Community

I was recently reading through some of the comments regarding the "look and feel" of the D&D Next Cleric. It strikes me as odd that there are such narrow views within such a massive game as Dungeons & Dragons. For instance, some people swear up and down that a "real" cleric wears heavy armor, swings a mace, and calls down holy fire upon his foes. Okay. But what if that's not the character I want to play?

A character class is just a skeleton. It provides the necessary structure for the character to function. Without the skeleton, the body (in this case the character) just flails about in a limp puddle of meaty goo. That's not fun. But the character is more than just the skeleton. The ability scores, themes, backgrounds, feats, skills, and, yes, even gear selection cannot be left out of the equation, nor can any one facet of a character be viewed as the defining feature of said character. It's the sum of the parts, rather than the parts themselves, that are important.

And that, Gentle Reader, is the crux of finding the fun in D&D. You have to WANT to play it, and you have to enjoy running your character; you have to make it YOURS. If your cleric wears robes, carries a staff, and prays five times a day that's just fine. There's nothing wrong with that concept. If your fighter only uses his fists but isn't a monk, that's fine too. If your monk is more like Friar Tuck than Kwai Chang Caine then that, also, is fine. Great. Wonderful.

The point is that you're creating a character that you enjoy playing. That is your contribution to the shared story of your D&D Campaign. You don't have to play your character the way that Johnny-Across-the-Table wants you to; you can do it your way, and that's just the way it should be.

Make your choices and enjoy them. But don't worry about whether your concept fits with someone else's idea of what you should be doing with your character.