5e Earth Domain

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Lars Porsenna
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5e Earth Domain

Post by Lars Porsenna »

What do people think of this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5q-Sr ... JpbWc/view

This came up (as usual) when converting Moraim. The problem is of course none of the domains in the core book really reflect a Cleric of Ulaa very well. This one is much better, and includes as a domain spell one of Moraim's signature abilities (Stone Shape). If no one objects, I'll use this for Moraim's conversion...

Damon.
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setanta14
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by setanta14 »

Looks ok to me
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NukeHavoc
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by NukeHavoc »

I don't know about the advantage vs. all elementals bit; I don't get why an Earth domain cleric would have that. Something that grants advantage against air elementals? Sure, but everything just seems a little weird.

Here's another Earth domain write-up I came across:

5E Cleric: Earth Domain
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthre ... rth-Domain

Not sure if I like this one better; I need to read through it more closely. Overall though, I'm very much in favor of finding or creating a good Stone/Earth domain for Moriam. It's a big part of his character.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by Lars Porsenna »

The key thing to any domain is that it MUST include Stone Shape as a domain spell. This is Moraim's signature spell, one he used often and prepared almost all the time. So any user created domain that does not have that wouldn't pass muster. This one seems OK.

Damon.
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EvilGenius
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

I've got some ideas. I'm going to give it a crack tonight.
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NukeHavoc
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by NukeHavoc »

Lars Porsenna wrote:The key thing to any domain is that it MUST include Stone Shape as a domain spell. This is Moraim's signature spell, one he used often and prepared almost all the time. So any user created domain that does not have that wouldn't pass muster. This one seems OK.
Having that as a domain spell seems like a no brainer. I haven't gone through all the domains yet to see how they stack up against once another, so I can't speak to how well either of these stone/earth domain stack. For the one I posted, I found its domain powers to be too similar to one another:
Stone Spines: You can cause the ground in a 20-foot radius centered on yourself to sprout jagged spurs of stone. A creature moving along the spiky ground within the area takes 1d4 piercing damage for every three cleric levels you possess (minimum 1d4) for every 5 feet it travels. If you move the effect onto a creature, it is unaffected as long it is remains unmoving.

Quagmire: This effect can turn soil, sand or other such malleable ground in a 20-foot radius centered on yourself into a grasping morass. Creatures in the area must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spellcasting DC or be restrained until the effect ends. A creature restrained by the muck can free itself if it uses its action to make a successful Strength check.
They both affect the ground; my gut says one of these should be either defensive or offensive in nature (e.g. maybe a boost to AC or some sort of attack power). I'd need to look at the other domains to understand the design pattern better.

When building these, it might be helpful to think about the other three elemental domains as well. Not that they need to advance lockstep, but I could see them complementing/opposing one another.
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EvilGenius
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

I did a little research last night and I'm working on a few things now. In 3e, the Earth domain power was the ability to turn/rebuke air elementals. But there were other, related domains, too: dwarf and cavern. The Dwarf domain power was to grant the Great Fortitude feat (+2 to Fort save) and the Cavern domain power was to grant stonecunning to non-dwarves and to double the stonecunning bonus for dwarves. So that gives us a few ideas.

In 5e, Domain powers are broken down like this:
1st level, possibly proficiencies
1st level, bonus to a core competency related to the domain (Life domain gets a bonus to healing spells, Knowledge domain add double proficiency bonus for a few skills, etc).
2nd level, additional way to use channel divinity besides turn undead
6th level, defensive power
8th level, offensive power
17th level, powerful ability directly tied to domain theme. Some are defensive, some are offensive, some are utilitarian.

So we need to come up with something for each of those categories, then figure out domain spells.
1st level proficiency: most domains have some proficiency bonus. Armor, weapon, tool or skills. No domain grants an additional save proficiency.
So for Earth I'd recommend allowing the cleric to choose two proficiencies from: Nature, an earth-related language, a tool proficiency (we could specify mason, blacksmithing, etc), and maybe heavy armor/war pick/warhammer? Don't want to give too much but there should be options to lessen the chance that a character already has all of the proficiencies and therefore doesn't get any bonus.
1st level power: I recommend the stonecunning ability. For reference, this is 5e Stonecunning (under the dwarf racial entry):
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check realted to the origin of Stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Since Dwarves already have stonecunning, maybe they should also get advantage on the check? That's similar to Dwarves getting advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison damage.

