D&D 4E 4e clerics and deities - any more info?

[pukunui]

Hi everyone,

I'm building my 4e homebrew campaign setting's pantheon at the moment and I'm just wondering if anyone out there - perhaps someone who's had a look in the core books or has an advanced copy - might be able to give me a little more info on the relationship between clerics and their deities.

Is there anything that distinguishes a cleric of Bahamut from a cleric of Torog? Are there domains? Or is it just feats? Are the feats optional or a bonus? Do they have favored weapons? Do the gods still have portfolios and the like? Does the alignment of the cleric matter with regard to the alignment of the deity or is it more like Eberron where clerics draw their power from their faith and so it doesn't matter what alignment they are?

I understand that by default clerics all seem to channel positive energy but that the DMG says you can just substitute radiant for necrotic. Makes sense. Anything else like that?

I know it's only a few weeks before the books come out, but I'm trying to get as much of my homebrew world done before then so I can start playing asap.

If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.


Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[1of3]

Is there anything that distinguishes a cleric of Bahamut from a cleric of Torog? Are there domains? Or is it just feats? Are the feats optional or a bonus?

Clerics have the Channel Divinity class feature that is basically an encounter power with two different uses: Turn Undead and an attack bonus. (Maybe there are more to choose from.) No matter how many Channel Divinities a character has, he may only use one of them per encounter.

Now the cleric of Bahamut may buy a feat like "Channel Divinity: Wrath of Bahamut" in order to add a specific use of for Channel Divinity. So you just need to make up these feats and you're ready to go.

Do they have favored weapons? Do the gods still have portfolios and the like? Does the alignment of the cleric matter with regard to the alignment of the deity or is it more like Eberron where clerics draw their power from their faith and so it doesn't matter what alignment they are?

No idea about weapons. The lists of gods we have seen always included what looked like portfolios.

I think, they said alignment restrictions are out.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Apropos of nothing...

1of3, your username isn't a reference to "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by any chance, is it?

 

[pukunui]

Clerics have the Channel Divinity class feature that is basically an encounter power with two different uses: Turn Undead and an attack bonus. (Maybe there are more to choose from.) No matter how many Channel Divinities a character has, he may only use one of them per encounter.

So does every cleric get Turn Undead automatically still? If that's the case, that'll be a bit disappointing. I suppose it should be easy enough to make it optional though, seeing as it's part of the Channel Divinity thing. I could just say "Feel free to swap out Turn Undead for any other Channel Divinity power if you don't think it fits with your character" or something.

Now the cleric of Bahamut may buy a feat like "Channel Divinity: Wrath of Bahamut" in order to add a specific use of for Channel Divinity. So you just need to make up these feats and you're ready to go.

So would it be fair to say the only thing that distinguishes a cleric of one deity from a cleric of another would be optional channel divinity powers bought through optional feats?

No idea about weapons. The lists of gods we have seen always included what looked like portfolios.

This I don't actually care about that much. I'm not sure I want to give my deities favored weapons anyway.

I think, they said alignment restrictions are out.

That would be cool. I'm going to do that anyway (I really like the way religion and clerics work in Eberron) but I was curious to know how it worked in the default rules.

Apropos of nothing...

1of3, your username isn't a reference to "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by any chance, is it?

Aww, man! I saw you'd posted in my thread and I got all excited! Sigh ...

 

[Mouseferatu]

Aww, man! I saw you'd posted in my thread and I got all excited! Sigh ...

What can I say? I'm a big tease. You should see me in a schoolgirl outfit.*


*(Disclaimer: No, you really, really shouldn't. The mere thought of such is actually capable of completely burning away the retinas.)

 

[pukunui]

What can I say? I'm a big tease. You should see me in a schoolgirl outfit.*


*(Disclaimer: No, you really, really shouldn't. The mere thought of such is actually capable of completely burning away the retinas.)

ROFL

 

[mach1.9pants]

What can I say? I'm a big tease. You should see me in a schoolgirl outfit.*


*(Disclaimer: No, you really, really shouldn't. The mere thought of such is actually capable of completely burning away the retinas.)

Yeah I'll say, I saw those photos on teh internets. I suppose, though, that you were young at the time and needed the money

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah I'll say, I saw those photos on teh internets. I suppose, though, that you were young at the time and needed the money

Needed the money?

Obviously, you haven't seen photos of me. If you had, you'd know that nobody would pay me to wear an outfit like that. In fact, people might even pay me not to.

Say, that's not a bad idea...

 

[pukunui]

I am laughing. No really I am.

I didn't really expect to get a solid answer but still ... I didn't expect to get entertained in the process of not getting one.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Heh. Sorry. Okay, I'll try to add something on-topic.

As written, all clerics get Turn Undead as one of their uses of Channel Divinity. They can choose to take a feat that gives them a new, deity-specific use of Channel Divinity.

It would be a very simple house rule to reverse those--to say that the cleric gets the god-specific power automatically, and can choose to take a feat for Turn Undead. I don't know if that's necessarily balanced, but it's easy enough, and I don't think it would be too unbalanced even if it is somewhat.