less martial divine caster

[drexes]

Has anybody read/seen/written a less martial cleric class or PrC? I am thinking of adding a clerical style class to my setting that is more of the robe-wearing charismatic than the plate wearing holy warrior. IMC they will be highly political, ultimately corruptable, and specifically evil. What I am wondering is if you take away the armor proficiencies and then maybe even give them arcane spell failure then what would you do to balance them out?

Just a thought
Drexes

 

[darkbard]

You might start by taking a look at the Archivist class from Heroes of Horror. It's a non-martial cleric that casts divine spells from a book (a la wizard), has reduced attack progression and hit die, and has a dark knowledge class ability (similar in mechanics to bard's performance) that lends bonuses to its allies.

 

[Narsil]

Cloistered Cleric - Urban Arcana

 

[Nyeshet]

I created my own, but it has not yet been playtested. Thus I second the vote for the Cloistered Cleric.

 

[Liquidsabre]

I've gotten to play both a Cloistered Cleric and an Archivist, both are great and interesting to play so I recommend either one. As far as balance goes the CC is a little too weak in the early levels due to the lack of armor AC so I'd think the Archivist route is the better way to go there (AP:Medium but BAB as a wiz/sorc). Really, a combination of the two classes would probably work best for a "priest" class of some sort. I've been working my own priest class with an aim to do just that. Instead of medium armor I've kept them at light armor and added a few defensive spells to the mix to balance out the class (a 1st-level shield spell among others) with domain spells adding to their spell list and making use of a prayerbook.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) Use all of the game info for Sorcerer and Wizard, but drop familiars and sub the spell lists. Wizard-based casters would get Domain powers, Sorcerer-based casters would get Undead Turning.

2) You could start off with a Sorcerer or Specialist Mage of some kind, giving the class both Arcane Disciple (x2...possibly over time)- giving access to the domain spells of the domains selected, and simultaneously giving whatever the heck feat it was from Dragon Magazine's Class Acts that granted the domain powers from the domains chosen.