Cleric for Hire

[Dirigible]

I saw an add in a PbP forum saying "Does you game need a cleric?" That immediately triggered the phrase 'Cleric for Hire', which led to the phrase Mercenary Cleric.

And then I thought 'that sounds like an interesting idea for a character'. Not a mercenary who is a cleric - a sell-mace, if you will; but a cleric that sells his religious services to anyone that's buying. Unaffiliated with (and in fact, rather disliked by) the church authorities, his beliefs are as purchaseable as his loyalty.

What kinds of things could this character be hired to do?

* Sell Cure spells, Blessings etc.
* Perform the coronation for a rebel prince to add legitimacy to an insurrection.
* Marry a pair of star cross'd lovers.
* Perform the funery rites for an utterly despised villain or other scumbag.
* Take the confessions of a loathesome lich or assassin.
* Hold the regular religious ceremonies for an excommunicated village.
* Come up with the theological arguments to back up a new cult that lacks a scholar of its own.
* Consecrate the land a thieve's guildhouse is to be built on.
* Perform an exorcism on a bitter old miser who has been touched by the angel of generosity, to return him to his skinflint ways.
* Grant personal sanctuary to a wanted fugitive ("Coincidentally, the radius of my sanctuary extends as far as my attacks of opportunity")

Anyone got any further ideas or comments?

 

[diaglo]

give him the War domain

 

[Dirigible]

Possibly you aren't getting my intentions.

 

[radferth]

Isn't that how most DMs run most NPC clerics?

 

[Stormborn]

I think in DnD terms it is entirelly possible, depending on the god. It happens in the real world, but as I don't get Turn Undead (to the best of my knowledge) uses everyday the connection in the rpg world between clerics and their deities is a little more immediate. Thus the Cleric would have to follow a god, or a principle, that would allow such behavior. A CN or CE God of Commerce whose motto was "Anything for Buck" woudl allow it. A God of...er... Contrainess (for lack of a better word) would allow it. Probablly any god of evil or chaos whose only goal was to sew trouble would allow it.

 

[lastalas]

Since D&D has immediate and effective results from a cleric's administrations, then any act performed by the cleric must be sanctioned by his god to some extent. Otherwise, he loses his powers. As others mentioned, if you have a diety that allows that then no problem. However, such a diety may not be respected by people or the other gods, which could limit their appeal and/or impact.

However, it is a really interesting idea and I would keep developling it.

It also gave me a thought. What if the "clerics" of a particular group have powers or spells that are similar to a cleric's spells but are not god bestowed? Maybe this group has found how to tap into divine power somehow else, or they use arcane magic (the people don't know the difference)?

Or even better, if u want them really dark, the Complete Divine book (I believe) has a prestige class that sucks its clerical powers from other clerics and diety connections. They have no god of their own, instead leach the power of existing connections. This could make an interesting subplot where these fake clerics begin to gather more power and prestige than legitimate clerics. After all, people (especially those in power) love someone they can pay to tell them they are always right. Maybe a powerful king has recently removed his Cleric of Heironous advisor for one of these fake clerics? and perhaps the impetus was a desire to commit some action that Heironous was opposed to?

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

I believe that clerics are allowed to gain spell power/divine ability through faith in a philosophy, in addition to a deity. So, a cleric such as this would be a prime example of one who does not worship a deity.

"Weren't you just working at the church of Heironeous last week?", asked the head priest of the temple of Rao.

"Yes, but does not Rao also follow the tenets of good?".

As long as the cause being hired out to matches up with his beliefs this would work.

 

[kenobi65]

You could also wind up with something like this if there's a schism within a church. Assuming that neither of the schismed groups were heretical (and thus, likely to get their powers stripped by the god him/herself), both groups would maintain their abilities. If one group is in the minority, and thus cut off from the church's resources, they might have to resort to being "sellspells" in order to survive -- and, they'd likely be willing to cast spells that the other group would frown upon in order to do so.

 

[Dirigible]

I'm not thinking of a mercenary cleric that sells his skills as an undead exterminator, warrior (what? he's more compentant than a commoner of equivalent level) or spellcaster; that's just what adventurers do.

You could also wind up with something like this if there's a schism within a church. Assuming that neither of the schismed groups were heretical (and thus, likely to get their powers stripped by the god him/herself), both groups would maintain their abilities.

That's closer to what I had in mind.

I'm thinking more of a cleric that sells her social, cultural and spiritual services to those dienfranchised by the mainstream chruch, sort of like how priests would sell indulgences (but less 'corrupt' and more 'opportunistic', if you get my meaning).