Cleric - How to RP Classes in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM 

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There is a cleric NPC in my campaign, he's an advisor to a king and worships a god of war. He vehemently opposes wars, seeing it as a sacred rite that needs to be done only in extreme circumstances. Sort of like "don't take the Lord's name in vain" "Don't invoke the god of war over petty bullshit"

7:47 In Pathfinder, some pregnant women or newborns will be adorned with amulets with the name or image of Pazuzu, the Demon Lord of the Sky and Winged Creatures, to keep the child from being developing some deformity. This is because such corruption is often the cause of Lamashtu, the Demon Goddess of Monsters, who is basically Pazuzu's Ex. The best part is that he actually will protect the unborn child, no strings attached, just because he hates Lamashtu so much. This is something even normal people that worship normal gods might do if they feared for their child's safety.

“I am a god” Kanye Domain Cleric

One thing that blew my mind when I heard it was, "Priests are not necessarily Clerics, and vice versa". Imagine a Priest of a God that has a huge following, but is not a Cleric. Then when this Cleric of the god shows up he has all this Divine Power. The conflict there is interesting.

22:11 "I'm a cleric of war." That moment when you unwittingly become a cult worshiper of Khorne.

Our DM who Art behind the Screen, Hallowed be thy Name.

17:00 Pillars of eternity has a great example of this type of character: Durance, Priest of Magran (the goddess of war and fire) is a staunch racist and misogynist. He _hates_ his role as a cleric, knows he's but a disposable tool in a cosmic game and constantly insults his goddess. A truly unpleasant fellow, but when you examine your conversations with him, his approach to how and why he gets his divine power is a really refreshing albeit twisted approach on the classic goody two shoes cleric.

YES. This is definitely, without a doubt, one of those instances of "I didn't know I needed this until now" moments. I've shied away from so many classes because I just cant get into the mindset of the class. I tend to stick to a blend of characters I know or a mash up of tropes for a few go-to classes. I get the feeling this series is reeeeeally going to help me broaden my range of characters and classes to choose from.

I’m going to have to watch this again. I can’t concentrate on the content because I can’t stop staring at Pruitt’s scarf. Lol

I can't believe these are 3 years old. I constantly return to this series whenever I build a new character

I always liked the idea Matt Colville suggested in his book “Priest,” where clerics are bound to service in exchange for their powers, a reverse of the Roman idea you touched on. You can ask the gods for a miracle, and it can be granted, but if you ask for too much the god will require you to do tasks for them, like reclaiming lost artifacts or clearing out evil creatures. Which can require you to ask for more miracles, binding you again to their service.

I always enjoy coming up with strange little rituals and practices whenever I play a cleric or other divinely-motivated character. One good example was my half-orc cleric dedicated to Ilmater, the Forgotten Realms god of endurance, suffering, martyrdom, and perseverance. One of his daily prayer rituals involved piercing his hands through the various fleshy parts (where it would hurt and bleed, but not impair his use of them) with a long ceremonial needle. He would then soak a length of white cotton string with his blood and tie the string around one of his wrists. In order to bless things or people, he would take one of these now red strings and burn it in his hands. His particular sect also believed (our DM tweaked the setting so that folks had less direct guidance from the gods, leaving things more open to differing beliefs and interpretations to develop around any particular god) that there was a finite amount of pleasure and pain in the world which ebbed and flowed through the countless souls of the world, and thus believed that by willingly submitting themselves to pain and suffering they could (at least slightly) lessen the pain and suffering that others in the world had to endure.

One of my favorite clerics to role play was a straight up "For the Emperor!" Warhammer Inquisitor style light cleric. He was named Thomas de Tarrasque (hilarious Spanish Inquisition reference, if I do say so myself) and oh boy did he get the party into trouble with the natives...

I played a warlock who believed she was a cleric.

I made a Knowledge cleric once, Dimitri Szasz, who worshipped Vecna. He wasn’t evil, though: he was just a conspiracy theorist who was a little less than sane after having his memory wiped repeatedly.

15:21 "You have two choices. You can either serve your time..." *Guard shows up* "... Or pay the court a fine!"

unlike real world, in D&D it is very possible that your 'chosen' deity isn't the deity that /you/ choose, but the deity that has instead chosen /you/

Everytime I watch one of their videos, I want to re-watch 13th Warrior...

