Cleric
The handiwork of the gods is everywhere—in places of natural beauty, in mighty crusades, in soaring temples, and in the hearts of worshipers. Like people, gods run the gamut from benevolent to malicious, reserved to intrusive, simple to inscrutable. The gods, however, work mostly through intermediaries—their clerics. Good clerics heal, protect, and avenge. Evil clerics pillage, destroy, and sabotage. A cleric uses the power of his god to make his god’s will manifest. And if a cleric uses his god’s power to improve his own lot, that’s to be expected, too.
Homeland: Clerics can be found in all kingdoms, as the gods have their celestial hands in all areas of the world. Many go to Sabaku and Teikoku as these kingdoms are frequently war-torn - there are many soldiers needing healing on battlefields.
Adventures: Ideally, a cleric’s adventures support his god’s causes, at least in a general way. A good cleric, for example, helps those in need. If, through noble acts, he can improve the reputation to his god or temple, that’s even better. An evil cleric seeks to increase his own power and that of his deity, so that others will respect and fear both. Clerics sometimes receive orders, or at least suggestions, from their ecclesiastical superiors, directing them to undertake missions for the church. The clerics and their companions are compensated fairly for these missions, and the church may be especially generous with the casting of needed spells or divine magic items as payment. Of course, clerics are people, too, and they may have any or all the more common motivations for adventuring.
Characteristics: Clerics are masters of divine magic, which is especially good at healing. Even an inexperienced cleric can bring people back from the brink of death, and an experienced cleric can bring back people who have crossed over that brink. As channelers of divine energy, clerics can affect undead creatures. A good cleric can turn away or even destroy undead; an evil cleric can bring undead under his control. Clerics have some combat training. They can use simple weapons, and they are trained in the use of armor, since armor does not interfere with divine spells the way it does with arcane spells.
Clerics and Corruption: A cleric’s status within their church is usually more important than her relationship with their deity, who-is at best-a distant patron. Therefore a cleric's alignment need not remain one step of her deities alignment. A cleric can cast spells with any alignment descriptor. Casting an evil spell is an evil act, and a good cleric’s alignment may begin to change if they repeatedly cast such spells, but the deities in Sanctum do not prevent their clerics from casting spells opposed to their alignments. This rule supersedes the information in the Player's Handbook about Evil, Good, and Lawful spells. A cleric who violates the tenants of her church or deity might rist punishment at the hands of the church (though not necessarily, particularly in regions where the church is very corrupt), but risks no loss of spells or class features and need not atone.
Religion in Sanctum: Sanctum is not blessed (or cursed) with deities that watch from afar. Instead, these gods all roam the lands and speak directly to their followers. In recent times, these routines have changed as the gods disappear and their power over the lands lessens. The only gods that still can be seen without being sought out are Tiana, Laurie, and Sylvester, while Amara and Eos have completely disappeared.
Deity, Domains, and Domain spells: In place of the sample deities presented in the Player’s Handbook; a cleric must select a church or deity from those indicated on the table below. Please ask the DM for information on each god. You may also decide that your cleric has no deity but instead channels divine power from the spiritual remnants of the Old Pantheon. Select two domains that reflect the clerics spiritual inclination and abilities. The restriction on alignment still applies. The Gods presented below are the widespread religions of the world but as other gods existed before their time you may instead follow their pantheon.
Following a Pantheon: Clerics may choose to devote themselves to the entire pantheon of the Stars, The Pantheon of Virtue, or The Old Pantheon rather than choosing a single patron deity from the group. These clerics may choose their two domains from among all the domains offered by all the deities of the pantheon A cleric can only select an alignment if his alignment matches that domain.
Background: Most clerics join their churches as young adults, though some are devoted to a god’s service from a young age, and a few feel the call later in life. While some clerics are tightly bound to their churches’ activities on a daily basis, others have more freedom to conduct their lives as they please. Clerics of a given religion are all supposed to get along, though schisms within a church are often more bitter than conflicts between religions. Clerics who share some basic ideals, such as goodness or lawfulness, may find common cause with each other and see themselves as part of an order or body that supersedes any given religion. Clerics of opposed goals, however, are sworn enemies. In civilized lands, open warfare between religions occurs only during civil wars and similar social upheavals, but vicious politicking between opposed churches is common.
