Cleric domain powers don't always match their domain.


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One of the things I noticed in this playtest was that making a Cleric with the kind of flavor I was hoping for was incredibly hard. Mostly because when I read through the gods - and much of those blocks made sense - one of the things that seemed strange was specifically the domains and their powers. In Pathfinder 1e, fist level domain powers were typically powers that provided some significant utility or mild combat effect. It ranged from save or suck things like AoE confusion, to getting bonuses to skills, etc. In the playtest however as I read through some of the first level domain powers granted by the domains many of them just felt... non-thematic.

For example, the Might domain's first level power feels more like a Dwarf domain power. All it does is prevent penalties from armor or encumberance for one turn. Not only is that highly situational, and a cleric of Might may not care about armor at all; perhaps they care more about being strong and powerful? I feel that Destruction's 1st level power fits here far more. Another great example of this is the Magic domain's first level power. All it does is provide a slight saves boost. To me I feel that a Magic domain should provide some other benefit. Perhaps a free Identify spell that can be used from your pool?

What do others think? Do you feel the domain powers feel not only thematically appropriate to their domains, but do they feel worth it? I find that I care more about my spell choices and the spells granted by my god more than the domains themselves. And some of the domain powers are just hands-down more effective than others (I'm looking at you, Zeal).


I think I ran across maybe 4 that were worth taking. I'd happily trade out the domain for another class feat to be frank. I'm not sure why there's a focus on minor benefits in really narrow circumstances, but the cleric survives well on his channeling, so its hard to argue they need more.


The Domains are pretty rough, yeah. You used to be able to build a character around one of them! With the exception of 3 or so good ones, most of them are just ribbons in the Playtest.


I never used the power I got from the Freedom domain (I got into a single instance of "sorry you can't move" by being grabbed by a zombie...which the power wouldn't help with anyway, oh and then it died before I acted, so....)

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