Giegue
2017-04-07, 06:58 AM
Not sure how balanced this is, but I'd like some thoughts/opinions. It's a rough "conversion" of the Ur-Priest from 3.5e, but with a slight change in fluff. The main one being I never understood why Ur-Priests had to be "evil" and, likewise, why they use wisdom to steal magic from the gods. To me, stealing magic from the gods would be more charisma-based, not wisdom-based (as your either tricking the gods into giving you magic like a cleric (cha/bluff) or your outright wresting control of that magic via force of personality when all goes south.), so I decided to use the fact you get your domain at 1st level to swap the cleric's main stat from wisdom to cha. Anyway, beyond that, not sure if this one is balanced or not....so any and all opinions on it would be appreciated! Without further hesitation...I give you the domain!
Divine Domain: Blasphemy
http://i.imgur.com/RL1IP.jpg
In a world where the Gods are very real and ever-present, it is rare that people openly defy them. However, in rare cases some individuals become so bold and brazen that they spit in the face of the divine, committing the ultimate transgression against the natural order of the multiverse. Such individuals are those "clerics" who possess the blasphemy domain, and their transgression is the theft of divine magic from the Gods. These "clerics" gain their divine magics not through a connection to a deity but instead by by tricking the Gods into offering it to them as they do their trusted clerics. When they do this however, they must quickly wrest control of those magics through sheer force of personality, as their ruse can easily be discovered.
The reasons one may turn to such an art are as varied as the deities from which they steal. Some clerics of blasphemy are simply playfully defiant; they do not hate the divine but instead seek to test their limits and see how much they can get away with. Others may be born out of desperation, turning to the theft of divine magic when their prayers to the gods went unanswered in a moment of need. However, perhaps the most well-known clerics of blasphemy are those who outright hate the gods. Such "Ur-Priests" are often ex-clerics or ex-paladins who where wronged by their faith, and as a result they violently oppose religion in any form. Unlike less dogmatic blasphemy clerics, these individuals actively use their powers to weaken the gods and destroy their followers, counting themselves among the enemies of the divine order of the multiverse.
Domain Spells
1st: Disguise Self, Inflict Wounds
3rd: Invisibility, Pass Without Trace
5th: Counterspell, Nondetection
7th: Banishment, Blight
9th: Circle of Power, Greater Invisibility
Armor of Lies
You lies hold such divine power that by convincing yourself of the falsehood that you are impervious is true, you can magically protect yourself from harm. Starting at 1st level, you use your Charisma modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier when calculating Armor Class. If your armor has a max Dex bonus, this also applies to your Charisma.
Consumate Trickster
When you select this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency with the Deception skill. If you already have proficiency with Deception, you gain proficiency with one Charisma-based skill of your choice instead. You use double your proficiency bonus on all Deception checks you Additionallt, you also add your proficiency bonus to all saving throws you make against magical lie detection effects (such as Zone of Truth). If you would already add your proficiency bonus to such a saving throw, you add double your proficiency bonus instead.
Channel Divinity: Reverse Healing
At 2nd level, you gain the following Channel Divinity option:
Reverse Healing. You present your holy symbol in a mockery of a true cleric's channeling as a bonus action on your turn, spending a use of your Channel Divinity to invert healing energies around you. For 1 minute, hostile creature within 60 feet of you can regain hit points due to magic. Instead, when a creature would regain hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw or take necrotic damage equal to half the amount it would have regained
Siphon Spell Power
At 6th level, you learn how to siphon greater spell power from the Gods by expending your own magical energies. As a bonus action, you can expend two spell slots of one level to gain one spell slot of of the next highest level. (So, for example, you can expend two 3rd level slots to gain one 4th level spell slot.). While this does allow you to create slots of a higher level than you can normally access, this does not allow you to prepare spells of those levels. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Swift Siphon
At 8th level, you gain the power to quickly siphon magic from the Gods. As a bonus action, you can spend one use of your Channel Divinity to steal a spell from the gods. When you do this, you switch out one of your Cleric spells prepared for the day for another of equal level from the Cleric spell list. You can use this feature once, and regain all spent uses when you finish a long rest.
Steal Spell
At 17th level, you time spent stealing magic from the gods gives you the knowledge needed to also steal magics from other spellcasters. Immediately after a creature casts a spell that targets you or includes you in it's area of effect, you can use your reaction to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier. This DC equals your spell save DC. On a failed save, you negate the spell's effects against you, and you steal knowledge of the spell if it is at least 1st level and of a level you can cast. (It does not need to be a cleric spell) Until you complete a long rest, that spell is prepared for you and you can cast it as a cleric spell. The creature you stole that spell from also is unable to cast it until you complete a long rest. You can only have one stolen spell prepared at a time, though you can use this ability while you already have a stolen spell prepared. When you do this, you lose your current prepared stolen spell and prepare the new one in its place if you successfully steal it.
