At-Will Domain Casting; Superheroes!

[Sitzkrieg]

In an effort to create a new feel for how magic is used in a world, I'm thinking about making the following rules:

1) PC's can't play a full-casting class, and full-casters will be used only very sparingly, if at all, by the DM

2) All characters may choose one cleric domain. Effects that depend on Cleric level/Caster level now depend on character level instead. The character gains the domain's granted power, and has at-will use of the spells in the domain. The highest level spell a character can cast is still limited by character level as if the character were a cleric.

3) (Extra info: Travel domain is banned. Trickery domain no longer grants PAO or Time Stop. Healing domain is allowed, but the UA Injury variant will be used instead of hit points, so unlimited healing is useful but not overwhelmingly so. Wisdom is the casting stat for domain spells for all classes. No psionics.)

The idea is to simulate an innate, superhero-style approach to casting. I'm comfortable with this being a significant power boost, but I'd be happy if the boost were comparable to, say, gestalt.

What domains do you see as too powerful? What domains would you want to take? Are there too many unintended effects? I've really only skimmed some of the domains outside of core, but those will be considered on a case-by-case basis anyway.

[Zaq]

Does this apply to the entire world? All humanoids? All sentients? Just the PCs? Those will all make a big difference.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Any domain that can summon creatures, such as Animal or the Summoner domain, would probably be a bit too powerful if used too often. "I could just summon more angels to handle this...."

Any domain that grants a strong AoE damage spell would become the character's primary source of damage. Air, Water, Sun, Storm, Cold, Windstorm.... though that may be exactly the effect you intend.

Any domain that grants instantaneous conjuration (creation) effects such as the Earth domain's Wall of Stone would get extremely tiring.

As for what I would pick, I think the Slime domain would be a fun one. Rebuke/command slimes, cast Grease, Acid Arrow, Poison, Rusting Grasp, Black Tentacles, Transmute Rock to Mud, Destruction, Power Word: Blind, and Implosion. The Sun domain would be a close runner-up, assuming it granted a 1/day Greater Turn Undead equal to your character level. I'd play him as Captain Sunshine from the Venture Brothers! The Wrath domain could lead to some silly melee damage.

[HunterOfJello]

You should check out the Warlock class from the Frank and K material. (You can find it all on this (http://sites.google.com/site/middendorfproject/frankpdf) website.)


Check out the Fire Mage under PC Classes and the Warlock under Community material.

The Warlock from this source obtains a progression of spell-like abilities from pregenerated lists that are similar to domains.

[ex cathedra]

Alteration (Alter Self/Polymorph/Shapechange), Celerity (Time Stop), Celestial (Planar Ally, Gate), Demonic (Planar Binding trio, Gate), Dragon Below (Planar Ally trio, Blasphemy, Gate), Drow (Word of Chaos, Greater Planar Ally, Gate), and Envy (seriously, look at that list) all seem seriously powerful, and that's just getting to the E's. It would take a great deal of balancing to make this system a good idea.

[Sitzkrieg]

@Zaq
Generally, the PC's would be exceptional for this extra ability, although most major NPC's would also have this power. The goal is to be more like X-Men than Tippyverse.

@Biffoniacus
Summoner domain is definitely too powerful at-will, but Animal domain should probably be okay, since it only gets two SNA spells, so the effectiveness of these summons won't scale very well, and animals only means nothing too tricky. At high levels the long duration might be an issue. Still, it's not too far out of line I think.

The idea of spamming a themed damage spell is the intended effect. I think with thoughtful encounters this won't get any more tedious than playing a fighter in regular D&D, and not every encounter can be solved by stacking AoE damage.

Wall of Stone is a serious issue because of its permanency. Thankfully, it can only be cast on areas of existing stone, so it is limited in a way. I think WBL-breaking shenanigans through instant conjurations is going to be seriously frowned upon, but the domains aren't worth banning.

It's good to see Slime get some love! That's actually a great domain list though. Divine grease and tentacles! Fantastic battlefield control spells for a cleric.

EDIT:: More replies!

@Hunter of Jello
I read the Fire Mage and Warlock entries. The Fire Mage is exactly the sort of feel I'm going for, and I thought domains would be a nice big list of pre-genned concepts like this.


@aethernox
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of domains this wouldn't work for, I agree wholeheartedly with your list. Luckily it's not hard to just say no to players that want the Envy domain, and make them pick something else. I'll definitely keep an eye on what everybody is picking. It also might be good to just say that all Wishes/Miracles/Gate/Planar Bindings/Time Stops/etc. are out (I'm noticing Luck has Miracle too). Still, with not too many players, these cheater domains should be easy to weed out, and specific spells can just be replaced if the rest of the domain is okay. (Envy isn't salvageable--Wish, Simulacrum, Limited Wish, Touch of Idiocy? Unlimited disguise self? Yeah, right.)


Sorry for the wall of text. New question- does this sound like fun as a player?

[Amnestic]

It does sound like fun, but it'd need a lot of watching.

I'd outright ban all the Planar Domains (SpC), though if they can only take one domain slot that's already taken care of I suppose. Also, the Spell Domain. At Will AnySpell+Wizard=Unlimited arcane spells up to level 5 that s/he knows. Can be as bad for any non-wizards who happen to have a large repository of scrolls or a looted spellbook.

As for a domain...my preferred idea would be some sort of homebrewed Prismatic Domain. Failing that, either Corruption (BoVD) or Glory (BoED). :smallamused:

[ericgrau]

I'd do 3/day or x/day instead. There are dozens of spells that could be abused by casting them a dozen times, or 100 times for others.

The power of however many times per day depends on how long your adventuring day is. For multiple fights per day, casting your highest level spell more than a couple times is very strong.

[Eurus]

What about the lower level spells being at will, and the higher being limited? 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are probably spammable without too much trouble.

[ericgrau]

There are a lot of good level 1-3 buffs. You might not cast them 100 times, but you'd tag yourself and all your allies with immunity to every single energy type via the luck domain, for example. Actually, somehow I missed your Superhero theme which was right in the title. That really needs at wills. Better idea: remove all the buffs, summons, wishes, etc. and stick to power-like spells only. Or many of the non-power-like spells could maybe stay if you don't mind the high power that entails.

EDIT: Option B, some kind of recharge system where your powers get drained from heavy use. Maybe spell points but you get a small pool and you get X points back per Y minutes instead of a larger daily pool. Or something else fitting the fluff. But then buffs or anything with hour/level or 10min/level duration become a really bad idea as people will stand around for half the day waiting to recharge so they can spam more. Unless you let the player have those up all day automatically without expending points.

[Worira]

Alternately, 1/day highest level you can cast, 3/day second highest, unlimited below, or some variant of that.

What domain I'd pick would depend on what type of character I was playing, and on how much I was trying to minmax. A fighter type might take War or Strength, while a wizard might take Magic or Knowledge.

[Godskook]

The idea of spamming a themed damage spell is the intended effect. I think with thoughtful encounters this won't get any more tedious than playing a fighter in regular D&D, and not every encounter can be solved by stacking AoE damage.

You clearly aren't using enough AoE damage. (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-09-07)