2nd level channel divinity alternate use: use channel divinity to turn/rebuke creatures with a fly speed

6th level defensive power: when a creature within 30' of you (including yourself) would need to make a constitution save, you can take a reaction to grant that creature proficiency on it's Con save and the creature has advantage on the roll.
* I added the advantage because some pcs may already have proficiency with con saves. Barbarians, fighters and warlocks start with Con save proficiency and the other classes could gain proficiency with Con saves via the Resilient feat.

8th level offensive power: tbd

17th level WOW power: tbd

Domain spells: tbd
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

8th level offensive power: Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with acid energy - a gift from your deity. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 acid damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increase to 2d8.

17th level WOW power: Earth Glide
You have the EarthGlide ability equal to your current walking speed. You can burrow through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't disturb the material you move through.
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by NukeHavoc »

EvilGenius wrote:6th level defensive power: when a creature within 30' of you (including yourself) would need to make a constitution save, you can take a reaction to grant that creature proficiency on it's Con save and the creature has advantage on the roll.
* I added the advantage because some pcs may already have proficiency with con saves. Barbarians, fighters and warlocks start with Con save proficiency and the other classes could gain proficiency with Con saves via the Resilient feat.
I'm thinking simplify the math and just make it grant advantage. I don't know if I've come across something where you're granting a proficiency bonus to a save or skill. Alternatively, borrow a page from the bard and give the character a d6 to their saving throw ... though the random nature of it seems at odds with the solid, dependable nature of the earth (that might be better for air or fire).
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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NukeHavoc
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by NukeHavoc »

EvilGenius wrote:8th level offensive power: Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with acid energy - a gift from your deity. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 acid damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increase to 2d8.

17th level WOW power: Earth Glide
You have the EarthGlide ability equal to your current walking speed. You can burrow through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't disturb the material you move through.
These seem inline with the other domains (particularly Tempest).
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by Lars Porsenna »

NukeHavoc wrote:
EvilGenius wrote:6th level defensive power: when a creature within 30' of you (including yourself) would need to make a constitution save, you can take a reaction to grant that creature proficiency on it's Con save and the creature has advantage on the roll.
* I added the advantage because some pcs may already have proficiency with con saves. Barbarians, fighters and warlocks start with Con save proficiency and the other classes could gain proficiency with Con saves via the Resilient feat.
I'k thinking simplify the math and just make it grant advantage. I don't know if I've come across something where you're granting a proficiency bonus to a save or skill. Alternatively, borrow a page from the bard and give the character a d6 to their saving throw ... though the random nature of it seems at odds with the solid, dependable nature of the earth (that might be better for air or fire).
I would be inclined to say it grants advantage as well. Keeps it simple and thematically fits with 5e.

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
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EvilGenius
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

Lars Porsenna wrote:
NukeHavoc wrote:
EvilGenius wrote:6th level defensive power: when a creature within 30' of you (including yourself) would need to make a constitution save, you can take a reaction to grant that creature proficiency on it's Con save and the creature has advantage on the roll.
* I added the advantage because some pcs may already have proficiency with con saves. Barbarians, fighters and warlocks start with Con save proficiency and the other classes could gain proficiency with Con saves via the Resilient feat.
I'k thinking simplify the math and just make it grant advantage. I don't know if I've come across something where you're granting a proficiency bonus to a save or skill. Alternatively, borrow a page from the bard and give the character a d6 to their saving throw ... though the random nature of it seems at odds with the solid, dependable nature of the earth (that might be better for air or fire).
I would be inclined to say it grants advantage as well. Keeps it simple and thematically fits with 5e.

