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.​

 

[GarrettKP]

You guys do realize the art is of a Gold Dwarf right? Gold Dwarves are (in lore) artisans that prioritize flashy and elaborate arms and armor to show off what great artisans they are...

The over the top armor is literally the defining feature of their race.

 

[Azzy]

If I were going to complain about the artwork, I'd say that it looks like a dwarvern version of a tiefling.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I've discussed the mechanics more than you have and all you seem to have done is complain about complaints.

And?


I just found it amusing that it is the artwork that has gotten 4 or 5 pages of discussion while the mechanical discussion is somewhere around 5 or 6 posts. No need to get offended about it, I didn't say you were wrong to complain, or that I even disagree with you.


My first gut reaction was that of annoyance that they didn't get martial weapons, but that is a good way as someone pointed out to make Dwarven and Elvish Forge clerics slightly better than their counterparts, which I find I kind of like. The bonuses to AC make for a very tanky individual, which again I like, and I'd point out to the person who complained about the level 1 ability losing prominence that +1 AC armor is generally harder to get than magic weapons, and is something I could still see being useful in a 12th or 14th level game. My PCs are level 15 and I think there is still one or two who don't have magic armors.

I didn't remember them having searing smite before, but the conversation seems to point towards that just being faulty memory on my part, and I like that they get a lot of firey buffs to their damage, even though fire resistance is relatively common. A melee focused Forge Cleric may end up (in my games at least) looking at Elemental Adept, since I let that effect class abilities as well .

I'm also upset with the 100 gp limit on the Channel Divinty, I think that limit should be increased as the character levels and to the people discussing making Adamant armor with this, Adamant armor is supposed to be far more expensive than regular armor, which may be what was being pointed out with the discussion that they couldn't use their channel divinity to craft Adamantium armor.



All of this to, supposedly, give me the right to comment again that I find it very amusing that we are spending so much time discussing the art of this cleric instead of their mechanics.

 

[Erechel]

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).

I've submitted this when the UA arrived for the first time. It bothers me the extremely high AC the Forge cleric has; don't forget that Shield of Faith increases this to a mind-boggling AC 24. The cleric becomes nearly untouchable for low-level foes, without needing any magic objects. A basic goblin needs a 19 to hit a forge cleric, and there is no way to improve that chances. It appears to me that it easily breaks appart Bounded Accuracy, being tankier than anyone else.

 

[Hussar]

Realistically, he's only 1 point tankier than any other cleric. That's it. So, I'm having a bit of a tough time thinking that this is breaking bounded accuracy.

Oh, I should amend that. It's 1 point tankier than any other cleric that gets proficiency in heavy armor. But, in any case, not a huge difference.

Now that they've taken the Shield spell away, it's a lot more reasonable.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

The bonuses to AC make for a very tanky individual, which again I like, and I'd point out to the person who complained about the level 1 ability losing prominence that +1 AC armor is generally harder to get than magic weapons, and is something I could still see being useful in a 12th or 14th level game.

Cool, so by level 6 the cleric gets a bonus that a fighter gets at 1st and the paladin and ranger can get at 2nd. Bit of a snorefest as well. It's just not very inspiring.

 

[Mephista]

'Some people don't like the Forge Cleric. I generally like the Forge cleric, save for two minor things.

Personally, the only issue I have with the +1 weapon/armor thing is the lack of scaling. I really think that it should grow over time. Or be used on already existing magic weapons. I like the feeling of things like this growing in power and use as you level up. I don't get that feeling. Other than that, I'm quite happy with this.

Overall, I do like the forge cleric, though I must admit that I find it strangely, well... I'm trying to decide if mountain dwarf or hill dwarf is better. Hill dwarves are supposed to be the cleric, what with their WIS boost. But, with this guy? We're going to be wielding weapons more, and I feel like the spells we'll be relying on aren't going to be using WIS as well. May as well go for the STR bump over the +1 WIS? Maybe I'm over thinking this.

Probably my biggest gripe is "While wearing heavy armor, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagicalattacks." At level 17, where are these mythical non-magical attacks coming from?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Cool, so by level 6 the cleric gets a bonus that a fighter gets at 1st and the paladin and ranger can get at 2nd. Bit of a snorefest as well. It's just not very inspiring.

Actually I was talking about the level 1 blessing of the Forge ability to make the armor magical and give a +1 bonus to AC, since people were complaining about it being useless come 6th level when everyone has magical weapons. I was pointing out that it does not lose it's usefulness because you can always place it on someones armor and not everyone gets all magic weapons and all magic armor even towards the higher levels.


But, if you want to talk 6th level abilities, then note that the Soul of the Forge ability also grants fire resistance, which tieflings get at level 1. So, a Tielfing Paladin who chooses to go with the defensive style who wants to go full defense will have an AC of 23 at level 2 (PLatemail, shield, shield of faith, defensive fighting style) and fire resistance

Forge Cleric can match that at level 1 (PLatemail, shield, shield of Faith, Blessing of the Forge) barring the fire resistance unless they are also a tiefling. Then surpass it at level 6, getting an AC of 24

We could also talk about how Divine Strike is essentially a second weapon attack, which the fighter and paladin get at 5th level.



Now, I completely agree with you that the ability is not flashy or exciting. Honestly, if I had one big complaint about the subclass it would be that most of their abilities are passive "make my numbers bigger" type abilities. But, +1 AC is always strong, no matter when you get it, which is why it is still a good idea to take defensive at 10th level as a champion. Or why getting +1 armor or shields is still useful.

Boring I can give you, but let's not start saying "this class gets the same thing first" because those debates don't mean a lot when comparing a full caster to a partial caster, because the spells are always in the background making up the difference.

 

[Hussar]

How is a paladin affording Plate Mail at 2nd level? Just how much cash are you giving your PC's? We barely managed to afford plate by 4th level and we're a smidge off of 5th.

But, the point is, how long will it be before you cleric has +1 armor, +1 shield AND +1 weapon? That's going to take quite a while.

 

[MechaPilot]

Looks good. It's not exciting, but it's a solid domain. I've just added it as one of the domains that can be granted by my setting's goddess of war/trade/smiths.

As for the art, I can't say I have a problem with it. The weapon and armor look very heavily embellished, as if ceremonial (or heavily customized by a wearer proud of her own smithing skills); but the armor also looks heavy and protective, the ram's-horn hammer is fairly apropos, and the character isn't sexualized. The only gripes I have with the art are fairly minor: I dislike the hair-horns, the pose exaggerates the hammer which is already ostentatious enough, and I can't really tell what's strapped-together on her back.