Deepbluediver
2012-01-25, 12:16 PM
8/26/15 Update:I've gone back to school, so the rebalance project is largely on pause. I'm working on stuff behind the scenes, but new contet probably won't be posted very often.
Also, I tweaked a few class-features.
6/12/13 Update: I'm altering the spells per day and changing how clerics learn spells. Also switching up some of the special abilities, mainly domain powers with some tweaks to Channel Energy.
Introduction
This is part of an ongoing project of mine to rebalance the 11 core classes so they are closer together in power. I don't imagine that I can bring everything right down to the same level, but if I can get everything to be around tier 3-ish I figure I'll be doing pretty good.
Everything here is intended to work best with my other homebrew, but it should be possible to slot into most 3.5 and Pathfinder games with minimal changes. If you see a term that confuses you please message me about it.
A note before we begin: One thing that bugged me about clerics for the longest time was that in terms of game mechanics, they where virtually identical despite serving vastly different deities. You could have a cleric of Pelor, a cleric of Vecna, and a cleric of Hextor and the only readily notable difference would be the color of their armor. I've set out to change that, and in doing so I'm stretching the definition of what a class is, a bit. And also because I'm fantastic at making tables and I love it SOOOO much!
/sarcasm
As usual, notes about why I'm doing something in particular are in the spoilered text.
Cleric
Alignment
A clerics alignment must be the same as his deitys unless otherwise noted.
[Some classes have exceedingly restrictive aligment or roleplaying requirements (druid, monk, paladin, etc) and then we get to clerics and the PHB is like, "just make up your own religion!" I decided that it won't work that way any more. No more making CN clerics with horribly conflicting domains; pick a diety that suits your character. There are so many of them by now that you should be able to find at least one who you can live with. There's a chart in the next post of the most common ones. Feel free to PM me with a request for any other dieties.]
Hit Points per level
4+1d4
Class Skills
The clerics class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Domains and Class Skills
A cleric who chooses the Animal domain adds the Handle animale skill to the cleric class skills listed above. A cleric who chooses the Plant domain adds Knowledge (nature) (Int). A cleric who chooses the Knowledge domain adds any 3 Knowledge (Int) skills of his choice to the list. A cleric who chooses the Travel domain adds Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (local) and Survival (Wis). A cleric who chooses the Trickery domain adds Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), and Sleight of Hand (Dex) to the list.
Skill Points at 1st Level
(2 + Int modifier) Χ4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
2 + Int modifier
Cleric- Guardian
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
1
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Fighter Bonus Feat, First Domain
2
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
3
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
4
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
4
1
6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Fighter Bonus Feat
5
2
7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
5
3
8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
6
4
9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
6
4
1
10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Fighter Bonus Feat, Second Domain
7
5
2
11th
+11/+6/+6
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
7
5
3
12th
+12/+7/+7
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
7
6
4
13th
+13/+8/+8
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
8
6
4
1
14th
+14/+9/+9
+9
+4
+9
Fighter Bonus Feat
8
7
5
2
15th
+15/+10/+10
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
8
7
5
3
16th
+16/+11/+11/+11
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
9
7
6
4
17th
+17/+12/+12/+12
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
9
8
6
4
1
18th
+18/+13/+13/+13
+11
+6
+1
Fighter Bonus Feat, Third Domain
9
8
7
5
2
19th
+19/+14/+14/+14
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
10
8
7
5
3
20th
+20/+15/+15/+15
+12
+6
+12
Divine Combat, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
10
9
7
6
4
Cleric- Sentinel
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
1st
+0
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
3
2nd
+1
+3
+0
+3
Fighter Bonus Feat, First Domain
3
1
3rd
+2
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
4
2
4th
+3
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
4
3
5th
+3
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
5
3
1
6th
+4
+5
+2
+5
Bonus Metamagic Feat
5
4
2
7th
+5
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
5
4
3
8th
+6/+1
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
6
5
3
1
9th
+6/+1
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
6
5
4
2
[/td]
10th
+7/+2
+7
+3
+7
Fighter Bonus Feat, Second Domain
6
5
4
3
11th
+8/+3
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
7
6
5
3
1
12th
+9/+4
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
7
6
5
4
2
13th
+9/+4
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
7
6
5
4
3
14th
+10/+5
+9
+4
+9
Bonus Metamagic Feat
7
7
6
5
3
1
15th
+11/+6/+6
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
8
7
6
5
4
2
16th
+12/+7/+7
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
8
7
6
5
4
3
17th
+12/+7/+7
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
8
7
7
6
5
3
1
18th
+13/+8/+8
