FR Cold Domain oddity

[The Spectrum Rider]

In The Player's Guide To Faerûn (picked it up today!), there's a Cold domain for clerics, with granted power: turn or destroy fire creatures as a good cleric turns undead, rebuke or command cold creatures as an evil cleric rebukes undead. All good and well. Then it says: "Each use of this ability uses up one of your turn uses per day of your turn ability."

In other words, you can use your turn attempts on fire and cold creatures (as well as undead), but you don't get an extra 3 + Cha mod attempts to do that per day.

This is different from the standard Player's Handbook elemental (and plant) domains (if FR changes those, it isn't mentioned in this book), as well as FR's Moon domain (turn or destroy lycantropes 3 + Cha mod times a day), Scalykind domain (reptilian creatures), etc. Cold really stands out.

Anybody know a reason for this? Do you think it's a mistake?

Personally I always thought it was a BETTER way to handle these domain abilities - your turn ability affects a wider range of creatures, but you don't get extra turning attempts per day. This is especially true when there are feats that change turn attempts into some other benefit, although I was never sure if that applied to the elemental (et al) turn attempts, or only to undead turning attempts. But that's more in the realm of house rules.

The Spectrum Rider

 

[green slime]

Its the way we run it IMC.

 

[AuraSeer]

This is especially true when there are feats that change turn attempts into some other benefit, although I was never sure if that applied to the elemental (et al) turn attempts, or only to undead turning attempts. But that's more in the realm of house rules.

The Sage has said that it applies only to your undead turning attempts. If you have a separate power that lets you turn elementals or plants or whatever, you cannot use it to power divine feats.

 

[Marshall]

In The Player's Guide To Faerûn (picked it up today!), there's a Cold domain for clerics, with granted power: turn or destroy fire creatures as a good cleric turns undead, rebuke or command cold creatures as an evil cleric rebukes undead. All good and well. Then it says: "Each use of this ability uses up one of your turn uses per day of your turn ability."

They really need to drop this whole concept. They still haven't fixed the "I rebuke that Efreet and use it to cast a boatload of free Wishes" problems....

But, on topic, Yeah, I'd consider all the Domains to be "Use a turning attempt to..."

 

[Falling Icicle]

They still haven't fixed the "I rebuke that Efreet and use it to cast a boatload of free Wishes" problems....

How is that any more of a problem than charming or dominating the Efreet to do it?

 

[DM_Matt]

They really need to drop this whole concept. They still haven't fixed the "I rebuke that Efreet and use it to cast a boatload of free Wishes" problems....

But, on topic, Yeah, I'd consider all the Domains to be "Use a turning attempt to..."

Even scarier, Dragons are elemental creatures. A high level cleric can go into a flock of reletively young red dragons and use a turn attempt to blast them all out of existance with a single turning attempt.

 

[Nifft]

Even scarier, Dragons are elemental creatures. A high level cleric can go into a flock of reletively young red dragons and use a turn attempt to blast them all out of existance with a single turning attempt.

I wouldn't worry about that -- Dragons have lots of HD.

The change makes sense IMHO, though I give elemental resistance 5 in place of Turn/Rebuke Elemental powers IMC.

-- N

 

[James McMurray]

If your turning level is twice the dragon's hit dice, the odds are pretty good you could have killed them all without breaking a sweat anyway, especially considering that Wyrmling reds are 7 hit dice and CR 4. They are 12 CRs behind you by the time you can annihilate them.

Its a sure fire way to throw a mama red into a frenzy though.

 

[Marshall]

How is that any more of a problem than charming or dominating the Efreet to do it?

IIRC, charm specifically bans it. And Dominate at least allows a save.