Vikingkingq
Adventurer
Ok, then why post it as a reply to me, when that's not what I was discussing?Heh, it is more relevant to the playtest Cleric and the 5e Cleric generally.
While it's true that 1e drew heavily on the medieval Church, it wasn't the only ingredient in the mix: they very explicitly were borrowing from Leiber and Moorcock and Lovecraft and anyone else they thought was cool. And yes, there was borrowing from real-life mythologies, but there was also just stuff they were making up like Corellon, Moradin, Gruumsh, etc.In any case, the concept of the D&D Cleric class continues to evolve. In 1e, it began as a Christian "bishop" with a Christian military holy order, the Knights Hospitaller, for inspiration. This concept was additionally used to culturally appropriate the gods from various reallife polytheistic traditions. Figures such as Greek Apollo or Egyptian Isis became the defacto Jesus of a Christian-style church. In this context, the Drow demon Lolth is something like an anti-Jesus. 3e leaned into the polytheistic aspects, diversifying the "domains" of the Cleric class, but also normalized the "philosophical" Cleric that is nontheistic. 4e pushed hard a kind WotC "corporate branding" pantheon. 5e is trying to make sense of all of this, in a coherent, playable, fun way.
Again, I think this is only true if you have a very restrictive definition of "a D&D cleric" and "D&D novels." Also, the Cleric Quintet isn't about the Drow - the protagonist is a human cleric and their nemesis is their evil wizard father.The comment by @kunadam feels poignant. The concept of a D&D cleric is moreorless nonexistent in literature that is unrelated to D&D. But even D&D novels seem less than thrilled with the Cleric class. The Cleric tends to either be a villain or a background character for an ex-machina healing. Neither characterization convey a enthusiasm about the Cleric class.