Hey guys, I'm still pretty new to D&D, and I've got a neat character concept that I'm unsure how to build.
Short version: Character is a pirate who was strong-armed into the service of a forgotten god as his one and only cleric.
I'd like her to start with a very rogue-ish foundation, because that's her background. She doesn't know how to be a cleric, doesn't want to be a cleric, but it's what she's stuck with. I'm just not sure how to build a cleric who was, until about five minutes ago, a pirate.
The GM is super chill (but also pretty new, so not sure how best to tackle it either), so homebrew stuff is fine. Anyone have any tips on how to approach it?
The easiest way is probably to make her a Cleric with the Pirate background. But I think it really depends on how "rogue-y" you want that character to play. You can also start as a Rogue and multi-class into Cleric, I'd also consider starting off as a Bard if you want to be more of a spell caster or even consider going all Bard and just flavoring your bardic magic as divine magic. If you want to play a rogue talk to your dm about taking the arcane trickster archetype and swapping out Wis for Int as your spellcasting ability score and choosing spells from the cleric list instead of the wizard list. What god/domain would this character serve?
When creating a character, you can pick a background that gives certain benefits. Pirate is one of these backgrounds that is in the Players Handbook. You could also do criminal if you like the benefits better.
Your race could literally be anything you want it to be. I'm partial to dwarves and hill dwarf would be a great option.
When picking your class, you'll also pick a Divine Domain. I like Tempest (for the pirate aspect) or Trickery (for the rogue-ish) domains for your character concept. They both fit thematically for what you want to play and are also in the Players Handbook. That said, you could literally pick any domain that you personally want to play and just RP it that the forgotten god is forcing her to be a ______ cleric.
If you wanted, you could multiclass. Start with rogue and pick up levels in cleric at some later time. Maybe take 1 to 3 levels in rogue.
I guess my question would be if you want the character to be a cleric for the cleric mechanics or did you specifically want someone who is connected to a god in some meaningful way?
Is this character dedicated to the god? Or even being forced to start worshipping them in any way? What kind of god are we talking here? Have you considered making them a warlock or sorcerer?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I’m thinking you customize a background using the standard two skills and two tool proficiencies with an existing class feature, then call it pirate. Go with athletics or acrobatics or intimidation or survival or sleight of hand as the skills. Do water vehicles and thieves’ tools as proficiencies and you’ve got a rogue-y pirate. Use the pirate (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)or Smuggler (Ghosts of Saltmarsh) or Criminal (PHB) background feature.
As for cleric domain, I’m really liking the UA Twilight (Playtest material in the DnDB character builder) domain if you’re in a game where that’s possible to use. The untested nature of a UA cleric domain and the flavor of walking the line between light and dark feels right for a forgotten god. Other top choices for a forgotten god in my mind are Grave domain, Death domain, or Tempest domain.
As for how to play one making this transition, she could be really unsure of herself all the time. But it really all depends on what you want her deity to be like. If they just want her to use the skills she already has for their benefit, it’s just a simple “I was born for this” attitude. If they really want her to leave it all behind, anything she does that smacks of piracy, such as picking the lock of a chest could find her doing mental gymnastics to justify what she’s doing. You could roll a die or flip a coin for yourself in any given combat to find out whether they fall back into old habits of ‘take no prisoners,’ or are thinking like a cleric and won’t take lives unless necessary.
It’s a good character concept. I hope you make a lot of good memories playing her.
The easiest way is probably to make her a Cleric with the Pirate background. But I think it really depends on how "rogue-y" you want that character to play. You can also start as a Rogue and multi-class into Cleric, I'd also consider starting off as a Bard if you want to be more of a spell caster or even consider going all Bard and just flavoring your bardic magic as divine magic. If you want to play a rogue talk to your dm about taking the arcane trickster archetype and swapping out Wis for Int as your spellcasting ability score and choosing spells from the cleric list instead of the wizard list. What god/domain would this character serve?
Oh, I hadn't considered multi-class, I'll have to look into that a bit and see if it works. Also customizing the arcane trickster is a neat idea, I'll have to dig into that too! The specific god will likely be custom if I can't find something that works, but I've been leaning towards the tempest domain.
When creating a character, you can pick a background that gives certain benefits. Pirate is one of these backgrounds that is in the Players Handbook. You could also do criminal if you like the benefits better.
Your race could literally be anything you want it to be. I'm partial to dwarves and hill dwarf would be a great option.