"I smack Fools with my Mace" - Battle Cleric logic can a Cleric be a Medic?

Really appreciated this: RPing classes is something folks tend not to think about.

Currenting playing a Grave Cleric that was previously a combat medic in a war. Because of the horrors he witnessed in said war he is a borderline pacifist. He hates violence and choices to heal and support others in combat than fight. Of course, if he needs to fight, he can, he just choices not do.

Ooh, now I want to play a multiclass Cleric/Warlock with sort of a two-dates-to-the-prom sort of thing.

When you invite a cleric to your party "ALWAYS" ask who there Deity is!

Of all the spellcasters, Cleric and Bard are my favorite, so I hate the misconception that Clerics are healbots, even if your a freaking tempest or war domain cleric. I have a character concept in mind of a Tempest Domain cleric who multiclasses into zealot barbarian. He was a sailor, then (after a few levels) he was attacked and killed, but he came back because Valkur (his deity) made him his avatar and gifted him with divine fury.

I've always liked the idea of a cleric given powers by ancestors, like the ghosts in Mulan, picking a chosen family member to wield the ancestral magic, dealing with their bickering in exchange for the divine power

TURN UP THE HEAT! PRUIT IS FREEZING!

I like the concept of a character who is an unwilling cleric of a god/goddess of bad luck. In the typical trope "wherever they go, misfortune follows". The story might start off as the player character seeing themselves as the victim until they realize that they are the tool of misfortune, and therefore use that twist to bring the corrupt to twisted justice. When their power manifests through spells or channel divinity, smoky black antlers appear for a time then fade. I also would like to try to play a Half-Orc cleric of Gruumsh, but doing so would be hard because there's ALWAYS at least one Elf in every player character group. (Goddamn Legolas fanboys....)

I get healing spells from the war god and fighting spells from the god of health.

Goblin cleric, worships the voice in its head, and belives so much in it that stuff happens

PLEASE!!!! Do an episode in moral quandaries, ideas for adjusting monster stat blocks, creating custom/home brew magic items. I would be super happy thank you

I like the idea of dwarf or elvish clerics who are clerics of their entire group's pantheon in an ancestor worship way.

Man, I'm so honored to finally be able to start my journey into this. I was taking a wood workshop class, and usually, I'm super introverted with my AirPods in, but if I feel a connection with someone I can talk to them for days. This one chap I met was super cool but a strong aura so I was intimidated and ignored him listening to my music. But When I got to really know him he was cool as shit, he was subsequently interested in Norse-pagan religion, how he did evocations and stuff. And I'm like WTF?! Who else is interested in literally the exact same shit as me in such a corporate shit hole city? We talked maybe 1.5+hrs cause we had free time after class since we got out early. Maybe a 1hr after I was starting to self talk to myself to try to go home smoke a blunt and enjoy myself. When out of nowhere 2 of his friends rolled up, he introduced me and said do you like D&D? I nearly shit myself like FFFFFFFFF YEA I LIKE D&D hommie. Helped me get hooked up to a boardgaming & roleplaying club. Now I'm starting my first campaign with such awesome people. For all yall introverts and lurkers out there like myself, sometimes just sticking it out in one conversation you're kind of over, can lead to the most amazing journey of your life. Seriously, I know how hard it can be to offer youself out there but toss yourself into the fold and join a local club, or look online for a roll20 group. I know the time, and priorities, and excuses. But I promise you it will be the most cathartic experience of your life. For me, you just can't beat unwinding with actual 3D people in a room sharing a beer experiencing and creating your own journies, experiencing your own glories and devastations. For anyone reading, I really hope you get to enjoy the feeling of elation this roleplaying experience gives me. It's one of a kind. :^)

Had a halfling who was convinced that he had the support of nearly all the gods...he carried countless amulets bearing their symbols (like Benny from "The Mummy"). Whenever he learned about a new deity, he'd add their amulet to his chain and say, "Welcome to the pantheon!" The reality was; he was a grave-robber, and really had only the support of one goddess...the others were either indifferent or annoyed by his prayers to them (particularly the Raven Queen, who was unimpressed by his grave-robbing). A hermit, he'd been trying to fill his crippling loneliness with the attention of the gods... I'm pretty sure the DM was planning to have a "Divine Intervention" of a totally different sort...the kind where all the gods show up to demand the halfling stop calling them.

