How about the Cleric?

[Chuck Mount]

I like the idea of Domain powers. It reminds me of when TSR added special powers to clerics based on the gods they followed in (I believe) the last incarnation of Legend Lore.

What does everyone else think?

Also, I really like the channeling energy concept.

[Coridan]

I hate the new domain system. Nothing in it is ever worth wasting an action on. We were using it in Second Darkness for a while, my cleric has Charm and Trickery and never bothered with any of it. Now we went back to normal domains.

New channeling rocks, I get to have fun with other cleric spells instead of hording them for healing.

[Tholas]

Coridan wrote:

I hate the new domain system. Nothing in it is ever worth wasting an action on. We were using it in Second Darkness for a while, my cleric has Charm and Trickery and never bothered with any of it.

<rant>

Hate is to soft a word for me, I am halfway into furious mode right now because nobody at Paizo answered any questions or concerns about the domains since freakin Alpha 3!
</rant>

Ok, there are a few good things in some of the domains but the majority of the spells and powers are ill chosen. Add a few cross/prestige class levels and some powers eg. Gentle Rest become completely worthless.

Take the Magic domain for an example: Dispelling Touch seems cool on first glance but it emulates the Dispell Magic spell which is capped at cl 10. Or what about Detect Magic as an at will power. Or the Repose dommain, wanna wield such awesome powers as Gentle Repose, Deathwatch and later Undead to Death? Or ... *cries*

I wouldn't think twice if my GM offerd me to exchange my clerics domains for one wizard school or sorcerer bloodline.

[Beckett]

I'd have to agree. At first glance, they look spiffy. But once I actually saw the way all classes have bumped up their power levels and got down into what the domains really do, I was just drop jaw disappointed. It is for me, comparible to Complete Divine.

[Dave Young 992]

Some of the domain powers are underwhelming. A restart on them seems like a good idea, making them more thematic to the domains and more useful.

I could go with domain spells, too. They weren't broken. I'm sure there's a lot of thought going on about it at Paizo.

And, yes, channelling energy rocks, for the reasons already mentioned!

[Niels]

Not all of the domain powers suck.

im dm in a gruper where we are playtesting the rules in, rise of the runelords, and the desna cleric in the party more or less saved thed day because of his domain powers(liberation and travel).
the dimensiondoor as a free action power of the travel domains rocks. as do the liberation aura that totaly prevented any grapple/hold person/ lelekenesis grap and so on.

we just played trough the enchounter with mochmorian in fortress of the stonegiants. and the cleric was the only one standing at the end of the battle more or less. and thx to fhe fligh power he was able to mele the bad ass giant wizzard down.

the rest of the party was: wiz(turned blind), rog(turned to stone), sos(disentegrated), sos(polymorfed to a frog), and fighter(dead from massive dmg and mutible reverse gravety in the 100' high room.

so i wouldent say they are useless.

what i would like is to give each cleric and even greater fell that he/she is ther servant of a special God.

i remember that AD&D had a system in dragonlanece where u chose spheres of influence, and only cast spell from thous...i really liked the idea of some seplls pnly beeing used by some clerics.

i regard to the channel energy it is to powerfull in battle...every cleric in my campaign have use selctive turning and it really makes for very large amounts of healing..lager ofc with a large party

fx our 10th lvl cleric with a phylactery of channeling have 8d6
spred over a party of 6 it makes for around 20-24 points of healing to all. thats a total of 120-144 points. the problem was really bad when we had 2 clerics...i think it removes some of the challenge.

perhaps getting rid of selctive turning and/or making turning a fullround action?

[Ross Byers]

Keep in mind that the cleric was literally the most powerful class in 3.5, so if School Powers are better than Domain powers, it's only fiar to help keep the classes even.

However, if you want to make Domains more interesting, I recommend this: link

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

My gaming group is about to start an evil-based campaign using Pathfinder rules in Golarion. We'll be running Rise of the Runelords. My character is a neutral evil human priest of Urgathoa with the Death and Magic domains.

I spent some time looking through the domains in the beta rules and with only a few exceptions, I was slightly underwhelmed. In most cases, I liked the at will 1st level abilities. They allow clerics to keep adding value even if their spells are gone. It was the bonus spells and, in some cases, the auras where I felt that there was room for improvement.

As someone else noted above, Travel and Liberation are very good. I'd keep those pretty much as is.

I would like to see revamps of the Earth and Fire domains. The 2nd and 4th level bonus spells could use some sprucing up. The core spells limit you somewhat in this regard but I'd still take another look and see what could be done to make these two domains more attractive to players.

The 8th level 'Aura' powers. Since they are Supernatural powers, it would seem that they require a standard action to trigger. Fine, that makes perfect sense. However, that doesn't mean that every round the cleric wants the power up after that he/she has to spend a standard action to maintain it, does it? I believe we are going to house rule that, once the standard action has been spent to trigger the aura, it is a free action to maintain it in subsequent rounds, up to a number of rounds equal to the cleric's level per day.