When picking your class, you'll also pick a Divine Domain. I like Tempest (for the pirate aspect) or Trickery (for the rogue-ish) domains for your character concept. They both fit thematically for what you want to play and are also in the Players Handbook. That said, you could literally pick any domain that you personally want to play and just RP it that the forgotten god is forcing her to be a ______ cleric.
If you wanted, you could multiclass. Start with rogue and pick up levels in cleric at some later time. Maybe take 1 to 3 levels in rogue.
Starting as a rogue might be a good plan, since from an RP perspective she'd be a (reluctant) cleric, but functionally still a rogue in terms of skills. Definitely leaning towards the tempest domain, since it strikes me as very piratey. :)
I guess my question would be if you want the character to be a cleric for the cleric mechanics or did you specifically want someone who is connected to a god in some meaningful way?
Is this character dedicated to the god? Or even being forced to start worshipping them in any way? What kind of god are we talking here? Have you considered making them a warlock or sorcerer?
The character would be a cleric largely for RP reasons. She's dealing with a god who sort of blackmailed her into the job, and he's using her as his ticket out of obscurity. Also the idea of a crap cleric with a pirate personality is just super entertaining to me. I did consider warlock, but I don't think it has quite the same vibe I'm going for.
I’m thinking you customize a background using the standard two skills and two tool proficiencies with an existing class feature, then call it pirate. Go with athletics or acrobatics or intimidation or survival or sleight of hand as the skills. Do water vehicles and thieves’ tools as proficiencies and you’ve got a rogue-y pirate. Use the pirate (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)or Smuggler (Ghosts of Saltmarsh) or Criminal (PHB) background feature.
As for cleric domain, I’m really liking the UA Twilight (Playtest material in the DnDB character builder) domain if you’re in a game where that’s possible to use. The untested nature of a UA cleric domain and the flavor of walking the line between light and dark feels right for a forgotten god. Other top choices for a forgotten god in my mind are Grave domain, Death domain, or Tempest domain.
As for how to play one making this transition, she could be really unsure of herself all the time. But it really all depends on what you want her deity to be like. If they just want her to use the skills she already has for their benefit, it’s just a simple “I was born for this” attitude. If they really want her to leave it all behind, anything she does that smacks of piracy, such as picking the lock of a chest could find her doing mental gymnastics to justify what she’s doing. You could roll a die or flip a coin for yourself in any given combat to find out whether they fall back into old habits of ‘take no prisoners,’ or are thinking like a cleric and won’t take lives unless necessary.
It’s a good character concept. I hope you make a lot of good memories playing her.
Thanks so much for the suggestions (and sources, that'll help loads)! Her relationship with her deity essentially boils down to two con men who hate each other trying to pull a job. He saves her life in return for her drumming him up a following any way she can manage. So he needs her to play a part, and might get a bit divine wrath-y if she deviates too far from the script when people are watching.
Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it! You've given me a good place to start!
It sounds like your class choice is because you have to to build the character to your backstory. If it helps, you can be a priest/head of a religion without being a cleric.
And for a business like relationship between character and patron, cleric is a rough fit. Clerics (not all) get there magic and features as gifts/favors for their devotion. That is why WIS is the spellcasting ability. Warlock's on the other hand have a contract of sorts with their patron. Warlock gets some of the patron's magic in exchange for whatever the pact is. If you choose warlock, both celestial and great old one fit the patron, but you could make a different one fit with a few tweaks.
It sounds like your class choice is because you have to to build the character to your backstory. If it helps, you can be a priest/head of a religion without being a cleric.
And for a business like relationship between character and patron, cleric is a rough fit. Clerics (not all) get there magic and features as gifts/favors for their devotion. That is why WIS is the spellcasting ability. Warlock's on the other hand have a contract of sorts with their patron. Warlock gets some of the patron's magic in exchange for whatever the pact is. If you choose warlock, both celestial and great old one fit the patron, but you could make a different one fit with a few tweaks.
Yeah, I'll concur with this. You don't have to be a cleric to be a priest of a religion and a god coming down, 'blessing' someone with its power against their will, and saying "Now you're a priest of Me" sounds more like a warlock pact than the kind of dedicated worship being a cleric usually implies.
It still might help to know what kind of god we're talking about here.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
It sounds like your class choice is because you have to to build the character to your backstory. If it helps, you can be a priest/head of a religion without being a cleric.