I always like the idea of ​​worshiping a concept. creation. love. Justice. and so on

I like those series more and more ! You covered every major classes and yet hearing you talking about how to "RP them" is what gives me the desire to play them !

The scarf-play is strong in this role-play episode.

I made a light cleric that worships the law. He believes that its the laws of the universe where the true power resides. Without law we end up with the primordial chaos. While he has amulets to both Amaunator and Tyr, he doesn't worship them so much, as deeply respects them. He's basically a half orc Judge Dredd who will burn the law breaker with the illumination of the law. His holy symbol is his light hammer that serves as a judge's gavel.

One of the players at our table played an atheist cleric...he, too, did not believe in the concept of "gods". His "deity" was Bahamut, who manifested as an old man who'd frequently bestow divine gifts when the cleric leveled up. When the party urged the cleric that Bahamut was, in fact, a god, the cleric would just respond: "Nah, man, he's just a dude I know. He's nice, he's powerful, and all...but he's just a guy."

The way I envision how Clerics do their thing goes back to their most important Ability: Wisdom. Wisdom represents not just faith, but having an understanding of rarified truths. While a Wizard draws power from their understanding of laws and systems, a Cleric (and, for that matter, a Druid) draws power from their understanding of ideas more ineffable. This can mean divinity, or it can mean cosmic concepts or philosophies. In worlds with gods (however active they are), a Cleric garners power not just from their faith in those gods, but in their ability to understand them (even if only slightly). They must, as the Ability implies, be _Wise_ . When they become wise enough, this could attract the especial attention of their deity, moreso if the prospective Cleric adhered to that god's religious ethos and morality. If they become sufficiently fitting, they can be used. Sometimes, however, the gods don't just meet someone halfway, but choose someone to represent them unilaterally. A person is chosen - from the person's perspective, seemingly at random - to represent the deity and wield its power. Usually, this would probably still require a person of some Wisdom (Wisdom 13 minimum needed to BE a Cleric), but if a dullard and fool is given enough divine revelation, they'll _become_ sufficiently wise if they weren't already. Why would a deity choose someone seemingly unfitting? Because for mysterious or ineffable reasons, the god decides that THIS guy, over here, happens to either have qualities that will be useful to the god, or is in the position to do the god's will. Naturally, a newly created Cleric that never pursued religious knowledge may be highly reluctant. The Bible, for instance, is full of prophets (like Jonah) who weren't so enthused about going on some involved mission from God. The aforementioned Jonah had his whole fish adventure because he tried (unsuccessfully) to run from his mission. So a Cleric who is reluctant is not only possible, it can be pretty likely.

We had a cleric who worshiped one of the other PCs who was the chief of his barbarian tribe.... Wow, that made for some interesting moments.

I actually rolled a Cleric of Life with a Soldier background, who was basically a man who found religion amongs the dead and dying... And is now disgusted with All-out war.

Cleric of the philosophy of rage, cleric of the storm, and cleric of surtur are some of my fav character concepts in general

My cleric worships the Triad (Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater) along with all good aligned gods just a little below those three.

+Web DM I think the most interesting aspect of divine classes are their relationship with the cosmos, and I appreciate your discution about the direct effect of said relationship in the game, especialy how a religious organization is tied to the narrative. I'll add that alot of players (especially newer ones) tend to dismiss said aspect of the classes, or take it for granted - it's just another stat - just like a Fighter 'knows how to use a sword', but there's ALOT to be roleplayed in the tenets of faith. Cheers. Also, just finished a year long campaign of Dark Heresy in the 40K universe. Yeah, unbelief is a curse and a HERESY that must be PURGED!!!

"We can excuse the fact that you slaughtered two yugoloths before you realized where you were, Outsider, but you pronounced the name of our fair city "Sijil," not "Sigil," and there can be no excuse for that!" -- Her Honor Rastina Tollin of the Guvners

Stoked for the rest of this series!

As a newbie, these videos have been a godsend, pun kind of intended. I’m middle aged, and my only experience with DnD are games such as Baldur’s Gate I and II, Icewind Dale, etc.. I’ve never gotten to play the pen and paper style. That being said, I’m interested, yet I am admittedly ignorant to the nuances of the game. This is really helping out. Luckily, I live in an area where finding a game isn’t that difficult if you don’t mind getting out and meeting new people. Unfortunately, we’re still in a time of social distancing, so that has all been put on hold, but hey it’s giving me time to research! So once again, thank you for making all of these videos. They’ve been a huge help!

