So, in a putative DFD Clerics, what kind of things would you need?
Fighting Cleric - essentially, a bridge between the spellcasting of the Cleric and the fighting of the Holy Warrior. Not quite so dedicated to fighting a single type of creature - save that for Holy Warriors and a spellcasting-oriented Holy Warrior - but still more dedicated to combat. You'd want to give them access to more of the advantages that really cause the have/have not split of DF - Extra Attack, possibly Weapon Master (I'd lean to no, but still, it's possible), Combat Reflexes, Enhanced Block, Enhanced Dodge, and Enhanced Parry.
You'd still want significant spellcasting, or you're just a Holy Warrior.
Holy Caster - a cleric that even further de-emphasizes physical combat. Lower ST, DX and HT unchanged, and higher IQ, with extra points available for spells and holy abilities.
Holy Might Cleric - not every cleric needs a lot of spells. This variant would reduce the points in spells and increase those in Holy Might. A minimum investment in Holy Might skills - probably 20 points - would go a long way to making them distinctive.
A lens wouldn't be out of place, either:
Hammer of God - add Higher Purpose and foe-specific skills to a cleric lens, allowing for anti-undead, anti-demon, and anti-evil cleric focused clerics.
I think this might be a hard sell, given DF7. But still, there is a lot that DF7 did not cover that the DFD series did. Lessons learned and all of that - it's why DFD: Swashbucklers covers more ground than DFD: Barbarians. Sean leaned from what I did well and what in retrospect I could have included but did not. So it's possible a DFD: Clerics could work. If Pyramid was still around, it would be a fun article.
I think as soon as Weapon Master becomes a consideration the book would need to become DFD: Clerics & Holy Warriors with the whole continuum from Holy Caster to Evil-resistant Knight.
ReplyDeleteDivine Favor as a Holy Might alternative would also be ported from Pyramid. (My favorite munchkin plan is a Beautified-Ogre-Elder-Spawn-Initiate. No skill but tanks like biphase carbide, can slip through SM 0 gaps, has bottomless healing with Flesh Wounds and the Share Vitality spell, and Sermonize works on townsfolk. This is the super synergistic Ogre.)
What did you play, the Half card that lets you be multiple races?
DeleteI think you're right about WM - and even then, I'd want to restrict it somehow. Once Holy Warrior is "knight + holy powers" it's really kind of undercutting the knight. However a full-spectrum book covering those two related templates would probably be the way to go. But again, DF7 limits the need somewhat.