Note: Blasphemy Clerics and Divine Intervention
Blasphemy Clerics still gain the Divine Intervention feature, but the fluff behind how they use it differs from that of regular clerics. Instead of calling down the aid of their deity, Blasphemy Clerics siphon divine energy to attempt to produce a false miracle when they use Divine Intervention. The feature is mechanically unchanged; this is merely a flavor difference.
Divine Domain: Blasphemy
http://i.imgur.com/RL1IP.jpg
In a world where the Gods are very real and ever-present, it is rare that people openly defy them. However, in rare cases some individuals become so bold and brazen that they spit in the face of the divine, committing the ultimate transgression against the natural order of the multiverse. Such individuals are those "clerics" who possess the blasphemy domain, and their transgression is the theft of divine magic from the Gods. These "clerics" gain their divine magics not through a connection to a deity but instead by by tricking the Gods into offering it to them as they do their trusted clerics. When they do this however, they must quickly wrest control of those magics through sheer force of personality, as their ruse can easily be discovered.
The reasons one may turn to such an art are as varied as the deities from which they steal. Some clerics of blasphemy are simply playfully defiant; they do not hate the divine but instead seek to test their limits and see how much they can get away with. Others may be born out of desperation, turning to the theft of divine magic when their prayers to the gods went unanswered in a moment of need. However, perhaps the most well-known clerics of blasphemy are those who outright hate the gods. Such "Ur-Priests" are often ex-clerics or ex-paladins who where wronged by their faith, and as a result they violently oppose religion in any form. Unlike less dogmatic blasphemy clerics, these individuals actively use their powers to weaken the gods and destroy their followers, counting themselves among the enemies of the divine order of the multiverse.
Domain Spells
1st: Disguise Self, Inflict Wounds
3rd: Invisibility, Pass Without Trace
5th: Counterspell, Nondetection
7th: Banishment, Blight
9th: Circle of Power, Greater Invisibility
Armor of Lies
You lies hold such divine power that by convincing yourself of the falsehood that you are impervious is true, you can magically protect yourself from harm. Starting at 1st level, you use your Charisma modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier when calculating Armor Class. If your armor has a max Dex bonus, this also applies to your Charisma.
Consumate Trickster
When you select this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency with the Deception skill. If you already have proficiency with Deception, you gain proficiency with one Charisma-based skill of your choice instead. You use double your proficiency bonus on all Deception checks you Additionallt, you also add your proficiency bonus to all saving throws you make against magical lie detection effects (such as Zone of Truth). If you would already add your proficiency bonus to such a saving throw, you add double your proficiency bonus instead.
Channel Divinity: Reverse Healing
At 2nd level, you gain the following Channel Divinity option:
Reverse Healing. You present your holy symbol in a mockery of a true cleric's channeling as a bonus action on your turn, spending a use of your Channel Divinity to invert healing energies around you. For 1 minute, hostile creature within 60 feet of you can regain hit points due to magic. Instead, when a creature would regain hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw or take necrotic damage equal to half the amount it would have regained
Siphon Spell Power
At 6th level, you learn how to siphon greater spell power from the Gods by expending your own magical energies. As a bonus action, you can expend two spell slots of one level to gain one spell slot of of the next highest level. (So, for example, you can expend two 3rd level slots to gain one 4th level spell slot.). While this does allow you to create slots of a higher level than you can normally access, this does not allow you to prepare spells of those levels. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Swift Siphon
At 8th level, you gain the power to quickly siphon magic from the Gods. As a bonus action, you can spend one use of your Channel Divinity to steal a spell from the gods. When you do this, you switch out one of your Cleric spells prepared for the day for another of equal level from the Cleric spell list. You can use this feature once, and regain all spent uses when you finish a long rest.
Steal Spell
At 17th level, you time spent stealing magic from the gods gives you the knowledge needed to also steal magics from other spellcasters. Immediately after a creature casts a spell that targets you or includes you in it's area of effect, you can use your reaction to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier. This DC equals your spell save DC. On a failed save, you negate the spell's effects against you, and you steal knowledge of the spell if it is at least 1st level and of a level you can cast. (It does not need to be a cleric spell) Until you complete a long rest, that spell is prepared for you and you can cast it as a cleric spell. The creature you stole that spell from also is unable to cast it until you complete a long rest. You can only have one stolen spell prepared at a time, though you can use this ability while you already have a stolen spell prepared. When you do this, you lose your current prepared stolen spell and prepare the new one in its place if you successfully steal it.
Note: Blasphemy Clerics and Divine Intervention
Blasphemy Clerics still gain the Divine Intervention feature, but the fluff behind how they use it differs from that of regular clerics. Instead of calling down the aid of their deity, Blasphemy Clerics siphon divine energy to attempt to produce a false miracle when they use Divine Intervention. The feature is mechanically unchanged; this is merely a flavor difference.