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This is the Quickstart Guide version of the cleric, which only has features up to level 5. For the complete class, check out the Pathfinder Core Rulebook!

Deities work their will upon the world in infinite ways, and you serve as one of their most stalwart mortal servants. Blessed with divine magic, you live the ideals of your faith, adorn yourself with the symbols of your church, and train diligently to wield your deity’s favored weapon. Your spells might protect and heal your allies, or they might punish foes and enemies of your faith, as your deity wills. Yours is a life of devotion, spreading the teachings of your faith through both word and deed.

Key Ability

Wisdom: At 1st level, your class gives you an ability boost to Wisdom.

Hit Points

8 plus your Constitution modifier: You increase your maximum number of HP by this number at 1st level and every level thereafter.

Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain the listed proficiency ranks in the following statistics. You are untrained in anything not listed unless you gain a better proficiency rank in some other way.

Perception

Trained in Perception

Saving Throws

Trained in Fortitude
Trained in Reflex
Expert in Will

Skills

Trained in Religion
Trained in one skill determined by your choice of deity
Trained in a number of additional skills equal to 2 plus your Intelligence modifier

Attacks

Trained in simple weapons
Trained in the favored weapon of your deity. If your deity’s favored weapon is uncommon, you also gain access to that weapon.
Trained in unarmed attacks

Defenses

Untrained in all armor, though your doctrine might alter this
Trained in unarmored defense

Spells

Trained in divine spell attacks
Trained in divine spell DCs

During combat encounters...

If you’re a warpriest, you balance between casting spells and attacking with weapons—typically the favored weapon of your deity. If you’re a cloistered cleric, you primarily cast spells. Most of your spells can boost, protect, or heal your allies. Depending on your deity, you get extra spells to heal your allies or harm your enemies.

During social encounters...

You might make diplomatic overtures or deliver impressive speeches. Because you’re wise, you also pick up on falsehoods others tell.

While exploring...

You detect nearby magic and interpret any religious writing you come across. You might also concentrate on a protective spell for your allies in case of attack. After a battle or hazard, you might heal anyone who was hurt.

In downtime...

You might perform services at a temple, travel to spread the word of your deity, research scripture, celebrate holy days, or even found a new temple.

You Might...

• Visit the temples and holy places sacred to your faith, and have an immediate affinity with other worshippers of your deity.
  
• Know the teachings of your religion’s holy texts and how they apply to a dilemma.
  
• Cooperate with your allies, provided they don’t ask you to go against divine will.
  

Others Probably...

• Find your devotion impressive, even if they don’t understand it.
• Expect you to heal their wounds.
  
• Rely on you to interact with other religious figures.
  

Table 3–8: Cleric Advancement

Your Level	Class Features
1	Ancestry and background, initial proficiencies, deity, divine spellcasting, divine font, doctrine
2	Cleric feat, skill feat
3	2nd-level spells, general feat, second doctrine, skill increase
4	Cleric feat, skill feat
5	3rd-level spells, ability boosts, alertness, ancestry feat, skill increase

Table 3–9: Cleric Spells per Day

	Spell Level
Your Level	Cantrips	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
1	5	2*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	5	3*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	5	3	2*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	5	3	3*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	5	3	3	2*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

* Your divine font gives you additional heal or harm spells of this level. The number is equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier.

† The miraculous spell class feature gives you a 10th-level spell slot that works a bit differently from other spell slots.

Class Features

You gain these abilities as a cleric. Abilities gained at higher levels list requisite levels next to their names.

Ancestry and Background

In addition to the abilities provided by your class at 1st level, you have the benefits of your selected ancestry and background, as described in Chapter 2.

Initial Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain a number of proficiencies that represent your basic training, noted at the start of this class.

Deity

As a cleric, you are a mortal servitor of a deity you revere above all others. The most common deities in Pathfinder appear in Religion, along with their alignments, areas of concern, and the benefits you get for being a cleric of that deity. Your alignment must be one allowed by your deity, as listed in their entry. Your deity grants you the trained proficiency rank in one skill and with the deity’s favored weapon. If the favored weapon is uncommon, you also get access to that weapon.