And for a business like relationship between character and patron, cleric is a rough fit. Clerics (not all) get there magic and features as gifts/favors for their devotion. That is why WIS is the spellcasting ability. Warlock's on the other hand have a contract of sorts with their patron. Warlock gets some of the patron's magic in exchange for whatever the pact is. If you choose warlock, both celestial and great old one fit the patron, but you could make a different one fit with a few tweaks.
Yeah, I'll concur with this. You don't have to be a cleric to be a priest of a religion and a god coming down, 'blessing' someone with its power against their will, and saying "Now you're a priest of Me" sounds more like a warlock pact than the kind of dedicated worship being a cleric usually implies.
It still might help to know what kind of god we're talking about here.
I think you have already created a character, and with DM/party aproval, and should ignore class lore to build an abstract of that character within the mechanics of this game. Chose the class rules that most define the way you want play and reskin the lore. A Barbarian could as easily be a priest of Tenpus as a Cleric, or a Swashbuckling Rogue...
A cleric is someone who dedicates their body, soul, and life to serving a particular deity or concept. Someone who is reluctantly forced into a relationship sounds more like a warlock.
So I would recommend taking either the Criminal or the Sailor (Pirate) background, and starting as a rogue. Then multi-class into Warlock.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
I played cleric with pirate background and had a lot of fun. I went tempest domain because it seemed to fit with being on the ocean. Domain spells like call lightning, control water and gust of wind would be very helpful on a ship. And a character with those skills would be very useful and in demand. Throw in more generic cleric spells like create water and of course healing and it seems like every ship, pirate or otherwise, would want a tempest cleric on board.
If you want to stay single class, might I recommend trickery domain. Go with a valenar wood elf to pick up scimitar proficiency (your cutlass). if your DM doesnt have the eberron book, just ask him if you can substitute Scimitar proficiency for Shortsword (normal wood elf) or reskin your shortsword into a cutlass.
Here's an example of what one might look like at level 1
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey guys, I'm still pretty new to D&D, and I've got a neat character concept that I'm unsure how to build.
Short version: Character is a pirate who was strong-armed into the service of a forgotten god as his one and only cleric.
I'd like her to start with a very rogue-ish foundation, because that's her background. She doesn't know how to be a cleric, doesn't want to be a cleric, but it's what she's stuck with. I'm just not sure how to build a cleric who was, until about five minutes ago, a pirate.
The GM is super chill (but also pretty new, so not sure how best to tackle it either), so homebrew stuff is fine. Anyone have any tips on how to approach it?
The easiest way is probably to make her a Cleric with the Pirate background. But I think it really depends on how "rogue-y" you want that character to play. You can also start as a Rogue and multi-class into Cleric, I'd also consider starting off as a Bard if you want to be more of a spell caster or even consider going all Bard and just flavoring your bardic magic as divine magic. If you want to play a rogue talk to your dm about taking the arcane trickster archetype and swapping out Wis for Int as your spellcasting ability score and choosing spells from the cleric list instead of the wizard list. What god/domain would this character serve?
When creating a character, you can pick a background that gives certain benefits. Pirate is one of these backgrounds that is in the Players Handbook. You could also do criminal if you like the benefits better.
Your race could literally be anything you want it to be. I'm partial to dwarves and hill dwarf would be a great option.
When picking your class, you'll also pick a Divine Domain. I like Tempest (for the pirate aspect) or Trickery (for the rogue-ish) domains for your character concept. They both fit thematically for what you want to play and are also in the Players Handbook. That said, you could literally pick any domain that you personally want to play and just RP it that the forgotten god is forcing her to be a ______ cleric.
If you wanted, you could multiclass. Start with rogue and pick up levels in cleric at some later time. Maybe take 1 to 3 levels in rogue.
Looms like Kendis had a lot of the same thoughts as me.
Pirate or criminal background. Maybe starting rogue then multiclassing to cleric later.
I guess my question would be if you want the character to be a cleric for the cleric mechanics or did you specifically want someone who is connected to a god in some meaningful way?
Is this character dedicated to the god? Or even being forced to start worshipping them in any way? What kind of god are we talking here? Have you considered making them a warlock or sorcerer?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I’m thinking you customize a background using the standard two skills and two tool proficiencies with an existing class feature, then call it pirate. Go with athletics or acrobatics or intimidation or survival or sleight of hand as the skills. Do water vehicles and thieves’ tools as proficiencies and you’ve got a rogue-y pirate. Use the pirate (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)or Smuggler (Ghosts of Saltmarsh) or Criminal (PHB) background feature.
