holymauler
2015-04-21, 04:46 PM
Long time reader, first time posting... la de da :smallsmile:
Of all the things that 4th edition gave us (some good and some... no so much) I love their pantheon. My favorite of which is The Raven Queen, death god without being evil. The roleplaying implications to me are huge and I love bringing in the "no nonsense" approach to death. Nothing says team work like when the cleric consults with their deity if it is "OK" to resurrect the fighter or if he actually was supposed to die. :smallbiggrin:
Besides Death, The Raven Queen is also the goddess of Prophecy. How else would her followers know who was supposed to stay dead and who was taken before their time? I would like to make a Prophecy domain with her in mind specifically, but it could easily be tweaked for a luck god of other fate spinning deity.
Prophecy Domain:
Most Deities gift their followers with magical powers to affect the world. Although this makes impressive displays for the masses, you worship a deity of more subtle understanding. Instead of grand displays of power manifesting in blinding light, fiery oration or thundering might, your deity grants you a fraction of their visions of the "threads of fate". These limited glimpses of the future are more magnificent than any column of radiant light or violent earthquake called down by the faithful of other gods. The followers of a god of prophecy are quiet and contemplative, very aware of the ramifications of their and other's actions. These small decisions cut or bind different threads that can either weave a grand tapestry or lead to the unraveling of time itself. More than anyone else, you understand that the smallest wind has the potential to become a mighty hurricane. Only your deity sees the many paths that can lead it to become a smooth wind in the sails of a ship or a hammering gale that sheds it's fabric bare.
Prophecy Domain Spells:
Level Spell Name
1st Bane, Bless
3rd Clairvoyance, Nondetection
5th Commune, Divination
7th True Seeing, Scrying
9th Foresight, Wish
Assured Strikes 1st level:
Gain "True Strike" Cantrip and it has the following change:
"Duration: Concentration up to 1 minute, 2 charges. May expend 1 charge to gain advantage on your next attack roll before you roll."
Danger Foreseen 1st level:
You cannot be surprised, you and allies adjacent to you may add Proficiency to Initiative checks. If a you would not normally get a "Surprise Round" at the beginning of combat, you gain 1 action during the surprise round (at your initiative). you may only use this action to cast a "Divination" spell with a casting time of 1 round or less. When you cast the "Bless" or "Bane" spell you may treat it's spell school as "Divination" instead of "Enchantment".
Split Second Augury 2nd level:
May use Channel Divinity as a reaction: Ally or opponent within 20 ft gains advantage or disadvantage before roll is made. You must announce your intention to use this ability before the die/dice are rolled.
Natural Prophecy 6th level:
WIS modifier per long rest, you may cast "Bless" or "Bane" and remove the concentration keyword if the spell is cast at 1st level.
Assured Spell 8th level:
"True Strike" gains an additional effect. You may use 1 charge to force a single target of one of your spells that requires a saving throw to make their save at disadvantage.
Shared Prophecy 14th level:
When you cast "True Strike" you can target an ally within 20 ft. The ally gains the benefits of Assured Strikes and Assured Spell if they wish. You maintain Concentration for the spell if you target an ally.
Prophetic Molding 17th level:
1/long rest you may focus on an opponent and mold it's future. This requires an action to activate and concentration to maintain, you must be within 20 ft of the target at the end of your turn to maintain concentration. If you are not within 20 ft at the end of your or stop Concentrating, the effect ends. 1/round you may choose one of the following effects as a Reaction. Opponent gains disadvantage on one saving throw, disadvantage on one ability check, disadvantage on one attack roll, remove the benefits of cover less than total cover or grant one attack roll against them advantage. You may use your reaction and select an option after the die is rolled but before the results are known. If the advantage or disadvantage that you grant cancels a rolled die, you may choose which die to cancel.
True Prophecy 17th level:
Gain Wish as a 9th level Domain spell. You may not use Wish to duplicate an 8th level or lower spell, only the "alternate" options.
As I designed this domain, I leaned heavily on the Advantage/Disadvantage system to show that what you see is more likely. Prophecy isn't always 100% correct, which I think is perfectly modeled by Advantage/Disadvantage in it's domain features. Since playing with fate (dice) is fairly powerful, I purposefully didn't pick awesome domain spells. Basically I grabbed the utility Divination spells that you would want anyway so that you could pick other spells to fill your slots. By just making the domain list "utility" I hoped to balance the domain in combat with it's domain features that hand out Advantage/Disadvantage. I also REALLY like Bless/Bane as thematically "seeing" either your allies fortune (bless) or your foes failures (bane) from all possible timelines. This is why I allowed the Prophecy domain to treat them as Divination so you can use your "Danger Foreseen" power detailed above.
As far as damage balance, I purposefully left out any +1d8/2d8 mechanic at 8th/14th level and substituted buffing True Strike to be more versatile. I foresee it as being the default choice for their "Danger Foreseen" free action at the start of combat at lower levels (bless and bane as you get more spells per day) and will be used on weapon rolls at first and then spell saves later. The damage potential purposefully shifts from damage that you contribute in the beginning levels to making sure that your allies damage abilities land at later levels. An ideal situation for my vision would be low level players using their concentration buffs and then weapon attacks, moving towards more buff/debuff spells as you level. The highest levels would probably not deal much damage at all directly, just improving the effectiveness of their allies. Once you can use bless and bane without concentration, the potential for battlefield control goes up significantly. The main issue I see with this setup is that you are entirely dependent on your allies to be effective. It has the potential to "invalidate" the aspect of rolling dice at mid/higher levels with so much die modification, which is my concern. After all we are playing a dice game, as much as we have a love hate relationship with our d20s. I gave it wish at 9th level domain because the "alternate" uses just seem like your deity letting you physically touch the threads and change them. Of course it is taxing for a mortal to touch such divine things! It provides a very nice touch to the capstone ability of the domain.
The Prophetic Molding is a "no-save, just suck" ability that the enemy has to deal with. It isn't difficult to get out of, you only have to get out of range or break the cleric's concentration. But, if you don't deal with it, prepare to suck hardcore at the worst moments possible. The main "hole" I left in it is that the enemy can still use abilities that cause saves without penalty and does not outright keep them from doing anything, you can totally Move/Dash if you have the room and end up outside of the area. It forces the party to think ahead and the DM to make touch choices.
Please let me know what you think, always open to input!
tl;dr, buff/debuff cleric that can reshape fate to their choosing.
Of all the things that 4th edition gave us (some good and some... no so much) I love their pantheon. My favorite of which is The Raven Queen, death god without being evil. The roleplaying implications to me are huge and I love bringing in the "no nonsense" approach to death. Nothing says team work like when the cleric consults with their deity if it is "OK" to resurrect the fighter or if he actually was supposed to die. :smallbiggrin:
Besides Death, The Raven Queen is also the goddess of Prophecy. How else would her followers know who was supposed to stay dead and who was taken before their time? I would like to make a Prophecy domain with her in mind specifically, but it could easily be tweaked for a luck god of other fate spinning deity.
Prophecy Domain:
Most Deities gift their followers with magical powers to affect the world. Although this makes impressive displays for the masses, you worship a deity of more subtle understanding. Instead of grand displays of power manifesting in blinding light, fiery oration or thundering might, your deity grants you a fraction of their visions of the "threads of fate". These limited glimpses of the future are more magnificent than any column of radiant light or violent earthquake called down by the faithful of other gods. The followers of a god of prophecy are quiet and contemplative, very aware of the ramifications of their and other's actions. These small decisions cut or bind different threads that can either weave a grand tapestry or lead to the unraveling of time itself. More than anyone else, you understand that the smallest wind has the potential to become a mighty hurricane. Only your deity sees the many paths that can lead it to become a smooth wind in the sails of a ship or a hammering gale that sheds it's fabric bare.
Prophecy Domain Spells:
Level Spell Name
1st Bane, Bless
3rd Clairvoyance, Nondetection
5th Commune, Divination
7th True Seeing, Scrying
9th Foresight, Wish
Assured Strikes 1st level:
Gain "True Strike" Cantrip and it has the following change:
"Duration: Concentration up to 1 minute, 2 charges. May expend 1 charge to gain advantage on your next attack roll before you roll."
Danger Foreseen 1st level:
You cannot be surprised, you and allies adjacent to you may add Proficiency to Initiative checks. If a you would not normally get a "Surprise Round" at the beginning of combat, you gain 1 action during the surprise round (at your initiative). you may only use this action to cast a "Divination" spell with a casting time of 1 round or less. When you cast the "Bless" or "Bane" spell you may treat it's spell school as "Divination" instead of "Enchantment".
