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Old 11-10-2011, 08:02 PM   Top  -  End  -  #1
Yitzi
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Default Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

The biggest complaint about clerics in terms of being overpowered seems to be their versatility. This is of course less of an issue in Core (due to fewer spells to choose from) and much less of an issue if the DM is able to control the information available to some extent (as a cleric still can't cast spells he hasn't prepared), but for both balance and fluff reasons some reduction in available spells seems desirable. Thus, I propose (as part of my general Core fix), the following change for PEACHing:



Domain-associated spells: Not all gods grant the same spells to their clerics. Each god has particular areas of expertise (represented by domains), and these affect what spells are available to a cleric of that god. (Clerics without a god should choose 4 domains that fit their general beliefs, subject to approval by the DM. Their actual domains must be chosen from among these.)

Each god grants the spells listed for each of the domains below that they possess (whether the cleric has chosen the domain or not), as well as the spells listed for the "universal" domain. Note that a spell may have different levels for different lists; in such case, the cleric may choose which level he wants the spell to count as.
If a cleric gains the ability to spontaneously cast a spell, he also gains access to that spell even if it is on none of his deity's domain lists.
A cleric may use wands and scrolls of any cleric spell regardless of whether it is associated with one of his deity's domains, but must use his deity's available domains when determining valid effects of the Miracle spell.

Domain lists:
Spoiler


In addition, there are a few other spells that need fixing:

-The more general the question asked from a Divination spell, the more cryptic the answer. In particular, using it to determine what spells should be prepared for a given day will be of minimal use at best.

-Divine Power is replaced by the Pathfinder version: The enhancement bonus to STR and change to BAB are replaced by a luck bonus equal to 1/3 your level (maximum 6) to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and Strength-based ability and skill checks and by a bonus attack similar (and nonstacking) to that granted by Haste. The bonus hit points stay where they are.

-When Forbiddance is granted by an alignment domain, only those alignments shared by the caster and his deity count. When the caster channels negative energy, unholy water is used instead of holy water. (This is really just because it makes sense.)

-Spells found as wizard spells were dealt with in the wizard section; spells found as cleric domain spells and as druid spells will be dealt with when I do the druid fix.
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More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

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Last edited by Yitzi : 11-19-2011 at 11:47 PM.
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Old 11-18-2011, 02:14 PM   Top  -  End  -  #2
bloodtide
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

What I find amazing about your 'fix', is this is the way clerics were in 2E. Back in 2E each cleric got 6-10 spheres(plus 3-4 minor ones), that were lists of spells, and only those spells. So a cleric of Zeus would not even have close to the same spells as a cleric of Aphrodite. Even more so were specialty priests that let you customize your cleric even more to be specialized only for your god(So like a priest of Zeus could call lightning 1/d as a spell like ability).

Want to guess what happened?

Yup, everyone whined and complained that most of the cleric specialty priests were useless. Only the gods of war or weather or destruction got the cool combat stuff, if you picked a god of peace or love or family you could not cause massive death and destruction. And people endlessly complained that there favorite god/goddess was not cool enough.

So 3E dumped the whole specially idea, and made all clerics generic with only a handful of special spells. It's only fair that no matter what god you pick, you should get the same spells. After all the goddess of love would want you to cast earthquake just as much as the god of destruction.

It's nice to see things come full circle, but few will like this fix, as it will take away the cool spells from their favorite god.

But only 4 domains is a bit limiting. You might want to go the 2E route and add in lesser domains of 4th level and under.
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Old 11-18-2011, 03:34 PM   Top  -  End  -  #3
Yitzi
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Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
What I find amazing about your 'fix', is this is the way clerics were in 2E. Back in 2E each cleric got 6-10 spheres(plus 3-4 minor ones), that were lists of spells, and only those spells.
Maybe I heard about that and even though I didn't remember it it inspired this.

Quote:
Yup, everyone whined and complained that most of the cleric specialty priests were useless.
That's part of why in mine, the most essential cleric spells go in the "universal" domain. (Most of that, though, is to ensure that nearly every party has someone who can provide the essential spells.) So there are some commonalities between them.

Quote:
Only the gods of war or weather or destruction got the cool combat stuff, if you picked a god of peace or love or family you could not cause massive death and destruction.
The answer, of course, is to give those superior abilities in other areas. More to the point, if you want to cause massive death and destruction why are you playing a cleric of a god of peace or love or family?

