Clerics are the earthly representatives of the gods. They provide services to the faithful in the form of prayers, healing, and even kind words, pass on the word of their god to those who wish to hear it, and perform other duties as their faith requires. As with normal people, clerics can run the gamut of good to evil, law-abiding to anarchic, as their beliefs and their god's will dictate.
Adventures: Clerics journey with adventurers in search of lost relics and religious tracts, and to further the ethos of their gods and power of their church. At times, they may be operating under secret orders by their church elders.
Characteristics: Clerics are mainly defined by their gods and their roles in the church. All clerics, no matter their faith, are identifiable by the holy symbol they almost always wear prominently. Most have at least a passing familiarity with weapons and combat.
Alignment: Clerics can be of any alignment, but their alignment must be within one step of their god's.
Religion: The cleric is not only devout, but seeks to spread the word of his god, defend the faithful, and guard the church from those who would destroy it. All clerics must belong to a church and worship a god.
Background: Clerics can start out either at a young age, serving the church as a servant, or can join the clergy later in life. All who wish to dedicate their lives to their god, regardless of age, are welcome.
Races: All races worship gods of one sort or another, and all of them have clerics. Worshipping the same god is not always enough to overcome racial prejudice, but it does go a long way.
Other Classes: Cleric get along well with other classes, as most of them depend on the cleric for support and healing.
Role: A cleric's role depends on his god and the god's portfolios. A cleric of the god of war, for example, is more likely to be found with an adventuring group or mercenary company, on the front lines. A cleric of the god of music, on the other hand, would fill a support role, aiding others through spells and domain abilities.
Game Rule Information
Abilities: Wisdom is a cleric's primary ability – it determines how many bonus spells he can cast. Charisma runs a close second, as it affects many of his class abilities; Strength is useful for combat-based clerics, while Constitution is useful for all clerics. Intelligence and Dexterity fall together near the bottom in relative importance.
Alignment: A cleric's alignment must be within one step of his deity's (that is, it can be one step away on either the lawful-chaotic axis or the good-evil axis, but not both). A cleric cannot be neutral unless his deity's alignment is also neutral.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills
The cleric's class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana, religion, the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). The DM can add up to three more skills as class skills depending on the cleric's god and his domains. See Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells, below, for more information. Clerics are also fluent in Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal.
Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int modifier
Table 1: The Cleric
| Spells Per Day | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Fort Save |
Ref Save |
Will Save |
Special | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Turn undead, 1st domain | 3 | 1+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | 4 | 2+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 3 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | 4 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 4 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | 5 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 5 | +3 | +4 | +2 | +4 | 5 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 6 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | 5 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 7 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | 6 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 8 | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +6 | 6 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 9 | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +6 | 6 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | — | — | |
| 10 | +7/+2 | +7 | +4 | +7 | 2nd domain | 6 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | +8/+3 | +7 | +4 | +7 | 6 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | — | |
| 12 | +9/+4 | +8 | +4 | +8 | 6 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | — | |
| 13 | +9/+4 | +8 | +5 | +8 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | — | |
| 14 | +10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +9 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | — | |
| 15 | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +6 | +9 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | — | |
| 16 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +6 | +10 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | — | |
| 17 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +6 | +10 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | 1+1 | |
| 18 | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +7 | +11 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | |
| 19 | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +7 | +11 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 2+1 | |
| 20 | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +8 | +12 | 6 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 5+1 | 4+1 | 4+1 | 3+1 | 3+1 | |
1 In addition to the stated number of spells per day for 1st- through 9th-level spells, a cleric gets a domain spell for each spell level, starting at 1st. The "+1" in the entries on this table represents that spell. Domain spells are in addition to any bonus spells the cleric may receive for having a high Wisdom score.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the cleric.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Clerics are proficient with all simple weapons, light and medium armor, and all shields (except tower shields).
Aura (Ex): A cleric of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's alignment (see the detect aura spell for details).
Spells: A cleric casts divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. 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. A cleric must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, a cleric must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a cleric's spell is 10 + 1/2 the cleric's caster level + spell level.
Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 2. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. A cleric also gets one domain spell of each spell level he can cast, starting at 1st level. When a cleric prepares a spell in a domain spell slot, it must come from one of his two domains (see Deities, Domains, and Domain Spells, below).
Clerics meditate or pray for their spells. Each cleric 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 a cleric can prepare spells.
A cleric can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity's. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells: A cleric's deity influences his alignment, his role, what magic he can cast, his values, and how others see him. At 1st level, a cleric chooses one domain from among those belonging to his deity. He can select an alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if his alignment matches that domain. At 10th level, he can choose a second domain.
Each domain gives the cleric access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. The cleric gets the granted powers of both the domains selected. With access to two domain spells at a given spell level, a cleric prepares one or the other each day in his domain spell slot. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list, a cleric can prepare it only in his domain spell slot. See here for a variant domain system.
Spontaneous Casting: A cleric can channel stored spell energy into spells from the domains he did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose" any prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any domain spell from any of his chosen domains of the same spell level or lower.
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A cleric can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity's. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Turn or Rebuke Undead (Su): Any cleric, regardless of alignment, can affect undead creatures by channeling the power of his faith through his holy (or unholy) symbol (see Turn or Rebuke Undead).
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) can turn or destroy undead creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) instead rebukes or commands such creatures. A neutral cleric of a neutral deity must choose whether his turning ability functions as that of a good cleric or an evil cleric. Once this choice is made, it cannot be reversed. This decision also determines whether the cleric can cast spontaneous cure or inflict spells (see above).
A cleric can attempt to turn undead a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma bonus, +1 extra time per 5 class levels. A cleric with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (religion) gets a +2 bonus on turning checks against undead.
Ex-Clerics
A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and weapon proficiencies (except for his god's chosen weapon, if applicable). He cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until he atones (see the atonement spell description).
