Spontaneous divine. Is it woth it?

[chaotician375]

I'm making a Cleric for a game tonight and i really dislike preparing spells ahead of time. I found the Spontaneous divine alternate rule in unearthed arcana, and im not sure if its worth it (especially the loss of cure/inflict spells spontaneously, which i guess isnt lost, but still). What do you think.

[Psyren]

The thing about Divine casting is that there are a lot of spells that you will find yourself needing occasionally, but typically wouldn't be worth taking up a slot in a limited "spells known" repertoire. For instance, you're highly unlikely to need Remove Curse or Restoration every day, but the one time you DO need it you'll really be feeling the pain of that lack.

If what you want is "I want to be able to do more interesting things than heal without preparing them in advance," there's an easy solution - Spontaneous Domain casting, which lets you spontaneously cast spells from your domains in place of spontaneously converting to Cure or Inflict spells.

There are two versions, one in PHB2 and one in Complete Champion. The CC version gives you a wider choice (particularly if you have more than 2 domains, e.g. Sovereign Speaker) while the PHB2 version lets you do it more often. They can be combined.

[Ernir]

Using the variant is definitely a reduction in the casters' theoretical power potential.

The character is still not going to be anything close to useless, assuming you carefully select your spells known.

[Draz74]

Using the variant is definitely a reduction in the casters' theoretical power potential.

The character is still not going to be anything close to useless, assuming you carefully select your spells known.

+1 this.

A spontaneous Cleric is weaker than a normal Cleric. However, I would still strongly recommend that you use this option, assuming the following conditions are met:

You don't want the hassle of dealing with prepared spells.
You know how to pick useful spells.
You like flavorful characters. (Cleric is much more flavorful when its Domains have a greater effect on its spellcasting.)
You don't want to break the game.



The thing about Divine casting is that there are a lot of spells that you will find yourself needing occasionally, but typically wouldn't be worth taking up a slot in a limited "spells known" repertoire. For instance, you're highly unlikely to need Remove Curse or Restoration every day, but the one time you DO need it you'll really be feeling the pain of that lack.

This is also known as "Why Scrolls Exist."

[DeAnno]

I've seen it used with Domain Draughts on a very focused Cleric build to pretty good effect. He also had a pet Solar that he could prepare odd spells on though, so he didn't really feel the pinch of it the same way.

[pwykersotz]

If you want to be spontaneous, have you considered Favored Soul?

[Psyren]

This is also known as "Why Scrolls Exist."

Magic-Mart isn't always open for business though, plus you're blowing WBL for a feat tax (Rapid Metamagic) and limited spells known. Cleric's biggest advantage is knowing all their spells, even that one.

[DeAnno]

If you want to be spontaneous, have you considered Favored Soul?

The SAD, turning attempts, and domains of a Spontaneous Cleric make it worlds better than a Favored Soul imo.