How much flexibility in your Cleric's chosen God?

[rigolgm]

I want my Wizard to spend his 1st level multiclassing as a Cleric instead (so he's Cleric 1 / Wizard x).

I've built his personality around being an obsessive farmer, so I like the idea of the 1st level 'dip' being as a Knowledge Cleric - so that he can get expertise (i.e. double proficiency) in the Nature skill.

However, as he's all about agriculture and ranching, his natural God choice would be Chauntea. Is it acceptable for me to say he worships Chauntea BUT as a Knowledge Cleric ... even though she's a God of agriculture etc NOT of knowledge?

I presume it's ok, as it fits the character concept. But I wanted to check.

Personally I love the idea of his farming obsession. I can imagine him praying to Chauntea but even ranting a bit to her in his prayers - before recovering his cool - because secretly he just wants to know EVERYTHING about farming, not be distracted by her broader nature-oriented rambles! He probably keeps her attention because of his love of farming, but swiftly graduated to Wizardry because his drive for knowledge is impatient.

Sounds legitmate, I guess? I know ultimately it's down to the DM.

And yes - he's an Enchanter so DOES treat hypnotised humanoids a bit like they are cattle. Get in that enclosure, beast! ;)

[BW022]

As you said... it is up to the DM.

In general, classes typically represent a large amount of time spent in training -- typically under an instructor. If start with a level of cleric of Chauntea... you've likely spent years in religious classes, praying, learning spells, magic classes, etc. You aren't just a worshipper. You are at least an acolyte or someone in training -- think years of seminary. Your main issue is explaining why someone who dedicated a percentage of their life to the church, would suddenly go off to be a wizard. I don't see a reason why someone wanting to know everything about farming would leave the church and go study arcane rituals in a wizard's tower/guild.

Most settings books publish the domains available for clerics. Chauntea does not offer the knowledge domains. Her domains would be nature and life. In previous editions, Animal, Earth, Good, Life, and Plant. Most DMs won't allow clerics to take domains not associated not associated with their god.

[rigolgm]

Cheers. I guess in that case it makes more sense for me to forget Chauntea and just go for a Knowledge God. For him it's all about knowing how to be great at Nature.

As for why he flipflopped to Wizardry after the first level - maybe he's too sciencey for escalation in the Church but his fanaticism keeps him crawling back to the God. He's surrounded by Wizards etc.

[skaddix]

Isnt there a hax Mystic Theurge available or is that not legal.

All the Benefits of a Cleric except the armor and weapon proficiencies with the Wizard Base Class Features and Wizard Spell List on top.

[Addaran]

However, as he's all about agriculture and ranching, his natural God choice would be Chauntea. Is it acceptable for me to say he worships Chauntea BUT as a Knowledge Cleric ... even though she's a God of agriculture etc NOT of knowledge?


Is it AL or with a specific DM? I don't think you could in AL.

But in my group, we let the players choose the domaine if he have an explanation. You could be war with pretty much any god if you're more a crusader cleric that focus on fighting the enemies of your god. You could pick life for a more support cleric of Tempus, war tactics understand that you need soldiers with different roles and specialization. So if it's the same DM, you could ask.

[NNescio]

Isnt there a hax Mystic Theurge available or is that not legal.

All the Benefits of a Cleric except the armor and weapon proficiencies with the Wizard Base Class Features and Wizard Spell List on top.

The Theurgy arcane tradition is one of the worst-written archetypes where half of his subclass features don't even work by RAW.

Meanwhile, the ones that work are still OP and make Clerics cry.

[gfishfunk]

You can almost mix and match with the gods and the domains, with some exceptions.

When you focus on a deity, you can focus on an aspect of that deity. I have yet to meet a DM that cares about the established pantheon, unless they create their own. Heck, I tend to give all of that to my players, and then build upon whatever they come up with.

[Biggstick]

As you said... it is up to the DM.