Quote:
And people endlessly complained that there favorite god/goddess was not cool enough.
If a deity's domains lack cool spells, then either their domains don't match their abilities, or they need new spells in line with their domains (perfectly fixable), or they really aren't cool and why are they the favorite of someone who cares about "coolness"?

Quote:
It's nice to see things come full circle
Thanks.

Quote:
but few will like this fix, as it will take away the cool spells from their favorite god.
Not really. Their favorite god will presumably be one associated with things that they find cool, so most of the cool spells (as they see it) will stay with that god.

Quote:
But only 4 domains is a bit limiting.
Not really; if you look, most domains have several spells associated with them at each level (and of course "universal" has quite a lot), so there's a pretty decent spell selection.

Essentially, I folded "minor domains" into the domains they're associated with by just adding to the spells of the "major domains", usually at +1 spell level.
__________________
My general 3.5 balance fix.
My psionics remix.
My common-sense houserules.
More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

Ever want to try your hand at optimizing, but dislike heavy emphasis on splatbooks and/or the rocket tag phenomenon?
Come visit the Core Coliseum today, for a totally different style of optimization.
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Old 11-18-2011, 04:54 PM   Top  -  End  -  #4
bloodtide
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RedWizardGuy
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yitzi View Post
That's part of why in mine, the most essential cleric spells go in the "universal" domain. (Most of that, though, is to ensure that nearly every party has someone who can provide the essential spells.) So there are some commonalities between them.
I'm a bit torn on 'universal spells'. While every cleric should have say Commune, it get a bit more gray saying every cleric must have say repel vermin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yitzi View Post
The answer, of course, is to give those superior abilities in other areas. More to the point, if you want to cause massive death and destruction why are you playing a cleric of a god of peace or love or family?
Good point, people are just strange(''why can't my cleric of peace do 100d100 damage per round?"). There was a lack of balance in a lot of old cleric classes...one got Earthquake 3/d and one got enthrall 3/d.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yitzi View Post
Essentially, I folded "minor domains" into the domains they're associated with by just adding to the spells of the "major domains", usually at +1 spell level.
I see. Maybe minor domains don't have much use.
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Old 11-19-2011, 08:28 PM   Top  -  End  -  #5
Yitzi
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
I'm a bit torn on 'universal spells'. While every cleric should have say Commune, it get a bit more gray saying every cleric must have say repel vermin.
To tell the truth, I'm not really sure why I added that one. It must have been a mistake, I'll remove it (and Enthrall) now. Thanks.
__________________
My general 3.5 balance fix.
My psionics remix.
My common-sense houserules.
More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

Ever want to try your hand at optimizing, but dislike heavy emphasis on splatbooks and/or the rocket tag phenomenon?
Come visit the Core Coliseum today, for a totally different style of optimization.

Last edited by Yitzi : 11-19-2011 at 08:30 PM.
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Old 11-19-2011, 09:20 PM   Top  -  End  -  #6
bloodtide
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Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yitzi View Post
To tell the truth, I'm not really sure why I added that one. It must have been a mistake, I'll remove it (and Enthrall) now. Thanks.
Er, well wait...

I think every cleric should have Enthrall. That does fit nicely into the idea of a cleric getting up on a pulpit and giving a sermon. All clerics should be able to do that.
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Old 11-19-2011, 11:44 PM   Top  -  End  -  #7
Yitzi
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
Er, well wait...

I think every cleric should have Enthrall. That does fit nicely into the idea of a cleric getting up on a pulpit and giving a sermon. All clerics should be able to do that.
I suppose that makes sense. Of course, it's only a few domains (Law and Trickery) that give it at level 2 rather than 3.
__________________
My general 3.5 balance fix.
My psionics remix.
My common-sense houserules.
More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

Ever want to try your hand at optimizing, but dislike heavy emphasis on splatbooks and/or the rocket tag phenomenon?
Come visit the Core Coliseum today, for a totally different style of optimization.
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Old 11-20-2011, 04:30 PM   Top  -  End  -  #8
DiBastet
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Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yitzi View Post
Maybe I heard about that and even though I didn't remember it it inspired this
...urge to kil.... rising...

Now, seriously, I enjoy this one. As the other poster, I always liked clerics having acess to spells that were mostly spells of their god's portfolio.

As you, that made your universal domain, i also choose a list of spells that all clerics would be able to use. mostly spells of smiting the unfaithful, healing, taking care of souls (not necessarily undead, but souls) and spreading the word to the masses, and then clerics can use only spells of their deities' domains. Very similar.

All in all, this could have saved me the work of designing very much the same thing almost a year ago.

