Cleric Domain: Strength

[P. G. Macer]

Hey, it’s me again. While some people may be thinking “Lay off with the cleric subclasses, already, P. G.!”, this time I actually am sharing this subclass based on requests from this page of the 5e Unearthed Arcana “Wonders of the Multiverse” thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647904-New-UA-Wonders-of-the-Multiverse!/page4).

This version of the Strength Domain is a revision of the one published in the Magic: The Gathering/D&D 5e not-quite-official crossover PDF Plane Shift: Amonkhet, made to be a more generic Strength Domain rather than the Green Mana Domain.

So without much further ado, I’m linking the Homebrewery page here (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/6hr-xnGdvm7e), and copy-pasting the mechanics below.


Domain Spells
1st: Divine Favor, Thunderous Smite
3rd: Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce
5th: Haste, Summon Warrior Spirit
7th: Freedom of Movement, Stoneskin
9th: Destructive Wave, Skill Empowerment

Acolyte of Strength
At 1st level, you gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Athletics, Perception, or Survival.
Additionally, when not wearing armor, you can calculate your AC as 12 + your Strength modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit

Bonus Proficiency
Also at 1st level, you gain proficiency in martial melee weapons.

Channel Divinity: Feat of Strength
At 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to enhance a creature’s physical might. When you or a creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw using Strength, you can use your reaction to expend your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails.

Rough and Tumble
Starting at 6th level, you can attempt to grapple or shove a creature as a bonus action.
Additionally, you gain proficiency in Strength saving throws.
Lastly, when you make a concentration check, you can choose to make a Strength saving throw instead of a Constitution saving throw.

Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 damage of the same type dealt by the weapon to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Pinnacle of Physicality
At 17th level, your form and physique are unmatched. Your Strength score increases by 2. Your maximum Strength score is now 22. Additionally, your Strength score cannot be reduced by any means.

[Psyren]

Hey, it’s me again. While some people may be thinking “Lay off with the cleric subclasses, already, P. G.!”, this time I actually am sharing this subclass based on requests from this page of the 5e Unearthed Arcana “Wonders of the Multiverse” thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647904-New-UA-Wonders-of-the-Multiverse!/page4).

This version of the Strength Domain is a revision of the one published in the Magic: The Gathering/D&D 5e not-quite-official crossover PDF Plane Shift: Amonkhet, made to be a more generic Strength Domain rather than the Green Mana Domain.

So without much further ado, I’m linking the Homebrewery page here (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/6hr-xnGdvm7e), and copy-pasting the mechanics below.


Domain Spells
1st: Divine Favor, Thunderous Smite
3rd: Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce
5th: Haste, Summon Warrior Spirit
7th: Freedom of Movement, Stoneskin
9th: Destructive Wave, Skill Empowerment

Acolyte of Strength
At 1st level, you gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Athletics, Perception, or Survival.
Additionally, when not wearing armor, you can calculate your AC as 12 + your Strength modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit

Bonus Proficiency
Also at 1st level, you gain proficiency in martial melee weapons.

Channel Divinity: Feat of Strength
At 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to enhance a creature’s physical might. When you or a creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw using Strength, you can use your reaction to expend your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails.

Rough and Tumble
Starting at 6th level, you can attempt to grapple or shove a creature as a bonus action.
Additionally, you gain proficiency in Strength saving throws.
Lastly, when you make a concentration check, you can choose to make a Strength saving throw instead of a Constitution saving throw.

Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 damage of the same type dealt by the weapon to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Pinnacle of Physicality
At 17th level, your form and physique are unmatched. Your Strength score increases by 2. Your maximum Strength score is now 22. Additionally, your Strength score cannot be reduced by any means.


Thanks for posting this. Thoughts:

1) I know your deity list wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but I think it's important to have a couple more ideologically distinct FR deity examples. Tempus is an obvious and fine choice, but it's important to highlight that Strength is about athleticism and fitness moreso than battle/war, since that justifies having this be a new subclass to begin with. The two go together quite well of course, but it's possible for more peaceful or sporting characters to value Strength too, and that's where deities like Ilmater and Lathander come into play. Gruumsh is a good addition too; Orcs, even the revised ones, greatly value Strength (both its positive and negative aspects.)

2) On to the mechanics: I would add Intimidation to your list of skills for Acolyte of Strength. It's even the specific example of a nonstandard Strength check in the PHB. If you only want four, I think Survival or Animal Handling are on shakier ground though I can understand why you included them.

