Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Divine Domains

And, here's the direct link to the PDF

http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_Cleric.pdf

Forge, Grave, and Protection domains...

 

[Kobold Avenger]

For the 8th level Cleric ability, Divine Strike or the +wis mod bonus to cantrips is virtually required for all cleric domains. It distinguishes the focus of the domains, stating whether it's a more of a warrior or a caster. It probably would have been an ability of the Cleric itself, but they probably didn't want them all using radiant damage or coming up with a long line about what to use.

 

[Lidgar]

Would have liked to see a disease/pestilence domain. And a beauty/art domain. Ah well, maybe next time.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I also think the Grave Domain should have Reincarnate rather then Raise Dead in the last domain spell tier. Assigning the soul to a new spin of the wheel seems more in keeping with honoring a lifespan's mortal limits then forcing life back into a clearly dead body...

I see it being on the list as a way to bring back those who died before their proper time, not to cheat death.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Instead of Shield, I wouldn't mind the Forge Domain getting Identify. Often handy, analyzing items works well with the crafter theme, and you would never have to allocate a selectable prepare slot on it just to be able to cast it as a ritual...

I wasn’t giving much thought to the complaints about Shield, but this is a great idea. Clerics who specialize in making things and enchanting them should definitely get Identify as a spell.

Rearranging things to talk about chunks

Bonus Proficiency - Sure, I guess. Seems appropriate enough. Although additional tool proficiency seems more appropriate. Maybe they figure you are a Dwarf or have the background to have proficiency in smith's tools?


Divine Strike - Good ability for Forge, no problems here.



Bonus Proficiency - Not sure why this is needed. Especially when the Grave is getting two more things at 1st level. Seems a bit much and out of flavor.


Divine Strike - Meh, copy and paste.....oh but it's necro damage instead SEEEE. Really what is needed here is something to boost Turn/Destroy Undead. There are powerful undead roaming around that either have a bonus to their Turn save or are immune to turning. This should instead deal with that in some way.



Bonus Proficiency - While a bit lackluster it fits here.


Divine Strike - And again the same thing....oh but THIS time is it radiant damage! The best defense is a good offense maybe? Don't like it....

The only Clerics that don’t get Divine Strike in the PHB are the Knowledge and Light domains, and they get “+wisdom to sacred flame” instead. Not saying there isn’t room for something unique here, but when the vast majority of clerics get some version of Divine Strike, I think it is going to stay that way.

The proficiency’s are a little different, but again, over half the clerics get them. The exceptions are Knowledge, Light, and Trickery. Knowledge and light are already established as very caster heavy, and Trickery is supposed to invoke the rogue, who does not use heavy armor or martial weapons.

I could see Grave going for weapons instead, but I think death did that and Grave fits better with a more stalwart vision.

I agree not giving Forge Smithing tools is odd, but if you worship the god of the forge and aren’t a blacksmith, you’d be a little odd anyways? I’d probably give it to them, but there is a problem with stacking tool proficiencies too much, a dwarven blacksmith Forge Cleric could get 2 free tool sets, which may be what the designers were trying to avoid.

Artisan's Blessing - While this a cool little ability, it seems fairly weak when compared to say the War or Life domains. You have to sac one of you Channel Divinity uses in order to craft a mundane item? Maybe swap this with Blessing of the Forge. Craft the mundane item one per long rest, and sac a Channel Divinity user to create a temp magic item.....

I don’t know. I’ve never once used my Preserve Life ability over 8 levels of play, I almost consider it entirely worthless. War’s ability is one of the best but only during combat, and I can think of a few ways this could be incredibly useful. Getting 3 per short rest, just creating any item that contains metal in the course of an hour. The example of keys indicates using it to create copies of treasure keys that the thief swiped, but just pulling out a new suite of armor or a new weapon out of thin air could be useful. Create a complex puzzle lock, an iron door, I think it fits well, and Blessing of the Forge is worded to work only once per day, making it a channel divinity would make it far too powerful I think unless you limited it to a single item at a time, which is then just an odd set of circumstances having a daily ability that has 3 uses per short rest.

Path to the Grave - Love this one, especially when it can be use to take away resistance and immunity.


Keeper of Souls - Sure. Cool. Why not. Seems fine.

