Interesting ideas for a cleric

[Redhood101]

I'm playing in a game of Lost mines of Phandelfer (sorry for misspelling it), and my character just died, dragons man. I've decided I'm gonna make a cleric, and I'm looking for some interesting inspiration for a cool character. I'm not set on the domain yet, but I'm leaning towards arcana or light, but not set yet. Also, no clue about race and gender yet. Basically, all I have I'm gonna be a level 3 cleric.
While a crusading knight is ok, I'm wondering if there are other types of warriors from different cultures that could fit the cleric's role. The DM mentioned before the game started that she wanted to run the game in a western Asian world (she made me change my druid's backstory because racoons aren't in western Asia), but I'm unsure if she's still going for that.
Anyone have any directions I should look for? Any advice for the best domain? Backstory ideas?

Thanks

[Ir0ns0ul]

I always thought about a Death Cleric with some Egyptian vibes like Anubis and etc. Perhaps from some exotic race.

Trickery Domain is also super funny and you can play like a divine burglar or a true chaos agent serving your god.

[GreenDM]

If you go for Arcane, you might want them to be someone that worships a god that brings balance to magic (sometimes called the weave), think like a druid for the arcane. They often use dispel magic to eliminate magical effects to calm the weave and searches for spellbooks to either hide away from the world or give out selectively.

[LudicSavant]

For starters, here are a few possible avenues to explore for RP that doesn't fit into the stereotypical mold for a Life Domain cleric:


You don't just maintain life, you celebrate it. You're an exuberant, fun-loving, thrill-seeking type that seeks to live life to the fullest, and advises others to do the same. Seize every day! Indulge yourself! You actively encourage others to take risks and live a little... after all, you can always fix it if something goes wrong, right?
http://pre04.deviantart.net/acab/th/pre/f/2007/016/5/d/_thieves__by_orenji_kun.jpg

Perhaps you fought in a bloody war, perhaps you made a terrible mistake, or perhaps you were even a villain. Whatever the case, you have taken many lives. You had an epiphany, changed your ways, and came into the service of the god of Life. Now, you have sworn to save as many lives as you have taken, as penance for your past.
https://s8.postimg.cc/u9boj57fp/vde9_XIu.jpg

You speak with divine authority over all life, which must rightfully obey your god's commands (or, as the case may be, Commands). This is a common theme in many ancient myths and religions, so there's a lot to draw inspiration from. Diseases flee the body because you tell the demons they have to move out, and you're relaying a message from the boss. Heck, you might even order someone's blood cells to get back in their body as they're bleeding out.


There is only so much divine magic to go around in the world; not everyone gets a Raise Dead. In your culture, clerics of Life are legally empowered as the chosen arbiters of who lives and who dies.
http://img09.deviantart.net/e0c3/i/2008/211/3/b/radiant_cleric_of_pelor_by_grandanvil.jpg

You are a master strategist; your allies are soldiers who have placed their lives in your hands, willful pieces on your chess board. You are an intelligent, practical, rational, and effective commander. You inspire your allies to get up and keep fighting, and your audacious and devious plans ensure that their bravery is not wasted. Take a look at magnificent bastards (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard) in support class roles, such as Shiroe from Log Horizon.
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/log-horizon/images/d/d8/Shiroe_v7.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/213?cb=20141218033939

You are the complete physician: You seek to cure ailments of the mind as well as the body, and have a broad definition of ailments. Perhaps anger is resolved by justice. Perhaps arrogance is cured by a dose of humility. Perhaps truth is the antidote of lies.


As above, but extended to a cultural scale, with memes being seen similarly to diseases. The evil empire has to fall in order to create a healthier world.
https://s8.postimg.cc/u94s9mb11/e_Ppe_Hi_H.jpg

Life comes in many forms, and goes through many cycles. Death, undeath... these things are just another transition in life, and you are wise in the way of these cycles. After all, nothing stops Life clerics from using Animate Dead or Speak With Dead, and heck, they have many Necromancy spells on their domain list.


