Cleric Adventuring Motivation

[Torx]

I prefer deep character backgrounds in games I DM and play in. One hurdle I always tend to come across is the motivation for an adventuring cleric. IMC the churches are fairly dominant - but not overly large; every cleric and priest is of great importance to the individual churches. So my question is this:

What are some good motivations for cleric characters for joining the standard adventuring party, irregardless of particular church (though specific hooks are always welcome)?

I tend to run into difficulties with certain churches giving free reign to their clerics (ie church of war saying "Go make war".) I also run into difficulties if the churches hand out specific missions - then the cleric character becomes too much of a focal point for the party.

Anywho - any ideas?

 

[fba827]

* How about a specific quest that isn't the same as the campaign focus? I.e. the group is trying to track down a bad guy, fine, the cleric gets his quest to visit towns X, Y, and Z to deliver messages about the same villan.

* Kind of open ended, but the church wants the cleric to collect funds, plain and simple. For whatever reason the cleric is either given free reign to do so or could be assigned to the "group" because the church knows their reputation or something

(am tired, will add more if i think of it -- not that these ideas are all that great .. but, hey, it's a start )

 

[Crothian]

It can be difficult for any class, but clerics do seem to be one of the hardiest. I'm currently playing a cleric with an extensive background. If you want I can post a link to the whole think, but here I'll just sum up the high points as to why he adventures.

First, he's not liked by the other members of the clergy and he's not very social. This was important becasue I wanted a reason why he doesn't convert people or try to run a temple (actually he did run one for a few years, but that's another story).

Second, he's on a passive quest of his own (sort of ) making. He has time so it's not driving him, but it gets him out and about.

But truthfully, it really depends on the god and the religion. You can have a high charisma cleric who is told to basically do good in your god's name, so you are basically a PR agent.

Edit: For good measure I'll post the link to the cleric background I'm referring to:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18268

 

[Torx]

Thanks for the input so far. What I would like clarified is the last statement:

You can have a high charisma cleric who is told to basically do good in your god's name, so you are basically a PR agent.

I realize you did preface it with it depends on the religion - but doing good in your god's name really only translates to "join adventuring party" if it is a combat or alignment oriented god. What about gods of plants, darkness, truth, water, birth, etc., etc.?

Motivation typically is not much of problem with alignment or combat oriented gods, but players who choose the non-standard "combat cleric" religions tend to get the short end of the wand when it comes to motivation (merely my lack of proper creativity, I assure you).

 

[Crothian]

That was worded badly, and I apologize for it. The cleric does good in his gods name by fullfilling the domains and aspects of the god. A cleric of a god of healing would heal things, a cleric of a god of nature would defend nature and help people live with nature in peace, whatever would be best for serving the god. Since the cleric is very charismatic, people would look upon him with more favor, he would be a sort of spokesperson for the religion. But instead of speaking of the god and preaching, he would also being showing through deeds.

 

[alsih2o]

what about the good old "spread the word by tongue or sword" proselytize or prosecute.....

 

[Sejs]

Crisis of Faith. Not so much as loss of belief in their diety (which would result in problems spellcasting, etc) but maybe a loss of faith in the god's earthly representatives.. his church. So he's off adventuring, away from the hierarchy (to which he has taken a dim, sarcastic view of) to try to find enlightenment thru trial and tribulation, as to what would be the -better- way to serve his god.

 

[jollyninja]

here is what i attribute the phenomenon of adventuring clerics to. it is a tradition that started because at the core of any pantheon's dynamics is the competition for worshipers. an adventuring cleric's job within the church is to up the regard of his religion in the eyes of an average joe.

think about it. a farmer who has never left his villiage might become a worshiper of flharganin (the greyhawk travel god, i probably spelled it wrong) because once when he was young, his cousin was kidnapped by ogres and a travelling cleric of that god was the one who saved him and raised a girl who was killed in the raid who later became the farmer's wife. it's a small villiage, the one event could have great signifigance for everyone in town. they will remember those who did it. the fighter bob, the bard lisa, the halfling beaswell and the cleric of flharganin doug.

as for temple priests, they are allways either old clerics, experts, or my variant "temple priest" npc class in my world.

 

[ForceUser@Home]

The cleric of Pelor that I run in my friend's Greyhawk game is an ecclesiastical scholar who, when not writing treatsies on theology and managing his charities, enjoys traveling and exploring ruins and sites related to the church of Pelor in some way. He does this primarily to expand his knowledge of church history, but also to fulfill the mission that his god has dictated to all of his followers: actively protect the faithful by eradicating evil. Thus, his goals coincide: he gets to further his god's will (protecting the flock by eradicating evil) while furthering his personal goal (learning more about church history). Works for me.

 

[pseudo_hero]

Townsman: "You and your party destroyed the whole village!
Cleric: "It was god's will..."