CLericless PArties

[ConcreteBuddha]

1) Are we talking no cleric or no divine casters (bard included)?

No cleric is easy. Druid, bard, paladin, ranger, wands, potions, scrolls, other miscellaneous items. You just have to work around it.

No divine caster is really hard. Kinda like if the party doesn't have a tank, a human-relations expert or a utility, the party is in for some trouble if the DM doesn't tailor adventures.


2) Cleric is the most powerful class, IMHO. Any group that doesn't have one is going to be slightly less effective than a similiar group. Not so much that CR doesn't work, but that the group will have to stretch to take up the slack.

Each of the divine-like casters will have to fill a niche they were not meant to fill. Using non-permanent items takes up party resources that could have been spent on other more-permanent magic items.


3) Right now, I'm DMing a group with a druid, sorcerer and rogue. I can see where the druid or sorc could have been switched out for a cleric, but that is not a necessary decision by any means.

 

[saFire]

in the campaign I'm playing in right now, there isn't a cleric. there is a druid who takes care of healing and has some useful spells and my spellcasting character uses the witch spell list (in the DMG) so she can cast healing spells too. however, clerics are good for more than just healing, they have some kewl spells, so you could introduce a cleric NPC later on. it just depends on what you (or that player) want to use clerics for.

 

[Geoff Watson]

IMC the party currently has no PC Cleric(or anyone with CLW). They get by with buying LOTS of healing potions, and going to friendly temples and paying for emergency spells (remove curse, restoration, etc). The wizard eventually made a CLW 3/day item, which saved a bit on potion money.

I suggested that they take a level of Cleric. They eventually decided to get an NPC Cleric cohort to help deal with the emergencies. They have bought many wands of CLW for healing after the fights.

Geoff.