Cleric Domain

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Cleric Domains, commonly abbreviated to Domains, are a mechanic from Dungeons & Dragons that serves to provide greater individuality for clerics.

Much like how wizard magic is divided into its eight schools, one would presume that the powers granted by the goddess of earth and healing would be different to those granted by the god of fire and plague. Domains, then, serve as a way to mechanically differentiate clerics based on their patron gods, and can even be used to define adherents to specific sub-beliefs or sects of a particular god.

The concept of the Domain has been around since at least the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and isn't going anywhere any time soon.

AD&D

The foundations of the Cleric Domain were laid in two AD&D mechanics; Spheres and Specialty Priests. Specialty Priests were a form of priestly kits that were used to represent specialized followers of specific gods. This gave the priest different mechanical edges and disadvantages, depending on what kit was chosen.

Spheres were direct priestly correlations to the wizardly schools of magic; they represented divine portfolios, areas of influence that a god would have dominion over, and so they had magical spells based on that portfolio. Depending on what god you worshipped, your cleric had either Major access to certain spheres (get all spells as you level up), Minor access (only get spells of level 1-3) or no access, meaning you get no spells. The Spheres determine the kind of spells you can cast - Sun spells, Nature spells, War spells, etc. The original sixteen Spheres are:

• All, basic spells that all Clerics get.
• Animal, which has to do with animals.
• Astral, which allows you to use the Astral Plane for travel and communication.
• Charm, which lets you make friends and influence people.
• Combat, which lets you break faces left and right.
• Creation, which lets you create things ex nihilo.
• Divination, which lets you detect things, communicate with them and see at great distances.
• Elemental, which lets you control the elements.
• Guardian, which lets you create barriers and zones of protection.
• Healing, which makes you the party's healslut.
• Necromantic, which lets you smell the funk of fourty thousand years and raise and destroy the dead.
• Plant, which lets you control nature itself.
• Protection, which exists because sometimes it's better to prevent damage than heal it.
• Summoning, because sometimes you want a spell more powerful than an entire class.
• Sun, for those times you want to 420 praise it.
• Weather, because everybody wants a sunny day now and then.

The Tome of Magic later introduced eight additional Spheres:

• Chaos, for those who want the power of CHAOS.
• Law, for those who want to control others.
• Numbers, because some gods are HUGE NERDS.
• Thought, for mastery of the self.
• Time, allow you to manipulate how time affects things and people.
• Travelers, which lets you travel distances at a fast pace.
• War, the larger brother of the Combat Sphere.
• Wards, to protect areas and items from harm.

Of the base sixteen Clerics gain Major access to all Spheres except Animal, Elemental and Plant, and Minor access to Elemental. Speciality priests gain access to a limited set of Spheres, to offset the other abilities they get later down the line. Druids meanwhile gain Major access to the Spheres of All, Animal, Elemental, Healing, Plant and Weather.

3rd edition

The iconic form of the Cleric Domain, if only due to its lifespan, was made in 3rd edition. This version of a Domain granted a cleric access to both a small list of bonus spells that would not normally be on the Cleric spell list and a single passive mechanical edge - for example, an elemental domain would usually grant the ability to turn and rebuke elementals of the "enemy" element as if they were undead.

In this edition, clerics select two Domains at 1st level, representing the particular divine portfolios that their faith resonates with.

4th edition

In something of a throwback to AD&D, 4th edition Divine classes - the Cleric, the Paladin, the Avenger, and the Invoker - didn't initially have Domains. The idea was that the sheer variety of powers, feat-based "worshipper of X" class bonuses, and paragon paths could grant quite a bit of variety to a clerical concept as it was.

But, Domains were too potentially interesting an idea to just up and abandon. So, the "Divine Power" splatbook contained a whole segment dedicated to reintroducing Domains. In addition to examining them from a fluffy angle, and how to respin Domains for odd-seeming alignment fits - a Good God of Destruction, a Chaotic Evil God of Freedom, an Evil God of Protection, etc - it provided mechanical details for making them work.

4e Cleric Domains take advantage of the comparatively high number of feats that a 4e PC gets access to. Each Domain has two associated feats; one that grants a permanent passive bluff and takes on a special rider to a thematically approriate set of at-will powers, and one that provides a new, thematic way to use the Channel Divinity class feature.