+11
+6
+1
Fighter Bonus Feat, Third Domain
8
8
7
6
5
4
2
19th
+14/+9/+9
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
20th
+15/+10/+10
+12
+6
+12
Divine Success, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
9
8
7
6
5
5
3
Cleric- Spiritualist
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
1st
+0
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
2
1
2nd
+1
+3
+0
+3
Bonus Metamagic Feat, First Domain
3
2
3rd
+1
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
3
2
1
4th
+2
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
3
3
2
5th
+2
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
4
3
2
1
6th
+3
+5
+2
+5
Bonus Metamagic Feat
4
4
3
2
7th
+3
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
4
4
3
2
1
8th
+4
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
4
4
3
3
2
9th
+4
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
5
4
4
3
2
1
10th
+5
+7
+3
+7
Bonus Metamagic Feat, Second Domain
5
4
4
3
3
2
11th
+5
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
12th
+6/+1
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
13th
+6/+1
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
14th
+7/+2
+9
+4
+9
Bonus Metamagic Feat
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
15th
+7/+2
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
16th
+8/+3
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
17th
+8/+3
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
6
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
18th
+9/+4
+11
+6
+1
Bonus Metamagic Feat, Third Domain
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
19th
+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
20th
+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Divine Spellcraft, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
7
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the cleric.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Clerics generally follow one of three training regimes based on their own abilities, temperament, and their deitys preference. All clerics are proficient with the favored weapon of their diety.
Clerics who favor direct combat or have war-like deities take the martial path, and gain bonuses to their melee abilities; in exchange they can cast far fewer spells than other clerics. These clerics are often called Champions and are proficient with Simple Weapons and 1 category of Martial Weapons (Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning, or Ranged). They are also proficient with light and medium armor, including bucklers and infantry shields.
Clerics who try to balance combat and spell-casting are called Sentinels and have less specialization in either area, but tend to be more suited to filling different roles as the situation calls for it. They are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor, including bucklers.
Clerics who favor meditation, support roles, and spellcasting are called Spiritualists; they are less suited to direct combat but can cast far more spells and have access to more powerful magic than other clerics. These clerics are not proficient with any weapons, nor are they proficient with any type of armor.
Aura (Ex)
A cleric has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to his deitys alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). The aura always matches that of the deity, even if the clerics alignment is slightly different.
Spells
A cleric casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. A cleric must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time.
Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day; in addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intellect score.
At first level a cleric chooses 3 domains available to his deity; he knows all spells of those domains for which he has spell levels available.
Guardians and Sentinels also learn one spell from the Cleric spell-list every odd level that they can cast at (3rd and 1st, respectively). Spiritualists learn one spell from the Cleric spell-list every level.
This is a change that was not in the original post. It was inspired by Grod The Giant and I think it's a good way to simplify the spells per day and limit a cleric's versatility somewhat. It's also partially based on my "Standardizing spells/day" idea, so that you don't need to reference quite so many charts for each class.
Channel Energy (Su)
A cleric can release a wave of energy by channeling the power of her faith through her holy (or unholy) symbol to heal and cause damage, depending on the type of energy channeled.
A cleric may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier; the cleric may always choose to not include herself in the effect.
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) channels positive energy, and an evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) channels negative energy.
A lawful cleric of a Lawful-neutral deity channels axiomatic energy which deals damage to elementals and chaotic creatures while healing constructs and lawful creatures. A chaotic cleric of a chaotic-neutral deity channels anarchic energy which does the opposite (deals damage to constructs and lawful creatures and heals elementals and chaotic creatures).
True-neutral clerics of true-neutral deities channel sublime energy, which heals TN creatures as well as Animal and Plant creatures and damages LG, CG, LE, and CE creatures as well as all Outsiders.
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on). Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10+1/2 the cleric's level+ the cleric's Wisdom modifier. Creatures healed by channel energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point totalall excess healing is lost.