In general, classes typically represent a large amount of time spent in training -- typically under an instructor. If start with a level of cleric of Chauntea... you've likely spent years in religious classes, praying, learning spells, magic classes, etc. You aren't just a worshipper. You are at least an acolyte or someone in training -- think years of seminary. Your main issue is explaining why someone who dedicated a percentage of their life to the church, would suddenly go off to be a wizard. I don't see a reason why someone wanting to know everything about farming would leave the church and go study arcane rituals in a wizard's tower/guild.

Most settings books publish the domains available for clerics. Chauntea does not offer the knowledge domains. Her domains would be nature and life. In previous editions, Animal, Earth, Good, Life, and Plant. Most DMs won't allow clerics to take domains not associated not associated with their god.

Who's to say that the OP's PC wasn't also spending time reading other books with information on the Arcane way of doing things?

Being a Cleric does not make you an Acolyte of a deity. In fact if you read the flavor text on Cleric, you can simply be chosen by your deity without having any experience whatsoever in the activities of the Church. You can just as easily be an Urchin or Folk Hero or anything in between and still be a Cleric of Chauntea.

The choice to jump from Cleric to Wizard could represent the PC didn't truly know what they were getting into with Chauntea's teachings. Seeing as how Chauntea decided to grant this PC Clerical abilities, and a member of the Church brought this PC into the church doesn't mean they have to stay. They can just as easily depart on good terms with the understanding that this character wasn't truly cut out for the work of the Church. S/he will still serve Chauntea in their own way though, by pursuing Wizardry.

As to the OP, yes. You can absolutely serve Chauntea and flavor it as a Knowledge domain pursuit, especially with how you're writing the character. Bring your story to any DM who enjoys creative roleplaying and you'll most likely get the request approved.

[Herobizkit]

If you're beholden to a Knowledge God, Azuth or Oghma seems like the most logical choice for your dip (Azuth being all about Magic and its applications and Oghma being about learning and documenting things).

It's not uncommon for Forgotten Realms people to give lip service to whatever deity seems appropriate for the situation at hand. It sounds like you're describing a dude who's really into the 'science' of farming over venerating the Mother of Nature.

(Also, one of Azuth's titles is 'The High One' - make all the herb jokes you like).

[rooneg]

Rules as Written you can only choose the explicitly listed domains or Life, the default domain that all deities have access to (which is a stupid rule IMO, it just makes no sense for a lot of deities). Honestly though, unless you're talking about an Adventurers League game or something where people really care about Rules as Written I doubt any DM is going to give you crap about it if you've got a cool enough concept.

[RickAllison]

Rules as Written you can only choose the explicitly listed domains or Life, the default domain that all deities have access to (which is a stupid rule IMO, it just makes no sense for a lot of deities). Honestly though, unless you're talking about an Adventurers League game or something where people really care about Rules as Written I doubt any DM is going to give you crap about it if you've got a cool enough concept.

I don't actually think that is RAW. Here is the RAW phrases I got from the PHB:


If you’re playing a cleric or a character with
the Acolyte background, decide which god your deity
serves or served, and consider the deity’s suggested
domains when selecting your character’s domain.

So we have that the listed domains for gods are the suggested domains, not the only ones. Clerics should consider those first, but it makes no mention of limiting it to them.


the Life domain is incredibly broad,
and a cleric of any non-evil deity can choose it.

So yes, Life domain is applicable to everyone. You can be a cleric of any (non-Evil) god and be Life domain, you don't have to worry.


Divine Domain

Choose one domain related to your deity: Knowledge,
Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, or War. Each
domain is detailed at the end of the class description,
and each one provides examples of gods associated
with it.

So the domain has to be related to the deity, and the given deities are examples. But being related is rather vague...


Some gods
of knowledge promote the practical knowledge of craft
and invention, including smith deities like Gond, Reorx,
Onatar, Moradin, Hephaestus, and Goibhniu.

