Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Divine Domains

And, here's the direct link to the PDF

http://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_Cleric.pdf

Forge, Grave, and Protection domains...

 

[Mouseferatu]

"Sorry, Player, I just don't know precisely how many undead are within 1 mile of you or what types they happen to be."

Yeah, that's one of the aforementioned details I'd like to tweak. I hate that ability on the ranger, too.

 

[gweinel]

Imho this series of UA is pretty disappointing. There are some good ideas and concepts but the implementation i think its kind of weak.

Lets take a look these three domains:

First of all the damage ability at 8th lvl, i think it is kind of lame and uninspired. It is not bad, but it is boring (like the +1 attack/damage abilities). They could come up with something more flavorful. For example ,the smith domain could use a feature that give the weapon/armor some abilities from a list (wounding, frost resistance, water breathing) for the duration of an hour or something...

Grave: Most of the features, at least those that make the subclass unique, have to do with healing/gaining hp or preventing damage. Is this really comes in ones mind when he hears the word "grave"? Try another name for this domain and we are ok. Even Path of the Grave while it is a cool ability, sounds more a Pestilence/Disease domain power. I find inconsistencies between the abilities and the name.

Protection: Again what kind of protection domain is this when only one feature has to do with protecting someone. Indomitable Defense comes too late, while the so called Radiant Defense it is not defense but a retribution kind of power. What about a power that makes a link with the person/or place that the cleric must defend. Then while someone targets this place/person the cleric has advantage on rolls.

Forge: This is probably my favorite domain of the three. I am not thrilled but at least delivers what it says.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Your deity responds to your prayer:

"Lots, dude...oodles, even. More than you can count..."

Accurate, but it always feels like a cop-out for what is a pretty thematic ability even if it's hard to use in practice. I guess: these folks SHOULD know about their targets and be able to hunt them down! That's a good instinct! It's just not really possible to use the ability as it is at the table right now.

I like the ability's fluff, and it's something these characters should be able to do (or they should be able to do a little something like it), but it's not very usable as written.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I like these, though the protection domain seems to diverge from it's description a bit. Radiant defense is barely a defensive spell. If the monster understands what the ability does, it might prevent them from attacking the target, but otherwise, it's just a conditional damage spell. Blessed healer has a very 4th edition feel, letting you heal others and yourself at the same time helps you be less of a heal-bot. But I'm not sure it strongly fits the theme of the subclass. Also, I'd expect such a class to start getting resistance to damage earlier than 17th level.

All in all, I would expect the abilities of the Protection domain to focus more heavily on protecting allies, or a group of people. It's there, but the abilities certainly wander a bit.

Yeah... the Blessed Healer is what raised an eyebrow for me as well. Actual healing mechanics I think should be meant more for the Life domain, whereas Protection should be about preventing the damage from occurring in the first place. If HP are a necessity for that 6th level feature, I think I'd rather see a preventative Temp Hit Point gain mechanic than a hit point recovery mechanic.

 

[Xeviat]

I originally said that I didn't want more cleric domains, but I like these. Grave domain works great for non-evil Death Deities. Forge is cool, and sounds way better than "Artifice Domain". I like Protection, even though it copies a few other abilities from other classes.

My favorite thing here was the Grave domain's channel divinity. A low resource double damage effect is nice, especially when paired with a caster's highest level direct damage Spell.


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[DEFCON 1]

The thing with Protection domain that I don't like is that most of its abilities can be easily duplicated by dipping into other classes or with feats...it doesn't really have anything that makes it new or different.

This is what I like about it. I hate multiclass level-dipping merely to pick up isolated class features. I'd much rather have sub-classes bring those features into the class itself so that it can remain a single class. Thus Protection domain gaining the equivalent to the Protection fighting style (without needing to introduce the full Fighting Style system) is what I'd much prefer to see. Why make the Cleric take a whole host of Fighter class features that they don't want through a level-dip, rather than just give the Cleric the one feature it wants?

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

The thing with Protection domain that I don't like is that most of its abilities can be easily duplicated by dipping into other classes or with feats...it doesn't really have anything that makes it new or different.

Multi-class rules and feats are optional and not all DMs use them. Also, do not forget that none of the UA articles are balanced yet with the multi-class rules and are meant to be play tested as single class characters.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Yeah, but look at the balance of the domain spells. One spell can be considered "good," while the other can be considered "evil."

I see your point, but I can also see what they were attempting in their design philosophy

I am sure that is what they did, but I figure it would be better to focus on "undead hunter cleric" than "My DM won't let me play a Death Domain cleric." That is what the survey will be for, and I won't be very upset when "Death Domain Jr." remains. I will probably refluff it as a Fate Domain: you die when you are supposed to die, and you stay dead if you are supposed to stay dead (and if you are supposed to be undead, go for it). Between 4e and Pathfinder, Death and Fate are pretty tied together.

 

[Parmandur]

Multi-class rules and feats are optional and not all DMs use them. Also, do not forget that none of the UA articles are balanced yet with the multi-class rules and are meant to be play tested as single class characters.

Yeah, multiclass rules have not been taken into consideration much in regards to UA...pretty much ever? Using subclasses to cover mixed concepts has been their style so far.

 

[Raunalyn]

Multi-class rules and feats are optional and not all DMs use them. Also, do not forget that none of the UA articles are balanced yet with the multi-class rules and are meant to be play tested as single class characters.

Very true. Again, though...the features are very uninspiring to me, and they don't feel like something a Protection cleric would have. I can see the defense feature (disadvantage to an enemy attacking an ally), but the rest of it seems redundant or doesn't fit.