D&D 3E/3.5 Specialty Priests (ala 2E) in 3.5?

[GreatLemur]

Specialty priests are one of the very few things that I miss about Second Edition. Even with domains and granted powers and turn/rebuke and cure/inflict, the Cleric class still seems a little too focused on rather pigeonholed characteristics. I don't see why the servants of, say, a god of luck or of the sea would necessarily have any undead-related abilities, or a focus on healing (or inflicting) damage.

Frankly, I'm not sure a 3/4 BAB and Heavy Armor Proficiency make a lot of sense, either. I mean, hasn't the Paladin got the holy warrior angle covered? The Cloistered Cleric variant from Unearthed Arcana seems like it ought to be the default, really: A divine equivalent to the Wizard. Although maybe a divine equivalent to the Sorcerer would make more sense. I've never understood by what in-game logic a Cleric has to ask his god to queue up a specific set of miracles he'd like to perform that day.

...Okay, I'm getting off-topic, here.

 

[GreatLemur]

Haha, I was just about to suggest Ari's product. Anyways, here's my review of it: http://www.d20zines.com/v7/node/1832

You know, that sounds just about perfect.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Haha, I was just about to suggest Ari's product. Anyways, here's my review of it: http://www.d20zines.com/v7/node/1832

"Gratuitously plugged"? I'm never gratuitous. I'm just zealous.

Seriously, I appreciate the review. Thanks.

 

[el-remmen]

Here ya go, this is what I did for Aquerra:

Generic Overview: http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priest+Characters

and then some examples by pantheon for my setting:

• http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+Ras+Pantheon
• http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+the+Kalevala
• http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+the+Dwarven+Pantheon
• http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+the+Elven+Pantheon
• http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Priests+of+the+Gnomish+Pantheon

Each priesthood has its own spell list and unique choice of domains - I did away with domain abilities.

Hope it helps. . .

 

[The Truth]

Glad I could lend a hand, Mouseferatu and GreatLemur.

 

[Kalshane]

I'm doing specialty priests in my new game world, mixing up BAB, proficiencies, skill points and granted powers based on the deity in question. Deities with martial aspects have standard, or close to standard, clerics. Those without get varying abilities. It takes some work up front, but it's not too difficult (provided you don't have a huge pantheon. I'm limiting my game world to 12 deities) and I think it's worth it in the long run.

I've taken things one step further with priests of the goddess of magic. Not only changing up their priest abilities, but also requiring them to multiclass with wizard or sorcerer after a certain level. However, one of their granted powers is their caster level for all spells is the sum of their cleric and mage levels. Mystic Theurge is an obvious choice for members of their priesthood.

Deities that grant the War domain can also have Crusaders (an update of the 2nd Ed class, not the one from Tome of Battle) in addition to Clerics. Crusaders must chose War as one of their two domains, lose Turn Undead and one spell of each level in exchange for martial proficiency all, Combat Casting for free at 1st level and +1 BAB per level.

I'm also toying with the idea of removing Summon Monster from the cleric list and replacing it with Summon Divine Ally, which allows the cleric to summon servants of their deity. So instead of getting random animals with the celestial/fiendish template slapped on, you get actual celestials or fiends (or whatever) that show up to help. It's going to take more work to design divine servants for each deity, but it will add to the uniqueness of the various priests. If I do this, I'll either allow a cleric to prepare a SDA spell in their Domain slot, or swap them for existing spells on the fly (I haven't decided which yet).