User:MisterSinister/Sandbox Cleric, TOToM (3.5e Class)

Author: MisterSinister (talk) Date Created: October 25th, 2010 Status: In progress Editing: SPAG and wikiodicy only.

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• "levels" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 20.
• "Divine Spellcasting and Spontaneous Spellcasting" is not in the list (Prepared Arcane Spellcasting, Spontaneous Arcane Spellcasting, Prepared Divine Spellcasting, Spontaneous Divine Spellcasting, Arcane Spellcasting, Divine Spellcasting, Prepared Spellcasting, Spontaneous Spellcasting, Alternate Magic, Psionics, ...) of allowed values for the "Class Ability" property.

The Cleric

Serving their deities to advance their agenda in the world, a cleric is one of their deity's highest servants, granted divine magic to make their will manifest across the cosmos.

Making a Cleric

Deities and Domains

The rules here are written under the assumption that deities in the game give roughly equal domain numbers, and that no deity has more than about five domains. If this is not the case, it is strongly advised that such limits be imposed, or, if deities give too few domains relative others, that they be given additional domains to make their number either equal to, or as close to five as possible. For more deity ideas, check out my (soon to come!) sister project: Tome of Divinities.

Depending on their choice of deity, clerics can take a wide variety of forms. Some fight on the front lines, while others give support from the back. Thus, the choice of deity will inform what role a cleric can play, but in practice, a cleric of the right deity can fill almost any role.

Abilities: Charisma is the most important ability score for a cleric, as it gives power to their spells. Depending on what other role they choose to play, Strength or Dexterity (and, indeed, Constitution) may be important as well.

Races: All manner of races have clerics, just as they have racial gods. In practice, any race is equally likely to become a cleric.

Alignment: Clerics can be of any alignment, even ones that are highly dissimilar to their patron deities. Not everyone reads the teachings of a deity the same way, and deities, being eternal and incredibly-powerful beings, don't always concern themselves with things like 'consistency'.

Starting Gold: 5d4×10 gp (125gp).

Starting Age: Complex.

Table: The Cleric

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Spells per Day
		Fort	Ref	Will		0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Channel energy, divine spontenaity, 1st domain sphere ability	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	(something goes here)	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3	(something might go here)	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	2nd domain sphere ability	5	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4	(something might go here)	5	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	(something goes here)	5	4	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	(something might go here)	6	5	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
8th	+6	+6	+2	+6	3rd domain sphere ability	6	5	4	4	3	-	-	-	-	-
9th	+6	+6	+3	+6	(something might go here)	6	5	5	4	3	2	-	-	-	-
10th	+7	+7	+3	+7	(something goes here)	6	6	5	4	4	3	-	-	-	-
11th	+8	+7	+3	+7	(something might go here)	6	6	5	5	4	3	2	-	-	-
12th	+9	+8	+4	+8	4th domain sphere ability	6	6	6	5	4	4	3	-	-	-
13th	+9	+8	+4	+8	(something might go here)	6	6	6	5	5	4	3	2	-	-
14th	+10	+9	+4	+9	(something goes here)	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	3	-	-
15th	+11	+9	+5	+9	(something might go here)	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	3	2	-
16th	+12	+10	+5	+10	5th domain sphere ability	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	3	-
17th	+12	+10	+5	+10	(something might go here)	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	3	2
18th	+13	+11	+6	+12	(something goes here)	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	3
19th	+14	+11	+6	+12	(something might go here)	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	4	3
20th	+15	+12	+6	+12	6th domain sphere ability (or something, don't really care)	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4
Class Skills (4, ×4 at 1st level) Affability (Cha), Bluff (Int), Concentration (Wis), Intimidation (Cha), Psychology (Int), Thaumaturgy (Cha)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the cleric.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Clerics are proficient with all simple weapons and their deity's favoured weapon. They are proficient with light armour and with light shields.

Why Clerics Are Spontaneous

Clerics being prepared casters never made much sense. The whole idea behind divine magic is that it's granted by the cleric's patron god/demon/Thing That Man Was Not Meant To Know/whatever. This granting occurs via the patron's portfolio, which are the things in the universe that they are connected to and deal with. Thus, the cleric's power allows them to affect some aspect of that portfolio in a way that is desirable to their deity/whatever gave them the power in the first place. As a result, the idea of a cleric spending time to prepare spells for the day seems odd, as their power would be called upon by asking for intercession or assistance from their patron when dealing with something that affects their portfolio. This would involve highly-varied and unpredictable situations, giving out results as is necessary - which sounds exactly like spontaneous casting. There is even a rationale as to why they can't spam their stuff over and over - a deity only has so much power to ration out! This is why clerics are spontaneous casters in this volume. If you prefer a prepared-casting cleric, check out Chapter 5: Variants and Variations.

