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Cleric

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Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

What is not emphasized in the above description is that fact that a Cleric is the only class that is the closest to being a Fighter/Magic-User without multiclassing. They have a huge range of spells, all of which are not effected by armor and so they can protect them selves in battle far better than other magic users. In addition they have very good hit points (1d8 for the Cleric compared to the Sorcerer or Wizard's 1d4 per level), the use of shields and some weapons. These special considerations shatter the stereotype of a Cleric as a priestly type in a long robe handing out alms for the poor. Players must also include the crusader in full plate as an archetype of a Cleric.

Making the Best Cleric

To the Cleric Wisdom is the most important ability. Do not consider being a cleric just to make a good fighter as they are mighty fighters indeed, but can never match the class Fighter. The big advantage of being a Cleric is being to access a selection of very powerful spells and the ability to turn Undead. For that you need to spend some of creation points on raising your Wis as much as you can. It depends, as always on what sort of character you want to create of course, but if you choose the divine path when you are making your character then you must be willing to use points to make your Wis high enough to be granted high-level spells. As with the Bard if you have a 11 Wis you have access to 1^st level spells (12 for 2^nd level spells etc.)

Something to keep in mind is the choosing of your characters deity. Each deity has Domains which will grant the Cleric additional abilities. These Domains (Good, Law, War, Earth, Protection, Luck etc) can further individualize your character from other Classes and indeed, other Clerics. Having a good idea of what your character is when you are making him or her should making the selection of what Domains that much easier.

The other important ability to consider is Cha. Cha is used to determine how many times per day a Cleric can try to turn undead and how powerful His or her effect is. Normally a character get to attempt three turns a day plus his or her Cha modifier. For example if you have a Cha of 12 your modifier is +1 and thus you get an additional turn undead account per day. Depending on how much you wish focus on this ability you should consider how many points you put into Cha when you create your character.

The other thing to consider is taking advantage of the fighter side of the Cleric. Since Wis is the only class specific ability you need to worry about when you are creating your Cleric it is a good idea to think about how you want to focus on the fighter elements of being a Cleric. For example, you get to cast spells while wearing armor with not penalty like the Bard, so you nee not worry about taking heavier armor for better protection.

• Hit Die: d8
• Proficiencies: All simple weapons, all armor, and shields
• Skill Points (x4 at 1st level): 2 + Int Modifier
• Spellcasting: Divine (Wisdom based, armor-related chance of spell failure is ignored)

Skills

The use of the skill Heal can save the Cleric from using his spells to restore a wounded companion. The Heal skill, used with a Healing Kit can also have a chance of curing diseases and poisons without resorting to spells. A Cleric is advised to study the Heal skill in order to save his or her spells for more dire situations.

A player will also notice that the Parry Skill is also available for study. If the Cleric is hurt or dead he or she cannot aid the party and so it is important that the Cleric know when being defensive is better than being offensive in combat. Sometimes the most important contribution to a party for a Cleric is simply staying alive.

Class Skills (skill descriptions):

• Concentration
• Diplomacy: Persuade
• Heal
• Hide
• Lore*
• Parry*
• Spell Craft

*Notes:

Lore can be considered a subset of the Dungeons & Dragons® Knowledge skill.

Parry is a Neverwinter Nights skill. It is not a part of the Dungeons & Dragons® game experience but is a necessary part of the Aurora Engine technology.

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