Divine Power: E’s Top Five Fun Ways to Roleplay a Cleric
July 20, 2009 by e
Filed under Dungeons & Dragons, Geek Life, Geeky Products
Words cannot describe how excited I am to have my hands on Divine Power. This slender purple book holds all sorts of wondrous things for my favorite character ever, Mielka the Divine Oracle of Moradin.
But you don’t want to hear me blather on about my character. (If you do, click here and I’ll happily oblige!)
As I did with Arcane Power, I’ll be reviewing this book from the standpoint of a roleplayer and let you know about all the cool new things you can do with the builds, powers, and paths!
Let’s start with the cleric!
#1 New Build: Shielding Cleric
“You believe that your place is not to take the fight to the enemy directly, but to bolster allies with your presence. Your prayers lend additional resources to your friends and create opportunities for them to defeat their foes. Yours is a life of leadership through self-sacrifice, ongoing support, and inspiration.”
Okay, I lied about not talking about my character. This is TOTALLY the build I wanted for Mielka from the get-go! Being grossed out by blood, Mielka’s always been a bit confused about why Moradin chose her to be a healer, but the ability to be useful AND far away from the blood and guts is most appealing to her! The class feature, Channel Divinity: Healer’s Mercy is very sweet (close burst 5 healing surge!), but it’s in place of Turn Undead. A very tricky decision indeed.
#2 Level 2 Utility Spell: Life Transference
“Bruises and lacerations appear on your body as they vanish from your patient.”
Tor was raised by monks who preached a life of simplicity, prayer, and self-sacrifice. He believes that his job is to absorb the suffering of the world because he is better able to withstand the pain. “Let me take it,” he whispers as he rests his hands upon a bleeding party member. Tor barely blinks as deep cuts appear on his forearms, opening anew the white scars that line his body like a map.
#3 Level 9 Daily Prayer: Rebuke Violence
“With a fervent prayer, you purge all thoughts of battle from your enemy’s mind.”
Gynna is a believer in peace. You’d call her a hippie if there were such things back in the day. (Which was a Wednesday, by the way.) Gynna became a cleric for two reasons. Her number one reason is peace. She really prefers all her battles to be verbal battles fighting for peaceful ways to resolve things. But she’s realistic. She knows that world peace probably is a dream best dreamed while high on magical herbs, so she’d better use the powers granted her by the gods for healing and other happy things.
(By the way, Vow of Nonviolence is now available as part of the Messenger of Peace path!)
#4 Level 12 Battle Chaplain Utility Prayer: Battle Hymn
“You raise your voice in song, and your companions carry its power into battle.”
No one teaches Warforged how to sing. So it’s no surprise when 1337 “raises his voice in song” that it sounds a bit… monotone? Tinny? Like stuffy ancient Catholic priests? (Oh, sorry, that’s my past showing!) Either way, 1337’s party members find his song eerily inspiring. In any case, it’s better than their previous cleric, a fire-breathing Dragonborn who scorched their asses as he sang them into battle. (At least they charged faster!)
#5 Level 12 Miracle Worker Utility Prayer: Miraculous Grace
“Your timely prayer enables your ally to escape certain doom.”
Ever have that buddy that will push you when you’re standing on the edge of a precipice, grab you, and snicker “Saved Yer Life!! Har har har!“? Yrew is one of those “friends.” A mischievous gnome with healing powers that match no other, but a chip on his shoulder that’s bigger than his head. Sure, he’ll save you, but he’ll want you to acknowledge how totally cool it was that he grabbed you back from sudden death. In fact, his party wonders if he puts off healing them during battle just so he can make the miraculous save later.
Honorable Mention:
Level 5 Daily Prayer: Iron to Glass
“Tracing runes of denial in the air, you cause your foe’s weapons to become as brittle as glass.”
This is the Cleric version of RUST MONSTER! Super sweet power that gives significant penalties to melee damage rolls that get worse and worse as the creature fights.
