User:Cedric/Cleric

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Cleric

Add:

  • Need to add option to spend future mana like wizards on healing and lose mana for subsequent rounds. (Note, this is really just using a future by putting up HP as a loan.)

Ordinate ability: PTY

Clerics are so much more awesome now, if you wish to use the data herein, that you will definitely want one in your party. They help a party avoid TPKs or even death, if they are played with higher level GMs managing the god's player sheets. Cleric primary get XP through following divine hints from the gods (DM) and healing other players (as normally expected).

Tier Path: Acolyte -> Healer -> Cleric -> Lightworker -> Angel
If elven/aryan: Acolyte -> Healer -> Cleric -> LightKeeper -> Elven Lord or Queen

Skills:

  • Heart: Divine Protection: Confers an aura of protection. This AC is immune from damage, unlike regular armor, and comes from the gods. Half of this power is retained by the cleric (except perhaps in special circumstances) and the other half is allocated via a trust card, showing by percentage where the cleric places her/his trust.
  • Head: Divine Favor: Tilts the odds to help you find the knowledge, NPCs, or equipment you need to resolve large story arcs, agendas, or BBEGs by the DM interjecting for the gods. A high-level cleric with high PTY could even get wishes if they've remained properly aligned. This may or may not give you smoother execution of a campaign, the issue is whether the players will trust themselves or the gods. Divine Favor should make the cleric very unique and interesting to play (if/when you can trust the gods). High PTY players get very specific knowledge ("a sword [the cleric needs] can be found in the village to the S"), while high LVL clerics get powerful knowledge (where to find the white dragon that would grant the unspoken wish of the player). A cleric's PTY/WIS score goes up if they keep these notes secret as any pious servant of the gods would.
  • Hands: Divine Healing: heals lost HP (NPCs or players) or even brings characters back to life if their god and any god above deems them worthy, gives "last words" ability at 0HP for dying players to have one last thing they can say to be remembered (otherwise PCs must be about 20 LVLs above the dying player to confer such rites).
  • Health: Blind Luck (the gods (DM) fix something for the party, behind the scenes, which could be huge, like preventing the party from falling into a trap that would kill them -- imagine a party without a cleric here....;^), also Socialities (beer): in other words, your party can safely partake of the alcohol w/cleric — the gods will blame this class.


XP gained by: From trusting your gods instead of the frivolous whims of your friends or cheap material gains. The DM passes notes to you that represent your hunches. Each hint has a XP bounty associated with it which may or may not be communicated with the hunch (which is the strength of the hunch, so should always be communicated somehow -- it may be role-played by the DM or communicated directly (for better or worse?)). If you are pious enough, these hints give details in which to evaluate them, otherwise they are vague like many who have poor connections to the gods. As you get higher in level, following these divine recommendations give you more reward, just as you'd expect. Also, XP rewarded from HP healed in others (PCs or NPCs) x 100 XP plus (possibly) bonuses for HP healed near death. They also get XP from players (or NPCs) that they resurrect from the dead (cleric must "negotiate" these transfers). Unlike other players, cleric gets XP from following divine dispensation of knowledge -- just for their devotion. In other words, they get XP for doing nothing. Take that for what you will.
Mana specialized towards: Healing and self (so they can glow in their holiness).
Dice Mechanics: Cleric’s rely on the gods, not the odds (of dice rolls).
Lore: Clerics started when the people learned that there were forces above that could aid them. Their modus operandi is to serve the purposes of these forces. Ultimately, their aim is to gain favor and achieve something beyond mortal desires.
Group Mechanics: Have temples, gets extra mana available to them proportional to temple attendance, 10% of donations since they don't work a regular job, etc.
Real-life interactions: Says prayers to their god at the beginning(?) of their session, saying -- for all to hear -- what they wish for and perhaps how their efforts will help the kingdom. Good prayers are said to grant better trust from their gods. Players with different gods should find a way to greet (same alignment) or yeet (oppositely aligned) one another.
Moral code: Be loyal to and trust your god/desses. Give back to the gods/spirits for what they give you.
God modifiers: Generally, already included in your healing abilities, however other god/desses can apply their mana for the purposes of the PC.

Clerics (or priests/priestesses) heal and (if not User:Cedric/ronin) add divine support while everyone else is looking out for themselves (as they should). (In this new build, they aren't spell-casters, nor fighters. They're better staying out of battle to keep their mana high so that their auric field and mana stores can exert the maximum influence.) They can automatically know the alignment vector of any speaking NPC (though dialog) and many non-speaking (that are under their gods automatically produce affinity while those that are oppositely-aligned inform likewise). Posit: By four rounds a good cleric will know all four dimensions of their alignment.

Rather than spells, clerics must assemble the pieces together for healing particular ailments, like poison, paralysis, etc. They may have to create a ingestant made of root. They can use proper herbs, but their effect is up to 1/2 of the effect depending on their relationship to the gods above or the goddesses of the lands. These are tonics. The gods don't like to get involved in the affairs of men to much, so they require that you add a root to the equation to see if your choice (to apply divine healing) is valid. ???Alternatively, the cleric can call upon the spirit of the plant “I call upon the root of tumeric to heal my partner, Alec.” If anyone notices the wrong name, however, the healing event fails for the person. Roots can be considered distinct from herbals — they get their power .not from the powerful from the words that name them, otherwise they would act more or less the same, given the same colors.

