Thoughts on Cleric Domains

[Cam Banks]

G'day, Omand!

Here's the list of Clerical Domains I've seen published in WotC books - there are probably more in the many FR books I don't own.

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting includes the following domains:

Alteration*
Community
Forge
Insight
Liberation
Meditation
Mentalism*
Necromancy*
Passion
Pestilence
Restoration*
Storm
Treachery
* This is a domain for mystics only, and none of the gods have it.

The Age of Mortals supplement by Sovereign Press, which follows up on the DLCS, includes the following additional domains (both of them for mystics only)

Channeling
Sensitivity

Some of the DLCS domains are reprinted from other sources, but a few are all-new like Passion (which does have a few things in common with Chaos, admittedly).

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Omand]

Guys,

Thanks for all of the material here. It is going to take me a lot of time to sort through what I want/need/like, etc.

Keep it coming.

Cheers

 

[the Jester]

Yep, Jester has some great domains, which can be found at his Cydra Yahoo Group. > Files > Religion in Cydra.doc

Thanks for the plug, KF!

Just a list of what I've got imc for custom domains-

Abundance, Apathy, Art, Astral, Authority, Balance, Charm, Cold, Crafting, Darkness, Fear, Feline, Hate, Illusion, Intellect, Intoxication, Life, Light, Love, Music, Omnivore, Parasite, Passion, Perversion, Purity, Seals, Secrecy, Sleep, Thought, Time, Trade, Traps.

You'll notice that this list is longer and broader than the one I posted of what's 'missing' from the core rules- I don't think you really need a domain of Perversion to fill out the core rules, f'rinstance.

 

[ManicFuel]

I am doing what I can to fix this problem. Honest. With luck, the whole world can enjoy it within the year.

Please elaborate, Sir Dancing Banana!

 

[ManicFuel]

Thanks Jester and KF - good stuff. I raided a few other things while I was there...

 

[ManicFuel]

ManicFuel,

Thanks for the Music Domain stuff, I will have to look through my copy of S&S and check on those spells. I think the domain power might be a bit too powerful, but I have not seen it in play.

...

Cheers

You may be right about the domain power, but so far no issues in-game. I've left it as is since Bardic Music has a skill ranks requirement to work, and clerics don't have many skill points. Dropping the 'Perform as class skill' part may get you where you want to be.

 

[Omand]

Hello,

Just checking in to note I have been busy with work and unable to read through everything yet.

Please keep contributing guys, I will hopefully catch up on things by the weekend.

Cheers

 

[Gothmog]

From what I've seen around here, it looks like a lot of people miss the old 2E style sphere priests. For the last year or so, I've been using a house rule variant of the old 2E spheres and converted them into the domains structure. Under this system, all casters have access to a Divine domain, and can choose two other domains. However, each domain's spell lists are different (about 8-10 spells per domain level), and lead to a diverse set of abilities for every cleric. Even clerics of the same religion will not have all the same spells- it depends on their selections. I have drawn from over 50 sourcebooks and compiled a honking list, which I posted recently in this thread.

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=79721

Its a work in progress, and I'm still trying to come up with some good granted powers for new domains, but comments are welcome.

 

[jerichothebard]

Here is my house-ruled Music domain (with some spells from S&S), please season to taste:

Music Domain

Granted Power: Gain the bardic music ability, usable a number of times per day equal to one-half your cleric level, rounded down (minimum 1/day). These uses are in addition to any uses of bardic music you may have from actual bard levels. Perform is a class skill.


Music Domain Spells
1 - Joyful Noise (Song and Silence)
2 - Sound Burst
3 - Emotion
4 - Shout
5 - Song of Discord (Song and Silence)
6 - Fanfare (Song and Silence)
7 - Power Word, Stun
8 - Otto's Irresistible Dance
9 - Wail of the Banshee

This is great - except the that Emotion spell is gone in 3.5, replaced by two different spells - one for fear, the other hope. (I forget their titles off hand). I suggest subbing Sculpt Sound in the level 3 slot, instead.

And I do think that the granted power might be a bit much - combined with the Knowledge domain, a cleric could basically be a bard without being a bard. Particularly if you were using the Cloistered Cleric from Unearthed Arcana, who get more skill points and some additional spells on their spell list...

(I am doing exactly that with an NPC, which is why I noticed.)

I suggest subbing this instead: all spells with the [sonic] descriptor are cast at +1 caster level.


jtb

 

[Spatula]

According to DotF, the domains for Lolth and Maglubiyet are the same (Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Trickery).

According to the MM, clerics of Maglubiyet don't get Destruction. *shrug* It does seem as if most monster dieties have similar domain lists, though (Trickery and Destruction do seem awfully common).