Other Classes: In an adventuring party, the cleric is everybody’s friend and often the glue that holds the party together. As the one who can channel divine energy, a cleric is a capable healer, and adventurers of every class appreciate being put back together after they’ve taken some hard knocks. Clerics sometimes clash with druids, since druids represent an older, more primal relationship between the mortal and the divine. Mostly, though, the religion of a cleric determines how he gets along with others.
Role: The cleric serves as a typical group’s primary healer, diviner, and defensive specialist. He can hold his own in a fight but usually isn’t well served by charging to the front of combat. The cleric’s domains and spell selection can greatly affect his role as well.
Abilities: Wisdom determines how powerful a spell a cleric can cast, how many spells he can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist (see Spells, below). A high Constitution score improves a cleric’s hit points, and a high Charisma score improves his ability to turn undead.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: The cleric’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Domains and Class Skills: A cleric who chooses the Animal or Plant domain adds Knowledge (nature) (Int) to the cleric class skills listed above. A cleric who chooses the Knowledge domain adds all Knowledge (Int) skills to the list. A cleric who chooses the Travel domain adds Survival (Wis) to the list. A cleric who chooses the Trickery domain adds Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), and Hide (Dex) to the list. See Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells, below, for more information.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Clerics are proficient with all simple weapons, with all types of armor (light, medium, and heavy), and with shields (except tower shields). Every deity has a favored weapon (see Deities, page 106), and his or her clerics consider it a point of pride to wield that weapon. A cleric who chooses the War domain receives the Weapon Focus feat related to that weapon as a bonus feat. He also receives the appropriate Martial Weapon Proficiency feat as a bonus feat, if the weapon falls into that category.
See below for Base Attack Bonuses, Saving Throws, Feats, Spells per Day, and Charisma Checks for Turn and Rebuke Dead (See below).
1: In addition to the stated number of spells per day for 1st- through 9th-level spells, a cleric gets a domain spell for each spell level, starting at 1st. The “+1” in the entries on this table represents that spell. Domain spells are in addition to any bonus spells the cleric may receive for having a high Wisdom score.
Aura (Ex): A cleric of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment (see the detect evil spell for details). Clerics who don’t worship a specific deity but choose the Chaotic, Evil, Good, or Lawful domain have a similarly powerful aura of the corresponding alignment.
Spells: A cleric casts divine spells (the same type of spells available to the druid, paladin, and ranger), which are drawn from the cleric spell list. A cleric must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below). To prepare or cast a spell, a cleric must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Wis 10 for 0-level spells, Wis 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a cleric’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the cleric’s Wisdom modifier. Like other spellcasters, a cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. A cleric also gets one domain spell of each spell level he can cast, starting at 1st level. When a cleric prepares a spell in a domain spell slot, it must come from one of his two domains (see Deities, Domains, and Domain Spells, below). Clerics do not acquire their spells from books or scrolls, nor do they prepare them through study. Instead, they meditate or pray for their spells, receiving them through their own strength of faith or as divine inspiration. Each cleric must choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain his daily allotment of spells. Typically, this hour is at dawn or noon for good clerics and at dusk or midnight for evil ones. Time spent resting has no effect on whether a cleric can prepare spells. A cleric may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation. Deity, Domains, and Domain Spells: Choose a deity for your cleric. Deities are listed on a Table above: Deities and described later on. The cleric’s deity influences his alignment, what magic he can perform, his values, and how others see him. You may also choose for your cleric to have no deity. When you have chosen an alignment and a deity for your cleric, choose two domains from among those given on the same Table for the deity. While the clerics of a particular religion are united in their reverence for their deity, each cleric emphasizes different aspects of the deity’s interests. If your cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, you still select two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. Each domain gives your cleric access to a domain spell at each spell level he can cast, from 1st on up, as well as a granted power. Your cleric gets the granted powers of both the domains selected. With access to two domain spells at a given spell level, a cleric prepares one or the other each day in his domain spell slot. If a domain spell is not on the cleric spell list (page 183), a cleric can prepare it only in his domain spell slot. Domain spells and granted powers are given later on. For example, Jozan is a 1st-level cleric of Pelor. He chooses Good and Healing (from Pelor’s domain options) as his two domains. He gets the granted powers of both his selected domains. The Good domain allows him to cast all spells with the good descriptor at +1 caster level (as if he were one level higher as a cleric) as a granted power, and it gives him access to protection from evil as a 1st-level domain spell. The Healing domain allows him to cast all healing subschool spells of the conjuration school at +1 caster level as a granted power, and it gives him access to cure light wounds as a 1stlevel domain spell. When Jozan prepares his spells, he gets one 1st-level spell for being a 1st-level cleric, one bonus 1st-level spell for having a high Wisdom score (15), and one domain spell. The domain spell must be one of the two to which he has access, either protection from evil or cure light wounds.