Clerics get wishes given to them by their gods if they've remained supremely aligned with them. The power of the wish may need to be commensurate with the level of the cleric.

The effects of their divine protection on their trusted network vary depending on their god/goddess and their LVL. In order to differentiate this class, they must pick only one god/goddess ("One cannot serve two masters."). If they convert along the way, their alignment must be re-calculated. If they have a male god, it provides protection and assistance in battle, and adventures along their travels. If they have a female goddess, they get luck, and favorable equipment along their journeys. In battle they may get TOHIT bonuses (-AC to their opponent), as well (goddesses). This (is?) should be all factored in with the alignment vector. Given this, clerics can become pretty invulnerable if they choose the right god/dess as they level.

60 * 15% = 60 * 0.15 = 9 pts. That means you have 9 pts of AC to spread among all of your trusted associates. You can change your trust card once per level or whenever there's a significant interaction with an NPC or PC which would change it.

Their auric field can be used to give sanctuary to other PC or NPCs. This sanctuary applies twice the AC(?) protection as the normal protection OR... provides stealth as powerful as the cleric`s god. as long as the character is hidden (you must meet the gods half-way for them to protect). If the character is found, deliberately tries to attract attention of a foe, or the cleric gets distracted, the sanctuary ends. The stealth makes the character practically invisible. If the character does move or otherwise attract attention of a foe. The stealth works even if the individual is in plain sight or in the path. If such a person were in the path of a foe, it is up to the gods above to see if the foe notices, otherwise the move powerful god mnoves the foe. In the case where there is no room for the foe to pass, as player stands, then the player is allows one move bonus, where they canot step away from their spot, but can turn to let another pass.

Auric field is assisted by keeping perfect health (and true to their alignment). This is one of the reasons, clerics shouldn't engage in battle unless they can do so without risk. If player stays true to thier alignment, they can start to glow, giving a +1 or +3 CHR advantage. This field attracts the curious (or demented) for guidance or knowledge, where the cleric will have to be able to convey the wisdom of their god.

As clerics level, they should learn better gods to follow, which ultimately confers more power to the cleric, though they don’t know what the DM knows about the gods (their XP and power levels). Some powers will be god-specific and may not be immediately useful to the cleric, if they pertain to abilities that clerics don't have. For this to be effective, the cleric will have to trust the wisdom of the gods above; that is, by trust them, there is something wiser than they of which they will learn.

In an emergency, clerics can use the power of the word. They can start with one word commands like "trip", "break", "heal". These simple-level commands work in limited circumstances depending on the type of being. The DM has to guage whether the word was effective by evaluating things like (word meaning, onomatopoeia, sounds used). Unlike wizards, who must apply their studies of arcana to do their magic. These commands must be spontaneous and work in their particular circumstance. As they gain prominance, they can gain the power of the word to force things into action with their own language, much like an incantation.

STUB this article in process of a re-write.

Clerics don’t roll dice because they abide by their gods rather than take chances with personal fate. Let this be the MO of this class. If they are ronin, they abide by the nameless and ancient god of them all, but no one knows whether such piety leads anywhere, or even if such a god is still alive. Rather than temples, this god of the ronins, may respond to "gestures", subtle intent or impressions made by the player to the (game) universe.

AT level 10, clerics can heal themselves. They must be able to sit still and free from distractions and intend the healing by placing their hands on the point of wounds. The amount is the same as for conferring healing to other characters, but to initiate it takes a bit of concentration for the soul to organize the two different powers in one body(?).

At the highest magnitude of alignment (+/-)1000, the effect of aura of protection and healing is huge and equal to (alignment/1000)#LVL*(PTY/20) AC to your player alone, so a level 10 cleric grants +10 -DAM bonus on all hits. For healing, this is alignment_tensors * abilities * dice HP per round -- if your god has the HP. The dice you use depends on your health level and how full you are. That means a perfectly-aligned level 20 cleric can do up to 250HP of healing per round (generally limited to effecting a single character, character must not be in bad standing with your god who has sufficient HP and recipient must be in resting state -- muscle-use by a fighter would resist the healing energy)! But if you're not mindful of your relationship to the gods purpose in killing NPCs (PCs?), your alignment and power will be affected. (Note: this can be simplified in lower-tier play.) (XXx I know this is still sloppy…I’m tired.)

XXXThey've given their fight over to the gods and now mostly keep watch rather than taint themselves with killing. Now they fight for the balance of good and evil and get to stay light on their feet without the encumberance of heavy armor and weapons, and as they don't cast spells, they can refrain from eating so much. Clerics get significant auto-protection based on the power and trust of their gods, which sweetens up the class from older versions. If you have a ragtag party yearning for eXPerience, you'll probably want a cleric to give you better luck.

If they declare a god, they gain auric field -- emanating diving protection in the form of providing -DAM modifiers on hits from NPCs, or offering +HIT bonus if the god is aligned towards their behaviors. XXXchange this to protection from all critical hits: no insta-deaths.

