Legendary Cleric

Traditionally in roleplaying games, clerics are defined by the relationship with a deity. They are granted magic in exchange for their devoted service, typically in the role of a priest. However, the scope of theology and the beliefs of the religious and spiritual extends far beyond deities, whether singular or plural. What truly sets a cleric apart, along with other classes and archetypes rooted in religion, is their faith. A legendary cleric believes so strongly in the subject of their faith that they can draw on the raw energy of existence, molding it into powerful magic reflective of their faith. Whatever their origin or religion, all clerics are united by one thing: their powerful and unshakeable belief in and dedication to what they don’t know, but still feel in their soul.

Whether a trained priest or a particularly devoted layperson, clerics are often respected figures in their communities, spiritual leaders to their fellow faithful and acknowledged for their wisdom by those outside their beliefs. Moreso than any other kind of spellcaster, one is likely to encounter clerics anywhere they might go, though the kinds of clerics and the level of their importance in a town or city will vary greatly.

Adventuring clerics typically travel because their faith demands it, whether to spread the word of their religion, fulfill its tenets, or complete a quest important to their beliefs.

Role: Legendary clerics fulfill supportive roles in adventuring parties. Their magic is naturally suited towards spells that heal, empower, and protect. That isn’t to say that clerics cannot take more proactive, offensive, or violent routes; the wide variety of training and powers they can derive from their faith allow a wide variety of clerics in the world with many approaches, including self-empowered warriors, explosive battle mages, and masters of battlefield control. Regardless of their chosen specialty, very few parties will reject a cleric seeking to join them.

The legendary cleric’s component elements are similar in nature to the base version of the class, but have been heavily adjusted to offer advancements at every level beyond spellcasting, give domains more prominence as a feature, and offer more choices throughout character progression.

Alignment: Any (see Faith)

Hit Die: d8

Starting Wealth: 4d6 x 10 gp (average 140 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The legendary cleric’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table 1-1: Legendary Cleric
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells Prepared
0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Aura, channel energy 1d6, faith, knowledge of the faith, orisons, primary domain, spontaneous casting 3 1
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Blessing of the faith 4 2
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Channel energy 2d6 4 2 1
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Primary domain 4 3 2
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Channel energy 3d6, devoted skill 4 3 2 1
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Blessing of the faith 4 3 3 2
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Channel energy 4d6 4 4 3 2 1
8th +6 +6 +2 +6 Primary domain 4 4 3 3 2
9th +6 +6 +3 +6 Channel energy 5d6 4 4 4 3 2 1
10th +7 +7 +3 +7 Blessing of the faith, secondary domain 4 4 4 3 3 2
11th +8 +7 +3 +7 Channel energy 6d6 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Primary domain (doctrine) 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Channel energy 7d6 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 Blessing of the faith, secondary domain 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Channel energy 8d6 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Primary domain (doctrine) 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Channel energy 9d6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 1
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Secondary domain 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Channel energy 10d6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 True faith 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Class Features

The following are features of the legendary cleric.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

Legendary clerics are proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). Legendary clerics are also proficient with one weapon based on their faith, typically the favored weapon of a deity or a thematically appropriate weapon to their nontheistic beliefs.

Faith (Su)

A legendary cleric’s power is drawn from their faith, a deep and powerful belief in a greater power or meaning.

This may take the form of a deity or pantheon, spirits, ancestor worship, a deep reverence of nature, or any other religious or spiritual belief. A legendary cleric’s alignment must be appropriate to their religion; if they worship a deity, their alignment must be within one step of that deity’s. Otherwise, they should choose an alignment which reflects the values of their faith.

At 1st level, the cleric’s faith manifests itself in a pool of points which fuel their domain powers. The cleric’s faith pool is equal to ½ their level plus their Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). When casting a spell, they can expend 1 point of faith to increase their effective caster level by 1 or increase the DC of the spell by 1. The legendary cleric regains all expended faith when they regain spells each day.

Aura (Ex)

A legendary cleric treats their level as 5 higher when determining the strength of their alignment aura. If they worship a deity or an aligned faith, they gain a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment (see detect evil for details).