Your deity also adds spells to your spell list. You can prepare these just like you can any spell on the divine spell list, once you can prepare spells of their level as a cleric. Some of these spells aren’t normally on the divine list, but they’re divine spells if you prepare them this way.

Anathema

Acts fundamentally opposed to your deity’s alignment or ideals are anathema to your faith. Learning or casting spells, committing acts, and using items that are anathema to your deity remove you from your deity’s good graces.

Casting spells with the evil trait is almost always anathema to good deities, and casting good spells is likewise anathema to evil deities; similarly, casting chaotic spells is anathema to lawful deities, and casting lawful spells is anathema to chaotic deities. A neutral cleric who worships a neutral deity isn’t limited this way, but their alignment might change over time if they frequently cast spells or use abilities with a certain alignment. Similarly, casting spells that are anathema to the tenets or goals of your faith could interfere with your connection to your deity. For example, casting a spell to create undead would be anathema to Pharasma, the goddess of death. For borderline cases, you and your GM determine which acts are anathema.

If you perform enough acts that are anathema to your deity, or if your alignment changes to one not allowed by your deity, you lose the magical abilities that come from your connection to your deity. The class features that you lose are determined by the GM, but they likely include your divine font and all divine spellcasting. These abilities can be regained only if you demonstrate your repentance by conducting an atone ritual.

Divine Spellcasting

Your deity bestows on you the power to cast divine spells. You can cast divine spells using the Cast a Spell activity, and you can supply material, somatic, and verbal components when casting spells (see Casting Spells). Because you’re a cleric, you can usually hold a divine focus (such as a religious symbol) for spells requiring material components instead of needing to use a spell component pouch.

At 1st level, you can prepare two 1st-level spells and five cantrips each morning from the common spells on the divine spell list in this book or from other divine spells to which you gain access. Prepared spells remain available to you until you cast them or until you prepare your spells again. The number of spells you can prepare is called your spell slots.

As you increase in level as a cleric, the number of spells you can prepare each day increases, as does the highest level of spell you can cast, as shown in Table 3–9: Cleric Spells per Day.

Some of your spells require you to attempt a spell attack roll to see how effective they are, or your enemies to roll against your spell DC (typically by attempting a saving throw). Since your key ability is Wisdom, your spell attack rolls and spell DCs use your Wisdom modifier. Details on calculating these statistics appear in General Rules.

Heightening Spells

When you get spell slots of 2nd level and higher, you can fill those slots with stronger versions of lower-level spells. This increases the spell’s level, heightening it to match the spell slot. Many spells have specific improvements when they are heightened to certain levels.

Cantrips

A cantrip is a special type of spell that doesn’t use spell slots. You can cast a cantrip at will, any number of times per day. A cantrip is automatically heightened to half your level rounded up, which equals the highest-level of cleric spell slot you have. For example, as a 1st-level cleric, your cantrips are 1st-level spells, and as a 5th-level cleric, your cantrips are 3rd-level spells.

Divine Font

Through your deity’s blessing, you gain additional spells that channel either the life force called positive energy or its counterforce, negative energy. When you prepare your spells each day, you can prepare additional heal or harm spells, depending on your deity. The divine font spell your deity provides is listed in the Divine Font entry for your deity in Religion; if both are listed, you can choose between heal or harm. Once you choose, you can’t change your choice short of an ethical shift or divine intervention.

Healing Font: You gain additional spell slots each day at your highest level of cleric spell slots. You can prepare only heal spells in these slots, and the number of slots is equal to 1 plus your Charisma modifier.

Harmful Font: You gain additional spell slots each day at your highest level of cleric spell slots. You can prepare only harm spells in these slots, and the number of slots is equal to 1 plus your Charisma modifier.

Doctrine

Even among followers of the same deity, there are numerous doctrines and beliefs, which sometimes vary wildly between clerics. At 1st level, you select a doctrine and gain the benefits of its first doctrine. The doctrines presented in this book are cloistered cleric and warpriest. Each doctrine grants you initial benefits at 1st level. At 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels, you gain the benefits granted by your doctrine’s second, third, fourth, fifth, and final doctrines respectively.

