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External
Since: Jul 06, 2006
Posts: 17
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(Msg. 1) Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:06 am
Post subject: Alternative rules to domains
Archived from groups: rec>games>frp>dnd (more info?)
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If the design of some of the domains in the PHB and SC seem a little
pat or strange to you, here's an alternative set of rules to cleric
domains:
Each deity retains its portfolio: Pelor has his portfolio, Wee Jas has
hers, etc. etc.
However instead of their clerics choosing two of the domains the
deities have power to grant, each deity has a short list of spells for
all 9 levels that their clerics would take as 'portfolio' spells. (I
change the name here to avoid confusion with the standard rules.)
At each spell level, the deity grants portfolio spells: up to two
spells which are alignment-based and one or more that are related to
the deity's portfolio.
For instance, instead of all deities with War as part of their
portfolio granting the same nine spells, each deity that rules over war
picks their own set of nine war-related spells. So each war deity might
have a different 9th-level war spell:
Corellon Larethian: Foresight
Erythnul: Storm of Vengeance
Guumsh: Meteor Swarm
Heironeous: Power Word Kill
Hextor: Bigby's Crushing Hand
Certainly two deities ruling over the same portfolio item might share
the same spell at a given level but this would no longer be mandatory.
Part of the reason I came up with this alternative is that some of the
domains in the PHB and SC had spells that just didn't fit in with the
rest. The other reason is that I thought it would be interesting to
customize domains from deity to deity.
One might also be able to make the case that one domain does not
necessarily fit all its ruling deities equally. Heironeous and Hextor
both govern law, but in very different ways. Would they necessarily use
the exact same tools to promote their agendas where law is concerned? |
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External
Since: Aug 21, 2004
Posts: 1923
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(Msg. 2) Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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In article <1159797972.200455.209880 DeleteThis @e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com>,
xeno_mls DeleteThis @yahoo.com says...
> Part of the reason I came up with this alternative is that some of the
> domains in the PHB and SC had spells that just didn't fit in with the
> rest.
What are you thinking of, specifically?
> The other reason is that I thought it would be interesting to
> customize domains from deity to deity.
In Eberron, clerics of the Valenar elves' religion get a customized War
domain, with a phantom-steed-like spell as the 4th-level spell, and a
holy-sword-like spell as the 9th-level spell, IIRC.
But I like customizing domains better than making up a specific
"portfolio list" for each deity, since domains are more modular, so they
make creating new deities or philosophies easier.
With a portfolio list, you need to go through the whole PHB and pick
spells for your new Evil goddess of pirates and ninjas; with domains,
you just give her Evil, Water and Trickery and swap confusion for
improved invisibility in Trickery (since remaining undetected is more
important for ninjas than sowing chaos) that's it.
--
Jasin Zujovic |
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External
Since: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 1078
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(Msg. 3) Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Jasin Zujovic wrote:
> In Eberron, clerics of the Valenar elves' religion get a customized War
> domain, with a phantom-steed-like spell as the 4th-level spell, and a
> holy-sword-like spell as the 9th-level spell, IIRC.
>
> But I like customizing domains better than making up a specific
> "portfolio list" for each deity, since domains are more modular, so they
> make creating new deities or philosophies easier.
>
> With a portfolio list, you need to go through the whole PHB and pick
> spells for your new Evil goddess of pirates and ninjas; with domains,
Yes, that's a lot of work, and frequently involves re-inventing the
wheel again and again. Domains are much simpler and work 80% as well as
hand-picked spells.
(They could work even better if they played a *larger* role for the
individual Cleric, so as to make Clerics of different deities more
different from each other, but that is something for 4th Edition, or
severe house ruling in the style of Keith Davies)
> you just give her Evil, Water and Trickery and swap confusion for
> improved invisibility in Trickery (since remaining undetected is more
> important for ninjas than sowing chaos) that's it.
Some years ago, I read about a slightly novel approach to Domains, which
was to split each Domain up into two sub-Domains, with maybe one having
a "good"'ish flavour and the otehr an "evil"'ish flavour, or something
like that. the Air Domain was, IIRC, split up into the Air(Wind) Domain
and the Air(Lightning) Domain.
I don't recall how deities were said to work. I can imagine two
possibilities; either a deity would still simply have Air, and it would
be the player (or the GM for an NPC) who picked either Wind or
Lightning. Or else each deity would be assigned a specific sub-Domain,
so that few, if any, deities would let the player chose either Wind or
Lightning.
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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External
Since: Aug 21, 2004
Posts: 1923
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(Msg. 4) Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:55 am
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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In article <4521c6d3$0$146$157c6196@dreader2.cybercity.dk>,
peter.TakeThisOut@sagatafl.invalid says...
> Domains are much simpler and work 80% as well as
> hand-picked spells.
>
> (They could work even better if they played a *larger* role for the
> individual Cleric, so as to make Clerics of different deities more
> different from each other, but that is something for 4th Edition, or
> severe house ruling in the style of Keith Davies)
Not necessarily that severe.
Just take away the cleric's domain slot, and let them spontaneously cast
domain spells, just like cures or inflicts.
This might power up clerics a bit, not a good thing since they're
already plenty powerful, but you could always just take away another
slot per level or drop the HD down to d6 or something.
> > you just give her Evil, Water and Trickery and swap confusion for
> > improved invisibility in Trickery (since remaining undetected is more
> > important for ninjas than sowing chaos) that's it.
>
> Some years ago, I read about a slightly novel approach to Domains, which
> was to split each Domain up into two sub-Domains, with maybe one having
> a "good"'ish flavour and the otehr an "evil"'ish flavour, or something
> like that. the Air Domain was, IIRC, split up into the Air(Wind) Domain
> and the Air(Lightning) Domain.
