The Cleric class
originated in Blackmoor, yet we have little concrete information on the details
of the Blackmoor Cleric. What we know from a few statements of the
original players and Dave Arneson can be summed as: the lawful Cleric had spell
casting ability, including healing, and could counter attacks from undead by
turning them with a holy symbol. We
know nothing of anti-clerics.
Indeed, it is not clear what if any powers evil clerics had. The entire original Temple of the Frog, as
published in Supplement II Blackmoor (1975), tells us nothing of the abilities of the
chaotic priests, acolytes, and monks who dwell there. No statistics are ever given, and the only
hint of spell powers is a sole reference to a temporal stasis spell (affecting
Gargoyles at the very least), that only four of the priesthood know. The spell is also contained in a book, which
at least gives support to the notion of Clerical spell books. (Supplement II,
p41, room 3)
Lets number what we
have so far for reference later.
1) Some Clerics can cast spells, including healing
2) Clerics can turn udead with holy symbols.
3) Cleric spells are kept in books
Arneson's First Fantasy Campaign book (1977, reprint 1980) provides a
few more interesting tidbits, but not much.
In addition to what we know of characters in general, such as the use of
d6 for damage dice and hit points, we learn that:
4) Clerics are expected to give 40-90% of any money received
to their faith including to "off grid" patriarchs, and won't receive
any experience points for money kept for personal use. 80:51
5) Clerics are expected to
both go on religious "quests" and send others on them. 80:51
6) Clerics can suffer up to 4 lost levels when their
religion suffers a significant (financial) setback 80:10
7) Clerics create 1/8th (12.5%) of all magic swords. These are "Holy swords" with
clerical spell powers 80:45-47
8) Remove Curse is within the clergy's power 80:17
9) Clerics can make Holy Water that burns/destroys undead.
80:29
10) Some undead perform unholy rites, and thus may be allied
with some evil clerics. 80:21
And one last dubious possibility:
Cleric spells can be found on scrolls, and curiously, can co-exist
with magic spells thereon. 80:31,level 4
room 14 (Note there is no hint of
clerical scrolls in Blackmoor prior to the above referenced 1976 gencon
stocking notes . One could ignore this entirely if it were assumed that the "cure
light wounds" spell which is the sole "cleric only" spell listed
on the 7 spell scroll, is actually a privately researched magic user version. I'm inclined to dismiss spell scrolls as an
actual feature of Blackmoor clerics)
The TSR DA series:
Although the DA series was originated and co written by
Arneson in the early 1980's, it was heavily reworked by TSR and it is often
very hard to know what parts of it really come from Dave. However, one of the things that clearly has
his fingerprints all over it are the character profiles in the back of
DA1. Among these are 3 Cleric profiles
(pp 48 - 63), the chaotic high priestess of Zugzul, Toska Rusa; Bishop Bolitho, the High Patriarch of Blackmoor; and Brother Richard, the Flying Monk.
Now, this is interesting for a basic set of reasons. DA1
was published in 1986 during the Mentzer BECMI era, so details, if any, not in
agreement with BECMI or an earlier version of D&D most likely hint at Arneson
houserules from a time when these NPC's were actually PC's.
Let's have a look:
GARAMOND BOLITHO—THE BISHOP OF BLACKMOOR
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TOSKA RUSA— MISTRESS OF GOD
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BROTHER RICHARD— THE FLYING
MONK
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Alignment
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Lawful
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Chaotic
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Lawful
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Level
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18th level cleric
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18th level cleric high
priestess
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11th level cleric
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Charisma
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Cha 11/18
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Cha 18
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Cha 5
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Dwelling
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He dwells in a fortified manor house
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||
Property Controlled
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he also controls a good deal of monastic property
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an entire nation of 170,000
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fief at Fairfield
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Money Controlled
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the church funds are under his control
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||
Treasure Controlled
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Bolitho is custodian of the famous
“White Sword.”
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1 7,000 gold pieces,
1 1,000 silver pieces, 3,000 copper pieces, and hundreds of gems and
pieces of jewelry worth an additional 70,000 gold pieces.
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great rewards were offered Richard, but he would take none of them
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Personal Wealth
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The bishop’s personal wealth is almost
nonexistent
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she owns no property of her own
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He always travels afoot and will own no animal of any kind. His purse never contains more than 10 gold pieces
and 5 silver pieces.
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Guards
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he is always accompanied by 6 body guards (AC 2 plate
mail and shield; F6;)
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The priestess is guarded at all times by 12 bodyguards (AC4 chainmail and shield; F9)
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N/A
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Retainers
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he controls a small private
army of
High Church troops
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Controls a company of 200 elite soldiers called the Handmaidens of
Death
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N/A
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Armor
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He always wears plate armor
when travelling
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she wears leather armor, and her auburn locks are surmounted by an iron-bound leather helmet.
