Cleric
Foundations | |
Required Abilities | Wis, Per, San |
Axiom | Disciple |
Affinity | Divine |
Spell Casting | Kno |
Spell Attack | Wis |
Saving Throws | Con, Wis, San |
Hit Dice | D8 |
HP @ Lvl 1 | Your Con Modifier + 1d## or #. |
HP @ Higher Lvls | Your Con Modifier + 1d## / Level After 1st |
Introduction
1500 years ago, one God struck another God with a closed fist and set off a War that lasted for five hundred years and wiped out over 99% of all human life on the planet. Sides were taken, battles were fought, sacrifices made, promises given.
Those who fought in it never had a clear winner – they were interrupted during the last battle, and everything was changed in the span of a single heart’s beat – an entire army was split up and divided and dumped in faraway places. Then the site of that last battle was consumed in a tempest and a torrent and storm that drove the remaining survivors to seek a shelter that seemed far too good to be true.
Uncounted generations had fought and died in the centuries before, all for promises that the survivors then awaited the keeping of. And waited. And waited, as sickness and infection, death and disease raged through them, as things they had once relied on stopped working, and things as simple as a broken bone or a birth could kill where they once had not.
There were four thousand three hundred twenty-one families that survived that. For the previous several hundred years, healing was a miracle that the few who were the most ardent, most true, most dedicated and faithful of those that served the Gods could perform, a benefit and sign of gratitude, and during the century and more that followed that great cataclysm, not one of those people had a gift or a boon or a prayer that would work to ease the suffering or help the hurt.
They were Priests, and the Gods had vanished. They were hung and beaten and stabbed and tortured. Punishment, desperation, despair, grief.
For one hundred twenty-five years, the mentioning of a Priest was akin to a crime among those who walked the Bitter Road. It was during that Bleak Journey that the people, betrayed, turned against the Gods, and called them Gods no more, and taught their children of the betrayal, and they taught theirs, and the mention of a God was a statement of heresy and so it was that the once Gods became The Powers That Be.
Lost arts, forgotten herbs, trial and error out of desperation, and physics came, but they were never as potent or as powerful as those who once been given that role, that charge. And so, upon finding the place that would become the site of Sibola, there were no gods known, and there was some magic, but was still in its infancy, and healing was gone.
One day, during the construction of Old Sibola, a person was hurt. Some say it was a broken leg, others say an arm, some say it was a broken back. What it was doesn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that a young woman named Hama came to the worker and she laid her hands upon him, and she asked for what she thought was her imaginary friend Kybele to help her, and Kybele did.
Hama was the very first Cleric. Clerics came before the new Priests, before the shrines, before the paladins. Always chosen, always called, always a little off in the head, for they hear a voice that only others attuned to the divine can hear.
Role
Proficiencies | |
Skills (Pick 2) | History, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Theology, Counsel, Diplomacy, and Religion |
Spell Proficiency | Simple, Rudimentary, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert |
Armor Training | Standard, Light, Shield |
Weapon Training | Simple, Common |
In the ages since, there have been many kinds of Priests, but only three of them are granted power to serve, and all are chosen for their roles long before they come to be known for it.
Some say that the worst part is that a Cleric never really has a choice – they are chosen by the Power they serve. The Power you choose will be the one that chose you when you were but an infant, and marked you in some way, with a symbol called a Wyrde. Which is not to say that all of those so marked become clerics – some, out of spite, will refuse – and struggle to not hear the voice until it quiets and the Wyrde fades and they earn either enmity or dismissal, depending on the Power. And pray a new power does not choose them.
Some families are so ashamed of having a child so marked that they would send the child to a temple, to be raised in an orphanage, or they will hide the mark if they can, or they will cloister the child. Some will celebrate and encourage the child and show them off at the first and every opportunity. There are many different ways it is handled, but one thing remains: the Child is usually on a first name basis with a power, who is always their friend, and will often appear to them and bring comfort and affection and even gifts.
Clerics and Shrinewards are the primary tools of the Powers That Be, with an ironclad mission to attend to the faithful, grow the faith, and baptize for their Power as many people as they can. Only Clerics and Shrinewards have the capability to perform the Ceremony spells that are essential for both them and the Powers that they serve. So it is that Clerics are in competition with each other, and the prize is the ability to help a given person and their close, personal friend that often only they can see.
The vast majority of Clerics spend their time and do their service at the Temple of the Power they Serve, and it is indeed a service to them, and to the people they have taken under their care. There are genuine benefits to being one of the Faithful for a given Power, and while most will straight away point to the benefit of having access to healing, there are other things. A marriage that is done under a Ceremony has binding power, and a celebrated birth can come with blessings, and at death a powerful Cleric can overcome even the bonds of the Cycle and restore those who have not lived their full allotment of five spans to life.