Their auric field has two main abilities: divine protection (conferring -DAM from attackers through +AC and magical resistances related to their god) and luck ("Bless": offering +HIT bonuses). For this they need PTY and mana. As they gain levels, they churn mana into real power that they can direct for healing or for cursing. In meditation, this power can be used to divine direction on how to proceed. This auric protection needs their PERception to function perfectly -- for through their eyes, their god sees also.

They don't have to eat as much if they stay without encumberances. Cleric's without gods have to learn to store their mana to maximize their utility. Without this extra ability they only have 4HP of healing per round, otherwise they can store all the prior round's mana that they didn't exert an offensive or defensive action on (10rounds = 4,000mana = 40HP).

If they try to fight a foe of the same god(s), the power of the auric field is split in two as the god has to split the power between the two, unless one is favored (based on PTY scores?). This makes battles more volatile as each party has to use more power to hurt the other. It should be noted that a cleric's PTY means different things, depending on whether they are loyal to a god. If they are ronin, their piety attracts the attention of random gods looking for thier faith. Such ronin, cleric PCs without gods are called "altruists" (if good or lawful aligned: otherwise "demonically possessed"). This can be used advantageously (to get equipment, etc.), but, of course, gaming the gods (to utilize their favors) can backfire...

Has an innate danger sense (originates from the gods and may not work if the campaign setting's god (or something like Strahd) is higher than their own) which lets them know of lurking dangers (traps!) -- generally items their gods have encountered before and not mastered (hence the causes of the mortals). Given in a 1 out of 10 scale with 1 being "small potatoes" and 10 being "bless your ass, 'cause I can't help you". This can be a major advantage in certain campaigns.

Their connection to the divine exerts influence to all the techniques they've learned on all their allies, giving unique, divine protection, extra luck, divine damages -- depending on abilities of their god. Through their devotion (PTY), their mana exerts an inter-connected auric field to their ally list (which they pass to their DM) -- a "trust" network. They can only list 6 allies at a time (using limits hasn't been tested) and can only change their list when they reach a new level. They should keep the list private to the DM. This aura has effect regardless of distance (as it works from the astral planes), but diminishes with poor health (low HP%). Percentages should be rounded to nearest 5%, or 1 value on a d20 die. For this reason, they may choose to be less active during battles--to keep their mana high, as it can accumulate and exert more guidance when conditions with the gods involved are favorable. High level clerics also add good luck in addition to divine protection (as noted above).

Example of list:

  • Conan (a fighter far away in Dorgan's Keep) 25%,
  • Bidr(i)el (a wizard in the party) 65%,
  • Toppy the Dog (your friend from childhood, living at Baldur's Gate) 5%
  • Saraom, a girl you like in another DM party: 5%

AC = ((1+(PTY/20))*0.HP%) ** GOD-TEMPLE ADVANTAGE(i.e. #LVL_of_their_god*god-trust%). This AC gets distributed among all in their trust list, in proportion of the list given by the PC. The players AC is determined by their HP% (health) * GOD-TEMPLE ADVANAGE. A god may only give 5% of their trust (and thereby their protection) to their temple, if you're not acting very pious or encouraging new members, so figure out what the gods want and build a temple to PERFORM, bro (sis :P). An altar would do as well, just be sure to place your gods securely upon it.

The trust card is related to how your heart allocates it’s lines of affinity. You don't have to allolcate all of it. In fact, you lose 1/2 of your healing speed, by allocating 100% of it. 

Here’s the thing about a cleric (or a god’s, for that matter) trust card:  you lose some of your MANA if you allocate it wrongly.  You might, for example, give all your friends 100% trust.  But when they go against you, that power sucks your mana.  So, a cleric, like ObiWan, suddenly taken aback with a feeling of this divine force sucked dry and be reduced to 0 mana.

As you can see, the clerics divine protection is unique (until the wizards figure it out) in that it continues to work even when s/he's not playing.

In any case, that totals 100% - percentage that is repeated onward and downward from your trust list, since the gods act from above. From then on, as long as you are well and your gods in alignment with you, you exert that (protective and possibly luck if they share the same god) influence on allies. Technically, that protection and power (determined by your race and gods) would propagate to their allies friends as well via multiplication. So that if Bidrel above had a trust of 25% to Gimli the Dwarf, then it amounts to 70% * 25% = 17.5% to Gimli from this PC. In theory, a whole village could be significantly protected by the aura of a strong cleric in town, through this mechanism and the power of small networks (like how the Kevin Bacon number encompasses all of hollywood). Though it would seem that this amounts to something beyond 100%, it works mathematically because most of the individuals are not in battle, so the power of the protection can go to them when it's useful, taking from where it is not (AND because of the superconductivity of the divine through the soul). (Curses and oppositely-aligned characters are different -- their XP gets converted to a mana calculation powered by their HP). The protection is relative to the amount of power of their gods, as noted in the above equation. Since this all would be complicated to handle in a game, the DM will have to simplify and hope to recover from any mistakes in time. Of course, a cleric may not want to join a fighting party, as it provides less XP to him or her for healing (if they're listed on their ally list) and fewer HP means less powerful aura. Clerics will have to negotiate what goods they get in exchange for service to their dieties.