Spellcasting

A legendary cleric casts divine spells which are drawn from the legendary cleric spell list. They cannot cast spells whose alignments oppose theirs or their faith’s. A legendary cleric must choose and prepare their spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, a legendary cleric must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a legendary cleric’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the legendary cleric’s Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a legendary cleric can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1-1: Legendary Cleric Class Features. In addition, they receive bonus spells per day if they have a high Wisdom score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

Legendary clerics must meditate, pray, or otherwise focus to gain their spells. A legendary cleric must spend 1 hour each day in quiet contemplation or supplication to regain their daily allotment of spells. Time spent resting has no effect on whether a legendary cleric can prepare spells, but they must wait at least 24 hours to regain their spells again.

Orisons: Legendary clerics can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, each day as noted on Table 1-1: Legendary Cleric Class Features under “Spells per day.” These spells are treated like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again.

Knowledge of the Faith (Ex)

A legendary cleric automatically gains a number of ranks in Knowledge (religion) equal to their class level and may use Wisdom in place of Intelligence for Knowledge (religion) checks. In addition, they automatically succeed at any Knowledge check related to their faith, though if it isn’t about their faith specifically (for instance, a story about a different deity that theirs is involved in), they only know the parts that involve their faith.

Channel Energy (Su)

A legendary cleric can release a wave of energy by channeling the power of their faith through a divine focus, typically a holy symbol. This energy can be used to cause or heal damage, depending on the type of energy channeled and the creatures targeted. At 1st level, the legendary cleric must choose whether they channel positive or negative energy.

A legendary cleric who channels positive energy can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures. A legendary cleric who channels negative energy can choose to deal damage to living creatures or to heal undead creatures. Channeling energy creates a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the legendary cleric. When channeling, they can select a number of targets in the area of up their Wisdom modifier. These targets are unaffected by the channel (this counts as having the Selective Channeling feat as well as 13 Charisma for the purpose of meeting prerequisites).

The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two legendary cleric levels beyond 1st. Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + ½ the legendary cleric’s level + the legendary cleric’s Wisdom modifier. A legendary cleric may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + their Wisdom modifier. This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A legendary cleric can choose whether or not to include themselves in this effect.

Domains

The power of a given faith is not all-encompassing. Regardless of how powerful a deity is or how wide-reaching a faith may be, a legendary cleric can only contain so much of that power and scope within themselves. At 1st level, the legendary cleric chooses one domain based on their faith; though the setting may include set domains for a deity or religion, at the GM’s discretion the legendary cleric may choose any domain that is appropriate.

Each domain has an associated skill known as a divine skill. When a domain is selected, the legendary cleric immediately gains that skill as a class skills.

At 10th level, the legendary cleric gains a secondary domain, treating their legendary cleric level as 10 lower when determining what abilities they gain from it (minimum 1). They still may use Wisdom as their ability score for that skill.

At 12th level, the legendary cleric selects one of two doctrines for their primary domain. The chosen doctrine determines the abilities which the legendary cleric gains at 12th and 16th levels.

Spontaneous Casting: Each domain has one spell at each spell level. A legendary cleric can channel stored spell energy to cast these spells any time. The legendary cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison in order to cast any domain spell of the same spell level or lower.

Blessing of the Faith (Su)

At 2nd level, the legendary cleric gains one of the following feats as a bonus feat: Celestial Obedience, Deific Obedience, Fey Obedience, Fiendish Obedience, Monitor Obedience. They need not meet the skill prerequisites but must worship the requisite entity. At 6th level (or 8th level if they select a feat other than Deific Obedience), they gain the benefits of the first boon offered by their faith, selecting between the Evangelist, Exalted, and Sentinel boons at this level (these determine all other boons the legendary cleric receives). At 10th level (or 12th level if they select a feat other than Deific Obedience), they gain the benefits of the second boon, and at 14th level (or 16th level if they select a feat other than Deific Obedience) they gain the third boon.

If the legendary cleric does not worship an entity or worships an entity without listed bonuses for one of these feats (or if they don’t like any of the presented options for their deity), they may instead choose to receive a +1 sacred bonus to skill checks with a single skill at 2nd level. This bonus improves by 1 at 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter. At 6th level, 10th level, and 14th level, the legendary cleric chooses one of the following types of rolls for this sacred bonus to also apply to: attack rolls, concentration checks, caster level checks, or skill checks with a different skill.

