Killing the Cleric (Probably Not The last Cleric post after all)

Well, I arrived at that decision surprisingly quickly. And it was like a weight off my shoulders when I did.

As you know, or at least can see from five minutes in my archives, I've thrown away days of my life researching and trying to come up with a religious framework that is not Crystal Dragon Jesus, but adequately leaves room for the spells and class features typical of the cleric, which is loaded down with a lot of implicitly-middle-class-American-Christian ideas about both gods and holy men. Some may enjoy that, and far be it from me to condemn them, but for me it always seemed a little... intellectually lazy. So I had some cognitive dissonance to work through.

It has been less of a challenge and more of a vexation, frankly.

So, I got to thinking, something has to give, either I have to learn to stop worrying and love Crystal Dragon Jesus, or I need to stop trying to fit his vaguely-cross-shaped peg into my round fantasy hole. Apart from which, I think it's just not terribly compatible with my largely non-theistic (though not atheistic) take on the world... not to sound hidebound of course, but I just do not give a damn about the existence or worship of gods one way or another, and there's nothing worse for a story than not giving a damn about its subject material.

There is something that does come a little more naturally to me though, in terms of the human relationship with forces that are, by and large, beyond it: the sort of "virtuous pagan" attitude that seems to come standard for the good guys in Tolkien. Of course I come to it for different reasons-- him writing an intentionally Catholic work, and me, as I said, just plain not being arsed about gods in the first place. But that same sort of attitude-- reverence toward nature/the universe, song, belief in good and courage and stuff... that I can write for. Now, a druid (in the fantasy sense of the term, at least) or a witch, I think, can reconcile easily with that worldview, but not so much a cleric.

I think, despite my initial reservations, that just passing most of the spells that aren't already duplicated over to the Magic-User is probably a good start. Particularly if I just go with Wound Points and Vitality Points-- I think VP/WP reduces some of the burden on spellcasters to always have healing prepped (especially if healing only works on WP) because VP regenerates comparatively quickly.

The big mechanical problem I found myself stuck on, then, was what to do about the other vital function of clerics, the one which Mike Mornard and his friends originally demanded the creation of the Cleric for: Turn Undead. I've seen some retroclones make it a spell as well (usually a 2nd level one), but I wasn't sure if that was the best option. But I was concerned both from a gameplay perspective (that making it a spell might make it too scarce comparatively, making undead particularly nasty and killer opponents), and a thematic perspective (just what is the spell doing?).

To be honest I sort of always thought of it being like the "True faith" feat or advantage in many other RPGs... which... honestly doesn't make much sense given that paladins tend to be both more zealous in general and less effective at turning. Of course there's the 3.5 answer: that it's somehow channeling a positive energy that's anathema to undead... but the check for it is weird, in that case, isn't it?

But then... the fact that Energy Drain is one of those other things that just bugs me means undead lose a bit of their teeth in the first place, maybe I don't need Turn Undead so badly. So that was it. Kill the Cleric, pass on its spells to the Magic-User. My life is simpler now.

Of course this doesn't mean there isn't religion, but ditching the character class explicitly focused upon it means there's less of an obligation on my part to try to force together something that isn't crypto-Christian but where there's still somehow a militant order of priests that use maces and wear armor and heal and part the ocean and scare the undead and stuff. If I need priests or a temple for a story, or even if I have a player who wants a religiously-inclined character, I can make up something that works for the scenario I want to provide or the story they want to tell. And that's... extremely liberating.

The Cleric: a gamepiece

Regular readers of this blog (All five of you) are aware that the existence of the Cleric (and what sort of religion she might belong to other than the to-me-unsatisfying choice of Fantasy Pseudo-Christianity #326?) is something with which I often grapple. Some might ask why I bother, when instead I could just drop the silly thing from my worlds altogether and save a lot of hassle. To them I would say that it is because I think of D&D mainly as a game, with the classes being different kinds of pieces. Therefore, I am concerned with the unforeseen impact on gameplay that might be had by either denying the functions it provides, or shunting them off to another character class-- most likely the Wizard/Magic-User. Frankly this is mostly just a ramble, but it seems that something or other has to give eventually. Will I stop worrying and learn to love Crystal Dragon Jesus? Will I just kick the cleric to the curb? It remains to be seen.

Went on a shopping spree...

