D&D 5E Is Nature Cleric's Dampen Elements ability way overpowered?

[coolAlias]

Hey all, [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION] has already convinced me - thanks for chiming in, though!

 

[TwoSix]

When players choose their characters, they are often asking you to feature certain things in the game. For example, when someone makes a trap focused rogue they are asking for some badass scenes where they disable traps. That doesn’t mean every place has to have traps, but it’s directly telling you, the DM, “Please sir, I would like to beat traps.”

You can always use session zero to set up expectations, like “I run low combat, high politic games” or whatever to encourage/discourage choices of course.

Yep. As someone who doesn't run modules/adventures, one of the ways I set up for a session is looking at the PCs more interesting or defining abilities and devising some situations where they'd be useful.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

When players choose their characters, they are often asking you to feature certain things in the game. For example, when someone makes a trap focused rogue they are asking for some badass scenes where they disable traps. That doesn’t mean every place has to have traps, but it’s directly telling you, the DM, “Please sir, I would like to beat traps.”

You can always use session zero to set up expectations, like “I run low combat, high politic games” or whatever to encourage/discourage choices of course.

1) Traps are the default for D&D. If there aren't going to be any, that is when the DM should point it out in session zero. As it happens, in 5e any ability that is useful with traps can be used for other things as well, so it doesn't matter.

2) Choosing to play a nature cleric does not say "I want to be fireballed". It's a fairly minor feature of the class. If it says anything, it says "I want to interact with cute furry animals".

3) As for Favoured Enemy, the whole reason 5e nerfs that into oblivion is so the DM doesn't need to build the adventure around the ranger for them to be relevant.

 

[Seramus]

2) Choosing to play a nature cleric does not say "I want to be fireballed". It's a fairly minor feature of the class. If it says anything, it says "I want to interact with cute furry animals".

Talk to your player and find out if they think it’s a fairly minor feature of the class. Some might say yes, some might say no, and that can help guide your decisions when designing adventures.

3) As for Favoured Enemy, the whole reason 5e nerfs that into oblivion is so the DM doesn't need to build the adventure around the ranger for them to be relevant.

If there aren’t going to be any, you should mention it during session zero. Work together to find a Favored Enemy that fits the character and will make an appearance in the campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Talk to your player and find out if they think it’s a fairly minor feature of the class. Some might say yes, some might say no, and that can help guide your decisions when designing adventures.

So, are you going to make every other attack poison, because you have a dwarf in the party, fire, because you have a tiefing, cold, because you have a silver dragonborn, and electricity because you have a storm sorcerer?!

NO! Even if the DM is inclined to pander to players' every whim elemental resistances are far too common for it to be practical to do so. Chances are it will crop up occasionally.

If there aren’t going to be any, you should mention it during session zero. Work together to find a Favored Enemy that fits the character and will make an appearance in the campaign.

Why bother, it's not like it does anything significant anyway? Background fluff.

Good thing too, it could be a real pain in 2nd and 3rd edition.

 

[Zardnaar]

white-rooming single domain ability versus other domain abilities at only one level is quite silly
some domains get better abilities at start, some at higher levels
also some domains get better spells than others
the nature cleric ability is very useful, if you need it, but their domain spells are kind of lacking compared to other domains

This, it's a great ability when it fires.

 

[Seramus]

So, are you going to make every other attack poison, because you have a dwarf in the party, fire, because you have a tiefing, cold, because you have a silver dragonborn, and electricity because you have a storm sorcerer?!

”Every other attack” is a strawman, but I will absolutely custom place more poison, fire, cold, and electricity attacks in the game to ensure the choices of my players matter. And if that sometimes results in a crowning moment of awesome, all the better!

Why bother, it's not like it does anything significant anyway? Background fluff.

You think Favored Enemy does nothing significant?