D&D 5E Wonder why there aren't any Elemental Domains (Earth, Air, Fire, Water)?

[SkidAce]

See title.

I found a few things on GM Binder, but not much.

Willing to create my own, but was perusing the internet for ideas and inspiration.

And now I'm just curious...why no official versions?

 

[Micah Sweet]

See title.

I found a few things on GM Binder, but not much.

Willing to create my own, but was perusing the internet for ideas and inspiration.

And now I'm just curious...why no official versions?

I've got some good ones for all four if your interested.

No clue why WotC didn't do it, but I don't really care so long as they exist somewhere, or can be made.

 

[SkidAce]

I've got some good ones for all four if your interested.

No clue why WotC didn't do it, but I don't really care so long as they exist somewhere, or can be made.

I am interested.

 

[bedir than]

See title.

I found a few things on GM Binder, but not much.

Willing to create my own, but was perusing the internet for ideas and inspiration.

And now I'm just curious...why no official versions?

I want these for Druid Circles

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am interested.

I'll send a message when I get home.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I want these for Druid Circles

I have stuff for those too.

 

[I'm A Banana]

And now I'm just curious...why no official versions?

No official explanation AFAIK, but here's my crystal ball...

Clerics have too many subclasses. When the design decision was made to base cleric subclasses on domains, this was kind of going to be inevitable, but the expectation is that every God of X has an X domain cleric somewhere out there potentially. And there are gods for everything in D&D. There's no Arts domain, there's no Beauty domain, there's no Dwarf domain, there's no Agriculture domain, no Hearth domain, no Wealth domain, no Moon domain, no Sea domain, etc., etc., etc.

That's just a lot of content and pagecount and development. So in the 2014 release, they whittled it down as much as they could, and they still had SEVEN subclasses. And jettinsoning four elemental domains in exchange for, say, a Tempest domain, was probably a good trade. In the 2024 release, it's been circumscribed even further (just four domains!).

Since 5e's launch, new subclasses in general are rare and the cleric's have been pretty focused. I bet there's working versions of each of the four elemental domains in house there, and they just haven't made the cut on the products when jostling for the new cleric subclass spot (especially because you'd really want all four of them at once).

The closest official stuff is probably Tempest (2014) for air or water, Forge or War or maybe Nature (2014) for earth, Forge or Light for fire. Water probably gets the short end of the stick, there - having a true Sea domain would go a long way.

 

[SkidAce]

I agree we don't need one for everything thing under the sun, but the four elements seemed like they could carry a lot of the weight for many concepts.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No official explanation AFAIK, but here's my crystal ball...

Clerics have too many subclasses. When the design decision was made to base cleric subclasses on domains, this was kind of going to be inevitable, but the expectation is that every God of X has an X domain cleric somewhere out there potentially. And there are gods for everything in D&D. There's no Arts domain, there's no Beauty domain, there's no Dwarf domain, there's no Agriculture domain, no Hearth domain, no Wealth domain, no Moon domain, no Sea domain, etc., etc., etc.

That's just a lot of content and pagecount and development. So in the 2014 release, they whittled it down as much as they could, and they still had SEVEN subclasses. And jettinsoning four elemental domains in exchange for, say, a Tempest domain, was probably a good trade. In the 2024 release, it's been circumscribed even further (just four domains!).

Since 5e's launch, new subclasses in general are rare and the cleric's have been pretty focused. I bet there's working versions of each of the four elemental domains in house there, and they just haven't made the cut on the products when jostling for the new cleric subclass spot (especially because you'd really want all four of them at once).

The closest official stuff is probably Tempest (2014) for air or water, Forge or War or maybe Nature (2014) for earth, Forge or Light for fire. Water probably gets the short end of the stick, there - having a true Sea domain would go a long way.

This is why we shouldn't rely on WotC for new content.

 

[Stormonu]

Because of the lack of Water Domain spells (especially water-based attack spells).

Making a Fire domain would be easy, and Air isn't too difficult. Earth gets a little trickier, but just about everything for a Water domain spellwise would more suited to an Ice/Frozen domain. Elemental domains weren't done because if they couldn't do all four, they'd rather do none.

(I'm still salty about 4E dropping every waterborne creature from that version, and I think the designers still have a disdain for all things nautical.)