I think Cleric spell selection should be much more focused based on deity. But that's more of a 5e thing than BG3 thing.
Wouldn't it be more domain based than diety and domains being deity based?
The general spell selection all Clerics get is too big.
Clerics of Shar get spells like Guiding Bolt (radiance) and Daylight which thematically oppose their faith. Likewise, Clerics of Lathander get Inflict Wounds (necrotic) that directly oppose birth and life. All Clerics get Flame Strike, Hold Person, healing spells and random utility like Find Traps, regardless of faith.
They're not Wizards. All of their spell selection should fit their deity instead of getting a huge repertoire of all kinds of spells. While there could and should be spells that are universal for all faiths (Bless, Shield of Faith sort of thing), they should never be able use powers that are in direct conflict with their deity's portfolio.
Deities are domain based, with the removal of the alignment system spells that used to use good/evil alignment get muddied. If this is true then most spells that are associated to good actions or evil actions will mean nothing. So yes, Lathander clerics will inflict wounds onto people. He's not a good cleric, he is just a cleric.
This is what happens when you remove a feature from a game and a class is tied to it, it breaks it in half.
Edit* ug i forgot why they are domain based, deities are tied to specific domains so worshiping said deity will bestow those domains to you. I think it was some wiki where one of the deities was taking over other deity domains lore wise. ya I'd have to look it up again, it was related to the death of the weave god.
Edit 2* reply to the last part of them not being wiz kids, if clerics still follow the same rules they get all the base spells that a cleric would receive and the domain features and spells of said deity they follow. Deities probably have there own restrictions like don't kill X hamsters per day and so on. So no they do get a good amount of spells like a Wiz kid, but the difference is they get them from a higher being instead of being a book worm along with casting from a idol.
Edit 3* replying to changing up features of the game so each casters seems different, I'd vote for idle animations and casting animations, like holding a idol, instrument, book, so on to put emphasis on the focus they are using. I'm presuming something like this will be coming but probably won't be touched till sorcerer or bard goes to EA.