Damon.
I'm cool with that. :)
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EvilGenius
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

EvilGenius wrote:1st level proficiency: most domains have some proficiency bonus. Armor, weapon, tool or skills. No domain grants an additional save proficiency.
So for Earth I'd recommend allowing the cleric to choose two proficiencies from: Nature, an earth-related language, a tool proficiency (we could specify mason, blacksmithing, etc), and maybe heavy armor/war pick/warhammer? Don't want to give too much but there should be options to lessen the chance that a character already has all of the proficiencies and therefore doesn't get any bonus.

1st level power: I recommend the stonecunning ability. For reference, this is 5e Stonecunning (under the dwarf racial entry):
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of Stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Since Dwarves already have stonecunning, maybe they should also get advantage on the check? That's similar to Dwarves getting advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison damage.
I've been thinking on this a little more and maybe Stonecunning should just be the 'proficiency' part of 1st level powers. Or maybe Stonecunning + either heavy armor, war pick or warhammer.

The other domains have a more substantial 1st level power, I think. Bonus to all healing spells for the life domain, for the light domain you can cause disadvantage on an attack against you, nature domain gain an cantrip, for the tempest domain you can cause lightning damage to a creature that hits you with an attack, for the trickery domain you can grant another creature advantage on dex (stealth) checks for an hour, for the war domain you can make extra attacks as a bonus action.

The knowledge domain is the only domain that only deals with skills at 1st, but you choose two and get double your proficiency bonus with them (like the rogue class ability, Expertise).

So for Earth, maybe Stonecunning covers the proficiency part and we could import the 3e spell, Stone Tell (which isn't yet in 5e). Here's the 3e description of the spell:
Stone Tell
You gain the ability to speak with stones, which relate to you who or what has touched them as well as revealing what is covered or concealed behind or under them. The stones relate complete descriptions if asked. A stone’s perspective, perception, and knowledge may prevent the stone from providing the details you are looking for.

You can speak with natural or worked stone.
In 3e, this was a 6th level druid spell which took 10 min to cast and lasted for 1 min/level. I don't know that we need to keep the 10 min cast and 1min/level duration.

I'm spitballing, but how about we make it the 1st level Domain power and, like some of the other 1st level abilities, say you can use it a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier (minimum of 1 time)? You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. It takes an action to invoke the ability and you can get a short answer/vision from the stone.

It should be noted that the Knowledge domain in 5e has a more powerful version of this ability as the 17th level, WOW power.
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

How about this for Domain Spells:

Earth Domain Spell List
1st Earth Tremor from EE
Thunderwave?

3rd Heat Metal
Maximillian's Earthen Grasp from EE
or Melf's Acid Arrow

5th Elemental Weapon (Acid only)
Meld into Stone

7th Stone Shape
Stoneskin

9th Passwall
Wall of Stone
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Re: 5e Earth Domain

Post by EvilGenius »

So the full domain write up would look like this (subject to edits, of course):

Earth Domain
<flavor text>

Earth Domain Spells

Cleric Level ---- Spells
1st ------------- Earth Tremor, Thunderwave
3rd ------------- Heat Metal, Melf's Acid Arrow
5th ------------- Conjure Elemental (earth only), Meld into Stone
7th ------------- Stone Shape, Stoneskin
9th ------------- Passwall, Wall of Stone

One with the Stone
At 1st level, you gain Stonecunning, as per the dwarven racial ability. Dwarven characters who already possess Stonecunning instead gain advantage on the relevant roll.
Stonecunning - Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check realted to the origin of Stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Channel Divinity: Censure of the Mountain
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to turn any creature with a fly speed, in the same way that you can turn undead.

As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring creatures of the air. Each creature with a fly speed within 30' that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.

A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30' of you. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there's nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

Steady as the Mountain
Starting at 6th level, when you or a creature within 30 feet of you has to make a Constitution check, you can use your reaction to grant that creature advantage on the roll.

Blood of the Mountain
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with the acid or fire ('blood of the mountain'). Once on each of your each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 acid or fire damage to the target (your choice). When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Child of the Mountain
At 17th level, you gain the EarthGlide ability equal to your current walking speed. You can burrow through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone. While doing so, you don't disturb the material you move through.
Last edited by EvilGenius on Thu Oct 06, 2016 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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