DCC is famous for its gonzo quality. Characters readily undergo profound transformations, whether sprouting another head, becoming cursed with a gossiping demon face in the palm of their hand, growing gills on their neck, or having their feet become hands. In essence, a character may become unrecognizable from the individual they were at level 1. Yet, despite these transformations, class generally remains stable.
The core rulebook introduces class as a statement of identity. Nearly every DCC character class description contains the phrase “You are a…” in the opening sentence. For instance, the warrior entry reads, “You are a mailed knight on a king’s errand, a greedy brigand loyal to no man, a wild bear-skinned wanderer with an empty stomach, or a stout man-at-arms armored by a merchant’s gold” (42). The only class that doesn’t contain this “You are” verbiage is the cleric. Indeed, its opening paragraph isn’t even about clerics—it’s about the gods.
There are rules that govern the multiverse, some deciphered by man and some opaque. The oldest rules are the Void, which no man or god understands, only Cthulhu and the Old Ones. Then the Old Ones established Law and Chaos, which created and divided the gods. From the gods came divine rules for the behaviors of mortal man, and if man lives by these rules, his gods reward him in this life or the next.
That is what your god tells you, and as his cleric, you will persuade, convert, or destroy those who speak otherwise. You adventure to find gold or holy relics, destroy abominations and enemies, and convert heathens to the truth. You’ll be rewarded – even if you have to die to receive that reward. (28)
In short, to know who the cleric is, we must first know their deity. The cleric serves as the vessel for a higher power and their purpose is shaped by that deity’s desires. But what happens when the bond between cleric and deity is permanently severed—when their god revokes their blessing, falls forever silent, or dies? The cleric loses more than their deity’s support: they lose the relationship that defines their class. Of course, a cleric might lose one god’s favor by turning to another, but there is no guarantee that a cleric who loses their god has another willing to receive them. Where the other classes begin with “You are,” the abandoned cleric faces the question “What are you now?”
A game that promises character advancement should leave room to discover the answer. And so, I offer you the apostate.
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