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Cleric

Cleric is a base class in NWN2.

Description[]

Clerics are masters of divine magic, which is especially good at healing. Even an inexperienced Cleric can bring people back from the brink of death, and an experienced Cleric can bring back people who have crossed over that brink. As channelers of divine energy, clerics can affect undead creatures. A Cleric can turn away or even destroy undead. Clerics have some combat training. They can use simple weapons, and they are trained in the use of armor, since armor does not interfere with divine spells the way it does with arcane spells.

Alignment Restrictions: A Cleric’s alignment is typically within one step of his deity’s (that is, it may be one step away on either the lawful–chaotic axis or the good–evil axis, but not both). A Cleric may not be neutral unless his deity’s alignment is also neutral. See (A.05) Deity of the NWN2 Reference Guide for a detailed list of allowed alignments.

Class Features[]

Hit die : d8
Base Attack Bonus progression : Medium
Saving Throws :
High = Fortitude & Will
low = Reflex
Proficiencies :
Weapons: Simple.
Armor: Light, Medium, Heavy & Shields. (except tower shields)
Skill Points : ( 2 + Int modifier ) ×4 at 1st Character level.
Class Skills : Concentration, Craft (alchemy, armor, weapon), Diplomacy, Heal, Lore, Parry and Spellcraft.


Spellcasting[]

Key ability Type Prepared
Wisdom divine yes

A Cleric casts divine spells, which are drawn from the Cleric spell list.
To prepare or cast a spell, a cleric must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Cleric’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Cleric’s Wisdom modifier.
A Cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. In addition to his base daily spell allotment, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score.

Spontaneous Casting[]

A Cleric can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that the Cleric did not prepare ahead of time. The Cleric can "lose" any prepared spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level.

  • Spell slots used to prepare domain spells may not be used for spontaneous casting.
  • A good Cleric (or a neutral Cleric of a good deity) can spontaneously cast any cure spell.
  • An evil Cleric (or a neutral Cleric of an evil deity) can spontaneously cast any inflict spell.
  • A Cleric who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can convert spells to either cure spells or inflict spells (player's choice). Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed. This choice also determines whether the Cleric turns or commands undead.

Deity Selection[]

Due to being set in the Forgotten Realms, all divine spell-casters in the Original Campaign of NWN2 are required to select a deity during character creation. Clerics choose an alignment and race first and then receive a list of deities appropriate for them to choose from. Although the possibility for restricting domains according to deity has been flagged by the developers, this is not currently implemented.

Turn Undead[]

Any Cleric has the power to affect undead creatures (such as skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and vampires) by channeling the power of his faith through his holy (or unholy) symbol. A Cleric can turn or destroy undead creatures. To view more information, refer to the Turn undead section of the wikia.

Domains[]

Clerics specialize in two areas of magical expertise called Domains. These domains are selected when first becoming a Cleric and cannot be changed. Domains grant added spells and sometimes a free feat or special ability.

Domain spells[]

According to PnP 3.5 rules, Clerics receive one bonus domain spell slot at each spell level because of their domains. When a Cleric prepares a spell in a domain spell slot, it should come from one of the two domains. However, unlike PnP 3.5 rules, NWN2 does not:

  1. make domain specific spells available at every spell level
  2. enforce the rule that the extra spell slot at each level should come from those granted by their respective domains.

Instead NWN2 simply affords the Cleric one (1) bonus spell slot per spell level above zero (0), and the extra spell slot may be used for any spell (inducing those granted by domains).

Domain list[]

A Cleric chooses two domains at their first class level, ideally representing the deity they have chosen to follow. Each domain gives the Cleric access to at least 2 domain spells he can cast that is added to his spell list, as well as possibly gaining a granted power. The Cleric gets the granted powers of both the domains selected.

