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View Full Version : Domain Feats - Yay or Nay?



Fawsto
2008-12-10, 01:10 PM
Quick question, guys:

Do the Domain Feats provided on Complete Cheddar, I mean, Champion, are worth taking? Which ones are worth taking and which ones aren't?

Besides that, I am a little confused about War Devotion: Does it's benefits last for only one round or during an entire fight?


Thanks

Person_Man
2008-12-10, 01:18 PM
Yes, there are a ton of great options in the domain feats. And they're fueled by Turn Undead, which is easy to get. Complete Champion is basically the last big splat book of 3.5. They threw in every last idea they had, without caring in the least about balance or playtesting.

Fawsto
2008-12-10, 01:24 PM
Off-topic: Yeah... I noticed when I was reading the Ordained Champion PrC. Jeez...

But would you provide me with good options? Currently I am playing as a CN Cleric of Ares, with the War and Destruction domains. Which among the Domain feats you think would work to this character?


Thanks

Adumbration
2008-12-10, 01:26 PM
You can't go wrong with Travel Devotion, really. An extra move action each round? Yes please!

jcsw
2008-12-10, 01:27 PM
I know that the Travel and Knowledge devotions are considered very good.

Fostire
2008-12-10, 01:48 PM
You can't go wrong with Travel Devotion, really. An extra move action each round? Yes please!

Does that allow to move and full attack without pounce?

mabriss lethe
2008-12-10, 01:49 PM
As said, travel and knowledge are both great.

Trickery is fun, but requires a good head on your shoulders to really push it to its limits.

Healing, Animal and Death are all really good choices for non-casters. It gives them early access to some nice abilities.

Magic....is pretty worthless as far as I'm concerned. There are better ways to blast.

Sun and healing are both blasts if you're playing a binder with Tenebrous, since you can effectively have them both going constantly (With Tenebrous, you can get one turn attempt every 5 rounds. and the buffs last a minute each)

Eldariel
2008-12-10, 02:45 PM
There are many great Devotions. I'll go ahead and point out Law Devotion, which has insane effects on e.g. Arena Fights (+Big Number on AC, transferable to attack whenever). The most usable devotions are Knowledge Devotion (because it's always active and capable of some rather massive bonuses), and Travel Devotion (because getting extra uses is rather cheap, it's quick to activate and lasts a minute [generally entire encounter], and basically eliminates the movement-related issues non-casters have in 3.5; ironically, it's better for martial characters dipping 1 level of Cleric, than for actual Clerics).

Bayar
2008-12-10, 03:03 PM
Does that allow to move and full attack without pounce?

Yes. Yes it does. You can even move and then charge.

Curmudgeon
2008-12-10, 09:22 PM
Knowledge Devotion gives someone with all Knowledge skills and lots of skill points a big combat power-up. This requirement happens to exactly fit the Cloistered Cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric) class, which was designed as a non-martial Cleric. It's a nice pairing. Even though the Cloistered Cleric gets a substantial offensive boost, it's still got wimpy armor and HP. So you get a good return for the feat, but the combination isn't overpowering. (Of course, as with any Cleric, you've got all the ingredients to become overpowering with Divine Metamagic and various PrCs. But that's not the fault of Knowledge Devotion.)

RebelRogue
2008-12-10, 09:35 PM
There are many great Devotions. I'll go ahead and point out Law Devotion
Tell me about it: I DM an Eberron campaign where the Silver Flame Cleric took this, and I was pretty WTF about it the first few times he used it! Since everybody got a free level of a "Martial Class" (Fighter, Ranger, Barbarian etc.) due to a shared war party background, this works even better for him!

mabriss lethe
2008-12-10, 10:00 PM
From a "standard" DMs campaign view. The Evil devotion is exceptionally nice. If you aren't an all evil party, most DMs aren't going to be throwing a crapton of good aligned attacks at you, which means a nice stable DR that you can drop as an immediate action on you and all of your buddies.

jcsw
2008-12-11, 03:51 AM
Sun and healing are both blasts if you're playing a binder with Tenebrous, since you can effectively have them both going constantly (With Tenebrous, you can get one turn attempt every 5 rounds. and the buffs last a minute each)

Ooh! What about water devotion+tenebrous!

Technically you can accumulate a use of it every 5 rounds and then unleash it all at once!

InaVegt
2008-12-11, 04:26 AM
If you do it right, healing domain is a powerful option for out of combat healing (Especially with Tenebrous, making HP restocked at the start of every combat.)

Fawsto
2008-12-11, 10:17 AM
What is this Tenebrous feat(?) you guys are talking about?

BTW, looking at War Devotion, how long does it benefit last? It is good enough to assume it will last an entire encounter or it is just a one-rounder?

mabriss lethe
2008-12-11, 10:27 AM
What is this Tenebrous feat(?) you guys are talking about?

It's not a feat. It's a vestige availible to the Binder class from Tome of Magic. When you bind tenebrous, he gives you(among other abilities) the ability to turn or rebuke undead as a cleric of your binder level once every five rounds. These turn attempts can also be used to help pay for the cost of feats or class features/what have you/ that use turning as a power source.

Fawsto
2008-12-11, 02:08 PM
It's not a feat. It's a vestige availible to the Binder class from Tome of Magic. When you bind tenebrous, he gives you(among other abilities) the ability to turn or rebuke undead as a cleric of your binder level once every five rounds. These turn attempts can also be used to help pay for the cost of feats or class features/what have you/ that use turning as a power source.

Ahhh, naturally.

Gorbash
2008-12-11, 02:19 PM
Well, as far as Devotion Feats go, War Devotion is pretty bad... You give up Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Focus, that's a tad too much, I think... Best Devotion feats are: trickery, travel, strength, knowledge, protection, law, animal, air.

Fawsto
2008-12-11, 04:47 PM
Wait, are we talking about Domain feats? The War Devotion feat does not require you to give up any of your domain granted powers, as none of the other Domain Feats require so.

However, in the book it is stated that you may give up an entire domain trading it for the corresponding domain feat.