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The Making and Breaking of Deities & Demigods
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<blockquote data-quote="maceochaid" data-source="post: 7612242" data-attributes="member: 6789608"><p>Interestingly the Cleric was designed to be what would later become the Paladin. They were mostly the original Gish, and were invented to fight a Vampire character and were based on the Song of Roland and Peter Cushing's depiction of Van Helsing in B-Rated horror movies. So the Cleric is explicitly based on fantasy Christianity. </p><p></p><p>Originally Gygax felt the Cleric didn't have to have to be connected to the Gods, just a sense of the Fantasy and Legendary Christian stories that gave him what he needed rules wise, a fighter magic user who could heal. When a player insisted to know which god he served Gygax invented St. Cuthbert as a joke but obviously having Christian trappings, and Pholtus as a joke about a monotheistic religion in a polytheistic world. Players wanting their characters to have a connection to a god borrowed from diverse sources like Norse myths and Conan comics. (Classic DM vs. Player clash, DM only cares about evil Gods to motivate villainous cultists, Players only care about the God their character worships for either the fluff or crunch it will grant them) Players would win out, and in 2nd edition the Christian inspired Cleric would be firmly grafted onto a semi-Greco Roman pantheon of gods who control a specific sphere of the natural world or human activity. </p><p></p><p>The Cleric never quite represented a Christian Priest, but still, he was built to resemble that the most, yet was now drafted into the service of Fantasy Gods, a group that was a combination of Lovecraft, Moorcock, Lieber, Hamilton, and Bullfinch. More than any other class in Dungeons and Dragons the Cleric is a palimpsest, an attempt at recreating something, but in the end creating something entirely unique to Dungeons and Dragons. The Fighter is like the Hydra or the Minotaur, faithfully recreated from legend, the Wizard is the Chromatic Dragon or the Winged Manticore, resembling its roots but with a special D&D spin. The Cleric is the Illithid or the Owlbear, whatever previous seed was planted in Gygax's brain, this bizarre mutant fruit is entirely modern, and has completely changed fantasy games and literature for better or ill.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="maceochaid, post: 7612242, member: 6789608"] Interestingly the Cleric was designed to be what would later become the Paladin. They were mostly the original Gish, and were invented to fight a Vampire character and were based on the Song of Roland and Peter Cushing's depiction of Van Helsing in B-Rated horror movies. So the Cleric is explicitly based on fantasy Christianity. Originally Gygax felt the Cleric didn't have to have to be connected to the Gods, just a sense of the Fantasy and Legendary Christian stories that gave him what he needed rules wise, a fighter magic user who could heal. When a player insisted to know which god he served Gygax invented St. Cuthbert as a joke but obviously having Christian trappings, and Pholtus as a joke about a monotheistic religion in a polytheistic world. Players wanting their characters to have a connection to a god borrowed from diverse sources like Norse myths and Conan comics. (Classic DM vs. Player clash, DM only cares about evil Gods to motivate villainous cultists, Players only care about the God their character worships for either the fluff or crunch it will grant them) Players would win out, and in 2nd edition the Christian inspired Cleric would be firmly grafted onto a semi-Greco Roman pantheon of gods who control a specific sphere of the natural world or human activity. The Cleric never quite represented a Christian Priest, but still, he was built to resemble that the most, yet was now drafted into the service of Fantasy Gods, a group that was a combination of Lovecraft, Moorcock, Lieber, Hamilton, and Bullfinch. More than any other class in Dungeons and Dragons the Cleric is a palimpsest, an attempt at recreating something, but in the end creating something entirely unique to Dungeons and Dragons. The Fighter is like the Hydra or the Minotaur, faithfully recreated from legend, the Wizard is the Chromatic Dragon or the Winged Manticore, resembling its roots but with a special D&D spin. The Cleric is the Illithid or the Owlbear, whatever previous seed was planted in Gygax's brain, this bizarre mutant fruit is entirely modern, and has completely changed fantasy games and literature for better or ill. [/QUOTE]
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