Cleric (Templar)

CLASS TRAITS

Role: Leader. You lead by healing and shielding allies with your prayers, and by drawing on divine power to improve your allies’ attacks. Templars lean toward controller as a secondary role, since many of their powers affect multiple foes at once or hinder enemy actions.

Power Source: Divine.

Key Abilities: Strength or Wisdom; Charisma

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail.

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, simple ranged.

Implement: Holy symbols

Bonus to Defense: +2 Will.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12+ Constitution Score.

Hit Points per Level Gained: 5

Healing Surges per Day: 7+ Constitution Modifier.

Trained Skills: Religion. From the class skills list below, choose 3 more trained skills at 1st level.

Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Religion (Int).

Build Options: Battle Cleric, Devoted Cleric, Shielding Cleric.

Class features: Channel Divinity, Healer's Lore, Healing Word, Ritual Casting.

Schooled in religious traditions from childhood, templars wield divine powers entrusted to them through ordination or investiture in the service of a deity. They are expected to further their deity’s interests throughout their lives, aiding all who work in the deity’s name (whether they realize it or not) and opposing any who seek to thwart the deity’s will. Templars try to sway the good people of the world to give honor and worship to the gods by setting an example of courage, understanding, patience, piety, and zeal. Sometimes this is best done through ministering to the needs of the common folk, sometimes by offering advice and counsel to those who hold power in the world, and sometimes by leading the way on bold adventures and inspiring quests. Whenever the faithful are in need, a cleric is called to act.

Templars are not as narrowly focused as warpriests, and they do not specialize in a domain as warpriests do. They draw from a wider variety of cleric powers, simply because such a wide variety of religious orders, priesthoods, and traditions are scattered across the face of the world. However, like warpriests, templars are often skilled, resilient warriors. Their true power lies in the divine magic they command—prayers to heal the injured, protect the weak, and chastise the wicked.

CREATING A CLERIC (TEMPLAR)

BATTLE CLERIC

If you choose to concentrate on melee, you find a good assortment of strikes to your liking. To achieve this build, make Strength your primary score. Make Wisdom your secondary score and assign Charisma as your tertiary score. Make sure to concentrate on powers that work with melee attacks, since these play to your key ability scores.

Suggested Feat: Weapon Focus (Human feat: Action Surge)

Suggested Skills: Diplomacy, Heal, Insight, Religion

Suggested At-Will Powers: righteous brand, priest’s shield

Suggested Encounter Power: wrathful thunder

Suggested Daily Power: avenging flame

DEVOTED CLERIC

With this build, you choose to stand back and concentrate your abilities on keeping your fellow adventurers healthy and optimized. To this end, choose powers that grant bonuses and healing, such as divine glow and beacon of hope. Assign your highest ability score to Wisdom, with Charisma secondary and Strength tertiary. Make sure to concentrate on powers that use Wisdom for attacks, since this is your highest ability score.

Suggested Feat: Channel Divinity feat associated with your deity (Human feat: Human Perseverance)

Suggested Skills: Arcana, Heal, History, Religion

Suggested At-Will Powers: lance of faith, sacred flame

Suggested Encounter Power: divine glow

Suggested Daily Power: beacon of hope

SHIELDING CLERIC

As a shielding cleric, you believe that your place is not to take the fight to the enemy directly, but to bolster allies with your presence. Your prayers lend additional resources to your friends and create opportunities for them to defeat their foes. Yours is a life of leadership through self-sacrifice, ongoing support, and inspiration. You do not seek personal glory, and you take comfort in knowing that your allies couldn’t have succeeded without you.

Wisdom is your most important ability, since the prayers that support your tactics rely on it. Charisma is a vital secondary ability, making many of your prayers more effective. A good Strength is important if you intend to take melee powers. You should select powers that emphasize your role as healer and facilitator.

Class Feature: Channel Divinity (healer’s mercy)

Suggested Feat: Defensive Grace

Suggested Skills: Diplomacy, Heal, Insight, Religion

Suggested At-Will Powers: astral seal, sacred flame

Suggested Encounter Power: bane

Suggested Daily Power: font of tears

CLERIC (TEMPLAR) CLASS FEATURES

CHANNEL DIVINITY

Once per encounter you can invoke divine power, filling yourself with the might of your patron deity. With the divine might you invoke you can wield special powers. You can also learn other uses for this feature; for instance, the divinity feats grant characters with access to the Channel Divinity class feature the ability to use additional special powers.

Regardless of how many different uses for Channel Divinity you know, you can use only one such ability per encounter. The special ability or power you invoke works just like your other powers.

HEALER'S LORE

When you restore hit points to a creature by using a cleric power that has the healing keyword, add your Wisdom modifier to the hit points regained, but only if the healing involves the creature spending a healing surge.

HEALING WORD

You gain the healing word power.

Cleric UtilityHealing Word

You utter a soothing word that mends wounds of the body and spirit.

Encounter (Special)

Healing

Minor Action Close burst 5 (10 at 11th level, 15 at 21st level)

Target: You or one ally in the burst

Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain 1d6 additional hit points.

Level 6: 2d6 additional hit points.

Level 11: 3d6 additional hit points.

Level 16: 4d6 additional hit points.

Level 21: 5d6 additional hit points.

Level 26: 6d6 additional hit points.

Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use this power three times per encounter.

Update (4/21/2011)

Updated to match Class Compendium.

RITUAL CASTING

You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals.

Published in Player's Handbook, page(s) 60, Class Compendium.