D&D 5E The Cleric

[Sadrik]

Why not call "deity" "sphere" or "domain" for the cleric. I am playing a cleric in a 3e game right now and he does not have a deity, he is a champion of a cause. I want this to be part of the core game assumption in 5e. I know most clerics in D&D setting are worshipers of a deity but I would like there to be a situation where, like in 3e, you can select a philosophy or cause. Point is, the door should be left open, if you have a deity it closes it.

 

[YRUSirius]

Just create a deity called "The Neutrality" or whatever and design it. Done.

-YRUSirius

 

[Sadrik]

Just create a deity called "The Neutrality" or whatever and design it. Done.

-YRUSirius

I should point out I really like the idea they are going with the cleric and the deity concept though. The deities are placeholders for many specific deities. They are broad strokes. Plug in a campaign specific deity to one of the broad strokes. Really well done. This will allow campaign settings to just say here is the list of gods and they fall into these deities. Of course I would prefer them to called Domains or Spheres though, but conceptually rules wise it hits a very high mark in my book.

 

[Kobold Stew]

A belief in the need for parliamentary reform isn't going to grant me the ability to heal others.

 

[Obryn]

A belief in the need for parliamentary reform isn't going to grant me the ability to heal others.

I think that's a great idea for a cleric

Remember that this is a world where you can learn magic through reading books.

-O

 

[GX.Sigma]

Calling it "deity" has three weird implications:

1. Clerics get their powers from deities
2. A Cleric never worships more than one deity
3. All of a given deity's Clerics are the same

None of those are always necessarily true. Calling them "domains" solves all these problems.

 

[TerraDave]

Saying domains is ok, as is a rule that you don't actually need a (single) deity, but can have a philosophy, virtue, church, cult, whatever that allows you to chose from the powers normally granted by a particular deity.

 

[CAFRedblade]

My preference is Domain/Spheres, however, I'm liking the Theme Gods that are currently in use.. They are generic enough that they can be applied to setting specific Deities, or used as is for generic home campaigns/generic published adventures.

 

[Sekhmet]

I don't understand the "champion of a cause" style Cleric.
My Fighter is a devout follower and champion of humanitarian efforts. His cause is righteousness, virtue, equality, etc. Why doesn't he get Cleric spells because of that?

Clerics cast divine magic. Divine magic originates of a divine host. A divine host is a deity. A deity does not grant his divine magic to people who do not worship him. A cleric must worship a deity to receive and cast divine magic.

 

[ppaladin123]

Calling it "deity" has three weird implications:

1. Clerics get their powers from deities
2. A Cleric never worships more than one deity
3. All of a given deity's Clerics are the same

None of those are always necessarily true. Calling them "domains" solves all these problems.

They've said that "the light-bringer" and "the warrior" and so forth can represent aspects of gods rather than an entire entity so that a god of sun and war could have clerics devoted to his "light-bringer" side (and get those abilities) and others devoted to his "warrior" side (and get those abilities). This basically amounts to these being domains without calling them domains. I have no idea why they insist on the current language.