5th edition

With 5th edition taking the approach of mandatory subclasses, turning Domains in the cleric subclasses was as natural as turning the schools of magic into the wizard subclasses. As in 3rd edition, a 5e Cleric Domain grants a list of bonus spells for all of the spell levels. More importantly, it also grants a number of bonus class features, at levels 1, 2, 6, 8 and 17, which mechanically alter how the cleric plays and what it can do to a far greater extent than the oft-meager domain powers of 3e.

The core Domains in 5e are Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War.

One of the two classes with a "villainous option" that only appears in the DMG - specifically, the necromancy-focused Death domain, which doesn't make you a minion-master like the Necromancer Wizard -- not even giving you Command Undead, which means the Necro-Wizard is finally better at being a necromancer than a Death Cleric -- the way it did in editions past, but gives you some bonus necromantic spells and features revolving around pumping out necrotic damage. Hilariously, the PHB itself acknowledges that death and its clerics aren't necessarily evil, and lists multiple non-evil death gods in its various appendices.

Got a City domain in "Unearthed Arcana: Modern Magic". Enhanced Charisma, Perception, and Insight in urban areas, a Channel Divinity that lets you mentally control all city utilities (and knock over or grab enemies by making the city grab them), bonus Psychic damage with melee attacks, and free teleportation between mass transit points (so bus stops, subway entrances, train stations, etc).

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide adds the Arcane domain, for a little more of a Mystic Theurge feel to the cleric. Wizard cantrips, the ability to Turn aberrations, celestials, fae, elements and fiends, add Wisdom to cantrips, and gaining 1 Wizard spell from each of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level options, which don't count against your daily prepared allotment, at 17th level.

For their November Unearthed Arcana article, they got three new domains; Forge, Grave, and Protection.

Forge Clerics worship smithing creator deities like Moradin, and so they get bonus spells relating to manipulating fire, augmenting gear, and creating stuff, like Heat Metal, Searing Smite, Animate Objects, Magic Weapon, etc. They get bonus proficiency with heavy armor, the ability to turn a non-magical weapon or suit of armor into a +1 version for a day, which is a power they can only use once per day, the ability to create simple items as part of a short rest (no, there's no real mechanical bonus to that), +1 AC in Medium or Heavy Armor, Fire Resistance (which ultimately improves itself to Fire Immunity), a once-per-turn Divine Strike that lets yo deal bonus fire damage, and the ability to gain Resistance to non-magical physical damage whilst wearing heavy armor.

Grave Clerics are, as you'd expect, the "non-evil necromancy clerics!" domain; whilst Death is mechanically aimed at gods of the undead, murder and other "death as an evil force to be feared" deities, the Grave Domain is aimed at gods of "death as a natural part of the cycle", like Kelemvor, Pharasma and Wee Jas. They get bonus spells relating to "good" necromancy (false life, gentle repose, antilife shell) and "neutral" necromancy (blight, animate dead, bane), the Spare The Dying cantrip for free, the ability to always heal maximum damage with their healing spells, the ability to spend 1 minute to sense all undead within 1 mile once per day, the ability to use Channel Divinity to remove immunity/resistance (if present) or grant vulnerability to the next attack to strike that creature, the ability to negate a critical hit on an ally once per short rest, a Divine Strike that ca deal bonus necrotic damage, and the ability to give themselves or an ally some free healing in response to an enemy's death once per turn.

Protection Clerics worship guardian deities, obviously, and so their powers basically make them more castery paladins. They get protective bonus spells, the ability to impose disadvantage on combat rolls by enemies within 5 feet who're attacking someone else, a Channel Divinity that lets you armor an ally with an aura that burns the next guy to strike that ally, gaining healing when you cast a heal-spell on others, a radiant damage Divine Strike, and the ability to gain two damage resistances from the list of Slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning, Necrotic and Radiant, which you can change every short rest and which you can transfer to someone else with a touch.

Given that Plane Shift: Amonkhet takes place on a world ruled by worship of five gods, you shouldn't be surprised that there are new Cleric Domains to be had from it; Solidarity, Strength, Ambition, and Zeal. There's also a God of Knowledge, but that's in the PHB.

