Didgin
2008-10-26, 10:18 AM
I don't like the way clerics are built in D&D 3.5 (or 3.0). In my opinion, they resemble the wizards too much.
First, I think that a god's holy servant should have powers more or less related to his deity's portfolio. For example, I don't see a reason why a cleric of Moradin should have a spell like "Animal Messanger".
Secondly, the way a cleric uses his powers should also be different than the way a wizard prepare it's spell. This doesn't have to take place as a different game mechanic, but, when possible the player and the GM should play the spell as a "miracle", seemingly unrelated to the acts of the cleric. This approach can be used with normal clerics of course, but it comes to show you why I wanted a divine caster that is more than a holy wizard.
For example, Khezed, the dwarven cleric of Moradin is stranded in the middle of a barren wasteland, far from civilization and has to face a week of travelling with no food or water. Jonathan, Khezed's player, describes how every morning after saying his prayer, Khezed descovers a nourishing meal under a rock near his camp. To me, this makes a rather more interesting gaming approach than saying "I cast Create Food and Water". I situations where one must act fast, like battle, it is better to treat the prayers as normal spells.
It should be noted that although the class is called "initiate", individual members of that class may be refered by others as "clerics", "priests", "shamans", "rabbies" or whatever name related to their religeous belief.
Initiate
-------
Alignment: An initiate’s alignment must be within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). An initiate may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: The initiate’s 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: An initiate who chooses the Animal or Plant domain adds Knowledge (nature) (Int) to the initiate class skills listed above. An initiate who chooses the Knowledge domain adds all Knowledge (Int) skills to the list. An initiate who chooses the Travel domain adds Survival (Wis) to the list. An initiate who chooses the Trickery domain adds Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), and Hide (Dex) to the list. See Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells, for more information.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
The Initiate
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th| 9th
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Ordination, domain, templar, enemy or minion of the faith|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Extra spell, divine grace|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3| |4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Domain, extra spell|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Granted power|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Extra spell|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-
7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Planar ally|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-
8th|
+6/+1|
+6x|
+2|
+6|Domain, extra spell|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-
9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+3|
+6| |6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-
10th|
+7/+2|
+7|
+3|
+7|Extra spell, Granted power|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-
11th|
+8/+3|
+7|
+3|
+7|Planar ally|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-
12th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8|Domain, extra spell|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-
13th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8| |6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-
14th|
+10/+5|
+9|
+4|
+9|Extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-
15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+5|
+9|Planar ally, Granted power|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-
16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Domain, extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-
17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10| |6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-
18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2
19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+11| |6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3
20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Domain, extra spell, granted power|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4[/table]
Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Initiates are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as with their deity's weapon, with all types of armor (light, medium, and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields).
An initiate who chooses the War domain receives the Weapon Focus feat related to his deity’s weapon as a bonus feat.
Aura (Ex): An initiate of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). Initiates who don’t worship a specific deity but choose the Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding alignment.
Spells: An initiate casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below). However, his alignment may restrict him from casting certain spells opposed to his moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells, below. An initiate must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, an initiate must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an initiate’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the initiate’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, an initiate can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table above.
Initiates meditate or pray for their spells. Each initiate must choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain his daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether an initiate can cast spells.
An initiate’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An initiate begins play knowing all of the 0-level spells and gains the knowledge of further spells depending on her class features choices as detailed under "domain", and "extra spell".
Note that most of the time, the spells can be played by the player as "miracles", that alegedly happen spontaneosly with seemingly no relation to the characers acts.
For example, Khezed, the dwarven cleric of Moradin is stranded in the middle of a barren wasteland, far from civilization and has to face a week of travelling with no food or water. Jonathan, Khezed's player, describes how every morning after saying his prayer, Khezed descovers a nourishing meal under a rock near his camp. To me, this makes a rather more interesting gaming approach than saying "I cast Create Food and Water". I situations where one must act fast, like battle, it is better to treat the prayers as normal spells.
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells
An initiate can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Ordination: Upon taking her first level, the initiate is dubbed a holy servant of his faith, thus being able to use any magic item a cleric of the same level could use. Further more, initiate levels are considered cleric level when determining whether the character met the perquisites for feats, prestige classes and the like (however, the do not stack with cleric levels in order to determine caster level). In addition, the initiate gains a +2 competence bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Intimidate while interacting with his faith's non ordained believers and ordained personnel found below him in the faith's hierarchy, as long as they know of his rank to full extent.