I’d love to play a Dr. Cox from Scrubs cleric. A begrudging and annoying but effective Life Cleric

A blend of criminal and acolyte...? A Crimacolyte if you will...

This helpful for the game I'm running. I have been watching your videos for awhile and always seem to find a great deal of inspiration. Thank you for your efforts.

Loving these videos! Exactly what we needed. Thanks guys!

I love the way you two bend my thinking on world building. By using your civil services ideas creating societies becomes amazingly simple. And the city council is one made of head priests etc.... love the cat sweater. Miss the drawings in the background.

Keep up the great work guys, and looking forward to you guys next episode!

Look at Jim rockin' the Maudie's hoodie!

I've played two dwarven clerics. My favourite was Erion Stormchaser, Tempest Cleric with the sailor background. In my dm's world there was a cataclysmic eruption that threw the dwarven people out into the world from their mountain home. A sect of them became "Saltbeards", sailors and merchants. The gods are kind of distant in the world, but through the superstitious rituals that his people perform before and during voyages the Stormfather started to return. One major storm through him overboard, and in the water Erion saw the face of the Stormfather, washed up on a shore with a temple to him and found a stone hammer. Now he travels the seas spreading the word of his god, and smashing yuan-ti faces in!

Y'all never don't kick ass. Been a fan since the beginning. Thanks!

My favorite day of the week!

Yet another great show with some great ideas and inspiration.

Great video, guys. Love the ending bit too. :P

That Office Space reference made me incredibly happy. Also, been binge-watching WebDM episodes and they are amazing!

I've got an idea for a Teifling who was originally a Paladin of redemption but due to an event at his coronation, becomes a Cleric early on, probably at his 5th level. Basically his deity expands his journey to redemption and uses his salvation as a testimony to others. If I, a fiendish Teifling can be saved, so can you, kinda deal. I also have another idea for a Cleric I'm calling a Child of Light. A halfling who has been imbued with life cleric power since birth, and healing and whatnot just naturally comes out of him. Enemies seek him out to take advantage of him, adventurers constantly hound him to join up, and all he wants is a normal life that he can't have. Kinda like a reverse Rogue from X-Men where instead of sucking up powers from others, his touch constantly gives healings and blessings. So does his voice and whatever else cleric spells need. He has no say, it just happens. I'm even thinking of a customized background called Blessed where you choose between a few abilities for one you're naturally born with, such as Lay on Hands, or the Lucky feat, or the Shield spell or something like that. In your past, you were divinely blessed. Maybe your parents prayed blessings over your birth. Maybe your family has been cursed for generations and your creation broke that. This would allow even non spellcaster classes a spell, or non halflings a way to get Luck without using a precious feat. Would add flavor without needing to multiclass or whatever. Kinda like a priest in Starfinder that gets one Mystic spell. 👍

So first of all. Holt shit that scarf is amazing. Second of all, I was planning on bringing a cleric to my next session in a few days, so this is perfect timing.

This video, like almost all of the WebDM catalog, holds up very well Six years later.

I love playing a Cleric. Over the past year I have played different three clerics across two campaigns and am about to jump into my fourth. As a player who almost exclusively plays Clerics, one of the biggest draws is the sheer amount of options open to you. I have played everything from a happy-go-lucky Life Cleric with a righteous conviction to a reluctant, melancholy, and broken Gunslinger/Death Domain Cleric who only wishes to comfort those who are grieving. The RP opportunities are endless! Thanks for sharing this video with us, I always loving hearing what you guys have to say.

Yes, more of these please!!!

Excellent video! This is an amazing source of inspiration for me or my players who want to be clerics! Keep up the great work guys!!

A great flawed Cleric character: Wolfwood from Trigun.

"These saints in surgical garb ..."

I had a dream where y'all releases an episode on gaming with children at the table and the intro consisted of Jim saying hello to Pruit, Pruit saying hello to Jim, and then a nephew named Jim off camera saying hello to Pruit. Then Pruit and Jim look at the camera and make a 4th wall break glance of confusion. A man can dream.

Awesome. Ready for the next one.

Can a God give Cleric Powers to someone who doesn’t want it? Like a Chaotic Neutral Deity who hates his clergy because he thinks their a bunch of sycophants, and noticed one guy who has some grudge against the gods or thinks gods are just really powerful devils, genies, Fey, Celestials, or whatever, and decides to give them clerical powers.