A cleric may also channel energy into a single creature as a Full-round action. When used in this manner, the damage dealt or healed is calculated with d10's instead of d6's. The range for this ability is 25 ft.+5 ft/2 levels (the same as a short-range spell). Targets may make a Reflex save for half-damage.
Any class that uses divine spellcasting stacks to determine the power of the Cleric's channel energy ability, however your uses per day are determined only from 1 class using the higher value.
The burst effect has been converted to a Standard action, since it's a little harder to use. I think the positive energy version is still pretty good against undead, since you can wipe out a horde of weak creatures at the same time as healing your party. The negative energy/damaging version is a little tougher unless your entire party builds to plan for it, which is part of the reason I added the option to single-target the ability instead.
Fighter Bonus Feats
Clerics often involve themselves in direct conflicts over their faith, or to defend the deities worshipers. Some clerics have access to fighter bonus feats, just as a fighter would. They may select any fighter bonus feat for which they meet the prerequisites.
Bonus Metamagic Feats
Clerics are spellcasters, some more than others, and metamagic can aid them in displaying the awesome power of their diety. A cleric may select any metamagic feat for which they meet the prerequisites.
Domains
At second level, the cleric gains the granted powers from one domain to which he has access. He gains a second set of domain powers and 10th level, and a third at 18th.
This is another change that wasn't in the original post; it is intended to limit the benefit of the always-active domain powers. Like everything else in 3.5, the domains varied in strength and usefullness. I think that most people agree Pathfinder did it better, so I would recommend using those.
Prayers of the Faithful (Su)
As a swift action, the cleric offers up a prayer to his diety for the protection and safety of his allies. Each ally within range (25 ft.+5 ft/2 levels) who is the same alignment as on at least 1 axis (good/evil or chaos/law) may join the cleric in prayer as an immediate action.
Each person who prays grants a +1 enhancement bonus that increases AC and SR to each other player who shares an alignment with the cleric.
This effect lasts for 1 minute per use.
Example: A party of 4 consists of a neutral good cleric, a lawful good paladin, a chaotic good warrior, and a chaotic Nuetral rogue. The cleric offers up a prayer to his diety, granting a +1 bonus to the paladin and the warrior, but not the rogue. The paladin and warrior both join him, granting a +1 bonus to each other and to the cleric. Each one of the three gets a +2 enhancement bonus. The rogue gets nothing because he does not share any alignments with the cleric.
Alternatively, suppose the warrior, for whatever reason, cannot join them in prayer. The warrior would get a +2 bonus (+1 each from the paladin and the cleric) but the cleric and paladin would get only +1 each (from each other). The rogue still gets nothing.
Capstone Abilities
Divine Combat
3 times per day the cleric may choose for 1 round to have his attack rolls automatically succeed (as if he had rolled a natural 20) or have his opponent's attack roll automatically miss (as if they had rolled a 1). The cleric must declare he is using this ability before the rolls are made and it consumes his immediate action for that round. The cleric always threatens a critical hit with this ability but must still roll to see if he confirms the critical hit.
Divine Success
3 times per day at will the cleric may choose to take 20 on any skill or ability check, even if rushed or threatened and taking no extra time. The cleric must declare he is using this ability before making any roll. The cleric may expend 1 use of this ability to place a blessing on any friendly party member within 50 ft. as a swift action that grants them Divine Success on the next ability or skill check they make. If unused, the blessing lasts a maximum of 1 minute before dispersing.
Divine Spellcasting
3 times per day the cleric may choose to have his spellcraft roll automatically succeed (as if he had rolled a 20) as an immediate action. The cleric must declare he is using this ability before the rolls are made. The cleric does not achieve a critical success when using this ability.
Bonus Languages
A clerics bonus language options include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively). These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.
Summary
Between all the various versions of this class, it's undergone some major changes. Many of them have been nerfs, admittedly, because cleric was very powerful and VERY versatile to begin with. You can drop and AMF on a wizard, but the cleric will still bash your head in with his mace. I have also tried to emphasize versions of the cleric that are not the box-o-bandaids model that WotC seemed to think everyone would play.
As always, I welcome any feedback or criticism.
Also, I tweaked a few class-features.
6/12/13 Update: I'm altering the spells per day and changing how clerics learn spells. Also switching up some of the special abilities, mainly domain powers with some tweaks to Channel Energy.
