Cleric of Wealth?

[Greywander]

For some reason, I had an idea for a cleric character who served a god of wealth. At first glance, you might mistake them for being greedy, or even a scam artist, since they talk about money constantly and solicit donations. But in actual fact, wealth is just used as a shorthand for the value a person is providing to their community. Donations from ill-gotten gains are not only not accepted, but scorned. Worshipers are encouraged to work hard and be successful. And although the cleric does enjoy some wealth, they also use the donations to contribute to charities, particularly those that help people get their lives back on track and become successful contributing members of society. You'd also see it in how they treat poorer people who are making an honest effort; a tiny donation from someone working hard to better themselves is more highly regarded than the pocket change of a wealthy aristocrat who hasn't worked a day in his life; the small shrine built by hand by the local believers is considered a worthy place of worship, no better than the grand cathedrals paid for by the wealthy.

Basically, this particular god wants people to work hard, and in so doing serve their communities, and make bank as a result. Those who cheat and steal are regarded as sinners. Justly earned wealth is to be enjoyed, but also a tithe is to be paid in gratitude for the blessing of this god.

So... I guess a televangelist but they're actually serious and not just a scam? It's kind of a weird concept.

Trickery Domain is the obvious choice, though I think this could also work as Forge, or maybe even Knowledge. Honestly, none of these really seem to fit all that great. I'm not sure what features I'd want from a homebrew subclass, though. Any suggestions on how to build this character? Maybe go Peace Domain?

[Ryton]

Genielock maybe? Tome, for some cleric-y cantrips?

Edit: cleric just doesn't have anything already that seems right to me...

[strangebloke]

Wealth is a common domain for a real-world deity to have. Hades comes to mind, as he was said to claim all the mineral riches of the world as his own. So would various trade deities.

There's the Ambition domain from Amonkhet which admittedly is a combination of a few other clerics (most notably trickery) but the flavor fits what you're going for I think. There's also a UA 'city' domain that is called out as being involved in commerce and other normal city activity. Flavorwise its perfect but the implementation is, uh.... not.

Really though the order domain is perfect here since its an enchantment-focused domain, and charming the socks off people and commanding them is completely in flavor here.

[Mercurias]

You might want to look at Waukeen if you’re doing the forgotten realms.

As for domain, Order, Trickery, and Knowledge are good choices if you want to pray to Capitalism.

[Amnestic]

Waukeen (FR) and Abadar (PF) are both gods commonly associated with gold/trade.

Waukeen is Knowledge and Trickery in 5e, but Order's a fine suggestion too.

[sambojin]

Order seems a good fit, with the Law side being the law of fair and just commerce.


Command, Heroism, so people are told and saved by the power of it. There's entire threads on Command, and it's an enchantment. So is Heroism, and it's very strong at low levels, see below.

Hold Person and Zone of Truth to shackle those bad-doers against the system, for their just comeuppance (and zone of truth to ensure fair trades). Hold Person = paralyzed humanoid, and wow does that up DPR when it's always an option for you, and can be Quickened.

Mass Healing for the "save us all, with well applied lucre!" and Slow, for the wheels can grind slowly, and even legal proceedings are often meant to slow someone down and take their ability to act away, not truly stop them (and Slow is a very powerful spell anyway to have auto-prepepared).

Compulsion for the shifting out of your way, and if someone is a problem the easiest way can be to move them sidewards, not up or down or back or forth, and Locate Creature, because sometimes you specifically need to know the right thing, right now, good or bad, friendship or foe (or something to assist/ cost either).

Commune, because sometimes you need your higher-ups to sign-off on significant business, and Dominate Person, because you are a higher authority to those that are disrupting the smooth flow of Commerce, and the easiest way to fix it is create them a job to do, or move them somewhere else under your control.

So, the domain spells cover plenty of the flavour.


Intimidation/ Persuasion proficiency, because you are a voice of authority with your wealth and connections, and Heavy Armour proficiency because you have the best in the business.


Voice of Authority to represent the blessing of your God to others. When you use your power, so may they use theirs, to sort problems in life due to your benevolence. And, fun healing times too. They go down, you get them back up, they hit the thing that dropped them. Good times, all the time, even when things look bad on the bottom line. You make combat meetings Fun! This is so close to a Warlord style character, that it's amazing. Reaction attacks for party members. Cast stuff on the Druid/ Pally/ Rogue/ Fighter/ Bard whenever you can. No enchantment requirement, just whatever. Tear through your spell slots if needed. See if you're your own ally? You're probably not meant to be. But you will use this ability *constantly*. It is very good!
You got fast ka-ching!

