DM Q&A: Class: Cleric domain spell "bug"?

[Sun Sic]

hello *waves*. i play Jia Tel'Kuu, a Cleric(Silvanus)/Ranger. Her cleric domains are animal and plant. now, while it may not seem like a big deal, the ability of the animal domain for cleric was a very important aspect in picking which 2 domains i would take. the special ability of animal domain is that their summon animal spells are supposed to act as 1 lvl higher. for instance, summon I is supposed to summon a dire boar. however, much to my dismay, my summon spells are working just like everyone else's. again, this may not seem like a big deal, but it was pretty important when i was picking domains. if its a broken spell, i would humbly ask a scripter to look into fixing it. if not, then i would ask that some sort of warning be put out to other prospective animal domain clerics, as i would hate for someone to create a character with the hopes of having an ability, only to find it isnt available

my cleric is very attuned with nature, and i really hope you will "fix" this spell, to reflect (even if its in a minor way) her affinity with animals, in the form of improved summoning.

thanks for taking the time to read this

--Jia Tel'Kuu

[Dachshund]

Hello and welcome to FRC.

I'm sitting here with the official "Hordes of the Underdark Strategy Guide" and in it the animal domain states the following...

Animal domain clerics summon monsters that are enhanced beyond the normal level of the cleric's summoning spells. This is a mediocre ability for most clerics, but it may be useful for characters that work solo a great deal and rely on their creatures to tank for them. The spells of this domain aren't terribly powerful, but they add a slight druidic flavor to a cleric, if that's desired.

What I read from that is that your summoned animals are the same kind as the normal ones, but more powerful. I will make a cleric with those two domains and see if the feat says otherwise.

Hope it helps.

[Dachshund]

Okay... I've just made a cleric and the feat says that...

Able to summon more powerful creatures using Summon I through VIII.

Can you please explain where it says that the spell is cast at 1 level higher? I can't seem to find it anywhere, I'm afraid.

[Sun Sic]

enhanced beyond the normal level of the cleric's summoning spells

sure basically, what the animal domain cleric ability does is, it makes our summon animal spells act as 1 lvl higher. for instance, a summon animal I summons a dire boar. a summon animal II summons a dire wolf, etc... i have played this type of cleric before (on other servers) and thats always the way its been. i also tried it on the solo NwN campaigns, and it was the same. but, my summon I still summons a badger, and my summon II still summons a boar. thus, taking animal domain is not giving me any benefits. this ability is supposed to represent our affinity with nature.

also, i hate to bring up another problem, but, my other domain happens to be plant (as i said, im a cleric of Silvanus, thus, animal/plant domains). the special ability of plant is turning vermin as if theyre undead. however, this seems to be broken as well. i went to the basement of the inn in Isinhold to test it out. i cant even turn the rats down there. now, i am a lvl 3 cleric, with a chr of 14. i can turn skeles, zombies, and the mages in the catacombs in Isinhold. so, it should stand to reason that the rats in the basement are low enough lvl that i should be able to turn them. i went down there, and tried all 5 of my turns, and... nothing...

in effect, this means both my domains are "broken". please, dont get me wrong, im not trying to just complain or whine. if it comes down to it, i will keep my domains, even if they are broken, because i like playing a cleric of Silvanus. the rp is more important to me than the abilities. but, on the other hand, it kinda sucks that playing a cleric of Silvanus means youll be gimped :/

thanks for taking the time to read this, again

--Jia Tel'Kuu

[gathera]

Must be your character. That ol'ranger thing. Err.. hmm not sure since that is what I have as well. The animal domain is working as it should for me. So.... good question to what is exactly happening.

[Gabusta]

Uhm... Rats aren't vermin.. They may be REFERED to as vermin, but actually they are animals, and as such shouldn't be turned by a cleric with the plant domain.

EDIT: hm. DM Q&A.. Sorry, posted from the "10 most recent posts" list.

[Jinn]

Yeah, the "vermin" type refers to what are essentially in game, bugs. That means you can turn most spiders and beetles.

[Sun Sic]

problem solved.

well, ok, not really, since the problem is that im an idiot. but everything is working now sorry about the hassle.

--Jia

[Booze Hound]

sooo...how did you fix it?

you realised that you can turn bugs?

and what about the summons thing?

I am curious about what the dealio was.

