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Unearthed Arcana Divine Domains
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<blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 7704069" data-attributes="member: 5142"><p>I will offer my observations and comments, which will echo many of the comments already in this thread thus far. Overall, I am glad to see these additions to the cleric domain options. Forge (Creation) and Grave (i.e. "Good Death") were the most glaring omissions in the PHB. Moradin as a Knowledge deity? Sure, I can see that, but Forge is more appropriate. Protection is also a classic domain, of sorts, though one that I have never been particularly too keen on playing. It has always filled that "not quite War, but not quite Life" niche in my imagining of the domain. Every one of these UA domains provides a mission statement of sorts for the cleric domain, and I will attempt to assess the cleric domain, in part, on whether it meets that criteria, along with thematic cohesions/coherence and mechanical utility. For the sake of preventing a wall of text, I will divide these into separate posts, starting with the Protection cleric. </p><p></p><p><u><strong>Protection</strong> </u></p><p>The bold appears to be the central ideas behind what the protection cleric seeks to accomplish or believes. I also assume that there may have been a typo in the last sentence, such that it should read "These clerics..." instead of "These gods...", who likely have little personal need for conventional armor. An appropriate question worth asking when dealing with any Protection domain is simple: "Protection from what?" The flavor text suggests that the cleric should protection "the weak from the strong" and provide a "defense against evil." How well does the Protection domain reflect this? Let's take a look. </p><p></p><p><strong>Domain Spells:</strong> In my experience, no one is entirely satisfied with the domain spell selection. There are always spells that a GM or player believe should have been included or excluded from the list. But do the Protection spells make sense? Mostly. <em>Compelled Duel</em> does seem a bit strange in some regards. <em>Shield of Faith</em> or <em>Sanctuary</em> may have been obvious choices here, but I suppose the designers sought to expand the cleric's usual spell access here, though <em>Shield</em> would have been a suitable alternative, even if it is self cast only. Also <em>Spirit Guardians</em> would have potentially made more sense here than <em>Slow</em>. Again, I suspect that spell list expansion was the impetus rather than spell-aptness. The rest of the spells make sense, within reason. </p><p></p><p><strong>Bonus Proficiency:</strong> The above description does suggest that shield and armor should be an obvious emphasis for the protection domain. Clerics already have shield proficiency, so this domain adds heavy armor proficiency. Boring and uninspiring, but to be expected. </p><p></p><p><strong>Shield of the Faithful:</strong> The cleric gains the Protection fighting style. I understand why people are worried that this cannibalizes from other classes (i.e. fighter, paladin), but it also makes sense for the Protection cleric as well. While I am not opposed to multiclassing, I also like that this gives the Protection cleric a thematically-useful ability within their class without having to dilute their cleric concept by multiclassing for the ability. Furthermore, this fulfills part of the flavor text above: “to shield the weak from the strong.” </p><p></p><p><strong>Channel Divinity (Radiant Defense):</strong> Now we run into our first glaring problem. I don't like the idea that the character needs to get hit for this ability to be effective. Ideally, a Protection cleric would want the character to avoid getting hit entirely. But the full effectiveness of this ability suggests that the character should get hit for damage, which seems thematically off-base. This ability would probably be more appropriate for a Justice/Retribution domain than a Protection cleric. (Even then, I don't like that sort of design philosophy.) It's easier, however, to recognize a problem than to propose a solution, and this is where I am having difficulty. </p><p></p><p><strong>Blessed Healer:</strong> The "cannibalization" of Shield of the Faithful from other classes' fighting-style was permissible because it encourages single-classing without multiclass dipping. In contrast, this ability comes from the Life cleric of the same name and level, and that represents a problem in terms of subclass distinction, particularly this early in expanded content. This ability, much like with Radiant Defense, also appears to be thematically off. You heal yourself in return for healing others, but this does not seem appropriate for a Protection cleric. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate if healing a target also bestowed an additional benefit of temporary HP or an AC buff. </p><p></p><p><strong>Divine Strike:</strong> Again, boring but expected given similar subclass abilities. This ability does reinforce the suggested playstyle of the flavor text above that this subclass will be wielding a mace in hand while wearing armor in the thick of the fight. </p><p></p><p><strong>Indomitable Defense:</strong> The idea behind this ability makes sense. You are good at defense, so here's some resistance to mitigate damage for yourself or others. The problem is that this ability seems weak in comparison with similar cleric abilities that grant resistance (e.g. War, Forge, Nature, or even the Ancients paladin). War and Forge, for example, effectively get resistance to non-magical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, whereas the Protection cleric has a wider range of possible resistances, but can only select two of the aforementioned three at a given time. The intent of this design choice likely meant to represent a trade-off for versatility (of selection and application), but it comes across as being lackluster, if not underwhelming, particularly given the commonality of resistance as a 17th level cleric subclass ability. It would be nice to have something newer here. What if the Protection cleric (again, within limitation) could activate a temporary aura that imposed disadvantage on attack rolls against allies within their radius? </p><p></p><p><strong>Overall:</strong> About half of the Protection cleric's abilities are solid or thematically consistent with the flavor text (e.g. domain spells, heavy armor, Shield of the Faithful, Divine Strike), while the other half are either thematically incongruent (i.e. Radiant Defense, Blessed Healer) or mechanically lackluster (i.e. Indomitable Defense). The problem is that this latter half also constitute what should be the Protection cleric's subclass-defining abilities: alternate channel divinity, 6th level playstyle, and 17th level subclass capstone. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" /> Despite all that, I do think that the Protection cleric is easily salvageable, but the designers need to rethink these abilities in light of the actual subclass flavor.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aldarc, post: 7704069, member: 5142"] I will offer my observations and comments, which will echo many of the comments already in this thread thus far. Overall, I am glad to see these additions to the cleric domain options. Forge (Creation) and Grave (i.e. "Good Death") were the most glaring omissions in the PHB. Moradin as a Knowledge deity? Sure, I can see that, but Forge is more appropriate. Protection is also a classic domain, of sorts, though one that I have never been particularly too keen on playing. It has always filled that "not quite War, but not quite Life" niche in my imagining of the domain. Every one of these UA domains provides a mission statement of sorts for the cleric domain, and I will attempt to assess the cleric domain, in part, on whether it meets that criteria, along with thematic cohesions/coherence and mechanical utility. For the sake of preventing a wall of text, I will divide these into separate posts, starting with the Protection cleric. [U][B]Protection[/B] [/U] The bold appears to be the central ideas behind what the protection cleric seeks to accomplish or believes. I also assume that there may have been a typo in the last sentence, such that it should read "These clerics..." instead of "These gods...", who likely have little personal need for conventional armor. An appropriate question worth asking when dealing with any Protection domain is simple: "Protection from what?" The flavor text suggests that the cleric should protection "the weak from the strong" and provide a "defense against evil." How well does the Protection domain reflect this? Let's take a look. [B]Domain Spells:[/B] In my experience, no one is entirely satisfied with the domain spell selection. There are always spells that a GM or player believe should have been included or excluded from the list. But do the Protection spells make sense? Mostly. [I]Compelled Duel[/I] does seem a bit strange in some regards. [I]Shield of Faith[/I] or [I]Sanctuary[/I] may have been obvious choices here, but I suppose the designers sought to expand the cleric's usual spell access here, though [I]Shield[/I] would have been a suitable alternative, even if it is self cast only. Also [I]Spirit Guardians[/I] would have potentially made more sense here than [I]Slow[/I]. Again, I suspect that spell list expansion was the impetus rather than spell-aptness. The rest of the spells make sense, within reason. [B]Bonus Proficiency:[/B] The above description does suggest that shield and armor should be an obvious emphasis for the protection domain. Clerics already have shield proficiency, so this domain adds heavy armor proficiency. Boring and uninspiring, but to be expected. [B]Shield of the Faithful:[/B] The cleric gains the Protection fighting style. I understand why people are worried that this cannibalizes from other classes (i.e. fighter, paladin), but it also makes sense for the Protection cleric as well. While I am not opposed to multiclassing, I also like that this gives the Protection cleric a thematically-useful ability within their class without having to dilute their cleric concept by multiclassing for the ability. Furthermore, this fulfills part of the flavor text above: “to shield the weak from the strong.” [B]Channel Divinity (Radiant Defense):[/B] Now we run into our first glaring problem. I don't like the idea that the character needs to get hit for this ability to be effective. Ideally, a Protection cleric would want the character to avoid getting hit entirely. But the full effectiveness of this ability suggests that the character should get hit for damage, which seems thematically off-base. This ability would probably be more appropriate for a Justice/Retribution domain than a Protection cleric. (Even then, I don't like that sort of design philosophy.) It's easier, however, to recognize a problem than to propose a solution, and this is where I am having difficulty. [B]Blessed Healer:[/B] The "cannibalization" of Shield of the Faithful from other classes' fighting-style was permissible because it encourages single-classing without multiclass dipping. In contrast, this ability comes from the Life cleric of the same name and level, and that represents a problem in terms of subclass distinction, particularly this early in expanded content. This ability, much like with Radiant Defense, also appears to be thematically off. You heal yourself in return for healing others, but this does not seem appropriate for a Protection cleric. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate if healing a target also bestowed an additional benefit of temporary HP or an AC buff. [B]Divine Strike:[/B] Again, boring but expected given similar subclass abilities. This ability does reinforce the suggested playstyle of the flavor text above that this subclass will be wielding a mace in hand while wearing armor in the thick of the fight. [B]Indomitable Defense:[/B] The idea behind this ability makes sense. You are good at defense, so here's some resistance to mitigate damage for yourself or others. The problem is that this ability seems weak in comparison with similar cleric abilities that grant resistance (e.g. War, Forge, Nature, or even the Ancients paladin). War and Forge, for example, effectively get resistance to non-magical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, whereas the Protection cleric has a wider range of possible resistances, but can only select two of the aforementioned three at a given time. The intent of this design choice likely meant to represent a trade-off for versatility (of selection and application), but it comes across as being lackluster, if not underwhelming, particularly given the commonality of resistance as a 17th level cleric subclass ability. It would be nice to have something newer here. What if the Protection cleric (again, within limitation) could activate a temporary aura that imposed disadvantage on attack rolls against allies within their radius? [B]Overall:[/B] About half of the Protection cleric's abilities are solid or thematically consistent with the flavor text (e.g. domain spells, heavy armor, Shield of the Faithful, Divine Strike), while the other half are either thematically incongruent (i.e. Radiant Defense, Blessed Healer) or mechanically lackluster (i.e. Indomitable Defense). The problem is that this latter half also constitute what should be the Protection cleric's subclass-defining abilities: alternate channel divinity, 6th level playstyle, and 17th level subclass capstone. :erm: Despite all that, I do think that the Protection cleric is easily salvageable, but the designers need to rethink these abilities in light of the actual subclass flavor. [/QUOTE]
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