Good job.
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Old 11-20-2011, 04:49 PM   Top  -  End  -  #9
jiriku
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
Yup, everyone whined and complained that most of the cleric specialty priests were useless.
To be fair, that's because the general priest had access to almost every domain, so playing a specialty priest of any kind was a straight nerf.

Sphere- or domain-based casting is definitely a solid way to nerf the cleric while preserving (or even improving) the flavor. It's just a daunting task, with so many spells in 3.5.
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Old 11-20-2011, 06:09 PM   Top  -  End  -  #10
The Troubadour
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Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
After all the goddess of love would want you to cast earthquake just as much as the god of destruction.
Fun fact: Poseidon, in addition to being the god of the seas, was also the god of horses and earthquakes. So, depending on the setting, I think it would be perfectly fine for a goddess of love to be associated with earthquakes.
Besides, no matter their mythological association, I think every god should have the power to cause a large amount of destruction to show their displeasure... Which means so should their clerics.

As for the fix itself, I like it, myself. I had been toying with doing something like that myself (partly because I wanted to lower the Cleric's overall power, but mostly because I wanted to emphasize the differences between the priesthoods of different gods), but then I converted over to 4th Edition and never got around to doing it. :-)
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Old 11-20-2011, 06:17 PM   Top  -  End  -  #11
Yitzi
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by DiBastet View Post
...urge to kil.... rising...
What?

Quote:
All in all, this could have saved me the work of designing very much the same thing almost a year ago.
Well, except of course that I hadn't made this a year ago.

Quote:
Sphere- or domain-based casting is definitely a solid way to nerf the cleric while preserving (or even improving) the flavor. It's just a daunting task, with so many spells in 3.5.
Fortunately, restricting it to Core makes it somewhat less daunting (although it still took me quite a while).

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Troubadour View Post
Besides, no matter their mythological association, I think every god should have the power to cause a large amount of destruction to show their displeasure... Which means so should their clerics.
In a sense, they (at least the high-level ones) do: A level 17 cleric can cast Miracle to imitate any level 7 spell of any class (including cleric spells not associated with their domain.)
__________________
My general 3.5 balance fix.
My psionics remix.
My common-sense houserules.
More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

Ever want to try your hand at optimizing, but dislike heavy emphasis on splatbooks and/or the rocket tag phenomenon?
Come visit the Core Coliseum today, for a totally different style of optimization.
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Old 11-20-2011, 08:45 PM   Top  -  End  -  #12
bloodtide
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RedWizardGuy
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Troubadour View Post
Fun fact: Poseidon, in addition to being the god of the seas, was also the god of horses and earthquakes. So, depending on the setting, I think it would be perfectly fine for a goddess of love to be associated with earthquakes.
Besides, no matter their mythological association, I think every god should have the power to cause a large amount of destruction to show their displeasure... Which means so should their clerics.
Sure every god can cause destruction, but that does not mean everyone should cast earthquake or cometfall. A goddess of love can cause a lot of destruction by messing with love, for example. Just think of a whole army, all love struck and at home when an invasion happens for example.

The trick for this fix, is to add more powerful 'destruction' type spells for each of the domains. And, for that matter, to add more flavor spells to each domain.
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Old 11-20-2011, 10:47 PM   Top  -  End  -  #13
Yitzi
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Default Re: Cleric fix/rework (3.5 Core, PEACH)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodtide View Post
Sure every god can cause destruction, but that does not mean everyone should cast earthquake or cometfall. A goddess of love can cause a lot of destruction by messing with love, for example. Just think of a whole army, all love struck and at home when an invasion happens for example.

The trick for this fix, is to add more powerful 'destruction' type spells for each of the domains. And, for that matter, to add more flavor spells to each domain.
That much is really more than I'm interested in doing, especially as IIRC all the deities in the PHB have access to enough "powerful" domains for sufficient impressive capability. (Not always flat-out destruction; some of them prefer more subtle or supportive stuff.) Note, for instance, that every alignment domain grants Gate; while it has been nerfed from its original (horribly broken) form, it's still quite nice. And every deity who's not TN gets at least one alignment domain.
__________________
My general 3.5 balance fix.
My psionics remix.
My common-sense houserules.
More minor homebrew (weapons, races).

Complete system remake (under construction, barely started)

Ever want to try your hand at optimizing, but dislike heavy emphasis on splatbooks and/or the rocket tag phenomenon?
Come visit the Core Coliseum today, for a totally different style of optimization.
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