What happens when a cleric converts?

Tresset

I have a simple question. Suppose you have a reasonably high level cleric (lets say level 15 or so) and the cleric loses faith in their god (lets say Tiamat) and decides to start worshiping someone else (lets say Bahamut). Would that cleric still be level 15 or would they have to start over from level 1 or how would that work.

I like dragons.

LadyRhian

Generally, it's always been played that this generally happens due to alignment change. Involuntary alignment change can change your opinion on your faith and make you change your God to one with a different Ethos. This comes about because of magic items like the Helm of Opposite Alignment. Voluntary alignment change comes about because of role-playing (at least in the pen and paper game). You say you are Neutral good, but uphold various laws and generally act lawful. In either case, you lose your old alignment and switch to the new one. You lose enough experience points to drop you down one level and bam! That's where you stay. In cases of Involuntary alignment change, you *can* change back, using a remove curse (possibly), wish or limited wish, then an Atonement spell, in which case, you will get the lost exp and level back. If the change was drastic enough, obviously, you are going to be persona non grata in the church/churches of your old faith, and it may take you a while to get up to speed on the rituals of your new faith. But if you continue in the same faith, then that won't be a problem/

LadyRhian

I just wanted to add that you *can* change back from a "voluntary" alignment change, but doing so loses you another level- you'd have to roleplay the alignment you want to change to. And when you make the change, again, you lose another level. You can still gain levels afterwards, but the experience points you had to gain those levels in the first place are gone.

Tresset

Ah, ok. I wanted to know because I made up a story in which a green dragon cleric lost his faith in Tiamat and converted to Bahamut because he saw the light so to speak. While I am at it; do you think Bahamut would ever accept a chromatic dragon into his priesthood, or is that a bit of a stretch too?

LadyRhian

Um, I think Bahamut would gladly accept a Chromatic Dragon into his court/faith, but his/her fellow Chromatics would also be attacking this dragon constantly, especially Clerics of Tiamat, sending human adventurers after him/her… And Tiamat herself would be doing the same. Bahamut and his clerics might try and help, but this is why most clerics of Tiamat don't change faiths. Good-aligned gods are more "let bygones be bygones" And evil deities will try to take revenge on clerics that abandon them. The best hope for your cleric is to become too powerful to attack, and that is going to take a *very* long time. And the attacks may never stop, depending on how powerful he/she was before he left Tiamat's faith. And other dragons will be trying to steal his/hoard, attack him/her, etc. constantly.

Archaos

The rules don't say that you lose levels. That level and experience is not about the experience with your particular god.
It's an experience about that person in general.

A Mage/Wizard doesn't become level 1 when he gets his spellbook stolen. His experience how to work arcane magic is there.

Same thing with Clerics. If they change faiths, they lose all spells, any divine power and the ability to turn undead.

This is the entry for 3.5E Clerics and I think it's true for ADnD as well:
"Ex-Clerics

A cleric who grossly violates the code of conduct required by his god loses all spells and class features, except for armor and shield proficiencies and proficiency with simple weapons. He cannot thereafter gain levels as a cleric of that god until he atones "

Notice the "as a cleric of that god" part. If you switch gods, you're a 15 level Cleric of that god.

LadyRhian

@Archaeos We're talking about someone switching from an evil Goddess to a good God, thus, losing a level, as presumably their alignment changes as well. Your outlook changes, and with that, some of what you have learned about yourself is lost- thus losing you experience. This is straight out of the 2e Player's Handbook.