Help me convince my players that the Cleric is cool

[Trainz]

Then everything worked out for the best in the end. Your players are willingly going along with the premise, and you have your female cleric of Ehlonna.

Yes. The player actually looks *forward* into creating the Cleric. The input from this thread had something to do with it.

Oddly enough, as a player I would have had a far bigger problem with the "female" than the "cleric of Ehlonna."

Well, for that part, I used another enticing maneuver. I told them they could play any sex but:

Male characters are created with 5d6;
Female characters are created with 5d6, reroll 1's, and begin with a medium magic item appropriate to the character.

I let them make the choice from there. That's one carrot none of them decided to pass. And before anyone starts screaming "munchkin" at me, you are not aware of the campaign premise.

Though that was never your group's issue to begin with.

Nope.

Thanks !

 

[Trainz]

I seem to have come into this thread a bit late but it struck a chord. My players never decide to play a cleric and it always requires a bunch of DM gymnastics to make it work. In our present campaign I've finally resorted to developing an NPC cleric to join the party and fulfill the role. Not the ideal option but I wanted to use undead at some point and the CLW potions overflowing out of their packs was beginning to get ridiculous. Hopefully it will work out well with the tag-along.

The best way to administer this I find is to entice one player into taking the Leadership feat at 6th level (or over) and pick a cleric, or better yet for gameplay, a Favoured Soul (from Complete Divine). The divine cohort will always be 2 levels behind the PC, and will not steal away XP's from the players.

YMMV

 

[Crass]

I usually show players how cool a certain class can be by kicking their butts with one.

Hedrack (spelling?) from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Man, he kicked our 11-12th level butts - four times!

Another reason to take clerics - backup missile power. The Zen Archery feat, which was introduced in one of the 3.0e sourcebooks, coupled with a high wisdom score and either a crossbow or bow, turns a cleric into a death-dealing machine... sure, it takes 1 or 2 feats, but if you don't want to play an Elven cleric it really rocks. Who needs an arcane archer when this guy's around?

(edit) Oh, and I forgot to mention - harm/inflict spells... I had a LOT of fun with a 19th level good cleric, whose whole repertoire of spells was the relevant level inflict/mass inflict/harm spell, or quickened versions thereof. He'd wade into combat, harm/mass inflict some poor sucker, and pound them with his warhammer. After a fight, convert the inflict spells to curative magic for those who needed it...

 

[Crass]

I have a simple idea instead of all this rule-crunching craziness.

"If you do not worship my god, tithe to my church or otherwise pay your respects to her power, then don't expect to receive her miracles freely. My faith grants me the reward of miracles, but only those who have the same faith and display it proudly are worthy of receiving them."

Make the characters appeal to the priest's player for healing through role-play. Healing should not be expected just because he is playing a priest.

Mmmm, playing favourites - "I'll heal X,Y and Z because they like my deity, and if I have any spells left over, I'll think about healing A, B and C - for a price." I like it

 

[hong]

Mmmm, playing favourites - "I'll heal X,Y and Z because they like my deity, and if I have any spells left over, I'll think about healing A, B and C - for a price." I like it

Wasn't that Aaron's schtick...?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Well, for that part, I used another enticing maneuver. I told them they could play any sex but:

Male characters are created with 5d6;
Female characters are created with 5d6, reroll 1's, and begin with a medium magic item appropriate to the character.

Ha. I love it. Don't fight the powergaming, make the powergaming work for you. Smooth. Very smooth.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

A Little Gravedigging Music Please ....

I'm curious.

Has this thread died yet, or is Trainz still holding court?

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Unearthed

Assuming that this blatant gravedigging is even noticed, I am very curious as to what happened (or is happening) with Trainz's campaign.

 

[DonTadow]

I find the subject funny. In my campaign I had to get my players not to want to play so many clerics. THe cleric is one of the most versatile and powerful classes.

All the great armors with non of the spell penalties, heavy hitting weapons, special ability that repels undead, offensive magic, healing magic, decent skills.

You can play a war cleric, a healing cleric, a buffer cleric and a rogue cleric. Me and two of my players saw the extreme versatility of the cleric a few weeks ago and decided to write up a rotating campaign where all the pcs have to be some sort of cleric.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

THe cleric is one of the most versatile and powerful classes.

Agreed.