A cleric may use all her time-slots towards a protection aura, yielding up to half the normal DAMage for all in the party for that round if with a male diety or have half the likelihood of a HIT with a female one. That means that they cannot attack in any way for that round. If they already started the round and used a time slot for something else you'll have to proportion out how much DAM/HIT is negated (4/6 * 50%, 2/6 * 50%, etc.). Technically that saved HP should go to the relevant god as power: HP or XP increases.

In other words(?), a cleric can double their protection by committing to a pacifist life…..? If this mechanic is used, should force the cleric to rate him/herself on the trust card. Probalby 50%, but this would negate the benefit….

FIX: To avoid the cleric just sitting in the party during battle, cleric coudl have a healing ray that gives less HP per round but allows it to transfer automatically without contact with the player or charcter receiving healing. Also, a offensive move “divine spark”? could be used by has the possibility of throwing back DAM to the “caster” if the NPC has some value to the gods.

Because of their high-mindedness and piety, they must keep a pure mind. If they are Aryan or Elven, and the DM hears a cleric think aloud about some object or monster, there's a 1/12 chance (via the godroll effects) that it will appear (if available) or show up *inconspicuously* (if non-living), perhaps symbolically, within the next few rounds (whether good or bad). The chance is doubled if there is actually a legitmate reason and probability for it to be present at the location.

Rather than guilds, clerics have temples, shrines, or churches. This may be preferable to following fighters around where they may get bloodied by incidental damage. Membership and offerings here, increases the mana available to the cleric beyond their personal accumulation and to the gods. Each such temple and such has it's own store or shared pool: a hidden account that can be drawn upon. For some gods this is automatic in times of need. Underling-level (acolyte) players get 0%, hero tiers get 5%, paragon get 15%, legendary get 35%, epic get 65%, and diety get 100%. The amount of mana in these "coffers" is dependent on the number of followers, and their devotion. So this gives some incentive for clerics to find devotees to their gods. The amount of mana to heal 1 HP is about 100. Their gods can give some of theirs but if some cleric is mana-draining their god, you can be sure their god is going to wake up and do something. You can only claim this connection of mana store if you served a term at the temple. Serving the temple means that PCs or NPCs have donated. The DM will have to determine whether this service is noteworthy or not, because once you've expended this associated mana, you are exposed to the wild and may catch some illness.

If they wear a holy symbol of their god (visibly), they will generally gain +1-3 PTY and any opponents will get disadvantage rolls if their opponent`s gods are lesser levels than they (DM rolls a second set of dice on any attack hits to the cleric, ideally). Piety increased by 3 if they design a better one than any known symbol available, only +1 if it's a poor match to their diety, and +2 if it's just normal. Non-clerics can get +1 PTY for wearing one, conferring just under the same benefits depending on their service.) That piety goes towards their temple (which stores mana and then goes to their gods), of which they are a representative. XXXPrior versions of cleric "spells" are now simply "prayers" of a kind, giving some healing benefit that the gods have to provide, instead of the healer. They consume one time-slot to consider the spell and will generally expend twice the normal rate of mana for as long as they are used. For example, "speaking to the dead" will consume twice the normal amount of mana + the expenditure of the additional time-slot. "Dispel evil" requires only their intention and consuming the mana needed for as long as they exert this influence (there is no time-limit).XXX

High PTY gives them the divine link for healing, ASM the ability to know where and how, good PER allows them to use more time-slots to heal more hit-points per round, keeping STR gives them more power to direct into those who need it.

There is one little thing clerics can do that others can't do magically: walk on water. They have to have sufficient concentration and can't do anything else for the round. You know, if they're walking around, meditating, and need to keep their sanctity to cross a stream or something. They can perfrom this for as long as concentration/piety has accumulated to hold it. This requires an absence of karma with their god. Up to their SPEED for the day, unless they’ve accumulated good karma which gets spent only in retrospect if their deeds did not win favor of their god.

/*** STUB fix this: (PTY/20)% of mana is transferred effectively. 100 mana @100% effectiveness = 1HP The more they, the greater they can draw on from the gods. If they've converted 20 people, they can get (LVL*PTY/400)

Healers can direct as much of their mana as they want into their target. It takes 100 mana per HP. that means only 6 HP per round, however, their connection to the gods allows more mana flow, depnding on their (WIS)ieTY. If they want more than their time-slots allow, they can use the equation:

  • Mana available = (their gods XP)*((their gods trust level)*(PTY/20)), XXX this has vbeen updated for all classes at class theory.
  • HP healed = (Mana used)/100

This amounts to 100*(LVL*2) Hit-points per round at 100% effectiveness. to determine how much mana they'll use from the gods (that means they can't use more than the followers have given) and accordingly how much healing you can do per round. The recipient of the healing must be inactive to receive the full healing.