Spontaneous Casting: A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that the cleric did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not a domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name). For example, a good cleric who has prepared command (a 1st-level spell) may lose command in order to cast cure light wounds (also a 1st-level spell). Clerics of good deities can cast cure spells in this way because they are especially proficient at. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric of an evil deity), on the other hand, can’t convert prepared spells to cure spells but can convert them to inflict spells (an inflict spell is one with “inflict” in its name). A cleric who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can convert spells to either cure spells or inflict spells (player’s choice), depending on whether the cleric is more proficient at wielding positive or negative energy. Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed. This choice also determines whether the cleric turns or commands undead (see below). Exceptions: All lawful neutral clerics of Wee Jas (goddess of death and magic) convert prepared spells to inflict spells, not cure spells. All clerics of St. Cuthbert (god of retribution) and all nonevil clerics of Obad-Hai (god of nature) convert prepared spells to cure spells, not inflict spells.
Turn or Rebuke Undead (Su): Any cleric, regardless of alignment, has the power to affect undead creatures (such as skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and vampires) by channeling the power of his faith through his holy (or unholy) symbol (see Turn or Rebuke Undead). A good cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships a good deity) can turn or destroy undead creatures. An evil cleric (or a neutral cleric who worships an evil deity) instead rebukes or commands such creatures., forcing them to cower in awe of his power. If your character is a neutral cleric of a neutral deity, you must choose whether his turning ability functions as that of a good cleric or an evil cleric. Once you make this choice, it cannot be reversed. This decision also determines whether the cleric can cast spontaneous cure or inflict spells (see above). A cleric may attempt to turn undead a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. A cleric with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (religion) gets a +2 bonus on turning checks against undead. Good clerics and paladins and some neutral clerics can channel positive energy, which can halt, drive off (rout), or destroy undead. Evil clerics and some neutral clerics can channel negative energy, which can halt, awe (rebuke), control (command), or bolster undead. Regardless of the effect, the general term for the activity is “turning.” When attempting to exercise their divine control over these creatures, characters make turning checks. Turning Checks Turning undead is a supernatural ability that a character can perform as a standard action. It does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You must present your holy symbol to turn undead. Turning is considered an attack. Times per Day: You may attempt to turn undead a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. You can increase this number by taking the Extra Turning feat. Range: You turn the closest turnable undead first, and you can’t turn undead that are more than 60 feet away or that have total cover relative to you. You don’t need line of sight to a target, but you do need line of effect. Turning Check: The first thing you do is roll a turning check to see how powerful an undead creature you can turn. This is a Charisma check (1d20 + your Charisma modifier). The table below gives you the Hit Dice of the most powerful undead you can affect, relative to your level. On a given turning attempt, you can turn no undead creature whose Hit Dice exceed the result on this table. Turning Damage: If your roll on Table 8–9: Turning Undead is high enough to let you turn at least some of the undead within 60 feet, roll 2d6 + your cleric level + your Charisma modifier for turning damage. That’s how many total Hit Dice of undead you can turn. If your Charisma score is average or low, it’s possible (but unusual) to roll fewer Hit Dice of undead turned than indicated on the table. For instance, 1 1st-level cleric with an average Charisma score could get a turning check result of 19 (cleric’s level +3, or 4 HD), which is enough to turn a wight, but then roll only 3 on his turning damage roll—not enough to turn that wight after all. You may skip over already turned undead that are still within range, so that you do not waste your turning capacity on them. Effect and Duration of Turning: Turned undead flee from you by the best and fastest means available to them. They flee for 10 rounds (1 minute). If they cannot flee, they cower (giving any attack rolls against them a +2 bonus). If you approach within 10 feet of them, however, they overcome being turned and act normally. (You can stand within 10 feet without breaking the turning effect—you just can’t approach them.) You can attack them with ranged attacks (from at least 10 feet away), and others can attack them in any fashion, without breaking the turning effect. Destroying Undead: If you have twice as many levels (or more) as the undead have Hit Dice, you destroy any that you would normally turn.
