Magic in Fantasy Stories

Brandon Sanderson famously defined magic systems as either soft or hard, with soft magic having no defined rules, while hard magic has known rules. When using magic in a narrative, the more the reader understands the rules of the magic, the more the author can use it to solve the protagonist's problem. The idea being that if the reader doesn't understand how magic within this fantasy world works, then it feels like the author is just creating a convenience for the characters to use to solve their problem. This can lead to a feeling that there are no stakes within the story and that the characters are never in any real danger.

Soft Magic

While soft magic can certainly exist within a setting, it can't really be used by the characters. What I mean is that soft magic works well for magic that is not controlled by the characters, but instead comes from the environment or a rare phenomenon. In any fantasy world, if a character is using magic, by its very nature, it must be a hard magic system.

The idea that characters can utilize a soft magic system is a silly one at best. If you are going to make use of something, you have to have at least some idea of how it works. Assume for a moment that there's a supernatural force in the world, and you can freely tap into it, but it has no rules at all. This force essentially is pure chaos. Each time you use it, you have no idea if you're going to get what you want, or if you're going to accidentally blow up your house. You'd never use it. The risk of catastrophic outcomes just isn't worth it. What if it's not pure chaos? What if you know that this force is only able to produce a limited range of outcomes? Well, now it has rules. That makes it hard magic.

When describing soft magic, a lot of people will point to The Lord of the Rings as a soft magic system. This isn't accurate at all. The Lord of the Rings actually uses hard magic. For instance, Gandalf remarks that he once knew all the spells in the languages of men, elves, and orcs. That tells us that in order for people in Middle Earth to cast spells, these spells must be known, and there are a limited number of spells in existence. We don't know if it's possible to experiment and create new spells, or if the spells of Middle Earth simply exist and people had to discover what works and what doesn't, but in either case, we know that there are a limited number of spells. In The Hobbit we see Gandalf ignite pinecones and hurl them at the goblins. In The Lord of the Rings Legolas suggests that Gandalf might wield a flame to melt the snow to make the passage over Caradhras easier, and Gandalf says that he can't simply create a flame. He needs something to ignite. This tells us that there are limits to these spells and Gandalf can't simply do whatever he wants. When the wolves attack the Fellowship in the night, Gandalf draws flames from their campfire to hurl at the wolves. This shows us that Gandalf can manipulate fire, but it didn't just come from nowhere, there was a source. He also says that if anyone was watching, he just announced his presence to everyone for miles around. This shows us that using magic, especially powerful displays like this, makes it easier for other magical beings to sense him.

So, while the reader doesn't get to see all of the rules of magic in The Lord of the Rings it does abide by a set of rules. You might think that "Avatar: The Last Airbender" uses a soft magic system. Nope, that's hard magic, too. There are rules. You must be born a bender, and you will only ever bend your native element. Bending comes from a natural energy flow, and is typically focused through the use of a particular martial arts style. Bending can be shut off by blocking chi flow within the body. These are all rules that exist within that world.

What about the Force? Yes, even the Force has rules. While it is possible for people within "Star Wars" to use the Force, it's typically in a limited capacity until they are trained. The Jedi spend years in training in order to properly wield the Force. The Sith require a lot less training because they're willing to accept the corruption of the Dark Side, enabling them to obtain power quickly. If the Force didn't have rules, then the Jedi wouldn't need to spend so much time training. Other practitioners, such as the Night Sisters use rituals akin to our concept of witches in order to use the Force. Again, that's a set of rules. They have different traditions, but they know that if they perform certain rituals, the Force will react in a particular way, thus, rules.

So What is Soft Magic?

The weather of Middle Earth is a good example. Sometimes the world itself responds to what's going on. An evil army of Uruk-hai march upon Helm's Deep, ready to exterminate the kingdom of Rohan. This causes it to rain. You can include elements of soft magic in a narrative by tying it to the world. The best way to utilize soft magic is to have environmental things just happen. Soft magic should never be wielded by your characters, because by its very nature, it can't be.

Is Sanderson Wrong?

No, of course not. The basic principle is sound. The more your reader understands how magic works in your world, the more natural it will feel for your characters to use it. If you solve problems in your story by using magic in a way that the reader can't justify, then your narrative begins to suffer. That doesn't mean that you can't have your character use new powers. It just means that when your characters suddenly do something new, it needs to feel natural. If characters in your story never fly, and suddenly your protagonist flies, you better have a good explanation. However, if flight has already been shown as a possibility, then your protagonist learns to fly, it feels natural. You didn't just pull it out of nowhere, you laid the ground work to establish what was possible.