It's effectiveness will depend on their level and their knowledge (anatomy, for example) and/or the piety of the recipient. Targets must be alive (HP >= 0) to receive healing from mana. If quick and deep healing is needed and they haven't enough mana, players will have to sacrifice their own HP (which they can regain normally). Their cursing applies contagion. It is unlike healing in that it doesn't relate to mana, but to the gods. Just 10 mana is sufficient to infect the desired target unless the target saves. STUB

If a cleric sacrifices HP of their own equal to the number in the negative of the character to heal, they can resurrect a player (like from a critical hit or a strong hit that would wipe out more of their HP past 0). This sacrifice remains in effect until their friend is recovered. That is, the cleric's rest contributes to the friend they healed, until they both heal together. 

   * /

Healers gain XP by the amount of HP they restore to like-aligned? characters (fellow adventurers or NPCs). The conversion is about 100 XP per 1 HP. Since your own life force is limited, helping your gods/goddesses get more followers, helps you.

If alignment or emotional state, changes, their auric field could also emanate the opposite traits: hate, bad luck, making opponents also fumble or have bad luck if their alignment is opposed to their gods.

BTW: it will take about a level 50 cleric to restore a decapitated member of your party. Level 35? can restore legs, and level 3? arms. Oh and you'll need some herbal bundles for it to restore properly. ...and about 3 days of rest. 'Nuff said?

Clerics level depending on how many converts they've made to their gods. One convert for level 1 (and 100XP), two more for level 2 (200 XP), three for level 3, and so on. The relationship, then, between XP and LVL is still being worked out. It might be the greater or lessor depending on their luck.

PTY affects healing ability linearly, BUT the TOTAL healing mana available is exponentially avoilable if they are very pious — they bodies are attuned to their god and act as a perfect vehicle for divine energy to transmit to the recipient. So that 20 PTY means trust%*total_god_mana is available. Adjust the mana side exponentially (???figure out from power equation)

For AC protection, a god that is higher level than all of your adversaries, with 100% trust to the PC, and a player with a perfect PTY=20 would get ~1*(GOD_LVL/100)* of AC per LVL of the PC for the entire group (on their trust card). That means everyone gets protected 10AC points if they’re a LVL 10 cleric and their GOD is LVL100. *Gane Masters can determine which gods are favored, and normalize this to the 100, otherwise there shoudl be a more comlicated fomula that divides by 1000 and adds up (plus a modifying tensor) all the demi-gods trust scores for the PC (actually just add up all XP of the demigods and divide by what a god at LVL1000 would be (10^306) ).

This here ain't your v3 (4, 5) clerics, these here are badass, differentiated tons to be bona fide classy.

Advanced:

Clerics can establish a temple and for those who give their loyalty to the temple, they get the ability of insight that allows them to know things about events/people far away.

Multiclass names:

  • +Explorer = Monk
  • + Fighter = Templar
  • + Mage = Minstrel?
  • + Magistrate = Abbot/Evangelist
  • + Craftlan =
  • + Leader = Crusader

DM notes:

