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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Undeath Domain + New Necromancy spells



Giegue
2018-01-17, 06:17 PM
Undeath Domain
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Momo, a Felidae (http://i.imgur.com/wDdAK9q.jpg) Undeath Cleric

The gods of undeath are often portrayed as evil deities who desire nothing but to corrupt and enslave the living. While this is true for dark gods like Vecna, Nerull, and Myrkul there are far less malevolent gods like Wee Jas and Osiris who consider the undead as useful tools for study or some other purpose. Unlike other clerics, those who take up the Undeath domain vastly differ in personality and outlook depending on the deity they worship. Those who serve more benign undeath deities like still have the same, personal and intuitive relationship with their deities that those gods value.

However, those who serve evil undeath deities, and in particular those who are also archfiends such as Orcus or Satan himself, often lack this relationship entirely. Such clerics are chosen by their god not for their wisdom but instead their powerful personalities and ability to exert their will upon others and the world at large. Unconcerned with the personal relationships they have with their followers, such deities prefer instead to be served by those they know will most effectively be able to force their twisted agedas upon the multiverse.

However, regardless of whom they serve, all Clerics who have this domain share the power to create undead, as well as alter their magic to raise fewer, but far more powerful undead that surpasses any an arcane caster can animate.

Domain Spells

1st: Animate Skeleton, False Life
3rd: Animate Zombie, Command Undead
5th: Animate Dead, Vampiric Touch
7th: Blight, Death Ward
8th: Dance Macabre, Negative Energy Flood

Bonus Cantrip

You gain Chill Touch as a bonus cantrip. For you, this spell is a cleric cantrip, and does not count against your total cantrips known (as-per the cantrips known column of the cleric table.)

Tomb-Tainted Soul

Also at 1st level, your body and magics become corrupted by the dark influence of your deity, making you more like an undead creature and allowing you to heal the undead. You gain resistance to poison damage and have advantage on saving throws against the Poisoned condition. Additionally, spells you cast that remove conditions or heal hit points (such as Cure Wounds and Lesser Restoration) treat undead as living creatures instead of undead for their effects.

Channel Divinity: Weaken Soul

When you gain your Channel Divinity feature at 2nd level, you gain the following Channel Divinity option in addition to Turn Undead:

Weaken Soul. As an action, you can spend one use of your Channel Divinity to lay a foul curse on an enemy that shatters their defenses. When you do this, you target one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. Any damage you and your allies inflict to that creature ignores any corresponding resistance (but not immunity) for 1 minute.

Empower Undead

Through faith and devotion to your deity, you have unlocked the secret to maximizing the potential of the few undead, rather than swarm with the many. Starting at 6th level, whenever you cast a spell that creates undead and requires you to reassert control over them (such as Animate Dead), you may choose to empower one already existing undead under your control instead of creating new undead. Doing this reduces the number of undead you can reassert control of with that spell by 3 (to a minimum of 1 and maximum of 3 less). When you do this, any undead you control over this limit immediately crumble to dust, leaving them unable to be animated again. Empowering an undead in this way grants it the following additional benefits:

It increases its hit point maximum by twice your Cleric level.
It increases its AC by half of your proficiency bonus (minimum 1, rounded down)
It adds your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) to its attack and damage rolls.
It gains Turn Resistance if it did not have it already.
Empowering an undead automatically reasserts control over it, however you must re-empower your controlled undead every 24 hours by re-casting the spell that empowered it or the effect ends. You may only empower 2 undead at a time per casting of a spell.

Potent Spellcasting

Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any Cleric cantrip.

Scion of Undeath

Your devotion to the darker powers of the world have bequeathed you with the knowledge to create a Scion of Undeath, a chosen undead granted divine favor and magic. Beginning at level 17, when you cast a spell that would create intelligent undead under your control (such as Create Undead) and require you to re-assert control over them, you may choose to increase its casting time to 8 hours instead of creating new undead. When you do this, you imbue one undead already under your control with divine magic, transforming it into a Scion of Undeath. The creature gains the following benefits:

The creature gains the effects of your Empowered Undead feature and has its own initiative rolls.
The creature’s Wisdom score becomes 16.
The creature’s CR is now treated as being 3 higher for the purpose of a Cleric’s Destroy Undead feature.
The creature learns a number of spells of your choice from the cleric spell list equal to your Wisdom modifier of 5th level or lower, as well as 2 cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list.. The creature may cast a number of spells equal to your proficiency bonus after every long rest, using its Wisdom as the spellcasting ability for these spells.
The creature gains the Command Undead and Grim Harvest Channel Divinity options (as-per the Oathbreaker Paladin Archetype and Death Domain Cleric Archetype.), and may Channel Divinity once-per short or long rest. It uses its Wisdom to set the save DCs of its Channel Divinity options (as-applicable)
You do not need to re-empower or reassert control over your Scion, however you may only have one controlled at anytime, and if you attempt to create a new Scion, your former leaves your service. You may dismiss control over your Scion at any time with an action, in which it becomes indifferent to you and departs.