[Sun Sic]

logandoug said:

sooo...how did you fix it?

you realised that you can turn bugs?

and what about the summons thing?

I am curious about what the dealio was.

well, as far as the summoning went, i honestly dunno what the deal was. the other day i was summoning badgers. but, all of the sudden, it was doing it right. *shrug* maybe my domains just werent registering. i really have no clue. but, its working properly now. my summon I is summoning boars and my summon II is summoning wolves. so WOOOHOOO!!!

as for turning bugs, i think the problem was i thought rats were vermin *blushes* i mean, i dont think its too hard to see where i would be confused. seems an honest mistake there. but, it was cleared up, as it was explained to me that rats arent considered "vermin", but are, in fact, "animals", heh. i tried it on spiderlings and it seemed to work.

a thousand pardons for my stupidity.

i do have one other question, tho, on a completely unrelated topic... how does one use "animal speak"? i saw someone use it in game earlier today. when i created my character, i was talking with a few DM's about what my idea was for my char, and how i intended to rp her. she is a cleric of Silvanus, and i was going to go multi-class cleric/druid. i mainly wanted druid for 2 things: animal empathy and animal form (shapeshift). the principle aspect of my char, and the way i am rp'ing her is summed up in 2 words: animal friend. she goes out of her way not only to not attack animals, but, to also protect them. if theres a way i can speak with them, then i would like to be able to learn it. i know it wont have much effect in game, or anything. but it totally fits with my characters design. no biggy. just asking

--Jia

[Aodhan the Unusual]

Actually, there was supposed to be some reworking done on the Animal language widget for something more along the lines of druidic, but.... I think at this point, the only way to get it is to have a high enough intelligence (and time taken to LEARN to speak with animals) and certain classes (druid is not one - One of the other DMs will be able to clarify).

[Munroe]

aodhan said:

Actually, there was supposed to be some reworking done on the Animal language widget for something more along the lines of druidic, but.... I think at this point, the only way to get it is to have a high enough intelligence (and time taken to LEARN to speak with animals) and certain classes (druid is not one - One of the other DMs will be able to clarify).

Druid is not one? What? I would clarify but I'm not sure what you are saying.

Animal language makes no sense to me.

Here's what I've said about Animal widget before:

Presently we do not have a widget for Druidic. Some characters have Animal who are not druids (and nobody who is not a druid should have Druidic). I requested Animal be changed to Druidic before but withdrew that request when I realized that there are some non-druids with Animal. Animal language widget should not exist at all, IMO, but that it does is something that will have to be worked out yet. Most animals simply aren't smart enough to carry on a conversation worthy of the need of a language widget. (Monster Manual 3.5 defines animals as having, as part of their Type, an INT of 1 or 2.) As for knowing Druidic, if you are a Druid, you know Druidic. If you aren't a druid, you don't. Until such time as there is a Druidic widget (if ever), you can still roleplay speaking Druidic. Bear in mind that as a secret language, you shouldn't really be speaking it openly.

[Munroe]

That having been said, I think rangers and druids can understand Animal automatically, so it may not be possible to make Animal into Druidic since rangers shouldn't be able to understand Druidic.

[Sun Sic]

well, thanks for the answers. if there is an int requirement, then ill make sure i raise my int upon levelling. i will also rp trying to learn the language(s). like i said, its really not a big deal. i mean, animal empathy skill is close enough, i guess. i just thought it would be cool to actually be able to speak with them in some situations. (what's that, mr squirrel? Isiolith fell down a well?!?!)

o, and about the animal int issue: ok, first off, that seems pretty general, to say ALL animals have low int. i had a dog that was smarter than most humans ive ever met. however, ill put the low int argument aside for now. i can agree that (most, if not all) animals may not have a language as complicated as we humans do. they may not have adjectives and adverbs etc. HOWEVER, it is a known and proven fact that, for example, bird calls are signals, such as warnings if something is approcahing by land or air. the same is true for groundhogs, squirrels, etc. so, while one might not have a conversation with animals about the current political state of Cormyr, they should be able to say to a bunny rabbit "HEY! LOOK OUT!! THERES A HAWK DIVING FOR YOU!" or understand a bird in the trees as it relays a message that a very large creature is heading east by land. this is what i imagine as "speaking with animals". it would really go nice with animal empathy, too.