I just downloaded the latest version of the Core Rulebook (which looks great), but I was hoping for a clarification about the Armor Proficiencies that Clerics have on Athas.
In previous versions (up to DS3-r6) the Clerics had Light Armor Proficiency but were able to upgrade that to Medium or even Heavy without spending a Feat through the selection of their Domains. The domains were re-worked so they no longer provide Medium or Heavy armor proficiencies, suggesting that all Clerics would just come with Light armor proficiency, but the kits in the Cleric class description all list them as having Scale mail, which is medium armor.
Should the Clerics have Medium armor proficiency (or even Heavy, like standard Player’s Handbook Clerics), or is the intention for them to just have Light armor proficiency and it’s just a typo in the starting kits?
You’re correct, its a typo. I didn’t even notice that the v6 Rules gave out medium armor proficiency with some of the Cleric domains, so we didn’t think to fix it for the v8 Rules.
AFAIK, clerics need to actually take the feats to wear heavier than Light armor now.
Also, note that there’s a 2nd set of typos in the Starting Cleric Packages, as it lists Scale Mail as being +6 in the 1st Package, and +4 to AC for the 2nd and 3rd Packages.
You might also want to clarify if they have Shield Proficiency or not. Normal SRD clerics have Shield Proficiency, and one of the kits included with the Athasian Cleric description (The Destroyer) includes a Heavy Wooden Shield, but the “Weapon and Armor Proficiencies” line under Class Features only mentions Light Armor Proficiency.
I also feel that there was a lot of flavor text in previous editions of the Athasian Clerics that went a long way to differentiating them from other conventional Clerics without actually adding any game mechanics and that leaving it out has made them feel somewhat diminished. One of my favorite details from 2nd Edition Darksun was that when they used their Turn Undead ability to Destroy Undead, the undead in question were obliterated by a spectacular display of their element (they Burst into flames or were obliterated by a geyser of water that immediately evaporated).
Also while the weapon restrictions have been removed, it might have been nice to retain the information as weapons that the different elements have a tendency to lean towards, such as Fire clerics having a tendency to prefer Obsidian and Metal weapons and Water clerics preferring weapons made of living substances like wood and bone.
I did the last pass thru over the text of r7 to r8. Mostly a grammar check and a light look for anything that stood out to me. Despite that, there were a few things I still missed.
I would be happy to perform the work of a more edit oriented pass updating r8 to r9, if I was given a list of what changes to make.
The reason Shield Proficiency isn’t mentioned in that line is because the rule is unchanged from the Core cleric rules. Only mechanical changes to the class are mentioned in that section of the class write-ups.
If it were because Athas is hot then nobody would be wearing medium or heavy armor. Water Clerics are probably in the best position to mitigate the heat (as they create gallons and gallons of water that dumps over them from head to toe, drenching them then soaking into the ground and making everybody around them weep and cry “How could you?”).
I would have assumed that it was taken away to balance out for some additional ability that was added but I’m not seeing anything. They no longer have the ability to gate elements (but the Create Elements level 0 spell seems to be the replacement for that), and the elemental ward is gone. They seem to just be regular clerics with different domains and less armor. Maybe the trade off is because each domain adds a class skill and proficiency with a weapon, but many of the standard cleric domains will also add a class skill.
I can’t speak to why. It was in the v7 (3.5e) Rules, so it carried into the facelift that is the v8 Rules. I see that they had standard Cleric armor proficiency in the Revised Boxes Set.
