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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kaffis" data-source="post: 2109560" data-attributes="member: 10305">To the original poster: I would agree that there's a distinct lack of clericish characters in pre-RPG fantasy.I posit that the reason for this is that heroes rarely get injured in fiction. Did Bilbo ever take a swipe from something, and get brought to near-death due to his low theif HD? Nah. Sure, Frodo takes a swipe, but he's tended to with some herbal lore and bedrest, for the most part (and even if you take the stand that Elrond used his power to aid in the healing process, it occurs off-screen and isn't the pivotal role of Elrond).This lack of a common and well-defined (and admired) archetype contributes heavily to the difficulty in warming up to the cleric, or any other healing-oriented class. It's an archetype largely invented FOR gaming, to reconcile risk and danger (which a piece of authored fiction can present as tense situations and near-misses, as well as character relief and caution, but a game relies on the possibility of stuff actually connecting to draw the players in and reign in their actions) with the need for pacing and character survivability.Nobody thrills at playing a game mechanic, so the best you can do is try to figure out ways to expand and broaden the class, and hope that people can get past the healing role and see some other merits and facets to enjoy in it.</blockquote>