Healing goes against the natural order of the world. When you bring someone back from injury or death, you must collect that debt to balance the cosmic scales. You, those you heal, or both must seek to make up for the divine cost of restoration, entering into a karmic pact with the being responsible for doling out salvation.
https://s8.postimg.cc/mge4hsa8l/o_Yw_VMEV.jpg

Death is the greatest tragedy, and mortality is the greatest villain. Your grand calling is to defeat this ultimate foe, or at the very least die trying, for the benefit all. You seek to fight against this great evil at the source... using any and all ways to extend life (including, of course, necromancy), as well as seeking to research or discover any possible ways to extend life... such as tracking down unique kinds of undead to study the way their lives are maintained, or delving into the forgotten secrets of lost civilizations. You will fight against the cosmic cruelties of Time until your bones are ground to dust!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/4e/08/75/4e0875e350f0e9bb9620f87abe92c0ba.jpg

You are a noble, and the lives of your subjects are your sacred charge, by mandate of the nation's chief god. Perhaps it is tradition for the second or third child to enter the priesthood, while the older sibling is prepared to rule (as is the case in some real cultures).
https://s8.postimg.cc/dy4odh6at/9z54a_La.jpg

You are a professional! You believe healers deserve to be compensated for their work just like anyone else, and hire out your services like a shrewd mercenary.
http://orig01.deviantart.net/a14e/f/2012/344/0/9/take_breath_by_tahra-d5nm01v.jpg

You are a champion of sacred mortality, and will defend the life of the material plane from all invasive species... be it angel, demon, aberration, undead, whatever. You are the gatekeeper of humanity. Root out these meddlers out to allow this young form of life to find its own way. Such a character might be an inquisitor, a guardian of an ancient seal, or a champion against a planar invasion.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ab/c3/d8/abc3d83c8ea5b9ab621a9aa6fca5be9f.jpg

Since wounds are far more fixable for you, you have far less compunctions about receiving or inflicting them. It really is just a flesh wound. In some fantasy worlds, even death merely leads to the afterlife. Your ideas of how harmful an action is are rearranged accordingly (inhibitions, taboos, ideals, etc). Maybe you're even a bit reckless as a result. The evils that really get you riled up, then, are more than purely physical. Sticks and stones only break bones, but words can destroy a person's future. Your enemy is agony, slavery, violation, abuse, deception, and anything else that robs life of its dignity.
https://s8.postimg.cc/va50z37jp/gn3s_IL5.jpg

You have no mercy for those who threaten the sanctity of Life. In violating these sacred laws, evildoers remove themselves from the protection of those very laws. To preserve sapient life as a whole, justice demands retribution. A murderer must be destroyed, whether it is an infectious disease, a parasite, or a man.
http://img06.deviantart.net/11e4/i/2004/207/1/1/stereotype_killer.png

There is an uncanny vibrance of life about you. Sometimes, after immense disasters and cataclysms (such as a great volcanic eruption), life energy becomes significantly more powerful amongst the surviving population. Some sages believe this is because there is less competition over supply. You believe that this is because of a divine calling: The goddess of life seeking to restore the balance, and calling you as her champion. As a survivor, you are mandated to go out into the world and save a life for each that was lost.
https://s8.postimg.cc/ez4x2ov11/5a9xq_Eu.jpg

Your divine mission is to strengthen life, in preparation for the inevitable coming of extinction events. The world has gone through several such cycles already, and another is only a matter of time (or perhaps even prophecy). The factions of this world must be toughened and tested to survive extreme conditions, for the greater good of long term survival. Depending on methodology, this could easily be motivation for an anti-villain.


You utilize your awesome divine might to establish dominance. Pretty straightforward; you have a ton of potential for social leverage as a Life cleric, especially in hard times (such as plague / drought / etc).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbwgfJ_JjE

You are... ah, jaded by your long experience as an adventurer.
https://img.ifcdn.com/images/0cde883843ecb4c27fcdb988214d3eda28f9c631dcabd97e6a 04d4c387e3b39d_1.jpg

You are an intimidating giant of a half-orc (or similar race), seemingly out of place in the robes of a humble healer, with hands that seem like they would sooner break a man than mend him. To one whose injuries aren't quite worth a spell slot, you might bodily pick them up off the ground and laughingly tell them to walk it off, for no orc warrior would admit pain from such a little scratch. For more serious matters, you'll leap into a burning building, lift that fallen pillar off a victim yourself, drag them out as if they weighed as much as a child, and snap their broken bones back into place with your bare hands.
https://s8.postimg.cc/ixbzrfeyd/orc_healer_edit.jpg

[Dragonsonthemap]

May I recommend the novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, which contains two pretty cool takes on this that are hard to elaborate on here without explicitly mentioning major world religions.