Pagan Priests: Clerics, Druids or Shamans?

[LoneWolf23]

I'm considering making a D&D Campaign in a world based on Medieval Europe, around 1000 CE, but I'm in a bit of a quandry concerning the matter of religions.

I'm planning on making a Catholic-like Church, that's the current dominant faith of the land, slowly replacing Pagan Faiths all over the continent. The majority of the priesthood is constituted of Commoners (entry level brothers) Adepts (ordained priests) and Aristocrats (Cardinals and the like), with some multiclassing being common as Priests develop.

I've decided that actual Clerics are part of a special order of "Magic Priests", considered the champions of the Church, inspired by the Warrior Nun Areala comic. Paladins are not ordained by the church, but are warriors who have devoted themselves to following the ideals of the Church, very much like the Templars and Hospitallers of Earth. Some gather into Knightly orders like the Templars, others serve Kings whom they deem honorable and pious, and yet others are wandering knights.

That covers the mainstream Church (which has members of all alignments, not just good. This Church is unfortunetly as infested with corrupt priests as the Real-World Church of the same time period. But I'm a bit stuck when it comes to the Pagan Priesthood...

I've decided that the vast majority of Pagan priests would be Adepts, but I find myself with more options then I can figure out with for the more exceptional, PC-level priests:
-On one hand, making them Clerics just like the Church priests would simplify things, but I would like to give them a bit of a different flavor.
-Druids are the second option, and will definetly have a place, but not ALL Pagan gods are nature deities, so not all pagan priests will be Druids (although some cultures will have them in the highest respect).
-The Shaman, from Oriental Adventures, is yet another option, which in my eyes, combines some of the best elements of the Cleric and the Druid. A good balance of Nature-oriented spells and cleric-like spells, healing and turning undead abilities, but without the appearance of a centralized priesthood.

Since Pagans never had a really centralized formal tradition, perhaps I should leave the concept of a Paganized Priesthood open to players? Or maybe creating different Pagan traditions in different regions?

 

[CRGreathouse]

I'd use druids and clerics, differentiating the latter by their choice in domains.

 

[Pielorinho]

I would definitely do a mix of classes. Vikings should probably have straightforward clerics, I'd say, with a few adepts mixed in. Druids are very appropriate for the British Isles and Northern France. Shamans are great for the Ural Mountains, and generally throughout Russia. And cities will probably have wizards and clerics intermingled -- cabals who worship Hermes and Thoth might be relatively common.

Daniel

 

[Artoomis]

I'd say you'd have several things going on.

1. Druids - organized, but limited to certain areas (Ireland, Scotland, England (especially Wales, I think) and the like. Possible PCs.

2, Devil worship. Evil, organized, secret organizations. Universally hated and feared. Not really PC territory (should be bad guys only)

3. Pagan Gods (Norse, etc.) Shaman types rule here, I think. Possibly even PC clerics.

4. Wizards. Universally misunderstood, hated and feared. Without doubt hunted down by the church. Very tough to be PCs, but possible if their talents are kept hidden. Some secret organizations

A couple of other notes. Around this time, virtually all the general populace was illiterate. Clergy were the most educated, with a special note that the monks in Ireland preserved and spread most knowledge around this time. Not counting the Middle East and Far East, of course.

Which brings me to unusual PCs - they could be from the Middle East pretty easily, or perhaps even from the Far East. Very unusual abilities (like monks, perhaps) will be feared more than respected by all but the most learned or tolerant folks - that is, limited to a subset of the nobility.


Well, that was fun!

 

[adndgamer]

Hm. Well, as the others have said, I'd go with Druids for Britain and the like.

I would leave out devil worshippers. And, I would have the Norse have Clerics.

 

[Benben]

Re: Re: Pagan Priests: Clerics, Druids or Shamans?

I would definitely do a mix of classes. Vikings should probably have straightforward clerics, I'd say, with a few adepts mixed in. Druids are very appropriate for the British Isles and Northern France. Shamans are great for the Ural Mountains, and generally throughout Russia. And cities will probably have wizards and clerics intermingled -- cabals who worship Hermes and Thoth might be relatively common.

Daniel

This, sounds about perfect to me. I'd move Shamans into most of the Latvian, and Finnish areas too. Shamans probably need to swap out their unnarmed proficiency for something else though.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

The 2e druid was based on the "real-life" Celtic druid, right down to the weird weapons. Don't know where they got the "true neutral backstab" thing from. Glad they changed the description of true neutral.

The druids ruled throuh superstition: everyone knew about wildshape (at least in areas where druids claimed to be able to work such magic), so plotting against them was difficult (dog behaving oddly? squirrel behaving oddly? try to get rid of all birds in the general area?). They also blessed crops. And if the crops failed, that called for tithe, sacrifice, etc, depending on the local druidic customs.

 

[hong]

I would use the shaman class mechanics for everyone. Just vary the spell list, domains and bonus feats to match each specific religion/pantheon.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Thanks for the Help!

I've decided to mix and match the various classes, with Druids being linked to a specific, Celtic-like culture, and Pagan Clerics being more common to germanic-like lands. Maybe Shamans would be more popular amongst nomadic tribes or in the balkan-like lands...

 

[Artoomis]

Cool.

Sound like fun!

Don't forget about devil-worship. Both inside and out of the Church. Great stuff for wonderful good vs. evil adventures and role-playing.