I've spent quite a while talking about hard vs soft magic, but there's another aspect of magic that Sanderson codified, and that is the fact that what really makes magic interesting is its limits. If absolutely anything can eventually become possible, then you're writing a story about omnipotent gods. However, if your characters need a specific material to cast spells, or if every spell cast consumed a resource or had a rippling effect elsewhere in the world, or if you simply decide that you don't want your magic to be able to do certain things or affect certain things then you've introduced something interesting to your world. Remember, the most interesting part of your characters is their flaws. Think of magic as another character. It needs its own flaws to make it interesting.

Alignment in TTRPGs

Anyone who has played D&D has seen the alignments of law vs chaos and good vs evil. While the alignment system was an important part of old D&D, it no longer fits with the more modern sensibilities of our TTRPGs, and that's a problem for D&D.

Why Alignment Mattered

When Gygax and Arneson first created D&D, it was originally an extension of their Chainmail wargame, but once it took on its own life, the core gameplay loop of D&D was about exploring dungeons, killing monsters, and taking their loot. In this context, alignment was a helpful tool. If you invade someone's home, killed them, and took their stuff, you were obviously evil. However, by labeling monsters as evil, it provides a framework that these monsters are a threat and probably obtained their loot through questionable means, so the players can feel justified in attacking them.

Alignment served as a simple and easy shorthand that allowed players to know what to expect. If the monster is evil, it's probably going to attack you. Chaotic? It's highly likely to lie to get what it wants. Lawful? You can trust them to keep their word.

D&D Has Changed

Over the years, players have come to expect more from Dungeons & Dragons than dungeons. They want quests, stories, and to feel like their characters matter. D&D's core gameplay loop is no longer just explore a dungeon and find loot. Now, players expect a goal, they want villains to defeat, and a D&D adventure can involve just as much time outside of a dungeon as inside.

As we come to expect more from our TTRPGs than the simplistic style of the 70s and 80s, D&D has expanded to include more interesting locales to explore and official products sometimes contain a variety of plot hooks you can use to get your players interested in the adventure. However, alignment hasn't changed.

With increasingly complex plots and a quest-driven structure, this mechanic still sticks out like a sore thumb.

What is Evil?

Good and evil are social constructs. You can't objectively state whether something is good or evil without some higher sense of a moral compass. Well, killing someone is definitely evil. Is it? If your god demands a human sacrifice once a year during an important festival, is that evil? It can't be, because your god demands it. Is that example too extreme for you? Alright, how about this: is it evil to kill an animal if it's not a threat to you and you don't intend to use any part of its body afterward? Well, if you read the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, that used to be an important part of regular worship. Certainly, if you believe the Christian God is good, then you can't possibly think that an animal sacrifice is evil.

Good and evil aren't what we think they are. In the real world, good and evil are concepts, they aren't absolutes. Our sense of morality comes from what we as a society decided upon.

Alignment is Absolute

Within D&D, there exists spells and magic items that react differently depending on a creature's alignment. If good and evil are not absolute, then how would the magic know how to affect someone? There are gods who are good and gods who are evil. Why? In the real world, if you are religious, your sense of evil comes from what your god says is evil. So, how can there be an evil god in a fantasy setting? Either, they rebelled against the other gods and are evil in the eyes of the majority, in which case, they're outnumbered, or good and evil is an absolute not determined by the gods, therefore some gods can be evil.

In order for the magic and the pantheons of D&D to function properly, alignments can't be subjective. There must be some fundamental truth in the universe that determines what an alignment means, and that truth can't simply come from the gods.

Absolute Alignment Limits Modern Story

Consider an epic fantasy story. Your heroes are obviously good, the villain is obviously evil. This is fine for this type of story. The reader even knows what's going to happen: the villain will eventually lose. That's perfectly fine. It's what's expected of the genre. The goal of the narrative isn't the story, the journey is the story. Before you even get a few pages into a story like The Lord of the Rings, you already know that the ring will be destroyed. The fun is seeing how it happens.

Now, consider A Song of Ice and Fire. These characters are all over the place. You have no idea who's going to die, or who's going to end up on the Iron Throne at the end of it all. This is a story about intrigue and character interactions. Good luck figuring out the alignments of these characters.

As we come to expect our gamemasters to create more intricate and detailed stories for our characters, the concept of D&D's alignment becomes more and more of a hindrance. Imagine how political intrigue would go if you could simply detect who is evil? What about if their alignment can't be detected at all? On the one hand, you immediately know who not to trust. On the other, you immediately know who not to trust.

Absolute Alignment Limits Players

When you create your character, you probably have an idea in mind for how they will act and what they care about. Now, fit them into one of nine predetermined alignment labels. You have to portray that alignment now.

