Sacred cows to the slaughter house: Cleric spell selection

[TabulaRasa]

One thing I find particularly tedious as a DM is memorizing all the possible cleric spells my group cleric may select. If I create an adventure, I do not want my cleric to overcome an obstacle I've set up simply because he happened to have picked up the right tool for the right job when he selected his spells in the morning. I think it is detrimental to the enjoyment of other players who might have otherwise come up with a cunning plan or some good roleplaying. Also, I hate when the cleric player says "Oh don't worry. We just have to sleep for 8 hours and I'll have exactly what is required". I am fed up having to constantly revise my phb to memorise all those spells and it is getting worse and worse as my players level up.

Suggestion: Expand the domain list. Give each player 3-4 spells to chose from by level. Why shouldn't some God be better at casting some type of spell than others. Some spells should clearly be forbidden by the god. In exchange, make the cleric tougher though in honesty I am not sure the cleric needs that much help.

[TabulaRasa]

I want to make DMing easier. Who agrees/disagrees. Is the cleric spell flexibility such an important thing?

[Charles Evans 25]

I get the impression that the fact that a divine caster can ask their deity for one or more from a set of broadly or specifically useful tools when they make their daily devotions is part of the essence of what a cleric is generally perceived to 'be about'.

I'm sorry that I can't be any more helpful in this matter at present than by giving my opinion on that.

[Set]

TabulaRasa wrote:

Suggestion: Expand the domain list. Give each player 3-4 spells to chose from by level. Why shouldn't some God be better at casting some type of spell than others. Some spells should clearly be forbidden by the god. In exchange, make the cleric tougher though in honesty I am not sure the cleric needs that much help.

While I vastly prefer 3.0 to 2.0, this is one of the very few areas where I think 2.0 was on to something with their priestly Spheres.

Clerics of vastly different gods should have different spell list options, IMO. There should be a general list of spells that everyone gets (bless, curse, consecrate, heal, smite), and then a set of Domain lists that include 3 or 4 spells per level, and are the only other spells the Cleric gets other than the general list (which would be much shorter than the current 'general' list).

Some examples;
Sound Burst? Weather Domain (renamed Thunderclap), not general.
Glyph of Warding? Protection Domain, not general.
Summon Monster X? General, any Cleric should be able to call upon the servants of their god.