Devoted Skill (Ex)

At 5th level, the legendary cleric gains the skill unlocks for Knowledge (religion) and for their first domain’s divine skill.

True Faith (Su)

At 20th level, the legendary cleric chooses a third domain. They gain the benefits of all domain powers offered by all of their domains as if they had selected them as primary domains, although they only gain the benefit of one doctrine per domain.

Ex-Legendary clerics: A legendary cleric who violates the tenets of their faith or their domain, or whose alignment is no longer appropriate to their faith, loses all spells and class features, except for armor, shield and weapon proficiencies. They cannot thereafter gain levels as a legendary cleric of that faith until they atone for their deeds (see the atonement spell description). They can, however, join a new faith that supports the actions that made them lose their powers or exchange their legendary cleric levels for levels in legendary cleric with the faithless archetype, in which case they cease to be an ex-cleric.

Favored Class Bonuses

The following favored class bonuses are available to all characters, regardless of race:

Any: +½ faith point

Any: +½ damage and healing whenever you use channel energy

Any: +1 on Knowledge (religion or planes) checks

Any: +1/4 caster level on domain spells

Any: +1/5 saving throw DC of domain abilities and domain spells

Any: +1 bonus on caster level checks made to overcome the spell resistance of outsiders

Any: +1 bonus on concentration checks made to cast a legendary cleric spell

Alternative Class Features

Alternate class features are small, modular archetypes. They swap out a single class feature (or a few related class features) for new abilities. By affecting only small parts of the class at a time, a player is able to build the legendary cleric that best fits their ideas. With these alternate class features, the legendary cleric is more flexible than ever before. If an archetype or alternate class replaces one of the below class features, the replacement class feature may not be exchanged for an alternate class feature.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

The following options can be taken in place of the legendary cleric’s normal weapon and armor proficiencies:

A: Legendary clerics are proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, and bucklers, plus one weapon appropriate to their faith. They may select a single martial tradition of their choice.

B: Legendary clerics are proficient with all simple weapons and one weapon appropriate to their faith They are not proficient in any armor or shields. In addition, they gain the following class feature:

C: When unarmored and unencumbered, the legendary cleric adds their Wisdom bonus (if any) to their AC and their CMD. In addition, a legendary cleric gains a +1 bonus to AC and CMD at 4th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every four cleric levels thereafter, up to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the legendary cleric is flat-footed. They lose these bonuses when they are immobilized or helpless, when they wear any armor, when they carry a shield, or when they carry a medium or heavy load.

D: Legendary clerics are proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, short sword, shortspear, shuriken, siangham, sling, spear, and any weapon with the monk special weapon quality. They are not proficient in any armor or shields. In addition, they gain the AC bonus class feature (detailed above) as well as Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.

Blessing of the Faith

The following options can be taken in place of the legendary cleric’s blessing of the faith class feature.

A: Bonus Feats- At 2nd level and every 8 levels thereafter, the legendary cleric gains a bonus feat from the following list: any channeling feat, any combat feat, any metamagic feat, Bonded Holy Symbol, Command Undead, Expanded Domain Magic, Extra Faith, Sacred Summons, Turn Undead, or Warrior Priest. The legendary cleric does not need to meet any ability score prerequisites for these feats but must meet other prerequisites for them.

B: Sacred Weapon (Su) At 2nd level, the legendary cleric selects one type of weapon that they are proficient with (which can be changed any time they level up) The legendary cleric can deal damage with this weapon based on the damage of the warpriest’s sacred weapon class feature, treating their legendary cleric level as their warpriest level.

Secondary Domain

The following options can be taken in place of the legendary cleric’s second domain gained at 10th level.

A: Bonus Feats- At 10th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the legendary cleric gains a bonus feat from the list of bonus feats which can be taken in place of Blessings of the Faith. The legendary cleric does not need to meet any ability score prerequisites for these feats but must meet other prerequisites for them.

B: Focused Faith (Su) At 10th level, the legendary cleric gains a number of additional faith points equal to half their legendary cleric level.