Once you put a label on your character's morality, it now looms over everything your character does, right? "No, alignment is open to interpretation," you say. Well, no, it's not. As I already pointed out, alignment within D&D can't be open to interpretation, because of the simple fact that there is magic which can definitely identify good and evil, law and chaos. If it can be defined by a spell, then there must be a universal definition for it. If there is a universal definition, then you, as the player, don't get to interpret it how you want.

Conclusion

The alignment system was fine for what the game used to be, but now that D&D has become something more, it's an outdated remnant that needs to be changed. Some modern TTRPGs don't even use an alignment system. Unfortunately, if you change the alignment system of D&D, you also have to change a handful of spells and magic items, so we're not likely to see WotC change alignment with the newest version of D&D. As a gamemaster, you can, of course, ignore alignment, but then you also have to tell your players that all of the magic that interacts with alignment won't be used in your game.

Whether you like it or hate it, D&D's alignments no longer serve their original purpose. It's a flawed system that has become such an entrenched part of the game that it's likely to never change, and ends up being largely ignored by players and GMs alike, until a paladin wants to detect or smite evil...

ReBoot Makes No Sense

ReBoot was the first fully CG cartoon, made in the 90s, and told the story of a virtual world inside a computer.  The characters were representations of programs and data.  However, there is something within this virtual world that doesn't make sense.

Game Cubes

Yes, ReBoot had something called a game cube years before Nintendo did.  A game cube occurred whenever the computer's user loaded a game.  The cube would descend upon the virtual city, and anything the cube landed on would be trapped within the game.  Any of the city's citizens trapped in the game could load game data into themselves, becoming a part of the game.

Time within the virtual city is measured in micro- and nanoseconds, with one of the characters saying a task "might even take one whole second!"  It's obvious, then, that the virtual world moves much faster than our own world, which makes sense, considering the virtual world is just a representation of a computer.  To the characters in the virtual world, a second is like an entire day.

When the characters are participating in a game cube, they are interacting with the computer user.  Logically, this would mean that time would flow at a rate appropriate for humans.  Considering a game could last for several minutes or even an hour or more, a single game should feel like an eternity to the characters of the virtual world.  However, the games seem to end in a matter of nanoseconds compared to the action happening in the rest of the city.  In fact, the time difference between the rest of the world and the game cubes is a major plot point of the latter half of season 3, except they do it backwards.

In season 3, three of the main characters get trapped in a losing game and change themselves into game sprites so that the game will take them with it instead of destroying them.  They then end up getting loaded into other computers, trying to find their way back home.  They end up aging faster than the characters they left behind.  It is later explained to them that game time is faster than their normal time, so they age quicker.  However, in actuality, they should have remained the same age, as they would be spending hours in games and the rest of the virtual world would be progressing at their normal rate.

Rolling Dice Builds Character... but it Shouldn't

I have been playing tabletop rpgs for quite a while now, mostly Dungeons and Dragons, and I've tried every version of D&D so far, and a few games inspired by it, and ever since the beginning, rolling dice has been the default method for building a character... but this is a bad idea.


Rolling for Attributes

Typically, when creating a new character for a campaign, the first thing you'll do is roll a bunch of dice to determine your attributes.  This can be fun and exciting, but this is also very unbalanced and terrible.  According to the rules of D&D 3.5, you roll 4d6, ignore the low die, and keep the remaining total.  This becomes one of your attribute scores.  You do this five more times and assign all six scores to the attributes you want.  If none of your scores is higher than 13, you may scrap it all and start again.  If the total attribute modifiers add up to 0, you may scrap it all and start again.

These rules do give you at least some form of safety net to keep your character from being totally useless, but if you end up with scores of 14, 13, 11, 10, 10, 7, then you do have an attribute that's higher than 13, and your modifiers will add up to a total of +1, and when you find out one of the other players ended up with 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10, you're still going to feel pretty useless.

This is the problem with rolling for attributes.  There is no balance.  Tabletop rpgs are a group game.  Whenever one player gets more than another player, the player with less is going to feel like they aren't contributing as much to the group as the player with more.


Rolling for Hit Points

Every version of the d20 system I have played so far has a "hit die" for each class, that tells you what die you roll to add to your hit points at each level.  In most of these, fighter or soldier classes tend to have a d10 hit die, while skillful, rogue-like classes tend to have a d6 hit die, and then other classes will have a d8 or even as low as a d4.  These dice tend to be distributed among the classes based on how often or how likely the class should expose themselves to combat.  For example, if you are playing a d10 class, your character is probably suited for getting into the thick of things, while a d6 class is better suited for lurking at the edge of a fight and looking for opportunities to attack.

Games like this use guidelines to help the GM determine if an encounter is balanced for the party.  Typically, these guidelines assume an average party.  What happens if the party's front-line fighter rolls a 1 for his hit points?  What happens if he does this for two levels in a row?  Now the character who is supposed to handle most of the fighting no longer has enough staying power to fight opponents of his level.


