Why Play A Cleric?

[Vaslov]

How about a cleric that has lost or great doubts about his faith. Sure the magic flows, but does he really believe? Did this great power forced him to believe as he does? Instead of spreading the faith he could just be looking for his own answer.

Self doubt. Self loathing. A little vodka and some Dostoyevsky.

Hope that helps. Good gaming to you.

 

[Celtavian]

re

I like playing clerics. I have enjoyed the cleric since 2nd edition introduced Specialty priests. So I'll list my cleric concepts.

Cleric of Tempus: Easy concept. My cleric makes war because he likes to make war. The easiest way for him to constantly make war is to join an adventuring group that is always looking for a fight. That's what he has done. I picture him not so much as an archetype priest that watches over a flock so much as a warrior that prays to Tempus and is so fervent in his worship that Tempus grants him power on the battlefield.

The cleric of Tempus firmly believes in Tempus. Dedicates his battles to Tempus. He does what he believes is Tempus's will. He expounds the ideology of Tempus. He makes war in Tempus's name.

Cleric of Mystra: This cleric adventured seeking hidden magic, lore, and the mysteries that lie in the those places in the world that one only finds as an adventurer. This also led him into conflict with those that abuse magic and use it to enslave and kill others, something that was an affront to Mystra.

Adventuring gives you a chance to find hidden artifacts and magical evils, so this was a perfect career for a Mystran priest.

Cleric of Lathander: This was my favorite priest. If they killed or changed Lathander, I'm going to be a bit perturbed.

This was a female Aasimar priest with a Solar angel descendant. The solar had escorted a female priest ancestor into the realm of a demon that had stolen Lathander's mace. The female ancestor recovered the mace enraging the demon. She escaped while the solar ancestor was captured by the demon lord and imprisoned.

The solar and the female ancestor had relations during the quest and she was pregnant with his child. So the demon lord as vengeance informed the solar of the pregnancy. The demon lord waited until the child was born and proven to be healthy. Then he made the solar watch as he tore apart the mother in front of the newborn infant. He informed the solar that this would be his family tradition until the his bloodline was no more.

Suffice it to say that the goal of the cleric I made was to kill this demon lord. That was her entire focus. So she adventured to gain the power and the allies to attack this demon lord on his own plane and break the family curse so she could have children someday.

On top of that she was just a good person who wanted to help people and drive evil from the world. I planned to have to her launch a war against Thay to break the backs of the Red Wizards down the line. I never got around to that part of the story.

Cleric of Shaundakul: She adventured because that is what Shaundakul expects of his priests. She had a wandering spirit and just took to the road.



I've never had a problem developing backgrounds for clerics. Clerics seem to me the best class (along with paladins) for developing interesting backgrounds. They are more driven to adventure than say a fighter who decides to go look for things to fight.

Some gods require their priests to adventure. Some gods require their priests to fight. Almost every god has some kind of dogmatic reason for a priest to adventure since they have the best reason for their followers growing their power. If you're having trouble finding a background for a cleric, you must have very poorly detailed gods.

The best detailed gods are from he Forgotten Realms. If you play in the realms or just want to read about some detailed gods I suggest looking in Faiths and Pantheons. Maybe your DM can write up some dogma for whatever gods he uses in his campaign. That will give you some fodder for thinking up a background for a priest.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

..because we needs heals plz.

and shield other, so we can kill you the old fashioned way, by taking massive burst damage and having more hit points than you.

j/k

the gods only tell npcs to tend the masses, because they aren't special enough for the good assignments.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

The thing with clerics is that you have to remember the setting. This isn't a particularly happy time to be walking the roads between towns, and no god is going to want their priests to get horribly murdered to death by bandits and orcs and what have you. The second thing to remember is that I don't think it's often in tabletop games to have a lot of "gods of pacifism." The thing is, there IS evil out there - be it capital E in the form of undead and demons, or little e in those potential nasty moral gray areas. As a cleric, you've already chosen your role - you purposefully said "I want to bring the virtues of my god to the world." Most gods and religions in your setting (ANY setting, really) - if not all gods and religions - have a healthy respect for that big E to get a mace smashed in its face due to sin of existing.

The thing to remember is that clerics aren't your local Sunday school teachers. These are people filled with religious might and zealotry that have a mission from God, and nothing is going to get in their way of helping that orphana-er, nothing is going to get in their way of ensuring their mission succeeds.

 

[Pbartender]

Another thought...

Make a priest of of the God of Knowledge -- Ioun, for example -- and make him some sort of scholar -- a historian, for example. But instead of staying in the cloister like all the other scholarly clerics, he's more of an Indiana Jones type... Go out and find the history and relic and ancient knowledge and bring them back to the temple's museum/library.

Of course, all the best stuff lies in the most dangerous parts of the world, so he's had to pick up rather unscholarly abilities and equipment over the years, and his god gives him what divine magical power he can to increase his chances of returning to the cloister alive.

