Cleric Handbook FAQ
Taken from
Official D&D Game Rule FAQQ:If a cleric’s turning check results in a “Most Powerful Undead Affected” Hit dice of 0 or less, does that mean the cleric’s turn attempt failed, or is 1 HD always the minimum?
A:There is no minimum HD result of a turning check. If a 1st level cleric rolls a total turning check of 9 or less, he can’t turn any undead (since the most powerful undead affected would be 0 HD). In general, unless the rules specifically state that a minimum value exists, it doesn’t.
Q:How do I know when my cleric can prepare spells? Does he need to rest first?
A:Divine spellcasters who prepare spells (such as clerics and druids) choose and prepare their spells at a particular time of day. Unless the character’s deity or faith specifies a particular time, the character may choose his spell preparation time when he first gains the ability to cast divine spells. Dawn, dusk, noon, and midnight are common choices. If something prevents the character from praying for his spells at the proper time, he must
do so as soon as possible or else wait until the next day to prepare his spells. Unlike wizards, divine spellcasters need not rest before preparing spells.
Q:My DM says that my cleric has to drop his morningstar
to cast spells. Is he right?
A:Yes and no. To cast a spell with a somatic (S) component,you must gesture freely with at least one hand. (Player’s Handbook, page 140) A cleric (or any caster, for that matter) who holds a weapon in one hand and wears a heavy shield on the other arm doesn’t have a hand free to cast a spell with a
somatic component (which includes most spells in the game).To cast such a spell, the character must either drop or sheathe his weapon. Another simple option is for the cleric to carry a buckler or light shield instead of a heavy shield. The buckler leaves one hand free for spellcasting, and you don’t even lose the buckler’s shield bonus to AC when casting with that hand. The
light shield doesn’t give you a free hand for spellcasting, but since you can hold an item in the same hand that holds the light shield, you could switch your weapon to that hand to free up a hand for spellcasting. (You can’t use the weapon while it’s held in the same hand as your shield, of course.) The rules don’t state what type of action is required to switch hands on a
weapon, but it seems reasonable to assume that it’s the equivalent of drawing a weapon (a move action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity).
Q:Can a cleric Turn undead while under the effects of greater invisibility? Page 159 of the Player’s Handbook says only that the cleric must present his holy weapon to attempt to turn undead. Does “present” imply that the holy symbol must be visible or just held forth?
A:Concealment is irrelevant when determining whether a creature is affected by a turning check: “You don’t need line of sight to a target” (Player’s Handbook, page 159). Just as an invisible lich could be affected by a visible cleric, a visible vampire could be turned by an invisible cleric. It bears mentioning that turning or rebuking undead counts as an attack for the purpose of ending an invisibility spell. Of course, using a turn/rebuke attempt for some other purpose— such as powering a divine feat (see some examples in Complete Divine)—may or may not count as an attack, depending on the
effect of the feat.
Q:I assume that my lawful good cleric of a lawful neutral deity must opt to turn undead and not rebuke. If he later becomes lawful neutral, can he opt to start rebuking instead of turning? What if he then becomes lawful evil? What if he is a lawful good cleric of Wee Jas who becomes lawful neutral?
A:You can’t voluntarily change whether your character turns or rebukes undead. If your new alignment would require a change—such as a turning cleric who becomes evil, or a LG cleric of Wee Jas who becomes LN—the change is applied automatically.
Q:When a cleric has a temporary bonus to his Charisma score, does it affect his turning check or turning damage? Does it change the number of times he can turn or rebuke per day?
A:Unless otherwise stated, a temporary bonus to an ability score has the same effect as a permanent one. For example, a cleric with a temporary +4 enhancement bonus to Charisma (such as from eagle’s splendor) adds 2 to his turning check and D&D FAQ v.3.5 12 Update Version: 06/15/07 to his turning damage while the spell was in effect, since his Charisma modifier is 2 points higher than it was before. Things get a little stickier when talking about powers with daily limits, such as turn/rebuke undead or lay on hands. (Hold on, because this gets worse before it gets better.) In this case, a
change to the key ability score indeed affects the daily limit—in the example above, the cleric would gain 2 additional turn/rebuke attempts per day—but these aren’t just “free” uses. Here’s why:
Assume the cleric above has a normal Charisma score of 12, granting him 4 turn attempts per day (3 + 1 for Cha bonus). Casting eagle’s splendor increases his Charisma to 16, which would grant 6 attempts per day. At the end of the spell, however, his daily limit would drop back down to 4 attempts.
At that point, the player must compare the number of daily uses expended to the daily limit to see if any still remain.Here’s how that might work in play.
Our cleric turns undead twice, then casts eagle’s splendor right before a big fight with a horde of zombies. During the duration of the spell,
he makes four more turning checks. When the spell ends, he compares his new daily limit (4) to the number of attempts used (6)—whoops, no turns left. Hope all the undead have been destroyed, because even if the cleric cast eagle’s splendor again, he wouldn’t have any more turning attempts available, since he’s already used all 6 of his allotted attempts. If he could
increase his Charisma to 18, he’d “gain” one more turning attempt (since he has now used 6 out of his allotted 7 daily attempts), usable only during the duration of the Charismaboosting effect.