Archetype Variant: Necro-Cultist

Unlike most deities, those who offer the undeath domain care less about the wisdom of their followers and more about the results they can achieve in spreading their twisted agenda throughout the multiverse. With your DM's permission, if you selected the Undeath Domain you can use your Charisma as your Spellcasting ability instead of Wisdom. (So you use Charisma to calculate your spell save DCs and spell attacks, when a Cleric spell or class feature references your Spellcasting Ability, and when determining how many spells you can prepare at any given level.) If you choose to use Charisma as your Spellcasting Ability in this way, any features of the your domain that specifically use your Wisdom score or Wisdom modifier instead use your Charisma score or Charisma modifier.

While this archetype variant was made primarily with the Undeath Domain in mind, evil deities of other domains may sometimes have similar criteria when selecting their servants. At your DM's discretion, if you serve an evil deity you may use this Archetype variant regardless of what domain you select.

(NOTE: These spells should also be added to the Cleric, Warlock and Wizard spell lists as 1st, 2nd and 7th level spells, respectively)

Animate Skeleton
1st Level Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 Action
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour.
Range: 30ft
Target: 1 Bone Pile

You channel negative energy into a bone pile you can see within 30ft, animating it as a Skeleton under your control. This skeleton remains animated and under your control for the spell's duration. While it remains under your control, you can command it as-if it was created by an Animate Dead spell cast by you. This skeleton always acts directly after your own initiative. Regardless of how many times you cast this spell, you can only control a single skeleton you created with it at any given time. When this spell's duration ends the skeleton you animated crumbles to dust, leaving it unable to be reanimated again.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell in a higher level slot, it can animate additional skeletons and lasts longer. For each slot level above 1st, it can animate 1 additional skeleton and all skeletons it animates remain animated for 1 additional hour.

Animate Zombie
2nd Level Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 Action
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour.
Range: 30ft
Target: 1 Corpse

You channel negative energy into a corpse you can see within 30ft, animating it as a Zombie under your control. This Zombie remains animated and under your control for the spell's duration. While it remains under your control, you can command it as-if it was created by an Animate Dead spell cast by you. This zombie always acts directly after your own initiative. Regardless of how many times you cast this spell, you can only control a single zombie you created with it at any given time. When this spell's duration ends the zombie you animated crumbles to dust, leaving it unable to be reanimated again.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell in a higher level slot, it can animate additional zombies and lasts longer. For each slot level above 1st, it can animate 1 additional zombie and all zombies it animates remain animated for 1 additional hour.

Command Undead
2nd-level Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30ft
Target: 1 Undead creature within range
Components: V, S
Duration: 4 Hours

You harness your dark power to press undead into your service. You target 1 undead creature within range and force it to make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, you have influence over the creature. Intelligent undead (those with 8 or more intelligence) who fail their save treat you as their close friend and ally for the spell's duration. They are friendly towards you and you have advantage on all Charisma checks you make when dealing with them. They will obey your requests and do favors for you as long as they do not involve directly fighting for you or otherwise endangering its (un)life.

After the duration of this spell ends, any intelligent undead you influenced with this spell remember that you used magic to command it, and will react accordingly. If the targeted undead is mindless (has an intelligence under 8), it is instead under your total control for the spell's duration. As an action, you may issue a simple command, such as “stay here”, “go there”, “attack him”, or “guard this area” to any mindless undead you have controlled with this spell. Once given a command, mindless undead will continue that course of action as long as they remain under this spell's effects.

At Higher Levels. For each spell level above first at which you cast this spell, it targets 1 additional undead creature and increases its duration by 3 hours (to a maximum of 24 hours with a 9th level slot.).

Control Undead
7th-level Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30ft
Target: All Undead within range you can see.
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute.

You invoke your dark power to control the undead. turning them into your obedient slaves temporarily. All undead with CRs lower than your level make a Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, they are friendly towards you and your allies and are under your total control. You may command these undead to move freely (no action required), but in order for them to take an action must command them with a bonus action. You can use this same bonus action to command any other undead under your control.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell in a slot of 8th level, its duration increases to 1 hour. When you cast this spell in a 9th level slot, its duration increases to 8 hours.


This subclass is not entirely my own work; much of it comes from a good friend who goes by the Skype handle Gatekeeper, so major props to him for all his work and help! That being said, this is a small part of a large "5e libris mortis" project we're working on thats in its infant stages as of now, and as a result, its a very unpolished and WIP brew. Thus, some of its features may be grossly overpowered, and thats why I've posted it up for advice on how to bring any problematic elements into line. Likewise, I created the vairant archetype to tackle an issue I've always had with the idea of Necro Clerics...that playing with necromancy and the undead is distinctly NOT a wise thing to do. It always struck me as weird that the best necromancers are those with high wisdom scores, since I feel its more likely that low-wis individuals would want to traffic with such powers and the deities associated with them as oppose to those with a good enough head on their shoulders to know it may just bite them back. HARD.

Likewise, I realized that this applies not just to Necromancer clerics, but trafficking with evil deities in general. To me, it just seems like your average evil cultist, at least as the fantasy trope is concerned, is typically very passionate, zealous, charismatic and distinctly also very low wis. As a result, I made this vairant archetype rule to facilitate this RP aspect of the Undeath Domain and evil clerics in general, which is why its mentioned here.

Also, the new spells are likely way WAY too horridly broken....so any help bringing them back into line would be appreciated!