Editing Cloistered Cleric

The '''Cloistered Cleric''' is a [[Variant Class]] for the [[Cleric]] (duh) that's in [[Dungeons & Dragons]], with the term initially appearing in 3.5E. In normie terms, this is what a Priest normally is, rather than the hammer-swinging warpriests that Gygax and Arneson romanticized and codified, being more focused on prayer and knowledge rather than violence. In a way, one could compare them to holy [[Wizard]]s.

===3.5E===
The Cloistered Cleric sacrifices a lot of combat ability for the sake of their casting.

*BAB degrades to a poor progression akin to the Wizard.
*Class Hit Die degrade to d6, more befitting of a primary casting class.
*Lose Medium Armor, Shield and Martial Weapon proficiencies.
*Class skill points is improved to 6 + Intelligence Modifier per level.
*Gain Decipher Script and Speak Language as class skills.
*Gain the [[Bard]]'s Bardic Knowledge ability, letting the cleric add half their level as a bonus to any checks in skills they are untrained in.
*Gain the Knowledge Domain in addition to any domains they'd already have access to, regardless of if the god the cleric worships even has Knowledge as a domain. Not only does this give all Knowledge skills as class skills, but it also provides access to Knowledge domain spells.
**On top of this, the Cloistered Cleric gains some extra spells to their class spell list, though all of them are utility spells.

{{D&D3e-Variant Classes}}

===Pathfinder===
The Cloistered Cleric would return as an archetype of the Cleric, though it takes a few extra hits too, making it less of a casting class. In fact, it kills a lot of the appeal of taking it, to the point where it's actually considered kinda absolute garbage.

*Class skill points is improved slightly to 4 + Intelligence Modifier per level.
*All Knowledge skills are class skills.
**On top of this, the cleric can attempt any knowledge check untrained and add half their level as a bonus when doing so.
*Proficiencies are drastically reduced to an anemic list of Simple Weapons and Light Armor.
*Lose one domain as well as a non-domain spell slot for each level. Clearly the most severe loss, as this robs the Cleric of versatility, Hit Die be damned.
*Level 2 gives them a +2 bonus to skill checks, caster level checks, or saves regarding to scripts, runes, scrolls, or other written things.
*Level 3 gives them the ability to use the Aid Another action on someone 30 feet away. This can be spread among another ally every three levels.
*Level 4 gives Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat.

Second Edition also had a cloistered cleric, though it's nowhere near restrictive and one of the fundamental subclasses of the main class. The Cloistered Cleric essentially focuses more on casting, providing a better casting proficiency progression as well as a free domain, which plays more to the inherent strengths of the class moreso than the [[Warpriest]] subclass opposite it.
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Classes]]