Check Out The Forge Domain From Xanathar's Guide

As part of the Extra Life charity campaign, WotC has released a preview of the Forge Domain from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Head on over to donate and unlock more previews. There are two more previews unlocked which should be released imminently, so stay tuned - the table of contents and a "Drawing of in-game Tortle champion asset, from Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms".

This is the first page. Head to the charity page for the rest.​

 

[Mephista]

ludicrous? I think you mean awesome!

 

[pukunui]

Identify replaces Shield

This part makes me sad, even though it does make more sense. I was looking forward to playing a dwarven forge cleric wielding a warhammer two-handed who could still up their AC with shield from time to time.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

ludicrous? I think you mean awesome!

No, definitely ludicrous. So sick and tired of stupid weapons and armours in fantasy art. They should be the exception and not the rule. Two nukes wasn't nearly enough.

 

[Jester David]

No, definitely ludicrous. So sick and tired of stupid weapons and armours in fantasy art. They should be the exception and not the rule. Two nukes wasn't nearly enough.

5e has been fairly restrained with the crazy weapons and armour. This is the exception.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Anyone else think that it's kinda underpowered and uninspiring? At 1st level it's pretty great but once you get past about 5-6th, it's going to basically drop off until it becomes kinda redundant.

 

[Dualazi]

Anyone else think that it's kinda underpowered and uninspiring? At 1st level it's pretty great but once you get past about 5-6th, it's going to basically drop off until it becomes kinda redundant.

Not really, seems pretty decent. With no assumed magic items whatsoever it can be rocking a 22 AC by level 6, and the inclusion of Searing Smite gives it a good edge in melee compared to other clerics. Actually, some of their other spells are quite good too, with Heat Metal, Wall of Fire, and Animate Objects being the standouts. I only have two real qualms with the class: First is that it doesn't receive any weapon proficiency, which seems to unfairly slant people into playing it with dwarves and elves, and second, that the channel divinity is either amazing or worthless based on how your campaign is run.

 

[Li Shenron]

It looks good to me.

Identify is slightly out of place, but I checked the 1st level spells list and I am not sure there is a much better choice.

Some redundancy between Magic Weapon as a bonus spell and the 1st level ability. It's not a full redundancy because both of them are limited to 1 weapon at a time (the spell is limited through concentration, the ability it's once per long rest) so having both means the Forge Cleric can have two magic weapons (or one weapon and one armor) at a time. Or you know, she can create one through the special ability when not wanting to be hindered by concentration, and instead create one through the spell when wanting a bigger bonus.

Should Warhammer proficiency be automatic? Mmm... not sure about that. All Dwarves get it anyway, so it might be a perk reserved to Dwarf Forge Clerics. Maces aren't that bad for others (in the worst case, you can keep the Mace stats and describe it as a hammer-looking mace).

 

[Li Shenron]

First is that it doesn't receive any weapon proficiency, which seems to unfairly slant people into playing it with dwarves and elves

This is always a double-edged design problem... something that the 5e designers have been always aware of: on one hand you want someone to be the best and most iconic, on the other hand you want the others not to feel behind (remember WotC's discussions on the Knock spell vs a lockpicking Rogue?).

So by not giving extra bonus proficiencies, it makes Dwarven Forge Clerics a little 'more Forge Clerics than any other Forge Clerics'. OTOH Dwarven War Clerics can easily feel like they have some wasted racial benefits due to duplicate proficiencies. Either way, someone is going to complain about something...

 

[Aldarc]

The quick changes:

Identify replaces Shield

Smith's tools proficiency added

I know that I made these suggestions for revisions in my feedback.

It’s weird that they don’t have proficiency in warhammers ...

They would if they were dwarves, which is what I think the original iteration of the Forge cleric assumed, hence their absence of tool proficiencies.

It looks good to me.

Identify is slightly out of place, but I checked the 1st level spells list and I am not sure there is a much better choice.

The idea, IMO, is that crafters and artisans should also have a knack with identifying magic items.

I only have two real qualms with the class: First is that it doesn't receive any weapon proficiency, which seems to unfairly slant people into playing it with dwarves and elves, and second, that the channel divinity is either amazing or worthless based on how your campaign is run.

Playing a dwarven (UA) forge cleric now in a campaign. His channel divinity (and the Mend cantrip) has come up A LOT. Far more than its use against any undead. But we have faced a lot of weapon-melting oozes.

 

[TwoSix]

No, definitely ludicrous. So sick and tired of stupid weapons and armours in fantasy art. They should be the exception and not the rule. Two nukes wasn't nearly enough.

Realism is for museums. Fantasy art should look fantastic.