Both of these seem incredibly powerful to me. In fact, I’m a little shocked no one is talking about Keeper of Souls more. For no action, no reaction, just once per round, heal an ally after they or someone else kills an enemy. At that level you’ll see a lot of 5 and 8 HD beasties running about, and that is a significant amount of free healing over the course of a day. This cleric is likely to be in the thick of it anyways, and 30 ft from monster to you + 30 ft from you to ally means you could potentially have a range of 60 ft from activation to pay-off.

Shield of the Faithful - So....just the Fighting Style then? Why not just say "You get the Protection Fighting Style"? Honestly this is dull and needs a change. How about: When you cast shield spell as a reaction you can target an ally within 30ft." Or something along those lines.

Looking back over the fighting style, it requires you have a shield equipped. This does not. Naked in a hallway, cleric can still impose disadvantage. That’s why it is phrased the way it is, as for boring… I can see it but I think it works well.

I don’t want to give a heavily armored cleric access to +5 AC as a reaction. I think that is a little too much.

Radiant Defense - A damaging shield...you know for YOUR protection. Except that it doesn't protect you. Bleh. Make this "it reduces the damage taken by 2d10 + your cleric level" then it might be appropriate. Or hell just extra temp hp.

I can see some synergy here though. You and your buddy stand side by side, you activate this on yourself, impose disadvantage if they attack your body. They attack you and get hurt, it is hard to hit him. Blessed Healer helps you stay up while healing your allies.

I wouldn’t be against giving them more defensive abilities, better ways to protect their allies, but I can see the logic the designers were working towards at least.



Overall, I love Forge, I am ambivalent about Grave thematically but it seems mechanically very powerful, and Protection seems good, if a little underwhelming.

 

[ammulder]

Cleric - "Here is your new sword!"

Warrior - "It still smells faintly like goblin stew..."

Cleric - "Moradin be praised!"​

​

I thought not having a crafting domain was a big oversight in the PHB. How could they say with a straight face that Moradin was a god of Knowledge? Are Dwarves really supposed to be the race of divine librarians? So yeah, I'm all over the Forge option. (And love the quote above!

I'm not as keen on the other two myself. Grave is OK, it seems like a fine focus for some cleric player other than me.

Protection -- I'd rather eat nails than play a cleric still more focused on helping other people. "Dear Wizards, my cleric is too exciting. Please strip away some abilities I can use to just do cool stuff, and replace them with ways I can help the rest of the party shine instead!" -- signed, nobody.

OK, in practice, the abilities don't read as much like that, but even if they keep the same collection of features/spells I'd still rather skin it some other way.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I like to see how the bonus spell lists are branching out and include spells that were previously exclusive to one or two classes. Really helps these stand out and create an identity to differentiate between clerics.

I especially really like the forge domain. Very powerful at first level and the later abilities aren't too shabby either. And with the 6th level AC boost, the ability to create magic armor, heavy armor, a shield and the shield spell you can make your AC crazy high (27 if my basic math skills haven't failed me, 29 if you lump shield of faith on top of that).

You can also self-cast Warding Bond for AC 30, although it has some anti-synergies with your pre-existing resistance to nonmagical damage.

 

[lcjunkie]

Since birth of second Edition until resurrection of Nerull there were almost no evil death gods in Forgotten realms. So during the height of Living City pressure was put on TSR and Repose domain was created. Grave domain is a step in the same direction, but it's not enough. Clerics of Kelemvor should be disposing of undead and bonus nerotic damage is not of help. Blight is not a spell they should have either. Maybe they should get a bonus to destroying undead too.

 

[Jester David]

Forge. Cool and needed. Reorx, Moradin, Hephaestus. The mechanics are okay, but a little bland. +1 is useful, but unexciting.

Grave. More niche, being a good version of the Death domain. There are a couple gods that it works for though. It needs a little more work, being a little too much like Life, healing a little too much.

Protection. This should be the tanky clerical domain. It's neat but doesn't quite do the job.

 

[CM]

This is amusing. I just wrote my own Creation, Necrology, and Guardian domains (as well as Night)

Good to see them, slightly different focus than the ones I wrote so they will work well together.

 

[Demetrios1453]

This is amusing. I just wrote my own Creation, Necrology, and Guardian domains (as well as Night)

Good to see them, slightly different focus than the ones I wrote so they will work well together.

I agree with you, though, that a night/shadow/darkness domain is still needed