Advice on cleric domains

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A cleric can ahave a couple of "domains", which grant bonus spells at each spell level. The available domains are based on those offered by the chosen deity, which in turn is a choice, restricted according to race and alignment.

Some domains seem pretty pathetic (e.g. healing - you can spontaneously cast healing spells from your main list), some seem quite good (e.g. strength - bull's strength and cat's grace always come in handy.).

So, what is your favourite domains? Which ones should one avoid? And are there any "hidden gems" - i.e. dommain spells whose power is always underestimated?

 

My favourite is, of course, Healing... hehe

 

I like Law and Destruction. Law gives you Protection from Chaos and Magic Circle Against Chaos at early levels (1 and 3), and since almost all the critters you meet are Chaotic Evil, protection against chaos works just as well as protection against evil. Destruction gives you Smite, which can come in handy if you've given yourself a high charisma.

But I don't have any experience with the others - those were the two I gravitated to (go figure).

Incidentally, I just got NWN yesterday, and I was so disappointed to see that NWN clerics can't take the Law domain! What a travesty!

 

the domains are up to your aligment and god.
not all gods have law domain, so try different god.

and for topic:
healing is the worst of them if you play good cleric.
next worsest are chaos/law/good/evil domains.

why? they give 99% the same spells as you would othervise get and the domain benefit is only that you cast the spells that have the same description (healing/law/good) as yo uwould be one lvl higher than you realy are.
not a big deal.

best of them is Sun domain.
greater turning realy boosts the clericks second main ability, turning, and it has also spells that you would not othervise get your hands on.

 

I think there's a domain in NWN which offers stoneskin to the cleric. If that's the case, I'd pick that domain.

 

The Earth domain gets you Stoneskin as its fifth circle; Plant wins you Barkskin in the second circle; and Travel gives you Bear's Endurance in the second circle. Any of those would be good for keeping your character alive, as would be all five spells in the Protection domain.

I still cast my vote for Destruction - it gets you Smite right from the outset. Why let the paladins have all the fun? And I'll echo BlackSmith - Sun's turning bonus saves you a feat. Alas, there's no way to combine the two. Maybe like in Fallout I - a Sun-Destruction nuclear-fusion cult?

 

Is there any site that has a list of all the domain powers? The instruction manual only lists the domain spells, not what the different domains do/give as domain powers/feats. Thanks!

 

War is quite decent just for the weapon focus. The other abilities the domains give you are mostly meh.

 

Now that I actually know the domain abilities... heh.

Like has been said, chaos and evil domains are useless in this game (most monsters are chaotic evil), as are knowledge (domain ability has no use, and poor spell selection), magic (domain ability is of low use in such a low-level game, and the spells are mostly duplicated elsewhere), and animal (useless ability in this game... but the spells MIGHT be useful if you don't have a druid).

Otherwise, you can pick what suits your cleric and your party, not to mention your deity... Sun's ability is good (though once per day, not a free improved turning like NWN, remember!). The four elemental domains give you good spells and let you manipulate two of the four kinds of elementals each (Note however that Fire decidedly got the shaft for spells... Wind and Water get powerful fifth level bombardment spells and concealment-type 2/3 level spells, Earth gets Stoneskin at 5 and meld into stone for you cheapies out there). Death has powerful spells and is also useful for 'coup de grace' style attacks on badly wounded or near death enemies. Destruction, as has been mentioned, has a powerful smite attack and is useful for positive-channeling clerics of St. Cuthbert (Inflict spells can be useful sometimes!). Healing is useful for ANY cleric, as not only do you get extra healing spells (remember that even good clerics can't spontaneously cast from domain spells) and also casts your healing at +1 lvl. Good and Law are useful for most situations, though you still have to pay attention to alignment (there are quite a few true neutral enemies in the game, for instance). Luck has an interesting ability, though the spells don't seem too stellar to me. Plant can be useful as long as there isn't a druid already in the party, and turning plants/fungi is useful in some areas of the Temple. Protection provides some pretty grand defensive spells, useful for hand-to-hand OR casting defensively. Strength's domain power seems less powerful than Destruction's, and the spells less useful than War's; but it can be a substitute for both. One of my favourites, Travel, provides a cool ability, as well as a good 1st-level spell for your fullplate-wearing cleric, endurance, haste, and some of those nifty teleportation spells. Trickery's bluff class skill can be useful for diplomatic clerics, and provides some decent enchantment-style magics. War provides both weapon proficiency and focus in the deity's weapon of choice, and one of the best spell selections out there.

That's all from me!

[ October 25, 2004, 04:49: Message edited by: ratwhowouldbeking ]