Hello everyone, and welcome to the third 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: Artifice
The artifice domain is described as “You can repair damage to objects, animate objects with life, and create objects from nothing” – so we do have some kind of creator god whether that is objects or things like Frankenstein’s monster.
The powers given are Artificer’s Touch – allowing you to cast Mending at will and to deal damage to constructs simply by touching them. This is quite a strong power, due to the many resistances and damage reduction abilities that constructs have. So, in the right circumstances, it is a great power.
Mending itself allows you to restore hit points to a damaged object, and you can even repair it from the broken condition, provided it has more than half its hit points left when you are done, though that might require multiple castings. Remember as well that while it can repair damaged magic items (such as those damaged with sunder combat maneuvers), it cannot restore the magic to the item, if the item has been destroyed (i.e. below 0 hit points).
The second power is Dancing Weapons. It allows you to give your weapons the dancing weapon quality for a number of rounds depending on your level. That… is a MASSIVE bonus at this level, even it is limited in the amount of rounds per day you can use it. The reason I say this is that dancing is a +4 enhancement bonus or the equivalent to 32,000 gp. And since you get this ability at level 8, you’ve effectively doubled your Wealthy By Level (since a normal level 8 character should have gear for about 33,000 gp). This ability itself is excellent as well, allowing you to have a weapon attacking, even while you do so yourself, or spend your time casting spells.
Spells:
The spells you get with the Artifice domain are as follows:
Animate Rope
This spell allows you to animate a rope, and in effect, create the rope tricks that you may have seen in Disney cartoons, old films and in folklore. It can, however, only perform a few commands, unlike the “mystical” rope trick, but it can be used to enwrap a creature or object so that the creature is held.
Wood Shape
Wood Shape allows you to transform a single piece of wood (with a maximum size of at least 13 cubic feet (10 + 1/level)), into any shape you wish. While it can contain moving parts, there’s a 30% chance that they don’t work. So you could make a bow, lance or quarterstaff, but making a crossbow has the 30% failure chance. Also, all of them will be crude, as it cannot do fine detail.
Stone Shape
Here is one of the spells that allow you to get a bit more creative with things. While it cannot do more than crude shapes, it’s still possible to do things like doors (in castle walls); close a cave entrance; make a small rise, so that you can easily climb up a wall; even raise up the floor underneath you, so that you can get to an overhead entrance. Using this spell, it’s just a matter of thinking around the obstacle. You might even, GM willing, be able to entomb an enemy, such as a vampire, so that they cannot escape again. (Or at least in the near future).
Minor Creation/Major Creation (Gained as 4th and 6th level bonus spells respectively)
Both of these are among my own favorite spells, due to sheer versatility. It allows you to create 1 cubic foot of material per level (though this must be nonliving vegetable matter). The key here is how much you can make (at the level a wizard gets access to this spell he’d be level 7) and what you can make. You start with a minimum of 7 cubic feet or the equivalent of 2 average grown men by density. (If it was water, it’d be roughly 435 pounds). Now you take that and make it into a vegetable matter, and here we come to the second point.
Vegetable matter is defined (in the Advanced Oxford Dictionary) as “A plant or part of a plant used as food.” You could argue that it also counts as things that used to be plants, such as coal, but I’d advise any GM against allowing that interpretation. But that said, 7 cubic feet of wood could certainly be handy. If you now combine that with the feat called Reach Spell (from the Advanced Player’s Guide), you can now dump 7 cubic feet of wood or bananas or whatever vegetable matter you feel like, on an opponent. Of course, with Major Creation, you can make stone or even precious gems for bribing someone (though you’d probably best clear out quickly as they will dissipate after a while).
Fabricate
Fabricate allows you to convert material into a finished product, like wood into a desk and so on. Combined with either of the Creation spells, that produce raw material, this can let you produce pretty much anything, though a GM might call for a Craft check if you’re trying to create something particularly difficult (like turning steel into a lock for example).
Wall of Iron
This spell likely does not see much use in most games, but in some games, it is tremendously effective, as the spell is very useful for creating buildings and the like. In games where rules for campaign building are included, it can speed up construction and save on build points tremendously. And it is always fun to tip a Wall of Iron onto your opponent.
Statue
Statue allows for “self-petrification,” turning the creature touched into a living statue, and subject only to effects that would affect a normal statue, for the duration. This would allow someone to become at least temporarily impervious to a lot of damage, or to avoid drowning. (though the person affected WOULD sink like a stone). It’s an excellent camouflage spell, if someone hasn’t been to the area before (as it allows you to see, hear and smell normally, but without needing to breathe or eat, so you wouldn’t need to move) or defensive measure.
Prismatic Sphere
Prismatic Sphere is one of the best defensive spells out there, in that it is multilayered, and each layer needs to be destroyed separately (unless using specific spells or items to do so). Each field works in both a defensive and offensive manner, so it’s a great defensive spell that can protect you from pretty much anything (as long as the layer protecting you isn’t breached).
New Deity
Brokkr and Sindri
Brothers of the Forge, the Dwarven Smiths, Oathsworn
Alignment LN
Worshipers blacksmith, armorers, fighters, mercenaries, lawgivers, wizards looking to craft items, and those who trust weapons to keep them safe.
Cleric Alignments LG, LN, LE, NG, N
Domains: Artifice, Fire, Knowledge, Law, Magic
Sub-domains: Arcane, Construct, Industry, Memory, Toil
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Symbol: forge hammer and bellows, crossed over an anvil.
Brokkr and Sindri are 2 dwarven brother-gods, renowned for their abilities in the forge and their strict adherence to oaths, and the law as written. They willingly (for payment) spend their time at the forge, creating weapons, armor, and items of all kinds for any mortal or deity that can pay their price. A price that is sometimes very steep, but the brothers and those they bargain with are bound by their word. Woe betide the one who breaks an oath with Brokrr, Sindri or their clergy, as they will pursue them to the ends of the world and beyond to get their vengeance.
Prayers to Brokkr and Sindri can be done at any time during the day or night, but each member of the clergy must do this at the same time each day, preferably over a lit forge, though the brothers will accept any open flame as a substitute if necessary.
The church celebrates no holidays, dedicating each day to working the forge and studying one’s craft, holding only a single free day in every tenday. This single free day is often marked with copious amounts of drinking and eating, to compensate for the days of hard labor at the smithy.
Kim Frandsen
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