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Message: <blockquote data-quote="papastebu" data-source="post: 3488277" data-attributes="member: 40894">The stuff below is my attempt to define the fact that clerics are not spellcasters, so much as channelers of energy that is beyond them, from somewhere else, and at the whim or intent of greater beings. I am trying to do this sort of thing with all spellcasters in the D&D game, but in different ways that, while still in the d20 system, lend the particular flavor of "Where does it come from for you?" to each class. I hope you like it, but feel free to politely say it sucks, and definitely offer what kind criticisms you will. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Clerics use charisma, rather than wisdom, for all of their powers and granted abilities.  Basically, the cleric uses her force of personality to draw the attention of her patron, the attention of anyone nearby, and even her own attention, to the act of faith she is committing right then. Her faith is then rewarded if it is strong enough—1d20 + cleric level + charisma modifier, versus the DC—and the requested effect occurs. These abilities generally do not change unless the deity wants them to, or the cleric prays for something that will assist in a very particular way. Clerics do not cast spells, they channel the might of one greater than themselves, whom they serve. Clerics have granted powers—chosen by the player—based on their domains—also chosen by the player. Once a power is chosen, it grows in power as the cleric’s level increases.Each time the cleric uses any of her powers, the DCs of all attempts to use any power go up by one. This includes the abilities of turn/rebuke undead, and those of heal/harm. The cleric can use her abilities once per day per level, plus her charisma modifier, without this happening. Every seven cleric levels gained, all power-use DCs drop by one.A good cleric can attempt to turn, damage, or destroy undead.If 1d20 + cleric levels + charisma modifier is higher than a given undead’s ECL plus 10, then that undead is turned.A cleric can turn a number of undead dice equal to her level plus her charisma modifier, for a number of rounds equal to her levels plus charisma modifier, plus one.A cleric may attempt to damage an undead of any ECL, 1d20 + cleric levels + charisma modifier, and an additional undead for every five points the check exceeds the initial target’s DC, provided the additional target’s ECL is the same or lower than the first’s.The damage equals one point for each cleric level, plus one point for each point of charisma modifier, plus the number of points the successful check exceeds the damage DC. The DC is 10 plus the ECL of the undead to be affected.A cleric can attempt to destroy undead. The DC is 15 + ECL of a given undead creature. For every class level the cleric has more than the ECL of the undead to be destroyed, the base DC of 15 drops by 1. For every five points the check to destroy exceeds the total DC, the cleric may use this destruction check to destroy another undead within ten feet of the first, provided the additional target’s ECL is the same or lower than the initial undead destroyed.A cleric may attempt to heal wounds, or heal hit points, again using 1d20 + cleric levels + charisma modifier versus 10 + 1 for each wound/hit point healed. A success means all attempted hit points or wounds are healed, a failure means none of them are. A success against a wound does not heal hit points, but success against enough hit points heals wounds.Evil clerics may attempt to rebuke, bolster, or command undead. The mechanic is the same for this as for the turning, etc, that good clerics can do.Rebuking undead causes a number of dice of undead equal to the cleric’s levels plus his charisma modifier to simply stand there, doing nothing, for a number of rounds equal to cleric’s levels plus charisma modifier, plus one. If a given undead creature has been rebuked successfully, then the number of rounds—equal to cleric levels plus charisma modifier—left in the rebuke’s duration is subtracted from any command attempt’s base DC of 15. 1 is also subtracted from command attempts’ DCs for each class level the evil cleric has above the ECL of the undead to be commanded.An evil cleric can attempt to bolster a given undead by a number of hit points/strength points equal to his level plus his charisma modifier, plus the number of points that the successful check exceeds the bolster DC. An additional undead can be bolstered for every five points that the successful check exceeds the DC, provided that the additional target is the same or lower DC as the initial. The DC is 10 plus the ECL of the affected undead creature.An evil cleric can attempt to command an undead. The DC for this is 15 plus the ECL of the target, plus one for every effective level by which the undead exceeds the cleric’s class levels, and minus one, conversely. For each five points the successful check exceeds the DC, the cleric commands another nearby undead, provided the new target is of the same ECL or lower than the initial.Clerics have other powers, as bestowed by their deities.Bane: A curse, based on the deity’s area of influence.Blessing: A benediction, some assistance related to the deity’s powers.Empowerment: A temporary ability, often a lesser form of the deity’s primary ability.Protection: some increase—usually temporary—in the cleric’s or the recipient’s defensive capability.Vision: some sort of insight into what the deity wants, usually bestowed in a way closely related to the deity’s main area of influence.In addition to these powers, the cleric may pray for anything he thinks his deity can or will grant, at any time. The deities are fickle, though, and this makes them less likely to grant the requests of servants if the servants ask too often.Each deity has a brood rating. This is the cleric’s initial DC to convince the deity to grant a prayer/request, 1d20 + charisma modifier + cleric’s class levels. This DC climbs by one for every time the cleric makes a request within a given day. If this number reaches too high, then the prayer checks can’t succeed, and the deity has stopped listening, because of sullenness, anger, annoyance, or some other emotion that might cause them to brood. For each successful non-request prayer—same roll versus the current brood rating, with no result but stroking the deity's ego—the number of the brood rating drops by one. In this way, the deity’s initial brood rating can be lowered down to even negative numbers, meaning that the deity is so well-disposed to his or her servant that he practically grants his every wish.</blockquote>

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