Please change my views on classes

[Bluydee]

I just realized that whenever I think of cleric, I think of a fat bearded dwarf with a mace and hammer in a silky satin white robe that is see-through.

By god, help me.

Likewise, anyone else picture classes as a quintessential character encompassing every time you think about them?

[The Oni]

Well, a Cleric is just a representative or agent of their gods. A cleric of Sune is usually a sexy priestess (or priest) who can sing or play instruments. A cleric of Nethys is usually a bit scholarly and might use arcane magic too. A cleric of Zon-Kuthon probably looks somewhere between Anton LaVey and a cenobite. So yeah, your cleric is probably gruff and dwarfy if they follow a gruff and dwarfy kind of god, but everything else is a crapshoot.

[Silvanoshei]

I would take a look at this to totally remove yourself from dwarf beard THIS (http://www.leewiart.com/userfiles/upload/exresmodule/resdetail/390/ff89882ffda1429114e32eedf74ce83f_org.jpg)

[The Oni]

On the other hand, I'm laughing my ass off at the idea of you playing a game with a sexy Sune cleric doing Perform (dance) to seduce someone and you imagining the aforementioned dwarf.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Redcloak, Malack, and Durkon from Order of the Stick
The Grammaton Clerics (http://www.equilibriumfans.com/SetB-shamus-Gunkata1.JPG) from Equilibrium
Thulsa Doom (http://tragicocomedia.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/thulsa-doom-1.jpg) from Conan the Barbarian
Mola Ram (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_dE2sbCPSw/TVmbp8lYPfI/AAAAAAAAB9E/zenX_gaTXbA/s1600/mola-ram%2Bcopy.jpg) from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

[Coidzor]

I just realized that whenever I think of cleric, I think of a fat bearded dwarf with a mace and hammer in a silky satin white robe that is see-through.

By god, help me.

Likewise, anyone else picture classes as a quintessential character encompassing every time you think about them?

There's a story here, given that the image of dwarves so often is that they may or may not be naked underneath all of that leather, chain mail, and armor plating they tend to wear. I think we need to hear it in order to understand the full extent of the problem.

My go-to image of a Cleric is generally your stereotypical Pelorite, really. Morningstar in hand, big old Sun Face on their tabard, some variety of impractically shiny armor underneath, probably a shield festooned with another Pelor Face, Pelor-faced holy symbols around their neck, Pelor-faced kneepads, Pelor, Pelor...

Hmm. Not really, though I suppose when I think of what a Paladin *should* be, I tend to think of Rakeesh Sah Tarna from Quest for Glory 2/3/5 and the path the player goes down when they choose to play a Paladin in QFG 2-5.

[TSED]

You know those empty paper doll type things that you are supposed to draw on to personalize? That's what I see classes as.

Rogues are stereotypically pretty lithe, but if you're low level a hulking thug with power attack and sneak attack is hilarious. Sure, almost every wizard is scrawny, but there's a huge difference between bookworm scrawny and classic punk scrawny. So on and so forth.

Don't try to think of a class as a built-in character. It's a chassis, and a character is to be defined afterwards. That's your job as the player (or the DM if it's an NPC).

Your cleric example: why is it a dwarf? Why can't it be... oh, a half orc? Grim and dirty and hairy and wearing pitch white satin robes. Why can't the dwarf be wearing... studded leather? He might have the travel domain, after all. Or maybe he's immaculately groomed and is one of those Sune-worshippers himself? Or maybe he's just a putrid mess because he's busy worshipping some god of filth and disease. Maybe he's super decadent and wears white 'robes' (really more like bedsheets or ship sails) because he's morbidly obese and nobody wants to bother fitting him for armour (he's not going to walk out onto the field anyway). So on and so forth. A dwarf cleric wearing white robes can lead to so many different interpretations.

A class is a chassis. If you're superimposing things before they're clearing stated, but you recognize that you are, it should be easy enough to fix.

[Summerstorm]

Eh, you can always play against type too. Might not always be that effective (D&D rewards overspecialization a bit too much for my taste), but fun.

My first character was a Sorcerer (and i took one Level of Fighter). But i had rolled well and so he had 16 Str, 14 con/dex/int - and he ran around with mithril chainmail, Dastana's and such without being a battle-sorcerer murdering dudes with a greatsword, duelling dudes and being badass in low-level.

Or my first rogue was... a Minotaur with maxed int. He pretty much screamed "SNEAK ATTACK" while attacking with a monkey-gripped huge Falchion.

All fun if not really "powerful" characters.

Regarding Clerics: I still can't accept them running around in plate smiting **** - Those dudes are Paladins or some other kind of holy warriors. For me the normal cleric is the cloistered cleric variant. Can't shake that off either. (A Cleric is trained, learned and charismatic - if a bit preachy and not a dude with a hammer smiting crap)

[Eldariel]

Regarding Clerics: I still can't accept them running around in plate smiting **** - Those dudes are Paladins or some other kind of holy warriors. For me the normal cleric is the cloistered cleric variant. Can't shake that off either. (A Cleric is trained, learned and charismatic - if a bit preachy and not a dude with a hammer smiting crap)

No reason to mix a character and his class tho. The class called "Cleric", after all, has nothing to do with what the character or his order calls himself in-game. It might indeed be that a combat-oriented Cleric might call himself a Paladin or an Avenger or a Knight or whatever. It might even be that some orders carry such titles in spite of not having membership in said classes. And others with different orientation might call themselves Monks, Priests, Sorcerers or so. There is a lot of variety there.