Clerics and Priests
HP/level: 1d8
Required Stats: 9 wisdom OR as adjudicated by the DM, in the case of specialty priests
Weapon Proficiencies: 2 +1/4 levels
Non-weapon proficiencies: 4 +1/3 levels
First, the defining difference between a cleric and a priest is this; Clerics follow a pantheon of gods, worshipping all of them or a small handful, ultimately following most closely those gods who have the same or similar alignment as the cleric. Priests are those dedicated to one god, and where Clerics gravitate to deities in a pantheon that most resemble their own alignment, priests are those who serve more “intimately” in their faith, being solely dedicated to one faith, and are thus of the same or very similar alignment to the deity they follow (almost always the same, point in case). In the over-all clergy of most any faith, Priests “out-rank” clerics simply due to their singular loyalty, but tend to have much more required of them. Most priests of specific faiths are granted special powers or access to spells not available to the common clerics, but, at the same time, tend to be more “limited” in what they can do with their power. Clerics enjoy more “freedom” of choice, as a way to put it, but at the same time, do not receive the same esteem in any one, single faith as those who are priests within it. Most religious orders have a method of organization, wherein which priests tend to fill the upper echelons, with a smattering of particularly loyal clerics and others filling in the middle and lower ranks. In any case, both priests and clerics receive spellcasting ability that is almost identical. The DM must be consulted in all cases when a cleric or priest is to be played, as the player will need information on the gods and pantheons active in his or her campaign world.
Priestly magic (the magic given by the gods, used by clerics, priests and even the holy warriors and rangers of certain faiths) is vastly different than wizardly magic. It is magic granted by the gods, and as such, ignores fully half of any non-divine creature’s magic resistance, if applicable. Furthermore, wielders of divine magic do not need to “pray in advance” to prepare spells for the day. The number of spells they can cast per day, in addition to those they might gain from a high Wisdom score, is available to them to pray for as they need them, much like Sorcerers can simply select which spell they want to cast and cast it, if they’ve spells of that level remaining for the day. The casting times of priest spells, however, tend to be a lot slower than either wizard or sorcerer spells. This reflects that the priests have to do a bit more than hiss a few words and gesture about a bit; they actually have to pray for each spell.
Something most players and DM’s fail to remember is that, even if a priest has their full daily “allotment” of spells available, their deity (or pantheon) might flat-out refuse to let a cleric use a spell for something. Thus, the DM is always free to refuse a priest or cleric their magic, either in part or as a whole, if they have violated the followings of their faith. This, of course, should depend entirely on if the spellcaster in question has violated his or her faith in a minor or major way, but remember; the gods prayed to know the PC in and out, particularly if they are higher in level and/or have served for a long while, or on an important task for the faith. Hiding intentions from the gods one serves can be done, but it’s trickier and more dangerous than is really worth the effort for most priestly spellcasters, and an attempt at such is usually a violation of faith in and of itself. Also, if a clerical caster wants to use a spell for something their deity or pantheon simply doesn’t agree with, they might not receive the spell.
Summary: priestly spellcasters ask their deities for each and every spell they cast. Deities can (and sometimes do) say “No”, and whether they actually say as much or nothing happens is up to the DM.
However, for most things, the deities trust their followers to use their power wisely, also reflected in particularly wise followers’ receiving more spells, but also in that, most of the time, a priestly spellcaster won’t be denied their magic. Some deities are more lackadaisical on this than others. Some are very strict, and may never allow their magic to be used to aid others of certain alignments or faiths, or to harm those of certain alignments or faiths. The DM is encouraged to take note of this, but certainly not to abuse it; abuse of this will swiftly lead to playing a clerical caster finding itself a shunned past-time in any campaign.
Divine Item Creation:
Priests, like wizardly types, can and do make magical items. They just go about it differently. The scrollmaking process is identical, save that priests use their Wisdom score to modify the roll, not their Intelligence.
Potion making requires the Herbalism proficiency for priestly magicks, but otherwise follows the same standard as described in the wizardly section.
The making of most other items, however, is what differs a lot.
Priests must gain the item, or have it crafted, much like wizards do, but they need no spells to enchant it. Rather, they must petition their deity or pantheon to imbue the item with the requested power. They must consecrate the item for one full day in a place that is holy or sacred to their faith, and must spend 8 hours per day thereafter deep in prayer, telling their god or gods what it is exactly that they want, why they want it, what they intend for it and, in essence, everything they want, why and what for to do with this item.
The priest’s level is the base percentage chance per day that they receive a meaningful reply, be it in the form of the object receiving the asked enchantments or, perhaps, a declination. A few things the DM should look at when priests attempt such things are the following;
Has the priest served well?
Do the priest’s intentions serve the faith well?
Is the priest of sufficient level to access the magicks requested?
If the priest hasn’t served well, they might very well be reprimanded for daring to ask for any favors until they set themselves back on the “straight and narrow”.
If the intentions for the item don’t serve the faith, or serve it to a moderate degree, the divinities may well decline.
If the priest isn’t of sufficient level to ask for such magicks on a more regular basis, then the scrutiny on the other two factors really plays hard on the matter. For instance, if a young priestess desperately pleads with the deity she serves that her staff to be given the magic to resurrect the high priest of her faith, the deity concerned might grant her staff the power to raise the high priest (and perhaps only the high priest). If the high priest were rightfully killed, perhaps for betraying the faith, or it might simply have been his time to go, the deity might refuse, or grant her some form of understanding as to that this isn’t what she should be asking for. However, on that same note, the deity might well grant what is asked for, regardless of level, if it serves their interests. Players and DM’s alike are advised to make note of the fact that gods are gods because they have godly might, magic and interests. Perhaps the players might not know why, but it can be quite an adventure hook for the 1st level priest to ask for a magical insert object here and receive something wondrous…only to be called to do something with it, or any number of things to that general effect. The gods can be very mysterious, and usually are (apparently just to be buggers about it).
The DM should be very creative, in any case, for several very good reasons: a deity might grant the enchantment, but it might be limited in some way (perhaps severely, as in the above example), or it might only be useable by the priest, or by certain alignments or classes. It might only be enchanted for a set period of time, or it might well be cursed (if the priest was in poor standing and the deity decided to teach the little ingrate a lesson s/he wouldn’t soon forget, perhaps?). The gods have all the freedom with the parameters of enchantment the DM wants to play with, and as such, all a priest can really do is “ask” and hope to “receive”.
Most deities don’t tend to be too free with enchanting items for their priests, but neither do most tend to be overly stingy. Those, and all other matters on the subject, are entirely up to the DM in all cases.