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

[aco175]

Some depends on the level of the PCs and some on the size of the city. In a Phandalin campaign I'm running I have a lot of new people in town trying to get rich mining or adventuring. The new NPC cleric is 5th level and may rise to 7th by the time the PCs are around 5th themselves. If they need raise dead, they are heading to Neverwinter. Maybe they have some luck in Triboar, but most likely not.

One problem with not having anyone around is that it may lead to abandoning PCs. Some of this depends on if you let the new PC join the party at the same level or if he needs to be first level. There is another thread on that. If it is going to take away from the current quest, then some players will just make Bob 2 and continue on. This is more realistic, but may not always work at your table.

I tend to give a scroll or at least a diamond to the party around 3rd level to get them back on track after making a mistake. We may spend a night of play tracking someone down or more likely come across a magical font that can raise someone after a combat to get past something. There may even be a woodland fey that gave the quest to save his sacred spring.

 

[bedir than]

I try to confine my NPCs to Tiers rather than Levels.
Local Heroes (small cities, towns, etc) are going to have simple magic at best.
Heroes of the Realm - these people are known. They have significant power and are in major cities or enclaves that the public knows about.
Masters of the Realm - this is where powerful magic comes online. These are rare and famous.
Masters of the World - yeah, basically unique.

 

[akr71]

Spell casting services (Arcane or Divine) are available in towns and cities when I DM. The amount is dependent on the size of the town. This goes for items for sale as well.

• Village - Typically none, unless for story reasons, but there is likely a non-magical healer
• Town - Probably some, up to spell level 3 and some common & uncommon items
• Small City - up to spell level 5 & maybe a rare item or two
• City - up to spell level 7, but it will be costly (& not necessarily in terms of gold)
• Metropolis or Capital - up to spell level 9 which again will be costly and any very rare items are prized possessions that the owner does not want to part with.

 

[Draegn]

The majority of priests and clerics spend their time collecting alms, tithes and creating illuminated manuscripts. The very few that can call upon the power of a god through prayer and ritual are seemingly living saints and are kept isolated from the masses.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Eh, it depends. Does the player want to bring that character back? Then I'm sure we can swing something. Maybe the next adventure is bringing that person back from the dead. However, I'll be honest, I hate it when a player is sidelined for most of a session, if not multiple ones. Death already has a penalty, I don't want the player to feel like their in "time out" for too long.

 

[jgsugden]

Most NPCs do not follow class design mechanics, but there are priests who can cast spells or perform healing. They perform minor healing for a fee without much investigation, much like the PHB recommends, but anything more than a first or second level spell will only be provided to someone approved of by the church, generally. And, usually, the cost is not monetary, but instead requires a service to be performed.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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.

No clerics, in most cities, but a priest who has mastered the 5th circle of divine magic or one who is blessed by their deity or power to perform this particular miracle, or perhaps a specialist healer of great enogh power, can perform the Rite of Resurrection. This could be an NPC who simply has access to divine restoration spells, one with full clerical spellcasting (though not actual class levels), or someone with a divine gift as per the DMG that simply allows them to raise the dead once a day. In eberron this isn't even at a church, it's gonna be done at a Jorasco enclave by a person born with the mark of healing.

In a setting I'm building, communal magic is a big part of the setting, and one of the ways the PCs will gain power is by getting the populace to believe in them. If they go to temple in a town where the locals consider them heroes, and love them well enough, they might be raised by a communal ritual of revival, in which everyone present gives of their own power and life (spending HD or gaining exhaustion), to bring someone they love back from the Desert of Night (the land of the dead).

 

[The Crimson Binome]

In the last game I ran, there was a level 9 cleric NPC, but she was unknown to the party for the first half of the campaign and busy running a country on another continent for the second half of the campaign. There was nobody else in the setting who was capable of casting Raise Dead.

 

[DND_Reborn]

In general, a major city (250,000 or more) will likely have a 9th level cleric for raise dead. Smaller cities have a % chance based on population (e.g. 100,000 would only have a 40% chance).

Fee is base 2500 gp + material components. Cleric will also only perform the spell if the character has acted in accordance with their (the PC) alignment.

In prior games, a cleric would only raise someone of the same faith as well.

The most you could hope from local temples or whatever would be 1-2 level spells. (100 - 500 gp base price).

 

[R_J_K75]

...Masters of the World...

What about Masters of the Universe?