The Solidarity Domain is a sort of cross between the War and Life Domains, as it's all about fostering team-work and unity. Its bonus spells relate to group-targeting heals and buffs, such as Bless, Guiding Bolt, etc. It grants proficiency in Heavy Armor and several features. At level 1, Solidarity's Action lets you spend a bonus action when using Help to assist an ally's attack to make a weapon attack of your own, which you can do Wis bonus times (minimum once) per day. At level 2, you get the Channel Divinity feature "Preserve Life", which lets you heal others as a bonus action without expending a spell slot. At level 6, Channel Divinity "Oketra's Blessing" lets you spend a Channel Divinity use as a reaction to a creature within 30 feet of you make an attack roll; this grants them a +10 bonus to their roll. At 8th level, you get Divine Strike, which lets you bump up the damage on one weapon attack per turn by +1d8 (+2d8 after you hit level 14). Finally, at level 17, you get Supreme Healing, where you automatically heal the maximum possible amount when using a random roll-based healing effect.

The Strength Domain is all about proving your strength, physically and mentally. As such, its bonus spells are an odd mix of physical boosters, protective buffs, and also includes the Dominate Beast and Insect Plague spells. At level 1, you gain Acolyte of Strength (1 Druid cantrip, Proficiency in 1 of Animal Handling, Athletics, Nature or Survival) and proficiency in Heavy Armor. At level 2, your first Channel Divinity, "Feat of Strength", allows you to use Channel Divinity to grant yourself a +10 bonus to any Strength based check. The level 6 version, "Rhonas's Blessing", is the same thing, but targeting somebody else within 30 feet instead. You get the same Divine Strike feature as the Solidarity Domain at level 8, and finally, level 17 gives you Avatar of Battle; permanent resistance to all physical damage that comes from non-magical sources.

The Ambition Domain is the most evil-flavored Domain, because of course wanting to push yourself to the top is most appealing to selfish jerkasses. Its bonus spells are all about cheating or manipulating; Bane, Ray of Enfeeblement, Vampiric Touch, Dominate Person, etc. At level 1, you get the Warding Flare ability, which you can use 1 or Wisdom modifier times per day, whichever is greater. This lets you impose Disadvantage on an assailant's attack roll against you as a reaction, provided that you can see them and they're within 30 feet - oh, and they're not immune to being blinded. Your level 2 Channel Divinity is "Invoke Duplicity", which lets you use your CD to create an illusionary double, which is sustained as per a Concentration spell. Aside from the obvious misleading effects, although it's only got a 120 range, you can cast spells through it, and you can tag-team with it to gain advantage on attack rolls. In comparison, your level 6 Channel Divinity, "Cloak of Shadows, is much simpler: you turn invisible, until your next turn ends, you attack somebody, or cast a spell. Level 8 gives you the Potent Spellcasting feature, where your offensive Cleric cantrips inflict +Wisdom modifier bonus damage. Finally, at level 17, Improved Duplicity lets you make up to 4 duplicates with Channel Divinity instead of 1.

The Zeal Domain is a weird mixture of the War and Tempest Domains, in practice. Its bonus spells are all offensive based, either directly (Destructive Wave) or indirectly (Searing Smite), and heavy on the thunder and fire damage. You get free proficiencies with martial weapons and heavy armor, and the Priest of Zeal feature at level 1. Usable 1 or Wisdom modifier (use the higher of the two) times per day, it lets you use a bonus action after making an attack to make an extra weapon attack. Your level 2 Channel Divinity, Consuming Fervor, lets you spend Channel Divinity uses to maximize fire and thunder damage. At level 6, you get Resounding Strike, which means your thunder attacks will knock any target that is Large or smaller back 10 feet when they hit. At level 8, you get Divine Strike, which functions the same as Solidarity and Strength's version. Finally, at level 17, you get Blaze of Glory: once per day, when reduced to 0 hit points by an attacker that you can see, you can use your reaction to move at full speed towards that bastard and make a melee weapon attack with Advantage that deals +5D10 (weapon damage type) damage and +5d10 fire damage if it hits. Whether it hits or not, you then collapse on the spot, either dead or dying, depending on how badly hurt you were beforehand.