Afrodyte
Explorer
shadow,
If, for game balance reasons, you really want to be able to include a class that has access to cleric spells, I believe that finding or rewriting an alternative class would work best. I'm sure there are plenty of people who have cleric variants, and many more who could whip something up for you if you are very clear about the place that the sacred has in your game world.
From what you told me, you do want mystics, priests, and holy men in your game. Since you have a monothetistic world, how about modeling your clerics on the luminaries of the Abrahamic faiths? Moses is a great example since you can almost see him "leveling up" (as it were) throughout the story of Exodus.
Off the top of my head, here are some things you could do to make the cleric class more reflect the role of religion in your game.
1. Require a code of conduct. This goes beyond simple alignment and instead focuses on the day-to-day choices that a cleric in your world makes. I would not even mention alignment in the cleric's code of conduct. Instead, I'd make it so that the things a cleric is required and forbidden to do are based on the deity's agenda.
2. Use something other than spells as class abilities. The paladin and the bard both have abilities that can work in this regard. You can tweak them to make them scale a bit better throughout the levels. Like the rogue, you can even have a list of general cleric abilities that players can choose as they level up. I think a great idea would be to give clerics the ability to do things with Perform (Oratory) and Knowledge (Religion) that other classes simply can't do.
3. Get the same HD, armor and weapon proficiencies, and save bonuses as sorcerers and wizards do. In exchange, they could get appropriate bonus feats and more class skills and skill points.
4. You had the right of it when you said "miracles" instead of "spells." To give clerics a proper respect for divine power, instead of X/day, have them be X/session. You can easily take a look at the spell progression chart to see how powerful a miracle is supposed to be for a given level. Alternatively, the cleric's player could make a faith check that's really a level check adjusted by the Wisdom modifier. You can keep make a table that gives a DC for each spell level. You could even give bonuses and penalties based upon how the cleric upheld the code of conduct as well as the spiritual practices (fasting, meditation, ritual sacrifice, whatever) they partook in during a certain amount of time. The bonus could range from +1 to +5 and depend upon how much the cleric was affected by what they're doing. For instance, a cleric who is fasting might get a +1 bonus if he chose not to eat his favorite dish while he was fasting. But a cleric who's starving could get a +5 bonus.
5. Miracles, when and if they happen, come only from the cleric's chosen domains. These reflect not to much the deity's portfolio as the cleric's role in living his or her faith. A cleric who sees himself as providing hope and succor to the weak is not the same as one who sees herself a defender of righteousness. Clerics could start off with one or two domains, but they should be able to gain more as they level up.
This is about all I can come up with for now. If you give me a few days, I should be able to have something more solid if you want.
If, for game balance reasons, you really want to be able to include a class that has access to cleric spells, I believe that finding or rewriting an alternative class would work best. I'm sure there are plenty of people who have cleric variants, and many more who could whip something up for you if you are very clear about the place that the sacred has in your game world.
From what you told me, you do want mystics, priests, and holy men in your game. Since you have a monothetistic world, how about modeling your clerics on the luminaries of the Abrahamic faiths? Moses is a great example since you can almost see him "leveling up" (as it were) throughout the story of Exodus.
Off the top of my head, here are some things you could do to make the cleric class more reflect the role of religion in your game.
1. Require a code of conduct. This goes beyond simple alignment and instead focuses on the day-to-day choices that a cleric in your world makes. I would not even mention alignment in the cleric's code of conduct. Instead, I'd make it so that the things a cleric is required and forbidden to do are based on the deity's agenda.
2. Use something other than spells as class abilities. The paladin and the bard both have abilities that can work in this regard. You can tweak them to make them scale a bit better throughout the levels. Like the rogue, you can even have a list of general cleric abilities that players can choose as they level up. I think a great idea would be to give clerics the ability to do things with Perform (Oratory) and Knowledge (Religion) that other classes simply can't do.
3. Get the same HD, armor and weapon proficiencies, and save bonuses as sorcerers and wizards do. In exchange, they could get appropriate bonus feats and more class skills and skill points.
4. You had the right of it when you said "miracles" instead of "spells." To give clerics a proper respect for divine power, instead of X/day, have them be X/session. You can easily take a look at the spell progression chart to see how powerful a miracle is supposed to be for a given level. Alternatively, the cleric's player could make a faith check that's really a level check adjusted by the Wisdom modifier. You can keep make a table that gives a DC for each spell level. You could even give bonuses and penalties based upon how the cleric upheld the code of conduct as well as the spiritual practices (fasting, meditation, ritual sacrifice, whatever) they partook in during a certain amount of time. The bonus could range from +1 to +5 and depend upon how much the cleric was affected by what they're doing. For instance, a cleric who is fasting might get a +1 bonus if he chose not to eat his favorite dish while he was fasting. But a cleric who's starving could get a +5 bonus.
5. Miracles, when and if they happen, come only from the cleric's chosen domains. These reflect not to much the deity's portfolio as the cleric's role in living his or her faith. A cleric who sees himself as providing hope and succor to the weak is not the same as one who sees herself a defender of righteousness. Clerics could start off with one or two domains, but they should be able to gain more as they level up.
This is about all I can come up with for now. If you give me a few days, I should be able to have something more solid if you want.
