Evil Clerics and Healing - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Evil Clerics and Healing

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
captainschwiggles
May 11, 2008 19:32:25 My friends and I are having some trouble with this. We thought that clerics that are evil can't cast good, or healing spells, and good clerics cant cast evil, or harm spells. Someone argued the fact so we consulted the book, but cant find anything. Please let me know.

Thanks
#2
drmorganes
May 11, 2008 19:46:41 Evil clerics can in fact cast Cure spells - but they have to prepare them. Think about it: even evil deities recognize the value of healing the wounded. You wouldn't want your powerful (and trusted) lackey to simply die. Powerful (and trusted) lackies aren't exactly easy to find, y'know...
#3
khazzan
May 11, 2008 19:50:12 According to the SRD:

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells

"A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions." (bold emphasis is mine)

And, since spells such as Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, etc.. are not listed as being of Good alignment, an evil cleric can learn them and cast them if he or she wishes.

The only restriction on an evil cleric and Cure spells is for the spontaneous casting ability: an evil cleric (or a neutral cleric of an evil deity), can’t convert prepared spells to Cure spells but can convert them to Inflict spells instead.

I think that's right ;) Hope it helps.
#4
drmorganes
May 11, 2008 19:56:18 A bit more on this...
A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.

The Cure line of spells are Conjuration (Healing). Notice the lack of alignment descriptor.

Harm is likewise an unaligned Necromancy spell, meaning Good-aligned clerics can cast it without issue. After all, even Good clerics find it useful to lay a little smack down.

Edit: Ninja'd! :p
#5
bronzebeard
May 12, 2008 7:53:13 Personally, I never tried healing when I was playing any evil cleric.
It's just a roleplaying issue, nothing from the rules, but as I see it - the bad cleric won't 'waste' his precious divine spells on weaklings and heal them. Instead I played it a bit like a doom-caster taking the talos-stormpriest and resorting to healing only when I was in a grim spot.

but that's just RP
#6
herrdoktor
May 12, 2008 11:25:10 similar thing happened to one of my characters while i was designing him: i wanted the flavor of rebuking/controlling undead (the 'good necromancer' flavor here) while not sucking ass at healing my party when they needed it (since choosing rebuking instead of turning means you spontaneously cast inflict instead of cure). solution? got my dm to think about spontaneous domain casting (house rule presented in UA) - trade extra slot per level (domain slot) for ability to spontaneously cast your domain spells - and chose the healing domain. spontaneous cure AND inflict ftw! :]
#7
Bloodsoul
May 13, 2008 22:11:09 All of my evil clerics have prepared cure spells and the like; you've got to keep your meat shields (i.e., everybody) still standing, right?

(that UA feature is a blessing!!)
#8
nephlite
May 14, 2008 11:45:26
My friends and I are having some trouble with this. We thought that clerics that are evil can't cast good, or healing spells, and good clerics cant cast evil, or harm spells. Someone argued the fact so we consulted the book, but cant find anything. Please let me know.

Thanks

Just look at the blackguard: he has to be evil, but he has cure spells. The only reason would be evil divine casting people can cast cure spells.
#9
ciaran
May 15, 2008 19:12:29 I played an evil cleric for a long time. He had a supply of Cure spells and a Heal (usually for himself) on hand but it would never be as many as good clerics I've played. He didn't even carry a cure wand for most of his career! I would encourage my lackeys to stay the heck out of a fight or make sure you can stand up in one. He also had a maxed out Heal skill that he used every day. I prefaced each any every long-term heal check with a description of rolling out my blood-stained mat of wicked, barbed surgical tools. I most certainly didn't hold their hands or pat their heads.
#10
goram_browncoat
May 17, 2008 15:05:15 I have a lawfull-evil cleric of loviatar. Healing spells are very important for this character, they keep the torture victims alive longer so they can suffer more.