I figure this is more relevant than the deities specifically invested in the knowledge itself. Does Chauntea qualify as promoting the practical knowledge of invention? As I am not well-versed in the countless books of the Forgotten Realms, I am instead relying on a wiki, which offers an interesting contrast between Chauntea and Sylvanus, another nature god. Chauntea's followers were apparently often derided by Sylvanites because Chaunteans endorsed technologically advanced farming practices like crop rotation, irrigation, and transplanting while Sylvanites declared them manipulation of nature. At least based on this, a Knowledge Cleric of Chauntea who focuses on the invention of agriculture seems incredibly likely.

On the other hand, Sylvanus would be MUCH harder to spin such a domain. If I wanted to be a Knowledge Cleric for that deity, I would recommend framing the cleric as cataloging forests and other biomes over a period of years to detect evidence of any disturbances that are harming his domain, and that would be a stretch.

Other domains that could work for Chauntea include:

Light. Celebrating the cycle of agriculture, its "rebirth and renewal", and the light that empowers the crops to grow.
Nature. Chaunteans celebrate the intersection of technology and nature through agriculture. Everything they know originally comes from this domain.
NOT Tempest or Death. While Chaunteans do rely on rain, the Tempest domain has far more to do with the violent, crop-destroying aspects of the weather. The Death domain is about withering life or unnaturally perpetuating it, while Chauntea promotes new growth. These are prime examples of how not every domain can be applied to every deity. Some domains simply are incompatible.
Rarely Trickery, Arcana, and War. These three do not have a direct connection to Chauntea. I cannot think of any direct and consistent connections to make between the goddess of agriculture and these three. That isn't to say that a specific character couldn't use these in her service. A War Cleric might be tasked with reclaiming fertile soil for agricultural use from the clutches of those who would pollute it or overwork it and leave it fallow, but such clerics would not exist when all cultures respected agriculture. Arcana Clerics could be studying a magical plague or invasive species, like the effect of an owlbear-type creature on farmlands or forests, as someone who understands arcane magic is better able to parse such dilemmas. A Trickery Cleric may be called on to prey on those who unfairly persecute agricultural workers. In each of those cases, we have a comparatively rare domain applied to a specific issue for the Chauntean faith, while the others were applicable at any time.

[BurgerBeast]

I'm pretty sure you can play a cleric of any domain, godless or devoted to any god you choose, unless it is specifically denied in the rules. And it's generally not.

[RickAllison]

I'm pretty sure you can play a cleric of any domain, godless or devoted to any god you choose, unless it is specifically denied in the rules. And it's generally not.

Well, by RAW you will always have a deity. You can hate your deity and just have the misfortune of that deity deciding you were forced to be their champion. Actually, that sounds like an excellent idea for a Trickery Cleric, someone whose abilities are literally a prank pulled on them by the god because they despise said god. Even the text for Eberron in the PHB, a setting where clerics gaining power without deities is not unknown, gives no indication that a deity can forgo a choice of deity.

Basically, by the book you must have a deity to whom your powers are related. You do not need to have a relationship with them beyond some reason the god gives you said powers.

Similarly, you can have any domain that can be related to a god. So Tempest or War will be a difficult pitch for someone like Eldath who focuses specifically on calm waters and pacifism which those domains directly disrupt. But you could still do it with the right twist. For a War Cleric of Eldath, I would note that they are actually a servant of Tempus, who was dispatched to punish those who dared disobey his commandment to leave all worshipers of Eldath unharmed. I have actually played a Stormlord for Eldath before (albeit a Storm Sorcerer since the levels were before I made a multiclass into Cleric), and I played it as learning to tame the storms so that her quiet waters were both protected and refilled, that such clerics had a sacred duty to turn the mighty and destructive storms into constructive drivers of ecosystems. You just can't reasonably take the standard War Cleric and be a disciple of Eldath who specifically opposes war.

[BurgerBeast]

Well, by RAW you will always have a deity.

Huh, you appear to be right about this. But what happens when you get into theistic (as opposed to deistic) faiths? What about transcendent gods who are not personified, and therefore not deities? What about dead gods? What about the dark sun clerics that worshipped elements?

In 5e are these no longer possible as clerics? Some of the implications appear to be problematic. Example: Yeah, your diety was slain by another deity last night... so your 20th level cleric lost all of his abilities. Want to roll up a new toon?

[Pronounceable]

All of DnD's deity domains thing is just a massive pile of abstraction anyway, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Someone completely obsessed with farming is absolutely a good match for Chauntea cleric. So what if he wants to use wizard magic to enhance it, all Chauntea cares about is feeding people. If domain thing wasn't such a gamist excuse to give a bit of crunchy variation to cleric class (a particularly dumb DnDism btw) that required a lot of effort to make more of, Chauntea'd have a farming domain anyway.

However you can just be a farming obsessed wizard who happens to worship Chauntea instead. You absolutely don't need to have "Cleric" written on your stats to be devout. That's another silly DnDism.

[RickAllison]

Huh, you appear to be right about this. But what happens when you get into theistic (as opposed to deistic) faiths? What about transcendent gods who are not personified, and therefore not deities? What about dead gods? What about the dark sun clerics that worshipped elements?

In 5e are these no longer possible as clerics? Some of the implications appear to be problematic. Example: Yeah, your diety was slain by another deity last night... so your 20th level cleric lost all of his abilities. Want to roll up a new toon?

To be fair, the rules seem to be written specifically with Forgotten Realms in mind. If the world isn't FR, lots of the book becomes more difficult to consider and whether a deity is required is small change compared to the setting changes.

[xroads]

In general, classes typically represent a large amount of time spent in training -- typically under an instructor. If start with a level of cleric of Chauntea... you've likely spent years in religious classes, praying, learning spells, magic classes, etc. You aren't just a worshipper. You are at least an acolyte or someone in training -- think years of seminary. Your main issue is explaining why someone who dedicated a percentage of their life to the church, would suddenly go off to be a wizard. I don't see a reason why someone wanting to know everything about farming would leave the church and go study arcane rituals in a wizard's tower/guild.

I don't think this is the case anymore. According to the PHB (pg.56)...


"Harnessing divine magic doesn’t rely on study or training. A cleric might learn formulaic prayers and ancient rites, but the ability to cast cleric spells relies on devotion and an intuitive sense of a deity’s wishes."

Between this, the fact you can choose any background for any class, and the option to multiclass at anytime, I don't think characters have to be formally trained for long periods of time.

[BurgerBeast]

To be fair, the rules seem to be written specifically with Forgotten Realms in mind. If the world isn't FR, lots of the book becomes more difficult to consider and whether a deity is required is small change compared to the setting changes.

Well I'm not about to argue against Forgotten Realms being in mind, but I would say that the book is written to be inclusive of any setting first, and with Forgotten Realms as the default setting second. There is plenty of evidence for this.

In any case, it doesn't discount the problem of what happens to a Cleric of Chauntea if Chauntea is killed? Does the character cease to receive his powers? You can dismiss it as a rare corner-case, ignore it and hope it never comes up, or solve it in a different way, but the problem is there and needs a solution. Connecting clerics mechanically to their deity creates this problem. Breaking this connection solves it.

[RickAllison]

Well I'm not about to argue against Forgotten Realms being in mind, but I would say that the book is written to be inclusive of any setting first, and with Forgotten Realms as the default setting second. There is plenty of evidence for this.

In any case, it doesn't discount the problem of what happens to a Cleric of Chauntea if Chauntea is killed? Does the character cease to receive his powers? You can dismiss it as a rare corner-case, ignore it and hope it never comes up, or solve it in a different way, but the problem is there and needs a solution. Connecting clerics mechanically to their deity creates this problem. Breaking this connection solves it.