The same is true of the paladin’s lay on hands ability. If the paladin gains a temporary Charisma boost, her total capacity of healing via lay on hands improves accordingly, but she must keep track of the healing “used up” to see if any remains after the boost ends. Temporary ability reductions (such as penalties or damage) work similarly. When applying a reduction, do the math as if a bonus had just elapsed to see if any daily uses are left, and
reverse that when the reduction goes away to see what (if anything) the character regains. If our cleric above is hit by touch of idiocy and suffers a –4 penalty to Charisma, his daily limit of turning attempts is reduced from 4 to 2; if he’s already used 2 or more, he has none available as long as the spell’s
effect lasts. This seems more complicated than it actually is. As long as
you remember that the important number to track is not uses remaining, but uses expended, everything else should fall into place.
Q:Can a cleric/wizard lose a prepared wizard spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell?
A:No. The cleric or druid’s spontaneous casting option applies only to spells from the same class.
Q:Does the +1 caster level bonus from such domains as Good, Knowledge, and Law apply to all spells (of the appropriate school, subschool, or descriptor), to divine spells, or only to cleric spells?
A:Unless the domain’s granted power specifically states that it applies only to a limited range of spells, the bonus applies to all spells the cleric casts, regardless of their source.
Q:If a cleric commands a shadow, and that shadow then spawns other shadows, is the cleric also in control of the newly spawned shadows?
A:Strictly speaking, the cleric does not have “mental control” over any shadows spawned by the one he commands (and so on down the chain), since he didn’t use rebuke undead to command them. He can indirectly control these undead by issuing instructions to the one he does command, but if that creature isn’t present, the cleric would have no influence over
the newly spawned shadows. This trick shouldn’t allow a cleric to bypass the normal limits for commanded undead. The Sage sees two reasonable house rules for handling this situation:
1. Count these indirectly influenced undead toward the cleric’s limit of HD commanded (PH 159); relinquishing command of such a creature renders it no longer under control of its creator.
2. Rule that newly created spawn aren’t under the control of the commanded undead; they’re immediately free-willed.
Q:Is the Sacred Fist (a prestige class found in Complete Divine) supposed to wear armor? None of the class abilities are inhibited by wearing light armor, and as long as he’s wearing armor he might as well carry a shield, too, since he’d be losing his AC bonus only.
A:You’ve correctly determined that the sacred fist is allowed (even encouraged) to wear light armor. Whether or not a specific sacred fist wears light armor probably depends on what class features he might have from other classes. For instance, a sacred fist with monk levels (a strong likelihood) gives up his AC bonuses (including his Wis bonus to AC), his flurry of blows, and his fast movement. Still, for a sacred fist with only one or two monk levels, that might be worthwhile—his light armor’s AC bonus might make up for the lost AC bonuses from the monk class, and he hasn’t yet gained a speed bonus. As to whether the sacred fist might as well carry a shield, that’s
up to the character. Some sacred fists might prefer having their off hand free (such as for climbing). Also, a sacred fist’s AC bonus applies even against touch attacks, which is more than can be said for a shield’s bonus to AC.
Q:The text for synergy under the Diplomacy skill on page 72 of the Player’s Handbook states: “If you have 5 or more ranks in Bluff, Knowledge (nobility and royalty), or Sense Motive, you get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.” I’m assuming that means if a character has 5 ranks in Bluff,
Knowledge (nobility and royalty), and Sense Motive that the character would receive only a +2 synergy bonus on Diplomacy checks. Or would the character receive a +6 synergy bonus (+2 for each)?
A:The bonuses listed in the synergy section of a skill description are unnamed and so they stack. (There’s no such thing as a synergy bonus in the current edition of the D&D game.) The character in your example would receive a +6 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
Q:What effect does the Augment Healing feat (Complete Divine, page 79) have on lesser vigor (Complete Divine, page 186) and similar spells?
A:Augment Healing adds twice the spell’s level to the total healing it provides. The simplest method is to have the spell apply the extra healing to the first round of fast healing. Thus, lesser vigor (a 1st-level spell) would cure an extra 2 hp of damage in the first round, for a total of 3 hit points. Each round thereafter it would heal the normal 1 hp of damage. Mass lesser
vigor (a 3rd-level spell) would cure an extra 6 hp of damage to each target in the first round (for a total of 7 hit points), and would heal 1 hp of damage each round thereafter as normal.
Q:Does the ability to spontaneously cast domain spells granted by the Domain Spontaneity feat (Complete Divine) fulfill the spell requirement of the reserve feats from Complete Mage?
A:Not technically. Since you don’t have a list of spells known, only a list of spells prepared and the ability to cast some spells spontaneously, having the ability to spontaneously cast domain spells that fulfill the requirements for reserve feats does not fulfill the reserve feat requirements.
That said, there’s probably no harm in allowing it, and an unflinching DM confident in his ability to challenge you at every turn may have no problem hand-waving the technicality away.
Q:Does the bonus to caster level from the Practiced Spellcaster feat (from Complete Arcane and Complete Divine) apply before or after other caster level bonuses (such as those from the Good or Healing domains)?
A:The bonus from Practiced Spellcaster applies whenever it would be most beneficial to the caster. A 4th-level cleric/4th level fighter with the Healing domain and Practiced Spellcaster would cast Conjuration (Healing) spells as a 9th-level caster (base caster level 4th, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +1 from the Healing domain). A 4th-level cleric/4th-level rogue with Practiced Spellcaster who activates a bead of karma (from a
strand of prayer beads) would cast her spells as a 12th-level caster (base 4, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +4 from bead of karma).