As for cleric domain, I’m really liking the UA Twilight (Playtest material in the DnDB character builder) domain if you’re in a game where that’s possible to use. The untested nature of a UA cleric domain and the flavor of walking the line between light and dark feels right for a forgotten god. Other top choices for a forgotten god in my mind are Grave domain, Death domain, or Tempest domain.
As for how to play one making this transition, she could be really unsure of herself all the time. But it really all depends on what you want her deity to be like. If they just want her to use the skills she already has for their benefit, it’s just a simple “I was born for this” attitude. If they really want her to leave it all behind, anything she does that smacks of piracy, such as picking the lock of a chest could find her doing mental gymnastics to justify what she’s doing. You could roll a die or flip a coin for yourself in any given combat to find out whether they fall back into old habits of ‘take no prisoners,’ or are thinking like a cleric and won’t take lives unless necessary.
It’s a good character concept. I hope you make a lot of good memories playing her.
Oh, I hadn't considered multi-class, I'll have to look into that a bit and see if it works. Also customizing the arcane trickster is a neat idea, I'll have to dig into that too! The specific god will likely be custom if I can't find something that works, but I've been leaning towards the tempest domain.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Starting as a rogue might be a good plan, since from an RP perspective she'd be a (reluctant) cleric, but functionally still a rogue in terms of skills. Definitely leaning towards the tempest domain, since it strikes me as very piratey. :)
The character would be a cleric largely for RP reasons. She's dealing with a god who sort of blackmailed her into the job, and he's using her as his ticket out of obscurity. Also the idea of a crap cleric with a pirate personality is just super entertaining to me. I did consider warlock, but I don't think it has quite the same vibe I'm going for.
Thanks so much for the suggestions (and sources, that'll help loads)! Her relationship with her deity essentially boils down to two con men who hate each other trying to pull a job. He saves her life in return for her drumming him up a following any way she can manage. So he needs her to play a part, and might get a bit divine wrath-y if she deviates too far from the script when people are watching.
Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it! You've given me a good place to start!
It sounds like your class choice is because you have to to build the character to your backstory. If it helps, you can be a priest/head of a religion without being a cleric.
And for a business like relationship between character and patron, cleric is a rough fit. Clerics (not all) get there magic and features as gifts/favors for their devotion. That is why WIS is the spellcasting ability. Warlock's on the other hand have a contract of sorts with their patron. Warlock gets some of the patron's magic in exchange for whatever the pact is. If you choose warlock, both celestial and great old one fit the patron, but you could make a different one fit with a few tweaks.
Yeah, I'll concur with this. You don't have to be a cleric to be a priest of a religion and a god coming down, 'blessing' someone with its power against their will, and saying "Now you're a priest of Me" sounds more like a warlock pact than the kind of dedicated worship being a cleric usually implies.
It still might help to know what kind of god we're talking about here.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I think you have already created a character, and with DM/party aproval, and should ignore class lore to build an abstract of that character within the mechanics of this game. Chose the class rules that most define the way you want play and reskin the lore. A Barbarian could as easily be a priest of Tenpus as a Cleric, or a Swashbuckling Rogue...
That sounds more warlock-y than cleric-y.
A cleric is someone who dedicates their body, soul, and life to serving a particular deity or concept. Someone who is reluctantly forced into a relationship sounds more like a warlock.
So I would recommend taking either the Criminal or the Sailor (Pirate) background, and starting as a rogue. Then multi-class into Warlock.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
I played cleric with pirate background and had a lot of fun. I went tempest domain because it seemed to fit with being on the ocean. Domain spells like call lightning, control water and gust of wind would be very helpful on a ship. And a character with those skills would be very useful and in demand. Throw in more generic cleric spells like create water and of course healing and it seems like every ship, pirate or otherwise, would want a tempest cleric on board.
If you want to stay single class, might I recommend trickery domain. Go with a valenar wood elf to pick up scimitar proficiency (your cutlass). if your DM doesnt have the eberron book, just ask him if you can substitute Scimitar proficiency for Shortsword (normal wood elf) or reskin your shortsword into a cutlass.
Here's an example of what one might look like at level 1
https://ddb.ac/characters/20977584/SFCh89
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha