Volcano Cleric Options?

[Afgncaap5]

So, I've toyed with the idea of playing a lizardman cleric who worshipped a volcano (or the god represented by the volcano, depending on how you look at it.) I want this so that I could reasonably take the Fire and Earth domains and be able to turn or rebuke most elemental subtype creatures I encounter.

I've been looking over options for Volcano deities for comparisons or to find other volcano-styled options, but I'm not finding much luck there. I've always been a fan of Joramy, but the amount of material available for her in 3.5 is practically nill, as it is in 4th edition. ...and 5th edition, really. WotC's really droppin' the ball on the Greyhawk lore, here... but I digress. There's also Hephaestus from the Deities & Demigods book, but he feels a little too orderly to me.

So... any thoughts on what makes a good volcano cleric? Or a good lizardman cleric?

[BowStreetRunner]

If you want to turn or rebuke a lot of creature types you should look into a cleric of Obad-Hai (all four elemental domains) and then get into Contemplative or some other PrC that lets you get bonus domains.

Bleredd and Tharizdûn in Greyhawk, Gond in Forgotten Realms, and Hephaestus in the Olympic pantheon all have both Fire and Earth domains.

Joramy is the only Volcano god I know of.

Semuanya is the god of Lizardfolk, although DR318 also introduced Ka.

[Duelpersonality]

I'm not too sure about a volcano cleric, but for race I would probably say go with a poison dusk lizardfolk from MM3 instead of a base lizardfolk. It's still LA+1, but it doesn't have any racial hit dice. Maybe focus on summoning fire and earth elementals to further demonstrate your control.

[Inevitability]

Serpent Kingdoms has Lava Missile (fire-based Magic Missile that heals firenewts), Lava Splash (cilinder-shaped blasting that heals firenewts) and Erupt (damage and Heat Metal effects in a large area that renders an area incapable of supporting plant life for a year).

In contrast to almost everything else in the book, the spells are actually on the weak side, even if you've got firenewt allies. Lava Missile is a higher level than MM but deals less and worse damage, Lava Splash is only interesting because depending on your reading it doesn't have a cap, an Erupt is useless in combat and only slightly interesting outside of it (because sometimes you need to destroy a medium-sized piece of land and prevent plant life for some time, I guess?). I'd ask your DM if the spells could receive a buff.

[Afgncaap5]

If you want to turn or rebuke a lot of creature types you should look into a cleric of Obad-Hai (all four elemental domains) and then get into Contemplative or some other PrC that lets you get bonus domains.

It's a good thought, but I don't think the Contemplative (or even the incredibly generous Sovereign Speaker) prestige class allow for Cleric levels and prestige class levels to stack for the purposes of domain power use, do they? If they do, that's great news; I was expecting to be able to rebuke fire and earth creatures while turning air and water creatures, but it'd be amazing to do both. Class level's important for turning checks, sadly. :smallfrown:


Bleredd and Tharizdûn in Greyhawk, Gond in Forgotten Realms, and Hephaestus in the Olympic pantheon all have both Fire and Earth domains.

Joramy is the only Volcano god I know of.

Yeah, there aren't many, I think. I only know about her because I was able to get my hands on a Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, and I poured through it while making a halfling pyromancer. I almost went with her as a patron deity, but actually decided that Wenta was more in tune with how this particular halfling saw the world. He was pretty chill for a pyromancer.


Semuanya is the god of Lizardfolk, although DR318 also introduced Ka.

I'll have to look for Ka. I don't see this guy worshipping Semuanya... though I suppose it's not impossible. His main motivation tends to be "Survival of the Lizardfolk" rather than anything sinister.



I'm not too sure about a volcano cleric, but for race I would probably say go with a poison dusk lizardfolk from MM3 instead of a base lizardfolk. It's still LA+1, but it doesn't have any racial hit dice. Maybe focus on summoning fire and earth elementals to further demonstrate your control.

Ooh, yes, I forgot about them. It won't *quite* check off the "play a lizardfolk character" box on my gaming bucket list, but it'll definitely help with turning ability.



Serpent Kingdoms has Lava Missile (fire-based Magic Missile that heals firenewts), Lava Splash (cilinder-shaped blasting that heals firenewts) and Erupt (damage and Heat Metal effects in a large area that renders an area incapable of supporting plant life for a year).

In contrast to almost everything else in the book, the spells are actually on the weak side, even if you've got firenewt allies. Lava Missile is a higher level than MM but deals less and worse damage, Lava Splash is only interesting because depending on your reading it doesn't have a cap, an Erupt is useless in combat and only slightly interesting outside of it (because sometimes you need to destroy a medium-sized piece of land and prevent plant life for some time, I guess?). I'd ask your DM if the spells could receive a buff.

Ooh, nifty... yes, I want those spells, even if they're on the weak side. I don't have much Forgotten Realms material (I'm more of a Greyhawk and Eberron fan) but I've got this one. Haven't really looked through it more than a few times, though, so I forgot about it (despite it ostensibly being a go-to book for playing a lizard-like person, differences between snakes and lizards notwithstanding.) Thanks!

[Arutema]

Steal Yamatsumi (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/DeityDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Yamatsumi), god of mountains, volcanoes, and winter, from Pathfinder?

[Afgncaap5]

Steal Yamatsumi (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/DeityDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Yamatsumi), god of mountains, volcanoes, and winter, from Pathfinder?

I'll give it a look, thanks! Though I'm not actually trying to take a pre-existing deity so much as I'm looking at deities with a volcanic theme and see if any of their options would work well for this volcano worshiping thing I'm going for. Having said that, I'll see if Yamatsumi offers any interesting feats or options that I could steal...

[Inevitability]

Almost forgot: there's also these (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031017a) spells. Only one of them appears on the cleric list, but Extra Spell may let you pick up the others.

[Big Fau]

Not a D&D deity, but Purphoros (http://client-cdn.crystalcommerce.com/photo/ideal808/file/d9caacd3fea95f2234daf63c4c98bb48/large/mtgths-playmat-86124-purphoros.jpg) of MtG fits the bill.