And Order's Demand to instantly stop assaults against you, with your golden tongue, and the power of your God behind you. Being Charmed isn't nice, but they don't know you did it other than the holy symbol being waved around (a gold coin?), so can be used during social interactions too, maybe, for 12 seconds.... :)

Embodiment of the Law allows you to *really* use your powers and act, because quickened spell on Enchantments is good (and even Bless is an enchantment), so by all means go ham into the fray. Or just sit back and cantrip. Or mess with things a fair bit. Bonus Action Bless does target an ally, so they get a reaction attack through Voice of Authority, and you can drop a Sacred Flame on the enemy as well. It's a nice DPR thingy, or you can use a Help or Dodge action, or an attack/shove. You can even Zone of Truth *in combat* and Guidance your party's face (maybe you), and hope six second intervals are enough questioning time. Quick action commerce, so to speak.

Divine Strike just adds a touch of ouch to your attacks, especially handy when quickening Command/ Bless/ Hold Person (crit +2d8/4d8 that poor mofo the same turn you locked them down!)/ or even Zone of Truth and shove them down or hit them hard (with the divine truth of the psychic power of money, of course. It still can't lie if it fails its save. It's funny just on the "did that hurt?" question).

Anyway, Order fits *really well* into a god of wealth, from what I can see. Apply the power of wealth for the community as you see fit.

[GreyBlack]

For some reason, I had an idea for a cleric character who served a god of wealth. At first glance, you might mistake them for being greedy, or even a scam artist, since they talk about money constantly and solicit donations. But in actual fact, wealth is just used as a shorthand for the value a person is providing to their community. Donations from ill-gotten gains are not only not accepted, but scorned. Worshipers are encouraged to work hard and be successful. And although the cleric does enjoy some wealth, they also use the donations to contribute to charities, particularly those that help people get their lives back on track and become successful contributing members of society. You'd also see it in how they treat poorer people who are making an honest effort; a tiny donation from someone working hard to better themselves is more highly regarded than the pocket change of a wealthy aristocrat who hasn't worked a day in his life; the small shrine built by hand by the local believers is considered a worthy place of worship, no better than the grand cathedrals paid for by the wealthy.

Basically, this particular god wants people to work hard, and in so doing serve their communities, and make bank as a result. Those who cheat and steal are regarded as sinners. Justly earned wealth is to be enjoyed, but also a tithe is to be paid in gratitude for the blessing of this god.

So... I guess a televangelist but they're actually serious and not just a scam? It's kind of a weird concept.

Trickery Domain is the obvious choice, though I think this could also work as Forge, or maybe even Knowledge. Honestly, none of these really seem to fit all that great. I'm not sure what features I'd want from a homebrew subclass, though. Any suggestions on how to build this character? Maybe go Peace Domain?

Oh, D&D pantheons, please forgive my sin as I begin to delve into the depths of M:TG nerdery. How many "Hail, Gygax" do I have to say to absolve myself of these sins?

What you're describing sounds very in line with the Orzhov guild in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.

In my readings, the Orzhov guild tend to use the following subclasses:
Cleric: Order
Fighter: Battle Master, Champion
Paladin: Oath of Conquest
Rogue: Assassin, Thief
Warlock: Great Old One (but this is all of them)
Wizard: Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Necromancy

As such, an Order Cleric might work well.

HOWEVER... instead of an Order Cleric, might I instead recommend an Oath of Conquest Paladin?

Think about it: Your god is wealth. You swear an oath to accrue more and more wealth. Well, how do you get that wealth? Conquest seems to fit pretty well; you are in it for all types of conquest, whether financial, material, or political.

I think that kind of build might work for the concept.

[Naanomi]

Peace Domain is a pretty good option for a Wealth God as well, social skills etc

I have played a waukeenite cleric in several editions, I haven't done it in 5th yet but I have it written up (as a divine soul sorcerer) already. Eloquence bard with the acolyte backgound would fly as well

[Greywander]

There's been some good suggestions here, but I went ahead and wrote up a Prosperity Domain (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?638267-Capitalism-Ho!-Prosperity-Domain-(cleric-subclass)) anyway. Because I guess it turns out I could think of what features I wanted from a homebrew subclass.


