Clerics are a popular class for elves...Really?

[Bongo Bigguns]

I'm confused. Wasn't the entire point of the elf-eladrin division that one race was more natural (woods-loving, whatever) and the other was more magical? That's a ranger and a wizard build, right? So why announce that their going to make such good clerics now? That kind of muddies the waters, niche-wise.

 

[Cadfan]

They get a +2 bonus to wisdom.
This is probably because +2 wisdom makes you more woodsy and intuitive in many ways.
A +2 bonus to wisdom makes you a good cleric.
So the book says they make good clerics.

It doesn't say anything in the flavor section about elves being especially religious. It just says they happen to make good clerics. Which they do. What should WOTC do, hide the ball?

 

[Lackhand]

Now that would be a change I would disagree with. Very, very strongly. Elves are wise. See Elrond. Elves are not sturdy and tough.

Elves are sorta tough -- but then, Tolkein had an elf fetish, so we have to take what he says with one of those cubes they give cows to lick.

I've played a few elven clerics in my time. The spirituality of a cleric ties in well to a race which is attuned with nature.

The banded mail was a bit out of character, but I needed the AC.

 

[Green Knight]

They get a +2 bonus to wisdom.
This is probably because +2 wisdom makes you more woodsy and intuitive in many ways.
A +2 bonus to wisdom makes you a good cleric.
So the book says they make good clerics.

Exactly. Note that they get +2 to Nature and Perception checks, but if it's anything like 3E, then they'll add Wisdom bonuses to those skills. And with a +2 Wis bonus, they actually get a +3 bonus to those skills.

Not to mention that Rangers may need a good Wis score, for all we know.

 

[Zweischneid]

Now that would be a change I would disagree with. Very, very strongly. Elves are wise. See Elrond. Elves are not sturdy and tough.

Elrond's not an Elf...

 

[Klaus]

Elf make good clerics? Where have I...

Tyrande Whisperwind, Priestess of the Moon




Oh, right.

 

[pawsplay]

Its interesting that the article notes "If you want to be a ranger, cleric etc' pick this race. Now, by clerics do they mean druids (in a future supplement i.e. phb 2) because elves are not really typical clerics, 'xcept of nature, and that should equate to druids.

Not anymore. Druids are now shapeshifters with some spells. More basic nature priests will probably work better as clerics.

 

[pawsplay]

Elrond's not an Elf...

He's 3/4 elf, but they had to cut his race from the PHB for space.

 

[Zweischneid]

He's 3/4 elf, but they had to cut his race from the PHB for space.

True.. but how much of his wisdom was a racial freebe from his elven heritage, and how much of it was a combination of the celestial input in the remaining 1/4th and some 6.000 years of accumulated life-experience?

 

[med stud]

I agree with the one who said that if a race is created with an edge in a certain class, that should be integrated into the fluff.

I can't see why elves shouldn't be good clerics. Even in previous editions they were generally as good clerics as they were wizards (except for level limits that few people seemed to use).

I think elves might be interesting paladins since they have fast movement to compensate for getting slow by armors and their accuracy power that seem to back smites up nicely.