a weird jump, and how to toss your 1st-level cleric a spell

[geoffrey]

Look at the cleric's spell table on page 18 of Men & Magic. Specifically, look at the jump in spells from a Curate to a Bishop.

A Curate (5th-level cleric) has:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells

A Bishop (6th-level cleric) has:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells
1 third-level spell
1 fourth-level spell

Huh. At no level can a cleric cast 3rd-level spells, but not 4th-level spells. That's pretty weird. Now you can do two things with that. You can either go with it and revel in its weirdness, or you can change it. For example, you can use this as a way to give 1st-level clerics a spell like this:

A 1st-level cleric would have:
1 first-level spell

A 2nd-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells

A 3rd-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
1 second-level spell

A 4th-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells

A 5th-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells
1 third-level spell

Clerics of 6th level and higher would use the table as printed in Men & Magic.

[inkmeister]

I like the idea that clerics have to earn that first spell, but I also think your approach here is pretty cool. I'd work with it if I wanted a game with clerics, which I currently don't (not that any players I've ever played with have ever wanted to play with them anyway). Say Geoffrey, are you using clerics at the moment?

But yeah, good approach. Seems more sensible in a way. I had heard that they intended to smooth the cleric progression out in B/X, but that it didn't happen until Mentzer or so.

[Red Baron]

Why not both? How about...

A 1st-level cleric would have:
to prove himself first

A 2nd-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells

A 3rd-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
1 second-level spell

A 4th-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells

A 5th-level cleric would have:
2 first-level spells
2 second-level spells
1 third-level spell

...or just use the ad&d progression and get rid of the spell at first level.

[geoffrey]

Aug 24, 2013 16:06:09 GMT -6 inkmeister said:

Geoffrey, are you using clerics at the moment?

Kind of. What follows applies only to NPCs. What sort of characters the players want to have is none of my business.

I am not using any human clerics. Instead, I let the oracular dice create all my clerics. How? I use James Raggi's Random Esoteric Creature Generator to make my monsters. It's so much more fun to be surprised myself than to design them. Anyway, whenever the dice indicate that a monster has the Spell Use: Priest Spells power (found on page 21 if Goodman's publication of the RECG), I have a cleric on my hands. Of course it is a random monstrosity, chaotic and evil, but a cleric nonetheless. The RECG specifically says the cleric will be of 1st to 7th level. That's why I wanted 1st-level clerics to have spells. A monster generated as a 1st-level cleric needs to have a spell for this power to make any sense.

[Zulgyan]

It is not that a weird jump when you consider that in the LBB there are only four 3rd level spells of a rather limited scope: remove curse, cure disease, locate object and continual light.

[scottenkainen]

Hi again,

You could always retain the OD&D spell progression table, but incorporate AD&D's bonus spells for high WIS and allow 1st level clerics to only have bonus spells.

~Scott "-enkainen" Casper