Genielock maybe? Tome, for some cleric-y cantrips?

Edit: cleric just doesn't have anything already that seems right to me...
Yeah, none of the existing domains really seem to fit exactly. Some offer tangential features that could work for the concept, but anything related to success and money would need to fall back on roleplay.

Genielock as a non-cleric option is oddly fitting. Genies are often known for their extravagant wealth, so it would be easy to refluff the concept as a god of wealth. I did want to make this as a cleric, though, but I'll keep this in mind as a possible genielock concept as well.


There's the Ambition domain from Amonkhet which admittedly is a combination of a few other clerics (most notably trickery) but the flavor fits what you're going for I think. There's also a UA 'city' domain that is called out as being involved in commerce and other normal city activity. Flavorwise its perfect but the implementation is, uh.... not.
I looked at these. I was hopeful for the Ambition domain, but it's basically just the Trickery domain with Warding Flare instead of Blessing of the Trickster and a different list of domain spells. Invoke Duplicity is an interesting feature, but doesn't really have anything to do with the concept I had in mind.

City domain is... well, it's designed for a modern setting, so it just doesn't make sense to use it in a typical fantasy setting.


Really though the order domain is perfect here since its an enchantment-focused domain, and charming the socks off people and commanding them is completely in flavor here.

As for domain, Order, Trickery, and Knowledge are good choices if you want to pray to Capitalism.
Order probably has the most relevant stuff, but even then I feel like it doesn't quite hit the mark. I also think I'd rather have Potent Spellcasting than Divine Strike. If I was forced to use an official subclass (instead of, say, the homebrew one I linked to above), I might just go with Peace domain and try to fit the concept using nothing but fluff and roleplay. It's not ideal, but I'd still be a cleric at least. Order is fine if you're okay with Divine Strike, it's just that given that none of the options fit super well, I might as well at least pick a subclass with Potent Spellcasting.

[Azuresun]

You might want to look at Waukeen if you’re doing the forgotten realms.

As for domain, Order, Trickery, and Knowledge are good choices if you want to pray to Capitalism.

I played a cleric of Waukeen once (I find that "follower of a god not normally associated with adventuring who ends up adventuring anyway" is a rich mine of character ideas). I went with Knowledge, after considering Forge and Peace.

[Psyren]

You could definitely make a case for either Order or Trickery. It all depends on how the god views acquisition of wealth.

If they value trade and commerce, that leans towards Order, as the structured systems that facilitate an economy depend on not just laws and regulations, but a commitment to valuing and enforcing those things. Abadar and Waukeen are great examples of this.

If instead they value obtaining wealth at all costs, including theft and con artistry, Trickery fits. Deities like Olidammara (robin hood style) and Besmara (out and out piracy) are good fits here.

[Naanomi]

If they value trade and commerce, that leans towards Order, as the structured systems that facilitate an economy depend on not just laws and regulations, but a commitment to valuing and enforcing those things. Abadar and Waukeen are great examples of this.

If instead they value obtaining wealth at all costs, including theft and con artistry, Trickery fits. Deities like Olidammara (robin hood style) and Besmara (out and out piracy) are good fits here.
Although note that Waukeen is the patron of illicit markets as well... Not theft (she and Mask don't get along); but of fences, black markets, smuggling rings, slave trade...

[RogueJK]

Order probably has the most relevant stuff, but even then I feel like it doesn't quite hit the mark. I also think I'd rather have Potent Spellcasting than Divine Strike.

Order is fine if you're okay with Divine Strike, it's just that given that none of the options fit super well, I might as well at least pick a subclass with Potent Spellcasting.

Don't get too hung up on one subclasses' Divine Strike vs. another's Potent Spellcasting. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything introduced the Blessed Strikes ability. Now any Cleric that normally gets Divine Strike can instead swap in the ability to add an average of +4.5 points of Radiant damage to their cantrip castings. That's basically equivalent to the damage bonus of Potent Spellcasting with a 20 WIS (+5 points of damage).

[sambojin]

The beauty of Blessed Strikes is it works with attacks or cantrips. So you can do the "bonus action Hold Person, then crit them" thing mentioned above, or just blast away with Sacred Flame.

Clerics are *really* flexible now.