Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Demihuman Clerics in B/X

Originally, I was intending to write something about weapon proficiencies; however, this came up on Ye Old G+ the other day, and I actually liked my stream o consciousness response, so I figured I'd turn it into a blog post. I'm an opportunist that way.

[or scatterbrained]

I've written before (in various locations) my reasons for enjoying the "race as class" rules of early edition Dungeons & Dragons. Here's the main one, from back in 2010, but I've left plenty of additional thoughts scattered throughout the blog since then (I especially liked this one on xenophobia). For the most part, I stand by what I've posted...I prefer not having non-human species function as human occupations. A dwarf is a dwarf, an elf is an elf, etc.

But what if you postulate a world of multiple deities, like the usual D&D default (or the Moorcock books D&D emulates). Let's say you agree with me that the various demihumans ARE alien, inhuman, sentient beings...but ones that were created by, and have their own worshipful devotion for, extra-dimensional divine beings? Shouldn't they have a clerical class? And shouldn't such characters be playable as player characters (as they have been since 1985 with the release of Unearthed Arcana?)?

[to be clear, there were demihuman clerics prior to the UA being published, but they were specifically closed to players, only being available as non-player characters. Half-elves and half-orcas, being "semi-humans," were an exception to this stricture]

In such a campaign setting I can certainly see the sense in having a "priestly caste" for such creatures,  but even allowing for their existence does NOT mean A) they need emulate in any way, shape, or form the cleric adventuring class, nor B) that they must be made available as player characters.

However, assuming you do want to make such a character available as PCs (adding a little spice to the boring 'same old same old'), I certainly wouldn't go the route of making them the same type of divine agents as human clerics. For one thing, doing so goes back to the problem of using species ("race") as a stand-in for ethnic/racial stereotype (because they're just humans with rubber masks...er...pointy ears). For another, it misses an opportunity to play up the alienness of the demihumans that comes with creating one's own strange, species-specific cult and practice of worship. Rather than considering such characters as a race + class, I'd take the tack of calling them by the same classification (dwarf, elf, or halfling), but one with an overlay of "priest" (similar to my previous beastmaster and barbarian overlays).

Here are some examples of how it might work:

Priest of the Forge God (dwarf overlay): character is expected to be first in battle, especially against goblins, their hated enemy. Add +1 to attack rolls versus goblins; may not use missile weapons (in addition to normal weapon restrictions for dwarves). Priests who reach 9th level (Master Smith) may not build strongholds; however, they gain the ability to create magical items as a wizard. At 11th level, the priest may establish a Forge Shrine and will attract D6 dwarf acolytes of levels 1-3 to aid in her work. All other abilities and restrictions (including maximum level and experience needed) are as per the dwarf class.

Making a mighty weapon.

Priest of the Song Eternal (elf overlay): wisdom replaces intelligence as the character's second prime requisite, and the character is restricted to Lawful or Neutral alignment. Spells learned are chosen from the clerical spell list instead of those of the magic-user, and the character uses (and creates) magic-items as a cleric, rather than as a magic-user. All other abilities and restrictions (including maximum level, attack and save tables, number of spells learned, etc.) are as per the standard elf class.

Capital-E Evil.
Priest of the Demon Queen (elf overlay): wisdom replaces intelligence as the character's second prime requisite, and the character is restricted to Chaotic alignment. Spells learned are chosen from the clerical spell list instead of those of the magic-user, and the character uses (and creates) magic-items as a cleric, rather than as a magic-user. Priests who reach 9th level (High Priest/Priestess) may build a dark fortress in an out-of-the-way location; usually some dark forest, swampy bog, or subterranean cave complex. Because of the priest's foul depredations, normal animals within 5 miles of the fortress will leave the area; upon completion of the fortress, they will be replaced by monsters and evil humanoids seeking to serve and worship the fey's evil patron. These creatures will offer aid and tribute in exchange for protection and leadership, and some may even become monstrous retainers of the high priest. All other abilities and restrictions (including maximum level, attack and save tables, number of spells learned, etc.) are as per the standard elf class.