Randomness is Bad

In any game system that uses random elements, such as dice, these elements work against the players.  Player characters go through several game sessions, possibly an entire year or longer of making die rolls or whatever other random mechanic your game uses.  Your player characters have hundreds of opportunities for failure, but the average NPC (non-player character) is only around for one encounter.  If the NPC fails, who cares?  You'll just use another NPC in the next encounter.

Any random element is a potential for player failure.  Randomness should only occur DURING gameplay, when determining if players succeed or fail.  Players should not have to deal with any amount of randomness while building their character.  Think about this, a failed attack roll or skill check only hinders a player for a moment, but a low hit point or attribute roll hinders the player for the entire campaign.


A Better Way

I have been phasing out character build randomness from my games.  I've been using the point system for attribute scores, and have been giving players the option of taking an average result for their hit points instead of rolling.  The average hit point rule suggested in the Unearthed Arcana says that players should round down on every odd level and round up on every even level, so a d6 hit die would give 3 hit points or 4 hit points depending on what level you attain.  I decided to be a little nicer, and also not make my players keep up with whether they're rounding up or down, and just let them round up at every level, which results in higher than average hit points, but I don't care if my players have a few more hit points, it doesn't break the game.

To calculate the average of any given die roll, take the lowest possible roll, add the highest possible, and divide by 2.  For a single die you get the following: d4 (2.5), d6 (3.5), d8 (4.5), d10 (5.5) and d12 (6.5).


Now, of course, if everyone has the same points to choose their attributes and has average hit points, you might think that everyone will feel pretty much the same.  While it's true that using this system doesn't allow for as much variety, in a game, it is more important for everyone to have the same potential than for a player to have the feeling of getting a lucky roll and starting with higher attributes.  When I allowed players to roll for attributes, I would often try to counter a player's bad luck by allowing everyone to roll more than one set of attributes and choosing what they wanted.  It was my intention to allow players to have the fun of rolling without condemning a player to their bad luck, but in practice, this has more often resulted in players with good luck getting even more outrageous results than keeping the party close to even.  So, it's really just better to cut out rolling altogether if you want your players to be able to build characters of similar ability.

Why Your 20th Level Character Doesn't Impress Me

I started playing roleplaying games just before I started college.  I met a few D&D players back then, and I've met others since then, and one thing I've noticed is that all the players I have met like to brag about their favorite (often highest-level) character.


I have been a gamemaster for just as long as I have been a player, since I started playing in a campaign about the same time that I started running my first campaign.  Whenever I meet a fellow D&D player, I like to talk about some of the stories I have run over the years, but inevitably, what they like to talk about is their 20th level badass with a +5 holy, vampire, shockingburst sword of awesome... or something similar.  It never fails.  EVERY player I have met, upon first meeting them, talk about what level they were, what magic items they had, but why?  Are they trying to impress me?  If so, they're failing.


So, why am I not impressed by what level you were, or what you acquired?  You might think it's because I've been playing since 2000 and I've probably had several characters get to epic levels with god-like magic items.  No, not at all.  I have never played a character who surpassed 12th level upon writing this (in D&D 3.5).  Maybe it's because I've had players get to that level in my games.  Well, not really.  I only ever ran one campaign that got to the point of the players reaching level 20.  So, why do their characters not impress me?  Simple.  They haven't told me anything that they accomplished!  You say you have a level 20 paladin with an epic sword... alright... so what?  Everything your character has was given to you by your gamemaster.  If I wanted to, I could start a game next week and give all of my players artifacts that can destroy and rebuild worlds and make them all level 40 if I wanted.  Your levels and your magic items mean nothing.


When you talk to a fellow player, don't brag about your level and your items.  Those aren't important.  We are roleplayers.  We participate in stories, but not as readers, but as a part of that story.  Players in an rpg have a unique opportunity to not just listen to a story being told, but to help shape that story, to make it a tale of their accomplishments.  I had a player play a paladin who decided to be a diplomat.  When I talk about him, I don't talk about what level he was or what weapons he carried.  I talk about how he befriended the dwarven royal family, how he talked down a group of minotaurs, how those minotaurs came to his rescue in a later battle, how he single-handedly killed a fire giant 4 levels higher than him, and how he united people, married into royalty, and eventually became a king with an alliance of three nations.  THAT is how we should be bragging about our characters.  Tell each other about your stories, that is what roleplaying is all about.

Playing Your Best (D&D) Lesson 6-2: Low-Mid Level Cleric Spells

In the Basics of the Cleric guide, I talked about 1st level cleric spells.  This time, I'm going to look at spells of 2nd to 4th levels.  As usual, this guide will only look at the PHB.  Also, there are a lot of good spells, and I'm covering multiple levels here, so I'm going to mostly focus on some of the best spells of each level, and at the end I will mention a few other spells worth mentioning.