Introduction
This is part of an ongoing project of mine to rebalance the 11 core classes so they are closer together in power. I don't imagine that I can bring everything right down to the same level, but if I can get everything to be around tier 3-ish I figure I'll be doing pretty good.
Everything here is intended to work best with my other homebrew, but it should be possible to slot into most 3.5 and Pathfinder games with minimal changes. If you see a term that confuses you please message me about it.
A note before we begin: One thing that bugged me about clerics for the longest time was that in terms of game mechanics, they where virtually identical despite serving vastly different deities. You could have a cleric of Pelor, a cleric of Vecna, and a cleric of Hextor and the only readily notable difference would be the color of their armor. I've set out to change that, and in doing so I'm stretching the definition of what a class is, a bit. And also because I'm fantastic at making tables and I love it SOOOO much!
/sarcasm
As usual, notes about why I'm doing something in particular are in the spoilered text.
Cleric
Alignment
A clerics alignment must be the same as his deitys unless otherwise noted.
[Some classes have exceedingly restrictive aligment or roleplaying requirements (druid, monk, paladin, etc) and then we get to clerics and the PHB is like, "just make up your own religion!" I decided that it won't work that way any more. No more making CN clerics with horribly conflicting domains; pick a diety that suits your character. There are so many of them by now that you should be able to find at least one who you can live with. There's a chart in the next post of the most common ones. Feel free to PM me with a request for any other dieties.]
Hit Points per level
4+1d4
Class Skills
The clerics class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Domains and Class Skills
A cleric who chooses the Animal domain adds the Handle animale skill to the cleric class skills listed above. A cleric who chooses the Plant domain adds Knowledge (nature) (Int). A cleric who chooses the Knowledge domain adds any 3 Knowledge (Int) skills of his choice to the list. A cleric who chooses the Travel domain adds Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (local) and Survival (Wis). A cleric who chooses the Trickery domain adds Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), and Sleight of Hand (Dex) to the list.
Skill Points at 1st Level
(2 + Int modifier) Χ4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
2 + Int modifier
Cleric- Guardian
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
1
2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Fighter Bonus Feat, First Domain
2
3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
3
4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
4
5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
4
1
6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Fighter Bonus Feat
5
2
7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
5
3
8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
6
4
9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
6
4
1
10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Fighter Bonus Feat, Second Domain
7
5
2
11th
+11/+6/+6
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
7
5
3
12th
+12/+7/+7
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
7
6
4
13th
+13/+8/+8
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
8
6
4
1
14th
+14/+9/+9
+9
+4
+9
Fighter Bonus Feat
8
7
5
2
15th
+15/+10/+10
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
8
7
5
3
16th
+16/+11/+11/+11
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
9
7
6
4
17th
+17/+12/+12/+12
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
9
8
6
4
1
18th
+18/+13/+13/+13
+11
+6
+1
Fighter Bonus Feat, Third Domain
9
8
7
5
2
19th
+19/+14/+14/+14
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
10
8
7
5
3
20th
+20/+15/+15/+15
+12
+6
+12
Divine Combat, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
10
9
7
6
4
Cleric- Sentinel
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
1st
+0
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
3
2nd
+1
+3
+0
+3
Fighter Bonus Feat, First Domain
3
1
3rd
+2
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
4
2
4th
+3
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
4
3
5th
+3
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
5
3
1
6th
+4
+5
+2
+5
Bonus Metamagic Feat
5
4
2
7th
+5
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
5
4
3
8th
+6/+1
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
6
5
3
1
9th
+6/+1
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
6
5
4
2
[/td]
10th
+7/+2
+7
+3
+7
Fighter Bonus Feat, Second Domain
6
5
4
3
11th
+8/+3
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
7
6
5
3
1
12th
+9/+4
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
7
6
5
4
2
13th
+9/+4
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
7
6
5
4
3
14th
+10/+5
+9
+4
+9
Bonus Metamagic Feat
7
7
6
5
3
1
15th
+11/+6/+6
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
8
7
6
5
4
2
16th
+12/+7/+7
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
8
7
6
5
4
3
17th
+12/+7/+7
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
8
7
7
6
5
3
1
18th
+13/+8/+8
+11
+6
+1
Fighter Bonus Feat, Third Domain
8
8
7
6
5
4
2
19th
+14/+9/+9