How Turning Works: Jozan, the cleric, and his friends confront seven human zombies led by a wight. Calling on the power of Pelor, Jozan raises his sun disk and attempts to drive the undead away. First, he makes a turning check (1d20 + Cha modifier) to see what the most powerful undead creature is that he can turn in this action. His result is 9, so he can only turn undead that have fewer Hit Dice than he has levels. Jozan is 3rd level, so on this attempt, he can turn creatures with 2 Hit Dice (such as human zombies) or 1 Hit Die (such as human skeletons) but nothing with more than 2 Hit Dice (such as the wight, which has 4 HD). He does not have twice as many levels as either the zombies or wight, so he will not destroy any of them. Next, he rolls his turning damage (2d6 + Jozan’s level + Cha modifier) to see how many total Hit Dice of creatures he can turn. His result is 11, enough to turn the five closest zombies (accounting for 10 HD out of the maximum of 11). The remaining two zombies and the wight are unaffected. On Jozan’s next turn, he attempts to turn undead again. This time, his turning check result is 21—enough to turn undead creatures of up to 6 HD (his level + 3). His turning damage roll is only 7, though, so he can only turn 7 HD worth of creatures. He turns the two nearest undead (the remaining 2 HD zombies), but the remaining 3 HD worth of turning isn’t enough to turn the 4-HD wight. Evil Clerics and Undead Evil clerics channel negative energy to rebuke (awe) or command (control) undead rather than channeling positive energy to turn or destroy them. An evil cleric makes the equivalent of a turning check. Undead that would be turned are rebuked instead, and those that would be destroyed are commanded. Rebuked: A rebuked undead creature cowers as if in awe (attack rolls against the creature get a +2 bonus). The effect lasts 10 rounds. Commanded: A commanded undead creature is under the mental control of the evil cleric. The cleric must take a standard action to give mental orders to a commanded undead. At any one time, the cleric may command any number of undead whose total Hit Dice do not exceed his level. He may voluntarily relinquish command on any commanded undead creature or creatures in order to command new ones. Dispelling Turning: An evil cleric may channel negative energy to dispel a good cleric’s turning effect. The evil cleric makes a turning check as if attempting to rebuke the undead. If the turning check result is equal to or greater than the turning check result that the good cleric scored when turning the undead, then the undead are no longer turned. The evil cleric rolls turning damage of 2d6 + cleric level + Charisma modifier to see how many Hit Dice worth of undead he can affect in this way (as if he were rebuking them). Bolstering Undead: An evil cleric may also bolster undead creatures against turning in advance. He makes a turning check as if attempting to rebuke the undead, but the Hit Dice result on the table becomes the undead creatures’ effective Hit Dice as far as turning is concerned (provided the result is higher than the creatures’ actual Hit Dice). The bolstering lasts 10 rounds. An evil undead cleric can bolster himself in this manner. Neutral Clerics and Undead A cleric of neutral alignment can either turn undead but not rebuke them, or rebuke undead but not turn them. Even if a cleric is neutral, channeling positive energy is a good act and channeling negative energy is evil. Turning Other Creatures Some clerics have the ability to turn creatures other than undead. For example, a cleric with the Fire domain can turn or destroy water creatures (as if he were a good cleric turning undead) and rebuke or command fire creatures (as if he were an evil cleric rebuking undead). The turning check result is determined as normal.
Bonus Languages: A cleric’s bonus language options include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively). These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of his race.