Spiritual Weapon

I have always known how good this spell is, but it wasn't until I started preparing this guide that I re-read the spell's description and realized it's more awesome than I thought it was.
Spiritual weapon is a 2nd level cleric spell, which means a cleric gains access to this spell once they reach level 3.  Honestly, sometimes I wished WotC didn't use "level" for every damn thing.
Spiritual weapon is a purely offensive spell, a rarity for clerics.  Clerics typically use their spells to enhance the party or heal, but spiritual weapon is a pure blast spell, but it's better than just a blast spell.  When you cast this spell, you create a weapon of pure force energy based on your deity or your alignment.  Regardless of the shape of the weapon, the spiritual weapon deals 1d8 damage +1 per three caster levels up to a maximum of +5.  However, it has the same critical range and multiplier of a normal weapon of its type, so creating a sword gives you a 19-20 critical range, or if you are a cleric of Nerull, you get a scythe for an x4 critical.
Unlike a normal weapon, the spiritual weapon isn't wielded by the caster, it is a ranged spell.  The weapon floats and acts on its own, directed by you.  It uses your own base attack bonus, and gets multiple attacks per round if you would, but it doesn't use your strength bonus, but your wisdom bonus.  The weapon lasts for one round per caster level.  It only makes one attack when it targets a new opponent, but after that it makes its full number of attacks each round.  You must use a move action to choose a new target.
Now, spiritual weapon allows a spell resistance.  The first time the weapon attacks a creature with SR, you make your caster level check.  If you fail, the weapon is dispelled.  If you succeed, the weapon overcomes that creature's resistance for the duration of the spell.
Being a force effect, spiritual weapon strikes incorporeal creatures ignoring the incorporeal miss chance, and ignores damage reduction.
Unfortunately, spiritual weapon does not benefit from flanking or grant flanking bonuses.
Every cleric should prepare spiritual weapon at least once per day, and if you have access to the war domain, it can fill your 2nd level domain slot.  This is quite possibly the best blast spell available to a cleric at this level.  It's my favorite type of blast: a blast that can do damage multiple times.  Plus it ignores DR and incorporeal?  Amazing.


Lesser Restoration

I'm not going to spend much time on this spell.  It's a 2nd level cleric spell that can dispel an attribute penalty or heal 1d4 attribute damage.  This is a must-take when you know you're facing undead, but can also counteract the effects of a ray of enfeeblement.


Aid

Another good 2nd level spell.  Aid can only affect a single creature and has a touch range.  Use it on your fighter or yourself if you're a front-line cleric.  Aid grants a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear, so it doesn't stack with other morale bonuses, but it also grants temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your caster level (up to a maximum of 1d8+10.)  Aid lasts for one minute per caster level, so cast it before going into a fight to give your front-line an extra buffer of hit points so you don't have to worry about healing as much.  You could also use aid on your sorcerer/wizard if you are worried about them getting hit in the next fight, however the +1 attack bonus won't matter as much.


Create Food and Water

A great 3rd level spell.  Has the party run out of rations?  Do you want to put farmers out of work?  This is the spell for you.  Casting this spell once creates enough food and water to sustain three humans (or a single horse) for 24 hours... per caster level!  This is a 3rd level spell, so when you get it, you'll be a level 5 cleric, meaning you cast this once and create enough food to feed 15 people!  Granted, the spell's description says the food is bland, but nourishing, and if the food isn't consumed with 24 hours it spoils... unless you also cast purify food and water.  Even still, a single cleric of level 5 could prepare this up to twice per day to feed 30 people every day.  A level 6 cleric can prepare this up to three times per day and feed 54 people!  Seriously, if there was ever a spell that could upset an economy, this is it.  Yes, the food is bland, but a couple of clerics can wipe out hunger in a poor village, easily.
Alright, I'm obviously poking fun at D&D a bit here, but this really is a good spell for long adventures.  Not one you'll prep all the time, mind you, but if the party runs out of rations, that's no problem, you can feed them all with enough left over for mounts, animal companions, beasts of burden, etc.


Prayer

This spell only lasts for one round per level, but it grants a luck bonus to attack, weapon damage, saves, and skills, and all enemies within the area take a -1 penalty to those rolls.  What's better?  The spell doesn't allow a save!  Spell resistance applies, but not saves.


Freedom of Movement

This 4th level cleric spell is a "get out of grapple free" card, however it also lets you ignore entanglement, moving underwater, magic that would hinder movement such as the slow and web spells, it even lets you use slashing and bludgeoning weapons normally underwater.  It lasts for 10 minutes per caster level, but can only target one creature at a time and has a touch range.


