The Top Ten Domains...

[Mistwell]

KOK essentially takes the position that the Prestige Domains concept was a failure as a rules device (which they are), and makes them regular domains, and attaches them to specific Gods. Laugh all you want, but that is the rule. And, again, KOK Player's Guide DOES COUNT. It counts just as much as Forgotten Realms. It is not some obscure third party company using the d20 license. It is a fully licensed WOTC product. It has the Dungeons & Dragons imprint (right there on the cover) and direct quotes of all of the WOTC approved products (including Dragon Magazine), with WOTC's blessing.

You can house rule those rules. You can demand that they errata them. You can even not use KOK because you just don't like them (much like many people do not use Forgotten Realms). But don't belittle them as being something that somehow "does not count". It counts as much as Forgotten Realms, and will count as much as the setting chosen from the Setting search.

 

[DM_Matt]

Don't forget Elf as relatively powerful. Its often used in conjunction with War by archer types who take one level of cleric and want to get way ahead in their feats.

If the OA domains count (the might not, bc they are for the Shaman class, the OA version of the cleric, which is a little different, although the domains themselves are the same and some Cleric domains are reprinted), I'd have to go with Hero is a great addition. Its outright obscene.

Power: add level to attack roll 1/day
Spells:
1 Divine favor
2 Bull's Strength
3 Protection from Elements
4 Divine Power
5 Righteous Might
6 Stoneskin
7 Tenser's transformation
8 Giant Size: You bevcome huge to colossal, depending on level
9 Shapechange

That seems to be the most powerful.

 

[Pax]

alrighty, if we're looking at popularity or power, i'm not sure Planning should be so high on list. (i'm not sure about Nobility, either. i've never seen (or read of anyone on the boards) taking or recommending it.) otherwise, it's pretty acurate.

if there was a 'most underated' list (from all WotC books), i'd vote for Renewal (from FR, great for battle clerics) and Ancestor (from OA - best non-combat domain power IMO)

Renewal is great. I'm in a Ravenloft d20 campaign, and my cleric of the Morninglord has Sun and Renewal (since the Morninglord is, pretty much, Lathander ... the DM let me use the Renewal option from Lathander's entry in the FRCS ... especially as Renewal fits the Ravenloft "Morninglord" concept quite well.

Having just gotten to 2d level (and with 16 HP, thanks to a slight CON bonus and a lucky hp roll), if my cleric is dropped to just-negative, he can actually spring right back to nearly HALF fully healed, right away, once per day.

That keeps him standing long enough to heal the REST of the party, at least to the level of being stabilised.

 

[Bobbystopholes]

I really, really like the Force Domain out of Dragon #294.

Granted Power: Reroll a damage roll once per day and take the better of the two

1 Mage Armor
2 Magic Missile
3 Blast of Force - 1d6 per 2 levels, max 5d6 force damage, RTA
4 Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
5 Wall of Force
6 Repulsion
7 Forcecage
8 Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere
9 Annihilation - 1 round/level you create a 2-foot Sphere of Annihilation and can control it as if you had a Talisman of the Sphere

That is a sweet domain!

 

[Celebrim]

Pax: I've got a 7th level cleric of Lathlander with Sun and Renewal. He rocks.

Bobby: That's just wrong.

 

[Gaiden]

Undead
Celerity
Time
Sun
Mysticism
Exorcism
War
Elf
Renewal
Summoning

 

[Thanee]

The only others I'd consider are Death, Fate and Elf. I'm just not sure how useful the death touch is. I think Fate is overrated. While excellent at low level, the spell selection is weak for the 2nd and above spells. Elf is similar in progression to Fate.

Elf? Lemme see... a free feat you always want, when you are an archer, one of the best spells availble, when you are an archer (cat's grace - it's not easy to get that spell otherwise as a cleric and not everyone can easily get or want gloves of dexterity)!

So, if you happen to be an archer-type elven cleric (the only one the elf domain is really useful for), then it is extremely potent IMHO (but as I said, very conditional).

I'm currently starting an elven cleric of Labelas Enoreth (Elf and Time domains) - after talking so much about them, I should at least try it in practice, right?

The best thing is, while this character is bound to become quite powerful, everything is so perfectly in theme... Being an elf with archery feats and the elf domain, praying to the god of time with the time domain and time-manipulative metamagic feats like Extend Spell and Persistant Spell, every choice just makes perfect sense and the character concept, which is somewhat similar to an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft-style adventurer (rogue/cleric, with a lot more cleric than rogue levels, tho) also fits very good IMHO!

Very cool, but the deity has one decisive disadvantage for an adventurer: praying for spells in the evening (at/after sunset), instead of the morning (considering the 8h gap prior to refreshing spells per day, where you cannot cast any spells, if you want to get them back or the next day)!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Westwind]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Glory, which is one of my favorite domains out there. You rock (!) vs. undead and if you're not fighting them, you can cast holy sword as a domain spell...not too shabby. Other domains I think are pretty powerful: War, Nobility, Cavern, Elf, Family (for the granted power alone), and Spell.

 

[Endur]

Plant and Animal Domains

Animal and Plant domains are awesome.

You get all the advantages of the Druid class and none of the disadvantages.

Animal gives you a free animal companion to crush the bad guys. The spells in Animal aren't all that useful (unless you know ahead of time), except for the 9th level spell, Shapechange and the 8th level spell, Creeping Doom.

Plant gives awesome spells (as well as turning against Plant creatures). Domain Spells: Entangle (awesome), Barkskin (natural ac bonus), various other powerful Plant control spells, Commune with Nature, etc.

The elemental domains are pretty cool too, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

Tom

 

[reapersaurus]

If your opinion is that Elf is a great domain for archers, than I'm not surprised noone thinks of the Charm domain for a CHA-based fighter.

Probably because noone playes CHA-based fighters.
Well, hopefully after people see Melvos, my shield-bashing PC in buzzard's PbP adventure, they'll be enlightened.
(He was already kicked out of one PbP for being too strong)