Cleric Domain update

[Spiffy Has]

We've been using the same domains from EFU1, and there is nothing wrong with this, and as the common saying goes, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Aside from the double negative, I also think we can make them better/do more that is perfectly situated for our server.

I suggest we do away with the hardcoded cleric domains entirely, and focus entirely on a new set of domains customized for EFU. Domains that should really draw out the strengths of a cleric representing their god in the field and better propagate their dogma.

Example:

Fire Domain- gain the old fire perk, Burning Hands, Combust, Fireball, Orb of Flame/Wall of Fire. Special turn dead ability.

Water Domain- gain the old ice perk, Ice Dagger, Ice Storm, Special turn dead ability.

Air Domain- Old Air Perk, Gust of Wind, Lightning Bolt, Scintalizing Sphere, 1/day domain power of 'air walk' - ability to levitate over cliffs.

Earth Domain- Acid Perk. Special turn dead ability, Melf's Acid Arrow, Mestil's Acid Breath, Acid Orb.

Darkness Domain- Special Turn Dead Perk (whisper, maybe?), Darkness, gain dark vision feat, etc....


I could go on, but this is the gist of my idea.

Let's abandon the hardcoded domains for efu, and emphasize override domains for efu so that clerics can better represent their god with spells that best situate them. It's always been strange to me that a Kossuthyn cleric cannot cast fire spells, and an Akadi Cleric cannot cast anything air related!

[NecronomiconV]

Im always one for more flavourful rp changes and i think this sounds great, if its not hardcoded. A few new domains wouldnt hurt either to add to our already fantastic selection. My main concern is that this might be time consuming in place of more important additions and changes, possibly something for the future or over time?

[VanillaPudding]

The default domains are just fine, though updating many of the custom ones (and adding in some more of the already implemented custom spells) might be cool.

[Yamo B. There]

Without giving any credence to the "clerics are already really powerful" nonsense, balancing the domains against each other would be pretty tricky, especially across such a large expansion. Many of the spells PnP traditionally assigns to the domains either aren't present in NWN or are already part of a Cleric's standard repertoire (leaving "put it at a lower circle" as the work-around). It's easy to see where the Fire domain, for instance, has room for improvement when it comes to fire-based spells, but that's only because there are so many of them in NWN to start; BurningBolt+FireLash+FlameArrow+Fireball+BurningHands is pretty clearly superior to whatever you could tack on to the Water domain (Ray of Frost and Cone of Cold?).

It's my understanding that the specialized Turn Undeads (where they exist) are things that can be granted to a character as reward for IG events, or as part of a scripted effect on item, or apped for if it suits the concept. I play a Kossuthan Cleric, and while I'm not entirely sure how the EFU-specific Fire TU replacement works mechanically, there's a few possible implementations that wouldn't mesh well with the character; keeping standard turning as the default and letting the players seek out the special stuff if they're interested seems the safer bet. I'm also told that spells can be added to a Cleric's book on a per-spell and -character basis, so there exists an opportunity for a Kossuthan Cleric lamenting their access to good Fire spells to get their hands on Fireball, again, likely through apping. I've heard there was some prominent Kossuthan Cleric PC in a past era that could cast all the fire spells, as an example.

All that said, I do think there's a little opportunity for some fix-ups to existing domains, like an expansion spell here or there, especially in those cases where the bulk of a domain's spells are 5th circle and higher; many characters will have trouble staying 9+. Some of the standard ones were undesirable compared to others to begin with and are now just blown away by EFU's custom domain offerings.
and if i can be self-serving for a moment i'd totally love it if the domains lacking abilities/feats got some