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a shield, plate mail and the round metal cap
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Hand Weapon
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carries a great war hammer. Bolitho
carries a dagger (for eating purposes only).
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ironwood club
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a mace
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Projectile Weapon
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he often carries a crossbow or a short bow (he’s an excellent shot)
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||
Worn Magic items
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She wears a ring
of protection + 1 and a medallion of ESP
(90').
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Flying cloak
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Expansion Projects
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University of Blackmoor
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as promised Zugzul that she will build him a temple of gold.
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Fairfield Abbey
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From this we can build something of a partial profile of a
Blackmoor Cleric
11) Clerics are lawful or chaotic.
12) Clerics eschew personal wealth
13) Clerics can use magic items
14) Clerics use blunt hand weapons
15) Clerics can use projectile weapons
16) Clerics can wear any type of armor, wear helmets, and
carry shields.
17)Patriarchs control territories and receive income which
they manage for the faith.
18) Patriarchs desire expansion and conceive of new building
projects, including temples, abbeys, and schools.
19) The most high Patriarch has a personal gaurd of 6-12 Fighters
of level 6-9
20) The most high Patriarch has a cadre of elite soldiers at
their command. Notice that no stats for
these forces are given and Bolitho's force is also unquantified. Here is one place the supplement II ToTF can
help. The map on page 42 shows 1140
soldiers housed in the barracks, the text indicates another 400 housed in the
towers and an above ground barrack. These
troops are described (page 40) as being
"as heavy infantry". They
are led by 12 officers (8th level Fighters) and 48 sergeants (5th level Fighters) as shown on page 36 and in room 8 on page 43. (edit: the page 42 map evidently has 100 too many soldiers - the grand total should be 1440. See my April 19 2016 post) That is 1 sergeant per 30 men and one
officer per 120.
21) Being the most high leader of the faith conveys an
automatic Charisma score of 18.
Okay there's a few things to note in particular. No version of D&D expects or requires
personal poverty (#12, but see also #4 and #18). No version of D&D allows clerics the use of
weapons shooting arrows or quarrels (#15). No
version of D&D gives any level of patriarch a personal guard of 6-12 high
level fighters (#19) however, OD&D
allows 1-6 assistants (presumably other clerics) of levels 4-7 to accompany a castle owning
patriarch on a foray, and within the walls of the stronghold may be up to 20
heroes and 6 superheroes, who could presumably be drawn on if needed, as a
personal bodyguard. None of this is in
BECMI, of course.
Another thing to mention is Bishop Bolitho's dual Charisma
score (#21), since there is no other reason I can see for his Charisma score to
jump from 11 to 18, I presume it must indicate, that as the head of his faith
he is entitled to an 18 Charisma, and that's an idea not in D&D anywhere
either.
Now, as it happens, there is another source that gives us
some information on Blackmoor Clerics. At
about the same time DA1 was being released Arneson published a 2 part adventure
in Different Worlds magazine where he was on staff. Part two of Garbage Pits of Despair, as it was called, (issue 43, July/Aug
1986) details a party of evil clerics from the Temple of the Frog out on a
slave buying expedition.
Here is what we can glean:
Ga'mor'bah'lach
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Fra'lach'stane
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Fins of the Frog (6 clerics)
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Alignment
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Chaotic
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Chaotic
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Chaotic
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Level
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9th level Patriarch
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7th level Bishop
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3rd level clerics
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Dwelling
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Temple
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Temple
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Temple
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Property Controlled
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Unknown
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||
Money Controlled
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Slave purchasing funds
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||
Personal Wealth
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None mentioned
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none mentioned
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None mentioned
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Guards
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6 Level 2 and 8 level 1 fighters
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||
Retainers
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None
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||
Armor
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Chainmail and armored cowl helmet
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chainmail
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Chainmail
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Hand Weapon
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Mace and dagger
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Sword and dagger
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Staves, swords, daggers
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Projectile Weapon
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None mentioned
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None mentioned
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None mentioned
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Worn Magic items
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None mentioned
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None mentioned
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None mentioned
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Notice that the patriarch here is traveling with 7 assistants, but 6 of them are level 3, so neither the
total, nor the level fits the OD&D pattern mentioned above (1-6 of lvl 4-7).
Like the senior patriarchs of DA1, he is accompanied by a guard, but
they are much lower level Fighters.
However, what jumps out most here is their weapons; all the
clerics have daggers and most have swords (many of these are magical, and some are
not). These clerics obviously have no
prohibition against edged weapons of any sort.
