Goodman Games

How does a cleric determine his starting spells? I couldn't find any text about how he receives the 4 spells. Are they chosen randomly during character creation?

My method: Roll the spells randomly (the spell table listing each spell on page 128 happens to be numbered, so why not use that?), and as the Judge alter the resulting selection of spells so that all 4 spells fit within the established theme of the god worshiped by the cleric.

Example:

rolling a d12 the player gets 6, 3, 8 and 1.
that would mean Blessing, Detect Evil, Holy Sanctuary, and Protection from Evil.
The character has chosen to worship a god of health and harvest... and within that theme, detect evil doesn't really "vibe" quite that well. As the Judge, I would then replace Detect Evil with a more thematically appropriate option, Food of the Gods.

Depends on Judge. I would give four based on his god.

At GaryCon earlier this year Harley just let me pick what I wanted. That works for me!

Indeed, that's why the lists are numbered: random determination.

Colin

Thanks for your advice. I let the player choose 2 and roll 2 randomnly. Are the gods listed in the DCC rulebook featured in any other publications?

Information on them is scattered here and there throughout numerous modules.

Colin

And all in DCC 35 for classic DCC modules numbered 1 through upper-30-something...

On page 110 the book talks about regaining spells for "divine magic after resting and praying to the cleric’s god." For me, I allow the cleric to choose 4 spells for the day at this time. The cleric can then pray for a different set of spells after the next rest and pray period or keep the same ones, the clerics choice.

One question I have is that "A wizard knows a number of spells as shown on table 1-12, modified by his Intelligence score." Do clerics get a number of spells modified by personality?

Nope. The rules don't say it and it appears to be intentional, because (I'd argue) Clerics aren't supposed to be as skilled in magic use as Wizards.

Incidentally, here's my tables for randomly determining spells at level 1:

viewtopic.php?f=75&t=42192

I think that is the issue here, the rules don't say it at all for a cleric. They do for a wizard. By the way, clerics and wizards use differnt types of magic, so saying a cleric shouldn't be as good at idol magic as a wizard isn't really a comparison at all.

I think what Beermotor is saying is that clerics have other skills that are part of their repertoire (like better hit points and better combat skills) whereas Wizards, just cast spells, so you would expect the overall effectiveness of their spellcasting ability to be greater than the cleric's spellcasting ability.

For me, I let the cleric pick one spell of each level, then roll randomly for the rest. They can always petition their diety to be able to swap out a spell later, but the diety will require some service for it.





edited for spelling

Exactly. And this goes back to OD&D, too... where the cleric was sort of between Fighting-man and Wizard.

Good question. Anyone know the answer?

Pg 18 says it affects the maximum level the cleric is able to cast.

I'm confused on clerical magic. Is it "vancian" with slots to be "filled" each day like AD&D.

Or are they "known" spells - more or less permanent, maybe swapped in with judge/diety approval at level ups, and then rolled for failure to see if they are "lost" or not.

Or is it both, you can fill daily "slots" with available "known" spells that are only "used up" if the spell is "lost" according to the casting roll/chart?

Or do clerics simply cast any "known" spell as many times per day as they wish (limited by disapproval) as long as the spell hasn't been "lost" during a casting for that day? Basically every "known" spell is available or not for that day regardless of the flexibility of which spells are currently "known"? I think if this is the system, letting clerics switch out what spells are "known" every day might be a) complicated and therefore undesirable and b) a bit too powerful.

I go with they are "known" spells - more or less permanent, maybe swapped in with judge/deity approval, and then rolled for failure to see if they are "lost" or not.

Thanks, that sounds right to me.

I was having them all roll randomly, but I think I like this a little better. There are so many ways in DCC for a single dice roll to ruin your day, why not let the cleric have one freebie?

This is pretty much what I do, and it has worked out pretty good. I also decided to create a single Deity specific spell that is only available to Cleric's of that God.

Example, in my world the Goddess of seasons Mesha, grants Entangle as one of the 1st level spells for her priests, or in our case Druids.

Or Losborst the God of Wine, grants the spell Drunkeness to his clerics.