Hot answers tagged cleric
24
According to a regular in Gygax and Arneson's early Blackmoor and Greyhawk games, the cleric was largely draw from the priests in 70s vampire movies, with the prohibition against edged weapons inspired by legends and fantasy fiction:
Ahem. I was there.
In CHAINMAIL there were wizards that functioned as artillery.
Then there was Dave Arneson's ...
22
You can use (almost) all of your powers when disarmed and without implements.
ImplementDDI and WeaponDDI powers don't prevent you from using them if you lack the appropriate tool: they simply allow you to get a bonus when you have the appropriate tool.
When using an Implement (keyword) power you make an unmodified ability check (usually Wisdom-based for ...
21
There is no such rule in the setting-independent supplements that I know.
But setting-specific supplements are another story.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, p233 or something:
Changing Deities
It is possible for a cleric, druid, paladin, or spellcasting ranger (or any other divine spellcaster) to abandon his chosen deity and take up the
...
19
The D&D Cleric, apart from its Blackmoor origins as a vampire hunter (as noted here), is a mish-mash that has grown into a trope of its own.
The D&D cleric as a trope, encompasses:
undead hunter
healer
second rate combattant
priest of a pantheon (or faction within a pantheon)
non-direct-damage spellcaster
no edged weapons
The Cleric was one of ...
17
Adjusting to the situation is important. Many good ideas have been mentioned already; here's some suggestions on when to use them:
Fall! or Trip!
Golden in precarious terrain or situations. I once had particular success with "Fall" against a charging guard captain... as he was mounted on a warhorse at the time. Leading the charge.
Also, instant death ...
17
There's an interesting item in the Wikipedia article Sources and influences on the development of Dungeons & Dragons about Clerics. Quoting from an old Dragon Magazine article it states:
The cleric is largely inspired by folklore of the medieval cleric of
Templar.[13] Like the Templars described in White's The Once and
Future King, clerics in ...
13
The canonical "true/current" version of everything is found in the compendium, here (subscription required to use as more than an index).
There are, at present, three current "Cleric" classes you can play. I define a cleric class as anything that counts as a cleric for purposes of feats, beyond that of multi-class.
There is the "original" Templar Cleric. ...
13
I don't think it really gets any better than "Autodefenestrate!"
A cruel DM will make the NPC perform a language check to know what the hell you're trying to tell it to do, unfortunately. But you can argue that in the event of a failed check, the NPC should be forced to perform its best guess as to your meaning; hilarity may be expected to ensue.
Does ...
12
No,
Player's Handbook pg 225
An attack that does not deal damage still does not deal damage on a critical hit.
This is also part of the DDI definition of Critical Hit.
12
The primary reasoning for this is because of Gygax's study of anthropology.
Priests during the dark ages often favored staves and other blunt objects that could be used more for policing and self defense against other weapons than actual harm. Thus if used properly they would not cause bleeding (directly) but maybe severe bruising or a broken bone.
EDIT ...
11
Yes as it states all creatures of one type are effected.
To target selectively a cleric should select the Selective Channeling feat which allows them to exclude targets up to their charisma modifier from the effect.
Clerics can also modify who they target using the Alignment channel feat to target outsiders instead.
10
KISS (keep it simple stupid!) is the best advice, while some Command words are funny and can lead to interesting reactions, old standbys like "Sleep", "Die", "Fall" or "Surrender" are the best, as they are unambiguous and lead to predictable results. I would add "Undress" which can help out against almost any character class (a mage might drop his cloak or ...
10
I'm sure there will be good answers for how to houserule this spell and bring it under control, so I'm going to go on an extreme tangent and suggest something else entirely:
The cleric clearly wants to be a rockin', evil-burninating machine. Awesome! Roll with that. Bring out more, nastier evil outsiders and help make that cleric player feel awesome. As the ...
10
From the Player's Handbook, pg33:
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) can turn or destroy undead creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) instead rebukes or commands such creatures, forcing them to cower in awe of his power. If your character is a neutral cleric of a neutral deity, you must ...
9
If you haven't taken the Toughness feat, I recommend it -- at the beginning of each tier, it's 10% of your total hit points, which is not bad. Also think about Durable if your problem is running out of surges. Battle Healer is also quite good, since it gives you a bit of healing every time you heal someone else. Dwarf Battle Priest would do the same thing, ...
9
to answer your questions in order.