Interesting.
--
Jasin Zujovic >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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External
Since: Jun 08, 2005
Posts: 1864
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(Msg. 5) Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:43 am
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Jasin Zujovic wrote:
> In article <4521c6d3$0$146$157c6196@dreader2.cybercity.dk>,
> peter.RemoveThis@sagatafl.invalid says...
>
> > Domains are much simpler and work 80% as well as
> > hand-picked spells.
> >
> > (They could work even better if they played a *larger* role for the
> > individual Cleric, so as to make Clerics of different deities more
> > different from each other, but that is something for 4th Edition, or
> > severe house ruling in the style of Keith Davies)
>
> Not necessarily that severe.
>
> Just take away the cleric's domain slot, and let them spontaneously cast
> domain spells, just like cures or inflicts.
>
> This might power up clerics a bit, not a good thing since they're
> already plenty powerful, but you could always just take away another
> slot per level or drop the HD down to d6 or something.
PHB2 already has the 'spontaneous domain casting' substitution for
cure/inflict. Only works for one domain, but that seems like it would
be enough.
Also noticed that there were planar domains in the Spell Compendium
that have two spells for each level and count as two domains, so
there's precident for that.
Still from a flavor point of view, I still prefered 2e's Specialist
Priests.
- Justisaur >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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External
Since: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 1078
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(Msg. 6) Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Jasin Zujovic wrote:
> peter RemoveThis @sagatafl.invalid says...
>>Domains are much simpler and work 80% as well as
>>hand-picked spells.
>>
>>(They could work even better if they played a *larger* role for the
>>individual Cleric, so as to make Clerics of different deities more
>>different from each other, but that is something for 4th Edition, or
>>severe house ruling in the style of Keith Davies)
>
> Not necessarily that severe.
>
> Just take away the cleric's domain slot, and let them spontaneously cast
> domain spells, just like cures or inflicts.
That would not be *enough* to get true, full flavour. Such characters
would still primarily be Generic Clerics, and only secondarily be
Clerics of specific deities.
But of course it would constitute a step in the right direction.
> This might power up clerics a bit, not a good thing since they're
> already plenty powerful, but you could always just take away another
> slot per level or drop the HD down to d6 or something.
Dropping Clerics HD to d6 would move them further away from the role
they occupy now.
But of course, I'm all for dropping the Cleric class from the game
entirely, and replacing it with a non-combatant Priest class with d4 HD,
stronger divine magic, and only Wizard-like weapon familiarities.
People who wish to reproduce the traditional Cleric must then multiclass
as Priest and Fighter. (We can get rid of the Paladin class at the same
time. A Paladin would just be a Priest/Fighter with more Fighter than
Priest.)
>>>you just give her Evil, Water and Trickery and swap confusion for
>>>improved invisibility in Trickery (since remaining undetected is more
>>>important for ninjas than sowing chaos) that's it.
>>
>>Some years ago, I read about a slightly novel approach to Domains, which
>>was to split each Domain up into two sub-Domains, with maybe one having
>>a "good"'ish flavour and the otehr an "evil"'ish flavour, or something
>>like that. the Air Domain was, IIRC, split up into the Air(Wind) Domain
>>and the Air(Lightning) Domain.
>
> Interesting.
It is not an idea of mine. I read it somewhere, probably in an rpg.net
review. I can't remember what book was being reviewed.
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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Since: Aug 21, 2004
Posts: 1923
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(Msg. 7) Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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In article <4522a593$0$175$157c6196@dreader1.cybercity.dk>,
peter.TakeThisOut@sagatafl.invalid says...
> >>Domains are much simpler and work 80% as well as
> >>hand-picked spells.
> >>
> >>(They could work even better if they played a *larger* role for the
> >>individual Cleric, so as to make Clerics of different deities more
> >>different from each other, but that is something for 4th Edition, or
> >>severe house ruling in the style of Keith Davies)
> >
> > Not necessarily that severe.
> >
> > Just take away the cleric's domain slot, and let them spontaneously cast
> > domain spells, just like cures or inflicts.
>
> That would not be *enough* to get true, full flavour. Such characters
> would still primarily be Generic Clerics, and only secondarily be
> Clerics of specific deities.
How so? With spontaneous domains, your domain spells (at least
potentially) make up more of your repertoire than anything else on your
list, since every slot can suddenly become a domain slot.
Sure, two clerics of different deities that both picked War and Law will
still be pretty similar, but then, arguably those deities also have to
be similar in philosophy to offer the same choice of domains.
--
Jasin Zujovic >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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External
Since: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 1078
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(Msg. 8) Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:55 am
Post subject: Re: Alternative rules to domains [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Jasin Zujovic wrote:
> peter.RemoveThis@sagatafl.invalid says...
>>That would not be *enough* to get true, full flavour. Such characters
>>would still primarily be Generic Clerics, and only secondarily be
>>Clerics of specific deities.
>
> How so? With spontaneous domains, your domain spells (at least
A Cleric will still primarily feel like a generic Cleric.
To get more deity-specific flavour, you'd have to massively trim down
the generic Cleric spell list, and also increase the number of Domains,
and then give each Cleric 4 Domains, if not 5 (with each deity having at
least 6-7 Domains).
> potentially) make up more of your repertoire than anything else on your
> list, since every slot can suddenly become a domain slot.
Insufficient.
> Sure, two clerics of different deities that both picked War and Law will
> still be pretty similar, but then, arguably those deities also have to
> be similar in philosophy to offer the same choice of domains.
I don't have a problem with those two Clerics being similar to each
other. My problem is with those two Clerics being largely similar to
Clerics of drastically different deities.
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org >> Stay informed about: Alternative rules to domains |
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