>
>Clerical classes in Battle are possible. They've been done
>before. I once spent a few weeks creating numerous powers and
>skills for clerics in Battle. At some point, I might revisit
>them.

This is a spectacular idea. Battle clerics should be extremely rare, and in my opinion, should lose their communes in general. How could you balance bloodthirst + summon/gate? How could you balance resist + protection/sanc? How could you balance any of the poison/plague/wrath/dispel/etc type spells with ragers? How could you balance healer's "kick" with deatblow, I ask!

The solution would be, as you say, to create a new set of 5 or 8 "Battle Cleric" powers to give to the rare priest inducted into Ragers. This is an oustanding idea, and a good way to degimpify the complete loss of communes. It would also be acceptable to the hardcore "don't commune on me" ragers because the Battle Cleric has been specifically approved by the Immortals, by definition.

The downside, of course, is that by continuing to eliminate all communes, you also remove useful communes that don't conflict with the rager lifestyle. Detect good/evil/invis. Heal. Bless. Many paladin virtues that enhance combat abilities rather than communing abilities. This, to me, is just tough luck that comes with the territory of playing a borderline impossible class/cabal combo.

The other downside is the influx of Battle Cleric wannabes, which kind of defeats the idea of having very rare clerics....but I digress. This was just an "attaboy" for your post, to let you know that there are people out there who appreciate work that complements out-of-the-box character types.