Cloistered Cleric

You are a cleric of the cloth, focusing on divine magic and your connection to your deity’s domains.

First Doctrine (1st): You gain the Domain Initiate cleric feat.
Second Doctrine (3rd): Your proficiency rank for Fortitude saves increases to expert.
Third Doctrine (7th): Your proficiency ranks for divine spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to expert.
Fourth Doctrine (11th): You gain expert proficiency with your deity’s favored weapon. When you critically succeed at an attack roll using that weapon, you apply the weapon’s critical specialization effect; use your divine spell DC if necessary.
Fifth Doctrine (15th): Your proficiency ranks for divine spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to master.
Final Doctrine (19th): Your proficiency ranks for divine spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to legendary.

Warpriest

You have trained in the more militant doctrine of your church, focusing on both spells and battle.

First Doctrine (1st): You’re trained in light and medium armor, and you have expert proficiency in Fortitude saves. You gain the Shield Block general feat, a reaction to reduce damage with a shield. If your deity’s weapon is simple, you gain the Deadly Simplicity cleric feat. At 13th level, if you gain the divine defense class feature, you also gain expert proficiency in light and medium armor.
Second Doctrine (3rd): You’re trained in martial weapons.
Third Doctrine (7th): You gain expert proficiency with your deity’s favored weapon. When you critically succeed at an attack roll using that weapon, you apply the weapon’s critical specialization effect; use your divine spell DC if necessary.
Fourth Doctrine (11th Level): Your proficiency ranks for divine spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to expert.
Fifth Doctrine (15th Level): Your proficiency rank for Fortitude saves increases to master. When you roll a success at a Fortitude save, you get a critical success instead.
Final Doctrine (19th Level): Your proficiency ranks for divine spell attack rolls and spell DCs increase to master.

Cleric Feats (2nd)

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a cleric class feat. These begin below.

Skill Feats (2nd)

At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill feat. Skill feats can be found in Chapter 5 and have the skill trait. You must be trained or better in the corresponding skill to select a skill feat.

General Feats (3rd)
At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a general feat. General feats are listed in Chapter 5.

Skill Increases (3rd)

At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill increase. You can use this increase to either become trained in one skill you’re untrained in, or become an expert in one skill in which you’re already trained.

You can use any of these skill increases you gain at 7th level or higher to become a master in a skill in which you’re already an expert, and any of these skill increases you gain at 15th level or higher to become legendary in a skill in which you’re already a master.

Ability Boosts (5th)

At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, you boost four different ability scores. You can use these ability boosts to increase your ability scores above 18. Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.

Alertness (5th)

You remain alert to threats around you. Your proficiency rank for Perception increases to expert.

Ancestry Feats (5th)

In addition to the ancestry feat you started with, you gain an ancestry feat at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter. The list of ancestry feats available to you can be found in your ancestry’s entry in Chapter 2.

Key Terms

You’ll see the following term in many cleric class features.

Metamagic: These actions tweak your spells. You must use a metamagic action directly before Casting the Spell you want to alter. If you use any action (including free actions and reactions) other than Cast a Spell directly after, you waste the benefits of the metamagic action. Effects added by a metamagic action are part of the spell’s effect, not of the metamagic action.

Controlling Undead

Controlled undead gain the minion trait. Minions can use 2 actions per turn and can’t use reactions. A minion acts on your turn in combat when you spend an action to issue it verbal commands (this action has the auditory and concentrate traits). If given no commands, undead minions use no actions except to defend themselves or to escape obvious harm. If left unattended for at least 1 minute, mindless undead minions don’t act, and intelligent ones act as they please. You can’t have more than four undead minions at a time.

Cleric Feats

If you need to look up a cleric feat by name instead of by level, use this table.