One aura in particular requires a simple change to go from terrible to very useful (note I didn't say overpowered). The Aura of Destruction should only affect enemies of the cleric. If a party gets wiped out from extra damage that they took because of their own cleric's abilities, you can bet that toon is getting crumpled up and that domain probably would never get serious consideration by a PC cleric again.

The Magic domain. It has already been mentioned but its worth restating here. Something should be done to the 8th level power 'Dispelling Touch' to keep it valuable after 10th level. Possibly allow it to function as a Greater Dispel Magic 1/day at the cost of all remaining uses of this power? I don't know the answer but I do know that that power should be changed from its current implementation.

Okay, guess that's about it for now. Overall, I'm looking forward to playing my cleric. I believe they are still one of the best classes available due to their versatility. But domains are so critical to their success that I believe it is vital to put better bonus spells in the domains to keep them relevant.

[seekerofshadowlight]

I do not mind em..the cleric need brought in a bit, there usable just not super powerful. I do not see an issue with it....Still think they should just get 1 domain not 2

[Beckett]

Ross Byers wrote:

Keep in mind that the cleric was literally the most powerful class in 3.5, so if School Powers are better than Domain powers, it's only fiar to help keep the classes even.

However, if you want to make Domains more interesting, I recommend this: link

That depends completely on how you play. In a group of mine's game, Clerics are among the weakest class there is next to Bard. That is about equal to the Bard.

[Chuck Mount]

In the game I run on Sundays, there is a Cleric of Torag with Earth and Artificer domains. His acid dart is his main attack at the begining of the round, then, if he has to, he goes in swinging for melee. The repairing ability from the Artificer domain has made him VERY popular with many an NPC.

I don't think that the domain powers are useless by a long shot. Some of them just aren't for combat. Remember that this is a role-playing game an it's not all about combat.

I think the Charm and Trickery domains are great. Those domains aren't meant for head-to-head combat. Think about it, as combat's about to start, you throw your hands up in surrender and approach the enemy. Once you're face to face with the enemy, you try and talk your way out of having to fight (as a proper cleric with the charm domain should do). If that fails, combat then starts with you using dazing touch. You can fight defensively for the touch attack, then move away as the fighter moves up to defend you.

Fort trickery, if you need to get away quick, you use copycat to create a double of yourself and hope the enemy attacks the image instead of you when you quickly maneuver behind the fighter. and disguise self is just an awesome spell for countless reasons.

Granted, some domain abilities might need some work, but I hope they are going to be kept in the final product... at least as an alternative.

[Tholas]

Well, as I implied not all domain powers are bad but personally all I care is for the domains my cleric of Wee Jas in our AoW campaign has. That is the only char I played for the last two years and will robably play for the next 2 years.
Please take a close look at the Repose and Magic domain. To me, most of the powers look like a cruel joke.

Shortly after the Alpha 3 Jason announced changes to the way the Wizard schools and Cleric domains worked for the beta. The Beta came and nothing, comments and questions where made, to no avail.

Personally I don't want the old domains back as they where in 3.5 and I have no problem with more flavor than utility but I am really really irked that noone at Paizo even bothered to answer any questions.

And to the people who think clerics deserve what they get:
- They already lost their 5th spell at level 1-5.
- Their best melee buffs where adjusted
- Their domain spell slots are no more

Dont't you think thats enough adjustments? Do they still need to worship the right deities (and thus limiting roleplaying choices) to get something out of their domains?

[DM_Blake]

Tholas wrote:

Well, as I implied not all domain powers are bad but personally all I care is for the domains my cleric of Wee Jas in our AoW campaign has. That is the only char I played for the last two years and will robably play for the next 2 years.

Please take a close look at the Repose and Magic domain. To me, most of the powers look like a cruel joke.

Shortly after the Alpha 3 Jason announced changes to the way the Wizard schools and Cleric domains worked for the beta. The Beta came and nothing, comments and questions where made, to no avail.

Personally I don't want the old domains back as they where in 3.5 and I have no problem with more flavor than utility but I am really really irked that noone at Paizo even bothered to answer any questions.

And to the people who think clerics deserve what they get:
- They already lost their 5th spell at level 1-5.
- Their best melee buffs where adjusted
- Their domain spell slots are no more

Dont't you think thats enough adjustments? Do they still need to worship the right deities (and thus limiting roleplaying choices) to get something out of their domains?

[Coridan]

I know why the domain changes happened, and I partly agree. However, they're really something more for an Unearthed Arcana type book. NOT the core rules. They also need a TON more playtesting than they've can receive right now and aren't ready to be set in the stone of a core book (lest we want a Pathfinder.5)

[Maveric28]

I tend to agree... the domains in PF RPG need work. Some are rather good, but others just don't seem like relevant choices for an adventurer. True, not all clerics are adventurers, but still, shouldn't each domain have something about it that might prove interesting to a PC? Sorry I don't have time to get more into this, but just throwing in my vote for "needs work, back to the drawing board please."