UA Grave Domain change

[The Ship's dog]

So one of my players is wanting to play a Death Domain Cleric, but hates the evil and undead themes of the one from the DMG. I looked around and found the Grave Domain, and it looks really nice, both thematic and combat oriented. Unfortunately it is a bit too combat oriented and one of my biggest problems with it is one of the 1st level abilities "Eyes of the Grave".


Eyes of the Grave
Starting at 1st level, you gain an innate sense of creatures whose existence is an insult to the natural cycle of life.
If you spend 1 minute inuninterrupted contemplation, you can determine the presence and nature of undead creatures in the rea. This detection extends up to 1 mile in all directions. You learn the number of undead and their distance and direction from you. In addition, you learn the creature type of the undead in that area that has the highest challenge rating.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again
until you finish a long rest.


There are a few problems I have with this ability:
1. It is basically just a lazily re-flavoured Ranger's Primeval Awareness, which seems just like a cop out and a shoddy job.
2. As a DM I don't like abilities that let players know the layout of a dungeon (however vague) depending on where the undead are.
3. Knowing the exact nature of the undead that has the highest CR just makes things really anti climactic and removes the feeling of tension that you should have in a dungeon.


Gift of the Gravetender
Starting at 1st level, your connection to your god allows you to call up knowledge of death and burial rites of any race, however ancient. They also give you the power to perform those rites in place of a figure if a special title or person is needed.
If you spend 1 minute of unit erupted contemplation, you gain the knowledge of how to perform the proper burial rite for any number of corpses of your choice within 100 feet of you. If you perform these rites, then you may communicate with the soul of the corpse and they are automatically friendly to you for performing their death rites properly. Both you and the soul can understand each other, no matter what language you speak. If the creature does not have a language, then you can only communicate basic concepts and questions.


What do you think? I feel it gives the Domain a bit more of that feeling of a Cleric that you go to when someone has died and you want them to perform the proper rites, rather than a holy crusader out to destroy all undead.

[Mcdt2]

Ooh, I like that very much. I'm totally stealing that for my own games (not that I can ever convince a player of mine to roll cleric anyhow). Don't have much else to say about it, except I am very much in favor of it being at-will (as it currently is). Gives them a definite edge over any idiot who knows how to cast speak with dead, that's for sure.

[The Ship's dog]

Ooh, I like that very much. I'm totally stealing that for my own games (not that I can ever convince a player of mine to roll cleric anyhow). Don't have much else to say about it, except I am very much in favor of it being at-will (as it currently is). Gives them a definite edge over any idiot who knows how to cast speak with dead, that's for sure.

Thank you. I wanted it to be better than just Speak with Dead, which is a lackluster spell IMO. Also, just remember that the 'casting time' so to speak is as long as the rites take. Good luck with getting your players to make a Cleric!

[Falcon X]

I thought the exact same thing about the Grave domain and I love your change. This is EXACTLY what I want for my Grave domain character.

[Coidzor]

It seems like you wouldn't want players being capable of learning where bandits or monsters stashed their loot if you wouldn't like players knowing that there's a dungeon full of undead nearby.

[TurboGhast]

It seems like you wouldn't want players being capable of learning where bandits or monsters stashed their loot if you wouldn't like players knowing that there's a dungeon full of undead nearby.

The problem isn't "Ability lets the players locate the dungeon", it's "The players learn the layout of the dungeon they're in easily, including some enemy types".

It's still possible to set up undead based surprises with the ability in play, because it only IDs the type of the strongest undead. You could still surprise the party with extra enemies of that aren't more powerful than the strongest there or just things the ability can't scan for, but fights become much more predictable. A fight you know you can win isn't very interesting in the grand scheme of things.