In many traditional fantasies, and as played in D&D® and
AD&D™ games, clerics receive the blessing, protection, and
tutelage of a particular god. It’s from this god that the cleric’s
power and majesty comes.

Additionally, each god has a certain geographical area where
the populace reveres it over all others. These areas are looked
upon favorably by their patron gods, who use their powers to
protect them from the ravages of other deities.

The clerics are the messengers of the gods, their interpreters
in the everyday affairs of the populace, and instructors of the
populace in the ways of worship. The large majority of clerics fill
these roles.

However, some clerics are wanderers, in the style of some
medieval Christian and present-day Hindu orders. These clerics
have not necessarily taken vows of poverty, but any wealth they
gain will generally go to the furtherance of their religions.

The reasons for clerical wandering involve the gods that the
clerics worship. The gods may send them to gain new converts,
to accomplish other godly desires, or to gain perspective and
insight into the ways of the world. Or for any of hundreds of
unknown reasons. Who can answer for the gods?

The wisdom of a cleric represents his potential ability to gain
the above mentioned perspective and insight. The wisest of clerics are recognized by their gods as of more use in instructing
others and generally causing the gods’ names to be glorified
even more. The attribute of exceptionally high wisdom is usually
acknowledged by a god’s allowing such a cleric to draw on the
god’s power more often and more effectively than a less wise
one can.

The material components for clerical spells are sacrificial
offerings to a god. The verbal and somatic components are the
cleansing rituals of the clerical order, which prepare the cleric to
be a channel for the god’s power.

The act of being a channel for a god’s power is very draining.
Rest and contemplation are necessary to regain the stamina
needed to again act as a channel.

The gods, in their wisdom, don’t allow every cleric to know
any spell he’s potentially capable of learning; a cleric must,
through prayer, ask his god to grant him the specific ability to
use the god’s power in the way that the cleric desires.

How then to put this in AD&D terms? On the matter of patron
gods of geographical areas, we need to prepare two more maps
of the campaign area. They should be simple maps, on the order
of weather/temperature maps. One will show the relative tendency toward law/neutrality/chaos of any area; the other, the
relative good/neutral/evil nature of any area. When crossindexed, these maps will describe an alignment for each section
of the campaign map..

The alignment of an area doesn’t mean that every creature in
that area is of that alignment; only the deity associated with that
alignment is especially concerned with what happens in that
area. Gods don’t often directly meddle in mortal affairs, anyway.

Clerics operating in areas under the direct patronage of their
god will have a very good chance of using the god’s power to its
utmost. Their spells will be more potent (in duration, power,
etc.) than the norm (about 125% of standard figures is reasonable to use).

Clerics operating in areas of “adjacent” alignment (lawful
good is adjacent to neutral good and lawful neutral, for example) will have spells of standard potency. The potency of spells
will diminish the further the alignment of an area is from the
cleric’s own alignment. The cleric’s power and spell potency are
at their weakest in an area of opposite alignment, such as lawful
good vs. chaotic evil. (Somewhere between one-fourth and onehalf strength would be appropriate.)

The strength and weakness of power and spell potency pertains only to clerics pursuing goals on their own initiative..Any
cleric specifically sent by his god on a mission into unfriendly
territory might be given a divine token which would create an
aura of the cleric’s alignment immediately around him, making
his spells of standard potency. This is not a frequent occurrence.

For a cleric on a mission for his god, martyrdom is not something to be shied away from. Indeed, the god may demand it: If a
Flame strike on the person of his loyal follower would accomplish the god’s purpose, that certainly should not deter the cleric
from “firing” himself. What a glorious end! }

Druids are treated differently with regard to areas of power
and potency, because they worship nature. Nature has no specific alignment area; druidic spells never vary in potency. Nature
isn’t a god of any specific alignment, it’s more of a balance of
alignments in the world. If the balance of nature is tipped too far
one way or the other, druids will attempt to restore it. In this way
they differ from neutral clerics (which can only exist in the game
as non-player characters) who worship a true neutral god.

These views would be correct if the clerics in a typical expedition had been recruited from a downtown temple. The clerics
would then have been brought along with the party to minister to
wounds, turn undead, and cast a couple of beneficial spells.

But cleric-adventurers aren’t enticed from downtown temples, they go adventuring on their own initiative. Clericadventurers are trained warriors; they fight better than trained
men-at-arms, are comfortable with armor, and are bold enough
to enter places no cynical mercenary would dare come near.
They are warrior-priests, and it should show in their outlook.

This warlike outlook is evident in a properly motivated cleric
player character. Why does a cleric-adventurer go on adventures? Certainly not just to play medic; he could do that where
it’s safe — people get hurt everywhere. Not just for greed; if he
concentrated solely on personal ambition, he’d soon be bereft
of spells.

His motives are basically aggressive: he wants to destroy his
god’s enemies, wrest away their wealth, and accumulate personal experience in a rapid but risky manner; and all for his
god’s benefit. This is a cleric worthy of Turpin’s approval.

After all, how meek can you expect a person who fights terrible monsters to be? Just descending into a dungeon is ah act of
uncommon boldness. The cleric-adventurer isn’t, and really
can’t be, a meek healer. His purpose demands that he be a bold
killer, a champion of his god.