3) Rather than martial weapons I think the subclass should give you beefier unarmed strikes, or maybe the Unarmed Fighting Style. You could of course do both, though if you wanted to distinguish it further from War I would limit it to martial bludgeoning weapons + unarmed. It certainly shouldn't be giving you longbow proficiency, the point is to be mostly melee and maybe some thrown.

4) I'd probably go for a Con-based UD than a Str-based one, though 12+Str isn't bad. The idea though is that you don't want every barbarian running to dip this, and then swap to theirs once Dex and Con are maxed out later.

5) Giving someone +10 to attack as a reaction is a little bonkers - especially at level 2, even if it is "only" Str-based attacks (i.e. most of them.) I would drop that part and stick to Str checks and saves.

6) Rough and Tumble is fine, even fun!

7) Their Divine Strike should apply to unarmed strikes too.

8) I would have Pinnacle of Physicality's immunity to strength reduction only apply if you're not incapacitated.

[P. G. Macer]

Thanks for posting this. Thoughts:

1) I know your deity list wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but I think it's important to have a couple more ideologically distinct FR deity examples. Tempus is an obvious and fine choice, but it's important to highlight that Strength is about athleticism and fitness moreso than battle/war, since that justifies having this be a new subclass to begin with. The two go together quite well of course, but it's possible for more peaceful or sporting characters to value Strength too, and that's where deities like Ilmater and Lathander come into play. Gruumsh is a good addition too; Orcs, even the revised ones, greatly value Strength (both its positive and negative aspects.)

2) On to the mechanics: I would add Intimidation to your list of skills for Acolyte of Strength. It's even the specific example of a nonstandard Strength check in the PHB. If you only want four, I think Survival or Animal Handling are on shakier ground though I can understand why you included them.

3) Rather than martial weapons I think the subclass should give you beefier unarmed strikes, or maybe the Unarmed Fighting Style. You could of course do both, though if you wanted to distinguish it further from War I would limit it to martial bludgeoning weapons + unarmed. It certainly shouldn't be giving you longbow proficiency, the point is to be mostly melee and maybe some thrown.

4) I'd probably go for a Con-based UD than a Str-based one, though 12+Str isn't bad. The idea though is that you don't want every barbarian running to dip this, and then swap to theirs once Dex and Con are maxed out later.

5) Giving someone +10 to attack as a reaction is a little bonkers - especially at level 2, even if it is "only" Str-based attacks (i.e. most of them.) I would drop that part and stick to Str checks and saves.

6) Rough and Tumble is fine, even fun!

7) Their Divine Strike should apply to unarmed strikes too.

8) I would have Pinnacle of Physicality's immunity to strength reduction only apply if you're not incapacitated.

Thank you for the feedback! You raise excellent points. I didn’t realize Lathander offered the Strength Domain in prior editions, but Ilmater and Gruumsh are obvious choices that I’m kicking myself for not realizing earlier. Likewise with Intimidation!

I’m trying to think of how to implement unarmed strikes on a cleric, especially as a single choice of fighting style creates multiclassing issues, but I’ll invest some more thought into it.

I didn’t want to copy the Loxodon’s natural armor entirely, which is why it’s currently 12+STR instead of 12+CON, but a variant on the Barbarian’s UD may be in order, as even though as it stands the Barbarian’s default UD gives it a higher AC than this domain’s, this one is far more SAD. Do you think I should just do 12+CON à la the Loxodon, or should I do something like 10+STR+DEX?

Yeah, now that you mention it the CD was initially divided in the Amonkhet versions between 2nd and 6th levels. Since I have something more flavorful for Level 6, I think I’ll follow your recommendation to the letter and remove the attack rolls.

For Divine Strike, I’m pretty sure that my version is unchanged from the Amonkhet version, which is in turn copied from the War Domain. The not applying to unarmed strikes is a side effect of that, but if I change it simply to bludgeoning or thunder that should make it compatible with unarmed strikes.

I’m a little of mixed minds over your advice for Pinnacle of Physicality, as you’re incapacitated when asleep as well. The main thing that reduces Strength score in 5e is Shadows IIRC, and since you’ll probably have 22 STR at 17 if optimizing, the resulting death of a thousand cuts via the Shadows’ Strength Drain sounds unpleasant for everyone involved, including both the cleric’s player and the DM.

I do greatly value your feedback, though. Thank you so much for replying!

[Psyren]

DS applying to any attack that deals bludgeoning damage sounds great to me, that would indeed get you fists and clubs and staffs and hammers etc. No need to apply it to Thunder, the clerics who want to boost cantrips instead can just use Blessed Strikes from Tasha's.