I have procured Beyond The Wall and Other Stories (finally) and Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. Will have more to say as soon as done reading them. Mostly, though, I'm glad to be finally tasting the OSR's flavors of the month, the better to mine them for stuff.

ETA 11/26: Well, I was going to, but then I got distracted, because Doctor Who.

They have a Cave Troll...

Troll, Cave

Armor Class: 18
Hit Dice: 7*
No. of Attacks: 2 claws/1 bite or 1 weapon/1 bite
Damage: 1d6/1d6/1d10 or by weapon/1d10
Movement: 40'
No. Appearing: 1d8, Wild 1d8, Lair 1d8
Save As: Fighter: 7
Morale: 10 (8)
Treasure Type: D
XP: 735

Evolutionary cousins of the more widespread forest troll and scrag, or river troll, cave trolls, sometimes known as mountain trolls, are easily distinguished from their brethren by their grey, lumpy skin, bulkier frame, and diminished noses. Cave trolls lack the feral cunning of their cousins, though they have a somewhat greater aptitude for (extremely rough) speech and tool use, often brandishing heavy branches or even crude spears in battle. Although like all trolls they are fast healers, a cave troll's wounds mend in hours rather than minutes, and it has no affinity for regrowing lost appendages. Its primary means of defense instead lies in its extremely thick, rubbery skin, which is studded with rock-hard osteoderms like those of an Ankylosaur. So well-protected is a cave troll's hide that nothing short of a magic weapon can pierce it (though like all trolls, fire and acid have also proven deadly to them). Cave trolls also fear the sun, and are scrupulously nocturnal, for it is their greatest weakness. Exposing a cave troll to direct sunlight disorients it: It can act for only one round and is turned to stone in the next round if it cannot escape. Use the morale value in parentheses if a cave troll is confronted with fire, acid, or bright lights (at least the equivalent of a Continual Light spell). Cave trolls stand ten feet tall (when they manage to straighten up to their full height) and commonly reach a ton or more in weight.

Stats given are for BFRPG, but I'm sure you know how to convert the parts that need converting for your system of choice.

Aventures in the East Mark Explorer

So Adventures in the East Mark, which recently kickstarted its English release, offered a preview of its Explorer class, which I downloaded today. Rangers happen to have been my favorite class for as long as I've been playing D&D, but the AD&D interpretation of them never quite rubbed me right. But I remain fond of the concept and whenever I see that someone has a take on them, I like to give it a look. This time around, I think I like what I see and I may just use it next time I have need of a ranger. They don't seem to have included attack or save tables for it in the preview, though. I figure, just on eyeballing, that Cleric attack tables and Fighter saves would probably be fair. But if anyone's got it already (either the translation or the original Spanish release) and wants to correct my guess, that would be great too.

Back on the horse

Okay, so a few days ended up being more like... a month. So sue me, it's been kind of a difficult fall for me. What else is new?

I've been rolling around the idea of a Wizard Without Spells in the vein of Talysman's Cleric Without Spells for a while now, but the going is a little slow. For some reason spells as specific, repeatable programs with a single function is one of those D&Disms that does get tiresome for me now and then. I dunno, I'd like to try out something a little different when it comes to magic.If anyone still reads this and has suggestions for products or blog posts or whatever I should look at, let me know.

Literary Cleric Answer key

Sorry I haven't been posting more, I've just had stuff on my mind that's upset me too much to think much about gaming. I might be a few more days before I feel up to a more substantial post, but we shall see. Here's the answers for my last post.

1. Eli, The Book of Eli
2. Saint Walker, Green Lantern
3. Brutha, Small Gods
4. Shepherd Book, Firefly
5. Friar Tuck
6. Claude Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
7. Cardinal Richelieu, The Three Musketeers
8. The Undertaker-- specifically as he was portrayed in the late 90s "Ministry of Darkness" angle
9. The High Sparrow/Septon, A Song of Ice and Fire
10. Scar, Fullmetal Alchemist
11. Monsignor Martinez, King of the Hill
12. Mightily Oats, Discworld
13. Aang, Avatar: The Last Airbender
14. Durkon Thundershield, Order of the Stick
15. Joshua "The Burned Man" Graham, Fallout New Vegas
16. The Impressive Clergyman, The Princess Bride
17. The Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder
18. Thulsa Doom, Conan the Barbarian (the Ahnuld one)
19. Jaela Daran, Eberron Campaign Setting
20. Yuna, Final Fantasy X