Essentials: Earth Domain Up!

[Saracenus]

Earth Domain!
Heroes of the Fallen Lands

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Earth Domain!)

It is behind the pay wall. I will post up some comments when I am done reading the article.

Enjoy,

 

[Mengu]

Cleric is probably not my favorite class, but this article made me really think about playing a goliath earth priest.

You can get a whole lot of resist. Both at-wills have an effect. I'm normally not too fond of defense bonus on at-will powers, but spamming Earth's Endurance for a +2 AC on your front line sounds pretty good, especially because you don't have to hit to get the bonus. My favorite feature is probably the healing word add on. I hate it when I heal someone only to watch them go right back down before they can take a turn. That half damage from the next attack is fantastic. The aura of +2 bonus to saves against ongoing damage is not too shabby either.

I think this is a pretty fun build. I was thinking goliath because we can add Kord's Resilience to the resistance features. Add Mark of Warding and that +2 AC becomes +3. At paragon, you're giving that bonus to yourself, and a defender by your side.

 

[nookiemonster]

Interesting that neither of the at-wills for Earth domain rely on the user's Con score, making them more useful for warpriests without a big Con. Seems ironic, given that this domain fits dwarves so well! The effects of Earth's Endurance seem to fit Pelor/Sun Domain more than the Sun domain damage resist does... I'd think that being made of stone would not necessarily deflect blows so much as make it harder to hurt you when they did hit. +AC can be justified by dazzling light or something. Although mechanically they both result in reduced damage I suppose.

Edit: weight of earth + bludgeon expertise means push a monster two squares on a hit. Seems like Essentials has lots of things that shove monsters around the battlefield.

 

[thewok]

The domain itself looks good, and I hope they put out more of these pretty frequently. I am, however, disappointed that they reused the "Weight of Earth" name from the Warden at-wills. Surely they could come up with something different.

However, it is D&D, which likes to reuse terms like "level" in previous editions and "compendium" in this one.

 

[FireLance]

I am, however, disappointed that they reused the "Weight of Earth" name from the Warden at-wills. Surely they could come up with something different.

I think they should adopt the 4E monster naming convention for powers, too. For example, this one could be called vulnerableheaviness of shovingground.

 

[Shin Okada]

Now they have introduced this new "domain" rule for clerics.

What will happen to the older domain rules in Divine Power?

I like the structure of the newer rules much, though.

 

[FireLance]

Now they have introduced this new "domain" rule for clerics.

What will happen to the older domain rules in Divine Power?

Technically, there is nothing to stop a warpriest from taking domain feats that his choice of deity gives him access to. However, he would not gain as much of a benefit from certain domain feats unless he swaps one of his at-will powers for the at-will power that benefits from that domain feat, e.g. lance of faith for Power of the Sun.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Hmmm. I always look at the at-wills first, and those two put me to sleep before I could read the rest of the class. Okay, they aren't much worse than the Storm domain at-wills, but compared to Sun they are both boring and weak.

I don't want to be negative, but I just don't understand how WotC balances these things. I'd call Weight of Earth weaker even if the bonus to attack were +2, yet they chose to make it only +1.

I love Essentials so far, but there is still a lot of unevenness.

 

[Reigan]

Is that a save or die spell I see before me?

 

[Zaran]

Hmmm. I always look at the at-wills first, and those two put me to sleep before I could read the rest of the class. Okay, they aren't much worse than the Storm domain at-wills, but compared to Sun they are both boring and weak.

I don't want to be negative, but I just don't understand how WotC balances these things. I'd call Weight of Earth weaker even if the bonus to attack were +2, yet they chose to make it only +1.

I love Essentials so far, but there is still a lot of unevenness.

I don't see how you can call it weaker. You get the bonus whether you hit or miss. Both At-Wills give an effect which is better than either Priest's Shield or Lance of Faith hit only effects.