Editing Cleric (section)

==[[Pathfinder]]==
===[[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|First Edition]]===
[[File:Stargazer.jpg|left|150px]]
[[Pathfinder]] played give and take with Clerics. It reined them in somewhat by taking their heavy armor proficiency (though they could spend a feat to get it back, and as non-arcane casters they won't suffer for it while casting), and nerfing several of their key spells (for example, Divine Power no longer sets their BAB to full and only gives a typed to-hit bonus). But it also gave all clerics the favored weapon of their deity, plus it buffed the domains. They're now "only" mostly on-par with the other casters, if a little more melee-capable than the average [[wizard]], but that's still awesome.<br>
They still get domain powers, but ''turn undead'' is now ''channel energy'': it basically lets them heal living creatures and hurt undead in a big radius with positive energy, or vice-versa with negative energy. It made them superior healers, at the cost of an ability that only did anything if you were evil (and sucked at healing as a result) or the GM threw hoards of weak undead at you (or you had feats to trade its uses for other broken stuff). They can also learn to channel those energies into other buffs and benefits too, or burn them for single-target damage.

====[[Spheres of Power]]====
On top of the changes to casting through Spheres, the Cleric gained a slower Magic Talent progression, gaining talents every even level rather than every level like other High Casters. Instead, the Sphere Cleric gets two useful tools to help them compensate: Domains now provide a specific bonus sphere and talents at 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th level, and Clerics can obtain the Life or Death sphere (Life if they Channel Positive Energy, Death if they Channel Negative Energy) and talents at 1st, 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th and 19th level.

The Faithful Shepherd archetype turns into a midcaster, with the normal progression that entails (3/4 of a talent every level). Additionally, they only gain access to Channel Positive Energy, and gain the Protection and Life Spheres upon first obtaining the archetype. They even gain a series of special pseudo talents, "Divine Works", to improve their capabilities.

{{Pathfinder-1st-Edition-Classes}}

===[[Pathfinder Second Edition|Second Edition]]===
[[File:Kyra 2e.png|thumb|right|300px|Kyra, Pathfinder's Iconic Cleric]]
As any neckbeard can attest, Clerics have always had their toes in two worlds, focused on either being a front-line caster or being a holy wizard. [[Pathfinder Second Edition]] attempted to address this by splitting Clerics into two subclasses. By default, they lack any proficiency in armor and are only proficient in simple weapons and the god's favored weapon. Clerics have a rather limited skill list, with all clerics needing to take Religion and whatever skill their god confers (as well as any skills from their background) and then letting them pick a number of skills equal to only 2 + Intelligence modifier.

Clerics have access to the divine spell list (the worst spell list) and whatever spells their god confers (Yes, gods actually confer spells - it kinda is to offset how Domains are cut down and the limitations of the divine spell list). Beyond that is also access to either the Heal or Harm spell - it's an amalgamation to the old class' constant access to Cure/Cause Wounds and Channel Energy. See, depending on how many actions the cleric spends on the spell, it can range from just a mere heal/hit with a touch to a full-on burst that both heals and harms. By default this only works on living beings and the undead, but there are feats that let this also affect fiends and celestials as well as those that boost its effects and applications. Feats are also how clerics gain access to their gods' domains - these domains are now a feat chain that gives special spells using focus points, giving you the choice on focusing on only one or on being diverse on domains.

Now comes the division: At level 1, clerics choose between two doctrines: Cloistered Cleric and Warpriest. The Cloistered Cleric, for those that prefer pure spellcasters, gains domain for free and gets the better casting save progression, making them more effective at blasting and debuffing. The Warpriest, on the other hand, gains the better combat proficiencies - this is the only way for clerics to start with armor and shield proficiencies (as well as a feat necessary for making shields actually effective for soaking damage) and gain martial weapon proficiency without wasting a feat (as well as the Deadly Simplicity feat, which lets those gods who prefer simple weapons make their weapons more deadly). Your spellcasting DC progresses slower but you are harder to kill and make full use of that divine weapon and runes the DM gave you with less investment.    

{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Classes}}