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TheThan
2012-12-18, 03:13 PM
Ok so I’m working on a variant druid (dnd 3.5) homebrew that forces the druid to pick one of several classical element “domains”. These are: Fire, water, earth, air, animals, plants, sun, moon, stars, and pestilence (evil druids are fun!).

Basically I’m writing up spell lists for each of these, when you become a druid, you get to pick one, and that determines your spell list. It’s been pretty easy finding spells that fit into each category, except for a few, primarily sun, moon and stars.

So does anyone have any ideas on what sort of spells I can fill these spell lists with. A themeatic feel would be nice. I’m happy to pilfer from other classes spell lists, and I have access to a whole lot of material (although my knowledge is not as encyclopedic as it used to be).

Craft (Cheese)
2012-12-18, 03:21 PM
Cleric domain lists looks like a good place to start. The Sun domain is in the PHB1, and the Spell Compendium has the Moon domain, which has the following spells:


Faerie Fire
Moonbeam
Moon Blade
Fear
Moon Path
Permanent Image
Insanity
Animal Shapes
Moonfire

Seems to be themed mostly around fighting lycanthropes, but it's a start. There's no "Star" domain that I know of though, but maybe divination would be a good fit?

Cuaqchi
2012-12-18, 03:26 PM
Funny... I do this naturally with every druid I play giving each of the Ptolemaic elements a roughly appropriate alignment and picking spells by that like a cleric. It also provides plenty of reasons for bestial cruelty or the use of venom (Natural Poison) from a Good character, or impetuous, free-wheeling behaviour from a Lawful character.

If you're looking to stick to breadth you have right now it may be worth noting that within the classical model some of your elements were contained within the others.

Plants were primarily part of Earth but linked with Water as a source of life.
Animals were associated with the element of their residence: Birds=Air, Fish=Water, others=Earth.
The Sun and Stars were divine elements of Fire.
Finally, the Moon was the divine element of the Air.

Pestilence would likely also fall under Earth, but liquid poisons and venoms would have a Water attribute.

hymer
2012-12-18, 03:56 PM
I guess you need to think about what 'stars' do to start looking for spells for that "domain".
I think I'd make the stars into a divination-heavy domain. They can tell the future, what time it is, and which way is north. That seems to indicate wisdom and knowledge to me.

A different thought: Since you have a domain that leans in a definite evil direction, shouldn't you have one that leans in the opposite direction? That's if your druids are still known to be neutral, of course. Something like life, growth or rebirth comes to mind.

Geostationary
2012-12-18, 06:01 PM
I guess you need to think about what 'stars' do to start looking for spells for that "domain".
I think I'd make the stars into a divination-heavy domain. They can tell the future, what time it is, and which way is north. That seems to indicate wisdom and knowledge to me.

A different thought: Since you have a domain that leans in a definite evil direction, shouldn't you have one that leans in the opposite direction? That's if your druids are still known to be neutral, of course. Something like life, growth or rebirth comes to mind.

But Pestilence does that already, and unambiguously evil domains are so passe! Sure, Pestilence tears down the mighty and blights those above, but in doing so it paves the way for new life and frees resources for the deprived. It's a perfectly natural piece of the world! Life from death and all that.

As for sun, moon, and stars:
The Sun Illuminates and Destroys. Use it to sift the truth from lies and destroy that which is unholy.
The Moon Deceives and Changes. Use it to deny truth, to cast away the shackles of form, and to manipulate those around you.
The Stars Observe and Influence. Use them to manipulate and divine the fate of the world.

Themes out the wazoo.

hymer
2012-12-18, 06:22 PM
One of us isn't reading the other right, Geo. I tried reading myself and you twice, and I don't think it's me. :smallsmile:

NotScaryBats
2012-12-18, 10:45 PM
I think he was saying that pestilence isn't "a definite evil direction"

TheThan
2012-12-19, 01:26 PM
Yeah, the entire point of pestilence is to provide a darker but still natural feeling spell list for those druids that wish to turn that route. Besides it’s not like there isn’t a history of classes of various sorts that focus on spreading disease already.

For the spell lists, I’m currently using the moon domain, dream domain, and the trickery domain.

For stars I’m using the illusion domain, the oracle domain, the travel domain and several divination spells.

Anyway what I’m looking at now, is possibly balancing the spell lists across each level. With 10 categories, and nine spell lists, this can quickly add up. I want to balance it so no single spell list looks weaker (numbers wise) than the others. So I’m looking for a good number of spells to stick with per spell list, per spell level. I’m thinking ten. What do you think?

Geostationary
2012-12-19, 11:24 PM
I think he was saying that pestilence isn't "a definite evil direction"

^That. It's kind of strange to have a list of 9 obviously neutral things then suddenly a token "evil" element, and such things are IMO much more entertaining to play with a counterintuitive or less overtly evil ideology (and more accurate to boot!). Everyone sees the druid of pestilence spreading disease, but why don't we see them tending to the remains and presiding over a flourishing ecosystem? The others are basic elements, but Pestilence is the only one there that makes the system function as a whole. Such domains have so much potential, and I hate to see it wasted.

On balance: I'm not of much use there, but wouldn't one solution be to try putting the spell lists together so they do distinctly different things? Also, are you saying ten spells per level per list, or ten spells per list total? I'm not sure I'm parsing it right.

TheThan
2012-12-20, 03:24 AM
Ten spells per list, ten per spell level

I’m going to work on making Pestilence more natural than clearly evil. I want poison, decay and a few other things rolled into it. so I probably ought to come up with a better name, but I can’t really think of one.