Hello everyone, and welcome to another in a series of articles focusing on the Cleric Domains in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of your domain powers, spells, and introduce you to a god or goddess from real-Earth mythology who could be a deity using this particular domain.
All that said, welcome to this week’s article on the domain of: Luck.
The Luck domain is described as “You are infused with luck, and your mere presence can spread good fortune.” – It’s fairly safe to say that you’re therefore likely to be a lucky person and that the deity you worship came to you the other way around, i.e. a “lady luck smiles upon me, so I worship her.”
The powers granted are “Bit of Luck,” where you allow someone to roll 2d20 instead of 1d20, and pick the better result. For those familiar with 5th Edition D&D, this is basically giving them Advantage on the roll.
The second power is “Good Fortune,” which allows you to do the same thing (in effect), but as an immediate action, before the result is revealed. Only you (the person with the domain) can make use of that though.
Spells:
The spells you get with the Luck domain are as follows:
True Strike
True Strike is a bit of a hidden gem, in that it gives you a +20 insight bonus on your next attack roll. As long as it’s used before the end of the next round, you can use it as a bonus on a weapon attack OR a spell, almost guaranteeing that you’ll hit, regardless of the target’s AC.
Aid
Aid grants the target a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls, saves against fear, and some temporary hit points. In effect it’s bless, but with some slight advantages. Its main strength is the duration though, as it lasts for a minimum of 3 minutes at the level where you get it, which allows you to cast this just before an engagement with the enemy rather than during it.
Protection from Energy
Protection from Energy grants you complete immunity to a type of energy of your choice so that you can go unscathed through a dragon’s fire or anything similar, although anything beyond 60 hit points worth of damage will end the spell (when cast at minimum level). Just remember that it only protects against one type of energy, and once it’s been used up, you have nothing to protect you.
Freedom of Movement
Freedom of movement is, in my opinion, one of the golden gems of spells. It’s potentially enormously powerful due to the phrase of “enables you or a creature you touch to move and attack normally for the duration of the spell, even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement, such as paralysis, solid fog, slow, and web. All combat maneuver checks made to grapple the target automatically fail. The subject automatically succeeds on any combat maneuver checks and Escape Artist checks made to escape a grapple or a pin.” – Theoretically, that means that the recipient of the spell cannot be imprisoned or restrained in any way (automatically escaping shackles, paralysis and hold spells fail to work, etc.), becoming as slippery as a greased snail.
Break Enchantment
In many ways, break enchantment is an upgraded version of dispel magic, in that it frees the target from all enchantments, transmutations, and curses. Unlike dispel magic it can revert an instantaneous effect, which is normally impossible. That said, it doesn’t affect spells from schools other than enchantment and transmutation, so it cannot affect abjuration or conjuration spells for example.
Mislead
As useful as invisibility, but with the bonus of creating a temporary doppelganger, that’ll move away from you. As such you could cast the spell, disappear and have your doppelganger move into a nearby building without anyone being the wiser. A great trick if you wish to lose someone who’s following you.
Spell Turning
Spell turning is another potentially great spell, in that it has a chance to turn back spells upon their original caster. Unfortunately, it is somewhat unreliable, as you can turn between 7 and 10 levels of spells back, meaning that it could fail when you most need it or least expect it. Unfortunately, you cannot use the Maximize Spell feat on it, but if you have access to a metamagic rod that uses that feat, this is a great candidate for it.
Moment of Prescience
This spell is quite frankly amazing, due to the sheer versatility of it. While it only grants a single bonus once, it is an insight bonus (which is quite rare) equal to your caster level on any single attack roll, combat maneuver check, opposed ability or skill check or saving throw. Alternatively, you can apply the insight bonus to your AC against a single attack (even if flat-footed). This could quite literally save your life, or make certain that a particular attack hits at a crucial moment.
Miracle
This spell is super versatile, and going into it here will not do it justice. Instead, refer to my previous findings on the wish spell, which you can find here.
New Deity
Shai
God of Fate, Destiny, Life, and Death
Alignment N
Worshipers oracles, those wishing for good luck, gamblers, game-players, adventurers, rogues
Cleric Alignments NG, LN, N, CN, NE
Domains: Charm, Death, Healing, Luck, Travel, Trickery
Sub-domains: Captivation, Exploration, Fate, Innuendo, Restoration, Resurrection
Favored Weapon: double-edged longsword
Symbol: a silver face mask, with stars in dark eyes sockets.
Shai is the deity of fortune (and misfortune), luck (and bad luck), fate, and destiny. He is supposed to be a neutral deity, but Shai likes mortals, their foibles and their reckless abandon with their lives, and he, therefore, favors them greatly, always seeking to turn calamity to their advantage. He is a fickle god as well however, and while he genuinely does not wish to harm mortals, he often forgets that the fortunes of one are the misfortunes of another, so when someone finds a bag of coins, it is because someone else has lost it.
Shai is often depicted as the final hand in mortality, the one who guides mortals to their final resting place in the great beyond.
The worshipers of Shai are many-fold, as everyone craves good luck, but his most notorious worshipers are gamblers and adventurers, people who WANT luck, and the people who NEED luck.
This duality of his worshipers is reflected in his priesthood. A lot are gamblers (or run gambling dens – temples that serve as both a holy ground for the worshipers of Shai, and as gambling dens for others) while the remainder are wandering adventurers. As such the clergy of Shai is extremely well-represented among a very powerful group of people, and many earth-shaking events can be attributed to groups of adventurers relying on the whims of the Shai priest, to lead them to greatness.
Shai priest-adventurers celebrate no holidays, seeing every day that they open their eyes as a blessing, and they get up early every morning to see the sun rise, while they issue prayers to Shai. Priest-gamblers on the other hand have set holidays, once a week, and sleep late, staying up till well past midnight and performing their prayers in the dark of night.
Kim Frandsen
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