Split Second Augury 2nd level:
May use Channel Divinity as a reaction: Ally or opponent within 20 ft gains advantage or disadvantage before roll is made. You must announce your intention to use this ability before the die/dice are rolled.
Natural Prophecy 6th level:
WIS modifier per long rest, you may cast "Bless" or "Bane" and remove the concentration keyword if the spell is cast at 1st level.
Assured Spell 8th level:
"True Strike" gains an additional effect. You may use 1 charge to force a single target of one of your spells that requires a saving throw to make their save at disadvantage.
Shared Prophecy 14th level:
When you cast "True Strike" you can target an ally within 20 ft. The ally gains the benefits of Assured Strikes and Assured Spell if they wish. You maintain Concentration for the spell if you target an ally.
Prophetic Molding 17th level:
1/long rest you may focus on an opponent and mold it's future. This requires an action to activate and concentration to maintain, you must be within 20 ft of the target at the end of your turn to maintain concentration. If you are not within 20 ft at the end of your or stop Concentrating, the effect ends. 1/round you may choose one of the following effects as a Reaction. Opponent gains disadvantage on one saving throw, disadvantage on one ability check, disadvantage on one attack roll, remove the benefits of cover less than total cover or grant one attack roll against them advantage. You may use your reaction and select an option after the die is rolled but before the results are known. If the advantage or disadvantage that you grant cancels a rolled die, you may choose which die to cancel.
True Prophecy 17th level:
Gain Wish as a 9th level Domain spell. You may not use Wish to duplicate an 8th level or lower spell, only the "alternate" options.
As I designed this domain, I leaned heavily on the Advantage/Disadvantage system to show that what you see is more likely. Prophecy isn't always 100% correct, which I think is perfectly modeled by Advantage/Disadvantage in it's domain features. Since playing with fate (dice) is fairly powerful, I purposefully didn't pick awesome domain spells. Basically I grabbed the utility Divination spells that you would want anyway so that you could pick other spells to fill your slots. By just making the domain list "utility" I hoped to balance the domain in combat with it's domain features that hand out Advantage/Disadvantage. I also REALLY like Bless/Bane as thematically "seeing" either your allies fortune (bless) or your foes failures (bane) from all possible timelines. This is why I allowed the Prophecy domain to treat them as Divination so you can use your "Danger Foreseen" power detailed above.
As far as damage balance, I purposefully left out any +1d8/2d8 mechanic at 8th/14th level and substituted buffing True Strike to be more versatile. I foresee it as being the default choice for their "Danger Foreseen" free action at the start of combat at lower levels (bless and bane as you get more spells per day) and will be used on weapon rolls at first and then spell saves later. The damage potential purposefully shifts from damage that you contribute in the beginning levels to making sure that your allies damage abilities land at later levels. An ideal situation for my vision would be low level players using their concentration buffs and then weapon attacks, moving towards more buff/debuff spells as you level. The highest levels would probably not deal much damage at all directly, just improving the effectiveness of their allies. Once you can use bless and bane without concentration, the potential for battlefield control goes up significantly. The main issue I see with this setup is that you are entirely dependent on your allies to be effective. It has the potential to "invalidate" the aspect of rolling dice at mid/higher levels with so much die modification, which is my concern. After all we are playing a dice game, as much as we have a love hate relationship with our d20s. I gave it wish at 9th level domain because the "alternate" uses just seem like your deity letting you physically touch the threads and change them. Of course it is taxing for a mortal to touch such divine things! It provides a very nice touch to the capstone ability of the domain.
The Prophetic Molding is a "no-save, just suck" ability that the enemy has to deal with. It isn't difficult to get out of, you only have to get out of range or break the cleric's concentration. But, if you don't deal with it, prepare to suck hardcore at the worst moments possible. The main "hole" I left in it is that the enemy can still use abilities that cause saves without penalty and does not outright keep them from doing anything, you can totally Move/Dash if you have the room and end up outside of the area. It forces the party to think ahead and the DM to make touch choices.
Please let me know what you think, always open to input!
tl;dr, buff/debuff cleric that can reshape fate to their choosing.