Back in 2E days, I adored the many different options for priest characters. I spent hours imagining my own deities and choosing spells spheres and granted powers, weapon and armor options, for each one. In particular with
Spell & Magic options, I felt I could construct nearly anything I needed, from a warrior crusader to a pacifist, unarmed friar. And not every priest could heal or turn undead.
With 3E, 3.5E and then Pathfinder, this ability was lost- clerics were pretty much all the same. Some of it was regained little by little, with domain powers, archetypes, prestige classes, obediences and mostly, new divine classes. Now we have the Warpriest in place of the Crusader (and the Sacred Fist archetype for lovers of the priestly Monk), the Shaman... Inquisitors are great priests/rogues, and Oracles can be very versatile specialists. But something to find again the feel of the sphere casting priest is still missing, and most notably, many would want a "western monk", unarmed and with knowledge powers. In addition, I still think that there should be priests who can't heal or channel energy.
Some Paizo archetypes and 3PP classes have been created attempting to
fill this void. Many of them are neat, but none satisfied me completely.
Here are, however, some of my favorites.
(Incidentally... I love divine classes like the
Saint (Fat Goblin Games) and the
Cantor (Encounter Table Publishing), but I won't discuss them here because what I'm searching for this time is a full caster. I'll discuss druidic archetypes and classes in the next post of this series).
First, let's see the official material. The
Cloistered Cleric was the first attempt by Paizo in this direction and, honestly, I don't consider it available in my games. Light armor and one domain? No, thanks.
Ecclesitheurge and
Blossoming Light are, on the other hand, two splendid examples of unarmored cleric instead. I love them... but neither can personalize her spell list or waive channel energy. Sorry, I'll try elsewhere.
In what I call the "rigid classes batch", there's
Adamant Entertainment's Priest, that receives 3 domains but wears armor. Then we have
Flaming Crab Games' Priest, with some neat archetypes for flexibility and a good rewriting of domains as dogmas.
Kobold Press' Priest is similar, being a divine arcanist with some very cool options and flavor. Finally, maybe the one I like the most in this batch,
The Knotty-Work's Priest, a pacifist, unarmed friar with awesome level-based powers similar to swashbuckler deeds. I would very gladly adopt this for my games were not for some little things... powers are fixed as the characters advances in level, and I'd have liked a little more customizability; the class is super great for good characters, but precluded to other alignments; and prohibiting all spells that inflict damage is too much even for a pacifist priest. I mean, not even harming undead or evil outsiders? I can understand and approve from a philosophical point of view, but from a gaming point of view... I fear it's too much. Lastly, all these have one point in common- they can prepare all spells from the cleric/oracle's list, without the chance of differentiation.
Another batch includes the highly customizable classes- and they all are products of Rogue Genius Games. The
Magister is simply beautiful and has a lot of options; I also like that she uses both Wisdom and Charisma as primary stats, and as a hybrid spontaneous caster, she can choose any spell she likes more. Sadly, the class has only a limited group of domains or mysteries available, having a "tribal priest" flavor, and so it doesn't fit well as a "western monk".
The
Guide to Divine Archetypes offers some fantastic choices for divine characters, both "lay brethren" and spellcasters. My favourite here is the Chantry, an archetype/alternate class that transforms a priest into a divine bard (and has that "2E soothing word" power I like so much as a divine performance). It goes very near to the image in my head... but still not quite. I would have liked a more powerful soothing ability, and the divine performances are fixed. Plus, its cleric version still has channel energy and the whole spell list at her command.
And here comes the
Talented Cleric, the princess of this batch. Now this seems to have everything. Like a domain power? Take it. Don't like another? Don't take it. Want a power from another domain? This can be done (within limits). You can channel energy or not, or exchange it with an alternate form of channeling (Merciful Channeling is the one I love the most). Just one thing... what about the spell list? There's one in an appendix, and it's very restricted. Have we to suppose that these are the only spells available to the talented cleric except domain spells, or is it only an example list? However... that's not customizable.
*Sigh* That's all for now. Next time I'll talk about druidic "priestly" classes and archetypes.
