How would you do Clerics in the Modern Day?

[Tar Markvar]

I am interested in coverting D&D to a modern day setting, but I want to do it more faithfully than d20 Modern seems to do. I want to keep arcane and divine magic, keep most classes the way they are except for the introduction of technology (guns for fighters, etc.), and all that. Where I run into stickiness is with clerics. They don't make a lot of sense with the world the way it is, so I am trying to think of a way to make them fit. I'm thinking of two approaches:

1) Make them members of secret organizations within the Catholic Church, which revere particular saints and gain Domain abilities and spells from them. This also enables druidic Wiccans and other faiths such as Judaism and Islam, as well.

2) Script in a resurgence of worship of the "Old Gods," either an Olympian/Aesir/Vanir thing ("I am a priest of Odin/Zeus/Thor/Aphrodite/Anubis/etc.") or something of more of a Cthulhu bent ("I worship the mighty Rigg'Ulathur, and gain power through Him.").

I suppose these things are all possible. In fact, they might even coexist fairly well, though there'd be some serious inter-faith rivalry going on.

I'm just curious as to your thoughts on the matter, and to see how you would handle it. Also, any advice on explaining the resurgence of magic into the modern world would be sweet. And please, don't say, "Play Shadowrun," because looking through Shadowrun, it's just a bit off the mood and feel I want to bring.

Thanks!

 

[Crothian]

I totally redid the cleric for a modern game. THey had no ability to turn undead or do any of the traditional clerical things. I modeled it after a christian priest and gave them abilities based off of skills that reflected that devotion.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

i think it's very hard to translate D&D to modern day

1) what D&D PCs do (go into some person's or creature's home, kill them and their families and steal their belongings) violates just about every capital offense on the law books. (example: fireballs equal felony arson, not to mention the Murder charges because of who you were throwing the fireball at.)

2) with clerics around, who needs a medical plan? bye-bye to doctors (of all types) and medical insurers (no offense to any insurance agents)

not to mention some more specific problems like; let's say you have a wizard. this wizard doesn't like you. this wizards has the ability to scry you at any time, so he knows when you're home alone. this wizard has any number of illusion spells. he casts a few spells, takes a few photographs and (because you don't have an alibi), you could be framed for anything


sorry if it sounds harsh. maybe it's because i just played in a short-term modern day game. you really do have to put your D&D instincts in check.

DM: a picture of you breaking into the warehouse is on the frontpage of the newspaper.

players: WHAT!?!

 

[threefallentrees]

Consider examining what Dominion Games has done with the priest. Instead of being a god-worshipping spellslinger, the Dominion priest is more of a miracle worker/prophet, which comes out looking very mythic and closer to the priestly archetype than, IMO, the D&D priest does.

The way they do this is by giving priests skills like Work Miracle, Afflict with Disease and Infirmity, Prophesy, etc. Rather than casting spells, they make skill checks. I think this represents nicely the unstable favor of the divine. In addition, the Work Miracle skill has the neat restriction that you can't realyl mess around with it. Dominion priests don't walk around casting Aid. A miracle is a miracle - pillars of fire, parting seas, coming back from the dead. It reinforces the idea that you don't call on your god lightly - you do what you can by yourself. This element of independence seems appropriate for a modern game.

 

[niastri]

I see no need to eliminate D and D magic users, IF you are using a fantasy setting that is updated.

If you want to keep a real feel for the modern world, it can be done in a couple of ways:

1) Limit clerics/druids and sorcerors/wizards (bards don't fit imo in a modern setting) to spells equal to half their level in spellcaster levels, but keep everything similar in overall levels. You could even go with a third of caster level (rounded off fairly...) for really weak magic worlds. A spellcaster would be a decent character only because of the uniqueness of their abilities. They can't compete in D and D terms with other classes. This can be compensated for with skill points/rules. You have to have Know/Arcane ranks to a certain level before casting a certain spell level.

2) Make admission to a spellcasting class VERY difficult RP wise. Everything can be solved by having somebody looking over your shoulder or lording it over you every level. This also includes the fact that you have Mulder looking for you every minute of your life.

3) Force every spellcaster character to take a class level in another class for every spellcaster class level they take. For a really low power magic would, also include either version of rule 1 or rule 2 to make magic very difficult to achieve.


In all of these cases, there has to be a very strong mystique to magic of any kind. Horror or Awe checks should be required of any character who is not a spell user, unless they have many ranks in Know Arcane or Spellcraft. Otherwise the lack of magic while using typical D and D rules in a modern setting would be choosing a weak character with a quirk. That is something that may be great RP wise, but may be aggravating if you have a combat heavy campeign. Modern D and D settings NEED to be RP oriented, since the combat in Fantasy Settings for D and D are very combat oriented, even when you avoid it.

Use SpyCraft instead. It is the best d20 game out there. Better rules and much better ideas about magic, psionics and modern stuff. Very worthwhile. We are changing our Star Wars game rules over and implementing some of the rules in our D and D games as well because the SpyCraft rules are easier to use. If you don't want to shell out the cash, what I have said may help

Of course, my groups like to make new rules as much as we like to play some days, so....

 

[Jeph]

Secret cults, all the way! WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Of course, I think that arcane casters make better insane cultists anyway.
Heck, why don't you just use CoC or d20Mod? They're sooooooo cool! Or, you could use one of the Classless systems floating around Enworld (I think I have 2 or 3 around, Crothian has 1, don't know about anyone else . . .)

 

[Crothian]

Crothian has 1

Mine's going under heavy modification at the moment.

 

[Crothian]

sorry if it sounds harsh. maybe it's because i just played in a short-term modern day game. you really do have to put your D&D instincts in check.

DM: a picture of you breaking into the warehouse is on the frontpage of the newspaper.

players: WHAT!?!

And that's how it was suppossed to turn out. Granted, I needed to do a better job of getting you all into a different mindset. I should have talked you all through more of it at the beginning instead of just throwing you to see how well you swim.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

that's why i mentioned 'D&D instincts'. i did try to play up the fact that my PC actually killed someone, but that's hard to maintain when your so used to running headlong towards the danger to kill it before it kills you

 

[Crothian]

that's why i mentioned 'D&D instincts'. i did try to play up the fact that my PC actually killed someone, but that's hard to maintain when your so used to running headlong towards the danger to kill it before it kills you

I know. Mark did a good job with staying away after the fact to protect himself. I applied some law to the game, but tried to keep it simple and just enough for you to worry about it.