THE ROLE OF THE CLERIC:
WARRIORS WITH WISDOM
by Robert Plamondon
| The role of the gods | - | Clerics, gods, and worshipers | - | The cleric-adventurer |
| Dragon | - | Clerics (Dragon) | - | Dragon #52 |
Then to their side comes the Archbishop
Turpin,
Riding his horse and up the hillside
spurring.
He calls to the French and preaches
them a sermon:
“Barons; my lords, Charles picked us
for this purpose;
We must be ready to die in our King’s
service.
Christendom needs you, so help us to
preserve it.
Battle you’ll have, of this you may
be certain,
Here come the Paynims — your own eyes
have observed them.
Now beat your breasts and ask God for
His mercy:
I will absolve you and set your souls
in surety.
If you should die, blest martyrdom’s
your guerdon;
You’ll sit on high in Paradise eternal.”
The French alight and all kneel down
in worship;
God’s shrift and blessing the Archbishop
conferreth,
And for their penance he bids them
all strike firmly.
— The Song of Roland, Laisse 89
Legendary heroes such as Archbishop Turpin
are undoubtedly the inspiration of the cleric character class in the DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS® and ADVANCED
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS™
games. Turpin was not a meek temple priest,
but a warrior and
adventurer whose skill at arms was matched
only by his devotion to his God.
But author’s inspiration is not necessarily
player’s inspiration,
especially when rulebooks reduce character
classes to dessicated statistics, and along the way they lose their romantic
flavor.
Because Carolingian works such as The
Song of Roland are
no longer well known, most players are
unaware of any legend
of heroic priests. With no traditional
role to fall back upon, the
cleric all too often becomes a specialized
mage, who murmurs
prayers instead of reading tomes, or a
combat medic running
from patient to patient. Religion, the
gods, the role of preacher
and protector, are all forgotten; many
players have cleric characters who don’t even know which god they serve.
All of this
contributes to the fact that the cleric
is one of the most frequently misplayed character classes.
This piece was written to address this
problem by suggesting
the proper role of the cleric-adventurer
in a medieval fantasy
setting.
No discussion of clerics makes much sense
if the role of the
gods is not examined. The powers of a
cleric are bestowed upon
him by his patron god.
Why would a god waste time
giving spells to a cleric? Why do
gods bother dealing with mortals at all?
Why would the gods
encourage mortals to pray and sacrifice
to them?
Power, that’s why. Each act of worship
provides the god with a
little bit of power. This is what separates
the divine from the
mortal. If a god wants to stay alive,
he must have worshipers.
A god might have many more worshipers than
are necessary
to keep him alive. The extra power can
be used in several ways:
First, it can be used by the god to increase
his personal strength.
The major difference between a demigod
and a greater god is
that the greater god is consuming great
quantities of power.
This enhances his magical powers, makes
him harder to kill, and
builds strong bodies twelve ways.
To keep his worshipers faithful, some of
the power is returned
in the form of spells and miracles given
to benefit or punish his
followers. When a god puts on a good show,
his believers will
worship him more (out of hope or fear),
thus paying him back
with interest.
This suggests that a lot of games theory
can be used by the
god in deciding how to maximize his overall
power. Should he
plow back his power into spells, miracles,
and lesser divine
beings; or keep as much as possible to
himself? The former
increases his worldly power at the expense
of his personal
power; the latter increases his personal
power, but weakens his
worldly following. The one thing that’s
certain is that a god won’t
waste power if he can help it; he won’t
grant miracles to just
anyone who asks, or grant spells to clerics
who aren’t doing
their jobs.
Power depends on several variables: The
number of people
worshiping, the frequency of worship,
and the fervor of the
worship. A person who sits bored and sleepy
through an occasional church service generates almost no power; a fanatic
embracing martyrdom generates a great
deal. Below are some
acts of worship, in order of increasing
power:
1. Thinking religious
thoughts.
2. Formal prayer.
3. Attending rites
or church services.
4. Feasts, festivals,
fasts, self-punishment, vigils- as
part of religious rites.
5. Sacrifice of valuables.
6. Dying in a holy
conflict.
7. Killing an enemy
in a holy conflict.
8. Sacrifice of an
unbeliever.
9. Sacrifice of an
unwilling believer.
10. Sacrifice of a
willing believer.
These are only approximate. For example,
a high priest who
embraces martyrdom usually generates more
power than a ritual human sacrifice — so much more so that members of an
opposing religion will refuse to sacrifice
captured priests; the
captors’ god would come out behind in
the transfer of power.
When on the Prime Material Plane, power
transfer both to and
from a god is most efficient when the
god is near his worshipers.
This explains why most gods have such
a strictly regional appeal; if a god travels away from his following, his
power quickly
drops to some lower level, and his clerics
are affected in the
same way. This keeps the mischief of divine
begins in check,
since long visits to the wrong parts of
the Prime Material Plane
can make them easy pickings for local
gods.
