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Reading the Theologian archetype for Clerics in Ultimate Magic (page 32), well, first (as a RL theologian) I was outraged by the wildly inaccurate fluff - outraged I tell you! To the point of zealously calling for a crusade! ;)
... But after calming down a putting a halt to the book-burnings and heretic-cullings we're apparantly into, I started to wonder what the best Domains for this archetype would be. How many Domains actually grant powers with level-dependent benefits? And how many of those have domain spells you'd really appreciate being able to permanently meta-magic?
The 'zap' style Domain powers tend to only grant +1 damage per 2 cleric levels... and +1 damage hardly seems a good trade for a whole Domain. Likewise some powers last for a number of rounds equal to '1/2 your cleric level' - so you're trading a Domain for an extra 1 round of duration...
I guess the Animal Domain Animal Companion could be at cleric level -1 instead of -3, but there's a Feat for that already, right? Plus... why not just be a Druid?
So... has anyone come up with any particularly good Domain and Spell combos to use with this archetype?
Glory(Heroism) or Glory by itself seems great. Plenty of decent spells on the list and the bonus to charisma based checks is a boon.
Bascally any domain where you have spells not on the list plus abilities that benefit from a higher cleric level are good. Destruction is another decent one.
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LOL! I never knew before that when a thread is moved you lose the dot in the original sub-forum...
Technically I was trying to promote discussion rather than seek advice, but I'll roll with it... ;)
Glory(Heroism) or Glory by itself seems great. Plenty of decent spells on the list and the bonus to charisma based checks is a boon.
Yes - the few Domains which provide a full '+' per Cleric level would seem like a good choice to get the most out of the Theologian's +2 power level boost.
Basically any domain where you have spells not on the list plus abilities that benefit from a higher cleric level are good. Destruction is another decent one.
Destruction also has one of the better 'Variant Channeling' options, IMHO - the 'Harm' version would just have an awesome visual! Not that the Theologian gets any boost to his channeling, but still...
The Rage Subdomain would look like a particularly good choice - the Theologian doesn't get Domain-granted powers early, but within the 'Rage' Domain power the granting of Barbarian rage powers looks like it's a level-dependent effect - so you'd get one at level 10 and another at level 14 (instead of 12 and 16), which is nice.
At level 5 you'd have a choice of using the Theologian's Domain Secret on True Strike, Bull's Strength, or Rage... all of which would only seem to benefit at all from the Silent Spell, Still Spell, or Extend Spell Metamagic boosts (and True Strike only from Silent Spell)...
... In fact, with many of the Metamagic options for the Domain Secret being 'blasty' type options it's looks a little tough to really wring the best out of the Domain Secret class feature. Domains like Fire would seem to do better there, but not get much benefit from the Focused Domain level boost.
So, it looks like you need a Domain with at least one blasty-style spell at level 1-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9 to get the most out of Domain Secret, but good level-depended benefits to get the most out of Domain Focus.
Thoughts anyone?