How to Stack Buffs

Cast bless and prayer, bless grants a morale bonus, prayer a luck bonus.  You want to cast bless before a fight, if possible, it lasts for one minute per level, while prayer lasts for one round per level and you want to catch enemies in its area.  Cast magic circle (hope you choose the right alignment) to grant everyone within 10 feet of you a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus to saves against that alignment.  Finally, use freedom of movement on any party member you need to ensure maintains their mobility.

What if you just want to buff yourself?  Well, swap bless for aid, since aid hits only one creature and grants a morale bonus, so it wouldn't stack with bless anyway.  You can use protection instead of magic circle.  Use divine favor and divine power, and cast prayer once you get into combat.  With all of this, you have a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves against fear, a +3 luck bonus on attacks and weapon damage, a +1 luck bonus on skills and saves, a +2 deflection bonus to AC, a +2 resistance bonus to saves, a +6 enhancement bonus to strength, temporary hit points equal to your caster level, and the base attack bonus of a fighter.  Also, any enemies too close to you when you cast prayer also have a -1 penalty to attacks, damage, skills, and saves.
Assuming a caster level of 9 (minimum to cast 4th level cleric spells) and we'll assume only a 10 strength to make things easy, and you have:
A base attack bonus of +9/+4
A total melee attack bonus of +16/+11
Your melee attacks deal +6 damage
You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8+9 (and if you wait until you lose some before casting divine power, you'll get 9 more from that spell)
Plus you'll gain a +2 deflection bonus to AC (which stacks with magic armor, because that grants an enhancement bonus, but doesn't stack with rings of protection), a +2 resistance bonus to saves (doesn't stack with a cloak of resistance, but you could wear a cloak of charisma instead to improve your turning ability) and a +1 luck bonus to saves, and a +1 morale bonus to saves (only against fear).
With the above spells cast at the right time, you could turn your cleric into a temporary tank.


Now I'll give some quick notes on a few other noteworthy spells.

Bull's strength, bear's endurance, eagles's splendor, and owl's wisdom: These are all excellent buff spells at low levels, but do not stack with magic items that grant enhancement bonuses to those attributes.  However, since the cleric can change their spell's every day, you can freely prepare these if you want before your party has such magic items, and unlike the wizard, who could also do this, the wizard only learns a few spells from the entire list of arcane spells, while the cleric can freely prepare from the entire cleric list, which means spells such as these are better suited for the cleric so the wizard's spell choices aren't wasted once the party gains items with permanent bonuses.

Resist energy: If you know you're about to fight a dragon or an elemental, this is great, otherwise, this spell may go unused.  When you prepare the spell, you don't have to choose which type of energy, only when you cast it, so you don't need to know what you're going to be facing, only that you're going to encounter one of these damage types.

Silence: Multiple party members automatically succeed at move silently.  Hope you have worked out nonverbal communication.

Stone shape: A great, versatile spell, so long as you're not on a boat or inside a wooden building.  There are a lot of uses for this spell, but if your party contains a druid, it may be better to let them worry about this so you can focus on spells they don't have access to.

Protection from energy: I want to like this spell, but I don't feel it's that good.  It's one spell level higher than resist energy, but it makes you completely immune to the energy type you chose, until it has stopped a total of 12 points of damage per caster level, up to a maximum of 120 damage.  I don't know, I'd rather have resist energy, which grants you 10, 20, or 30 resistance to the chosen energy type.  Both spells have the same duration, but protection is eventually discharged once it blocks its limit.  I guess it's a matter of preference.  If a 7th level cleric were protecting you, would you rather have resistance 20 for 70 minutes, or be immune until the spell blocked 84 damage?  I feel like the cleric can often do better things with their 3rd level slots.

Magic weapon and magic vestment: These spells make your weapon or armor magic, giving it an enhancement bonus.  These are fine spells until you actually have magic weapons and armor, at which point you won't be using these any more.

Lesser planar ally: Here's a big one.  You can summon an elemental or outsider of up to 6 HD and you give it a task to complete.  This spell has a 10 minute casting time, so not something you'll do in combat, this is a spell you use to prepare for a situation.  According to the spell's description, you don't get to choose the creature you summon unless you know the name of the specific creature you want, and this spell only summons creatures of your alignment.  It even says if you try to call a specific creature, you might still get a different one, so this spell is basically "hey, GM, help us out here, what will you send us?"  You ask the creature to perform a task, and you must be able to communicate with the creature, so you'd better hope you share a language with it.  Unlike a normal summon, the creature is actually present, so it doesn't unsummon if defeated, it can actually be killed.  However, the spell has no time limit.  The creature will require a payment for its service which must be made before it does what you asked, which is typically dependent upon the danger of the task, how closely it follows the creature's alignment, and how long it will take, and this is in addition to a 100xp component cost of the spell, so you must cast this spell in a place where you will be capable of paying the cost the creature demands, because these costs could be a donation to the temple, paying the creature directly, or performing a task in exchange for its service, and if you are unable to do so, or are unable to come to an agreement, then you get NOTHING from this spell!  Effectively, it is possible to burn a 4th level spell slot and 100xp and get nothing in return.  However, it is also possible to have a 6 HD creature running around doing you a favor, so there's that.  This spell is entirely up to your GM and yourself to negotiate.