But not everyone trusts clerics, and the vast majority of people look on them with suspicion and inherited anger or distrust. This is what Clerics must overcome, and it is an absolute must, for they cannot heal those who are not baptized to their power, nor will many of their boons serve those who do not follow their power.
Most of those Clerics who serve in a Temple or Shrine or Manse are not cut out for the rigors of the road, the dirt and the blood and the need to protect the faithful that comes with the duty to attend to them; are not up for the threats, the uncovering of secret plots, and, most of all, the aid and succor of those who could become faithful if they can be convinced of the choice.
Unlike most folks, Clerics can only serve one Power. They can only be baptized to a single power – while most folks can be baptized to more than one, they never can. Even paladins can come to serve more than one.
Those Clerics who do tend to find themselves sent or drawn to the Adventurer’s Guild where they sign up to go out into the world itself, knowing that they are now Special even among the Special, and will always have a place to rest and recuperate within a Temple or Shrine or manse, as their Power so wills it. This often creates friction between those Clerics within the Temples and Shrines and Manses, and those who are out in the world – but not nearly as much friction as can come from a Cleric whose Domain is counter to another’s.
The thing that matters is always the threefold mission: Attend to the faithful, Grow the faith, and Baptize for their Power. How the Cleric achieves that is usually left very much up to them – but not always. Clerics have been known to walk into a struggling village and been gifted with spells to feed the hungry and cure the sick. They have also been known to walk into a town and been pushed by urge and gut feeling to walk into a home and slay all those there, sometimes without ever once knowing why. For the Powers are real, and they are present, and they do not always desire to be everywhere at once, even if they will always be with their Chosen Ones.
This is what it means to be a Cleric. To serve a Power that is greater than you, and to know that you have a responsibility, and that you can also make them angry and be the target of their ire as easily as the apple of their eye.
Fortes
Divine Presence
Starting at 1st Level, you possess a Divine Presence about you. This presence can, as an action, be extended up to 10 feet per level of the Cleric from your person, centered in a sphere around you.
Boon of Light
At 1st Level, you can shed a bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. The light can be colored as you like. Completely covering you with something opaque blocks the light. The effect ends when you dismiss it as an action. at will, up to five times before needing a long rest. You are the source of the light – be it your halo, aura, or skin.
Turn Fells
At 5th Level, as an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring the Fell, be it Shadow, Nether, or Fae.
Each Fell being of a CR equal to or Lower than your Cleric Level that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
Destroy Fells
At 9th Level, when a Fell being that is one half your Cleric Level or less fails its saving throw against your Turn Fell feature, the creature is instantly destroyed.
Channel Divinity
At 1st Level, having proven yourself through an apprenticeship and now on your own, you gain the ability to channel divine energy directly, using that energy to fuel magical effects. Each time you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which effect to create, and you gain additional effect options at higher levels in this profession.
You can use your Channel Divinity a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
Some Channel Divinity effects require Saving Throws. When you use such an effect from this Class, the DC equals the Spell Save DC from this profession’s Spellcasting feature.
You start with a Divine Spark, which allows you to use your Channel Divinity to heal the badly injured.
As an action, you present your holy symbol and evoke healing energy that can restore a number of hit points equal to your cleric level, increasing by one point per level for each degree of mastery (5 points per level as a Grand Master).
Choose any creatures within 30 feet of you and divide those hit points among them. This feature can restore a creature to no more than half of its hit point maximum. You can’t use this feature on anything which is not alive.
At 5th Level, you gain an additional form of Channel Divinity.
At 9th Level, you gain a 3rd way to channel divinity.
At 13th Level, you gain a 4th way to channel divinity.
At 17th Level, you gain a 5th way to channel divinity.
Divine Boon
Blessing of Battle
At 5th Level, when a creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, you can use your reaction to grant that creature a +1 bonus per degree of mastery to the roll, using your Divine Boon.. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
Blessing of Resistance
Starting at 9th level, when you or a creature within 30 feet of you takes acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, you can use your reaction to grant resistance to the creature against that instance of the damage.
Holy Order
At 13th Level, once per week you can consecrate or deconsecrate an area up to 130 feet in radius from you to your power, effectively sealing it against those who do not follow your Power. Those within will be expelled to the limits. It will endure until it is either deconsecrated or consecrated by an opposing power.
