D&D 5E Does your city have a cleric NPC and what can he cure?

[Coroc]

Inspired by @Greenstone.Walker s thread about percentage of adventurers in a fantasy realm I wanted to do a little free text survey about NPCs with class levels and how you handle it in your campaign.

If your PCs need to raise a companion from dead e.g. then there are a few possibilities:

A level 9 NPC cleric who can cast the spell (for a fee and the diamond)
Some other (cleric) NPC or a PC (everyone of these have to be able to do this of course) who uses a scroll (of course this would increase the cost eventually)

So how is this available in your campaigns?
Is it like some universal health system, aka all good and most neutral temples offer this to mostly anyone?
Or Temples offer this, but require the patient/corpse to be of the same faith?
Or is it not available because NPC(clerics) are not high enough level?
Or is it available as a scroll, but PCs need to do the casting or find someone who can do the casting?

Also please give similar examples for other possible services e.g. detect magic and identify by NPCs etc.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I run Eberron, so there aren't that many clerics capable of casting Raise dead on the continent, let alone the city.
House Jorasco can handle it, if you can pay, but the facilities to do so are only in the largest enclaves. Travel time would be an issue to get to a city with one of those in before the deadline runs out

Magewrights able to use low-level effects like detect magic and identify are quite common though.

 

[Shiroiken]

In the town the players are located in, both the ally cleric and druid can cast 2nd level spells (there's a more powerful cleric, but she's unhelpful). A day away is a small city that has a cleric that can cast up to 3rd level spells. To get 5th level spells (raise dead), they have to travel 3 days by sea (or 7 overland through a treacherous forest). To get higher than that would then require several weeks overland, and even then only up to 7th level spells. Only a handful of clerics can cast 8th & 9th level spells, and they're pretty much unavailable except under extreme circumstance.

 

[Tonguez]

Raise Dead is not done lightly, it is a direct confrontation with the gods themselves, those who dare confront the gods must be great in faith or worthiness. Why should the diety release the spirits of the dead from their just reward and oblivion?
A mere diamond will not suffice, what service will you grant to the gods and how will you retrieve the spirit that you seek?

Answers those questions and the gods may grant their priest the right to open the way to the realm of the dead

 

[Lanefan]

If your PCs need to raise a companion from dead ...

So how is this available in your campaigns?
Is it like some universal health system, aka all good and most neutral temples offer this to mostly anyone?
Or Temples offer this, but require the patient/corpse to be of the same faith?

In my game it's kind of a mix. Most Good or Neutral temples will perform revivals (for a steep fee!) if they've a Cleric of level enough to do it (not likely at all in small and-or peaceful towns, pretty much guaranteed in major temples in big cities, and fairly likely in towns that serve as jumping-off points into the wild).

The lowest charge is if the person seeking revival is of the same race and faith as the casting temple, particularly if the target is a Cleric to that same deity or is at least in the same pantheon. Fees get higher (i.e. greater sacrifice is required) if the target is of a different race, or of an undesirable class; and get particularly high (or the spell will be refused) if the target is Cleric in another faith or pantheon.

So in a typical Elvish temple it'd go something like:

Lowest fee (but still high!) - Elf Cleric to same deity or devout Elf follower of same deity
Low fee - Elf Cleric to another Elven deity friendly to caster's deity
Standard fee - Any other Elf, and maybe some select non-Elves known to be "Elf-friends"
Higher fee - Any other non-Elf except as noted above and below
Higher-yet fee - Any Dwarf or Part-Orc, or any non-Elf of a class disapproved of by caster's deity
Highest fee - Any Cleric to a non-Elven deity; if the spell is not refused to them outright.

Or is it not available because NPC(clerics) are not high enough level?
Or is it available as a scroll, but PCs need to do the casting or find someone who can do the casting?

Sometimes there isn't a high enough level Cleric on hand here, you need to try somewhere else; and if 'somewhere else' is a different town or city the travel time can run into problems with the time limit for Raise Dead.

Scrolls are randomly available in dungeons as treasure and very occasionally come up for sale in towns. PCs can either try using a scroll themselves (at risk of failure if the caster's level isn't high enough) or can pay a small fee to someone of higher level. The fee here is small because the sacrifice was done when the scroll was written, and would be built in to the cost to buy the scroll in the first place if purchased.

Also please give similar examples for other possible services e.g. detect magic and identify by NPCs etc.

Rarely see this, other than for things like Restoration and Stone To Flesh that are usually above the PCs' ability to cast on their own. Same sort of things apply re fees and charges if the requested spell is Clerical; if it's arcane then the costs, while generally lower, are most certainly not zero.

For low-level spells like Detect Magic, Identify, and so forth; if the PCs don't have things like this they quickly get marching orders from the party to bloody well go and learn them!

 

[R_J_K75]

I generally run a Forgotten Realms campaign. Depending on where the players are a lot of supplements detail the level of clerics and what religions are represented in the area. I tend to make players choose a patron deity at PC creation. From there I encourage them to take an active role in the religion, by tithing, attending services and generally acting in the deities favor but not particularly actively pursuing specific goals for them. If they come to a settlement where there is an allied temple to their deity then they may be extended some services. Just paying lip service when its convenient them and throwing gold at clergy doesn't cut it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

There is a priest of Pelor, Hariim Ro'zaal (there are other churches and priests, but they seem to have cottoned most to him). He can raise the dead and cure other inflictions. The party has helped him out in the past, so he generally offers services at a discount, but from time to time he needs additional components or ingredients to heal, so off on a quest they go.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Most towns that have more than just a shrine or monument to a deity are going to have at least one priest capable of casting spells of 1st and 2nd level. They're generally going to have spells like Ceremony, Cure Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Purify Food and Drink, Enhance Ability, Calm Emotions, Locate Object, Continual Flame, Augury, and Zone of Truth. The overwhelming majority of priests aren't going to have adventuring type spells.

It's not until you get to large cities that you find priests capable of 3rd level or higher magic. Only the very largest of cities, or the cities that are major centers of a region or area are there going to be any 4th or 5th level spells available. 6th or higher is basically looking for a specific individual of a church.

 

[Minigiant]

My home game has a setting with these healers

Port City: 1 level 5 cleric
Mountain City: 1 level 5 runepriest
Forest City: 1 level 5 druid
Grassland City: 1 level 5 cleric
Arctic City: 1 level 5 runepriest, 1 level 3 druid
The City of Guilds: 1 level 19 cleric, 1 level 10/5 cleric/fighter, 1 level 9 cleric, 5 level 5 clerics, 5 level 1 cleric
Temple City: 1 level 20 cleric, several level 5 clerics.
The Throne: The Princess is a level 7 cleric.

 

[David Howery]

back when I first started playing in 1E days, my group had a general problem of 'nobody wanted to play the cleric'. So we usually had NPC clerics in the party, and services available in cities... sometimes. It depended a lot on the city. The big ones were generally considered to have clerics who could cast any spell needed (for a big fee), while small ones were more limited. Not sure our DM had a hard and fast rule on the matter...