The Forgotten Realms campaign setting that we are based on features a very rich pantheon of deities, and Toril 2.0 will take advantage of that in a new feature that will give clerics a little more variety and versatility.
Patron Deities
All characters will be able to select a patron deity from an in-game command. The deities available to your character will depend on your race and alignment. Choosing a deity is completely optional for all classes except Clerics. A Cleric of any race must choose a deity in order to cast spells, but they will also receive special benefits from their chosen deity. Non-clerics will receive little benefit for selecting a deity, although there will be some effects. Some very rare spells will only affect worshipers of a specific deity, or a deity of a specific alignment. In addition, some magical items may only be used by a worshiper of a specific deity. For example, a Holy Sword of Tyr would only be usable a paladin of Tyr, etc.
The first benefit a Cleric receives for choosing a Deity is an automatic proficiency feat for the deity's favored weapon. The second will be covered below.
Cleric Domains
Every deity is associated with specific concepts such as Good, Evil, War, Luck, etc that define that deities purview as an immortal. These concepts are also called domains, and every deity has at least five of them. In addition to the "conceptual" domains, non-human deities also feature race-specific domains. For example, Lloth gives access to the Drow domain, along with 4 normal domains.
When a Cleric chooses a deity they make select two of the domains on that deities list. Each domain gives the Cleric access to:
- - One bonus spell per circle that may only be prepared in the domain spell slot.
- A granted power.
Domain Spells
Clerics have, in addition to their regular spell preparation slot, a domain spell slot where they may prepare only one of their domain spells.
Its a little confusing at first, so here's an example:
Foo is a cleric of Cyric. Cyric has five domains - Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Illusion, and Trickery. Foo decides to pick Chaos as his first domain, and receives the spell Protection from Law which he can only prepare in his 1st circle domain slot. For his second domain, Foo chooses Destruction and gets the Inflict Light Wounds spell. Foo only has one domain spell slot per circle, so he must pick between the two of these spells to prepare. Every spell circle, Foo will gain a new spell from each domain.
Some domain spells are unique to that domain, some are shared between domains, and some are just found on the cleric spell list. Either way, that extra spell slot gives the cleric access to a spell that fits their profile.
Domain Powers
In addition to spells, each domain also grants a special power. These granted powers are highly variable and can be either time-limited special abilities or passive abilities. To use the example above, the Chaos domain grants a passive power that causes all Chaos spells to be cast at a higher level. The Destruction domain grants the 'Smite' power, which is a 1/day powerful melee attack.
Conclusion
The new Deity & Domains system will allow clerics to customize themselves in new and interesting ways by picking a Forgotten Realms deity as their patron deity. This will also, hopefully, help promote interest in Forgotten Realms and role playing in general. The Cleric class will no longer be limited to one archetype but will attempt to fully represent the many different ways of playing a Cleric - from the peace loving healer on one end of the spectrum to the undead lord of destruction and evil on the other.
2.0 currently features:
- 113 Forgotten Realms deities
58 Domains