You guys are truly the very best! I play pathfinder 1ed. But I'm hooked on your channel. I can't get enough.

Another great series idea. And with you guys, I know it'll be done fairly well to perfectly. Edit: great scarf, Pruitt

Lots of great ideas! I also have a healer class that is basically a divine wizard. They have a healer’s tome and must study and write out divine spells, their magic is like arcane in that it tends to come from the source and other energy rather than through a deity. I find it a great option to limit how many divine spells are known at a time while allowing reasons to adventure and can easily be a non deity worshiper or have learned from a master rather than a larger organization. It;s also really easy to understand and implement.

pruit from 2 years ago makes it look like current pruit went for a dip through the sphere around the time machine from "time machine"

Great video guys! I only recently got into D&D and have been powering through all your videos. Keep up the good work!

“Fools I am my own God!”

I'm building a cleric for an upcoming game. It'll be my first time playing the class (I've been a rogue 4 out of 5 times), and this video has been invaluable in knowing how to approach it. Thank you.

Been playing D&D for a few months and me and the guys are totally hooked. We’ve custom built our own board/pieces/enemies/decor. We’ve managed to pull together nearly 17 players split over three sessions a week - the comic store has noticed a massive insurgence of new players since we’ve started it! I normally play a Tiefling Rogue - but after watching your sessions/lessons I honestly can’t wait to start DM’ing. The rules are important, but the vibe you give is an imagination is even more important. I can’t wait to start making entire runs totally off topic to the main quest. Thanks guys x

Wow. First time listening live - by total synchronicity - I love you critters

Cleric of LOVE XD encroach on the bards territory...

I was just thinking about playing a cleric and this comes out. A sign from the gods!

Love the Maudie’s hoodie! Lol Thanks for this video. I’m creating my first dnd character and this definitely helps!

Oh wow. This is gonna be a cool series.

I play a death cleric serving a god of knowledge whos entire motive is to seek out forbidden knowledge and arts to prove that the knowledge itself is not evil but rather the weakness of man.

I'm excited to see the rest of these, especially for the Paladin. As well as the Warlock, as I'm a bit confused at how to RP one. I know how you feel when it comes to glasses. I tend to let mine get real dirty. To end off, that is an amazing scarf.

Two interrelated things I was wondering about are attempts to convert your other party members to your cleric's faith and your cleric perhaps giving sermons.

Have you guys considered including some of your favorite pop/comic/rpg culture archetypes for each class? I know you give a brief mention here and there, but maybe something more substantial? Either way love your guys stuff. Keep it up.

For the bad cleric, I loved Tim Curry's portrayal of Cardinal Richelieu in the 3 Musketeers.

Ah I love Clerics and the quandries that come with playing a character who is devoted to a god that is known to not only be real, but be partial and have impact on the material plane. I think my favourite Cleric I've played was a Cleric of Kord, God of Strength, who came to realise that the greatest strength was not a physical trait, but internal. How one coped with pressure, how one persevered in the face of adversity, how one survived and kept getting back up again. It was quite the journey as we had a monster strength barbarian in the group who strengthed their way through everything, and moving beyond that feeling of inadequecy (how can you compare 15str to 24?) to a place of understanding and growth. I think I'm really proud that of the 12 or 13 times I got knocked out, I stablised my self every single time, barely failing any death saving throws (like less than 0.5 average). It was a real representation of his passion and drive and his strength of will. Ah, Karn, I miss you buddy.

well this one came out early!

Cleric of many faiths idea makes me want to play a very cowardly and shifty guy that hedges his bets the gods.. basically imagine the scene from The Mummy when Beni gets trapped with Imhotep and starts pulling out all the different holy symbols and praying in their languages to save his skinny ass.. pretty much that.

Thank you Web DM for revisiting the classes from a roleplaying angle. You guys are excellent. Any chance we could see a discussion of roleplaying, ‘bleed’, and making the character and player distinct from each other?

I have a sudden craving for Tex-Mex. Well played, Jim.

I agree with Jim's pronunciation of Sigil.

WEBDM TODAY? *HELL YEAH!*

And it's not one second from midnight, will done fellas XD I jest though, love seeing a new episode thanks for the content

Great reminders here.

i actually watched 13th warrior because of how often it comes up on this show. Fantastic movie!