cleric deity's and bonuses

[freetobeuandme]

clerics get bonuses and feats for weapons based on their deity....what is your opinion and advice for a cleric to choose as a deity?

[de-trick]

Have a idea what you want for a character, healbot, melee, casting, sneaking and find a deity with domains with similar domains (eg healbot healing, sun)

[comicshorse]

The one that suits your characters alignment and philisophy maybe ?

[freetobeuandme]

no, i meant was what do you think gives the best bonuses?
i was thinking pelor but if you get a deity with war as one of it's characteristics you get a free exotic weapon feat.

[Chronos]

The bonuses aren't for your deity, they're for your domains (of which you have two). Each deity only offers a handful of domains, but it's also possible to have a cleric of an abstract cause, in which case you can pick whatever domains you want.

Domains give you two things: A list of domain spells, and a special ability. Worthwhile domain spells are ones which give you abilities you wouldn't otherwise have. The Trickery domain, for instance, gives you access to spells like Disguise Self and Invisibility (and eventually, Polymorph Any Object and Time Stop) which wouldn't ordinarily be available to clerics. On the other hand, the Healing domain gives you only spells which are already on the cleric list anyway (and what's worse, many of them are spells you can cast spontaneously).

Domain special abilities can be almost anything, so it's hard to give general advice on them. Two sorts of abilities to watch out for, though, are ones which add skills to your cleric skill list, and ones which give you a +1 to CL for certain spells. Clerics don't get enough skill points per level to take advantage of any of the added skills, so those aren't worth much, and caster level doesn't matter much for most spells (and even where it does, +1 isn't very much).

So much for the general advice. Now onto a few specific recommendations of good domains. For spells, the best domains are probably Travel (Flight, Teleport, and others), Trickery, and Air (Wind Wall, Gaseous Form, Control Winds, Chain Lightning). For special abilities, the best are probably Travel (Freedom of Movement for a few rounds per day), Luck (re-roll any roll you make, once per day), or Strength (bonus to Strength equal to your level, 1/day).

[Voyager_I]

It's all pretty build specific, and EWP isn't a big deal for Clerics.

Also, since I'm gathering you're looking for help on one specific build, you should make one thread and ask for Cleric help directly, rather than scattering individual topics across the forum. The questions generally tie into each other, so you'll get better help that way without clogging up the forum.

Lastly, I was under the impression that the War domain granted proficiency in the Deity's favored weapon, not a bonus EWP feat.

[AslanCross]

I have to agree that Travel is one of the best domains out there. Fharlanghn gives it in core, while in FR there's Kelemvor, Shaundakul and a bunch of others. Eberron has well, the Traveler.

Though I would agree with choosing the deity that your character's philosophy and personality correspond to.

The War domain only gives Martial Proficiency in your deity's favored weapon and Weapon Focus in the same weapon. I'm pretty sure it doesn't give Exotic proficiencies.

Other domains I like:
-Destruction. Its lower domain spells are rather lame, but it gives Disintegrate. The smite power is good too. Too bad only ONE non-evil deity has it (St. Cuthbert)
-Repose. (Forgotten Realms specific): Basically the "non-evil death domain." It has the same Death Touch granted power, and its domain spell list is a good offensive/utility list. The biggest difference is that it doesn't have undead creation spells.
-Balance. Though I typically don't like neutrality, it has a pretty cool granted power: typeless Wis-to-AC bonus for 1 round per cleric level.

[CrowSpawn]

And don't forget that you can still worship and deity and have a domain that is not on his list. My Cleric of Pelor, for example, is a martial fellow who actively seeks out evil and undead, rather than responding to them. His martial bent led me to choose the WAR domain, even though it isn't on Pelor's list. But my character still follows the dogma and precepts of his faith.

That other domain was SUN, by the way, of course. :smallbiggrin:

[LibraryOgre]

As a link, not an image (http://www.flickr.com/photos/64093451@N00/2125778533/sizes/o/in/photostream/)

But, apropos.

[Toliudar]

And don't forget that you can still worship and deity and have a domain that is not on his list. My Cleric of Pelor, for example, is a martial fellow who actively seeks out evil and undead, rather than responding to them. His martial bent led me to choose the WAR domain, even though it isn't on Pelor's list. But my character still follows the dogma and precepts of his faith.

That other domain was SUN, by the way, of course. :smallbiggrin:

I believe that would be a house rule you're experiencing, CrowSpawn. Here's what the SRD says about domains:


A cleric’s deity influences his alignment, what magic he can perform, his values, and how others see him. A cleric chooses two domains from among those belonging to his deity. A cleric can select an alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if his alignment matches that domain.

If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.

I suppose it would be possible to worship the concepts of war and sun, and claim service to Pelor, or at least a fondness for him. And, again, your DM may allow for exceptional domain choices depending on the setting or the character concept.

[its_all_ogre]

travel domain wins as far as domain power goes. you can walk away from grapples without having to win a check! thats just total awesome!
and all the spells, far as i can remember, are non-cleric so really opens your spell list.

[Chronicled]

The Travel Domain gives one of the best spell lists and granted abilities out there, as does the Time Domain.

Another good choice that hasn't been mentioned is the Magic Domain for it's granted ability.

[Curmudgeon]

My two domain picks: Pride and Celerity. Pride lets you re-roll a 1 on any saving throw, once per save. Celerity bumps your base land speed by +10'.

If you're really interested in best weapon boosts as a divine caster, forget Cleric and the War domain. Instead go Favored Soul. FSs don't get domains, but they automatically get what the War domain grants -- except this works for the favored weapon of any deity, not just those with War in their portfolio. Now the deity selection gets more interesting, and I'd recommend Kossuth. Kossuth's favored weapon is the spiked chain, so a Favored Soul of Kossuth gets the following "free" feats:
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain)
Weapon Focus (spiked chain)
Weapon Specialization (spiked chain)

[its_all_ogre]

i thought celerity was a prestige domain.
or everyone would have it!
please correct me if wrong i have cleric rogues that would totally love that domain!

[Chronos]

travel domain wins as far as domain power goes. you can walk away from grapples without having to win a check! thats just total awesome!The Travel domain power is indeed awesome, but it's not actually quite that awesome. Unlike the Freedom of Movement spell, the domain power only works against magical effects. So it will still let you get away from those Black Tentacles that are trying to grapple you, but it won't help against Big Bubba the Wrestler who just wants to give you a hug.

[Aerogoat]

i thought celerity was a prestige domain.
or everyone would have it!
please correct me if wrong i have cleric rogues that would totally love that domain!The Spell compendium doesn't say anything about it being a "Prestige Domain." The Complete Divine doesn't either; in fact, it presents Celerity as a perfectly valid choice for Clerics of Ehlonna, Fharlanghan and Olidammara.

[marjan]

The Spell compendium doesn't say anything about it being a "Prestige Domain." The Complete Divine doesn't either; in fact, it presents Celerity as a perfectly valid choice for Clerics of Ehlonna, Fharlanghan and Olidammara.

Also Sovereign Host (one of their deites) and Traveler.

[The_Snark]

Prestige domains are a holdover from 3.0's Defenders of the Faith. They don't exist in 3.5; most of the prestige domains in that book were updated to standard domains in Complete Divine.