Domain: At 1st level, and at every level divisible by 4, the initiate choose one of her deity's domains. The Initiate adds the domain spells to her list of known spells (note that she still needs sufficient levels and wisdom in order to cast them), and gains the domain power. If there aren’t any deity domains to choose from, the initiate may choose any domain the GM approves.
Templar: Whenever the initiate is found in a place sanctified to her faith (such as the deity's temples or a landscape hallowed by an initiate of the same faith) she gains a +1 morale bonus to all of her attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks.
Enemy or minion of the faith: At 1st level, the initiate chooses a certain type of creature, selected from a list not unlike the ranger's favored enemies list. The designated type must be considered a true enemy to the character's faith. The Initiate can turn creatures of that certain type the same way a cleric of the same level can turn the undead. Note that only undead creatures can be destroyed at that manner. Extraplanar creatures are simply banished to they're home planes if the initiate has a high enough levels to destroy them, while other living creatures and Extraplanar creatures turned on their home plane are turned normally but not destroyed. Constructs affected that way are paralyzed for 1d6 rounds.
Alternatively, an initiate can choose a creature type that is considered a minion or a servant (though usually not an equal ally) and gain the ability to rebuke or control these creatures just as an evil cleric of the same level could do to undead. Only undead, Extraplanar creatures (not in their home plane) and creatures with intelligence of 2 or lower (including creatures with no intelligence score) can be controlled that way.
Extra spell: Every even level, the initiate may choose a spell up to the highest levels she cast from the cleric spell list, and add it to his list of spells known. Alternatively, she may choose a spell from the wizard or druid spell lists, but it must be up to one level lower then the highest level she can cast.
Granted power: At level 5, and every 5 levels thereafter, th initiate can add one of the following powers to her divine arsenal:
Divine protection (Su): Upon taking this power, an invisible divine aura manifests around the initiate, and she becomes continuously protected against her enemy (or enemies) of the faith. She gains a +2 divine bonus to her AC and saving throws against them.
Divine protection, 10 ft. radius: This power is available only to initiates with the divine protection power. This power expands the protective aura so that all allies in a 10 ft. radius gain the divine bonuses to their AC and saving throws.
Extra enemy of the faith: The initiate chooses another type of creature from the list, which must also be a true enemy to her faith. She can now turn or destroy creatures of that type in addition to the type she chose on her first level (in any).
Extra minion of the faith: The initiate chooses another type of creature from the list, which must also be considered a servant of her faith. She can now rebuke or control creatures of that type in addition to the type she chose on her first level (in any).
Divine inspiration (Su): Once per day the initiate can affect the behavior of up to one creature per level by preaching them for at least one round. This is a language (and hearing) dependant, mind affecting ability. The effect lasts for as long as the initiate keeps on preaching. It can be negated by making a will save with a DC of 10 + half of the initiate's class level + the character's charisma bonus. When the initiate takes this power, he chooses one of the following effects:
Despair: The affected creatures take a -1 penalty to all saving throws.
Courage: The affected creatures gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear.
Fear: Affected Creatures with less HD than the character become shaken. Creatures with higher HD or those who has made their will save are unaffected.
Berserk: Affected creatures engage the nearest opponent in melee for the duration of the effect.
Peace: The creatures will not take any violent measures as long as they stay affected. If any creature is attacked, the effect ends for that creature.
Piety: Affected creatures are will share the same morals and beliefs as the initiate for as long as they stay in effect. They won't necessarily see the initiate as their ally.
The initiate may take this power more then once, each time choosing another possible effect or increasing the number of uses per day by one.
Bonus feat: The initiate chooses a feat related to his deity's portfolio (GM's approval) as a bonus feat.
Divine grace: The initiate gains a bonus equal to her charisma bonus (at least +1) for all of her saving throws. This is the same ability as the paladin ability with that name.
Planar ally: At 7th level, an outsider or elemental of the same faith as the character is sent by her deity the aid her and serve her. The outsider has up to 8 HD and its alignment must be up to one step from the character or deity. It may serve up to 1 day per level per year but not necessarily consecutively. At 11th level an additional outsider is sent to
Bonus Languages: An initiate’s 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.
Ex-Initiates: An initiate who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. He cannot thereafter gain levels as an initiate of that god until he atones (see the atonement spell description).
