So I for a while now I've thought that from a purely mechanical standpoint true neutral is the best alignment as a cleric; you can worship any deity because they will always be within 1 step; similarly, with aligned spells you are not restricted so long as you either worship a concept or have a true neutral deity.  Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaotic, evil, good, and lawful descriptors in their spell descriptions.   Alignment: A cleric’s alignment must be within one step of her deity’s, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis.  Well, that's more or less my own theory on it but I tend to overlook stuff in the rules quite frequently and wanted confirmation from someone more familiar with this kind of stuff than me. Out of all the alignments, what is the best one for cleric, mechanically speaking? By &quot;best&quot; I mean in a typical pathfinder setting which alignment offers the most benefits in most situations if you only consider the effects alignment has on a clerics mechanics and class features. This is distinct from  because  this question is about pathfinder, not including 3.5 material that question is primarily from a role-play perspective it cites things like reasoning with people which is not what I'm asking about I'm asking about clerics specifically; it barely mentions spellcasters in general and Clerics are primarily commented that their aura is more likely to raise flags than other types of spellcasters.  While I am well aware that optimization does not automatically make a good character, this question is specifically out of curiosity. I want to know if there is/what is the mechanically superior alignment is best for a Cleric.
122591
Alignments of Good, Evil, Lawful &amp; Chaotic seem to be hindrances. They affect your spell choice slightly, restrict certain equipment and worst of all, they make you weak to certain forms of weapons &amp; magic. True Neutral alignments have none of these weaknesses, and can still seem use almost all spells/equipment with alignment restrictions. What am I missing?
106928
I am a neutral Wizard traveling with a paladin. My  is an imp.   Let us say my imp has a wand of cure moderate wounds and I want him to heal the paladin in the middle of a fight. Let us further assume that the imp do not want to heal the paladin.  What now?  Does it have to obey me? Or can I force it to heal the paladin? I already checked the  but could not found anything specific about this.
2862
I've just read the , and I'm not sure I'm up to speed regarding casting spells while clad in armor. The only mention I can find about this (page 79):     Because of the mental focus and precise gestures required for   spellcasting, you must be proficient with the armor you are wearing to   cast a spell. You are otherwise too distracted and physically hampered   by your armor for spellcasting.   Does this mean that a character who starts out with a single level fighter (or any other class with heavy armor proficiency) can from then on gain levels as wizard and forever more cast spells, without any penalty whatsoever, while wearing full plate?  I've played all editions of D&amp;D, and this seems both a bit overpowered and very un-D&amp;D-ish to me. Have I missed something?
73351
In my 4E game, a player is going to try an elven cleric with a longbow (and a mace, just in case). She chose mostly ranged powers. Are there any caveats to playing such a character, or any builds that I could recommend for her?
11376
A cleric casts a Command spell targeting you, specifying the Flee option.  You have a Ring of Spell Turning and you get a 20 for the save, so the spell is returned.  We are going to assume that the cleric fails his save.   The spell is returned but, can you specify other option for the spell (halt, approach, etc.) ? From where the cleric will flee?  From his original position, from you, from the ring, from himself? In case the spell was cast using a higher level (affecting a second creature), could be the spell be returned? Extra: In case the returned spell had concentration or a dismiss option. Could the original caster finish the spell ending the concentration or using the appropriate action to end the effect?  When could he finish the concentration?
29470
What is the best class or classes in 3.5e to build a character that uses both a sword and either arcane magic or psionics which can be fluffed as arcane magic and focuses on fighting powerful individual creatures?    I have a foundness for those that can sling spell along with blade, like Dak'kon from Planescape: Torment.  So, given that, how do I make the best Gishy character I can?  Specifically, the group is looking for a character focused on delivering high damage or other debilitating effects to an individual target.  There is no need to balance sword and magic, though I would prefer to have the melee abilities remain at least relevant through at least mid-levels.  This question:  is related.  But I am specifically looking to optimize for high targeted damage output and have no need to balance between sword and spell if focusing on one is more effective.  I have considered the duskblade and that may be the best answer, but as I have limited experience with 3.5 I want to find out if I should use a pure duskblade, a duskblade which steps into other classes, or some other class I have not considered.  In this particular case, the characters will start at level 7, and equipment rules are liberal as long as the characters can afford it.  I'm not sure how long this will last so I am focused on the next few levels instead of trying to plan all the way out to 20.  It will be a party of 5.  Not all of the rest of the characters have been fully fleshed out, but we will have a cleric and a wizard.  The other two are more up in the air but they one is looking at various rogue classes and the other is looking at some sort of melee class, with this gishy rounding out the team.  The initial encounter is up in the air, but there is a definite fondness for gryphons.  We do know that we will be working up to dragon in relatively short order, which is a factor in wanting to focus on large damage output to individual creatures as opposed to being able to deal with numerous weaker creatures.  The setting is "modified Forgotten Realms".    I personally own absolutely no 3.5 books, but we have access to a fair bit and just about anything from WoTC is permitted.  I am new to 3.5, but I have a fair bit of roleplaying experience including AD&amp;D.    Thematically, I envision the character as a generally honorable, but working as a monster hunter and mercenary.  I definitely favor swords though specifically which sword is flexible.  Dak'kon from Planescape would be an excellent example of what I would like to build, as would The Witcher.  Based on Kryan's excellent answer, it seems to be leading up to using duskblade and a specialist wizard to lead into Abjurant Champion.