I like Unarmed Fighting Style because it gets you a competitive unarmed strike quickly without needing to port in the Monk's martial arts etc. And the monk still comes out on top eventually.

Shadows shouldn't be a big deal for any 17th level character - especially not a cleric, who can insta-nuke them long before then via Destroy Undead.

[P. G. Macer]

DS applying to any attack that deals bludgeoning damage sounds great to me, that would indeed get you fists and clubs and staffs and hammers etc. No need to apply it to Thunder, the clerics who want to boost cantrips instead can just use Blessed Strikes from Tasha's.

I like Unarmed Fighting Style because it gets you a competitive unarmed strike quickly without needing to port in the Monk's martial arts etc. And the monk still comes out on top eventually.

Shadows shouldn't be a big deal for any 17th level character - especially not a cleric, who can insta-nuke them long before then via Destroy Undead.

I think you misunderstood my point about Divine Strike; my idea was to change it to deal bludgeoning (or, less likely, thunder) much like how a Forge Cleric’s deals fire.

Something I think I just realized is that whenever a class or subclass grants a Fighting Style, they always give at least two options to choose from, such as Swords Bard allowing the player to choose between Dueling and TWF. I think I want to follow that pattern for the cleric, but as most of the Styles require a weapon or armor, I was thinking of the two being Unarmed Fighting and Superior Technique, since there are enough Maneuvers for the Style to be a more generic option.

Good point about Destroy Undead, I’ve changed Pinnacle of Physicality to follow your original suggestion.

Any advice as to which of the two formulae I mentioned (12+CON versus 10+STR+DEX) I should change the Acolyte of Strength AC calculation to?

[Psyren]

I think you misunderstood my point about Divine Strike; my idea was to change it to deal bludgeoning (or, less likely, thunder) much like how a Forge Cleric’s deals fire.

Something I think I just realized is that whenever a class or subclass grants a Fighting Style, they always give at least two options to choose from, such as Swords Bard allowing the player to choose between Dueling and TWF. I think I want to follow that pattern for the cleric, but as most of the Styles require a weapon or armor, I was thinking of the two being Unarmed Fighting and Superior Technique, since there are enough Maneuvers for the Style to be a more generic option.

Good point about Destroy Undead, I’ve changed Pinnacle of Physicality to follow your original suggestion.

Any advice as to which of the two formulae I mentioned (12+CON versus 10+STR+DEX) I should change the Acolyte of Strength AC calculation to?

Ah I see. How about 1d8 bludgeoning, and any bludgeoning damage you deal with melee or thrown weapons counts as magic? That would enable some nice builds.

For the Fighting Style, I would say the other option could be Thrown as those use Strength :smallsmile: But I'm not opposed to ST.

For the AC calculation, I understand the goal behind 10+Str+Dex but I'm leery to base AC off two offensive stats. I might even prefer 10+Str+Wis as that would at least make it feel mystical.

[P. G. Macer]

Ah I see. How about 1d8 bludgeoning, and any bludgeoning damage you deal with melee or thrown weapons counts as magic? That would enable some nice builds.

For the Fighting Style, I would say the other option could be Thrown as those use Strength :smallsmile: But I'm not opposed to ST.

For the AC calculation, I understand the goal behind 10+Str+Dex but I'm leery to base AC off two offensive stats. I might even prefer 10+Str+Wis as that would at least make it feel mystical.

From what I can tell, there’s a case to be made that RAI if not RAW that B/P/S damage from Divine Strike is already magical, though I might shift the wording around a little to make it clear in this instance. I don’t think I need to specify thrown weapons in this situation, as Divine Strike’s wording already is inclusive of that.

I just realized something, however, which is that if I simply rename Acoylte of Strength to Unarmored Defense, the rules in the Multiclassing section of the PHB take precedence, which states:


If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature, you can’t gain it again from another class.

which should put the kibosh on this being dip-bait for Barbarians, as I’m pretty sure there is no way RAW to switch your Unarmored Defense type from the one you first obtained, so if a Barbarian starts in that class and dips this Cleric, it doesn’t gain the 12+STR AC, and if the PC starts with one level in this Cleric, the build loses the Barbarian’s saving throw proficiencies (especially CON) and is ultimately stuck with a lower unarmored AC than if they used the Barbarian Unarmored Defense.

I’m going to give your suggestion about changing the Fighting Style to Thrown some more thought.