Why do clerics prepare spells?

[Drew]

It has always bothered my that clerics prepare spells like a wizard, rather than casting them spontaneously. To me, it doesn't fit the mold of prayer. If the village needs rain, if someone needs healing, if a marriage needs blessing, a demon needs to be cast out, etc. shouldn't the priest just ask his deity and then either get results or not? As it stands, we basically have men of the cloth invoking their gods for hypothetical situations. "Dear Zues, grant me the power to walk on water later today, should I come upon any water that needs crossing. Also, mighty Zues, give the the ability to restore sight to any blind people I may or may not encounter."

Is there a good reason for clerics to cast spells using the same vancian system as wizards, other than precedence? Am I the only one that feels this way?

 

[Crothian]

No, it would be better if they did it that way but then class balance wise the class would need to be highly changed. THe spell list would need to be very limited.

 

[Drew]

No, it would be better if they did it that way but then class balance wise the class would need to be highly changed. THe spell list would need to be very limited.

I agree that changing the Cleric would be a lot of work. Its just always bugged me as written, and I wondered if anyone else shared my opinions.

 

[billd91]

I think this is one of the main reasons that clerics now have spontaneous healing spells, the single-most commonly cast spell for an adventuring cleric in most games.
I can see what you're getting at. It would seem more appropriate to cast anything spontaneously, but a really broad cleric spell list would make that character awfully powerful indeed. I think you would need to significantly reduce the number of spells available (something like the sorcerer) or include special provisions for certain classes of spells. Perhaps all spells cast to benefit NPCs rather than members of the adventuring party (except by indirect benefit like by advancing the story) could be cast spontaneously. That would be a pretty weird rule, but one that gives the cleric some flavor.
Alternatively, we'd be looking more closely at the 2nd edition idea of spheres in which certain groups of spells (broader than current domains) are the only ones available or are the only ones that could be spontaneously cast by clerics of certain deities. For example, asking Thor to be able to walk across water might be harder (and require prep) than asking Thor for a weather-based spell (available sponteously).
Either way, I can see lots of redesign ahead to try to balance the character.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

I agree... if any one class should be spontaneously casting, it's the cleric. IMO anyway.

 

[Jdvn1]

I've thought that Clerics' spells are what separate them from priests. Clerics study divine magic in the same way Wizards study arcane magic. If you just pray, you're a priest. If you pray and study for spells, you're a Cleric. If you just get the spells, you're a Favored Soul.

 

[Ibram]

Remember that you can switch out your spells by taking an hour to re-prepare them. That seems to fit the way a cleric could fight daemons in the morning and perform a marriage ceremony in the afternoon.

 

[Woas]

What if the cleric traded in its BAB, armor profs., and simple weapon use for it? Just a thought.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

What if the cleric traded in its BAB, armor profs., and simple weapon use for it? Just a thought.

Good point... to me this makes more sense. Makes you hafta protect the healer.

 

[Harmon]

My wife has gotten in the habit of leaving slots open on her cleric.

One of our GMs thinks that a cleric needs to take all his/her spells at the time they pray, but we disagree. The character is asking their god- "hay, you mind if I leave some area here open for flexiblity," though its known that you can't use the open slots for spont. cure (or inflict) spells. It works pretty well for us.