Playtest (A5E) Level Up Playtest Document #13: Cleric

Welcome to the 13th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the first 10 levels of the game’s cleric class. We're nearing the end of this phase of class playtests, with only a couple left to go!

What this is
This is a playtest document. We’d love you to try out the rules presented here, and then answer the follow-up survey in a few days.

What this is not
This is NOT the final game. It’s OK if you don’t like elements of these rules; that’s the purpose of a playtest document. Be sure to participate in the follow-up survey in a few days. All data, positive or negative is useful.

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Level Up Playtest Document #13: Cleric — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Welcome to the 13th Level Up playtest document. This playtest contains a candidate for the first 10 levels of the game’s cleric class.

www.levelup5e.com

When you're ready, please fill out the playtest survey here:

Mailchimp Survey

us15.list-manage.com

 

[Xethreau]

Hi I'm Josh, I'm one of the two lead writers on the cleric.

I would like to point out that the flavor text explicitly says that clerics do not have to be a member of a Western-style religious hierarchy. You can be an independent mystic, and you can even technically be an atheist.

There are options that support the more freeform clerics. But my question is: where are the gaps in the mechanics for supporting that?

 

[Xethreau]

Magnetic Missionary: If you do make your check, do you attract a larger crowd? Why would you want to attract a crowd?
Ordination: First paragraph is the same as the acolyte background.

MM - presumably yes. But I imagine that it wouldn't be desirable in all cases, and that an attempt at spreading your faith in a particularly inhospitable situation might actually draw in Town guard and detectives assigned to suppress your religious movement

Ordination - not all clerics are priests, and not all priests are clerics, but some clerics are priests even if they do not take the acolyte background

 

[tetrasodium]

Hi I'm Josh, I'm one of the two lead writers on the cleric.

I would like to point out that the flavor text explicitly says that clerics do not have to be a member of a Western-style religious hierarchy. You can be an independent mystic, and you can even technically be an atheist.

There are options that support the more freeform clerics. But my question is: where are the gaps in the mechanics for supporting that?

I think that the mechanics are broad enough to support it trivially, I spent longer looking up up Oghma & Onatar to check their portfolios than I did refluffling MM/Ordination/zeal in post 38. I think the gap is more cemented tradition made worse by o5e doubling down so hard on FR's divine power coming from the involved gods wording that they needed to put in the xge18 sidebar

Spoiler

A quick little sidebar not even as involved as the xge one giving a couple examples of working with your gm to refluff them to fit an individual greater entity's portfolio might solve any of those sort of problems while encouraging players to dive into using that support to really fit their character if it's actually a problem

 

[Staffan]

Hi I'm Josh, I'm one of the two lead writers on the cleric.

I would like to point out that the flavor text explicitly says that clerics do not have to be a member of a Western-style religious hierarchy. You can be an independent mystic, and you can even technically be an atheist.

There are options that support the more freeform clerics. But my question is: where are the gaps in the mechanics for supporting that?

Sacred Call is the big one. You're either a public speaker, strongly integrated in your faith's social network, or someone who pushes their deity in everyday conversation. There's really no room for those who see faith as a private affair, and not anyone else's business. There's no room for mystery cults who jealously guard the secrets of the divine, for example.

Later you have Sacred Office, which again either connects you to local faith leaders, gives you a reputation as a helper of the common folk (which is fairly inappropriate for many D&D religions in the first place), or casts you in opposition to your faith's hierarchy (which again, presupposes that there is a hierarchy to begin with).

 

[Staffan]

I think that the mechanics are broad enough to support it trivially, I spent longer looking up up Oghma & Onatar to check their portfolios than I did refluffling MM/Ordination/zeal in post 38. I think the gap is more cemented tradition made worse by o5e doubling down so hard on FR's divine power coming from the involved gods wording that they needed to put in the xge18 sidebar

Spoiler

View attachment 134552

A quick little sidebar not even as involved as the xge one giving a couple examples of working with your gm to refluff them to fit an individual greater entity's portfolio might solve any of those sort of problems while encouraging players to dive into using that support to really fit their character if it's actually a problem

Yes and no. The big difference is that the O5E cleric class is all about the divine magic and, to some extent, proficiencies that support that kind of domain. There is no social aspect at all to the O5E cleric. The social aspect of being a priest, and thus connected to some form of organized religion, is generally something handled by taking the Acolyte background (or perhaps Hermit).

 

[tetrasodium]

Yes and no. The big difference is that the O5E cleric class is all about the divine magic and, to some extent, proficiencies that support that kind of domain. There is no social aspect at all to the O5E cleric. The social aspect of being a priest, and thus connected to some form of organized religion, is generally something handled by taking the Acolyte background (or perhaps Hermit).

I don't agree at all. Many of the classes we have seen so far have significant social features built in & those include classes that traditionally have almost zero room for social stuff even when trying to fill that need. I listed a few examples back in #38 for refluffing those oh so problematic bits into things like industry & trade groups based on the two gods you mentioned & feel confident I could trivially do the same for any two gods you think might throw me for a loop there if you want to test it. Sure there's no magewright background, but there are some magewrighty elements like magically building a makeshift wagon in ten minutes. As much as I'd love to eventually see an a5e artificer type class I don't think magewright is likely to fit in well as a background(origin?). Being an ordained cleric linked to a trade group might not have any divine link & the ordainment might come in the form of technical certifications awards or similar.

 

[Faolyn]

There are options that support the more freeform clerics. But my question is: where are the gaps in the mechanics for supporting that?

You might want to make the Vows optional--if you don't take one, you don't get the bonus, so there shouldn't be a problem if you don't want to take one.

Sure there's no magewright background, but there are some magewrighty elements like magically building a makeshift wagon in ten minutes.

That would probably be Guild Artisan, honestly.

 

[Morrus]

I don't agree at all. Many of the classes we have seen so far have significant social features built in & those include classes that traditionally have almost zero room for social stuff even when trying to fill that need.

Every class has features which play into the social and exploration pillars, yep. The intention is that all players get to play in all three pillars of the game, not just watch.

 

[Staffan]

Every class has features which play into the social and exploration pillars, yep. The intention is that all players get to play in all three pillars of the game, not just watch.

This is a worthwhile goal. I just don't think the built-in social features of the cleric should be all about the job of being a priest — both because not all clerics are priests, and because not all priests are clerics.

 

[Morrus]

This is a worthwhile goal. I just don't think the built-in social features of the cleric should be all about the job of being a priest — both because not all clerics are priests, and because not all priests are clerics.

I don't think 'priest' and 'cleric' have their real world meanings in D&D.