  • If cleric gets an angelic alignment (over 500/1000) they gain an glow that confers +1 to +3 CHR points.
  • The gods of our universe tell me that if the player allows him/herself to be distracted with another task, the bounty may go down and the original offer does not have to be honored. The DM (or higher) can modify the bounty as game-universe events change (perhaps someone else that answers to the same god is already on the task, for example). They may find that someone got to the task first, for example, because the cleric hesitated or allowed themselves to be distracted more lowly tasks — different gods have different attitudes. Some gods might demand perfect and total loyalty (penalizing the reward if they hesitate one inch) while others are willing to accomidate. (However, do note that the god’s power isn’t infinite — if they give out too much reward for too little payback from their clerics, the gods lose power, too (the HP might go down, the mana they have to divert or direct events in the material plane, or even their own XP might get lost from god-level battles).
  • The battles of the gods are very much like mortal battles, except the time-frames become longer and longer as the god's get higher -levels of power. Their aims, as such, become encoded with a wisdom that mortals unravel over decades or centuries. "mysterious ways...", they say
  • As a general rule for role-playing the gods, the time frame of the highest god ("allthatis"), defined at LVL1000, is the same time-frame as the age of the universe -- if you know what that is. A LVL 500 god would be half of this time-frame, etc.
  • If your cleric is female (except Aryans), you can give her silent signals that a player needs help (because you the DM knows that their HP is down). Male players must simply make the conclusion from watching battle.
  • Instead of having players at your table broadcast their HP remaining in their character, invite them to role play the data by good use of affect ("I...thought...you.. were my... friend" *swings his sword another time*).
  • If players start giving away too much knowledge from their hunches they receive on divine favor, other gods might hear about it and start counter-acting the cleric's god ("Did you hear? Indiana Jones is going to try to recover the Ark of the Covenant!"), so you should teach the player not to reveal the hunch even to their own party members. In the simplest case, the bounty goes down, but in the more involved case (AL and WotC handling high-level dynamics for the entire game universe), they start to find that the hunches of their god malfunction. (Why? Because the player allowed some other god to counter-act what was secretly revealed to the player and -- in many cases -- that player alone.)
  • Clerics should get XP from resurrecting players (not from healing which is a sort of payment for giving at temples). A cleric cannot resurrect a higher-level player than themselves without directly asking the gods. The resurrected player should determine how much XP they want to give for the service and the cleric should probably accept it, giving subtle cues whether the amount should go up or down. "Oh, now now, don't be excessive/selfish with the gods..."
  • Since clerics don't use dice (akin to "gambling"), you have to figure out what happens from the state of their god, their PTY/WIS, their condition, and their level. In theory, if a clerics piety were to fall below or equal to 10, they could use dice, because their divine connection is effectively gone.
  • Players who rely a lot on their cleric for healing should give at the appropriate temple. 1gp per HP healed is a healthy amount.
  • Note the prayer that the cleric gives before a game session (if they were observant) and reward their aim with advantage dice where appropriate.
  • Bringing characters back to life is actually a matter of PTY score and not their class (however! other deity may be looking forward to the mana of their life, so...beware too), but healing HP for players through the gods requires the cleric class (otherwise they must have a potion, or a sorcerer could steal HP from another character and hope for a successful transfer to their preferred target, etc.).
  • Divine favor for clerics works like this: The DM hands slips of paper to the player when the player or party is at a lull (doesn't know what to do) or a bind (stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak). The amount of knowledge given is dependent on the LVL and PTY of the cleric, the trust from the deity. A highly-attuned cleric might get detailed intuition like: "there is a glistening sword in the _ mountains to the North." (if the deity is a war-like diety or the cleric has wished for a sword (the location of which would get refined by the god and DM as the cleric followed the intuition). A less attuned cleric might get a slip of paper that reads: "you feel a pull to the North." Whether the party or even the cleric follows the data is part of the fun in establishing whether the gods should rule or the humans should learn and become equal.
  • another example: a ~LVL12, ~PTY15 hint: “Head to Undermountain, 40k”. As in real life, hunches from the gods don't last very long. Either the cleric acts on it or forgets what they felt. So in our simulation of D&D, the message should be destroyed (maybe stolen first?) within a next few rounds (or even the first one). Now, knowing our player(s), getting to Udnermountain might not be enough — they might back out before the real desire of the gods is met (this can be helped along if the gods are willing with another hint “Get to the t-i-d (hidden text ("third") because it would reveal too much) level of Undermountain where you will find an EIGHT-SIDED (part of the hunch that was very strong) room. +5k” (the XP is express "+5k" to show that it is part of an original hunch, not separate); however the gods could also trigger a trap (or exploit the foibles of their followers) from the ceiling to block their way out, so that they MUST finish their task. These are some of the tricks (a.k.a. “mysterious ways”) that gods work and you can put them into use as DM. As DM you must always make it unkown to some degree, otheerwise it doesn’t require any faith on the cleric’s part (the exception is a very highly attuned player who is very close to their god and a high PTY score). It is the faith that allows the XP to be gained for the cleric, not the loot (thief/craftslan) or the kills (fighters) nor the adventuring (explorer) nor the stories you get to tell (bard). And if it wasn't faith, then it wasn't from the gods. REMEMBER THIS. (This will make good stories for any bards to tell later, too.)
  • The exception to the destruction of the paper hunch, is there is a particular piece of intrigue in the hunch that causes the cleric to reminisce about his/her personal life... (maybe the slip of paper mentions the "papyrus of Adasius" and -- though the cleric has no knowledge of it -- it stirs him deep inside because 5 generations ago, his grandmother found (and wrote down) the method to rejuvinate relatives (or whatever), so he holds onto the hint (unconsciously) until some other force brings this recollection to him....
  • In theory, if clerics follow their god rightly (without diverting themselves with lessor aims), they become more attuned and can level or gain power/knowledge quickly. How to implement this is left as an exercise to the reader.
  • Ronin clerics that give the proper ablutions get an alignment of "white". Those who don't, get "black" and are essentially evil players without declaring such. What this means in relation to every body else's rainbow, chromatic colors is unknown, but if their white is purer than the other's alignment color (say 600-level white compared to 500-level blue), they get favored (advantage) on all contests. (does that even make sense?)
  • If a cleric wishes to save a player from dying, they can donate their own HP. If a player took a blast that put them -20HP, they must sacrifice the same amount +1 to revive them. Healing for negative HP isn't allowed.
  • Healers that don't get enough healing energy from their gods, may sacrifice their own HP, in a pinch.