Speaker for the Power
At 17th Level, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
Divine Representation
Divine Strike
At 5th Level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 damage to the target. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus between Long Rests.
At 9th Level, the die becomes 1d8.
At 13th level, the die becomes 1d10.
At 17th level, the die becomes 1d12.
Divine Intervention
At 9th Level, you can call on your deity to intervene on your behalf when your need is great.
Imploring your deity’s aid requires you to use your action. Describe the assistance you seek and roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your cleric level, your deity intervenes. The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate.
If your deity intervenes, you can’t use this feature again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a long rest.
Divine Favor
At 13th level, you can choose 1 person per level of people within 120 feet of you and give them either Advantage or Disadvantage on any rolls in that round. You can only use this once between long rests.
Divine Grace
At 17th level, your call for intervention succeeds automatically, no roll required.
Apprenticeship
Starting Gear | |
Gear | Small Backpack, Tinderbox, Large Sack, 30’ Rope, Waterskin |
Tools or Kit | Priest’s Tools |
Focus | Holy Symbol |
Armor | Any single Standard or Light Armor |
Weaponry | Any 1 Simple or Common bludgeoning melee, any 1 Simple or Common ranged. |
Wealth Bonus | 15 |
Clerics are taught in Cloisters, learning the deeper meanings and particulars of their given Power’s faith, and although all are very similar, there are some small – but of critical importance to the faithful — differences between all of them.
Cloisters are always located in a Temple. Each Power has a Temple, somewhere, and it is a very rare and unusual thing for a Cleric in training to be let out of a Temple (though it does happen for special events, always under the watchful eye of a Chaplain – be they a Curate, Domina, or Vicar.
Cloisters are segregated spaces, by gender, and in the case of some Powers there is only one gender allowed. They are not segregated by heritage or homeland, however – people of all sorts are chosen, and they all ear the mark. Each Chaplain is responsible for up to eight young Clerics, and may or may not be a Cleric, themselves, but they are always a Priest. They are responsible for educating them in the finer points of dogma and practice, rite and ritual, and it is from them that the assorted and critically important Ceremonies are learned.
Each group of eight tends to learn together, and they will all be clerics, sometimes sharing the stories of how the Power spoke to them, and coming to understand together the role they are to play and the way that they will serve the Power that chose them.
The Temples are not located in Every city. Temples are only located in some locations. The list of locations for Temples where training happens follows.
Akadia | Ululani | Melane | Sibola | Mansa | Antelle |
Aztlan | Tamasin | Lamia | Sea Realms | Ululani | Gallae |
Dorado | Kybele | Paria | Kahokia | Quetza | Gallae |
Durango | Mansa | Antelle | Hyboria | Gaea | Antelle |
Lyonese | Vulcana | Lamia | Antilia | Gaea | Paria |
Qivira | Tamasin | Melane | Exilian | Exilian do not have temples | |
Thus, a Cleric of Mansa will have been trained in Sibola or Durango only. A Cleric of Kybele will have been trained in Dorado. A Cleric of Melane will have trained in Akadia or Qivira. A Cleric of Antelle will have trained in Durango, Sibola, or Hyboria.
Temples are distinct spaces from Shrines. A Cleric may be able to enter any shrine of their Power, but it is not a temple, and the ground therein is that of the Shrinewards. Shrines can be found nearly anywhere, and Clerics are always welcome in them, just as Shrinewards are always welcome in Temples – but there is competitive aspects to it at the higher ranks (Bishops officially see themselves as above the Shrinewardens, but the Powers don’t particularly care).
Clerics are shockingly powerful foes, despite not normally beign given to combat. It is often a surprise to those incarnates who remark on such that they are both so often looked upon with derision, yet are so greatly in demand.
Aspects
Orders
Clerics are cautioned against making enemies for their Powers at all times. One of the major aspects to this is that Clerics do not generally learn Orders, as they are not taught in the Cloisters.
Clerics can choose to specialize in any single bludgeoning weapon.
At 1st Level, you can choose one First Order.
Precepts
At 3rd Level, you can choose one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 7th Level, you can choose one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 11th Level you can choose one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 15th Level you can choose one aspect from the Hieros list, or one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 19th Level you can choose one aspect from the Alumni list, or one aspect from the Hieros list, or one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
Maxims
At 4th Level, you can cast the Ceremony spell once per day per day degree of mastery without any cost in Mana.
At 8th Level, you can choose one Dedicated Maxim.
At 12th Level you can choose one Persistent Maxim or one Dedicated Maxim.
At 16th Level you can choose one Zealous Maxim or one Persistent Maxim or one Dedicated Maxim.
