Player Tips – Adding more Class to your Class – Cleric

February 19, 2016

Welcome back to another series of mine. Last week we did a player tip to spice up your bard. You can read about that one here. Today however we are going deep into faith and are going to ramp up your cleric.

Now the Cleric is a tricky one because the religion that a character follows can literally put them anywhere on the character spectrum. Clerics can be melee fighters or spell casters. It is all dependent on what your stats are and what god you worship. So how can we add more to an already limitless option.

To do that I say lets do something that will be fitting to the game you are playing and play something that you have not done before. If you are already used to playing a very martial cleric try the other side. If you are more used to playing the stand in the back and heal, go martial.

What do You do to Add more Class to your Class – Cleric?

Clerics are one of my favorite classes to play and it is because you get to be the instrument of your god. Until recent edition, paladins had a huge stat requirement to play so they rarely were an option for me when I started playing D&D. So the next faithful was cleric. When you can be the wielder of your gods power and you have a story driven DM you have a lot of power.

I have played a cleric of war and battle. He delighted in bloodshed as his enemies fell before his mighty mace. I have played a cleric of battle where he sought to test his mettle against others in skilled combat fighting with his long sword. I have played a cleric of magic coupled with levels of sorcerer and he wielded spell more than any weapon. he delighted in using and creating magic. It did not matter if he was making a light show or casting a bolt of lightning.

I have played a cleric that worshiped nature and despised undead. He was grim and rarely saw the beauty that he was trying to protect. He fought with a club and a long sword. His blade had a thirst for severing the magic that controlled a dead body with necromancy. I am now playing a cleric of knowledge. He seeks to uncover the hidden knowledge that the world has hidden away.

I have played so many clerics that I am certain I cannot remember them all. It is only when I look back through my binders and my character notebooks all the options I have run. Now all of these are from the good side or neutral if you look at some of the fightery ones.

The sky really is the limit, challenge your self and play something different. Try a cleric of life who refuses to kill a thing, what if he was a vegetarian? What about a cleric of peace with a high stat in charisma and focuses on diplomacy? What about going dark? Try a cleric of death or necromancy. Can you find a way to justify your actions to the party? Find out from your group or friends what they think you always play and do the exact opposite. You might really enjoy the other side of the fence.

Since clerics have domain over just about everything pairing up a background with clerics is very easy.

Acolyte – this one is simple and works with a cleric of any type but works best with your more clerics cleric. If you worship a god of healing, life, peace or just the goodly gods. Depending on what your setting is some clerics worship an entire pantheon.

Charlatan – here is one for your tricksy gods. So you want a deity portfolio that works on deception trickery and lies. They are just about everywhere so it should not be hard. The other option here is to go the other way. You started off as a deceiver and you have been shown the truth, literally. The gods spoke to you and you have become a champion of truth and you consider it a sin to deceive. Just ask your GM to let you swap out deception for diplomacy. The cleric gets few enough skills to throw one away for story would suck.

Criminal – just sneaky as the last. You can go the same roads as above. You can worship a god of thieves, stealing or wealth. This type of cleric is best if you have a false front of what god you actually worship. This would really work for charlatan as well. Simply have your regular symbol hidden with the the confines of a bigger holy symbol and tell everyone you worship the god of truth or goodliness. People want to believe it so it should be easy enough to fake. Just play your cards close to your chest and cover your tracks. Just like above you can also be reformed and you are now worshiping the god of justice and you are tracking down all your old comrades to bring them in for their crimes.

Entertainer – As a lover of the performance. You can worship a deity of bards and the arts. It could be about beauty or it could be about the silly and you love telling jokes. You could literally worship the deity of laughter. Perhaps you are tasked with making the great king who has not smiled in a decade laugh. It could be a fun challenge.

Folk Hero – This one is another that fits in nearly anywhere. Folk hero is where you are proven that you are destined for great things. This fits with anything martial easy and why you would be selected for service. But really any deity might see the deeds you accomplished to give you that hero status and grant you power to see what you do with it.

Guild Artisan – This one links to what ever it is that you like to craft. Anything would fit if you worshiped the god of the dwarves, cause they all love to craft something. Perhaps you are a brewer and you want to worship the god of alcohol. I am certain there is one in each world, even if it is only a minor part of their portfolio. If you make weapons or armor a deity of combat would make sense or maybe even a deity of defense or protection. If you do alchemy it could be the deity of science or technology.

Hermit – this is a choice that is really decided by the nature of why you are alone. Were you cast out for being different or did you uncover something dark and dangerous. Use what ever story you have to tell to link it to you deity of choice. Perhaps the darkness called to you after so long keeping it hidden and now you are gifted with powers you really do not want. Or the opposite is true the object you have found is a test. It reveals itself as a dark power and by keeping it out of the hands of those who would abuse its power a goodly deity rewards you. The item itself could be nothing more than a promise that will never be fulfilled, but by resisting you prove yourself worthy to the gods.

Nobles – they get it all. You can either go with it or go against it. As a noble you had access to the good things in life and you can really go in any direction,,but what if you saw or were forced to live in squalor of the common folk and you decided to become a champion of the common folk. So instead of rising from the unknown you would descend in order to bring them all up.

Outlander – as far as clerics go this is perfect for any nature based diety, but what if you went in the direction of hunter. From any of the three alignment: good, neutral or evil, you could be a hunter and spending time out doors you know the terrain and how to seek your prey. As a good cleric you could hunt those who have fled the justice of your world. As neutral you could do the same but for the enjoyment and the profit not for moral reasons. As an evil character perhaps you want to punish those who have wronged you or someone you care for. You delight in the pursuit. You sense their unease as you close in and it feels like a warm blanket on a cold night to you.

Sage – you a re a student of some kind. You are gong to be more at home in a library than on the battlefield. That does not mean you are a coward, though you could be if you like. Rellion, my cleric is a sage. The point you learn here is this type of character is studious, or was a horrible helper and has lots of bad memories. You can worship any deity that might relate to being studious: arcane, teaching or knowledge.

Sailor – you are used to be outside and on the water. You could easily worship the god of wind or water without a problem. You could be uneasy on dry land though you tolerate it. Depending on what type of sailor you were you could also be a cleric of pirates seeking to loot and pillage.

Soldier – here is another one that can go down two sides of the coin. Either the time in the military was a good thing and you worship a martial deity or it was bad and you go for life or peace. Perhaps you go for a deity of protection because while you were on the front lines you could not be helping the innocent around you.

Urchin – last we go with another that has loads of options. As an urchin you are used to being overlooked so anything thief-like would work. Being a member of the down trodden you could be the voice of teh common folk rising up to help them all. Or just the opposite. You are used to being stepped on, so now you feel it is your turn to step on others so you worship a god that lets you be selfish and greedy.

So there you have another player tips designed to add more class to your class. Did I give you options you did not see before? Let me know below. Next week we should be tackling the druid. If you can’t guess I am going in order. So Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!