I think if Chauntea is killed, the cleric (and the world) has larger problems than losing Divine Intervention and such. Killing a god is something that fundamentally changes the world, not something that happens every other week. A more common problem I'd imagine is how you handle their powers when they are traveling to planes not under the sway of their god. Getting banished to Baator or Sigil seems much more likely than killing a major deity... Same issue of having a severed connection to the deity, but more likely to happen.

[Deleted]

You can almost mix and match with the gods and the domains, with some exceptions.

When you focus on a deity, you can focus on an aspect of that deity. I have yet to meet a DM that cares about the established pantheon, unless they create their own. Heck, I tend to give all of that to my players, and then build upon whatever they come up with.

This right here.

Honestly, if your DM is getting hung up on this sort of thing then they don't have their priorities right.

[BurgerBeast]

I think if Chauntea is killed, the cleric (and the world) has larger problems than losing Divine Intervention and such. Killing a god is something that fundamentally changes the world, not something that happens every other week. A more common problem I'd imagine is how you handle their powers when they are traveling to planes not under the sway of their god. Getting banished to Baator or Sigil seems much more likely than killing a major deity... Same issue of having a severed connection to the deity, but more likely to happen.

Okay, so you're doing a lot of nit-picking without answering the question at all. Does the character lose his (edit: spells cleric class features) or not?

[Addaran]

Okay, so you're doing a lot of nit-picking without answering the question at all. Does the character lose his (edit: spells cleric class features) or not?

The same can be asked about a few other classes.

Paladins depending on the setting ( in FR they follow a god)
Druid if nature is destroyed (continent wide destruction)
Anything Arcane if Mystra dies (or if the weave is destroyed) for FR.
Warlock depending on interpretation on how they get their power and the kind of deal/pact they made

[BurgerBeast]

The same can be asked about a few other classes.

Paladins depending on the setting ( in FR they follow a god)
Druid if nature is destroyed (continent wide destruction)
Anything Arcane if Mystra dies (or if the weave is destroyed) for FR.
Warlock depending on interpretation on how they get their power and the kind of deal/pact they made

Really? You dodge the question right after I requested a direct answer, and you included the quote of the question in your post?

Yes, it's pretty clear to me that this isn't the only place where you can ask the question. Yet, the question remains.

[Addaran]

Really? You dodge the question right after I requested a direct answer, and you included the quote of the question in your post?

Yes, it's pretty clear to me that this isn't the only place where you can ask the question. Yet, the question remains.

The question seemed directed at RickAllison.

If i was the DM, in forgotten realms, yes the cleric would lose his spell/most special abilities. Depending on the god, another one could offer to support them ( tempus died, so Tyr will empower you, as long as you're more honorable then you used to) or one could keep powering you while pretending to be your old faith. (Mask pretending to be some echo left of Bane so he can manipulate you). edit: If not, you'll have to convert, like some clerics did in the books. Or restart a big enough cult to revive the dead god, since they don't die forever in FR.


You said breaking the connection solve the problem. How would you break the connection for the cases i mentioned? (especially, Druid when the setting turn post-apocalyptic or Arcane when Mystra or the Weave is destroyed)

[RickAllison]

Okay, so you're doing a lot of nit-picking without answering the question at all. Does the character lose his (edit: spells cleric class features) or not?

No, I didn't answer the question. Quite intentionally. Killing a cleric's god is something that will NEVER happen under ordinary circumstances, and a DM has to specifically choose for it to occur. Since the DM has to intentionally kill the god of a cleric, it makes sense that said DM also has a plan for it. I didn't give an answer because the only way a DM will be incredibly situation-dependent.

What if a sorcerer is suddenly cut off from his magical heritage? What if a rogue suddenly is stricken by a degenerative muscle disease that causes him to be unable to Sneak Attack? What if a fighter has to swear an oath enforced by death that he will never raise weapon nor fist against someone else again? All of those are a similar case where a DM has intentionally singled out a class to call their features into question. If a DM is doing that, they probably have some way they want it to go such as a fighter going on a journey of discovery to become a druid. They are specific DM-created scenarios and I would need to know much more about the situation to make a judgement call.

