Idea for Domains/Specialty Priests

[GX.Sigma]

Here's what I think is a very good idea for Priest characters. It's based on the current Domain rules on the playtest characters. The beliefs I'm working under are thus:

1. The classic Cleric is a healer, but not all priests should be healers.
2. The classic Cleric turns undead, but not all priests should turn undead.
3. Priests gain power from the strength of their beliefs, not necessarily from gods. Therefore, many priests are not members of a specific order, but wield power in their own unique way.
4. The Druid is a kind of specialty priest.
5. Evil Clerics are awesome and should totally be in the PHB.

So here's the idea. Each Priest chooses a domain at level 1. The channel divinity ability lets a Priest do something related to his domain a few times per day. In addition, each domain has its own spell list and a few features. You gain features, spells, and different uses of channel divinity as you gain levels.

The important part is that you don't have to choose one of these options; you're free to mix and match and come up with your own unique Priest. So it's like Themes: you can pick a pre-selected path, but you can also just pick whatever spells and powers you want.

Here are a few sample domains, with a few sample spells.

Healing
Alignment: Any non-evil
Channel Divinity: Turn Undead
Spells: Cure light wounds, bless, remove disease, etc.

Death
Alignment: Any non-good
Channel Divinity: Rebuke/Command Undead
Spells: Inflict light wounds, curse, animate dead, etc.

Nature
Alignment: Neutral
Channel Divinity: Wild Shape
Spells: Charm person or mammal, good berries, shillelagh, etc.

Fire
Alignment: Any non-lawful
Channel Divinity: Turn water creatures, rebuke/command fire creatures
Spells: Burning hands, [deity]'s scorcher, etc.

Custom
You can create your own unique domain by choosing any of the above channel divinity options, and choosing freely from the list of Priest spells.


How would y'all feel about a system like this?

 

[Stormonu]

Sounds fine to me, but the Channel Divinity sounds a bit weak. Fire being able to turn fire creatures seems ... bleh.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Sounds fine to me, but the Channel Divinity sounds a bit weak. Fire being able to turn fire creatures seems ... bleh.

Fair enough; I copied that one from the 3.5 SRD anyway.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I agree with most of the OP.

I'd like to see an amalgam of 2Ed & 3.5Ed's take on things, with the Cleric class being very modular so it can be customized to meet the needs of DMs & Players of all tastes.

...but with this special addition: like in Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous, "holy warriors" should follow form.

So, if a priest of a War god had War and Destruction as his Domains- thus defining his granted powers- a holy warrior of the same order might have the War and Destruction Domain Feats (as a class feature bonus) defining HIS powers.

 

[Tallifer]

These are interesting ideas, and this itself is an interesting topic.

However I would like to see some of the Old School ideas about special priesthoods: oftentimes Magic Users were the priests of gods of magic, and certainly Druids were considered the priests of gods of nature. For example Drow priestesses were Cleric-Magic Users, so that Clerics did themselves need Magic User spells.

If Clerics are always the class for the servants of every god, then they will poach on the powers and class features of other classes better associated with such fields, especially domains of Magic, Nature et cetera.

 

[steeldragons]

I like what I'm seeing.

Though I personally, flavor-wise, would tie the Cleric's ability to channel divinity directly be related to the DIVINITY! It is from their gods, not from their "beliefs". You are, says right on the can, "Channeling Divinity." To take the "divinity" out of the equation doesn't make sense to me/my game world.

I will concur about the Channeling Divinity seeming/being a bit weak and would suggest that as a Cleric gains levels, their capacity to channel divinity continues to rise. Not necessarily in number of times "each", but a set number of times that various effects could be invoked.

So, just as examples, I'm thinking something along these lines...

Healing
Channel Divinity: Once per day +1 per level (So, 1st level Cleric can CD 2/day).
At 1st level: Turn Undead and/or +1 (or additional d4 or d6 or whatever) to any curative spells.
At 3rd level: Spontaneously cast an additional Healing/Curative Magic (Cure X Wounds, Disease, Paralysis, "Affliction", etc.) without burning a spell slot.
At 5th level: "Death's Door" -bring someone from neg HP to 1 HP automatically without burning a spell or Healer's kit.
At 7th level: Caster's constant connection/use of healing energies provides 1hp per level per day of "Regeneration" (on caster only).

Fire
Channel Divinity: Once per day +1 per level.
At 1st level: Resist Fire and/or "Turn/Rebuke" Elemental Fire Creatures (so, "Yes" to Salamanders or Efreet, but "No" to Fire Giants or Red Dragons...this is, however a matter of game world/setting fluff. If you think/have Fire Giants come from the Elemental plane of Fire, then go for it...though I'd imagine a 1st level cleric would have a very slim chance of effecting a Fire Giant!)
At 3rd level: Burning Hands and/or Resist Fire becomes "Fire Resistance 10' radius."
At 5th level: Flaming Sphere and/or Pyrotechnics.
At 7th level: Wall of Fire and caster is always "Resistant [or immune?] to Fire".

Sun
Channel Divinity: Once per day +1 per level.
At 1st level: Light (20' radius) and/or Turn/Rebuke Undead and "Shadow-based" Creatures.
At 3rd level: Resist Fire and/or "sun deity's" bolt (something like d4 per level or something of fire/light/heat/radiant damage).
At 5th level: Daylight and Immunity to light/blinding effects.
At 7th level: Fireball and Immunity to Fire.

Sumpfin like that. And as the cleric gains levels, they have their X times/day to choose the effect they want their Divinity to grant them.

But yeah, I think you're on to something/how I would expect to see it work.
--SD

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Channelling Divinity powers absolutely should be tied to the divinity in question. An enemy of unlife should CD: Turn Undead, a god of war might grant CD: Berserk Fury to allies. Coyote or Loki might have priests who CD: Mass Charm. A healer faith's priesthood might CD: Mass Fast Heal 3, while a nature faiths might CD: command plants, animals, a specific kind of Elementsl, or Shapechange.

And so forth.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Though I personally, flavor-wise, would tie the Cleric's ability to channel divinity directly be related to the DIVINITY! It is from their gods, not from their "beliefs". You are, says right on the can, "Channeling Divinity." To take the "divinity" out of the equation doesn't make sense to me/my game world.

I disagree. This is the mentality Mike Mearls has, and this is the mentality I'm trying to fight. Its very easy to just take a passing glance at D&D's history and say "Clerics follow gods," when every single edition of D&D that I know of says Clerics don't have to worship a single deity, and many champion a whole pantheon, a philosophy, or just an alignment. (I don't have any pre-3e books, but 3e, 4e, and every retroclone I've found concur.)

It's easy to house rule either way, of course, but I'd like to have it be an official assumption in the setting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

when every single edition of D&D that I know of says Clerics don't have to worship a single deity, and many champion a whole pantheon, a philosophy, or just an alignment

The last two there are really more of a 3Ed and beyond kind of thing. Generally speaking, even when lyrics of previous editions talked about abstractions like "The Balance" as their divine polestar, that abstraction usually had been anthropomorphized.

 

[Minigiant]

Personally I'd do more than just Channel Divinity. I'd add proficiencies, skills, and items to the domains.

War
Gain Heavy armor prof.
Gain prof. with one Martial Weapon

Sun
Gain Radiant lance as a orison

Animal
Gain Talk with Animals as a spell
Gain Animal Handling +3

Cold
Gain Ray of Frost as orison

Undeath
Gain +1 to DC for Turn Undead when using Channel Divinity.