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
20th
+15/+10/+10
+12
+6
+12
Divine Success, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
9
8
7
6
5
5
3
Cleric- Spiritualist
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
1st
+0
+2
+0
+2
Channel Energy 1d6
2
1
2nd
+1
+3
+0
+3
Bonus Metamagic Feat, First Domain
3
2
3rd
+1
+3
+1
+3
Channel Energy 2d6
3
2
1
4th
+2
+4
+1
+4
Prayers of the Faithful 2/day
3
3
2
5th
+2
+4
+1
+4
Channel Energy 3d6
4
3
2
1
6th
+3
+5
+2
+5
Bonus Metamagic Feat
4
4
3
2
7th
+3
+5
+2
+5
Channel Energy 4d6
4
4
3
2
1
8th
+4
+6
+2
+6
Prayers of the Faithful 3/day
4
4
3
3
2
9th
+4
+6
+3
+6
Channel Energy 5d6
5
4
4
3
2
1
10th
+5
+7
+3
+7
Bonus Metamagic Feat, Second Domain
5
4
4
3
3
2
11th
+5
+7
+3
+7
Channel Energy 6d6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
12th
+6/+1
+8
+4
+8
Prayers of the Faithful 4/day
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
13th
+6/+1
+8
+4
+8
Channel Energy 7d6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
14th
+7/+2
+9
+4
+9
Bonus Metamagic Feat
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
15th
+7/+2
+9
+5
+9
Channel Energy 8d6
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
16th
+8/+3
+10
+5
+10
Prayers of the Faithful 6/day
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
17th
+8/+3
+10
+5
+10
Channel Energy 9d6
6
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
18th
+9/+4
+11
+6
+1
Bonus Metamagic Feat, Third Domain
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
19th
+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Channel Energy 10d6
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
20th
+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Divine Spellcraft, Prayers of the Faithful 8/day
7
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the cleric.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Clerics generally follow one of three training regimes based on their own abilities, temperament, and their deitys preference. All clerics are proficient with the favored weapon of their diety.
Clerics who favor direct combat or have war-like deities take the martial path, and gain bonuses to their melee abilities; in exchange they can cast far fewer spells than other clerics. These clerics are often called Champions and are proficient with Simple Weapons and 1 category of Martial Weapons (Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning, or Ranged). They are also proficient with light and medium armor, including bucklers and infantry shields.
Clerics who try to balance combat and spell-casting are called Sentinels and have less specialization in either area, but tend to be more suited to filling different roles as the situation calls for it. They are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor, including bucklers.
Clerics who favor meditation, support roles, and spellcasting are called Spiritualists; they are less suited to direct combat but can cast far more spells and have access to more powerful magic than other clerics. These clerics are not proficient with any weapons, nor are they proficient with any type of armor.
Aura (Ex)
A cleric has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to his deitys alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). The aura always matches that of the deity, even if the clerics alignment is slightly different.
Spells
A cleric casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. A cleric must choose and prepare her spells ahead of time.
Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day; in addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intellect score.
At first level a cleric chooses 3 domains available to his deity; he knows all spells of those domains for which he has spell levels available.
Guardians and Sentinels also learn one spell from the Cleric spell-list every odd level that they can cast at (3rd and 1st, respectively). Spiritualists learn one spell from the Cleric spell-list every level.
This is a change that was not in the original post. It was inspired by Grod The Giant and I think it's a good way to simplify the spells per day and limit a cleric's versatility somewhat. It's also partially based on my "Standardizing spells/day" idea, so that you don't need to reference quite so many charts for each class.
Channel Energy (Su)
A cleric can release a wave of energy by channeling the power of her faith through her holy (or unholy) symbol to heal and cause damage, depending on the type of energy channeled.
A cleric may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier; the cleric may always choose to not include herself in the effect.
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) channels positive energy, and an evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) channels negative energy.
A lawful cleric of a Lawful-neutral deity channels axiomatic energy which deals damage to elementals and chaotic creatures while healing constructs and lawful creatures. A chaotic cleric of a chaotic-neutral deity channels anarchic energy which does the opposite (deals damage to constructs and lawful creatures and heals elementals and chaotic creatures).
True-neutral clerics of true-neutral deities channel sublime energy, which heals TN creatures as well as Animal and Plant creatures and damages LG, CG, LE, and CE creatures as well as all Outsiders.
