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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rod Staffwand" data-source="post: 6830337" data-attributes="member: 6776279">Because:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">1. The D&D concept of the Christian fighting priest and divine magic doesn't exist in the fantasy stories I want to emulate with D&D. They are thematically inappropriate for me.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Healing magic is broken. It is essential, yet routinely boring. Saddling a PC with this onerous duty is just bad design.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Clerics can pick and choose which spell they cast and the god "obeys" with a miracle, since D&D magic is always dependable. It always seemed like the Amazing Cleric and his Divine Lackey Show to me. Just the very existence of divine magic and gods that take an active role in the world (at the very least empowering agents to further their causes takes some dramatic tension out of saving their world.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Since clerical magic is tied with gods, pantheons, religious orders you'd naturally have to mandate some holy code that the PC character would need to follow. At the very least the god would be very concerned on how one might be using their magic. Only divine classes  (like paladins) suffer from these RP restrictions and it's problematic.</li> </ol>In short, I've found the game to be improved with their removal. I'm not saying they can't be done well or add to a campaign or a setting or that other players shouldn't like them. I'm just saying the easiest fix for my concerns is to just ditch them entirely.I've done several solutions for non-cleric campaigns over the years. I've given wizards access to some cleric spells, I've buffed natural and non-clerical healing methods, and I've done homebrewed support-type classes as cleric replacements. It's putting in more non-clerical healing that makes the biggest difference. In 2e we had PCs heal 1/2 their level + every hour or some such (with fighters healing their full level). It worked pretty well. Attrition over the day was reduced but the lack of in-combat healing made combat potentially more dangerous.</blockquote>

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