A Kinder, Gentler Death Domain?

[Palanan]

I’m looking for domains to fit a minor god that guides souls from the moment of death to their destination in the afterlife. Unfortunately I can’t find anything that fits the mood I’m looking for.

The granted powers for the Death domain seem to emphasize violence and antipathy for the living, and seem more suited for necromancers and the like. The Repose domain is a little better, but the first granted power has more to do with mortal fatigue than post-mortal existence.

What granted powers would be appropriate for a domain that emphasizes the guidance and protection of freshly formed spirits?

[afroakuma]

What granted powers would be appropriate for a domain that emphasizes the guidance and protection of freshly formed spirits?

I mean, that tends to be a post-mortal job for not-mortal types, which is why you won't find granted powers specifically associated with it. You'll have to interpret through the lens of what you're actually trying to do. That said, why not something like Glory (Honor subdomain) to represent proper observance of the deceased and reminding them of their place in the afterlife when their souls may be called astray? Also gives searing light to blast undead to smithereens.

Repose (Souls subdomain) offers a domain power that lets a weapon strike incorporeal creatures, such as malign spirits that need to be subdued, or predatory entities trying to hunt souls on the Ethereal Plane.

[zester]

I second afroakuma's thoughts on Glory [Honor] and I also do think that guiding souls to their afterlife is the job of immortal beings, yet I can understand that you might want give a divine caster a glimpse of his own possible post-mortal duties. Alas, I don't know of a fitting domain power within the official Pathfinder rules.

If you're the DM, you can always make up your own domain power, though, and otherwise talk to your DM. How about something like "ethereal purge", an ability of the Forgotten Realms Doomguide PrC which forces ethereal beings on the Material Plane for some rounds? Thus you couldn't only let the caster fight some undead types, but also possibly allow contact with the guiding spirits.
A similar feature within Pathfinder rules would be the Spirit Sense ability of a Menhir Savant (druid archetype). It allows you to detect certain creature types as per detect undead, even ethereal, astral, and incorporeal ones.

On the Repose domain:
I wouldn't consider Repose [Soul] even for its definitely sweet domain power. The subdomain swaps three spells into two, debatably three evil ones: animate dead on 3rd level, antilife shell on 6th (for undeath to death), trap the soul on 9th.
Animate dead is evil by its very descriptor and I cannot guess one non-evil appliance for a trap the soul spell, even if it isn't listed as evil (as a DM I'd consider listing it as evil as a House Rule). Antilife shell can be used for pure self-defense, however I might be biased because of how Durkula used it against Roy and I'm always wary of a spell that allows undead but blocks living creatures.

On the other hand, Repose domain itself has slay living on 5th level (and [Soul] keeps it) and wail of the banshee on 9th. They're both not evil, but neither are they "kinder and gentler" than the spells of Death domain, as they're both on that list too.
Now you could always argue that every spell is a weapon of sorts and weapons aren't evil by themselves, but rather those who wield them with evil intentions. So you could see slay living and wail of the banshee as some kind of last resort not necessarily evil weapon, as it does spare the victims the horror and pain of being wounded and maimed and mutilated bit by bit and "mercifully" kills them outright; on the other hand, those spells don't leave their victims much chance for surrendering.

The same account goes for the spells and powers Death domain, however.

I'd always see the pure Repose domain as a much nicer variant of the Death domain, but in the end it depends on the caster how he uses his spells and powers at all and whether he uses evil ones. You can also wreak havoc with some of the rather nice and shiny domains like Heroism or even Good.

[Calthropstu]

I get OP's intent. It looks like he wants to create a god whise perview is guiding souls, and is looking for powers such a god would grant his followers.
Ghosts and other soul bound undead would be anathema to such a diety as it prevents souls from entering the afterlife. So granting his clerics spells that deal with undead would be apropriate.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by zester
I wouldn't consider Repose [Soul] even for its definitely sweet domain power. The subdomain swaps three spells into two, debatably three evil ones: animate dead on 3rd level, antilife shell on 6th (for undeath to death), trap the soul on 9th.

Agreed—those spells really sing out to me as being contrary to what I’m going for, especially animate dead.


Originally Posted by zester
How about something like "ethereal purge", an ability of the Forgotten Realms Doomguide PrC….

A similar feature within Pathfinder rules would be the Spirit Sense ability of a Menhir Savant (druid archetype)….

These are both excellent suggestions, thanks.


Originally Posted by Calthropstu
I get OP's intent. It looks like he wants to create a god whise perview is guiding souls, and is looking for powers such a god would grant his followers. Ghosts and other soul bound undead would be anathema to such a diety as it prevents souls from entering the afterlife.

This is indeed the notion. I was looking for something more focused on guiding spirits, as opposed to outright undead-fighting, but I suppose a little of the latter would be appropriate.

I’m also thinking that Speak With Dead would be just about essential as a domain spell. Are there other spells which involve ethereal or astral travel which could work as higher-level domain spells?

[zester]

BTW the whole issue reminds me of the first campaign I've ever played, which was actually my first P&P experience at all. And it teached me that necromancy doesn't have to be evil under the right circumstances.

We became minor lords in an edda/viking themed country and could use the DM's prepared deities or come up with our own. One of my friends played a LN blind oracle of the honored dead who got big on funeral rites und desecration of graves as usual, but then got herself an undead minion to fight at our side. It wasn't considered an evil deed rather than a good one as her minions were made from souls that died in dishonor and tried to earn a better afterlife posthumously by doing decades or even centuries of menial service to the living. At the end of the campaign we needed a strong army fast and she agreed to several centuries of servitude as an undead in exchange for... well, an instant army. That was pretty cool.

In the same setting I provided a duo of minor sibling deities of order and chaos based on the Zoroastrian principles of Asha and Druj (however that was where I started). They were the ones to guide the souls of the departed. The lawful one would always dutifully bring the souls to their fair and rightful places and protect them on their journey and was seen as the incorporation of a peaceful and well-earned end of life, while the chaotic one always did as she pleased and was associated with the pain of the mourning family. Often she'd sell the soul to the highest extraplanar bidder just to infuriate her lawful sister. This was why they were also associated with good and bad luck (although I'll admit that good luck shouldn't be less chaotic than bad; I sold it to the group as the people's general point of view). This is why they both got Luck as their domain, but one only got [Fate] and one got [Curses] as subdomains. The other domains were Repose/Law/Protection and Death/Chaos/Trickery, respectively.

For your own gentler version of a "Spirit Guide" domain, I'd consider the basic Repose domain spells, but with
- ethereal jaunt or mass planar adaptation on 7th level (instead of destruction),
- maybe one of those above on 6th level (instead of undeath to death which might hurt your freshly departed "client" too, I guess?)
- maybe planar adaptation on 4th level if you don't like the mass version on 6th/7th (but this would cost you death ward)
- astral projection on 9th (instead of wail of the banshee)?
- for the 5th level slot of slay living I've got no real idea yet. Plane shift is always nice, but I'd be careful with too many travel spells, that's what the almighty Travel domain is for. What about mass ghostbane dirge

[ATHATH]

Maybe something like the Psychopomp domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo-domains/repose-domain/psychopomp-repose/)?

The granted power of the Aeon domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo-domains/knowledge-domain/aeon-subdomain/) could be refluffed into being you turning into a spirit or something.

Lemme check to see if there's official stuff that lets you swap out domain spells or convert domain spells to other spells.

[ATHATH]

Have you considered being a Druid instead of a Cleric?

[ATHATH]

Would being an Ecclesitheurge (http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Cleric%20Ecclesith eurge) work for your purposes?