Hey, so I had an idea for a cleric that never wanted to be one, however their whole family had taken an oath that their eldest relative will take up the mantle. After a disaster, he is the last of his family and needs to take on the divine power that he doesn't want. Does this work in D and D? Can clerics be made through family oaths or is it specific from person to person?
While such a character could certainly become a cleric out of duty to his family, he could just as well also be a Paladin, or a Warlock with a Celestial Patron. Or maybe he's a cleric in name only, being any class you want but with the Acolyte background to reflect his sworn service to a church.
I've read about examples for clerics that didn't want to be one. A cleric's abilities are a gift from their patron god, usually a reward for their prayer and devotion, but it could rarely be an unwanted gift. This concept sort of clashes with the cleric's spell preparation mechanic of having all their spells memorized and preparing them by prayer. The celestial warlock or favored soul sorcerer may be a better fit for this concept.
This is an entirely possible concept, and an interesting one. According to the metagame conceit all a Cleric needs is a relationship with a Deity. Being the last of his/her line and taking up the mantle would be a remarkable story to unfold in the game. I would play it as a multiclass adopting the Cleric class as I came to grips with the sudden responsibility.
Ooh. This could be a fun background to build from. I would say the family swore their bloodline’s allegiance to this deity and in turn were chosen by him to weild his power. So far, we’re good. They were all clerics, having a relationship to their deity. However, this guy wants nothing to do with it, but he’s still in the bloodline, so he shows up as a Divine Soul sorcerer.
Yeah, maybe he doesn’t get the cleric build exactly, but divine soul gives a lot of cleric style spells, and maybe as he grows, he makes his peace with his god and takes on levels of cleric.
Or simply being a cleric of Torm like was already suggested is a good workaround for your problem as well.
That's almost what I wanted to do to a T. I think I'll take you up on the soul sorcerer instead, as i want the character to have this power dropped into their lap, but doesn't want anything to do with it. Instead all he wants to do is make money, he doesn't like the Gods too much, so if i went cleric i would have been putting points into a dump stat anyway for my persuasion and deception roles. I was thinking of him as like cleric for hire, where every-time the party asks for healing he'll ask "how much you got?" Trying to convert people to get more money, when in reality he doesn't truly believe in it.
I like the healer for hire angle. Plays well with a guy who was born with healing powers but would have preferred more trickster abilities. Maybe do it sparingly with his party, but with NPCs and walking into new towns, advertising his services to make a little coin. With a neutral enough alignment, maybe even using other spells to injure on the sly just to be in the right place at the right time to sell your services. Maybe have him just dress as a cleric and let others make assumptions more than trying to win converts, unless he’s repping a god that requires a “connection fee” of sorts (that he of course pockets). Of course, taking this charlatan background too far could lead to taking levels of rogue down the road. Possibilities!
O for sure, i would only ask the party for the first few times until we became a full party. At first I thought to even take it as far as having a partner in the party that would be a corrupted cleric as well to help me make these schemes. For example poison the water supply secretly and offer to purify it, but our god requires money in order to perform miracles.
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Hey, so I had an idea for a cleric that never wanted to be one, however their whole family had taken an oath that their eldest relative will take up the mantle. After a disaster, he is the last of his family and needs to take on the divine power that he doesn't want. Does this work in D and D? Can clerics be made through family oaths or is it specific from person to person?
While such a character could certainly become a cleric out of duty to his family, he could just as well also be a Paladin, or a Warlock with a Celestial Patron. Or maybe he's a cleric in name only, being any class you want but with the Acolyte background to reflect his sworn service to a church.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
I've read about examples for clerics that didn't want to be one. A cleric's abilities are a gift from their patron god, usually a reward for their prayer and devotion, but it could rarely be an unwanted gift. This concept sort of clashes with the cleric's spell preparation mechanic of having all their spells memorized and preparing them by prayer. The celestial warlock or favored soul sorcerer may be a better fit for this concept.
You can always be a Cleric of Torm. Since he is the god of duty you can be following him since it is your duty to carry on the family name.
This is an entirely possible concept, and an interesting one. According to the metagame conceit all a Cleric needs is a relationship with a Deity. Being the last of his/her line and taking up the mantle would be a remarkable story to unfold in the game. I would play it as a multiclass adopting the Cleric class as I came to grips with the sudden responsibility.
Ooh. This could be a fun background to build from. I would say the family swore their bloodline’s allegiance to this deity and in turn were chosen by him to weild his power. So far, we’re good. They were all clerics, having a relationship to their deity. However, this guy wants nothing to do with it, but he’s still in the bloodline, so he shows up as a Divine Soul sorcerer.
Yeah, maybe he doesn’t get the cleric build exactly, but divine soul gives a lot of cleric style spells, and maybe as he grows, he makes his peace with his god and takes on levels of cleric.
Or simply being a cleric of Torm like was already suggested is a good workaround for your problem as well.
That's almost what I wanted to do to a T. I think I'll take you up on the soul sorcerer instead, as i want the character to have this power dropped into their lap, but doesn't want anything to do with it. Instead all he wants to do is make money, he doesn't like the Gods too much, so if i went cleric i would have been putting points into a dump stat anyway for my persuasion and deception roles. I was thinking of him as like cleric for hire, where every-time the party asks for healing he'll ask "how much you got?" Trying to convert people to get more money, when in reality he doesn't truly believe in it.
I like the healer for hire angle. Plays well with a guy who was born with healing powers but would have preferred more trickster abilities. Maybe do it sparingly with his party, but with NPCs and walking into new towns, advertising his services to make a little coin. With a neutral enough alignment, maybe even using other spells to injure on the sly just to be in the right place at the right time to sell your services. Maybe have him just dress as a cleric and let others make assumptions more than trying to win converts, unless he’s repping a god that requires a “connection fee” of sorts (that he of course pockets). Of course, taking this charlatan background too far could lead to taking levels of rogue down the road. Possibilities!
O for sure, i would only ask the party for the first few times until we became a full party. At first I thought to even take it as far as having a partner in the party that would be a corrupted cleric as well to help me make these schemes. For example poison the water supply secretly and offer to purify it, but our god requires money in order to perform miracles.