The reason for the cleric class' lack of popularity?

[swrushing]

to me its always been fairly obvious...

the four archtypes have three which will often be the one driving the action: rogue, fighter and wiz. Each will see scenes where the action centers on them, probably solos scenes as well, and often can be the "if the enemy doesn't stop me, they will lose" kind of guy.

The four archtypes have one which will support all of these roles and where most of his solo focuses are non-action/non-drama. heck look at turning. if he turns undead then the other guys do the beatdown on cowering enemies.

Me, the cleric is one of my faves because, unlike each of the others, he doesn't have much of a gap which would leave him sitting idle in any conflict. he can always contribute. I like that role and feel that by picking the support i offer and emphasizing our focus i can do more, just not be the up front guy.

but more people wanna be the scene driver.

more people dream of being the race car driver than dream of being his pit boss.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'm playing a cleric now in a 3.5 campaign and am enjoying it, the build of the character emphasises the knowledge aspects rather than the combat ones, which has been a bit of a weakness in a party that's under supplied with pure combat tanks, but has got a lot of scope for RP and useful knowledge rolls, etc.

 

[caudor]

My experience has been the opposite...in my group of rather young players, no one wants to play a Rogue. We currently have two clerics, a fighter, and a wizard.

 

[Miyazawa Mizaki]

My opinion has already been said: That Clerics are the most popular class for someone else to play. No one wants to be a healing battery and most groups expect that of the cleric.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My opinion has already been said: That Clerics are the most popular class for someone else to play. No one wants to be a healing battery and most groups expect that of the cleric.

"No one" is a bit strong. I can't get my wife to stop playing those roles without dynamite in MMORPGs, and she's not really a super-nurturer as a rule. I know other people who behave the same. Without question, though, those sorts are greatly outnumbered by the rest of us.

 

[William_2]

Echoing some of the above, I tend to think that the class is unpopular with lots of players because it does not meet many of the criteria for a fun character to play in a fantasy game. I agree that they are the most powerful class, as well, the result being in my experience that some players will only play them, but take no interest in the ostensible defining characteristics of the class. They play war-mages of some sort, basically.

I also agree that the lack of popularity is related to the lack of pre-D&D examples. Yes, fantasy genre literature has some, but that genre has been heavily influenced by D&D since it arrived. I believe there was a cleric in "Quag Keep", but I don't think any prior literary character could be described as one.

The idea for the cleric does seem to have come from some odd mix of literary Tuck and Turpin, orders like the Hospitalers and the Templars and the occasional campaigning bishop, and the need for the "field medic" in the game. The transfer of all those examples of followers of a monotheistic religion to the multi-pantheon world of D&D always struck me as particularly jarring.

It could be argued that the game really didn't work without the role of the field medic. With healing magic more available to other character classes in the current version of the game, the cleric may simply be facing redundancy. And really, what is an adventuring cleric doing for his deity? They should be fired.

 

[Maliki]

Never had a problem getting someone to play clerics in my groups. When we played 3rd edition my players loved playing clerics.

 

[fusangite]

Gentlegamer,

First of all, I really don't see how an angel (Gandalf) assisted by a powerful magic item (Narya) is a cleric under any definition. All this sanctioned versus unsanctioned magic blather does not erase the fact that a hypostasized angel using a magic ring does not meet any normal set of criteria for what a cleric is.

Cleric does not mean "user of sanctioned magic" in anyone's book. Even if I were to accept your formulation of Middle Earth magic, which I don't, you still can't force a brand new definition on the term cleric. Cleric means priest. Gandalf is not a priest; he's a divinity. The fact that a divinity can do things a priest can also do does not make the divinity into a priest.

I would argue that there are no clerics in Middle Earth because there is no formal religion. Devotion is not shown to the Valar in a way that entails priestly worship.

Finally, why would you expect that the LOTR narrative could be represented in D&D anyway? Tolkien's world is not compatible with D&D.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I have always enjoyed playing the cleric, and never as a 'combat medic', as often as not I was the person who went and did the information gathering for the group and the political schmoozing. (The two E.N.World no-no topics - Religion and Politics...) Generally I was the driving force behind the adventurers, they were furthering my ends and the church's. More Richeleau than Tuck, but on the side of the angels rather than the king of France. I have also played combat chaplains of very military attitude. (Based on British sargeants from movies... 'Right you unspeakable pile o' garbage! Get your boots on and march or I'll 'ave your guts for garters!'

In the very first game I ever ran was a cleric who was played by a Catholic priest, unctious, dishonest, venal, greedy... I rather suspect that Father Semino based him off of someone he knew... And again, not just the party healer.

So to me it seems that religion and faith need to have a place in the game aside from 'I worship X, in his name I am granted Y spells' The congregation feats in Quintessential Cleric by Mongoose is a good start in that direction, giving the cleric duties beyond running around healing the party. The class is fine, it is all about the attitude when iy comes to the class' role in the group..

The Auld Grump

 

[Klaus]

The cleric in my 3-PC campaign is THE powerhouse (even though the ranger gets, like, 6 attacks per round!). Righteous Might + magic full plate + magic heavy shield + flaming heavy mace = one big can of holy whupass!