This one's about clerics, and going all-in.
Who am I to resist a Prismatic Wasteland prompt? Religion is usually given as little attention as possible at my tables. I
am on-record as saying my inevitable OD&D hack will not feature
clerics, but instead a secret third thing. So yes, I have all the usual misgivings about religion and clerics in elfgames.
Perhaps my biggest problem with clerics is they tend to show up in Generic Fantasy Games. I think out of the core three (or four) classes, clerics suffer the most from generality. We can't fill in the blanks like we can with a fighter or wizard because there are no cultural touchstones for the strange Templar-cum-vampire hunter set before us.
So when do they work for me? When a game doesn't water them down. The first one that springs to mind is the Priest supplemental class in Outcast Silver Raiders, there's some nice specificity about a deity revoking spells in there. And it got me thinking, what would my specific cleric look like? How would I go all-in?
Let's Get Clerical, Clerical
Why do clerics just get their spells? The answer in most OSR games is, "magic-users must learn them, clerics must earn them." They seem to do that most often by simply... reaching level 2. How boring! If clerics are the righteous vessels through which a deific entity enacts its will upon the world, then faith should be something they do.
Prismatic Wasteland's blog about clerics states, "Magic must always be dangerous, whether arcane or divine." What if that danger was front-loaded? What if a cleric had to face personal risk or responsibility to get each and every spell their deity granted them?
Well, if we used first level OSE spells, maybe it'd look like this:
Cure (Cause) Light Wounds
Seek no aid for a grievous wound, having only faith that it will heal.
Detect Evil
Raise not your hand when an evil act befalls you, and witness fully a hate-filled heart unbound.
Detect Magic
Allow the arcane to wash over you, unresisted, and may you know it well.
Light (Darkness)
Let faith be your light in the dark, blindfold yourself from all other sources.
Protection From Evil
Stride into danger armored only in your faith.
Purify Food and Water
Spend all your riches and a week of your time feeding the poor.
Remove (Cause) Fear
Go where none would dare tread, alone.
Resist Cold
Provide shelter to one without, that they may know the warmth of body and spirit.
i really enjoyed these! particularly how the second-to-last one makes perfect sense as both a way to remove and cause fear. the reversed spells are really clever!
ReplyDeletethank you! my first draft had entries for the reversed spells but then i was like, wait that's unnecessary if the requirement bestows an understanding of the subject
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