People find other things more attractive I would assume. Especially in an envrioment where party compostion will more than not be at least partially random and you can't be turned down for play simply based on your class choice everyone might just assume the next guy will play one.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I think I'd be a lot more interested in playing clerics if Channel Energy was only a move action. As it is, I have to choose between healing my party, which is very boring but useful, or attacking the enemy on my turn.
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As I noted in the thread on oracles and witches, I've only ever seen one cleric in PFS play, period (and that was because a friend of mine joined me at Origins for his first PFS game, and asked me if he thought a cleric would be worthwhile :-) ).
Of my three PCs, one is at least a part-time healer (a paladin), but the other two strictly fill other roles (rogue and wizard).
Conversely, in LFR, where I have 8 PCs, five of them are "leaders" (i.e., can provide some level of healing and buffs). It appears that I'm playing PFS to play other sorts of characters. ;-)
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you got to recruit them Will!I don't play with the same group of people. I run games weekly here in Fresno and travel or attend conventions to play.
Several times a month, I drive 400 miles round trip to play in Oakland, Concord, Cupertino, Sacramento, or Martinez here in Northern California.
Martinez? Or did you mean Manteca?
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I just started hosting Game Days about two months back. 17+ new players all first level except 1 level 2 witch. Only one cleric among the lot. He was very popular. Twice I heard during the last game session "Why are their so many undead? How come no one plays a cleric??"
Everyone was playing either a gunslinger, a ninja/rogue or an inqusiator. They are extremely popular this year.
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While this is entirely my own opinion and nothing more, I find the Golarion deities a little lackluster. None of them really compel me to exciting character concepts. I actually think Asmodeus is fantastic and far-and-away my favorite deity...but you can't be evil in PFS. Sarenrae is ok. Cayden is a fun idea, but meh... Pharasma could be pretty cool, I suppose. I don't know. Maybe there are others who, like me, just aren't inspired by the deity choices available to clerics. I've tried to roll up clerics and I end up choosing something else.
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While this is entirely my own opinion and nothing more, I find the Golarion deities a little lackluster. None of them really compel me to exciting character concepts. I actually think Asmodeus is fantastic and far-and-away my favorite deity...but you can't be evil in PFS. Sarenrae is ok. Cayden is a fun idea, but meh... Pharasma could be pretty cool, I suppose. I don't know. Maybe there are others who, like me, just aren't inspired by the deity choices available to clerics. I've tried to roll up clerics and I end up choosing something else.
No, you cannot be an Evil aligned Cleric, but you can still be a Cleric of Asmodeus or almost any other evil deity.
Me? I have three clerics, although one is not, in general, classified that way.
Callarek, Fighter 10, Ranger 1, Cleric 1. As his 12th level stat boost, I took a point of Charisma. All my stats are now even numbers, and I doubled my number of Channel Energies per day! 2 instead of 1. Heh. At this level, 1d6 channel is not going to do much, anyhow.
Gildebrando, Cleric 1. Desna, Travel & Liberation domains.
Gabe, Cleric 2, Zon-Kuthon, Undead domain, Undead Lord archetype. Since he is a Dhampir, he can heal himself easily. Since he has the domain power, he can spoof one or two party members into being easily healable by himself. And, of course, he can still use a wand of cure light wounds to do some healing, even if he channels negative himself... The fact that he detects as evil, and has a hooded, cloaked, gloved minion to stand in the front line for him is neither here nor there. Or maybe it is. Oh, and don't drink the potion I carry that is labeled My healing potion. ;)
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In all honesty though, I've run a few games (PFS and just PF) and played in a few others, and I've been the only Cleric I've seen. A lot of the scenereos (as DM and Player) leave me feeling like the Cleric is not needed besides for Channeling to heal as an NPC. A lot of traps and encounters are tailored for Bards and Rogues, or need skills that most warrior types typically have, or most arcanists have. Clerics tend to be secondary characters to everyone else, in PFS scenerio design, in what I've seen, so maybe that's why?
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In the last 10 sessions I've played I've seen a single Cleric. Why are people not playing Clerics? You don't have to be a heal-bot you know.
I happen to like playing clerics and "divinely" oriented characters.
I think one reason that people don't play clerics is that not many people like playing a " support" roll.
I also think allot of people don't like clerics, because they don't like the idea of getting your power from someone else ( a divine patron).
In PFS I happen to have a mystic theurge ( cleric of pharasma / Necromancer), an Inquisitor of Iomedae, a cleric of Asmodeus, a cleric of Sarenrae, and a Paladin of Sarenrae.
Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Columbus
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While this is entirely my own opinion and nothing more, I find the Golarion deities a little lackluster. None of them really compel me to exciting character concepts. I actually think Asmodeus is fantastic and far-and-away my favorite deity...but you can't be evil in PFS. Sarenrae is ok. Cayden is a fun idea, but meh... Pharasma could be pretty cool, I suppose. I don't know. Maybe there are others who, like me, just aren't inspired by the deity choices available to clerics. I've tried to roll up clerics and I end up choosing something else.
convert to Abadar. He sends me to all the funnest places.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I have recently started to play an Ulfen cleric of Sarenrae and my Cavalier has a one level dip into Cleric (may get a little more later). Pathfinder clerics are far more interesting that the old 2nd Ed D&D ones who were nothing but healbots so I really don't know why there are not more around, except that there are so many other choices. I had never actually run a straight cleric before, fighter, ranger,druid, rogue, wizard, yes, but no clerics, so it is new to me
Freya gets to buff heal frown at the rogue AND throw fire around (I am NOT a pyromaniac, I'm not, I'm not I'm not!!!!). She also functions as a good face which is also cool, Charisma was always my dump stat in D&D.
So I say, if you haven't tried one yet give it a whirl, you might find it more fun than you think.
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While this is entirely my own opinion and nothing more, I find the Golarion deities a little lackluster. None of them really compel me to exciting character concepts. I actually think Asmodeus is fantastic and far-and-away my favorite deity...but you can't be evil in PFS. Sarenrae is ok. Cayden is a fun idea, but meh... Pharasma could be pretty cool, I suppose. I don't know. Maybe there are others who, like me, just aren't inspired by the deity choices available to clerics. I've tried to roll up clerics and I end up choosing something else.convert to Abadar. He sends me to all the funnest places.
Amen, fellow worshiper of Abadar!
Lets see here, I've got:
Alexander Damocles the Holy Librarian of Abadar, Sorcerer and Oracle of Abadar.
Father Forthill, Cleric of Abadar.
Carindel, the Golden Judging Eye, Cleric of Abadar.
Vati, Paladin of the Sacred Shielding Light of Abadar and Sarenrae.
Hong Tzu, Holy Tactician of Abadar.
Yeah. So what if I've got an Abadar fetish. Don't look at me like that.
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One of my characters is a cleric, and I mostly enjoy playing him. It does seem to be the class in my experience that draws out the most backseat driving, regardless of performance, and I will not have that %$#&, I will not have it.
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I beleave the only class I have not seen any PCs of is Samurai...
anyone actually seen one of these?
I have a group that runs with one Samurai, one Gunslinger, one Cleric, one Witch, one Rogue, and one Ranger. 3 of the 6 are Dwarves though.
Last week, I played the first Wonders in the Weave with a table of five. I was one of three clerics. :)
I played that with my (at the time) 9th level Dwarven Cleric of Sarenrae. I just about took the
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The other dmg dealt in the encounter was a fireball before it was over.Re: Wonder in the Weave 1:
** spoiler omitted **
The encounter didn't get read right so the "spoiler" was not taken into account. We could have cast a lightningball since our caster took an elemental change on his spells so it wouldn't have mattered much, but I agree with the not using fireball in that situation.
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I'm starting up another run-through of First Steps (partly to get my family rebooted after I killed them all, and partly to introduce a friend to PFS) and I'm starting up a cleric.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the reason so many people don't play clerics is because they and/or the people around them don't know how to play clerics. The cleric is quite possibly the single most versatile/flexible class in the game, able to be built in dozens upon dozens of ways - and only a small portion of those options involve more healing than what a ranger with a happy stick provides.
There's no such thing as a typical cleric, only a stereotypical one.
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There's no such thing as a typical cleric, only a stereotypical one.
I completely agree with you Jiggy. My Cleric took all the additional summoning feats he could and was a "summoner" before they were cool. My build is melee with a +1 Scimitar and ranged is whatever monster is useful for the encounter. Since I can spontaneously cast "cure" spells, I don't prepare those and have my assortment of Summon Monster spells ready with Sacred Bond ready for the tanker. The group I play with has no issues with this setup since I can always cure them when needed.
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I beleave the only class I have not seen any PCs of is Samurai...
anyone actually seen one of these?
I have one. Not played him much, but I have 13 PFS PCs with at least one chronicle on each of them. And not much PFS run in this area, other than the monthly Game Days. And whatever I manage to organize & run myself.
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Allow me to apologize. I spent the weekend saving your butts from the Plane of Shadow and didn't realize my disappearance would cause so much concern.
Next time I'll stay at home and allow the denizens of darkness decend upon Absalom unabated.
Genome De Nhom III, loyal servant of the Empire and devotee of Shelyn
