Clerics, or can we do without them...
- Thread starter Trainz@work
- Start date
Cedric
First Post
I for one am glad that they made the cleric such a great class in 3E. I always wound up playing the cleric so we'd have one.
And to this day, I usually wind up playing the cleric. But now I can play a cleric with a lot of flavor or different skills. A cleric that is different from the others I've played on paper...and not just different in the way I roleplay them.
Cedric
And to this day, I usually wind up playing the cleric. But now I can play a cleric with a lot of flavor or different skills. A cleric that is different from the others I've played on paper...and not just different in the way I roleplay them.
Cedric
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
So give all of the healing and heal-like spells to everyone who can cast. Then the party wizard, cleric, druid, bard, ranger and paladin can split up the duty.
usefulness of clerics
Clerics seem to have a problem in my campaign world - they end up dieing. In my homebrew world of great evil, they are usually the preferred target of any evil spellcaster, summoned creature or undead. For their high mortality rate few players are willing to take them on as a class.
With that said, in my low magic, role playing heavy campaign, a cleric is extremely useful even outside of their direct skills because they able to get allies to help, free room and board in villages, free divinations, church sponsored funerals, and cakes on their birthdays! I think that's why most players take at least one level of cleric now that I think about it...
Game On!
dren
Clerics seem to have a problem in my campaign world - they end up dieing. In my homebrew world of great evil, they are usually the preferred target of any evil spellcaster, summoned creature or undead. For their high mortality rate few players are willing to take them on as a class.
With that said, in my low magic, role playing heavy campaign, a cleric is extremely useful even outside of their direct skills because they able to get allies to help, free room and board in villages, free divinations, church sponsored funerals, and cakes on their birthdays! I think that's why most players take at least one level of cleric now that I think about it...
Game On!
dren
In my Humble opinion I believe clerics to be the most powerful character class especially at higher levels.
Our old Party was made up of:
Cleric (10)
Paladin (10)
Fighter (11)
Wizard (11)
Ranger(10)
The Paladin and wizard were always the first down so it was left to the rest of us to do the work. As a healer the Cleric did really good work but when he was bashing people with his morning star and throwing divine spells around he was the savior of our party time and again. He was a definite advantage.
Our new party:
Cleric (8)
Paladin (8)
Bard(8)
Druid(8)
Our Cleric relied on everyone else to keep him alive. He only used healing spells after the combat and was the first one asking for healing (always).
Are Clerics dispensable? Yes but I still think that they are the most powerful character class if played correctly and therefore are most welcome in any party of mine (and no I don't ever play Clerics, Bards rule).
No party should have to do without a cleric and not only for his healing abilities.
Our old Party was made up of:
Cleric (10)
Paladin (10)
Fighter (11)
Wizard (11)
Ranger(10)
The Paladin and wizard were always the first down so it was left to the rest of us to do the work. As a healer the Cleric did really good work but when he was bashing people with his morning star and throwing divine spells around he was the savior of our party time and again. He was a definite advantage.
Our new party:
Cleric (8)
Paladin (8)
Bard(8)
Druid(8)
Our Cleric relied on everyone else to keep him alive. He only used healing spells after the combat and was the first one asking for healing (always).
Are Clerics dispensable? Yes but I still think that they are the most powerful character class if played correctly and therefore are most welcome in any party of mine (and no I don't ever play Clerics, Bards rule).
No party should have to do without a cleric and not only for his healing abilities.
Last edited:
Voadam
Legend
In the current game I play in there are two PCs, my ranger wizard, and a fighter/paladin. We have gone up to 12th level in the Banewarrens without an adventuring cleric.
We do have npc temple clerics we call upon for restorations, but nothing in the middle of the adventure.
We do fine.
The paladin can heal a bunch of HP and we have potions and a cure light wounds wand. But usually when we get trashed in combat, we finish the fight and then leave to come back later.
It helps that we are very tough characters and that I am fairly good at tactics.
Of course, our trap detection could be better. It usually consists of the paladin leading and tapping things with his longspear or me checking them out with detect magic and my poor search skill. With his grotesque saves and high hit points he shrugs off most traps.
We do have npc temple clerics we call upon for restorations, but nothing in the middle of the adventure.
We do fine.
The paladin can heal a bunch of HP and we have potions and a cure light wounds wand. But usually when we get trashed in combat, we finish the fight and then leave to come back later.
It helps that we are very tough characters and that I am fairly good at tactics.
Of course, our trap detection could be better. It usually consists of the paladin leading and tapping things with his longspear or me checking them out with detect magic and my poor search skill. With his grotesque saves and high hit points he shrugs off most traps.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
This is a question that our group has struggled with for the whole of our 3E experience. We only have 3 players at any given time and that means that we simply must find ways to diversify to cover a range of abilities.
Right now, we have no cleric in the group. The main healer of the party is my Halfling Rogue armed with a wand of Cure Light Wounds. Plus, we try and stock up on healing potions whenever we get a chance. We also place a premium on not getting hit.