First, I think that a god's holy servant should have powers more or less related to his deity's portfolio. For example, I don't see a reason why a cleric of Moradin should have a spell like "Animal Messanger".
Secondly, the way a cleric uses his powers should also be different than the way a wizard prepare it's spell. This doesn't have to take place as a different game mechanic, but, when possible the player and the GM should play the spell as a "miracle", seemingly unrelated to the acts of the cleric. This approach can be used with normal clerics of course, but it comes to show you why I wanted a divine caster that is more than a holy wizard.
For example, Khezed, the dwarven cleric of Moradin is stranded in the middle of a barren wasteland, far from civilization and has to face a week of travelling with no food or water. Jonathan, Khezed's player, describes how every morning after saying his prayer, Khezed descovers a nourishing meal under a rock near his camp. To me, this makes a rather more interesting gaming approach than saying "I cast Create Food and Water". I situations where one must act fast, like battle, it is better to treat the prayers as normal spells.
It should be noted that although the class is called "initiate", individual members of that class may be refered by others as "clerics", "priests", "shamans", "rabbies" or whatever name related to their religeous belief.
Initiate
-------
Alignment: An initiate’s alignment must be within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). An initiate may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: The initiate’s 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: An initiate who chooses the Animal or Plant domain adds Knowledge (nature) (Int) to the initiate class skills listed above. An initiate who chooses the Knowledge domain adds all Knowledge (Int) skills to the list. An initiate who chooses the Travel domain adds Survival (Wis) to the list. An initiate who chooses the Trickery domain adds Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), and Hide (Dex) to the list. See Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells, for more information.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
The Initiate
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th| 9th
1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Ordination, domain, templar, enemy or minion of the faith|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Extra spell, divine grace|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3| |4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Domain, extra spell|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Granted power|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Extra spell|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-
7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Planar ally|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-
8th|
+6/+1|
+6x|
+2|
+6|Domain, extra spell|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-|-
9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+3|
+6| |6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-|-
10th|
+7/+2|
+7|
+3|
+7|Extra spell, Granted power|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-|-
11th|
+8/+3|
+7|
+3|
+7|Planar ally|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-|-
12th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8|Domain, extra spell|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-|-
13th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+4|
+8| |6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-|-
14th|
+10/+5|
+9|
+4|
+9|Extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-|-
15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+5|
+9|Planar ally, Granted power|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-|-
16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Domain, extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2|-
17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+10| |6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3|-
18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Extra spell|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|2
19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+11| |6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4|3
20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Domain, extra spell, granted power|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|6|5|4[/table]
Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Initiates are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as with their deity's weapon, with all types of armor (light, medium, and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields).
An initiate who chooses the War domain receives the Weapon Focus feat related to his deity’s weapon as a bonus feat.
Aura (Ex): An initiate of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). Initiates who don’t worship a specific deity but choose the Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding alignment.
Spells: An initiate casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below). However, his alignment may restrict him from casting certain spells opposed to his moral or ethical beliefs; see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells, below. An initiate must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, an initiate must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an initiate’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the initiate’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, an initiate can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table above.
Initiates meditate or pray for their spells. Each initiate must choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain his daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether an initiate can cast spells.
An initiate’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An initiate begins play knowing all of the 0-level spells and gains the knowledge of further spells depending on her class features choices as detailed under "domain", and "extra spell".
Note that most of the time, the spells can be played by the player as "miracles", that alegedly happen spontaneosly with seemingly no relation to the characers acts.
For example, Khezed, the dwarven cleric of Moradin is stranded in the middle of a barren wasteland, far from civilization and has to face a week of travelling with no food or water. Jonathan, Khezed's player, describes how every morning after saying his prayer, Khezed descovers a nourishing meal under a rock near his camp. To me, this makes a rather more interesting gaming approach than saying "I cast Create Food and Water". I situations where one must act fast, like battle, it is better to treat the prayers as normal spells.
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells
An initiate can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Ordination: Upon taking her first level, the initiate is dubbed a holy servant of his faith, thus being able to use any magic item a cleric of the same level could use. Further more, initiate levels are considered cleric level when determining whether the character met the perquisites for feats, prestige classes and the like (however, the do not stack with cleric levels in order to determine caster level). In addition, the initiate gains a +2 competence bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Intimidate while interacting with his faith's non ordained believers and ordained personnel found below him in the faith's hierarchy, as long as they know of his rank to full extent.