Feat	Level
Cantrip Expansion	2
Channel Smite	4
Command Undead	4
Communal Healing	2
Deadly Simplicity	1
Directed Channel	4
Domain Initiate	1
Emblazon Armament	2
Harming Hands	1
Holy Castigation	1
Improved Communal Healing	4
Necrotic Infusion	4
Reach Spell	1
Sap Life	2
Turn Undead	2
Versatile Font	2

Cleric Feats

At each level that you gain a cleric feat, you can select one of the following feats. You must satisfy any prerequisites before selecting the feat.

1st Level

Deadly Simplicity (Feat 1)

Cleric
Prerequisites deity with a simple or unarmed attack favored weapon, trained with your deity's favored weapon

Your deity’s weapon is especially powerful in your hands. When you are wielding your deity’s favored weapon, increase the damage die size of that weapon by one step.
If your deity’s favored weapon is an unarmed attack (such as a fist, if you worship Irori) and its damage die is smaller than d6, instead increase its damage die size to d6.

Domain Initiate (Feat 1)

Cleric

Your deity bestows a special spell related to their powers. Select one domain—a subject of particular interest to you within your religion—from your deity’s list. You gain an initial domain spell for that domain, a spell unique to the domain and not available to other clerics. Each domain’s theme and domain spells appear in Table 8–2: Domains.

Domain spells are a type of focus spell. It costs 1 Focus Point to cast a focus spell, and you start with a focus pool of 1 Focus Point. You refill your focus pool during your daily preparations, and you can regain 1 Focus Point by spending 10 minutes using the Refocus activity to pray to your deity or do service toward their causes.

Focus spells are automatically heightened to half your level rounded up. Focus spells don’t require spell slots, nor can you cast them using spell slots. Certain feats can give you more focus spells and increase the size of your focus pool, though your focus pool can never hold more than 3 Focus Points. The full rules for focus spells appear in Focus Spells.

Special You can select this feat multiple times, selecting a different domain each time and gaining its domain spell.

Harming Hands (Feat 1)

Cleric
Prerequisites harmful font

The mordant power of your negative energy grows. When you cast harm, you roll d10s instead of d8s.

Healing Hands (Feat 1)

Cleric
Prerequisites healing font

Your positive energy is even more vibrant and restorative. When you cast heal, you roll d10s instead of d8s.

Holy Castigation (Feat 1)

Cleric
Prerequisites good alignment

You combine holy energy with positive energy to damage demons, devils, and their evil ilk. Heal spells you cast damage fiends as though they were undead.

Reach Spell [one-action] (Feat 1)

Cleric, Concentrate, Metamagic

You can extend the range of your spells. If the next action you use is to Cast a Spell that has a range, increase that spell’s range by 30 feet. As is standard for increasing spell ranges, if the spell normally has a range of touch, you extend its range to 30 feet.

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2nd Level

Cantrip Expansion (Feat 2)

Cleric

You study a wider range of simple spells. You can prepare two additional cantrips each day.

Communal Healing (Feat 2)

Cleric, Healing, Positive

You’re a conduit for positive energy, and as you channel it through you, it heals some of your minor injuries. When you cast the heal spell to heal a single creature other than yourself, you regain Hit Points equal to the spell level of the heal spell.

Emblazon Armament (Feat 2)

Cleric, Exploration

Carefully etching a sacred image into a physical object, you steel yourself for battle. You can spend 10 minutes emblazoning a symbol of your deity upon a weapon or shield. The symbol doesn’t fade until 1 year has passed, but if you Emblazon an Armament, any symbol you previously emblazoned and any symbol already emblazoned on that item instantly disappears. The item becomes a religious symbol of your deity and can be used as a divine focus while emblazoned, and it gains another benefit determined by the type of item. This benefit applies only to followers of the deity the symbol represents.

• Shield The shield gains a +1 status bonus to its Hardness. (This causes it to reduce more damage with the Shield Block reaction.)
  
• Weapon The wielder gains a +1 status bonus to damage rolls.
  

Sap Life (Feat 2)

Cleric, Healing

You draw the life force out of your enemies to heal your own wounds. When you cast a harm spell and damage at least one living creature, you regain Hit Points equal to the spell level of your harm spell. If you aren’t a living creature, you gain no benefit from this feat.

