Cleric domain variant

[Lousifer]

I have been considering allowing clerics to add their domain spells to their regular spell list in my campaign. Would this be unbalancing? Which domains would pose a particular problem? Maybe I could tone them down a bit.

I hear all the time about how powerful clerics are, but they still aren't an attractive option for my players.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[AeroDm]

We did something slightly similar in that clerics lost their +1 domain spell and instead were able to cast spontaneously their domain spells. This added versatility in place of extra power.

It also failed. Fire domain I believe offered Burning Hands which basically made the cleric a one-spell wizzy.

Time domain offers haste and time stop I believe. Elf domain offers True Strike and Cats Grace. None of those are overly disabling, but they are certainly empowering. Seeing as the cleric is commonly reveered as the most powerful class in D&D, I'd be cautious with what I gave them.

 

[Painfully]

I'm currently allowing my group's clerics to convert their spells to their domain spells rather than healing spells. This, to me, no longer makes it pointless to possess the healing domain, while at the same time allows a cleric to freely "show off" their domain spells.

Of course, nothing prevents them from storing a bunch of healing spells at the start of the day.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Letting them swap for domain spells is fine up to the point where they have half a dozen domains from Feats and prestige class abilities, at which point it makes them even better than Sorcerers.

IMC, we changed it to where each day the Cleric picks one domain spell for each level (like he does now for that +1 slot), and THAT is the spell he swaps for that level. It keeps things more balanced, especially since it doesn't let you metamagic on the fly or use them for items. You still have to make some difficult decisions some of the time.

Then, we added a Feat, "Domain Preparation", that lets you basically add the domain spells to your full list, so that you're not limited to one type of domain spell per level each day.

It's worked out very well.

 

[Nifft]

IMC, I allow Clerics to spontaneously convert prepared spells to Domains spells, and removed their ability to convert to Healing spells (unless they take the Healing Domain).

Of course, I also re-did every Domain so they didn't get kick-butt Wizard spells... for example, Fire1 is now "Produce Flame" -- still cool, still potent, but not infringing on the Sorcerer.

Here's my page of Domains.

-- Nifft

 

[Grayhawk]

IMC, I allow Clerics to spontaneously convert prepared spells to Domains spells, and removed their ability to convert to Healing spells (unless they take the Healing Domain).

Of course, I also re-did every Domain so they didn't get kick-butt Wizard spells... for example, Fire1 is now "Produce Flame" -- still cool, still potent, but not infringing on the Sorcerer.

Here's my page of Domains.

-- Nifft

Did you let the clerics keep their extra domain spell (the +1 spell per spell level), or did they have to give that up to be able to cast their domain spells spontaneously?

 

[Nifft]

Did you let the clerics keep their extra domain spell (the +1 spell per spell level), or did they have to give that up to be able to cast their domain spells spontaneously?

They gave that up to cast spontaneously. Also, they lost the "spontaneous Cure conversion" thingy -- they can take the Healing Domain if they want to do that. Not all Clerics are HP Batteries (tm) in my world.

The full rules are:
- Clerics get 1 free Domain at 1st level. They can take extra Domains as Feats.
- Druids can start taking Domains as Feats starting at 3rd level.
- Likewise for Paladins & Rangers, at 6th and 9th (respectively).

I've updated the Domains for 3.5e: 3.5e Domains Here!

-- Nifft