Table 1-1: Legendary Cleric Spells
Level Spells
Orisons bleed, create water, detect magic, detect poison, enhanced diplomacy, guidance, light, mending, purify food and drink, read magic, resistance, sacred bolt*, spark, stabilize, virtue
1st-level air bubble, abstemiousness, aspect of the nightingale, bane, barbed chains, bestow planar infusion I, bless, blessed fist, bless water, blessing of the watch, carrion compass, cause fear, celestial healing, ceremony, clarion call, compel hostility, comprehend languages, cultural adaptation, cure light wounds, curse water, dancing lantern, deathwatch, decompose corpse, detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect charm, detect demon, detect the faithful, detect radiation, detect undead, divine favor, doom, dream feast, endure elements, enhance water, entropic shield, fairness, forbid action, grasping corpse, guardian armor, hidden diplomacy, hidden spring, hide from undead, ice armor, infernal healing, inflict light wounds, ironbeard, karmic blessing, liberating command, lighten object, magic weapon, moment of greatness, obscure poison, obscuring mist, positive puls, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, ray of sickening, read weather, recharge innate magic, reinforce armaments, remove fear, remove sickness, restore corpse, rite of bodily purity, rite of centered mind, sanctify corpse, sanctuary, shield of faith, songbird, spiked armor, stunning barrier, swallow your fear, tap inner beauty, technomancy, touch of blindness, touch of bloodletting, touch of truthtelling, unbreakable heart, weapons against evil
2nd-level abeyance, admonishing ray, aid, air step, align weapon, arrow of law, augury, bear’s endurance, blessing of courage and life, blessings of luck and resolve, blinding ray, bloodbath, blood of the martyr, boneshaker, build trust, bull’s strength, burst of radiance, calm emotions, communal endure elements, communal protection from chaos/evil/good/law, communal reinforce armaments, compassionate ally, conditional favor, consecrate, contact entity I, cure moderate wounds, communal water walk, darkness, defending bone, delay disease, delay pain, delay poison, desecrate, detect relations, diminish resistance, divine trident, dread bolt, dress corpse, eagle’s splendor, early judgment, effortless armor, find traps, gentle repose, ghostbane dirge, grace, greater detect magic, hold person, holy ice weapon, imbue with aura, inflict moderate wounds, instant armor, instant weapon, instrument of agony, ironskin, lesser angelic aspect, lesser animate dead, lesser curse terrain, lesser restoration, life channel, life pact, make whole, martyr’s bargain, muffle sound, owl’s wisdom, path of glory, pilfering hand, protection from outsiders, protection from technology, protective penumbra, reallocate life*, recentering drone, remove paralysis, resist energy, sacred space, sense fear, sense madness, sentry skull, shard of chaos, share language, shatter, shield of fortification, shield other, silence, silent table, snow shape, soothing word, sound burst, spear of purity, spiritual weapon, status, stave off corruption, surmount affliction, tears to wine, touch of mercy, trail of the rose, tremor blast, undetectable alignment, unholy ice weapon, visualization of the body, visualization of the mind, weapon of awe, zone of truth
3rd-level accept affliction, agonize, agonizing rebuke, aggravate affliction, air breathing, animate dead, archon’s aura, aura sight, bestow curse, bestow insight, blindness/deafness, blot, chain of perdition, channel the gift, channel vigor, charitable impulse, communal align weapon, communal delay poison, communal resist energy, communal share language, contact entity II, contagion, continual flame, create food and water, cure serious wounds, damnation, daybreak arrow, daylight, deeper darkness, discharge, dispel magic, disrupt silence, divine illumination, enter image, fractions of heal and harm, glyph of warding, greater stunning barrier, holy javelin, inflict serious wounds, invisibility purge, iron stake, irradiate, life shield, locate object, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, magic vestment, mark of obvious ethics, nap stack, obscure object, planar inquiry, prayer, protection from energy, recharge, remove blindness or deafness, remove curse, remove disease, sacred bond, sands of time, see beyond, severed fate, shield of darkness, speak with dead, spirit bonds, spotlight, symbol of exsanguination, symbol of healing, trial by fire, unravel destiny, vision of hell, water breathing, water walk, wind wall, wrathful mantle
