Hacking 2e: The Mythos Cleric Kits, the Druid, and More

There's something vaguely 
Soviet about this Druid.

The Priests of Specific Mythoi is one of the best innovations of 2nd Edition, at least according to the various online discussions surrounding this class-design toolset. These rules allow you to make any type of Cleric you want, with unique requirements, restrictions, and powers which match the deity they serve. This means that the Priest mega-class is the only one which provides full rules and examples on how to design bespoke subclasses, making good on Zeb’s promise that 2e’s class structure could do so.

Design instructions are provided, but they’re not exactly watertight. For every alteration one can make to the base class, the rules give no indication on how to balance each change. There is only the constant note at the end of most sections stating that the “DM has final say”, and a last section explaining that the strengthening of any abilities must be balanced via the weakening of other features. The example given is the Druid, who is handed a large number of granted powers, and so is weakened with a limited spell selection and limited armor. While this gives you a rough idea of how to manage the thing, it’s ultimately based on vibes; the creation of a specialized Cleric is a cooperative exercise in just-figuring-it-out between the player and the DM.

Hacking 2e: The Cleric

This guy is really stretching the 
definition of the word "bludgeoning".

The Cleric is the third member of the holy trinity, created back when Arneson’s gaming group realized that having Van Helsing in the party would be a smart idea. For some interesting first-hand accounts of the Cleric’s origins, see Havard’s Blackmoor Blog. The class is described in OD&D as being a mix of the Fighting Man and Magic User, gaining “some of the advantages from both.” It is, in its own way, the first multi-class. This remained the Cleric’s ethos right through to 2e; in the 21st century, the class would slowly tip toward spellcasting as its dominant function.

2e’s Cleric is another subtype which explains its own parent mega-class. It’s portrayed as the ‘standard’ version, which is accompanied by rules to twist and mold that basic version into a more detailed “Priests of Specific Mythoi”, of which the Druid is provided as the prime example. (Discussion of those mythoi rules, and the Druid, are for later.) Suffice to say, the 2e Cleric class is the template from which all other 2e Clerics are to be built.

I have a few adjustments I would like to bring to the Cleric, as hinted in prior entries. In this post, I’ll take a critical look at the spellcasting features, attempting to mold them into something that makes sense for a divine proxy. I’ll also seek to bring the Turn Undead ability into a roll-under mechanic. Along the way, I’ll look at some holdover rules from an earlier age.

Let’s dig in.

One Year Later

I’m going to take a moment away from hacking at the classes to mark the milestone of this blog’s one-year anniversary. (I also need an excuse for a break; the Specialist Wizard was a monster, and the Cleric is shaping up to be worse.)

I really didn’t know what to expect from this thing when I started it. I had just finished the 2e Primer, and I really didn’t want to stop writing. Cracking into the system was pure fun; I thought a blog would be a great way to keep that ball rolling. So, I made an account, gave the blog the stupidest name I could think of, threw the Primer in the first post, and made a commitment to myself: one post every Thursday for as long as it remained fun.

80,000+ words later, it has remained fun.