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on). Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10+1/2 the cleric's level+ the cleric's Wisdom modifier. Creatures healed by channel energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point totalall excess healing is lost.
A cleric may also channel energy into a single creature as a Full-round action. When used in this manner, the damage dealt or healed is calculated with d10's instead of d6's. The range for this ability is 25 ft.+5 ft/2 levels (the same as a short-range spell). Targets may make a Reflex save for half-damage.
Any class that uses divine spellcasting stacks to determine the power of the Cleric's channel energy ability, however your uses per day are determined only from 1 class using the higher value.
The burst effect has been converted to a Standard action, since it's a little harder to use. I think the positive energy version is still pretty good against undead, since you can wipe out a horde of weak creatures at the same time as healing your party. The negative energy/damaging version is a little tougher unless your entire party builds to plan for it, which is part of the reason I added the option to single-target the ability instead.
Fighter Bonus Feats
Clerics often involve themselves in direct conflicts over their faith, or to defend the deities worshipers. Some clerics have access to fighter bonus feats, just as a fighter would. They may select any fighter bonus feat for which they meet the prerequisites.
Bonus Metamagic Feats
Clerics are spellcasters, some more than others, and metamagic can aid them in displaying the awesome power of their diety. A cleric may select any metamagic feat for which they meet the prerequisites.
Domains
At second level, the cleric gains the granted powers from one domain to which he has access. He gains a second set of domain powers and 10th level, and a third at 18th.
This is another change that wasn't in the original post; it is intended to limit the benefit of the always-active domain powers. Like everything else in 3.5, the domains varied in strength and usefullness. I think that most people agree Pathfinder did it better, so I would recommend using those.
Prayers of the Faithful (Su)
As a swift action, the cleric offers up a prayer to his diety for the protection and safety of his allies. Each ally within range (25 ft.+5 ft/2 levels) who is the same alignment as on at least 1 axis (good/evil or chaos/law) may join the cleric in prayer as an immediate action.
Each person who prays grants a +1 enhancement bonus that increases AC and SR to each other player who shares an alignment with the cleric.
This effect lasts for 1 minute per use.
Example: A party of 4 consists of a neutral good cleric, a lawful good paladin, a chaotic good warrior, and a chaotic Nuetral rogue. The cleric offers up a prayer to his diety, granting a +1 bonus to the paladin and the warrior, but not the rogue. The paladin and warrior both join him, granting a +1 bonus to each other and to the cleric. Each one of the three gets a +2 enhancement bonus. The rogue gets nothing because he does not share any alignments with the cleric.
Alternatively, suppose the warrior, for whatever reason, cannot join them in prayer. The warrior would get a +2 bonus (+1 each from the paladin and the cleric) but the cleric and paladin would get only +1 each (from each other). The rogue still gets nothing.
Capstone Abilities
Divine Combat
3 times per day the cleric may choose for 1 round to have his attack rolls automatically succeed (as if he had rolled a natural 20) or have his opponent's attack roll automatically miss (as if they had rolled a 1). The cleric must declare he is using this ability before the rolls are made and it consumes his immediate action for that round. The cleric always threatens a critical hit with this ability but must still roll to see if he confirms the critical hit.
Divine Success
3 times per day at will the cleric may choose to take 20 on any skill or ability check, even if rushed or threatened and taking no extra time. The cleric must declare he is using this ability before making any roll. The cleric may expend 1 use of this ability to place a blessing on any friendly party member within 50 ft. as a swift action that grants them Divine Success on the next ability or skill check they make. If unused, the blessing lasts a maximum of 1 minute before dispersing.
Divine Spellcasting
3 times per day the cleric may choose to have his spellcraft roll automatically succeed (as if he had rolled a 20) as an immediate action. The cleric must declare he is using this ability before the rolls are made. The cleric does not achieve a critical success when using this ability.
Bonus Languages
A clerics bonus language options include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively). These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.
Summary
Between all the various versions of this class, it's undergone some major changes. Many of them have been nerfs, admittedly, because cleric was very powerful and VERY versatile to begin with. You can drop and AMF on a wizard, but the cleric will still bash your head in with his mace. I have also tried to emphasize versions of the cleric that are not the box-o-bandaids model that WotC seemed to think everyone would play.
As always, I welcome any feedback or criticism.