We all have made character choices that give us fairly good ACs and there has been many a round where my character was Fighting Defensively or doing Total Defense in order to keep some bad guy from hitting me until the Sorcerer/Barbarian could get over to assist me.
If, during the fight, one of us gets into hit point trouble, we drink potions or, in a pinch, I'll use the wand (my Use Magic Device skill gives me a slightly better than 50/50 chance of this working). Other than that, we try not to get hit and we heal up after the battle with the wand.
The place where we are really hurt is lacking stuff like Restoration, Cure Disease, Cure Blindness and that sort of thing. But we just accept that that's our weak point. When it comes to Will saves, we buy Cloaks of Resistance when we can and hope we roll good. Then we "geek the mage" as quickly as we can so we don't have to suffer many more spells like that.
The DM is NOT pulling any punches against us because we don't have a Cleric. Our last adventure consisted of clearing out an ancient temple of undead, primarily Shadows and a fair bit of Strength got drained. But we sucked it up and moved ahead, doing the best we could. Sometimes it stinks not having a Cleric, but I think we are a perfectly viable adventuring group.
But remind me to buy a couple scrolls of Lesser Restoration, wouldja?
Right now, we have no cleric in the group. The main healer of the party is my Halfling Rogue armed with a wand of Cure Light Wounds. Plus, we try and stock up on healing potions whenever we get a chance. We also place a premium on not getting hit.
We all have made character choices that give us fairly good ACs and there has been many a round where my character was Fighting Defensively or doing Total Defense in order to keep some bad guy from hitting me until the Sorcerer/Barbarian could get over to assist me.
If, during the fight, one of us gets into hit point trouble, we drink potions or, in a pinch, I'll use the wand (my Use Magic Device skill gives me a slightly better than 50/50 chance of this working). Other than that, we try not to get hit and we heal up after the battle with the wand.
The place where we are really hurt is lacking stuff like Restoration, Cure Disease, Cure Blindness and that sort of thing. But we just accept that that's our weak point. When it comes to Will saves, we buy Cloaks of Resistance when we can and hope we roll good. Then we "geek the mage" as quickly as we can so we don't have to suffer many more spells like that.
The DM is NOT pulling any punches against us because we don't have a Cleric. Our last adventure consisted of clearing out an ancient temple of undead, primarily Shadows and a fair bit of Strength got drained. But we sucked it up and moved ahead, doing the best we could. Sometimes it stinks not having a Cleric, but I think we are a perfectly viable adventuring group.
But remind me to buy a couple scrolls of Lesser Restoration, wouldja?
Henry
Autoexreginated
I once played in a campaign with 11 players (Yes, that's ELEVEN), and not one of them was a cleric. (3 Monks, 1 ftr/rgr, 1 ftr/rog, 1 ftr/brb, 1 wiz/rog, 2 pal, 1 brd, 1 ftr.) At about 6th level, we picked up 1 NPC druid, and 1 NPC cleric/rogue, and promptly lost them later. We not only succeeded, we prospered, winning most fights by picking our moments, and succeeding through sheer firepower in many cases. (We didn't call ourselves "The Company of Nightfall's Favor" for nothing 
Our favored time of attack was when the enemy slept, because it would usually buy us a few rounds of confusion to pick off the opposition.)
3E is designed so that you don't ABSOULTELY have to have clerics. Bards and Druids have sufficient healing, rangers and paladins have access both to healing spells and healing wands and staves, healing potions are more affordable, and in the worst case possible, the staunchest fighter can heal up inside of a couple of weeks, and mage-types healing up faster than that.
However, it does require a rearragement of your combat strategy, and time-critical missions are going to be very dangerous, indeed. If your DM does not restrict magic items below the default levels assumed in the DMG, then it can be done. If you run in a more magic-poor world, the cleric class will leave "a good idea" and approach "necessity."
Our favored time of attack was when the enemy slept, because it would usually buy us a few rounds of confusion to pick off the opposition.)3E is designed so that you don't ABSOULTELY have to have clerics. Bards and Druids have sufficient healing, rangers and paladins have access both to healing spells and healing wands and staves, healing potions are more affordable, and in the worst case possible, the staunchest fighter can heal up inside of a couple of weeks, and mage-types healing up faster than that.
However, it does require a rearragement of your combat strategy, and time-critical missions are going to be very dangerous, indeed. If your DM does not restrict magic items below the default levels assumed in the DMG, then it can be done. If you run in a more magic-poor world, the cleric class will leave "a good idea" and approach "necessity."
JChung2003
First Post
Trainz, you had a three person party in which two of the players were not primary spellcasters. In a party that small, a cleric is going to be overloaded doing things that typically another spellcaster (bard, sorcerer, wizard, even a rogue with Use Magic Device) would have been doing. Hence, I am not surprised that your cleric did not get an opportunity to "really shine." Clerics can really shine... in balanced groups. In unbalanced groups like yours, your cleric has to settle to being overloaded or spend his money on magic items that make up for the lack of a "fourth wheel on your wagon."
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