Cleric

Clerics are moral and spiritual leaders, warriors of faith who preach the will of the gods, interpret omens and portents, and strike down the evil or unfaithful. Most clerics have a patron deity, but some are champions of a particular moral alignment, venerating all deities of that alignment in addition to a patron deity, and yet others are the servants of a particular pantheon of deities. In a world of swords and sorcery, force of arms often speaks louder than moral suasion, and clerics are trained to do battle against the enemies of their gods. Some clerics are fanatics, zealously seeking new converts or hunting heretics. Others seem almost burdened by an inconvenient or even oppressive relationship with the divine forces. Evil clerics—sinister villains who prey upon fear and jealousy—sow discord in the world and gather converts for their demonic masters.

Clerics play an important support role for an adventuring party. Most clerical spells are oriented toward healing, strengthening, and defending others. However, when the need arises the cleric is fully capable of taking a place in the line of battle and smiting down infidels and foes. Clerics employ their holy symbols rather than spell books as a focus for their meditation. Cleric spells are automatically acquired as the cleric gains levels and no check is necessary to ensure they are understood; thus clerics may normally memorise any spell appropriate to their level. However, in some circumstances the powers the cleric serves may intervene and grant different spells to those requested; it is suggested that this is only done in extreme cases (such as when the cleric has been guilty of an alignment transgression of some kind, for example; more serious transgressions may result in fewer spells being granted, or even none at all). Some GMs may permit clerics of specific deities to have slightly different abilities from those described here.

When a cleric attains ninth level, he or she has accumulated sufficient divine favour and mortal renown to found a temple/stronghold. Such places are normally carved from the wilderness, in the same manner as a fighter establishes a freehold. For a cleric to assume the leadership of an existing temple, the details are left to the discretion of the GM; a level somewhat higher than ninth might be required. Whether the cleric establishes a stronghold or a temple, followers and acolytes will flock to the cleric’s banner.

Cleric Class Abilities

Spell Casting: Clerics may memorise and cast clerical spells in accordance with the tables provided hereafter. (See the Spell Lists below)

Turning Undead: Clerics can “turn” the undead (see below) making them flee from the cleric’s holiness (or, in the case of an evil cleric, bringing them to heel as servants and minions).

Bonus spells: These increase the number of spells that can be learned in a single day and are awarded to clerics with high wisdom. They are not cumulative and are awarded by level; hence “2/2/1/1” means the cleric is granted 2—1st level, 2—2nd level, 1—3rd level, and 1—4th level bonus spells.

* Constitution hp adjustments no longer apply

Each level gained thereafter requires 225,000 experience points and grants +2 hit points.

Turning the Undead

Clerics (and paladins) can turn undead, causing them to flee or even turning them to dust by the power of religious faith. An evil cleric can also turn a paladin, but cannot destroy the paladin by turning. Evil clerics may choose to control the undead instead of turning them. If an evil cleric gains a result of "D" on the table, the undead creature falls under the cleric’s control for 24 hours. Normally 2d6 creatures are affected by Turn Undead. Exceptions are paladins and Type 13 creatures, of which only 1d2 are affected, and results of "D", which affect 1d6+6 creatures.

Turning lasts for 3d4 rounds. While turned, the creature must move away from the cleric at its fastest possible movement rate. It will attack a creature that is directly blocking its escape route, but otherwise may not fight.

The cleric or paladin must be holding his or her holy symbol to make a turning attempt. In most cases this will preclude attacking on the same round, and the cleric must sheathe or drop his or her weapon (or else set down his or her shield).

To turn undead, roll a d20 on the Turning Undead Table. If the result is equal to or higher than the number shown, the attempt is successful.

Exception: Certain religions exist where the cleric’s holy symbol is also his or her weapon (for example, some GMs may permit clerics of the god Thor to carry a hammer which doubles as a holy symbol). In this case, the cleric will be able to make a turn undead attempt with his or her weapon in hand, although even this situation does not empower the cleric to attack and attempt to turn undead in the same round. If the cleric is successful in a turning attempt, he or she may try again next round. If the cleric fails, no further turning attempt may be made during this encounter.

Optional Rule: An evil cleric may control no more Hit Dice worth of undead than his or her level of experience; thus a 9th level evil cleric could control no more than two wights, for example.

Cleric Spells by Level