Regarding Neverwinter's deviant Cleric domains

[Zaphling]

We have storm, sun, earth, and death; but why do we have Corellon, Selune, Oghma, and Torm?

I know the devs explained in the book. You know what, I'll just cite it.

"The domains here differ from the domains in HotFL because each focuses on a specific deity. This focus allows each domain to encompass more aspects of a particular faith. Only a warpriest dedicated to Corellon can choose that domain, while a warpriest who chose a storm domain can serve one of a number of deities."

Only a warpriest of Correllon can choose Corellon domain, but why in the Warpriest Deities and Domains section state that you use a Torm domain if your god is Bahamut? You can even use Correllon domain if your god is Angharradh? Something is not consistent here, which we found our first.

Second is why not use a real domain name instead of the god's? Why not skill, arcane, or wilderness for Corellon; moon or love for Selune; knowledge for Oghma; Justice and protection for Torm? These naming conventions messes things up. So Wotc won't publish the said domains already in the next book, probably Heroes of the Astral Sea, because those domains are already interwoven by the new god-name domain?

Third, they mentioned beside Tempus that his domain is Conquest? What's that suppose to mean, war? Why not war instead?
This mistake, if i may call it, goes back to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting where they mentioned in the races section that Shades are one of their minority; but Shades were published like a year or two after FRCS. Should we wait like that before they publish Conquest? (Point to me if I'm mistaken here. I'm open for your arguments.)

The one innovation I really like about the domains is that Divine heroes finally have a VALID ARCHER! Sweet!

 

[DracoSuave]

Why is a game with rampant refluffing available for everything have questions like this?

It shouldn't be an issue. Torm and Tyr have very similiar outlooks and portfolios, so their domain will be similiar.

And by naming domains after gods it makes them very flavorful. It's all optional stuff anyways.

 

[Zaphling]

Why is a game with rampant refluffing available for everything have questions like this?

It shouldn't be an issue. Torm and Tyr have very similiar outlooks and portfolios, so their domain will be similiar.

And by naming domains after gods it makes them very flavorful. It's all optional stuff anyways.

Because men by nature are never contented?
Besides, this is just for the fun of having a good argument.

 

[Klaus]

By making god-based domains, you can cover all of the god's domains without turning the warpriest into a one-trick pony. Corellon is the god of fey, arcane magic and spring. You could include diverse powers that cover all that if you base the domain on "Corellon", but not if you base it on "Wilderness".

As for "use Torm if your god in Bahamut", this seems to be aimed at people *not* playing in FR (since Bahamut is a core D&D god but Torm isn't).

 

[Tony Vargas]

Why is a game with rampant refluffing available for everything have questions like this?

Because 4e has been pretty open to re-fluffling, but the aproach of having Deity-specific domains, and making them exclusive to the followers of that deity, goes against tht openess. So folks are like 'huh? that doesn't seem very 4e?'

And, it's not, it's 'new direction.' 4e focused on balance and consistency, so while it tried to do a variety of things, it tried to do them in mechanically similar ways. The 'new direction' is more piecemeal. It looks at each thing being developed and tries to polish it up and make it evoke what they're going for. This time, making custom-deity domains seemed like the way to go. Next time it might not be. That they'd taken a different aproach with domains before didn't matter, consistency isn't such a priority anymore. That it might 'force' someone to whorship a particular deity to get the build they want doesn't matter, because balance isn't a priority.

The easy fix is to house-rule away the line in each domain that says you have to worship that deity.

 

[ppaladin123]

By making god-based domains, you can cover all of the god's domains without turning the warpriest into a one-trick pony. Corellon is the god of fey, arcane magic and spring. You could include diverse powers that cover all that if you base the domain on "Corellon", but not if you base it on "Wilderness".

As for "use Torm if your god in Bahamut", this seems to be aimed at people *not* playing in FR (since Bahamut is a core D&D god but Torm isn't).

It would be pretty cool if there were powers and features associated with each domain and then a god associated with 3-4 domains. Worshiping a god would let you select from the powers and features of the associated domains. So if you worship Corellon, you get a choice of prayers from the Arcana, Skill and Wilderness domains as you level up. You can choose to focus on one domain or pick and choose from each. Of course that would require a lot more fleshed out domains than currently available.


Edit: Of course, you'd have to give the option to make your own combinations so that homebrew gods would be viable.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Making one domain for a warpriest is a lot mroe work than doing domains like Divine Power did. And I do nto really like the Divine Power way of doing it as there was not much bang for the buck of spending feats for them.

I do agree the ddomains in NW should have been non diety specific, but can not see why it is a big deal refluffing them to something else. I really say this because I prefer things released to be broader, not restricted.

 

[andarilhor]

Domains to everyone

Domains to specific deities are cool. That gives to that deities clerics a more differential feeling, instead of all clerics being the same. But, the problem with that (and I think that's exactly the topic owner complain) is now we have to make a specific domain to each deity! That is a lot of work, as the domains are taken after essentials.

A way to solve this would be a more "divine power" approach, working with existing powers instead of creating all new powers for each domain. Astral Seal could be a Life Domain At-Will, for example.

Other way is to make more generic domains as the ones in Divine Power and specific deities having their own tweaks in that domains.

For example, we could have a "Justice" domain, but Torm and Bahamut clerics who choose that domain may exchange a certain feature or power for one specific of those deities.

 

[Zaphling]

Hmmm. I just realized that WotC actually edited MOST, if not all, of the wizard's spells to make room for the new 'school of magic'. Right? They added new keywords to old PHB spells like evocation to magic missiles, burning hands, or thunder wave.

Why can't they release a new errata or update that will put new keywords, domain keywords, in the old cleric prayers?

I know that domains are not keywords, but why not? Like what andarilhor said, Astral Seal can have the Life keyword, Priest's Shield can have the Protection keyword, Weapon of the Gods can have the War keyword. There is so much possibilities. Plus, we can now actually make our O-Clerics have a domain feel.
For example, if you worship Pelor, who has the Hope, Life, and Sun domains, you can take the following powers to reflect your domains:
1. Recovery Strike - Life domain
2. Astral Flare - Sun domain
3. Hymn of Resurgence - Hope domain

If Bahamut, justice, protection, and hope:
1. Halo of Consequence - Justice
2. Sacred Shielding - Protection
3. and a hope-ish power. but you get the point.

This way, they can actually stop or eliminate altogether the new trend of 'god's name' domains. What do you think?

ps. This can actually be a very good Rules-of-Three question? Can someone ask this or help me how to ask this there?

 

[Klaus]

ps. This can actually be a very good Rules-of-Three question? Can someone ask this or help me how to ask this there?

Here you go:

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