Domain: At 1st level, and at every level divisible by 4, the initiate choose one of her deity's domains. The Initiate adds the domain spells to her list of known spells (note that she still needs sufficient levels and wisdom in order to cast them), and gains the domain power. If there aren’t any deity domains to choose from, the initiate may choose any domain the GM approves.
Templar: Whenever the initiate is found in a place sanctified to her faith (such as the deity's temples or a landscape hallowed by an initiate of the same faith) she gains a +1 morale bonus to all of her attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks.
Enemy or minion of the faith: At 1st level, the initiate chooses a certain type of creature, selected from a list not unlike the ranger's favored enemies list. The designated type must be considered a true enemy to the character's faith. The Initiate can turn creatures of that certain type the same way a cleric of the same level can turn the undead. Note that only undead creatures can be destroyed at that manner. Extraplanar creatures are simply banished to they're home planes if the initiate has a high enough levels to destroy them, while other living creatures and Extraplanar creatures turned on their home plane are turned normally but not destroyed. Constructs affected that way are paralyzed for 1d6 rounds.
Alternatively, an initiate can choose a creature type that is considered a minion or a servant (though usually not an equal ally) and gain the ability to rebuke or control these creatures just as an evil cleric of the same level could do to undead. Only undead, Extraplanar creatures (not in their home plane) and creatures with intelligence of 2 or lower (including creatures with no intelligence score) can be controlled that way.
Extra spell: Every even level, the initiate may choose a spell up to the highest levels she cast from the cleric spell list, and add it to his list of spells known. Alternatively, she may choose a spell from the wizard or druid spell lists, but it must be up to one level lower then the highest level she can cast.
Granted power: At level 5, and every 5 levels thereafter, th initiate can add one of the following powers to her divine arsenal:
Divine protection (Su): Upon taking this power, an invisible divine aura manifests around the initiate, and she becomes continuously protected against her enemy (or enemies) of the faith. She gains a +2 divine bonus to her AC and saving throws against them.
Divine protection, 10 ft. radius: This power is available only to initiates with the divine protection power. This power expands the protective aura so that all allies in a 10 ft. radius gain the divine bonuses to their AC and saving throws.
Extra enemy of the faith: The initiate chooses another type of creature from the list, which must also be a true enemy to her faith. She can now turn or destroy creatures of that type in addition to the type she chose on her first level (in any).
Extra minion of the faith: The initiate chooses another type of creature from the list, which must also be considered a servant of her faith. She can now rebuke or control creatures of that type in addition to the type she chose on her first level (in any).
Divine inspiration (Su): Once per day the initiate can affect the behavior of up to one creature per level by preaching them for at least one round. This is a language (and hearing) dependant, mind affecting ability. The effect lasts for as long as the initiate keeps on preaching. It can be negated by making a will save with a DC of 10 + half of the initiate's class level + the character's charisma bonus. When the initiate takes this power, he chooses one of the following effects:
Despair: The affected creatures take a -1 penalty to all saving throws.
Courage: The affected creatures gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear.
Fear: Affected Creatures with less HD than the character become shaken. Creatures with higher HD or those who has made their will save are unaffected.
Berserk: Affected creatures engage the nearest opponent in melee for the duration of the effect.
Peace: The creatures will not take any violent measures as long as they stay affected. If any creature is attacked, the effect ends for that creature.
Piety: Affected creatures are will share the same morals and beliefs as the initiate for as long as they stay in effect. They won't necessarily see the initiate as their ally.
The initiate may take this power more then once, each time choosing another possible effect or increasing the number of uses per day by one.
Bonus feat: The initiate chooses a feat related to his deity's portfolio (GM's approval) as a bonus feat.
Divine grace: The initiate gains a bonus equal to her charisma bonus (at least +1) for all of her saving throws. This is the same ability as the paladin ability with that name.
Planar ally: At 7th level, an outsider or elemental of the same faith as the character is sent by her deity the aid her and serve her. The outsider has up to 8 HD and its alignment must be up to one step from the character or deity. It may serve up to 1 day per level per year but not necessarily consecutively. At 11th level an additional outsider is sent to
Bonus Languages: An initiate’s 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.
Ex-Initiates: An initiate who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. He cannot thereafter gain levels as an initiate of that god until he atones (see the atonement spell description).