GM's Tip of the Week
Yup, we’re still looking at classes, and we’re up to the Cleric. A more accurate name for the class would probably be ‘Priest’ – cleric and clerk have some very similar roots, after all – but either way, this class is the first one most fantasy gamers will think of when someone says ‘we need a healer!’. That does the class – and the hapless player – few favors, however, as the cleric is capable of far more than just simple healing.
A cleric played to their best advantage can dish out as much punishment as any other spellcaster, while being better armed and armored, and thus capable of also dishing out physical punishment. Being in the front lines, or at the least, just behind them also puts the cleric in perfect range for healing their allies; many healing spells being touch range.
A clever player can mitigate some of that using class abilities and other tricks, but for the most part, an effective healer is going to be right in the middle of everything. A good thing, because an effective healer is also going to have the biggest target on their head next to the effective wizard.
And that’s something a GM should also be remembering; a smart NPC aiming to take out the party is going to try and drop the healers and other casters first, if he can do so without endangering himself. A smart NPC will be keeping his clerics and other healers close, and where possible, not advertising their presence, for exactly the same reasons. This will keep a party thinking, but probably should not be completely foolproof… depending on the NPC.
Now, outside of healing, a cleric can call upon the servants and allies of the gods, put down – or raise – the dead, and generally wreak havok on That Which Should Not Be – if set up right.
Most will have a focus; you might have a devoted healer, a Hunter of the Damned (an actual PrC, in 3.5e), a Caller of the Host, or a hundred other variants that may or may not be what pops into someone’s head when their friend says, ‘I want to play a cleric!’.
I’ve played devoted healers. I’ve also built a cleric based largely around social combat and generally being conniving and sneaky, and seen some truly devastating builds that, admittedly, didn’t work so well for the games being run. They were, nevertheless, very interesting and effective. I’ve played a Hunter of the Damned; both in the PrC sense (weirdest character I’ve ever played) and in the general ‘built to implode undead in general’ sense.
They can be, and should be played as the complex, versatile class that they are, and not simply dropped into the heal-bot box just because they can do that.