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View Full Version : [3.5E] Banjo's Cleric Fix



Xyon
2014-09-15, 11:15 AM
First, I'd like to explain the problem I see with clerics in order to better explain the fixes I am about to propose for them.

1. Curing/Spellcasting, Clerics have some awesome spells available to them, but they are also mainly required for their ability to heal the party, clerics dont need to prepare healing spells because they can convert spells into healing spells. I think this is a problem, I believe healing should be a feature of the class and separate from the other spells a cleric can prepare and cast.

2. Turning undead. Being able to turn undead is great, and certain domains give you the ability to turn other creatures, but not every god is the same, and there may be other creatures considered 'unholy' to your god or alignment, I believe the creatures you turn should not be tied to the domain but of the alignment of your character/god.

I was inspired to make these changes by the DCC RPG, which I have found to be quite fun and exciting, I love what they did with the Cleric, so the changes I have made to the class are similar to what you might see in that game.


class used: cleric from 3.5 players handbook
All stats and abilities are the same except the following changes:

Weapons:
Every cleric gains proficiency with one or two weapons associated with their god even without selecting the domain of war, and every cleric who does select domain of war may select one of their gods weapons to gain the weapon focus feat, and greater weapon focus at level 8.

God Alignment
Each cleric emphasizes and embodies one of the alignments assciated with their god, a cleric's "Blessed Hands" and "Turn Unholy" abilities will be effected based on this choice.
A cleric must choose one of these as the alignment to effect their abilities: Good, Evil, Lawful, Chaotic, Neutral.

If a cleric chooses either Good or Evil: player characters, npc's, and monsters with the same alignment will count as 'same', Neutral will count as 'adjacent' , and the opposite alignment will count as 'opposed'.

If a cleric chooses either Lawful or Chaotic: player characters, npc's, and monsters with the same alignment will count as 'same', Neutral will count as 'adjacent' , and the opposite alignment will count as 'opposed'.

If a cleric chooses Neutral: player characters, npc's, and monsters with True Neutral alignment will count as 'same', with only one Neutral alignment will count as 'adjacent', and zero Neutral alignments will count as 'opposed'.

All spells that are 'cure # wounds', 'inflict # wounds', 'remove #', 'regenerate', 'heal', and 'harm' are removed from the clerics spell list. And replaced by:


Class Ability "Blessed Hands"
The ability "Blessed Hands" may be used to heal allies, harm enemies, remove diseases and conditions, and regenerate limbs. "Blessed Hands" may be used as a standard action any number of times per day as the Cleric is willing to risk.

When using Blessed Hands, the cleric chooses one function from the three posibilities: heal hitpoints, inflict wounds, cure status/regenerate limbs.

When you use Blessed Hands, roll 1d20 + wisdom modifier + ( 1/2 cleric level rounded up), and consult the table below:
Result 1-11 - no effect
Result 12-14 - 1 hit dice
Result 15-17 - 2 hit dice
Result 18-19 - 3 hit dice
Result 20-21 - 4 hit dice
Result 22+ 5 hit dice

When attempting to heal: If the target of the spell is 'same' then +1 hit dice, if 'adjacent' then use the result as is, if 'opposed' then -1 hit dice down to a minimum of 1.

When attempting to harm: If the target of the spell is 'same' then -1 hit dice down to a minimum of 1, if 'adjacent' then use the result as is, if 'opposed' then +1 hit dice .

The resulting number of hit dice are how many dice you roll to heal or harm the target of your blessed hands. The die you roll is the same used to determine the hp gained for the target when they level up, and you may not roll more hit dice than the target has levels, any extra hit dice are lost.

Whem attempting to restore broken limbs and remove conditions from a target:
Broken Limbs are healed by 1 hit dice
Organ damage is healed and diseases are removed by 2 hit dice
Paralysis and poison are removed by 3 hit dice
blindness and deafness are removed, limbs regrown by 4 hit dice.


When you use Blessed Hands and roll a natural 1 to 3, or attempt to heal a character who is 'opposed' or who worships a god that is against your god, or attempt to harm a character who is 'same' or who worships your god or one allied to your god, you gain one or more points of disapproval of your god.

Also, any time you use your powers in a way that your god might disapprove of, or may be a sin to your religion, you gain no less than three and up to ten points of disapproval from your god.

Mark each time you gain disapproval from your god, one or two points of disapproval may result in minor rebukes from your god, requiring material sacrifices and prayer to gain the favor or your god again. Higher levels of disapproval may require you to convert others to your god or lose the ability to use blessed hands and to cast spells for a limited ammount of time.

Gods are fickle so it is up to the DM to determine the 'punishment' required for clerics to regain the favor of their gods based on how much disapproval they have.
But generally 1-3 points is minor
4-6 points is medium
7+ points of disapproval should be considered major rebuke from god and all spellcasting should be removed within 24 hours if the player does not repend and make proper sacrifices.



Class ability "Turn Unholy" to replace 'Turn/rebuke Undead' use the same turning table from turn/rebuke undead, the only change is that more creatures may be turned.

All clerics may turn undead.

Law and Good aligned clerics may also turn demons, devils, chaotic and evil extraplanar creatures, monsters(medusa, basilisk, etc), chaotic humanoids, chaotic dragons, and chaotic or evil elementals

Chaotic and Evil aligned clerics may also turn angels, paladins, lawful dragons, law aligned humanoids, lawful and good extraplanar creatures, and lawful or good elementals

Neutral clerics may also turn mundane animals, demons, devils, monsters(medusa, basilisk,etc), lycanthropes, slimes/molds and other perversions of nature, and neutral elementals.

If you are in an encounter with multiple types of creature available to turn, you must select one type of creature to make your turning attempt against.

If you happen to choose a domain that would normally allow you to turn additional creatures, you may talk to your DM about an optional benefit you might get, but I suggest that if you are using a turning attempt against that type of creature, you gain a bonus to either the highest hit dice of creature you can turn, and to the total turning damage you can turn.