This is also one reason why lesser demons
and devils are so
unthinkingly violent. On the Prime Material,
they are far removed from the great evil beings who normally give them
power,
and are incapable of assembling a group
of worshipers. If they
are to remain on the Prime Material Plane,
they must kill worshipers of other deities, feeding on the power of the
murders, or
go dormant.
In any event, the gods need worship, and
they’re willing to pay
to get it. The chief beneficiaries of
this arrangement are the
clerics, whose role is now examined.
Clerics are devoted to preserving and enhancing
the power of
their gods. This is done in several ways,
listed below.
The cleric, by his devotion and constant
prayer, is himself a
source of power. First- and second-level
spells are powered by
the cleric’s devotion alone; the god expends
no energy on granting these spells to a truly devout cleric — and there
isn’t any
other kind of cleric; when the devotion
goes, so do all of the
abilities.
By gaining converts to his religion, the cleric gains new worshipers for his god and deprives another god of their devotion.
Clerics tend their flocks, keeping the
worshipers happy and
devout, or fearful and devout, depending
on the god. They
encourage worship by healing the faithful,
giving comfort, and
by sponsoring feasts, festivals, and celebrations.
Clerics filibuster against other religions
by bad-mouthing
them, persecuting their adherents, defiling
enemies holy places, destroying monsters, and subjugating nations of unbelievers.
To do this last thing, the clerics have to have some control
over the nations’ rulers — but with the
aid of a god, this isn’t
usually a problem.
Clerics also work at self-improvement.
They try to educate
themselves and to become more devout,
so that they can be of
greater use to their god.
All of this takes a great deal of work
and dedication, though
most clerics are not obsessed with fulfilling
each possible task.
Some tend temples, some preach to the
masses, some go out to
slay evil monsters. In some way, every
cleric gives a lot to his
god. To make the deal attractive, the
god reciprocates.
Clerics get spells.
The idea of being a spell-caster is very
attractive, and all it takes to get first-level
spells is a strong faith
— which can be easy to maintain in a world
where gods put in
public appearances.
Clerics get power: power over the undead,
the power of magic, prestige, and influence. They have the prospect of
becoming
more powerful after they die, since gods
use the spirits and
souls of their best worshipers for important
work.
Clerics get security, usually. They generally
take care of their
7
own, and no cleric need fear disease or
mutilation when there
are are healing spells available. The
church protects them from
other types of harm; few people are willing
to risk a divine curse
to rob a priest.
Clerics get satisfaction. They get benefits
from their work;
when they do well, they get more power.
They know that what
they do aids their god, and they know
that their god looks out for
the priesthood as a whole, and maybe even
as individuals.
Most clerics spend their careers tending
a holy place, preaching, dispensing aid and receiving offerings. Although
this kind
of priest leads a rewarding life, and
is often quite powerful, the
role is not adventurous enough for a role-playing
game. The
cleric player character is a special kind
of priest, one who is
more interested in smiting enemies and
improving ‘himself for
his god than he is in keeping a temple.
Therefore, we’ll leave the
temple priest to his rites and concentrate
on the fighting priest.
Archbishop Turpin goes riding through
the field;
Ne’er was mass sung by any tonsured
priest
That of his body could do such valiant
deeds!
He hails the Paynim: “God send the
worst to thee!
Thou hast slain one for whom my whole
heart grieves.”
Into a gallop he urges his good steed,
He strikes him hard on his Toledo shield,
And lays him dead upon the grassy green.
— The Song of Roland, Laisse 121
The cleric-adventurer is not a meek priest;
he is a warrior who
has spells
and magical powers to aid him as he destroys the
enemies of his god. Like Archbishop Turpin,
he can use his
powers to bless and support his comrades,
and he is an able
fighter in his own right, second only
to a professional warrior in
skill.
Players with cleric characters usually
recognize the usefulness
of the spells and armor that clerics have
available. They
don't generally understand the full price
their characters must
pay for these advantages.
The cleric-adventurer is getting spells
from his god. Why?
Because the cleric is doing his god’s
work. Gods are simply not
going to waste power on a backslider.
At best, they’ll simply
withhold all spells until the errant cleric
shapes up, and then
only grant them in proportion to the amount
and intensity of the
cleric’s work.
The cleric has to be devout, and he has
to be alert to the needs
of his faith. This is the point most often
missed by players. The
instant a cleric stops thinking like a
cleric, he isn’t a cleric any
more, until appropriate spells, acts of
contrition, and/or sacrifices are completed.
Another source of player confusion is the
role of clerics in the
adventure. Are they supposed to be primarily
mages, fighters, or
medics? Many, by watching clerics in battle,
have concluded
that they are medics. Others insist that
they are specialty mages,
who use prayer as a substitute for spell
books.