The question is whether this weapons freedom applies only to chaotic
clerics, and for that I think we need to go back and look at Garamond Bolitho
in DA1. Not only does Bolitho shoot bows
and crossbows, but, like the Froggies, he also carries a dagger. We are told parenthetically that it is
"for eating purposes", but this is really strange. First, knives are for eating and food
preparation, not daggers by any means. Second,
why would a simple dining utensil be mentioned at all? I think it quite likely that an editor at TSR
caught the dagger note in Arnesons draft, thought "hey, clerics aren't
supposed to have daggers", but instead of deleting it, added the
parenthetical explanation. There is
further support in GPoD also. Aside from
the Froggies, there are others to consider.
Accompanying a wagon train of immigrants together is Bathare, a "9th
level good Druid" armed with a club and staff, and his daughter, a 6th
level "Cleric/Druid" named Monaca of Dinsbury. Monaca's alignment is not given, but it is
clear she is on the side of "good" like her father. She is armed with at dagger +1.
So:
22) Patriarchs may travel with 1-8 assistants of levels 3-7.
23) Patriarchs receive a personal guard of 3d6 1st and 2nd
level Fighters.
24) Clerics can use edged weapons.
So there we have it.
Now there's a curious thing I haven't yet mentioned and that regards
spells. Both in DA1 and in GPoD, there are
lists of spells for the chaotic clerics, and they are all of the usual
sort. Nothing is ever said or hinted at in
any of the Arnesonian sources regarding reverse spells - no Cause Light Wounds for example. The conclusion would seem to be that there
are no reverse cleric spells in Blackmoor.
Now as to the use of the spells themselves, how many and how
often, we really have no special information, and must rely on what is found in
D&D. Unfortunately, with OD&D at least,
frequency of use is still pretty vague.
While it is not Blackmoor, an option would be to look at the 1975 D&D spinoff work
of Arneson's fellow twin cities gamer MAR Barker, Empire of the Petal Throne. The rule found there may well reflect the
norms of play in the Twin Cities gaming circles, including Blackmoor games. The "green cover" version is as
follows:
25)"... most priestly and magical spells are usable
only once a day, although some are
indeed repeatedly possible. If a party
is forced to spend a night in the Underworld, all such limited spells are
regenerated by the following morning (approximately 6:00 A.M.)"
Now putting it all together, we certainly have not revealed
the "original" Blackmoor cleric by any means, because what we have is
an accretion of many years of play, but we are left with a genuinely
Blackmoorian Cleric nonetheless, suitable for play:
The Blackmoor Cleric
Clerics are lawful or chaotic (11) members of a religious hierarchy,
who, in exchange for a vow of personal poverty (12) and a commitment to
building up their faith either through the acquisition of wealth and or
converts or destruction of enemies, receive spell powers (1). Clerics of Law also receive the ability to
turn undead with the use of a holy symbol (2), while many undead will tolerate
or even be deferential to chaotic clerics. (10) Clerics use a d6 to determine
Hit Dice and damage.
Clerical spells are recorded in books (3) and include such
things as the ability to remove curses, banish evil, (8) and create holy water.
(9) Clerics can also create special Holy Swords imbued with clerical
magic. Holy swords will constitute 1/8th
of all swords found. (7) Unless otherwise noted, clerical spells are
usable only once a day. All expended spells
are regenerated by the following morning, approximately 6:00 A.M., even if a night
has been spent in the Underworld. (25)
As zealous evangelists of their faith, Clerics are expected
to both go on religious missions and to
send others on them. (5) Likewise, clerics seek to bring in wealth and riches, usually for the purpose of
establishing new institutions, such as temples, monasteries, and schools. (18) To this end clerics are expected to never
retain more than 40% of any money received. (4)
Hoarding wealth may cause loss of up to 4 levels, as will any
significant failures or financial setback suffered by the faith for which the
cleric is responsible. (6) Clerics will receive
experience points for money offered to the faith or used for religious purposes
but will not receive any points for any money kept for personal use. (4)
Clerics are able to
employ most magic items, unless otherwise specified. They are able to wear any kind of armor and
use any kind of shields and weapons, including projectile weapons. (14, 15, 16,
24)
Upon obtaining Patriarch status, clerics may seek to establish
their own institutions, if they are able, which may include the control of a
territory generating income for the faith. (17, 18) Patriarchs may freely receive 1-8
clerical assistants of levels 3-7. (22) Patriarchs also receive a personal bodyguard
of 3d6 1st and 2nd level Fighters (23)
Upon reaching senior status (lord tier) Patriarchs receive
income, goods and treasures from the territories and institutions controlled by
the clerics beneath them. (4, 17) They are responsible for the management of
these funds and treasures. (17)
The most high Patriarch of the faith has a personal guard of
6-12 Fighters of level 6-9 (19) and control a holy army of (2d10 *100) seasoned
0 level Fighters, with one Hero tier sergeant per 30 soldiers and one superhero
tier officer per 120 soldiers, in command. (20)
Finally, being the most high leader of the faith conveys an automatic
Charisma score of 18. (21)