  • Ronin clerics who give "gestures" to the ancient, nameless gods (allthatis?), reverberate. The best indicator and reflection from the universe is simply a sense of "abiding". You never really know if it is real or imagined, useful or pointless. Rangers, without knowing it, live by such feelings, and eventually it seems to get them high PER, so it seems to be real, and they gain a unique "mystique" that no one really understands but many covet.
  • Finding traps/secret doors. The gods can sense the mortal entanglements around hidden objects and secret doors. The DM has to assess the god of the cleric. If ronin, the cleric will simply get hints from the gods who favor their agendas. This may seem like an advantage over specific, declared gods, but if your GMs are managing the game right, the gods are working the tables towards greater deeds and story plots. The gods must balance a sensitive dynamic: reveal too much to the mortals and their interference hinders the development of the game universe (and they get bogged down with mundane, mortal rivalries which can spin them down into a mortal incarnation?), reveal too little and the gods don't get to participate in the development of the game universe (and it goes the way, again, of petty, mortal concerns which the universe has seen many times). So, to balance this, the GM may hand out some fixed amount of "saving throws" that allow the cleric to spot things. A better way, however, is to assess the LEVEL of the trap's dynamic. Set by a LVL55 wizard/craftslan? Then, your chances of finding it diminish ("You see an indentation on the wall to your right"), based on what percentage the cleric is (but goes up dramatically if they are also a wizard or craftlan behind it). ...If the trap's alignment (the builder's alignment) is the same as the clerics god, they should catch nearly everything, as their god's level is probably higher. Then, the issue is: who is serving the purpose better? This creates a unique contest that must be played out, not one of the players fighting a BBEG, but of building higher value that is contested between the players and the environment...
  • Reviving the dead is not an automatic ability in this build. You must roll a d4 and see if the gods allow it. On a 2, it silently takes the HP from another player in the party to give to the wounded player.
  • The healer actually gets XP related to the value of the HP. A high level player's HP are worth more than a low-level player.
  • Under special circumstances, clerics can use their power to heal in more efficient ways. For example, by holding hands in a circle the 250HP available for healing of a LVL20, angelically-aligned cleric and be transmitted to all characters in the circle at once (presuming the recipient is not in bad standing).
  • Clerics can only heal an amount of HP that their gods have available (and themselves which is usually much smaller)
  • There is a exponential function of XP reward as the character gets closer to 0HP. Between 0 and 1 (their life is saved), the value is approximately 1K*(LVL_of_the_player's_god*trust_value_from_their_god)) XP... XXX research this.
  • Given the conversion implied by the above, you, the DM can know that they receive roughly equal XP based on and proportional to the HP healed, but can modify it based on the gradients and wishes of the gods. So, if they get it wrong (there is a silent penalty in XP rewardedA cleric can convert the mana they expended (whih resulted in healing) to XP for themselves at a 1:1 rate.
  • Female DMs: Wait until the level change to awarrd XP based on the attitude of the gods towards the characters healed.
  • The XP is 100*HP healed (XP/LVL per HP), but multiclassed characters could be up to 400 * HP, but they expend as much energy.
  • If the cleric heals HP from an NPC that goes against their god(s), they may lose the XP they’d gained or equivalent HP of themselves as punishment from their god. (A god roll can be used to exact this punishement.)
  • A cleric can get up to +2 PTY modifier by never asking for more than what the rolls say, even when the rules allow for more.??
  • Special Quality: has Auro of Protection from their god(dess) which can extend to party members of like-alignment
  • Special Equipment: Ornate holy symbol of their deity
  • DM Rolls: their wisPTY score grants them more concentration, roll more of the same-valued dice based on trust level of their gods and power level for healing. Higher-level gods=higher-sided dice, # by 10% increments, 20% trust=2 dice.
  • Multiclassing this and trying to have more than one god has the effect of halving the trust value of each god so used. The gods are jealous in this way and they favor loyalty above about all else, especially as they have no corporeal form.
  • Do not reveal the existence of a "trust" score from the gods to the player. They may eventually realize the gods work as they do with their own.
  • A cleric allows the party to execute a campaign as generally written: a flow of progress rather than distractions by having divine favor. Without this power battles from other gods put people in your way that have nothing to do with the story. A clever player (of any class) might divine what they really want or how the gods are using them to resolve something in the realms though it has nothing to do with the present story.
  • Clerics can get more CON by # of devotees. Up to 20 on a decreasing exponential.
  • higher level clerics can heal an entire group by channeling divine energy directly.
  • Each time the cleric-player gives thanks to their god/dess for good luck received (like after a fight), they should get XP bonuses. You have to see if players play in-character and try to drop hints or suggestions of behavior from other clerics in the game. For example, clerics might join a heirarchy of clerics (by level) who are bishops, cardinals etc. and get the training. They don't know that their XP went up, but you can just tell them, and they'll figure out their XP.
  • Clerics may not be able to heal NPCs or PCs that aren't aligned with their god`s purpose or some %-age deficiency might occur as an alternative.
  • Female players should get informed by you, the DM, whenever one of their trusted players health drops below 50%. They can also get a feeling about someone on their trust_card from far away. The gods (which means with you) work this out whether they should have an urge to go to their friend. For male players to be equivalent, they probably can heal at a stronger rate than the female players (unless Ayran).
  • Clerics cannot heal themselves. They must take a rest, where they can rejuvenate faster than normal, if the gods so choose. For this reason, a cleric should not involve themselves with battle, they should watch from a detached position when they can evaluate the moral issues involved in the larger game universe and contemplate "what it all means". However, they are allowed to make strikes, but they may not get XP for it. Many times, the gods don't really want to involve themselves with the ambitions of mortal adventurers -- the most likely case. However, if you, the DM, have priveleged information about the dynamics between gods, you can accelerate their resolution by handing out XP rewards, perhaps larger than listed in the MM, because the gods actually know that the player isn't worthy of the full XP that a dragon, for example, possess (~10x the listed value).
  • Clerics "glow" can be only felt subconsciously by more mortals, however, some seers (mages, elves, sorcerers, dragons, ...?) can see the color of this auric field and divine what powers it.
  • To assess alignment of an object and whether it is cursed or blessed, the DM can make a color card that obscures it as much as needed, based on their level, etc. It can be described rather than drawn. If it is blessed it will have a whitish tinge to it and if cursed a black tinge. This can be tricky if there are multiple layers of entanglement due to history. The alignment field may be bright and sparkly in dominant appearance, but hide a very dark streak in itself. This dark cursed element might be dominant in actuality and the cleric must learn to discern such subtleties. THIS MIGHT BE A SUBPATH FOR THIS CLASS and not a natural ability.