Turn Undead (Feat 2)

Cleric

Undead harmed by your positive energy might flee, compelled by an innate aversion to the force opposite undeath. When you use a heal spell to damage undead, each undead of your level or lower that critically fails its save gains the fleeing condition for 1 round.

Versatile Font (Feat 2)

Cleric
Prerequisites harmful font or healing font, deity that allows clerics to have both fonts

As you explore your deity’s aspects, you move beyond restrictions on healing or harming. You can prepare either harm or heal in the spell slots gained from the harmful font or healing font.

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4th Level

Channel Smite [two-actions] (Feat 4)

Cleric, Divine, Necromancy
Prerequisites harmful font or healing font

Cost Expend a harm or heal spell.

You siphon the destructive energies of positive or negative energy through a melee attack and into your foe. Make a melee Strike and add the spell’s damage to the Strike’s damage. This is negative damage if you expended a harm spell or positive damage if you expended a heal spell.

The spell is expended with no effect if your Strike fails or hits a creature that isn’t damaged by that energy type (such as if you hit a non-undead creature with a heal spell).

Command Undead [one-action] (Feat 4)

Cleric, Concentrate, Metamagic
Prerequisites harmful font, evil alignment

You grasp the animating force within an undead creature and bend it to your will. If the next action you use is to cast harm targeting one undead creature, you transform the effects of that harm spell. Instead of harm’s normal effects, the target becomes controlled by you if its level is equal to or lower than your level – 3. It can attempt a Will saving throw to resist being controlled by you. If the target is already under someone else’s command, the controlling creature also rolls a saving throw, and the undead uses the better result.

Critical Success The target is unaffected and is temporarily immune for 24 hours.
Success The target is unaffected.
Failure The undead creature becomes a minion under your control. The spell gains a duration of 1 minute, but it is dismissed if you or an ally attacks the minion undead.
Critical Failure As failure, but the duration is 1 hour.

Directed Channel (Feat 4)

Cleric

You can shape the energy you channel in a single direction, reaching farther and in a more directed fashion. When you cast a version of harm or heal that has an area, you can make its area a 60-foot cone instead of a 30-foot emanation.

Improved Communal Healing (Feat 4)

Cleric
Prerequisites Communal Healing

You can direct excess channeled energy outward to benefit an ally. You can grant the Hit Points you would regain from Communal Healing to any one creature within the range of your heal spell instead of yourself. You can also use Communal Healing when you target only yourself with a heal spell, though if you do, you must grant the additional healing to someone other than yourself.

Necrotic Infusion [one-action] (Feat 4)

Cleric, Concentrate, Metamagic
Prerequisites harmful font, evil alignment

You pour negative energy into your undead subject to empower its attacks. If the next action you use is to cast harm to restore Hit Points to a single undead creature, the target then deals an additional 1d6 negative damage with its melee weapons and unarmed attacks until the end of its next turn.

If the harm spell is at least 5th level, this damage increases to 2d6, and if the harm spell is at least 8th level, the damage increases to 3d6.

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Sample Clerics

Gozren

Following the Wind and the Waves, you protect the beauty of nature in all its forms.

Ability Scores

Prioritize Wisdom and Strength. Charisma increases your divine font heal spells.

Skills

Athletics, Nature, Religion, Survival

Deity

Gozreh (alignment: LN; divine font: heal)

Doctrine

Warpriest

Higher-Level Feats

Domain Initiate (water, 1st), Divine Weapon (6th)

Prepared Spells

1st gust of wind, sanctuary, heal spells from divine font; Cantrips detect magic, know direction, light, message, shield

Pharasmin

A follower of the Lady of Graves, you respect the sanctity of both life and death.

Ability Scores

Prioritize Wisdom, with Charisma second to maximize your healing and help you spread the word of your faith.

Skills

Diplomacy, Medicine, Occultism, Religion

Deity

Pharasma (alignment: N; divine font: heal)

Doctrine

Cloistered cleric (death domain)

Higher-Level Feats

Turn Undead (2nd), Selective Energy (6th)

Prepared Spells

1st fear, mindlink, heal spells from divine font; Cantrips detect magic,disrupt undead, daze, light, stabilize