Does anyone miss the generic cleric?

[Tonguez]

It is possible to use Domains whilst using a 'Christian' background (well Catholic anyway) because in a Monotheist faith God is the God of EVERYTHING. Thats how I did it anyway
eg St Francis of Asisi is the Patron Saint of Animals, so a Cleric who is a Friars gains the Animal, Travel and Protection domains

Lord of the Rings also lacked anything I would call a Cleric.

Except Gandalf is. The distinction between Arcane and Divine is a very modern one - Gandalf was a Divine Spell caster (and divine - but thats something else)

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I certainly don't miss the generic Cleric... of all the spellcasting classes, the Cleric has always seemed the least customizable, when it seems to me that it should be as flexible as the others-- especially in a game with a healthy, flexible pantheon.

The horrible number of Cleric sub-classes in 2e still makes me shudder reflexively when I think about it, though. And the mind-numbing munchkin horror that was the Skills & Powers Cleric haunts my nightmares.

 

[Numion]

I can't imagine a game where the gods and'or religions aren't named. Do you have names for cities in the game, or are they just the place where you sell loot? I've read about this tyoe of game several times now, and each time it gets more bizarre to me. How can you have a setting without something as basic as religions even named? Do the nations or kingdoms have names??

Tolkien pulled it off in Lord of the Rings. While whats good in a book isn't necessarily good in a game, it illustrates that a world can seem very real and complete without any religion at all.

 

[Urbannen]

I bought the 1E module Village of Hommlet, and I noticed that in that setting, there was the generic LG church of St. Cuthbert, a generic N druidic religion, and then the demonic religions that the PCs had to fight. The FR novel Darkwalker on Moonshea even made the differentiation between the druidic religion of the Moonshea islands, the generic Catholic-like religion of the missionary priest from the mainland, and the evil avatar out to destroy everything.

It seems that originally there were three main branches of D&D religion. The branches were a Good-Lawful religions that resembled medieval Catholicism, a nature religion that resembed the ancient Celtic religion, and various enemy cults of dark gods, demons, and devils.

You could easily just have a Good and/or Lawful church with a couple of Pelors and St. Cuthberts, a druidic religion, and then however many dark and terrible cults for the PCs to fight. It certainly fits in better with the "Good and Evil eternally balanced and opposed" philosophy espoused by the D&D designers than the FR system does.

In the FR, portfolios are meaningless because each person only worships one god. Neutrality is meaningless because all neutral gods are allied with good gods and opposed to evil gods.

 

[diaglo]

Never in all my years of playing previous editions did i have 2 clerics the same.

it wasn't until tur...3ed and the advent of feats,skills, domains, etc...into one mix. that i started to see players min/maxing the hell out of the game; where i saw the first generic cleric produced. i have seen a ton on the net and in game of generic clerics now. all with basically the same stats (thanks to point buy), the same hps (ditto), the same domains, the same choice of spells, the same equipment, the same....blah.

 

[Davelozzi]

I don't miss the AD&D "Generic" Cleric, because he's still sitting right there, underneath the veneer of Domains, smiling at me and waving.

I agree with Henry, the 3e cleric is plenty generic, I'd say too generic for my tastes. Specialty priests are one of the few things that I miss about 2e.

 

[Desdichado]

So, would a platinum shower be ten times better than a golden shower?

D'oh!

 

[diaglo]

So, would a platinum shower be ten times better than a golden shower?

go ask DM Magic that one on Nutkinland.

 

[Staffan]

I agree with Henry, the 3e cleric is plenty generic, I'd say too generic for my tastes. Specialty priests are one of the few things that I miss about 2e.

Ditto. The problem with specialty priests was that they could easily become overpowered (coughfaithsandavatarscough), whereas the 3e cleric tries to have *some* flavor but still maintain balance between clerics of various gods.

 

[Aaron L]

In the FR, portfolios are meaningless because each person only worships one god. Neutrality is meaningless because all neutral gods are allied with good gods and opposed to evil gods.

In FR, everyone has a patron deity, but everyone also appeases the god or gods which govern endeavors they are undertaking or situations they are in.


In D&D, Neutrality is the third team you can be on, like Good and Evil. Neutral gods tend to be more friendly with Good because Good beings will often respect a Neutral beings neutrality, while an Evil being will merely lump everyone who isn't themselves into the "ENEMY" category and try to kill/conquer them indiscriminately.