AL notes:

  • The reason clerics must ask the gods for resurrecting a higher-level player is that the gods helped create the death in some way, so they must also approve for it to be reversed. The cleric may have to sacrifice some of their own XP for this resurrection and this is retained by the god who does the service until their debt is paid off.
  • Gods that have the same (or similar -- something a cleric must learn to get better attuned to) alignment color pull on the clerics PTY equally, so they may be manipulated by those other gods, perhaps sorcerers manipulating the Weave, too. Whatever the case, you can send divine notes downwards to your DMs to hand to their clerics about whatever forces they may be guided for larger campaign dynamics and interests of the gods.
  • For divine favor, you must calculate (or check the calculations of the DMs) if the DM(gods) intervene and save the party from a trap. The calculations involve the LVL of whoever created the trap and the ability score (DEX). From here you can calculate the saving throw or DC check necessary for the god to save them.
  • The healing and armor dice used is normally dependent on the amount of trust form the gods, but for higher-level play, clerics can choose a more austere path and never kill anything for food. Then they can act as if they rolled the highest number on the dice.
  • The LVL of a god can be up to LVL1000, but there can only be one of these past LVL500 or so. Like Tiamat (500) and the all-father/mother (500), holding the 1000LVLs of gods under them. This is but one view of the complexity of the all-that-is. Consider, for example, that that same 2x500 levels of power is simultaneously expressing itself through a pair of divine gendered forms. Otherwise, save the LVL1000 supreme GOD, for the omni-gendered, omni-species, all-mother/father, which maybe acts 1 time-slot per day , for it’s wisdom has already set up the universe.
  • Technically, channeling divine energy efficiently requires a good DEX score, so you may weight the mana transfer through an equation related to their DEX score.
  • Divine Favor should give knowledge that the cleric cannot correlate it`s causal chain or path of where it comes from. If the player can put the reason they received the hint together, it's not divine favor, it is insight as the Leader class gets. What this means, practically, is that you give priveleged knowledge (depending on how pure their alignment) about things in the campaign. The mechanics of this could be that you can wait for the player to mention a significant item, and then give them the divine knowledge associated with the item. Or you simply dispense it to them on a godroll.
  • The ability to divine the color of the auric feild is natural in elves, however, it lays dormant in Aryans, and can be activated with a little hint.
  • Abiding by the ancient, nameless gods (ronin clerics): Re: not knowing whether their efforts are useful or not. This is a test of their piety. When they have given the appropriate ablutions and gestures, you should rewards the player with a divine gift. This may be pointless to their desired gameplay (like maybe a perfect wife/husband, or a blessed child, or divine vistas), but (if they're lucky?) a death saving throw, which should be a rare gift.

WotC:

  • The LVL 1000, nameless, ancient, supreme being (omni-everything) (should?) needs only about one time-slot per day (more when real novelty comes along) because it hardly needs to think or move at all: it is so ancient it has already established the rules of the universe and only needs to make minor adjustments day to day, like the butterfly effect. If the player is offering "gestures" or "ablutions", this abidance of time-slots could go along with the player for a significant amount of their efforts, as much as their PTY and actual devotion allows, tilting everything in their favor. The problem is for you, the ultimately Game Masters to know what to do. I think in order to play this, you can follow them step by step from on high as the WotC if they are giving complete devotion to the game universe you've built. They need food? You put food in their path. They need equipment, you put a merchant (if they have funds) or alternatives (if you have a better conception hidden in mind) in their path. (Reminiscent of Tom Bombadil and his relationship to Middle Earth...) In this way, you learn something, also. You must keep your "secret" sense of the game universe wisdom separate from theirs (unless you find ways to communicate to them, like through scripture), but ultimately they gain the wisdom of you and you learn from them from your intimate connection to them. But most likely, they aren't that pious. It's just a game, right?
  • Regarding the two views of 2x500 level beings (one gendered, one hierarchical) -- these two views compete for favor, as they share the same 1000lvl of power, so one might be active while the other is dormant.
  • Could think about a tier-based ranking for clerics, as higher-level clerics must teach the methods for them to use it, with consideration of their level. Acolyte (unable to do anything but small-scale individual healings) -> abbot (has a temple) -> bishop (dedicated to service of the gods) -> cardinal (highest authority for the god in question, giving 100% healing to the chosen).
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