Note: There are Anti-Clerics (listed below) who have similar powers to Clerics.Those Clerical spells underlined on the table for Cleric Spells have a reverse effect, all others functioning as noted.
What is listed below are the level titles for the Anti-Cleric. Compare them to the regular Cleric level titles:
Anti-Clerics:
Evil Acolyte
Evil Adept
Shaman
Evil Priest
Evil Curate
Evil Bishop
Evil Lama
Evil High Priest.Clerics:
Acolyte
Adept
Village Priest
Vicar
Curate
Bishop
Lama
Patriarch
Note that the only level title that does not get the designation "evil" is the Shaman — an explicitly pagan title. It seems to me that (beyond the already largely Christian level titles and spells) that this is the strongest evidence I have found to suggest that the original conception of the Cleric class was of a pseudo-Christian.
Level titles are just funny. I mean, you can't argue that the cleric is anything but a medieval Bishop Turpin type. But the idea of taking a break from Satanism to study Native American medicine-work, or from Christianity to take an ecumenical sojourn in the Himalayas, is just a little bit mind-boggling. Was the idea to provide a fig leaf as far as the depiction of authentic religion is concerned?
ReplyDelete"Acolyte, Adept, Bishop, Curate, High Priest, Lama, Patriarch, Priest, Shaman, Vicar..."
ReplyDeleteThis is the strongest evidence I have found to suggest that Gygax was writing with his thesaurus.