The Shadow
Hero
I've long thought the cleric should cast like a sorcerer rather than like a pseudo-wizard - their god granting them specific abilities as 'gifts'. It seems really easy to do in 5e, too:
Give the cleric a Spells Known column just like that for the sorcerer. Remove the Channel Divinity uses (but see below). They get their Domain spells as bonus known spells.
In place of Font of Magic at 2nd level they get Divine Favor: A pool of 'Favor points' instead of 'Sorcery points'.
Favor points can be traded in for spell slots and vice versa, just like the sorcerer. If you use such a slot to immediately cast a Domain spell, it's one point cheaper in Favor.
You can spend 2 Favor points to Channel Divinity.
When you attempt to invoke Divine Intervention, each Favor point you spend adds 2% to the chance of success. (Maybe this should be 5% instead?)
Favor points normally refresh after a long rest. However, if you've done something very pleasing to your deity since your last long rest (GM call), you can refresh half of them after a short rest. (No more than once per long rest.) Likewise, if you have failed to live up to the tenets of your deity, your Favor points might refresh sluggishly or not at all.
How's it look so far? Am I on the right track? I'm thinking that perhaps there should be a class feature to let you spend Favor points on a slot to cast spells from the *other* Domains of your deity, whether you know them or not. Not sure what level this should come at, though... and it's a bit rough on clerics whose deities only have one Domain!
It still remains to smooth out the class features to eliminate dead levels, and perhaps replace Turn Undead with something more suitable to all clerics. But I want some feedback on whether this is workable before I do that.
Give the cleric a Spells Known column just like that for the sorcerer. Remove the Channel Divinity uses (but see below). They get their Domain spells as bonus known spells.
In place of Font of Magic at 2nd level they get Divine Favor: A pool of 'Favor points' instead of 'Sorcery points'.
Favor points can be traded in for spell slots and vice versa, just like the sorcerer. If you use such a slot to immediately cast a Domain spell, it's one point cheaper in Favor.
You can spend 2 Favor points to Channel Divinity.
When you attempt to invoke Divine Intervention, each Favor point you spend adds 2% to the chance of success. (Maybe this should be 5% instead?)
Favor points normally refresh after a long rest. However, if you've done something very pleasing to your deity since your last long rest (GM call), you can refresh half of them after a short rest. (No more than once per long rest.) Likewise, if you have failed to live up to the tenets of your deity, your Favor points might refresh sluggishly or not at all.
How's it look so far? Am I on the right track? I'm thinking that perhaps there should be a class feature to let you spend Favor points on a slot to cast spells from the *other* Domains of your deity, whether you know them or not. Not sure what level this should come at, though... and it's a bit rough on clerics whose deities only have one Domain!
It still remains to smooth out the class features to eliminate dead levels, and perhaps replace Turn Undead with something more suitable to all clerics. But I want some feedback on whether this is workable before I do that.