Note that the cleric domain selection process is bugged and it is possible to obtain 2 (or 4) extra domains. To do so, observe the following:

  1. Take one (and only one) cleric level
  2. Take the prestige casting class Warpriest or Harper Agent, either of which advance divine spell casting, but do not do so at their first level
  3. Upon obtaining that prestige class' first level, select cleric spellcasting - this will trigger the 2 extra domians
  4. The bugged extra domains gained in this way only grant their initial feats - not the spells
  5. In this way you may select both prestige classes, for a total of 4 extra domains - though the prerequisite feats for both classes may not make it productive to do so
  6. Note that while leveling up to get the bugged extra domains with a Harper Agent or Warpriest, the menu for domains may sometimes appear blank with nothing to select. If this happens, cancel the level up process and start again - the domain menu should re-appear properly.
Epic Cleric Bonus Feats:[]

Armor Skin (Epic), Automatic: Quicken Spell, Automatic: Still Spell, Epic Toughness, Epic Energy Resistance, Overwhelming Critical. Epic Divine Might, Epic Prowess, Great Charisma, Great Smite (with Destruction (domain)), Great Strength, Great Wisdom, Great Intelligence, Great Dexterity and Great Constitution

NWN comparison[]

  • NWN did not implement deity or alignment restriction for spell and domain selection. Without deities being used clerics had no class-alignment restrictions imposed so it was impossible to become an Ex-cleric and lose your abilities.
  • Alignment detection spells were not implemented and character alignment was directly used for the smite good/evil abilities instead of specifically aligned auras.
  • Domains in NWN only provided a handful of extra spells with no restriction on the amount which could be prepared at any time.
  • All Cleric were given Turn Undead and Spontaneous cure spells irrelevant of alignment, while Rebuke Undead and Spontaneous inflict spells were not implemented.

3.5e comparison[]

  • The Parry skill was created by NWN and is not a feature of DnD 3.5. It has returned in NWN2 for the same reasons it was in NWN.
  • Knowledge skills are not in NWN2. The collective Lore skill will be used instead, though without the specific skill synergies.
  • In PnP Neutral Clerics of Neutral deities (with some exceptions, such as Clerics that worship Saint Cuthbert or Wee Jas from the Greyhawk campaign setting) may chose to turn or rebuke undead and if they cast cure spells or inflict spells spontaneously when taking the first level of cleric. In NWN2, neutral clerics of neutral deitys always turn undead and cast cure spells spontaniously.
  • Cleric Domains work somewhat differently in DnD 3.5 than in NWN2:
    • Clerics in PnP must choose two domains from their Deity's portifolio, and get access to a domain power, as well as one domain spell for each spell level
    • The cleric recieves one domain spell slot on each spell level he has access to, where he can prepare one of his domain spells of that level. Domain spells that are not on the cleric spells list can only be prepared in the domain spell slot, and only the cleric's domain spells can be prepared in the domain spell slot

Special Notes[]

  • Because Clerics have certain proficiencies and their domains grant certain abilities, they can gain access to class abilities they otherwise would not get under normal conditions. This also makes them very ideal to use for cross-classing. For example, a Bard 29/Cleric 1 with Water (domain) and War gain access to Evasion, Heavy Armor Proficiency, a Weapon Focus and a weapon proficiency. With evasion, a Bard can make better use of their Reflex save and get Expose Weakness at epic levels. With the Battle Caster feat a Bard can put their medium armor proficiency to good use. Finally, by selecting War domain and a deity with a martial weapon as a favored weapon, the Bard gains a free martial weapon proficiency which allows them to use a wider selection of weapons.
  • Cleric Domains can also provide extremely useful long-term buffs through spells which are not usually available to the class. Plant gives barkskin for natural armor up to +5, Earth gives stoneskin for damage resist 10/adamantium, and Time gives both premonition 30/adamantium damage resist and access to haste. Multiclass characters with a few levels of cleric spells and full clerics can both draw huge benefits from bonus spells, though knowing exactly how high cleric spell levels are going to go is important for making good use of domain spells.

External resources[]

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