Generally though? There is still power in a dead god. They can leech off that while trying to revive the god, or they can pick a new one. Woopee.

[BurgerBeast]

The question seemed directed at RickAllison.

And you chose to respond to it.


If i was the DM, in forgotten realms, yes the cleric would lose his spell/most special abilities. Depending on the god, another one could offer to support them ( tempus died, so Tyr will empower you, as long as you're more honorable then you used to) or one could keep powering you while pretending to be your old faith. (Mask pretending to be some echo left of Bane so he can manipulate you). edit: If not, you'll have to convert, like some clerics did in the books. Or restart a big enough cult to revive the dead god, since they don't die forever in FR.

So, in the case of clerics, who receive their powers from a god, if their god dies, they lose all their powers. But they can then petition a different god, and the new god can give them 20th level powers straight away? This seems hard to reconcile. I mean, why not just give all clerics 20th level powers to begin with? I'm not saying you can't solve these problems, but you create a need to solve them where there wasn't a need.


You said breaking the connection solve the problem. How would you break the connection for the cases i mentioned? (especially, Druid when the setting turn post-apocalyptic or Arcane when Mystra or the Weave is destroyed)

By breaking the connection, I meant breaking the mechanical connection between a cleric's god and his or her powers. If characters just gain power, and there is no direct, required explanation for how or why, then none of these events pose problems. If you explain where the powers come from, then you have to deal with problems that affect the explanation.

So, druids could function just fine in a post-apocalyptic world... unless you add the connection to nature so that they must lose their powers post-apocalypse. So you've now got a problem that you wouldn't have had if you didn't explain it that way.

[BurgerBeast]

No, I didn't answer the question. Quite intentionally... Generally though? There is still power in a dead god. They can leech off that while trying to revive the god, or they can pick a new one. Woopee.

So then why can't a cleric just pick any domain he wants and attribute his powers to a long dead god? And how is this, practically, different from just letting any cleric choose any domain and any god?

[Addaran]

So, in the case of clerics, who receive their powers from a god, if their god dies, they lose all their powers. But they can then petition a different god, and the new god can give them 20th level powers straight away? This seems hard to reconcile. I mean, why not just give all clerics 20th level powers to begin with? I'm not saying you can't solve these problems, but you create a need to solve them where there wasn't a need.

From what i gathered from the books, it's because you still need experience actually wielding the higher level powers. You can give a chainsaw to a baby, he's not likely to use it well or without harm. Even if you give it to something physically fit to use it, if he's never been trained or saw someone use it, he might end up hurting himself.

If you have a lvl 20 cleric, he's proven himself to be a very useful follower. And if his god died, he's likely very loyal so it's not like if a cleric did treason. And allied god would be justify to trust him.



By breaking the connection, I meant breaking the mechanical connection between a cleric's god and his or her powers. If characters just gain power, and there is no direct, required explanation for how or why, then none of these events pose problems. If you explain where the powers come from, then you have to deal with problems that affect the explanation.

So, druids could function just fine in a post-apocalyptic world... unless you add the connection to nature so that they must lose their powers post-apocalypse. So you've now got a problem that you wouldn't have had if you didn't explain it that way.

That's a fine way to rule it too, but you are changing the setting. It's not exactly forgotten realms if magic doesn't come from Mystra and the Weave.

[BurgerBeast]

From what i gathered from the books, it's because you still need experience actually wielding the higher level powers. You can give a chainsaw to a baby, he's not likely to use it well or without harm. Even if you give it to something physically fit to use it, if he's never been trained or saw someone use it, he might end up hurting himself.

If you have a lvl 20 cleric, he's proven himself to be a very useful follower. And if his god died, he's likely very loyal so it's not like if a cleric did treason. And allied god would be justify to trust him.