Stay Tuned…
Tomorrow we take a look at the Avenger! Are your PCs full to the brim with Divine Power yet?
E. Foley is a geek girl extraordinaire. She writes great online dating profiles for geeks and non-geeks, helping clients all over the world find love. She is the National Online Dating Examiner, columnist at Dating Sites Reviews, and a ghostwriter for several other dating & relationships sites. She lives in Maryland with DaveTheGame and her two adorable cats, Mr. Peanut and Don Juan. (Email e, or follow @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter.)
First let me say I love this style of looking at a book, less of a review and more of a ‘hey look at this neat stuff’. Like it so much that it’s how I do ‘non-reviews’ over on my site, ‘Top 5′ whatever catches my eye in a given book.
Secondly, you point out a couple of very cool items, though of course I’m curious to see more details on some of them.
Iron to Glass sounds like fun, curious if its a permanent effect, or if the weapon returns to normal at the end of the encounter.
Life transference is one of those ‘that will be so cool to role-play’ powers, though of course, taking damage is always a scary thing.
And I probably should have led with this, but… ‘Burst 5 healing surge’!?!
Thanks for the preview!
PS: Still jealous you got a review copy.
pjstoneson´s last blog ..DM Riches: The Tome Show Podcast
I totally dig the new cleric options and I hope you get to Paldins soon because my preordered expansion books never get here as quickly as I would like. ^_^
Also love the iron to glass power, that could be fun when you are in a tight spot.
@ PJ: Thanks! I know plenty of other sites do the serious review, so I’d rather not do the obvious.
Serious review: http://www.critical-hits.com/2009/07/19/review-divine-power/
@ Dice Girl: I’ll try to get some hot pally action going on Wednesday or Thursday.
@pjstoneson -
re: Iron to Glass
It would end at the end of the encounter, as all powers do in 4e (longer lasting magic is reserved for rituals). (It could also be Save Ends, but that seems unlikely with this power. E may clarify, though.)
But most enemies would be dead by the end of the encounter (or able to grab a new weapon if they aren’t), so a longer penalty doesn’t do much. And this way, the PCs are free to take the weapon if it’s good. So end of encounter is probably for the best.
Graham´s last blog ..Damn you, Dave! You and your… logic…
I love this series and can’t wait for some Avenger ideas.
Any chance you’ll go back and do one for Martial Power?
Nicholas´s last blog ..5 Character Concepts from Mythic Design (With Stat Blocks)
@ Graham & PJ, There’s no save to end. It lasts until the end of the encounter and gets worse every time the enemy makes a hit with the weapon.
@ Nicholas – I may go back and do Martial Power if I find a pocket of free time.
I told myself I’d stick with the 3 Core Rulebooks, then had to get PHB2 (Druid for @tas33), then the two FR guides… Now this one, and the Primal book |-(
Some of the feats are great. I took Breath of Life for my Dragonborn Cleric of the Raven Queen – breath weapon only effects enemies. Some were oddly specific, prereqs like redhead gnome left-handed cleric of Pelor’s cousin Frank (I <3 hyperbole).
Fun post.
Darius Whiteplume´s last blog ..Hell Ride (Larry Bishop, 2008)
I love your way of looking at the game, seeing the powers as possibilities for characterization where so many people have managed to see them as limiting their self-expression somehow.
I loved Martial Power, and Arcane Power more than that, and Divine Power most of all… not because that’s the order I favor the power sources but because each one just keeps getting better and better with the options. I love that there are Clerics now who can be more focused on healing than attacks… to the extreme of Love-domain Clerics that can turn an at-will attack into a HP boost, and then take the Messenger of Peace Paragon Path and gain a defense bonus every turn for doing so. It’s not something I would do, but I love that you can now play a more pacifist Cleric.
I also love the way the Domain feats help you define your character in general. A Cleric with Deathknell versus one with Pulse of Life who are both brought before a mortally wounded soldier and asked to do what they can to ease his suffering?
The possibilities that 4E presents you with are staggering, and getting better all the time.