Meet the Cleric

Tagged: Meet the Fighters

“Just a moment and you’ll be all better – hold still, please!”

This week, helping is healing, as we turn our attention to the Cleric.

Background

In the world of Magewinds, the term “Cleric” is not a mark of religion but of skill. To be a Cleric is to be well versed in the craft of healing by magical means – that is, the guiding of the Wind of Life to where it is most needed, to staunch bleeding, knit together wounds and mend broken bones, far faster than nature can do on its own.

There are no religions or deities of any sort that we would recognise on the Continent. Faith – in so far as it even exists – is not focused upon the abstract or immaterial, but instead upon the definitively real.

This is all to say: throw away any preconceived notions acquired from other settings (including the real world) about what a “Cleric” should be. In Magewinds, a Cleric is a healer.

In Tempestia, Clerics find themselves in high demand. It is rare to see a warband venturing into the Tempest without one, for their hasty healing powers quite often mean the difference between life and death.

Appearance

Many Clerics wear white robes and other symbols of purity, but just because one is a healer does not mean one must dress like a nurse. Other Clerics adorn themselves in the symbols of life: red fabrics, heart-shaped jewellery, or glimmering blue teardrop diamonds.

Clerics can be sinister in appearance, too. After all, the very Wind of Life that helps living things grow and heal can also bring about their demise.

Clerics generally prefer blunt weapons and practical, lightweight armour.

Here’s a dark elf priestess by Reaper Miniatures that I painted recently, I think she’ll make an excellent, if rather edgy, Cleric :grin:

Rules

Rules-wise, the main event on the Cleric’s fighter profile is the Heal spell:

Cast this spell at the end of this fighter’s activation. Target a visible fighter within 5”. They heal one point of damage per Heart spent.

After every one of their activations, they have the opportunity to quickly dish out some healing. If the winds are favourable, then over the course of the game this can amount to a huge amount of damage removal, turning the fight against the Cleric’s warband an uphill battle. As such taking out the Cleric becomes a top priority!

The Revive spell is a bit more situational, allowing the Cleric to bring a key fighter back from the dead:

Choose a friendly fighter that has been taken out of action. Deploy them within 1” of this fighter. Give them damage equal to their Toughness, minus 1. If they were taken out of action in the current action phase, give them a double action counter. Otherwise, give them a single action counter.

Revive is hard to use correctly, but in certain situations can be a game-winning move.

The Cleric is an average melee combatant with access to a special non-lethal missile attack spell called Push:

This attack does not deal damage. Instead, after any knockback, move the target directly away from this fighter by 1” per point of damage that would have been dealt.

This is quite a technical ability that can be used in ways other than just to keep enemies away. It can be used to move friendly fighters into combat, or even push treasure.

Conclusion

The Cleric shapes the battle around them with their healing prowess. Allies love them, enemies hate them, and I rate them.

This week, we found out how to mitigate harm. Next week, we find out how to prevent it entirely…