MAGIC Domain is Broken!

[Larcen]

Man, am I steamed.

RANT MODE ON

I have a cleric of Mystra that took Magic and Spell as his two domains figuring that although the low level spells those domains grant are not that hot, at least the domain special abilities are great.

I mean, for the Magic domain what we have here is a cleric that can read arcane scrolls! Sure, his level is divided in half for this purpose, but that's a small price to pay to get access to arcane spells via scrolls.

So here I was all excited to get my hands on some Magic Missile, or Fireball, or Lightning Bolt scrolls. Well, the first time I went to use an arcane scroll, our DM looked up the rules for reading spells off scrolls in the DMG. That's when the bomb was dropped:

YOUR INTELLIGENCE DETERMINES WHAT LEVEL ARCANE SPELL YOU CAN CAST OFF SCROLLS!

According to the DMG, your intelligence needs to be (10+spell level) before you can cast the arcane spell. To cast a Fireball, a 3rd level spell, from a scroll you NEED a 13 Intelligence. Period. No roll to see if you can succeed anyway. Nothing. IT SIMPLY CANNOT BE DONE if your INT is 12.

This was NOT mentioned in the PHB. I think this is a huge diservice to all the "honest" players out there who do not peek at the DMG. The PHB should have mentioned something to the effect that a cleric will need a high INT to effectively use the Magic domain's ability.

As it is my cleric has an INT of 12, which means all he will ever be able to cast off scrolls is 2nd level spells. What a rip. It won't matter if his effective levels for reading arcane scrolls at Cleric10 is Wizard5. He still can't read 3rd level spells. Again, if this was somehow mentioned in the PHB, I wouldn't be so miffed.

Somebody please tell me we are interpreting something wrong, or missed something, or this is errata, or the Sage ruled Magic Domain Clerics can use their WIS instead of INT for scroll reading. Something.

RANT MODE OFF

Whew. Glad I got that off my chest.

 

[Crothian]

It's a good rule, keeps game balance in check. I'm not sure it says anywhere in the PHB the rules for scrolls period. Even a Wizard still needs a 19 Int to cast nineth level spells of a scroll.

Ah, there it is. Under Use Magical Device. And that's the first place I looked for it, too. Read under the Emulate Ability Score and it lists it there. It might be elsewhere in the PHB, but at least I found one place with it.

 

[Orco42]

You mean "Magic domain got the shaft"

I would suggest getting INT enhancing items or placing you level base abiltiy points in INT.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Magic Domain is not broken but your reasoning is.

Why would you assume that you could cast arcane spells using the stat for your divine spells? Is there something in the description of Magic Domain that would lead you to believe this? No? Then you really have no one to blame but yourself and (possibly) your DM.

You can always raise your Int score by one at 4th level thereby allowing you to get 3rd level spells about 6 levels before you need to if this is really important.

Try and find a real problem before turning on 'rant mode'

 

[Larcen]

It's a good rule, keeps game balance in check. I'm not sure it says anywhere in the PHB the rules for scrolls period. Even a Wizard still needs a 19 Int to cast nineth level spells of a scroll.

Ah, there it is. Under Use Magical Device. And that's the first place I looked for it, too. Read under the Emulate Ability Score and it lists it there. It might be elsewhere in the PHB, but at least I found one place with it.

Ok, I trust you that it's there. My point's are these:

1) I am a cleric. I really have no reason to beef up my INT (before I knew this). I put my good score on WIS as I am sure most clerics do. That in itself limits the Magic Domain's ability, big time.

2) A blurb was needed right there in the text of the Magic Domain. Would it have killed WOTC to add the following (bold is mine)....

"Granted Power: Use scrolls, wands, and other devices with spell completion or spell trigger activation as a wizard of one-half
your cleric level (at least 1st level). For the purpose of using a scroll or other magic device, if you are also a wizard, actual wizard
levels and these effective wizard levels stack. A Cleric is still limited by his Intelligence score on the level arcane spell she can cast off a scroll. (See Use Magical Device section.)"

3) Ok, maybe I am expected to know every single rule, in every single section of the PHB at character creation time, but come on, cut me some slack

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Broken means too powerful.

--Terse Spikey

 

[Galfridus]

Broken means too powerful.

--Terse Spikey

Why? I'd rather see "broken" than "got the shaft"...

Anyway, I would probably let such a cleric use Wisdom rather than Intelligence...just makes sense as a Rule Zero.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I agree it is unfortunate that limitation is not easily accessible. I do not see it as a huge problem. You will need to pick up a +2 Int item ASAP for a whopping 4k. Later on you will probably want a +4 item.

If it really bothers you, ask you DM nicely if you may swap your stats around.

 

[Numion]

Ok, I trust you that it's there. My point's are these:

1) I am a cleric. I really have no reason to beef up my INT (before I knew this). I put my good score on WIS as I am sure most clerics do. That in itself limits the Magic Domain's ability, big time.

Would we then have to arrive to a conclusion that most who worship mystra aren't stupid as boots? And even have an in-game reason for it. Actually sounds quite logical to me.

 

[Larcen]

Why would you assume that you could cast arcane spells using the stat for your divine spells?

I never assumed I could use WIS in place of INT for this. I simply did not know that you needed a high INT for certain arcane scroll spells. I knew that Wizards needed a hight INT to cast some of their spells. But I did not know it applied to scrolls as well.

I always felt that most of the "work" was done during the scroll creation phase and the rest was just having enough training to read the thing. Which is why the person who created the scroll, not the person using it, needs to pay any XP penalties.

Like I said, it came as a shock to me that my cleric needed a high stat, ANY high stat to cast scrolls. Call me ignorant, but I thought the sole criteria for scroll-casting was your level...and the writeup of the Magic domain in the PHB kinda implies that, IMHO. Nowhere does it mention this huge limitation.

Try and find a real problem before turning on 'rant mode'

Dude, trust me, to my cleric this IS a real problem.

Whether the rules are "right" or not, it's still a problem to ME. I thought it warranted rant mode.

Actually, to be honest, I am just trying to get attention to my problem, even with the troll-like title to the thread. This whole thing has got me down and I wanted to get some advice from you guys.

But, I guess the ultimate advice would be READ ALL THE RULES before creating a PC, right? Is this a game or a legal contract? HA.