4th-level absolution, air walk, anti-incorporeal shell, ardor’s onslaught, aura of doom, bestow planar infusion II, blessing of fervor, borrow corruption, bountiful banquet, burst with light, chaos hammer, communal protection from energy, cure critical wounds, death ward, dimensional anchor, discern lies, dismissal, divination, divine power, forceful strike, freedom of movement, glimpse of truth, greater celestial healing, greater infernal healing, greater magic weapon, greater make whole, greater path of glory, greater positive puls, greater shield of fortification, guardian of faith, healing warmth, holy smite, imbue with spell ability, inflict critical wounds, instant restoration, lesser planar ally, magic circle against technology, malediction, mighty strength, nature’s ravages, neutralize poison, order’s wrath, persistent vigor, planar adaptation, red hand of the killer, remove radioactivity, rest eternal, restoration, rigor mortis, sending, shadow barbs, shield of dawn, speak with haunt, spiritual ally, summon accuse, suppress primal magic, symbol of revelation, symbol of slowing, terrible remorse, tongues, torpid reanimation, umbral infusion, unholy blight, virulence, wall of bone, ward shield
5th-level angelic aspect, atonement, ban corruption, boneshatter, break enchantment, breath of life, burst of glory, cleanse, communal air walk, communal spell immunity, communal tongues, commune with plane, commune, constricting coils, contact entity III, darkvault, daywalker, dispel balance, dispel chaos/evil/good/law, disrupting weapon, flame strike, ghoul army, greater contagion, greater forbid action, hallow, hasten judgment, holy ice, hymn of mercy, lesser astral projection, life bubble, locate gate, mass cure light wounds, mass ghostbane dirge, mass inflict light wounds, mass lighten object, pillar of life, plane shift, planeslayer’s call, profane nimbus, raise dead, reprobation, righteous might, sacred nimbus, sanctify weapons, serenity, slay living, smite abomination, spell resistance, summon infernal host, summon lesser psychopomp, symbol of pain, symbol of scrying, symbol of striking, symbol of sleep, true seeing, undeath ward, unhallow, unholy ice, wall of blindness/deafness
6th-level alleviate corruption, antilife shell, banishment, blade barrier, bless army, bloodsworn retribution, chains of light, cold ice strike, create undead, dimensional blade, eaglesoul, elemental assessor, enlightened step, epidemic, flesh wall, forbiddance, geas/quest, greater discharge, greater dispel magic, greater glyph of warding, greater shield of dawn, harm, heal, hellfire ray, heroes’ feast, impart mind, joyful rapture, mass bear’s endurance, mass blessings of luck and resolve, mass bull’s strength, mass cure moderate wounds, mass eagle’s splendor, mass inflict moderate wounds, mass owl’s wisdom, mass planar adaptation, music of the spheres, plague storm, planar ally, prognostication, source severance, speak with soul, summon laborers, symbol of distraction, symbol of fear, symbol of persuasion, symbol of sealing, undeath to death, wind walk, word of recall
7th-level arbitrament, archon’s trumpet, bestow grace of the champion, bestow planar infusion III, blasphemy, circle of clarity, contact entity IV, destruction, dict, ethereal jaunt, false resurrection, greater nature’s ravages, greater restoration, holy word, hymn of peace, infuse robot, jolting portent, particulate form, mass cure serious wounds, mass inflict serious wounds, memory of function, planar refuge, regenerate, repulsion, resurrection, symbol of stunning, symbol of weakness, umbral strike, waves of ecstasy, word of chaos
8th-level antimagic field, cloak of chaos, counterbalancing aura, create greater undead, dimensional lock, discern location, euphoric tranquility, greater angelic aspect, greater planar ally, greater remove radioactivity, holy aura, mass cure critical wounds, mass inflict critical wounds, mass umbral infusion, nine lives, orb of the void, quintessence mastery, rift of ruin, sacramental seal, shield of law, soulseeker, symbol of death, symbol of dispelling, symbol of insanity, true prognostication, unholy aura
9th-level astral projection, canopic conversion, energy drain, etherealness, gate, greater communal spell immunity, greater false resurrection, imbue army special ability, implosion, judgment undone, mass heal, massacre, miracle, overwhelming presence, soul bind, symbol of strife, symbol of vulnerability, true resurrection
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Legendary Clerics © 2020, Legendary Games; Authors: Matt Daley, Nathan Reinecke

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