Spells: Clerics cast divine spells, which they do not need to prepare ahead of time. A cleric must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell's level in order to cast it. Save DCs for cleric spells are equal to 10 + 1/2 the cleric's character level + the cleric's Charisma modifier.

A cleric knows all [Simple] cleric spells, as well as all of the spells on any domain sphere granted by their deity. A cleric simply knows these spells and doesn't have to prepare them ahead of time. For [At-Will] and [Passive] spells, this means they are available at all times, provided that the cleric has at least one slot remaining of a level that is at least as high as the spell's. For [Limited] spells, using them requires the expenditure of a slot of a level at least as high as the spell's. When there are no more slots left of that level, higher-level slots must be used, or spells of that level cannot be used at all.

A cleric can recharge their slots by an hour of prayer or meditation, but may not do this more than once every 24-hour period.

Code of Conduct: A cleric must follow all the rules set down by their deity for clerics. These vary depending on the deity, and should be discussed with the GM. Alternatively, just use one from the Tome of Divinities already.

Channel Energy (Su): Something will go here once I figure out how to make it tick.

Domain Sphere Granted Power (Ex): Starting at 1st level, and then at 4th level and every four levels thereafter, a cleric gains one of the granted powers of a domain sphere offered by his or her deity. The same sphere granted power cannot be gained multiple times this way.

Ex-Clerics

A cleric that repeatedly and egregiously violates the rules for clerics of their deity loses access to their domain sphere abilities, spellcasting and channel energy abilities. They cannot advance further as clerics, nor do they get back their abilities, unless they atone.

Human Cleric Starting Package

Weapons: <-Weapon selection for starting at 1st level with this class.->.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"->
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"-> <-copy and paste the rows as necessary.->

Feat: <-1st-level feat selection->.

Bonus Feats: <-1st-level feat bonus feats due to class or sample race. remove this section if this sample doesn't get any bonus feats at 1st level. ->.

Gear: <-Starting armor and other equipment outside of weapons.->.

Gold: <-Starting gold using this package.->.

Campaign Information

Playing a Cleric

Religion: A cleric's choice of deity is the most important choice that they can make. It determines how they should behave, what is expected of them, and what sort of powers they have at their disposal. As a result, their religion defines them.

Other Classes: Clerics typically understand the importance of members of other classes, and are willing and able to help them do what they do best. As clerics vary widely, their relationships with other classes depend on their choice of deity and also their choice of focus.

Combat: There is no such thing as a 'typical' role in combat for a cleric. Clerics can and do fill all roles in combat, depending on their deity and choice of focus.

Advancement: Clerics are perfectly happy to continue advancing in their own class.

Clerics in the World

“	Tell me: do you fear death?	”
—Ashara, human cleric of Mahisha Ma, to a recently-fallen soldier

Clerics serve an important role in communities and the world as a whole as communicators and executors of a deity's will, as well as providing living, physical proof that their deities exist and matter. Additionally, they serve an important function to ensuring that their deity's portfolio remains looked after, at the level that they are capable of influencing. While for low-level clerics, this can be as small as a single community, for high-level ones, this can include planets, solar systems or even the whole universe.

Daily Life: A cleric's work is never done, or at least that's the case if they're doing their job properly. Deities need a lot done, and there are never enough clerics to go around to making sure that their porfolios remain maintained, and that their faith remains known and believed. A cleric's day can include just about anything - and they have to be ready for it. Adventuring clerics have it exactly the same way, except even more so.

Notables: Each church, cult or religious organisation has its own special members and people of importance.

Organizations: Clerics of a smilar faith usually have some manner of structure or hierarchy, or at least some manner of informal pecking order within which they operate. Additionally, many clerics may also hold other positions in organisations not related to their religion directly.

NPC Reactions: Due to the sheer range of worship forms and deities out there, clerics are received in every way possible, from devotion to assassination attempts, and just about everything in-between. Generally, in places where the cleric's deity is held in high regard, the cleric will also be held in high regard. However, in places where the cleric's deity is seen in a poor light, the cleric would likely receive a bad reception. In places where people are indifferent or don't know, they will be judged on their actions alone.

Clerics in the Game

Clerics, depending on their deities, serve a wide variety of roles. From warriors to advisors to healers to wise men and women, to just about anything else, a cleric can be found in that role, serving the will of their deity and keeping their portfolio maintained.

Adaptation: This cleric class is designed to be 'generic', to cover as many deities as possible, while providing enough variation to make them interesting and different to each other. It's completely possible to make clerics even more diverse than this, but doing so requires a clear understanding of what deities exist in the world and how they interact. For more ideas on this, see the Tome of Divinities.

Sample Encounter: <-DM placement for NPCs of this class.->.

EL <- EL Number ->: <-Encounter scenario and character info on sample NPC including stat block. The CR of the NPC is typically the same as the EL for the encounter.->.

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