That a cleric-adventurer’s motives are aggressive does not
insure that his actions will always be. Although the cleric is on
the expedition to smite the enemies of the Faith, he is less well
equipped to do so by force of arms than a fighter, and much
worse at offensive magic than magic-users. Most clerics are
temple-keepers and healers, and clerical spells are mostly for
their use. The cleric-adventurer is sometimes forced by the
(relatively) limited scope of his spells to support his comrades
more than fight, but his influence and abilities can help keep his
comrades fighting for the right cause. The important thing is
that the job gets done, whether or not the cleric strikes the blows
himself.

The portrayal of the cleric-adventurer as a crusader for his
god makes him sound suspiciously like an AD&D paladin.
Granted; but if players had used clerics as something other than
combat medics, perhaps the need for the paladin subclass
would have never surfaced. Roland was a traditional paladin,
and he had no magic powers. Turpin was most accurately a
cleric-adventurer, but he reeks of the characteristics of
paladinhood.

Clerics and swords

Turpin of Rheims, finding himself o’erset,
With four sharp lance-heads stuck fast within his breast,
Quickly leaps up, brave lord, and stands erect.
He looks on Roland and runs to him and says
Only one word: “I am not beaten yet!
True man never failed while life was in him left!”
He draws Almace, his steel-bright brand keen-edged;
A thousand strokes he strikes into the press.
Soon Charles shall see he spared no foe he met,
For all about him he’ll find four hundred men,
Some wounded, some clean through the body cleft,
And some of them made shorter by a head.
— The Song of Roland, Laisse 155

According to the D&D game rules, clerics are only allowed to
use blunt weapons because they are forbidden to shed blood.
This practice was followed during part of the Middle Ages, but
not throughout; the poet certainly did not think of Turpin as a
heretic. Most clerics aren’t Christian, anyway. Why deny a follower of Odin the traditional spear, or a priestess of Artemis the
bow?

Clerics were perhaps limited to blunt weapons because the
class was created with medieval Catholicism in mind, and to
reduce the cleric’s effectiveness in melee; in the Greyhawk supplement, the best one-handed weapon a cleric can use is a
mace, which does 1-6 points of damage on man-sized opponents, but fighters can use a sword for 1-8 points. The difference
in damage helped separate their fighting ability at low levels — at
higher levels, the cleric is on a less effective combat table than
the fighter, and the weapons limitation then seems redundant.

In the ADVANCED D&D™ books, the blunt-weapon rule is
retained, even though in AD&D a mace is about as good as a
longsword, and no form of Christianity is mentioned in the
DEITIES & DEMIGODS™ Cyclopedia.

The rule should be thrown out. At the very least, a cleric
should be able to use the weapon sacred to his god. Is it also not
more proper to have clerics use weapons traditional to their
culture? Turpin did very well throwing pagans out of the saddle
with his lance. Why should he have all the fun?

Game balance probably won’t suffer if clerics are allowed to
use all weapons. Although they’d fight as well as fighters at low
levels, this is not enough to cause everyone to give up on fighters — clerics are bound to their gods, which causes them all
sorts of trouble; fighters can do what they please, as long as they
aren’t caught. That should be enough to encourage players
toward fighters without extra enticements.

If you want to weaken clerics anyway, try one of two easy
solutions; either have clerics hit at -1, or make six points the
maximum damage from their weapons, so a sword that normally
does 1-8 points of damage still does only six if the roll is a seven
or eight. Either method should tone down the clerics just
enough to make the fighters insufferably smug.

Conclusions
The main thing to remember when playing or refereeing clerics is that the gods are always watching, and that clerics know it.
No slip goes unnoticed, and with most gods this means that no
slip goes unpunished. A cleric reeds to know what his god
wants, and he needs to do it. For details, see the Gods, Demigods, and Heroes supplement, the DEITIES & DEMIGODS Cyclopedia, or your local Dungeon Master. This allegiance to a
deity need not restrict a cleric character unbearably; after all,
there are lots of gods, they’re all after power, and they all want
different things. Surely there’s one to suit any player character’s
taste.

A king was there, his name was Corsablis,
From a far land he came, from Barbary;
The Saracens he calls, and thus he speaks:
“Well we are placed this field of arms to keep;
For of the Franks the number is but weak,
And we may well despise the few we see.
Charles cannot come to help them in their need,
This is the day their deaths are all decreed!”
Archbishop Turpin has listened to his speech,
And hates him worse than any man that breathes,
His golden spurs he strikes into his steed.
And rides against him right valiant for the deed.
He breaks the buckler, he’s split the hauberk’s steel,
Into his breast driven the lance-head deep,
He spits him through, on high the body heaves,
And hurls him dead a spear’s length o’er the lea.
Earthward he looks and sees him at his feet,
But yet to chide him he none the less proceeds:
“Vile infidel, you lied between your teeth!
Charles my good lord to help us will not cease,
Nor have the French the least desire to flee.
These friends of your stock — still we’re like to leave;
Here’s news for you — you’ll die, and there you’ll be.
Frenchmen, strike home! Forget not your high breed!
The first good stroke is ours, God’s gramercy!”
He shouts “Mountjoy!” to hearten all the field.
    — The Song of Roland, Laisse 95

(Quoted passages are from THE SONG OF ROLAND, translated
by Dorothy L. Sayers, published by Penguin Books, 625 Madison Ave., New York NY 10022. Reprinted by permission of the
author’s agents, David Higham Associates Limited, London.)