At 20th Level you can choose one Absolutist Maxim or one Unyielding Maxim or one Zealous Maxim or one Persistent Maxim.
Esoterica
At 2nd Level, you can choose one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 6th Level, you can choose one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 10th Level, you can choose one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 14th Level, you can choose one aspect from the Hieros list, or one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
At 18th Level, you can choose one aspect from the Alumni list, or one aspect from the Hieros list, or one aspect from the Member list, or one aspect from the Initiate list, or one aspect from the Postulant list.
Mysteries
Affinity | Axiom | Cipher | Manifestation | Orgone |
Divine | Disciple | 
| Motes | Mantra |
Affinity Score | Axiom Score | Spell | Spell Book | Focal |
Wisdom | Knowledge | Prayer | Apocrypha | Holy Symbol |
Spell Level | Spell Point Cost | Actions to Cast |
Cantrips / 0 | 1 | 1 |
1 Level Spells | 3 | 1 |
2 Level Spells | 5 | 2 |
3 Level Spells | 8 | 2 |
4 Level Spells | 12 | 3 |
5 Level Spells | 14 | 3 |
6 Level Spells | 17 | 4 |
7 Level Spells | 19 | 4 |
8 Level Spells | 21 | 5 |
9 Level Spells | 25 | 5 |
Clerics gain the ability to channel a new divinity at each degree of Mastery. They can also choose, much unlike their magically less capable Priest brethren, which spells they are given – provided the Power they Serve allows it. Powers have been known to randomly change the spell that a Cleric has in their head, but always for a reason that they expect will become apparent to the Cleric within the day.
At 1st Level, you gain 1 Simple Divine Mystery.
At 5th Level, you gain either 1 Rudimentary Divine Mystery, OR 1 Simple Divine Mystery.
At 9th Level, you gain either 1 Intermediate Divine Mystery, OR 1 Rudimentary Divine Mystery, OR 1 Simple Divine Mystery.
At 13th Level, you gain either 1 Advanced Divine Mystery, OR 1 Intermediate Divine Mystery, OR 1 Rudimentary Divine Mystery, OR 1 Simple Divine Mystery.
At 17th Level, you gain either 1 Expert Divine Mystery, OR 1 Advanced Divine Mystery, OR 1 Intermediate Divine Mystery, OR 1 Rudimentary Divine Mystery, OR 1 Simple Divine Mystery.
Mana Stored & Spells Per Level
Complexity -> | Mana Stored | Simple | Rudimentary | Intermediate | Advanced | Expert | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mastery | Level | Cantrip | 1st Level | 2nd Level | 3rd Level | 4th Level | 5th Level | 6th Level | 7th Level | 8th Level | 9th Level | |
Novice | 1 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||
2 | 25 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
3 | 37 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
4 | 50 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
Yeoman | 5 | 62 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
6 | 75 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
7 | 87 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
8 | 100 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
Adept | 9 | 112 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
10 | 125 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
11 | 137 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
12 | 150 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||
Master | 13 | 162 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
14 | 175 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
15 | 187 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||
16 | 200 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
Grand Master | 17 | 212 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
18 | 225 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
19 | 237 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
20 | 250 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
Proficiencies
At 2nd Level, you gain 2 proficiency slots.
At 6th Level, you gain 2 proficiency slots.
At 10th Level, you gain 3 proficiency slots.
At 14th Level, you gain 2 proficiency slots.
At 18th Level, you gain 2 proficiency slots.
Ability Score Increases
At 3rd Level, You gain 2 points.
At 7th Level, You gain 2 points.
At 11th Level, You gain 3 points.
At 15th Level, You gain 2 points.
At 19th Level, You gain 1 point.
Leveling Table
Level | Mastery | Prof Bonus | Skill | Forte | ASI | Maxims | Precepts | Mysteries | Orders | Esoterica |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Novice | 0 | Yes | Simple | First | |||||
2 | 0 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
3 | 0 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
4 | +1 | Yes | Rudiments | |||||||
5 | Yeoman / Doyen | +1 | Yes | Second | ||||||
6 | +1 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
7 | +1 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
8 | +2 | Yes | Medial | |||||||
9 | Adept | +2 | Yes | Third | ||||||
10 | +2 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
11 | +2 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
12 | +3 | Yes | Advanced | |||||||
13 | Master | +3 | Yes | Fourth | ||||||
14 | +3 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
15 | +3 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
16 | +4 | Yes | Expert | |||||||
17 | Grand Master | +4 | Yes | Fifth | ||||||
18 | +4 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
19 | +4 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
20 | +5 | Yes |
