +2 caster level and cast spells with the good descripter at +1 caster level. This would let me summon good monsters at +3 caster level. Well my friend said lets look for a god for my cleric to worship and we came across trithereon in the other gods section. He sounded kinda cool because his portfolio is liberty and individuality, so it was decided I'd worship trithereon seeking to end tyranny and the kicker is that it says clerics of trithereon sometimes have to travel in secret so my character's cover will be that he espouses the ideals of making the material plane more like the higher planes and by summoning things that reside there he hopes to have a positive influence on the material plain. My character took spell focus conjuration and augment summoning and to be honest when I came up with this I kinda pictured something like yuna from the final fantasy X (summoner/white mage idea) in fact my characters name is Joseph Braska (Joseph is the name of the main character in Summoner and Braska is the name of Yuna's father) I am really looking forward to playing this character and actually playing because I've been DMing an exalted campaign the past school year and it takes more time to DM than to play. So if you want an interesting idea for a cleric you could try summoner, I guess.
sabrewolf 05-02-07, 01:28 AM	Themes.. Themes... Once i played a "Healer"... it was a variant before the cloistered cleric was printed, in a time when only the 3 core were out. He had a personal vow of non-agression, and was armed with only a quarterstaff for self defense. Cant recall if he had turning or not but casted a lot of sanctuary, used a lot of healing salvos and bandages (bessides his natural healing + domain) and used to preach to others (like the group) against their excessive use violence.. Had lotīs of fun (if only briefly..) - You could try a more "purist", less agressive healer, like my "skunk" above... - Thereīs also the Shinning Light: the undead hunter with sun as domain and plenty extra turning for feats. - The preacher: good in diplomacy, or rather, foccused on it.. give it some music for a "bardic touch" and/or foccus on combar magic based on sound and positive/light energy to complement and itīs good to go. - Thereīs the Sage... but i cant think of anything to foccus on such a theme thatīs not a knowledge skill.... :P - The Banner: normal build, mostly, but itīs the purpose that matters. This one is the symbol for his people, an aspirant for leader - usually from a non-standard race, and/or a minority.. Tends to build a temple when he finnaly settles somewhere. (the leadership feat and the stronghold builders book are your friends here) Hope any of these Themes are of use for thee..
bloodrever 05-04-07, 01:05 PM	My artic priest is fun. He uses alot of the feats from Frostburn has the winter and cold domains and he casts cold spells in combat with a little healing and melee when he has to. Getting one of the envorment books and basing your cleric as a spell caster with the theme of that enviorment is fun.