If you choose and use your spells carefully, you will hopefully be casting the spells you want to cast more so than converting them to healing.

Playing Your Best (D&D) Lesson 6: The Basics of Clerics in 3.5

The cleric is an important member of the team. A party without a cleric has less long-term endurance, and has a harder time dealing with undead. In addition to providing support to the rest of the party, a cleric can cover a lot of party needs.

The Basics of the Cleric

Clerics are primarily a support class. Their primary role is to make the rest of the party better. Clerics cast divine spells, which are not affected by the spell failure chance of armor and shields, but do provoke attacks of opportunity. Clerics can wear heavy armor and can use shields, so they are often backup melee fighters.

For all of the builds I talk about here, you want wisdom to be your highest attribute, since it is needed for your spells. You'll want charisma to be your second-highest if you want to be able to turn undead well, but if you aren't as concerned about undead, then you could put a lower attribute into charisma.

Playing a Melee Cleric

This is probably the most commonly played cleric I've seen. This seems like an obvious choice for the cleric, since they can use heavy armor, they tend to have high AC. To play a melee cleric, you don't need very high dexterity, because you'll be better off with the heaviest armor you can afford. For a melee cleric, you'll want a high constitution. Constitution is more important than strength for a melee cleric, because you want to be sure you have enough hit points to survive melee combat. As a cleric, you are probably the party's primary healer, and if you get defeated in combat, then the party is going to have trouble. It is for this reason that I don't advise playing a melee cleric. If you insist on playing a melee cleric anyway, then you will probably want to choose the destruction, good, or war domain as one of your domain choices.

The destruction domain will give you a once-per-day smite ability. This smite works on any enemy, doesn't care about the target's alignment. It is not dependent on any of your attributes. It grants you a +4 bonus on the attack roll and adds your cleric level to damage.

The good domain simply lets you cast good-aligned spells at 1 higher caster level. For most of these spells, that means a slightly longer duration. Some of your most useful low-level buff spells are good-aligned. Protection from evil grants the target a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus to saves against any effect from an evil source, plus it prevents attempts to possess the protected creature, and suppresses the effects of charm and compulsion for as long as the protection spell lasts, regardless of the alignment of the source. It also prevents any non-good summoned creature from even touching the protected creature, unless the protected creature attacks or touches the summoned creature.

(Obviously, if you are playing in a campaign where you are more likely to fight good creatures rather than evil, then you will want the evil domain.)

The war domain grants you proficiency with your deity's favored weapon (if you aren't already proficient with it) and grants you weapon focus with that weapon. This is a pretty good benefit, especially since all deities of war in the Player's Handbook have favored weapons with a base d8 damage, however Corellon and Heironeous are slightly better choices since they use the longsword as their favored weapon, which gives you a better critical range, or if you are a follower of Gruumsh, the longspear will give you reach, allowing you to mitigate some of the threat to yourself while you are in combat.

Playing a Ranged Cleric

This is my preferred way of playing a cleric. This keeps the party healer out of melee combat, where they are most likely to get themselves killed. You will want your dexterity to be your second or third priority when assigning your attributes, which means your dexterity will benefit your AC, and will provide your attack bonus. Because of this, you don't need heavy armor, so you will want to take armor that allows you to get the most benefit from your dexterity. The breastplate is the best choice for you, if your dexterity bonus is less than +4. A chain shirt is your best bet if you managed a dexterity of +4. You are already proficient with crossbows, which is fine for a cleric, but if you are an elf cleric, then you are already proficient with shortbows and longbows, so splurge and get a longbow when you can afford it. You won't be using a shield, since you'll need both hands for your weapon. As a ranged cleric, your choice of domains are not as important for combat, so you can choose your domains based entirely on your party's needs.

Domain Choices

When you create a cleric, you will choose two domains. You domains give you special powers, and give you a choice of domain spells. As a cleric, when you prepare your spells each day, you also choose one spell of each spell level from one of your two domains.