Yes. Weapon of the Gods will work extremely well with your rogue powers. It will even add the radiant keyword to them. This is especially useful when dealing with undead. Your weapon remains a light blade/crossbow/short bow so you can definitely continue to inflict sneak attack damage.
Yes. The status affects inflicted do ...
9
From the Core Rulebook under the Cleric class in Chapter 3: Each cleric must choose a time when she must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain her daily allotment of spells. By daily allotment this refers to all their spells.
From the Core Rulebook under Divine spells in Chapter 9: When preparing spells for the day, a cleric ...
8
D&D
Moldvay only covers to level 6. Cook wrote expert. However, Moldvay states:
4 2 1st level, 1 2nd level<br>
5 2 1st level, 2 2nd level<br>
6 3 1st level, 2 2nd level
D&D Basic, p. B18
No third level clerical spells are included in Moldvay.
Cook Expert shows your hop:
L Title Spells
1 Acolyte - - - ...
7
You should point out to the player that none of the Implement powers she selected can be used with a longbow. Only Holy Symbols can be used. She can still use the powers without a Holy Symbol, but she won't get the benefit of any enhancement bonuses on the bow.
At very low levels this doesn't matter so much. Your nonmagical mace will do just as well as ...
7
Double weapons are interesting. For all purposes you treat them as two separate weapons. You don't get any extra attacks with them. Both ends are enchanted with the same enchantment and other than flavor and cost efficiency they function as two separate weapons.
The big bonus to dual weapons is in cost efficiency. A two weapon ranger or other build that ...
7
I know of no such rule. Unarmed Strike is defined as a simple weapon, so taking Simple Weapon Proficiency does grant proficiency with Unarmed Strike. The two drawbacks of Unarmed Strike (provoking AoO due to being considered unarmed and dealing nonlethal damage) are qualities of the "weapon". Note that wearing Gauntlets allows you to overcome those two ...
6
Oracle is to Cleric as Sorcerer is to Wizard. They are balanced by design and, in my experience, in play. You get to cast on the fly, which is good, but know fewer spells, which is bad. You have additional cool powers to put icing on top. There are plenty of good Oracle builds, but it's impossible to help you without knowing your build or what it is you ...
6
One that's very situational: Copulate. Target the fighter type that's next to an opposite-sex caster type.
Not only have you taken the fighter type out for a round but while they're attempting to copulate with the caster the caster won't be in a position to do anything nasty to you, either. Two for the price of one.
Another situational one: Swim. ...
6
Drink can be good if you have something handy for the victim to imbibe (poison, a potion, whatever). Note that if you suspect the target of already being under the influence of a potion (e.g. speed), a second potion (even of delusion) will immediately require a miscibility check, which might produce even more fun.
Surrender! can be very useful, especially ...
6
The spell as written is temporarily negated by magical darkness where the areas of effect overlap. Just have some creatures with darkness spells.
According to the Book of Exalted Deeds:
Celestial brilliance brought into an area of magical darkness (or vice versa) is temporarily negated, so that the otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the ...
6
I believe it goes back to Bishop Odo, an 11th Century cleric depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry wielding a club. Many historians believe that he wields a club because, as a cleric, he would have been forbidden from carrying a sword. Whether this widely-believed historical status is true or not, it's likely that the priesthood were generally not trained in ...
5
Environment effects. These are more prominent in D&D4, but they should work fine in 3.5
For example, your undead just happen to be in an ancient evil tomb. (Sounds reasonable). But as a consequence the whole tomb: (pick one, unless you want to be extra mean)
halves all light sources (and their effects)
heals all undead (or regens them)
any undead ...
5
One of them
Each Healing word is an encounter power. While it is possible to make the argument that:
You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use this power three times per encounter.
Means that the encounter is only "half-way used," the intent is clear. Furthermore, as restoring all healing words ...
5
@Kikimora: See my answer to this question, which explains what an Oracle does in detail, and how her mechanics work. An Oracle isn't more or less powerful than a Pathfinder cleric; she has a narrower range of spells; but, has more spell "ammo" than a cleric of the same level, and more flexibility about how many of which spells she can cast on a given day. ...
5
Page 33 of the PHB states
Cleric combinations (with fighter types) may use edged
weapons.
But later on it states
Cleric/Magic-user: This combination
gives the character a great variety
and selection of spells, as well as
the use of armor and more weapons. Hit
points are somewhat better than those
of the magic-user class alone.
...
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