Theres also nothing alignment breaking about keeping your party up when youre an evil cleric. Evil doesnt mean you cant have friends and care for them. If anything, your friends are probably evil too and keeping them up is good for evil.
#11
braithwaite
May 18, 2008 19:44:57 One DM I had houseruled that good clerics healed with positive energy, but that evil clerics heals were appropriate to their god. A cure disease might take the form of a swarm of maggots eating infected tissue and leaving only healthy flesh behind, or a cleric of the Thayan fire god might have his heals take the form of a blast of purifying flame. Exact same mechanic, but different flavor.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 captainschwiggles May 11, 2008 19:32:25	My friends and I are having some trouble with this. We thought that clerics that are evil can't cast good, or healing spells, and good clerics cant cast evil, or harm spells. Someone argued the fact so we consulted the book, but cant find anything. Please let me know. Thanks
#2 drmorganes May 11, 2008 19:46:41	Evil clerics can in fact cast Cure spells - but they have to prepare them. Think about it: even evil deities recognize the value of healing the wounded. You wouldn't want your powerful (and trusted) lackey to simply die. Powerful (and trusted) lackies aren't exactly easy to find, y'know...
#3 khazzan May 11, 2008 19:50:12	According to the SRD: Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells "A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions." (bold emphasis is mine) And, since spells such as Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, etc.. are not listed as being of Good alignment, an evil cleric can learn them and cast them if he or she wishes. The only restriction on an evil cleric and Cure spells is for the spontaneous casting ability: an evil cleric (or a neutral cleric of an evil deity), can’t convert prepared spells to Cure spells but can convert them to Inflict spells instead. I think that's right ;) Hope it helps.
#4 drmorganes May 11, 2008 19:56:18	A bit more on this... A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions. The Cure line of spells are Conjuration (Healing). Notice the lack of alignment descriptor. Harm is likewise an unaligned Necromancy spell, meaning Good-aligned clerics can cast it without issue. After all, even Good clerics find it useful to lay a little smack down. Edit: Ninja'd! :p
#5 bronzebeard May 12, 2008 7:53:13	Personally, I never tried healing when I was playing any evil cleric. It's just a roleplaying issue, nothing from the rules, but as I see it - the bad cleric won't 'waste' his precious divine spells on weaklings and heal them. Instead I played it a bit like a doom-caster taking the talos-stormpriest and resorting to healing only when I was in a grim spot. but that's just RP
#6 herrdoktor May 12, 2008 11:25:10	similar thing happened to one of my characters while i was designing him: i wanted the flavor of rebuking/controlling undead (the 'good necromancer' flavor here) while not sucking ass at healing my party when they needed it (since choosing rebuking instead of turning means you spontaneously cast inflict instead of cure). solution? got my dm to think about spontaneous domain casting (house rule presented in UA) - trade extra slot per level (domain slot) for ability to spontaneously cast your domain spells - and chose the healing domain. spontaneous cure AND inflict ftw! :]
#7 Bloodsoul May 13, 2008 22:11:09	All of my evil clerics have prepared cure spells and the like; you've got to keep your meat shields (i.e., everybody) still standing, right? (that UA feature is a blessing!!)
#8 nephlite May 14, 2008 11:45:26	My friends and I are having some trouble with this. We thought that clerics that are evil can't cast good, or healing spells, and good clerics cant cast evil, or harm spells. Someone argued the fact so we consulted the book, but cant find anything. Please let me know. Thanks Just look at the blackguard: he has to be evil, but he has cure spells. The only reason would be evil divine casting people can cast cure spells.
#9 ciaran May 15, 2008 19:12:29	I played an evil cleric for a long time. He had a supply of Cure spells and a Heal (usually for himself) on hand but it would never be as many as good clerics I've played. He didn't even carry a cure wand for most of his career! I would encourage my lackeys to stay the heck out of a fight or make sure you can stand up in one. He also had a maxed out Heal skill that he used every day. I prefaced each any every long-term heal check with a description of rolling out my blood-stained mat of wicked, barbed surgical tools. I most certainly didn't hold their hands or pat their heads.
#10 goram_browncoat May 17, 2008 15:05:15	I have a lawfull-evil cleric of loviatar. Healing spells are very important for this character, they keep the torture victims alive longer so they can suffer more. Theres also nothing alignment breaking about keeping your party up when youre an evil cleric. Evil doesnt mean you cant have friends and care for them. If anything, your friends are probably evil too and keeping them up is good for evil.
#11 braithwaite May 18, 2008 19:44:57	One DM I had houseruled that good clerics healed with positive energy, but that evil clerics heals were appropriate to their god. A cure disease might take the form of a swarm of maggots eating infected tissue and leaving only healthy flesh behind, or a cleric of the Thayan fire god might have his heals take the form of a blast of purifying flame. Exact same mechanic, but different flavor.