Travel

Any cleric can benefit from the travel domain. Its granted power allows you to ignore any movement restrictions for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. The power itself says “as if you were affected by Freedom of Movement,” which is a 4^th level spell. The spell's description says you may move and attack normally, even under the effects of magic which would impede movement, including paralysis. You automatically succeed on a grapple check to resist or escape a grapple. You can even move normally underwater, including attacking with slashing or bludgeoning weapons.

The domain's power says it functions automatically, as you need it. So, did the enemy troll grapple you? Just slip out on your turn, or just choose to not be grappled. Were you paralyzed? Not this turn. Enemy druid cast Entangle? Just walk through it. For a total number of rounds each day equal to your cleric level, you ignore all effects that would stop your movement, and it turns on and off at-will. This is probably the single most awesome domain power available to the cleric.

Alignment Domains

These domains all allow you to cast spells of the appropriate alignment at +1 caster level. This isn't huge, but choosing the law or good domains in most campaigns means that your protection spells are more effective. Especially good at low levels.

Elemental Domains

These domains give you the ability to turn creatures with a certain elemental sub-type the same way you could turn undead. It also lets you bolster creatures of a certain elemental sub-type the same way an evil cleric can bolster undead. The bolstering effect might be the more useful ability here. Summon a creature, bolster it. Turning creatures of certain types can be useful, but I'd say this isn't as useful as some other domains, simply because you don't know how often you will encounter those creatures. Take one of these domains if you, or your party's druid or wizard, plans to do a lot of summoning.

Animal and Plant Domains

If your party doesn't have a druid, you can substitute for the druid. Neat.

Knowledge and Trickery Domains

If your party doesn't have a rogue, you... still can't substitute for the rogue, but you can get close.

Sun Domain

Once per day, instead of turning undead, you destroy them. Neat, but not really useful. For the most part, a turned undead isn't much of a threat anymore, and if you waste your one use of destruction on undead that are too powerful, oh well.

Strength Domain

Once per day, you can make the party barbarian or fighter feel inadequate. This domain does give you access to some useful spells such as Stoneskin and Bigsby's Hands, which are spells otherwise only available to sorcerers and wizards. If your party contains a wizard who specialized and gave up evocation, you might want this domain just to get the hand spells at later levels.

Magic Domain

If your party doesn't have a wizard, you can kind of substitute for the wizard. Well, technically, this domain lets you use scrolls, wands, and and spell-trigger items as if you were a wizard of half your cleric level. Some of the domain spells are useful, but some are pretty pointless.

Luck Domain

Once per day, you can reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You do have to use this before you find out if you succeeded. This can be useful, especially if you're in a save-or-die situation. In fact, you should probably always save this ability for a situation when failing a save will result in death, or at least significant drawback that would cause you a lot of damage or burn a lot of resources to mitigate.

Healing Domain

You cast healing spells at +1 caster level. Meh. You don't need this.

Death Domain

Just no. Don't ever take this domain. Even if you're evil. There are better, more useful choices.

The Cleric's Tactics

As a cleric, you should focus more on preventing the party from taking damage, rather than trying to heal. If you play your cleric as a healer, you will always be playing catch-up, and will always be running out of spells. To accomplish this, you will need to choose the right spells. I shall discuss the best 1^st level spells below. In a later guide, I'll go over higher-level cleric spells.

Bless

This is a great 1^st level spell. It gives multiple characters a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear for 1 minute per caster level. Even as a level 1 cleric, this will last you 10 rounds.

Divine Favor

This spell only affects yourself, and only lasts for one minute, however it grants you a +1 luck bonus on all attack rolls and weapon damage, and increases by +1 for every three cleric levels, up to a maximum of +6. This is good if your party is lacking in combat ability, but at lower levels, you should prioritize Bless over Divine Favor, simply because Bless will affect several characters, and even if you only have yourself and one other attacker, giving two characters a +1 is better than giving just yourself a +1. Don't start preparing Divine Favor until about level 6 or so.

Entropic Shield

Use this if you're playing a ranged cleric.

Magic Weapon

Prepare this at least once a day, every day, until your party gets their hands on actual magic weapons. Until then, you give your party's primary fighter a magic weapon for one minute per cleric level. This not only grants a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage, but since the weapon gains an enhancement bonus, it bypasses the damage reduction of any creature that is overcome by magic. Keep in mind, enhancement bonuses replace masterwork bonuses, so this is best when cast on mundane weapons.

Obscuring Mist

Great defensive spell. Use this to block off areas of the battlefield. This grants concealment to an area, making all attacks in that area less likely to hit. Keep in mind, this works both ways.

Protection

This is probably the best defensive spell you will have for a long time. Cast this on your party's primary melee fighter at the start of a big battle. You should prepare at least one of these every day for the rest of your life.

In part 2 of my cleric guide, I'll discuss most spell options for higher levels, and strategies for spell effects.