Early clerics and the gods
- Thread starter Quasqueton
- Start date
Clerics in OD&D are implicitly Christian (their imagery is based on medieval Christian crusader-priests, they have level titles like Acolyte, Vicar, Curate, and Bishop (and Lama, which always seemed odd...), they carry crosses for holy symbols, and most of their spells are obviously derived from Old and New Testament miracles). Even Supplement IV (Gods, Demigods & Heroes) doesn't really change this -- there's no provision in that book for clerics actually worshipping any of the included deities.
In Basic D&D (at least up to the release of the Gazeteer series) clerical religion is handled abstractly -- IIRC the Mentzer Basic Set goes so far as to specifically advise the DM not to assign specific religions and patron deities (or at least not real world-derived ones) to cleric characters.
In AD&D we'd usually assign our characters patron deities (even the non-clerics -- there's a spot for it on the old goldenrod AD&D character sheets after all) chosen from D&Dg or the World of Greyhawk set but it was only window-dressing -- we didn't, for instance, grant clerics different spells or abilities based on what deity they worshipped (not even the suggested stuff from the WoG set). There also wasn't any attempt at consistency -- deities were assigned based on "coolness" and alignment, rather than by culture, region, etc.
It wasn't until the 2E era that I started trying to craft an actual pantheon for my game-world.
In Basic D&D (at least up to the release of the Gazeteer series) clerical religion is handled abstractly -- IIRC the Mentzer Basic Set goes so far as to specifically advise the DM not to assign specific religions and patron deities (or at least not real world-derived ones) to cleric characters.
In AD&D we'd usually assign our characters patron deities (even the non-clerics -- there's a spot for it on the old goldenrod AD&D character sheets after all) chosen from D&Dg or the World of Greyhawk set but it was only window-dressing -- we didn't, for instance, grant clerics different spells or abilities based on what deity they worshipped (not even the suggested stuff from the WoG set). There also wasn't any attempt at consistency -- deities were assigned based on "coolness" and alignment, rather than by culture, region, etc.
It wasn't until the 2E era that I started trying to craft an actual pantheon for my game-world.
Raven Crowking
First Post
There were gods in the first games I played, using the Blue Box.
In the first AD&D 1e game I played, we didn't have D&DG at the start, so gods weren't discussed. As soon as we acquired the book, though, patron deities were chosen...
...except for the cleric. The player in question was not the world's biggest player of roles. Even though we were snot-nosed young monty-haul powergaming freakazoids, we had a little personality. Except for the cleric - while he was supposedly named "Gerard the Seeker of Truth", we quickly adapted and started calling him "Generic the Cleric".
...except for the cleric. The player in question was not the world's biggest player of roles. Even though we were snot-nosed young monty-haul powergaming freakazoids, we had a little personality. Except for the cleric - while he was supposedly named "Gerard the Seeker of Truth", we quickly adapted and started calling him "Generic the Cleric".
AdamBomb
First Post
my first D&D group we had clerics choose a patron deity, but it didn't effect gameplay in any way. We had clerics to various Greek/Roman gods and some American Indian spirits, but all used the same spell lists and other rules.
Not until 2E and it's speciality priests, specifically a Forgotten Realms book (Faiths and Pantheons?) did I decide that there were no more generic clerics, and that you had to follow a specific deity and received variant class weapons, armor, spells, etc. as a result.
Not until 2E and it's speciality priests, specifically a Forgotten Realms book (Faiths and Pantheons?) did I decide that there were no more generic clerics, and that you had to follow a specific deity and received variant class weapons, armor, spells, etc. as a result.
lukelightning
First Post
In early games we took deities from real world mythology and literature: My magic user worshipped Thoth and my brother's ranger worshipped some bigwig from the Silmarillion (who cares about consistancy! We just picked whatever).
We also made up deities as we needed. I recall making a cleric who followed a deity I made up with help from a random-monster table: Kalathon the Shrieker, Neutral Good deity of protection. In his role as a heavenly screaming fungus, Kalathon warns you of danger and alerts you to evil deeds!
We also made up deities as we needed. I recall making a cleric who followed a deity I made up with help from a random-monster table: Kalathon the Shrieker, Neutral Good deity of protection. In his role as a heavenly screaming fungus, Kalathon warns you of danger and alerts you to evil deeds!
Fifth Element
Legend
My very first character in OD&D was a cleric. "Killed" a skeleton with the very first swing of his mace. Oh the memories...A specific deity never entered into at that point.
We shortly moved into AD&D (1st ed), and I played a kick-ass Half-Elf Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User for quite some time. He didn't start out with a deity either.
At some point the DM decided that some political/church intrigue was called for, and figured my cleric needed a deity to make it meaningful. He pulled "Herne" from that old Robin Hood show, and that was the first deity in the game. He later added an evil one, so we could fight against his followers.
In short, if it weren't for a plot point, we probably wouldn't have had deities at all.
We shortly moved into AD&D (1st ed), and I played a kick-ass Half-Elf Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User for quite some time. He didn't start out with a deity either.
At some point the DM decided that some political/church intrigue was called for, and figured my cleric needed a deity to make it meaningful. He pulled "Herne" from that old Robin Hood show, and that was the first deity in the game. He later added an evil one, so we could fight against his followers.
In short, if it weren't for a plot point, we probably wouldn't have had deities at all.
