Editing Cleric (section)

=== [[Dungeons & Dragons#Original Dungeons & Dragons|Original]] & [[Basic Dungeons & Dragons|Basic]] ===
Clerics debuted in Original D&D. This class could wear heavy armor and use a shield. He was forbidden to use weapons that were not bludgeoning [[What|since clerics were said to desire avoiding bloodshed, even if they were evil clerics]], with the only missile weapons being the very feeble sling or the <s>bizarre staff-sling</s> godly fustibalus. The cleric wore a holy symbol, which he could use to turn away or destroy undead creatures. He could cast spells to mend wounds and cure ailments. He also had spells to protect and buff up the party, some spells to afflict opponents, and some utility spells. The cleric didn't get a lot of ranged attack spells, the exception being the very overpowered Flamestrike. Many of the 1st edition cleric spells were patterned after legendary religious miracles. His excellent armor, good saving throws, and fair hit points made the cleric a decent front-line battle healer.

In spite of, or rather because of this, most players didn't want to play a cleric, because most of the time he was the only means of healing, and so he became nothing but a walking first aid kit. Really we should say "she" because, parties often "volun-told" female gamers to play this class. '''Helloooo nurse!!''' ''(The 1980s, man.)''

Clerics were likewise present as a "Basic" class in the BECMI branch. A generation of D&D newbies grew up on [[Frank Mentzer]]'s Aleena with [[Larry Elmore]]'s wide anime eyes... whom that edition killed off. The [[Companion Set]] posted the [[Druid]] as a kind of "prestige class" for that but - another story.

Initially, clerics were restricted to [[human]]s, since race functioned as class in these versions of the game. However, subsequent splatbooks would add clerical versions of [[demihuman]] or monster PCs; [[Known World Gazetteers|The Dwarves of Rockhome]] debuted the [[Dwarf]]-Cleric. Most non-human clerics were called [[Shaman]]s, with even [[Elf|Elves]] and [[Shadow Elf|Shadow Elves]] using this. However, issue #178 of [[Dragon Magazine]] featured the [[Elf]]-Cleric as part of the serial [[The Voyage of the Princess Ark]].