prestige domains - virtually impossible to get?

[Marshall]

How to meet your patron diety...

Lesser Planar Ally

By definition its a 'servant of your deity'

 

[Umbran]

Commune
(5th level Cleric spell)

"The character can contact the character's deity—or agents thereof—and ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no."

To "contact" and "meet" are not the same. If you call a person on the telephone, you have contacted them. But do you claim you've met a person when you've only spoken with them on the phone?

 

[Iku Rex]

To "contact" and "meet" are not the same. If you call a person on the telephone, you have contacted them. But do you claim you've met a person when you've only spoken with them on the phone?

You don't have to "meet" your deity. You "must have had direct contact with one's patron deity or a direct servant of that deity, or with an enlightened being embodying the highest principles of an alignment (a solar,for example)."

Commune contacts your deity. You ask questions directly to the deity. I would call that "direct contact".

 

[Xahn'Tyr]

Divine Diciple allows an extra domain. Our DM ruled that we could choose a prestige domain for that since it doesn't say one way or the other. You might try a similar approach.

 

[Umbran]

Commune contacts your deity. You ask questions directly to the deity. I would call that "direct contact".

If it were that simple, why isn't the requirement "ability to cast 5th level cleric spells"?

Commune only allows "Yes or No" questions. Not exactly a deep and moving experience. Not a thing that should really change the focus of a character's life. The DMG notes that prestige classes generally have requirements that can only be met through significant role-playing. Casting a single run of the mill spell that gets only a yes or no answer doesn't count.

 

[Ketjak]

Surely you jest

Originally posted by Iku Rex

Commune contacts your deity. You ask questions directly to the deity. I would call that "direct contact".

If it were that simple, why isn't the requirement "ability to cast 5th level cleric spells"?

Because there are other ways to reach one's deity a la commune than the use of the commune spell when clerics get them - like, for example, scrolls with commune on them, magical items, altars, and whatever else a suitably creative DM can think of.

Commune only allows "Yes or No" questions. Not exactly a deep and moving experience. Not a thing that should really change the focus of a character's life.

What, you're kidding us, right? Being directly contacted by your god won't be a deep and moving experience? Real people freak out when they see considerably less important people than the entity to which they have completely dedicated their lives. Why do you believe the focused attention of a deity, no matter how short, will be less important?

IMC, commune typically results in a divine agent picking up the other end of the line (which is still enough to trigger the requirement for Contemplative). It's the unimaginative DM who allows a commune spell to reach the cleric's deity without any appropriate epiphany to come along with it.

Originally posted by Umbran The DMG notes that prestige classes generally have requirements that can only be met through significant role-playing. Casting a single run of the mill spell that gets only a yes or no answer doesn't count.

Heh. Assuming contacting a deity is so banal in your world, the rules say it does count.

- Ketjak

 

[Crothian]

The big problem with Prestige Domains is they are in a sourcebook that wizards will never reference. All their books are written so you only need the big 3. Personally, I reward clerics buy allowing them to access a Prestige Domain.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

IMO opinion Celerity ain't that great. Consider, by the time you get to it you are pretty high level. Clerics will either have lots of armor so Dex isn't important, or little armor and a high Dex for AC. In the first case Dex is no biggie, in the second by the time the character gets the domain they will have a better Enhancement bonus to Dex through some item or another. Celerity would be good at lower levels, but you can't get it that early.

 

[Aziraphale]

Commune only allows "Yes or No" questions. Not exactly a deep and moving experience. Not a thing that should really change the focus of a character's life. The DMG notes that prestige classes generally have requirements that can only be met through significant role-playing.

If you want to make that ruling in your campaign, that's fine, but there is nothing in the rules to suggest that Commune does not fill the requirements. This is the rules board, after all, and the guy was just asking about theoretical ways of getting Prestige Domains

 

[luke_twigger]

thanks

Thanks for all the replies, I'm at least reassured that I hadn't completely misread the book and that Prestige Domains really are that hard to get hold of.

Luke