So would you then agree that a lvl 20 cleric could just switch gods as he sees fit, and it would have no mechanical significance? Because that's sort of my point. This mechanical connection to the god, no matter how reinforced in the text, seems in practice to have zero significance. It doesn't appear functionally different than saying that cleric powers come from "inside the character."


[That's a fine way to rule it too, but you are changing the setting. It's not exactly forgotten realms if magic doesn't come from Mystra and the Weave.

But the rules are not exclusive to FR. I'm talking about the rules of D&D, generally - not the rules in FR. The question: must a cleric select a god and must the domain be related to the god seem to be more general questions that apply to all settings, to me. This seems true even granting that some settings will have setting-particular rules that override the PHB.

[Addaran]

So would you then agree that a lvl 20 cleric could just switch gods as he sees fit, and it would have no mechanical significance? Because that's sort of my point. This mechanical connection to the god, no matter how reinforced in the text, seems in practice to have zero significance. It doesn't appear functionally different than saying that cleric powers come from "inside the character."

The important distinction, in FR and how i'd probably rule it, is that the cleric can't just switch gods as he sees fit. If he was always loyal and the god end up dying, other gods would value him. If he's just turning on his present god, his loyalty probably isn't worth much.

Of course, that depends what kind of god. Some evil god could accept a rival's cleric to use him as double agent or to hurt him. Would probably only pretend to give full lvl 20 power to him, until he's not needed.

In most situation, if a cleric wants to change god (still alive) for whatever reason, he'd be without powers for a while and then they would come back gradually, as the new god assess his new follower's loyalty and worthiness.



But the rules are not exclusive to FR. I'm talking about the rules of D&D, generally - not the rules in FR. The question: must a cleric select a god and must the domain be related to the god seem to be more general questions that apply to all settings, to me. This seems true even granting that some settings will have setting-particular rules that override the PHB.

At the core, it's very setting dependent. Even RAW/RAI, it's not totally clear what the rules state. The community talked a bit about it in the roleplaying rules thread. Some place seems to say you can only pick from the list, but the list for domain is titled suggestion. One part say you can always pick life with good clerics, but it's not in the character creation part and another seems to imply it's the good gods who can claim the Life domain, if they want.

My preference is to have the domains open to every god, as long as you can somewhat explain it. Light domain just doesn't fit for Shar, goddess of darkness.

Godless clerics, i'm not to sure how i feel about it. =/

[Herobizkit]

Back in the 2e days (and assuming I'm remembering correctly), a character was allowed to change Deities ONCE at the cost of one level of experience (source: [probably] the Priest's Handbook). The assumption was that the desire to change would be handled in-game through RP.

5e Encounters allows characters to be almost completely rebuilt from the ground-up until level 5. Changing deity/domain is trivial from a mechanical standpoint.

From an in-game standpoint, the 5e cosmology (as per the PHB) allows for any kind of deities to be included in the DM's world. The core assumption, however, is that Forgotten Realms is the official 'default' campaign setting. If a DM doesn't put much or any thought into his own world's cosmology, I'd deign to guess that the FR deities will be put in place for those who want them.

That said, pre-5e FR had over a hundred deities, from those dedicated to one SETTLEMENT up to your all-power Primoridals. Being a polytheistic world, it's not uncommon for people to pay at least some lip service to other deities for whatever their needs. Clerics, OTOH, are assumed to be a champion of a specific faith/deity. 3e and 4e Clerics didn't have to champion a deity, and 2e Clerics could champion a philosophy instead of a deity. Even in 5e, the listed Domains for each deity are SUGGESTED Domains rather than required ones.

Ultimately, practically everything regarding Clerics and their role in in-game society is in the hands of the DM. Mechanically, the PC's in charge. Ideally, the two would work together...

And if some wizard wants to be a faithful follower of Chauntea, why not? ^_^