[please note, spells for priests of the demon queen will generally be of the reversed variety as per the rules for chaotic clerics (page X11). Whimsical folks might consider altering some of the spells to a more "demonic" variety, like stones to spiders in place of the standard sticks to snakes]

Hello, Vicar!
Priest of the Helpful Shepherd (halfling overlay): wisdom replaces strength as the character's second prime requisite, and the character is restricted to Lawful or Neutral alignment. The character has the exact same turning and spell abilities of a lawful cleric of equal level; however, the character is expected to abide by the weapon restrictions of both clerics and halflings. All other abilities and restrictions (including maximum level and experience needed to advance) are as per the halfling class.

FINAL NOTES: for all these overlays, level titles should be as per the cleric table given on page X5, save that the species type is added (for example: dwarf acolyte, halfling vicar, elf bishop). While priests of the Song Eternal have the same "name level" (Patriarch/Matriarch) as a 9th level cleric, this is not the case for the other sects (Dwarf Master Smith and Elf High Priest/Priestess). The level title for an 8th level halfling priest is Kahuna, not Sheriff.

Hmm...looking these over, I kind of like these. Might have to try them out the next time I run B/X...at least as NPCs.  
; )

8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. @ Tedankh:

      Thanks! I try...I've gotten better at it over the years.
      : )

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  2. I've never liked race-as-class. Partly, this stems from a particular line of thinking: if it's important a species does not think like a human, then why in the world should a human player be allowed to portray one? A non-human PC will think like a human, because a human is doing their thinking.

    The bigger reason, though, is I am very annoyed by the "humans are special because they're diverse" trope. Even if elves think completely differently from humans, it's bizarre and insulting to have them all act the same as all other elves.

    This post is great, because it makes my bigger complaint go away. No, non-humans aren't all the same, they have their own occupations and ways of thinking; it's just that none of those are HUMAN occupations or ways of thinking.

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    Replies
    1. @ Warclam:

      Um...great(?)! I mean, I'm glad I've given you a different way of looking at the concept that's not insulting or bizarre.

      One of MY complaints has been that folks (and designers) have tried similar ideas with ALL the various classes...for example, saying elvers would never be "thieves," but they have a stealthy/scout type who mimics the thief class (as a means of justifying elven thieves without having Elven Thieves). I'd hate to go down THAT slippery slope...

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  3. What happens when your players decide that their alien race-as-class character has decided to convert to the human monotheistic fantasy analog for the Christianity/Church?

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    Replies
    1. It reminds me of a Dunsany story, or Andersen'e Little Mermaid: they could want to convert, but to no avail, since they lack a human soul.

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    2. @ FrDave:

      Porphyre77 beat me to it: what's to say demihumans have immortal souls?

      But, okay, let's go with a Real World theology for the moment: consider a singular God responsible for Creation of your fantasy world. In such a world, all sentients are created by the same Divinity and, as such, they all have souls; they're only in different shapes/forms because our Lord loves wonderful diversity.

      Ignoring (for a moment) that the same Divine Laws should then apply to ALL sentients (including orcs and whatnot and so why are we out killing them and taking their treasure instead of trying to evangelize to them and reach mutual understanding?)...in such a setting, I would probably step away from the B/X "race as class" paradigm altogether. With the same capacity for good and evil, we're basically just talking about "race" (i.e. species) being a stand-in for different cultures: forest people vs. mountain people vs. city people, etc. Ideas like race-based limited on class and level should probably exit the window at that point, otherwise the game ends up a little too 18th century "manifest destiny" looking, as in: oh, these poor savages, who are lesser than us "chosen ones" (observe! their smaller capacity to reason! their more primitive nature! etc.)...we need to be shown the True Way and Path to Salvation, because their traditional spiritual practices are leading them down the Road to Perdition!

      [for me, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, even using fantasy surrogates]

      That being said, there's is certainly historical precedent for fairy tale characters "finding God:" English elves converting to Christianity, and Middle Eastern jinni who worship Allah and practice Islam, for example. To have it work in a tasteful fashion, I'd probably want to keep the non-humans as NPCs (in fact, that's kind of what I did with Five Ancient Kingdoms, my RPG based in the Golden Age Middle East)...or else tread very lightly.

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  4. I really liked this. My thing with demi-human Priests, is that they serve their communities - they do not go out adventuring. Only Dwarfs have proper clerics, as they have War gods but they still do not adventure.

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