Why Do Clerics Have More Spells Per Day Than Wizards?

[Bad Paper]

The Wizard gets more "goodies" (class abilities) than the Cleric, but they have less spells. Is there a reason for this?

Clerics are broken? That seems like a pretty good reason.

I have a burning little hatred for 3ed clerics, so I at least always keep their deity in mind. I wouldn't hesitate to yoink something here or there for misuse. I'm not sure I would directly change anything about the class, though, except to remove heavy armor proficiency. I think that particular ability does not belong, except on the warrior-priest (fighter/cleric).

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Because wizards need healing more than Clerics need fire support.

That was an easy question. NEXT!

 

[Arkhandus]

d@ h3@Lb0+ |\|33d$ h1$ ju1c3.

 

[victorysaber]

How about giving the Turning the ability to heal 1d6/level damage?

The basic cleric would do it 3 times a day. The half-optimised cleric could do it 5 times a day (14 Charisma).

At 10th level, comparatively to other spells it works out to
Turning (10d6) ~ 35 all, 3 times a day
CLW (1d8+5) ~ 9 single, 4/5 times a day
CMW (2d8+10) ~ 19 single, 4/5 times a day
CSW (3d8+10) ~ 23 single, 3/4 times a day
CCW (4d8+10) ~ 28 single 3/4 times a day
MCLW (1d8+10) ~ 14 all, 2/3 times a day

I guess I'm having trouble balancing this turning can heal thing with reducing the cleric's spell slots and removing their healing.





So at 20th level, you can heal 20d6 (~70) 3 times a day (minimum).

70 points of healing as compared to
CLW ~ 9
CMW ~ 19
CSW ~ 28
CCW ~ 38
Heal ~ 150
Mass Heal ~ 200 all

 

[William drake]

Just curious.

In comparison to the spontaneous casters, the Favoured Soul & Sorcerer have the same number of spells per day.

Is there any reason?

The Favoured Soul gets more "goodies" (class abilities) than the Sorcerer, but they have the same number of spells. In comparison to the Cleric, the Favoured Soul has about the same number of spells, including domain spells (except for the higher level slots).

The Wizard gets more "goodies" (class abilities) than the Cleric, but they have less spells.

Is there a reason for this?

The reason that the cleric has the ability to cast more is becuse its assumed that the party is going to get hurt, and they need to be healed. Its a game-function thing. And yes, I've always thought it made it so that clerics were almost always needed unless the DM took the time to think of ways NOT to kill the party, or constantly put on the beat-down. But, that's the reason.


When building characters for the game, the DM says "who's playing what?"
First player "Fighter"
Second "Wizard"
Third "Damn, so its either the thief of the cleric...."
First player "dude, do the right thing."
Third "You own me, fine, I'll play the cleric."

 

[irdeggman]

Wizards get:

5 bonus feats (one of which is scribe scroll).
A familiar (which grants a bonus feat – Alertness) and a special benefit.

Cleric gets:

2 domains’ granted abilities.
Turn undead
More spells


Hmm which is really more powerful?

The domain special abilities are roughly equal to the special ability (and Alertness) granted by the familiar.

Turn undead versus the scaling abilities of the familiar – I’d say turn undead is slightly more powerful. But this is situational – if there are a lot of undead then turning is real powerful, if there are not then it is not so powerful. Depending on the “environment” the familiar can be a huge boon with “scouting” and the like – but again very situational.

More spells for a cleric versus the 5 bonus feats. I’d say that 5 bonus feats is more powerful. The bonus spells are probably equal to up to 3 bonus feats.

So that leaves us with 2 bonus feats for the wizard and turn undead for the cleric. Looks to be about even to me.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Wizards get:

5 bonus feats (one of which is scribe scroll).
A familiar (which grants a bonus feat – Alertness) and a special benefit.

Cleric gets:

2 domains’ granted abilities.
Turn undead
More spells

And d8 hit dice, medium BAB progression, two good saves and the ability to wear any armour while casting spells.

 

[Shazman]

This is also an artifact of earlier editions, when clerics had very few area effect and direct damage spells. Now, with availability to power word - kill, and fire storms, and earth reavers, holy smites, etc. The need in my mind is less than before. However, there's still the supposition that clerics are unpopular to play and so needed some bait to entice people to play them. They have so many goodies, they're not just "baited", they're a whole tackle-shop!

There are still only so many actions a round. If your choices are to cast a cool spell, fight, or heal the fighter to keep him alive for another round, guess which one wins. At higher levels, the best wand in the world won't keep your comrads going in combat. Clerics are always billled as the most powerful class in the game, but they still end up just healing most of the time. They have lots of good spells, but little opportunitiy to actually use them.

 

[irdeggman]

And d8 hit dice, medium BAB progression, two good saves and the ability to wear any armour while casting spells.

True enough, they also have an "aura", alignment restrictions (one step away from deity), alignment restricitions on spells they can cast and a code of conduct.

Ex-Clerics
A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. He cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until he atones (see the atonement spell description).

While clerics don't need to "rest" before preparing spells like a wizard does they have a potentially more restrictive condition.

Time of Day: A divine spellcaster chooses and prepares spells ahead of time, just as a wizard does. However, a divine spellcaster does not require a period of rest to prepare spells. Instead, the character chooses a particular part of the day to pray and receive spells. The time is usually associated with some daily event. If some event prevents a character from praying at the proper time, he must do so as soon as possible. If the character does not stop to pray for spells at the first opportunity, he must wait until the next day to prepare spells.

The cleric spell list has more buff and "healing" spells than wthe wizard list does, but it also has less damaging spells (or at least less of the more powerful kinds).

 

[pawsplay]

True enough, they also have an "aura", alignment restrictions (one step away from deity), alignment restricitions on spells they can cast and a code of conduct.

So friggin' what? You just pick an appropriate ethos to match the cleric you were going to play anyway.