P. G. Macer
2020-11-22, 01:56 PM
This is the first home-brew subclass I’ve ever made that could possibly be said to have been created from scratch (though I was in many places inspired by existing features), and definitely the second piece of home-brew content I’ve ever shared on the internet. Constructive criticism is welcome, but if you could keep in mind my inexperience that’d be swell. The Darkness domain is largely a damage-dealing cleric subclass, specializing in necrotic damage.
Darkness Domain
Domain Spells
1st: Arms of Hadar, Hex
3rd: Darkness, Shadow Blade
5th: Bestow Curse, Summon Shadowspawn
7th: Blight, Shadow of Moil
9th: Enervation, Negative Energy Flood
Bonus Proficiencies
When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency in heavy armor and martial weapons.
Shadowy Gaze
Also at 1st level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 30 feet. If you already have darkvision from your race, it increases by 10 feet. Regardless, you can see through magical and nonmagical darkness within 30 feet of you.
(^I made the Devil’s-Sight-lite have such a short range so as not to outclass other low-level features, though I worry this may be underpowered)
Channel Divinity: Turn the Holy
As an action, you present your unholy symbol and speak a malediction censuring the holy. Each celestial and humanoid or fey that is not of evil alignment (other than possibly yourself) that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
(^This is modeled after Turn Undead/the Unholy/the Faithless. Celestials were an obvious choice, and though alignment doesn’t appear in official 5e subclass features, I chose non-evil humanoids and fey to bring it more on par with Turn the Unholy/Faithless)
Corruptive Entity
At 6th level, you gain resistance to necrotic damage. If you already have resistance to necrotic damage, you instead gain resistance to psychic damage. Additionally, necrotic damage you deal ignores damage resistances.
(^This is very similar to the Death Cleric’s Lv6 feature, though I only realized this after I wrote it down. I added the conditional psychic resistance to not make half the feature redundant if one is playing, say, a Fallen Aasimar or a Shader-Kai. I worded the resistance-ignoring slightly differently from the death domain in order for it to apply to Divine Strike)
Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.
Umbral Abomination
Starting at 17th level, the spells Circle of death, Finger of death, Maddening darkness, and Power word kill become domain spells for you. You have these spells prepared, but they doesn’t count against your cleric spells prepared.
(^This is essentially a more limited version of the Arcana Cleric’s Level 17 ability, in that the spell choices are predetermined)
Darkness Domain
Domain Spells
1st: Arms of Hadar, Hex
3rd: Darkness, Shadow Blade
5th: Bestow Curse, Summon Shadowspawn
7th: Blight, Shadow of Moil
9th: Enervation, Negative Energy Flood
Bonus Proficiencies
When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency in heavy armor and martial weapons.
Shadowy Gaze
Also at 1st level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 30 feet. If you already have darkvision from your race, it increases by 10 feet. Regardless, you can see through magical and nonmagical darkness within 30 feet of you.
(^I made the Devil’s-Sight-lite have such a short range so as not to outclass other low-level features, though I worry this may be underpowered)
Channel Divinity: Turn the Holy
As an action, you present your unholy symbol and speak a malediction censuring the holy. Each celestial and humanoid or fey that is not of evil alignment (other than possibly yourself) that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
(^This is modeled after Turn Undead/the Unholy/the Faithless. Celestials were an obvious choice, and though alignment doesn’t appear in official 5e subclass features, I chose non-evil humanoids and fey to bring it more on par with Turn the Unholy/Faithless)
Corruptive Entity
At 6th level, you gain resistance to necrotic damage. If you already have resistance to necrotic damage, you instead gain resistance to psychic damage. Additionally, necrotic damage you deal ignores damage resistances.
(^This is very similar to the Death Cleric’s Lv6 feature, though I only realized this after I wrote it down. I added the conditional psychic resistance to not make half the feature redundant if one is playing, say, a Fallen Aasimar or a Shader-Kai. I worded the resistance-ignoring slightly differently from the death domain in order for it to apply to Divine Strike)
Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.
Umbral Abomination
Starting at 17th level, the spells Circle of death, Finger of death, Maddening darkness, and Power word kill become domain spells for you. You have these spells prepared, but they doesn’t count against your cleric spells prepared.
(^This is essentially a more limited version of the Arcana Cleric’s Level 17 ability, in that the spell choices are predetermined)