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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3330866" data-attributes="member: 19675">In no particular order:Actually1) there are more spells from his Divine list than Arcane.2) He can't turn undead, which, IMHO, not every cleric should be able to do, since that is a power that is only reflective of a very narrow range of RW priesthoods.3)Healing isn't a universal power among holy personages of legend, myth, fiction, or RW religion.4) Merely being able to cast arcane spells isn't a bar to villagers recognizing a priest- multiclassing has been an option since 1Ed, when such arguments were originally put forth.  Again, it isn't what the guy can cast, its a question of what he can't.  For example, no matter how powerful, there isn't a purely arcane caster who can cast Attonement.  While rarely used in game, such a spell performs a vital role in the relationship between a divine being and his followers.5) Lack of access to certain divine spells would also not be dispositive, since the game mechanics link spells to class levels.  Again, Attonement is a prime example.  The function it serves would be seen as a basic function of a priest, interceding with his god on behalf of a supplicant who wishes to return to the good graces of the faith.  In any RW religion with a concept of exclusion and reconciliation, this is a basic function of any full priest.  Yet in D&D, its limited to divine casters of 10th or higher level for purely game mechanical reasons- if it were a Clerical class feature or a 1st level divine spell, it would be too easy for fallen Paladins, Clerics and others to return to the fold, and magical alignment changes would be too easy to undo. If you look back at my post, you'll note that I also mentioned the spontaneous casting rules, which cover only the healing & infliction spells which explicitly mention channeling of positive & negative energy. What I'm driving at is that to say that priests turn undead because priests channel positive/negative energy, which lets them turn undead, doesn't answer the question of why they all channel only positive/negative energy.Instead of taking a little more thought, time & space to make the mechanics of the cleric more flexible and reflective of particular priesthoods- having priests of Elemental deities channel those elemental energies directly, for instance- the designers made all clerics channel only positive or negative energy.  In conjunction with this, they made all "Undead" have links to the Negative plane (in 1Ed, Mummies were linked to the Positive) which affects how they deal with Undead (and BTW, how does Turning work with  "Deathless" ?).For that matter, why isn't Turning expanded (or expandible) to things like demons & devils, which anyone who has ever read, seen, or heard of the Exorcist (and similar pieces of fiction) or read the Bible (or the holy books of other faiths) knows is fully within the abilities attributed to many holy people.Instead, there is a simple, inflexible mechanic that reflects only a small portion of priesthoods. At the time of this PC's creation, Orison was originally written up with only one stat block, covering a host of 1st lvl priest spells, allowing the Priest to alleviate pain or discomfort, calm fears, speak clearly and free of impediment, grant courage, guidance, heal a point of damage, and other minor priestly effects.  Since, by the description (and explicitly unlike cantrips), the priest didn't have to choose which effect he wanted to use until he actually cast it, Orison was functionally a spell of infinite flexibility but limited power.  Actually, to be perfectly accurate, that last bit should read:</blockquote>

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