Cleric Domains

I usually play battle Clerics, so I tend toward Earth and Strength. Earth gives me toughness, and I play with the Spell Fixes and Improvements mod, which makes it so that Divine power can be cast persistently.

 

It depends. NWN2 clerics are very different from the clerics we used to play in BG2, and are a lot more flexible.

If I wanted to play a dual-wielding, high dex cleric, for example (amazing synergy between high number of attacks + Divine Might) I'd probably take Strength (for Divine Strength) and either Fury (Battle Master) or Darkness (Blind Fight).
If I wanted to play a caster-type cleric (works well in NWN2) I'd pick Animal (bear companions are nasty) and Time (Haste AND Premonition).

 

I tend to like role playing -- so my domains are based on the character I'm creating (and deity).

If I wanted to power game I would choose Time (premonition and haste) and then either luck or travel (possibly fury but I think the cleric buff spells are good enough) -- those make for an awesome combination. Earth is good instead of time but I think premonition is a better deal than stoneskin.

For a high charisma cleric I would certainly consider destruction.

Right now I'm playing a Air Genasi Cleric/Stormlord with Air and War domains. She took hits on charisma and wisdom but I didn't care -- the blue air genasi casting lightning and wielding a lightning infused spear is awesome. She absolutely smoked Lorne.

 

I almost always choose Air because Call Lightning and Chain Lightning, especially the empowered varieties, rock. Turning elementals can also be useful.

Sometimes I will choose the magic domain for the blackstaff spell, because dispelling magic on hit definitely has it's uses and is much better for a cleric to use than a mage. More often I will choose Cold, because I like my clerics to be able to fight as well as fighters and cast high level mage spells with the best of them. Also i'm fairly certain Polar Ray can critical hit, meaning crazy amounts of damage.

 

Most ranged touch attacks like most of the warlock's Eldritch Blast and the wizard's Polar Ray can indeed crit.

 

Combination of Role-playing & tactics for me.

Best domains for the cleric type a given character may be.

 

Since I'm a powergamer who uses magic mostly for long-duration buffs as I hack my way through an area, I'd go with Animal and Earth. A Stoneskinned dino is pretty hard to compete with. Access to Cat's Grace isn't to be overlooked, either: While the Bull's Strength that all Clerics get will be the go-to 2nd level spell to begin with, that gets replaced by Mass Bull's Strength and strength items later. Unless you're going the Finess/dual-wield route above, DEX is not going to be an equipment priority, so you're probably going to be under the DEX cap of Mithril Full Plate. Cat's Grace fills this in.

 

Air for two lighning spells is nice. Though the uncanny dodge is very nice because your cleric MC more often than not caught in the thick of fighting.
Earth is actually best, with toughness, energy immunity and stone skin.
A replacement for Air would be Sun to deal with Undead. But to be frank, it's a bit too situational and I judge not really worth the trade from the start.
If I really want to deal with Undead, Doomguide are just there, totally fit for an OC Knight Captain.

For the rest, either bonus are not great, or easily/cheaply replicable with item. Cat Grace? Haste? potions.

 

Been playing NwN2 again, and I'd just like to point out that Uncanny Dodge is broken in the OC. It doesn't seem to do anything.

Also, I've been playing more and more characters without a deity lately so even when roleplaying I prefer picking a combination of domains that reflect what I think my characters' philosophies are. Having no deity just opens up more interesting dialogue, and D&D-wise it doesn't seem to matter if you don't declare a patron deity as long as you don't go out of your way to insult deities or deny the existence of gods.

 

I thought Forgotten Realms D&D wise if you have no deity you would be condemned to the Wall of the Faithless. Granted, in Mask of the Betrayer you have an option to tear down the wall, but that is only 1/3 of the game and expansions. It doesn't apply to players in the OC or Storm of Zehir.

 

Correct. Upon death, people without a patron deity to petition are condemned to the Wall of the Faithless. But this is D&D we're talking about. From what I remember, clerics without a patron still get their spells from deities who own portfolios with those domains, so even though you haven chosen a specific one to follow, you might be able to petition one of them after your death, depending on how often you pissed off your GM in the past. There's no GM in NwN2 (at least not in single player), but the rules were still written with PnP in mind, so they should be considered just as flexible from a purely roleplay standpoint.

Besides, most people don't concern themselves with life after death that much, even in settings where gods and afterlife are tangible.

 

That's pretty much what I got after reading most D&D novels (at 1-5 bucks per hardcover they are a steal, sue me). Mielikki was already Drizzt's patron long before he even knew about her, just because he championed causes associated with her portfolio. Even Cadderly was channeling the power of Deneir well before Deneir revealed himself to be his patron deity. Finally, Mielikki was able to snatch Bruenor Battlehammer's soul away from Moradin just because of his association with Drizzt/Cattie-brie.

In the end, it seems Kelemvor gets the final word on who goes where and on some days he can be very lenient (though some days he can also be pretty cruel, like what he did with Adon, one of Mystra's followers, who was driven mad and was ultimately deemed False->Faithless).

 

Please have mercy on the ignorance of the guy who left the P&P AD&D world in 1997 save for CRPGs, but I thought clerics without a real deity were limited to 4th level spells and below, or was it spells below 4th level? The same as in "bestow spell ability". Clerics had to have a deity, but they might be worshiping a false god.

 

Not in 3rd edition D&D. No clue whether that was the case in 2nd edition.

 

I've played 2nd & 3rd. I thought generally clerics had access to spells they could reach. Now there may be something special rule about a "false god" in an add on somewhere but clerics seemed to have access to more that 4th lvl spells if they had the correct levels.


Like I said there could be a special rule out there in an add on somewhere (or a DM house rule) but typically it was access to 2nd means access to 5th if you could.

Thinking about it there may be a spelljammer rule where if you left crystal spheres (D&D solar systems) various gods were present in (areas where they had a following and thus power) then spell abilities may become more limited as a connections between the clerics and various D&D gods are more distant.

 

Note the limitation was that clerics had to worship a real deity, or the spells they received were limited.

 

Game-wise, yeah.

I wish there was a version that uses the same approach as the novels use since they're actually considered canon. Apparently the wall is still there in 5E, but Kelemvor has mellowed somewhat. He now allows some of the false/faithless to become "guides" to the realms of the dead instead of just throwing them into the wall (from Candlekeep forums).
Apparently the latter is reserved for fanatic anti-deity types now.

 

ALL clerics had to worship some deity, but it could be a dead deity (cultists of Moander, for instance), a demon in disguise, or even something made up. If there was enough faith and followers it was possible they might get some low-level spells, but nothing like the spells granted by a real deity.

Also note that I'm doing this from memory, I have no idea which book it was described in, and my group broke up in August of 1997, so it has probably been even longer since I read the actual book, some time between 1990-1997. I just know that you could not have a cleric without a deity, since by definition a cleric worshiped a deity. It was part of the job description. Also I recall rules and limitations for clerics without active deities, and that if they had a large enough congregation their faith could compensate and allow the cleric to cast low level spells powered by faith, but a real, active deity was needed for anything more powerful than could be theoretically transferred with the spell "imbue with spell ability".