The Nun’s Priest’s Class: Getting Into Clericking
I’ll get this out of the way to start with, because I’m talking about a class in a roleplaying game, and that means I have to be indignant and angry all the time: I hate the way the cleric works in 5e.
Let me back that up with a few important mechanical starters:
No, no. Play the cleric for the roleplaying aspect -- that’s the true path to happiness. Whelp, that takes some extra doin’ in the world of D&D.
First off (and where we're starting here), what religion? There’s a fun starter. Most people will begin with the simple response of naming a deity from the campaign’s chosen pantheon. But, here’s the issue -- that’s the figure behind the faith, but what’s the cultural quality of the faith itself?
D&D traditionally -- and in the real-world pantheons it chooses to list outside its own fictional set -- works off of the basis of polytheism, and the worship of multiple possible deities through a series of temples. This comports nicely with the idea that you have options of who to worship and that the different divine domains match to an appropriate god/dess for you to worship as a cleric. There’s only one issue here: there’s no explanation, outside of what abstract idea the god/dess is said to have domain over, of how to worship the god/desses. That is, what the actual religious practices entail.
If we model our religions after the Roman traditions (and, in some ways, the Greeks before them), we find a sense of piety very different from the medieval cleric that D&D often envisions. After all, the traditional vision of a cleric is a stalwart, plate-mail-clad defender of the true faith, brandish a holy symbol and beating back the demonic and undead with the verses of the holy text. There’s some issues here. Consider the point of polytheism before. Now consider:
What is the point of all of this? The point here is to start off on the right foot when building a cleric in a game (and building a world that surrounds the cleric): which model of religion are we really working with? Is it graceful, particularly in the Christian sense that D&D so clearly pulled from (*screaming at paladins*)? Does the god/dess provide their strength and aid because they do -- because they are good and love the world (or maybe are the inverse, and are truly cruel and hate simply because *they do*) -- or do we need to consider a transactional model of faith instead? Do the god/desses of the world provide power so that people can -- in the Roman sense -- provide glory back to the god/desses? Do ut des.
If that’s the case -- if grace is not provided (and we’d really need to talk about how that would change the assumed religions of the world -- yeesh) -- then does a spell slot system make even the slightest bit of sense? In a transactional, sacrificial religion, regular reinvestment of power to a mortal would mean that the mortal in question has given something very significant. If that power comes every -- let’s say -- eight hours, then we’re really talkin’ something.
End note: "There are more religions than Rome (earlier) and Rome (later)." Yes! And I'd love to see the models of the cleric and paladin reflect this! "This is all fictional, whatever." Yes! But modeling roleplaying after historical systems allows us to glimpse better into how those systems worked and how we can challenge our own preconceived notions of the world and human nature! "But I like playing cleric, so..." Yes! So do I! Team Moms of the world, unite!
Let me back that up with a few important mechanical starters:
- Divine Intervention is wildly flavorless and contains all the mystery and joy of being thirteen and asking for God to help me pass a math test I didn’t study for. What a rush!
- Spell slot use and progression for clerics more or less make them religion wizards. (jk there *are* religion wizards already.)
- Religion is an Intelligence skill. Let that one sink in for your high WIS/STR/CON build.
No, no. Play the cleric for the roleplaying aspect -- that’s the true path to happiness. Whelp, that takes some extra doin’ in the world of D&D.
First off (and where we're starting here), what religion? There’s a fun starter. Most people will begin with the simple response of naming a deity from the campaign’s chosen pantheon. But, here’s the issue -- that’s the figure behind the faith, but what’s the cultural quality of the faith itself?
D&D traditionally -- and in the real-world pantheons it chooses to list outside its own fictional set -- works off of the basis of polytheism, and the worship of multiple possible deities through a series of temples. This comports nicely with the idea that you have options of who to worship and that the different divine domains match to an appropriate god/dess for you to worship as a cleric. There’s only one issue here: there’s no explanation, outside of what abstract idea the god/dess is said to have domain over, of how to worship the god/desses. That is, what the actual religious practices entail.
If we model our religions after the Roman traditions (and, in some ways, the Greeks before them), we find a sense of piety very different from the medieval cleric that D&D often envisions. After all, the traditional vision of a cleric is a stalwart, plate-mail-clad defender of the true faith, brandish a holy symbol and beating back the demonic and undead with the verses of the holy text. There’s some issues here. Consider the point of polytheism before. Now consider:
- Roman religion was not primarily textual. Texts and writings were important, but the obsession with the text of a religion, rather than its spoken (or rehearsed) truth brought to bear by everyday practice and the pressure of tradition, is very much -- in the Western imagination -- an invention of the monotheists. Instead, Roman religion was based on a mixture of understanding core concepts of law, inherited tradition, and the potential evolution of a previously defined god/dess due to the introduction of a new culture (and its figures) into the empire.
- Roman religion was practical and transactional, not sublime and graceful. (Heed that one: “grace”-ful.) The god/desses gave power to the faithful, because they, in turn, gave respect, adoration, and sacrifices. Too much religious devotion was seen as unnecessary, or even selfish. (Hence, the Roman civil religion was just that -- a cornerstone of civil peace and maintenance.)
- Roman religion was malleable and could change rapidly. To the point: Elagabalus. When’s the last time a pope completely redefined the ontology and identity of God, moved all of the sacred relics, and ballooned the importance of a relatively minor theological aspect to the point of making it the center of worship? (And did all of this in about four years’ time.) What happens when a cleric’s temple is completely reorganized and their patron god/dess is folded into a different cult?
What is the point of all of this? The point here is to start off on the right foot when building a cleric in a game (and building a world that surrounds the cleric): which model of religion are we really working with? Is it graceful, particularly in the Christian sense that D&D so clearly pulled from (*screaming at paladins*)? Does the god/dess provide their strength and aid because they do -- because they are good and love the world (or maybe are the inverse, and are truly cruel and hate simply because *they do*) -- or do we need to consider a transactional model of faith instead? Do the god/desses of the world provide power so that people can -- in the Roman sense -- provide glory back to the god/desses? Do ut des.
If that’s the case -- if grace is not provided (and we’d really need to talk about how that would change the assumed religions of the world -- yeesh) -- then does a spell slot system make even the slightest bit of sense? In a transactional, sacrificial religion, regular reinvestment of power to a mortal would mean that the mortal in question has given something very significant. If that power comes every -- let’s say -- eight hours, then we’re really talkin’ something.
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