Help me convince my players that the Cleric is cool

[DarkMaster]

I absolutely want one of them to roll a 1st level Cleric in my next campaign.

-"But I don't want to be stuck curing the others all the time"

...

What argument would you use ?

I know that if *I* was playing, I wouldn't hesitate one second to play one (especially with the complete divine out), but alas I'm DMing.

Please ?

Well from my experience a cleric is usually a good thing to have in a party. It makes my life as a DM easier as I can put all kind of monsters and not worry too much that the player will be affected for extended period of time (curse, level drain, ability drain ect...) From my experience during the low level the cleric will spend most of the fight curing the fighters in the group. But as the party rises in level and wealth they will participate more and more. The other player will have access to alternate healing sources. Potions, some like the ranger paladin will be able to use cure wands, fighters will get a cleric cohorts, and the likes. Then the cleric will not spend the entire combat maintaining his allies. Maybe he will have to cast some restauration, remove fear or other during or after the combat but it won't be the main healing ressource during combat.

 

[Taneel BrightBlade]

Clearly I see clerics differntly from most. I've seen them mow down armies summon hoards and generally cause mass slaughters at higher level(8).

 

[Taneel BrightBlade]

My question is how do your stop them from being divine casters?

 

[Trainz]

On the subject of ghouls and palysis

Well, in a game I play (last sunday), we met two critters that paralyse (piscodemon or somesuch). We were going down like flies. The rogue was paralyzed, I was (sorceror), the druid was flying overhead trying to find out what to do, and the fighter was in deep doodoo, expecting to fail his fort save any round now. This went on for 7 rounds. Since I'm the one with teleport, we were looking at a TPK.

So I decided (since I wasn't busy) to open my PHB and start looking for anything that could give us the advantage. And then I saw it:

Freedom of Movement

Man... I *knew* that the spell was effective against paralysis, but for some arcane reason, we ALL forgot about that. The ROGUE has a ring of Freedom of Movement for crying out loud. AND the druid has the spell memorized. So the rogue decides to act all of a sudden, and the druid descends on the fighter and casts Freedom of Movement. 2 rounds later, end of fight.

So yeah... the best defense against a ghoul's paralysis is Freedom of Movement which lasts 10 minutes per level end renders you totally immune to the effect.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Travel Domain

So yeah... the best defense against a ghoul's paralysis is Freedom of Movement which lasts 10 minutes per level end renders you totally immune to the effect.

Check out the clerical Travel domain on p. 188 of the PHB.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Threadjacking ... A Refined Art

Always and forever. Yet it has nothing to do with insecurity, I simply couldn't resist to bash the cleric class here

Although, I like clerics ... I commend your bravado.

Well played sir ... well played.

 

[Trainz]

Check out the clerical Travel domain on p. 188 of the PHB.

Yeah I know. My players when they play a cleric, they almost always pick up Farlhangn (sp?) with Travel and Luck.

Freedom of Movement at 1st level. Nifty.

 

[ARandomGod]

I absolutely want one of them to roll a 1st level Cleric in my next campaign.

-"But I don't want to be stuck curing the others all the time"

...

What argument would you use ?

I know that if *I* was playing, I wouldn't hesitate one second to play one (especially with the complete divine out), but alas I'm DMing.

Please ?

Ha!
I got several down the thread before I realized you only wanted one cleric. You want to convince them that clerics are cool? They want to not be stuck as the bandage box?

Start the campaign with:
"You are all playing clerics. One of you at least should pick (recommended god)."

In a party of all clerics noone is likely to be the group healer. Also rule that they play positive channelers and not negative ones, just in case.

 

[Trainz]

Ha!
I got several down the thread before I realized you only wanted one cleric. You want to convince them that clerics are cool? They want to not be stuck as the bandage box?

Start the campaign with:
"You are all playing clerics. One of you at least should pick (recommended god)."

In a party of all clerics noone is likely to be the group healer. Also rule that they play positive channelers and not negative ones, just in case.

Well that's a bit rough. One wants to play a Wizard, and the other is hard-set on a rogue.

Anyways, with all the feedback provided here, I have decided to make my sales pitch with all the info provided in the thread, and then let them play whatever they want.

It IS a very undead intensive campaign, and if they don't take the clue, then so be it.

I'm not pulling any punches for their lack of foresight.

 

[ARandomGod]

Well that's a bit rough. One wants to play a Wizard, and the other is hard-set on a rogue.

Anyways, with all the feedback provided here, I have decided to make my sales pitch with all the info provided in the thread, and then let them play whatever they want.

It IS a very undead intensive campaign, and if they don't take the clue, then so be it.

I'm not pulling any punches for their lack of foresight.

For the wizard there's always the Mystic Theurge class. Say that you'll allow up to three levels of wizard or rogue, and you'll allow PrC's. You could also allow *anyspell* to qualify him for the Mystic Theurge. Now THERE's an overpowered idea.

For the rogue, make a divine trickster class. Nearly identical to the AT, but better in every way. (IE better saves, all good to represent clerical and roguish training, and better BAB, 1/2, the worst of the two, AND better HP, d6, the worst of the two. Keep the skill points and skill list of the trickster.)

Yea, yea, it's harsh. On the other hand, I thought that it would be really cool to have a campaign of all casters. And they really would learn the class and it's strengths that way. I wouldn't say it's too harsh at all, really. It's simply the setting of the game. All PC's are clerics. Could be quite fun. Play the rogue and the mage later. ^_^

Of course, to be fair, a party of all clerics really would mess up your campaign, don't you think? They'd likely overpower the game as written, you'd have to tweak it UP!