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Anime Why do Clerics suck so much?

Do you play as Cleric?

  • Yes

    Votes: 34 35.1%
  • No

    Votes: 16 16.5%
  • OP's heterosexuality is indeed questionable

    Votes: 47 48.5%

  • Total voters
    97

ProphetSword

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
1,755
Location
Monkey Island
When I played on NWN servers, I always played Clerics, especially when traveling alone. Clerics are capable of soloing shit that other classes need help to overcome. Never underestimate the ability to tank while buffing and healing yourself. And if you happen to face an undead foe that would trip up other characters (like a vampire), you can just laugh that shit off and keep walking as you reduce his ass to a pile of dust.
 

Old Hans

Arcane
Joined
Oct 10, 2011
Messages
1,473
Imagine the whole point of a class being... healing!(and occasionally messing with undead)
Basically most RPGs take into account so that the first companion you come across is a healer type, because they deep down know no one's gonna spend time at char gen to make a fucking healer. A modest amount of items would easily replace Clerics(who needs resurrection when you can just reload?)
Seriously, fuck Clerics.

clerics are cool. you a big baby
 

Tao

Savant
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
345
Try playing a wizard before lvl5 spells. There is a lot of fun pretending to be an archer after casting 2 spells a day.
 

hexer

Guest
Some DnD players who played clerics went on to become doctors IRL.
Seriously, fuck OP.
 

puppyonastik

Augur
Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
175
Location
Northern Illinois
Anarchy Online a really old MMO, but it had a really neat twist to the "cleric" along the lines of what anvi mentioned. The metaphysicist has three pets; attack, heal, and one that debuffs... all at the same time.
Profession_Metaphysicist.JPG
 

Immortal

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
5,062
Location
Safe Space - Don't Bulli
Imagine the whole point of a class being... healing!(and occasionally messing with undead)
Basically most RPGs take into account so that the first companion you come across is a healer type, because they deep down know no one's gonna spend time at char gen to make a fucking healer. A modest amount of items would easily replace Clerics(who needs resurrection when you can just reload?)
Seriously, fuck Clerics.

Cleric's are fucking Broken in 3E / 3.5E .. Wut
 

Beastro

Arcane
Joined
May 11, 2015
Messages
8,081
Yep. Rift and I think WoW have another good mechanic which is for the healer to cast a spell on the target and then anyone who attacks the target gets healed. So if that lasts 10 seconds then you generally have 10 seconds to do your own attacks as well and everyone else will be taken care of in that time. But it is a lot more advanced than just that because you cast other spells that do other important things at the same time, but overall it just makes it so you are a combat fighting healer rather than just whack-a-mole with health bars.

Another game I play has a character called the Martyr who lets himself get injured, and the lower his health, the bigger his nukes become. Then if an enemy goes full on him to try to finish him off, the Martyr can flip their health and mana. So you bait enemies to attack you and then suddenly you are 100% health. There is a game similar to this coming out next year, called Pantheon.

Even EQ Clerics were tough despite their limited damage output. The problem was they required a lot of patience to work an enemy down, especially a caster and having to get them to use up mana.

DPS wise they required a mix of melee and nukes to work well, but as resistances got higher the latter got harder to use and their combat utilities, like blind, were useless against anyone with decent MR.
 

111111111

Guest
Fuck no clerics dont suck

clerics are the fucking best

they are the tank, support,dps, stealth , god

you can solo the entire game with a cleric in nwn 2
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,150
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
In which game, in which game, you idiot!

There's difference in cleric power, and utility depended on the setting. Also a difference between pure cleric and a dual/multi approach.

Say Icewind Dale 2. If you play cleric you damn well better play Dreadmistress(master) of Bane. the quest rewards are insane. And we play pure caster, of course.

And at higher level/higher difficulty (HoF), fighter4Cleric is the best frontline warriors because they can have Heals that help survival in frontline. better than anything else geared toward frontline, because multiple insta-Heal is that necessary.

But in Baldur's Gate 1, say, the pure cleric is not that important. Nice, but not critical.

Neverwinter Night 2 though, pure cleric is too limited thanks to skill point allocation. Get in an NPC cleric is fine, but god help us with an MC cleric.

NWN2 illustrate the problem of Cleric: too limited skill allocation.

If you want to encourage players to choose cleric, you need to twist setting
1. either a undead-heavy campaign, to encourage Good alignment cleric.
2. Or outsider-heavy campaign to encourage Evil alignment (their Turn Undead can drive off or destroy outsiders I think).
3. A very limited supply of healing potions (store mods) and rest opportunity (rest spawn rate mods) so that cleric healing is more important.
4. You can twist quest reward toward specific cleric of specific order/god. IWD2 is a very good illustration.
 

Daemongar

Arcane
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,715
Location
Wisconsin
Codex Year of the Donut
No - in PNP D&D I always played Cleric - plate mail, mace and shield, hold person at 3rd level, healing, rapid leveling, good hps. In most RPGs I play cleric as well. Versatility, buffs, and good AC. WTF. You couldn't wait to get a healer in your party when starting out - so why play any other class?

Then again, Clerics kind of benefit from most games trying to make all classes viable. That is - a sole cleric is a defensive class and would progress a lot slower than a pure fighter class.
 

Monk

Arcane
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
6,934
Location
Wat
Don't they have offensive spells in some games?

I remember choosing the paladin, though, which had a good combination of spells, armor, and weapons.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Clerics by definition will always be good. Access to healing, support and utility spells and some form of damage-based magic (usually against evil/demons), and can wear protective armour. What's not to like?
 

hexer

Guest
Their damage sucks

Imagine having a character who no matter how powerful, in case of a failed single Fort save for Implosion (up to 4 consequent times as per max duration),
will die and followed by Soul Bind on the next round will end up as trapped soul within a gem - something that can't even be undone by Wish or Miracle spells.

Code:
Implosion
Evocation
Level: Clr 9, Destruction 9
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: One corporeal creature/round
Duration: Concentration (up to 4 rounds)
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

You create a destructive resonance in a corporeal creature’s body.
For each round you concentrate, you cause one creature to collapse in on itself, killing it.
(This effect, being instantaneous, cannot be dispelled.)

You can target a particular creature only once with each casting of the spell.

Implosion has no effect on creatures in gaseous form or on incorporeal creatures.

----------------------------------------------

Soul Bind
Necromancy
Level: Clr 9, Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: Corpse
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: No

You draw the soul from a newly dead body and imprison it in a black sapphire gem.
The subject must have been dead no more than 1 round per caster level.
The soul, once trapped in the gem, cannot be returned through clone, raise dead, reincarnation, resurrection, true resurrection, or even a miracle or a wish.
Only by destroying the gem or dispelling the spell on the gem can one free the soul (which is then still dead).

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericSpells.htm
 
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2,544
Location
The Present
It depends on the environment. I played an evil cleric (stormlord) on a NWN hardcore rules server. It had a tremendous amount of attrition, including thirst/hunger, and you could only rest outside of an inn once every 8 game hours. Resting didn't fully heal you. That was based on constitution. Magic level was very low. Even +1 magic items were rare. I made good money on my healing skills. Not only did it encourage many vassals (see: converts), but I had a racket where I would host paid safaris to dangerous parts of the game world guide weaker characters. They all assumed healing was part of the deal. It was not. Deep in the forest at death's door, they either converted to Talos, or literally paid hard currency for every minor healing. Good times. Being a cleric in a gritty, low-magic, environment was very powerful. My character was recognized as probably top 2 most powerful, and definitely #1 most badass.
 

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