68763
How can I get the highest Damage-Per-Round (both melee and ranged using pact weapon and Eldritch Blast) and AC possible (with DPR being more important than AC) with a Dragonborn Warlock taking the Pact of the Blade and a Fiend as otherworldly patron? Assume the character has the standard ability array or uses point-buy and prioritizes STR, CHA, and CON in that order. Also assume multiclassing and feats are allowed.
93714
The number of spells a sorcerer can learn is listed in the PHB, e.g. a 5th level sorcerer can know 6 spells total. For a wizard, it says they learn 2 spells per level.  This however is not shown for the cleric. How many spells can a cleric learn(not prepare) per cleric level, not including domain spells?
4107
There are rules for a Cleric who loses faith, and how to regain his standing through atonement.  But what if he abandons one faith entirely for another? Presumably his new god/faith should be picking up where the other leaves off, so spells aren&rsquo;t interrupted, and further he probably should be changing his Domains to ones used by his new faith, but does any official book actually describe this process? Does his new faith require atonement for his prior faith in another religion? Is there some kind of interruption time period, where he doesn&rsquo;t get spells? Is the actual process of substituting Domains explained?  Because the lack of rules that I&rsquo;m looking at almost seems to imply that a Cleric cannot change faiths.  I&rsquo;m really looking for book citations here, because this is specifically for the sake of determining what the rules currently are to better judge how changes might affect them. I have plenty of my own ideas about how this sort of thing should be handled, most of which rely on eliminating as much of alignment&rsquo;s mechanical impact as possible, but that&rsquo;s not really relevant here.  If your answer is that there are no such rules, I&rsquo;d like an idea of how certain you are of this. For example, I could not find any such rules in Player&rsquo;s Handbook or Complete Divine, the first two places I looked. Knowing where the rules aren&rsquo;t is useful.
15786
How do you determine the Spellcasting ability and the spell attack bonus? I've tried searching for it in the player's handbook and searched for answers here, but I haven't found anything.
106786
In the D&amp;D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide, there are two magic items named The Book of Exalted Deeds and The Book of Vile Darkness. In their description, under "Vile Lore" it says that the DM could include magic spells, rituals, curses, etc. As such, I was wondering if I would be crossing copyright boundaries if I were to take the 3.5 Rulebooks for both of these books which completely give all the information a DM would ever need for that "Vile Lore" optional rule and translate them into 5th  Edition compatible rules.  I will probably do this regardless if only just for my own benefit as a DM, but...   Am I allowed to distribute this translation of rules to other people for free, for donations, or for profit? Am I allowed to create an entirely new set of 5th Edition compatible rules for something entirely new (such as a Neutral version of those books) and distrubute in the same way?   I would likely be using Chapter 9 in the DMG, the "Dungeon Master's Workshop", to balance the 3.5 rules into 5th Edition gameplay.  I'm aware of the , but I don't know what it means for what I want to do. It seems to say that I can design all of this, publish, and sell it using 5th Edition rules.
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I have seen quoted several places on the internet a rule that one can apply bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order.  An example I come across frequently (as a druid) is the combination of Natural Bond and . Natural Bond increases your effective druid level for determining the stats of animal companions but cannot increase it beyond your character level. Choosing an alternative animal companion lowers your effective druid level for determining the same stats. The "most beneficial order" rule is used to justify applying the level penalty before the natural bond bonus in order to get around the character level cap on natural bond.  Does this rule actually exist? If so, where does this rule originate? I would like to be able to cite a reliable source for my GM.
17530
I have an experienced player wanting to create a tempest cleric who doesn't worship a god. His back story will be something along the lines of 'walking through a storm one day he is hit by lightning, which provides him with power'.  I'm happy to entertain the thought, but what aspects might go awry?
24337
Can a multiclass character use either of its spellcasting modifiers for spells?  When character multiclasses into multiple classes that can cast spells, which modifier do you use for casting the spell? Or do you use whichever you prefer?   Say, for an example, someone multiclasses Wizard into Warlock. Does the combination of classes even matter?  Is it the same for exclusive spells too? Like using Eldritch Blast, can you use your intelligence modifier instead of charisma?
12637
When casting a spell as a bonus action, you can't cast another spell on the same turn except a 1-action cantrip - can the order be "reversed"? Can you cast a cantrip first as a bonus action, then any other spell? If not, would it be broken to allow it?  I'm thinking a Sorcerer casting a Quickened true strike, then casting a leveled spell requiring a touch attack. Seems like a great use of the cantrip + Metamagic feature, but it seems like it is not allowed.
58514
So I'm a new DM and one of my PC's who's a 1st-level warlock wants to multi-class into cleric. So he would essentially be a warlock 1/cleric 1.  Since the Warlock only has one 1st-level spell slot at 1st level while clerics have two at 1st level, do they stack, or do you just have two 1st-level spell slots? How exactly does this work?  Also, how would the number of cantrips change?
11561
I am a level 4 cleric with a 20 (+5) wisdom in D&amp;D 5e. This means I have a total of 9 spells I can cast in 1 day. I only have 4 level 1 spell slots and 3 level 2. So if I were to use all those spell slots in one day what would happen to the extra 2 spells I can cast? Can I not use all 9 spells I have available for me to cast?