D&D 5E D&D Next Q&A: 01/24/2014

[Giltonio_Santos]

Not seeing a thread, so I'm posting it: link

I'd like all characters to choose their path at 3rd level. I believe a cleric, warlock or sorcerer in the levels 1-2 represents an individual of true faith/exceptional arcane talent searching for his place in the world. At 3rd level a cleric joins the ranks of his religious tradition, a warlock makes his pact and a sorcerer discovers his bloodline. As always, people who don't want to role-play this can always start at 3rd level.

Cheers,

 

[I'm A Banana]

Eh. I'm not in favor of "one size fits all," so I'm cool with this. The way that 5e is conceiving of the cleric's story, they can't heal wounds without a god, so they should probably have a god at Level 1.

I might like them to gain some OTHER sign of tradition at level 3. Like perhaps they get some sort of initiation or something? But that's kind of unnecessary, I guess.

 

[tuxgeo]

For Clerics at 3rd level -- Ermph. That's a toughie.
Frankly, it depends on what other features the Cleric class gets, and when.

However, to post in a vacuum of information about the finalized product:
Since 3E gave Clerics 2 domains, perhaps 5E could give Clerics a dedicated domain spell slot at each spell level, with the proviso that you can only use a dedicated slot to cast domain spells.
(That might be a bit more valuable if Clerics got two domains each, however.)

 

[RangerWickett]

At 3rd level, the cleric gets access to one miracle, chosen from a list fitting his god. He can perform that miracle once, ever. And when you do use it, it exhausts you (for a duration depending on what level you are). But it's a sign that his god has faith in him to choose when to use it.

This would be things like:

* Feed the masses (feed as many people as you can reach in a day, and everyone gains the benefit of Heroes' Feast).

* Smite the beast (thunderclouds form, and at the start of your next turn a massive lightning bolt or pillar of light falls from the sky and strikes a creature or group for a ton of damage).

* Cast down evil (you point, and one round later a structure or terrain feature up to 100 ft. across begins to collapse).

* Raise the dead (everyone you can touch who died in the past three days is restored to life).

* Rebuke temptation (you and allies are immune to all charm and compulsion effects for an encounter).

etc.

 

[am181d]

I'd like all characters to choose their path at 3rd level. I believe a cleric, warlock or sorcerer in the levels 1-2 represents an individual of true faith/exceptional arcane talent searching for his place in the world. At 3rd level a cleric joins the ranks of his religious tradition, a warlock makes his pact and a sorcerer discovers his bloodline. As always, people who don't want to role-play this can always start at 3rd level.

I understand where you're coming from but I don't find the idea of a cleric in search of a god or a warlock in search of a pact to be viable UNIVERSAL archetypes. As a one-off or an exception, I could see it, but I think it makes ZERO sense as a default.

 

[GX.Sigma]

it’s tough to justify the story of a cleric who isn’t dedicated to a particular god; where would he or she be getting those granted powers and spells from?

You know, in all previous editions of DnD, clerics did not have to worship a particular god. In fact, if I recall correctly, "cleric" in 2e specifically meant a priest not dedicated to any particular god.

I'm not saying I dislike choosing a domain at 1st level, I just wonder why WotC is making such a big change to the Cleric's identity in this edition.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm not saying I dislike choosing a domain at 1st level, I just wonder why WotC is making such a big change to the Cleric's identity in this edition.

I see it more as a refinement. The story of the cleric has generally been that they get their divine power from the gods. In a polytheistic world like most fantasy worlds, it makes sense that that divine power comes from a particular god. That link to the setting also gives the cleric a lot of particular icons to associate with (you now have a particular holy symbol, a particular motif for your spells, etc).

So the 2e-style "generalist" cleric just becomes a priest of particular gods of life and light and protection.

Another way to take it might have been to just say that clerics are life and light and protection, regardless of the deity (and deities that aren't that have classes other than clerics serve them). That'd be interesting, but it would be a bit of a change for core D&D.

 

[Dausuul]

You know, in all previous editions of DnD, clerics did not have to worship a particular god. In fact, if I recall correctly, "cleric" in 2e specifically meant a priest not dedicated to any particular god.

I'm not saying I dislike choosing a domain at 1st level, I just wonder why WotC is making such a big change to the Cleric's identity in this edition.

He doesn't actually say you have to pick a god at 1st level. He says you have to pick a domain at 1st level, which is exactly how it was in 3E (well, two domains).

 

[Gadget]

Setting aside clerics for a moment, I found his comments about complexity rather disappointing. Perhaps I'm taking them out context (or rather forcing a broader context on his answers), but I would have liked to hear more on a so called complexity dial, other than: as level goes up, so to does complexity. He seems to be implying that the game is largely at complexity level A to start with, than progresses to complexity level B when the party reaches character level x, than goes up again when the party reaches levels x+y, and at level x+z. Color me unimpressed. For all the talk about 'dials' and modularity, I would have thought that there would be more to it than that. Of course we'll have to wait and see the final product to see if this is really the case though.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Setting aside clerics for a moment, I found his comments about complexity rather disappointing. Perhaps I'm taking them out context (or rather forcing a broader context on his answers), but I would have liked to hear more on a so called complexity dial [SNIP] For all the talk about 'dials' and modularity, I would have thought that there would be more to it than that. Of course we'll have to wait and see the final product to see if this is really the case though.

Feats versus Ability Score Increases is one such dial.