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Message: <blockquote data-quote="filthgrinder" data-source="post: 4913366" data-attributes="member: 64984">I think you made a fundamental misreading of David's point. He's not talking about the existence of the Cleric as a class, but the idea of a "healer". The idea of a cleric would have been a lightly armored mace swinging religious warrior. A religious worshiper and "guardian of alignment" actually has nothing to do with a "cure light wounds" spell. Healing is what made a cleric a "must have" and an essential party member, and what lead to "healer" as being an essential role. A cleric can do everything you mentioned, but not have any healing abilities. It is only through so many years that the healing notion has been ground into the class. David is looking at how definite party roles came about, and he is musing around about some ideas which lead to the current layout. Remember, these roles weren't specifically called out previously, but they were assumed by the players. A normal party expects an armored fighter to stand in front and protect the squishies. They expect a cleric or someone else to dispense heals and buff, and they expect the other to be able to fire off damage. Since these roles weren't explicitly pointed out, but were adopted by most people playing, it is interesting to find out why they came out the way they did. David has some interesting thoughts on the matter. Right or wrong, they are interesting to think about.</blockquote>