 

[Starfox]

You say you don't want to be lawful. Much of today's concept of clergy is very lawful. I think a solution could be not to call your character a cleric, not think of him as a cleric - simply as a divinely-favored hero. Your heroics has attracted the attention of a divine sponsor, who does nice things to you and those near you. Maybe you don't even like some of these things - for some chaotic characters, it might feel unsportsmanlike to have a sponsor from on high. This angle requires a bit of doublethink, tough, so it might be easiest to just think of yourself as a generic hero with a radio to the on-high supply depot and artillery.

Another option is to forego a deity. Make yourself a mystic, something of a mage who has seen the greater truths and learned to tap into their powers. This is very much the wizard in armor in concept, but it does dodge many of the cleric clichés.

Of course, may detail in this depend on what the system and campaign allows.

 

[Morrow]

I've always thought that Velendo, from Piratecat's storyhour was a pretty solid concept for a cleric. Let's see if I can find a description...

Velendo of Calphas (elderly human cleric 15): Velendo is frail and balding, with a fringe of gray hair, and he dresses in simple brown robes over chain mail; his holy symbol is a large, solid stone shield carved with runes. He used to have a very peaceful life. Until his mid-50's he had never left his small fishing village of Hunnerstide, running the local temple (as did his father before him) but never especially espousing true faith. Then one day, he had a vision from his God that he should leave the village. His horrified him; deep down, he didn't really believe that his God knew he existed, and this made him re-examine his entire faith. The ship Velendo took was seized by minotaur pirates, who took the cleric back to their island fortress and made him a slave. After escaping through a teleportation device to the mainland, Velendo fell in with the Defenders of Daybreak. Three years ago, Calphas selected Velendo to be his proxy for a Holy mission, and this has inadvertently catapulted Velendo to fame and recognition everywhere within his church. Much to his disgust and embarrassment, he is now considered a prophet and living saint, and churches are queueing up to take pieces of his body as relics when he dies.

--> Velendo tends to argue with his God a lot, similar to Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof". Velendo has a reasonably low charisma despite all of his fame, and so tends to be brusque and snappy at people who annoy him. These idiosyncracies are typically written off by fervent believers as mere eccentricities.

For a long time Velendo wore banded mail under his robes, but after his STR was drained down to 6 a year or so ago (while locked in a mano-a-mano struggle with an evil Proxy counterpart), he ditched all armor and spent much of his acquired loot on a pair of +6 Bracers of Defense. Between those and his +3 Stone Shield (light as balsa wood for him, as are all shields to Clerics of Calphas), along with a decent Dex, his AC is pretty good. For the record, he still has a 6 Strength; the drained points were restored, but then he suffered the "old age" penalty, and his STR dropped back down. Needless to say, it's been a long time since he meaningfully engaged in melee combat.

 

[Kaladhan]

Let me think... what about a cleric that committed something his clergy didn't approve of. A disciplinary council sentenced him to some unlikely quest (that could be tied into the main plot of the campaign). Until then, he is exiled, with no real authority or link to his clergy.

 

[Vayden]

Evil clerics are usually more fun than good clerics, and have better excuses for fitting the adventuring stereotype. My first 3.5 char back in the day was an evil fighter/cleric who managed to convert 3/4 of the party to my dark god (having them physically present when we freed him from the volcano the gods of light had sealed him into was a big factor in their conversion). But you said you didn't want to be evil, so I'll join in recommending Velendo from PCat's storyhour - read the storyhour for inspiration, he does a really good reluctant saint.

 

[Phlebas]

I've always found backgrounds for clerics to be easier than for any other class. all the standard reasons to adventure, plus the fact your god / church has pointed / pushed you in the general direction of the plot. your relationship to your god can be anything from antagonistic to distant

Cleric concepts in games i've played / ref'd

Priest of challenges - revive worship in neglected god. needs money to re-build temple plus fame to inspire worshippers

priest of luck / fire - professional gambler now part of a church heirarchy. however accumulated debts to various powers now keep him moving and mobile

Noble Priest of travel & crossroads. Posh 3rd son rebelled against family and followed the less popular route of the god of travelling. normally travels with half an inn on assorted pack animals and a very upmarket idea of 'roughing it'

Priest of community. Member of undercover force dedicated to the protection of the state until he discovers that the organisation is not as altruistic as he was lead to believe

Priest of Bronze - Primeval deity, and the priest was the last remaining follower keeping the ancient ways alive

Pantheonic priest. believes in all the gods and each type of spell comes from a specific deity

I've never played a philosophical priest - ie totally removed from a god, or a spirit / shamanic variant, but no reason why you couldn't play that (in any edition) if your DM is happy to allow. depends how it would mesh into the campaign setting though if you go too far away from the stereotypical cleric....