Sword Dancer
(Cleric Domain)
Sword Dancers are the order of specialized clerics of Eilistraee that focuses on directly emulating their goddess; becoming artists, diplomats, leaders, and protectors of the followers of the Dark Dancer. They are an extension of the goddess’ own motherhood of the drow people; aim to assist and protect other Drows that need help, especially from the grasps of Lolth. They also often take the role of emissaries among other races, promoting the harmony and cooperation between Drows and other races.
Introduction
This document was a tweaked version of Tommaso Sammarco's (u/Irennan) work, The Dark Maiden beckons: On the drow goddess Eilistraee and her Faith, which without any exaggeration, could be said as the holy bible for Eilistraee and her lore.
Despite the great content, I found that the domain was a bit lacking, resulting in a few tweaks which was then compiled into this document. Please voice any concerns you might have, as feedbacks are very welcomed. Thank you for taking your time reading this document.
Other Credits
- The beautiful art on the first page was drawn by leejun35.
- Feedbacks from my DM and the community
Domain?
Some have expressed disdain to this domain, saying that a single-deity domain doesn't suit 5e's definition of domain. Well, on that I agree. Even on 3.5, sword dancers were part of the prestige class mechanic. As wizards themselves haven't explored this mechanic for 5e (they did release an UA on 2015, no updates on it though), making it into a prestige class will make it harder to balance. In the future though, the possibility exist.
Domain Spells
| Cleric level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | Charm Person; Magic Missile |
| 3rd | Moonbeam; Suggestion |
| 5th | Create Food and Water; Beacon of Hope |
| 7th | Freedom of Movement; Spellsong |
| 9th | Commune; Moon Path |
Dark Maiden's Grace
At 1st level:
- Skills: When choosing your starting skills, pick two from the following modified list: Acrobatics, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion and Survival. You also gain proficiency in the Performance skill.
- Weapons and Tools: You gain proficiency with a musical instrument of your choice and with longswords and greatswords.
- Spellcasting Focus: Aside from your holy symbol of Eilistraee, you can also use your art as a spell focus. A melody played with a musical instrument of your choice, or your own voice, as you intone a song, count both as spell focus and as the verbal component of your spells. Likewise, your dance counts both as a spell focus and as somatic component of your spells.
- Starting Equipment: Your starting equipment includes a musical instrument of your choice. It doesn't include a shield, and your starting weapon can be a longsword.
Eilistraee's Moonfire
At 1st level, you learn the Eilistraee's Moonfire cantrip. If you know the Dancing Lights cantrip, replace Eilistraee's Moonfire with it. Otherwise, this cantrip counts towards your Cantrips Known number for your level in the Cleric table.
Sword Dance
At 1st level, during a long rest underneath direct moonlight, you can begin a ritual known as the Sword Dance on any one handed weapon you are proficient with that deals slashing damage. This benefit extend to two handed weapons at 6th level. Completing this ritual takes 1 hour, and afterwards the weapon gleams with the silvery glow of moonfire.
A weapon that is affected by the Sword Dance is considered silvered and you can use your Wisdom modifierr, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for it’s attack and damage rolls.
You can only have one weapon affected in this way at a time, and if you perform this ritual on another weapon, the previous weapon loses it’s blessing.
Channel Divinity: Eilistraee's Dance
At 2nd level, Eilistraee's song sets your spirit ablaze, allowing you to perform an elegant battledance, provided you aren't wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield.
You can use a bonus action to start dancing, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you can't move at the start of your turn. You can also dismiss Eilistraee's Dance at any time you choose (no action required).
While this feature is active, you gain the following bonuses:
- You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1).
- Your walking speed increases by 10 feet.
- You have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks and on Dexterity saving throws if the source affect your movement on a fail, such as from grapple, Snare, and Web.
- Opportunity attacks made against you are made with disadvantage.
Additionally, a creature attempting to do an opportunity attack to you may choose to roll an Acrobatics check against your spell save DC. On a success, the creature easily pinpoint your location, allowing it to attack you normally, without disadvantage. On a fail, the creature still attacks with a disadvantage but, with the addition of stumbling and falling prone.
Alright, this one's similar to bladesong. The differences are in:
- Changed an end early condition: using two hands to attack, to can't move. (allowing greatsword or two weapon fighting)
- Changed the advantage to include saving throws and be more specific
- Changed AC mod into Wisdom (self-explanatory)
- Changed a bonus: bonus Int mod to concentration checks to AoO made against you with disadvantage. (well flavour wise, you should be able to move freely)
- Added a new mechanic to enhance the image of a hard-to-catch dancer
Moonlit Sword
Starting at 6th level, you may imbue a weapon that is affected by Sword Dance with Eilistraee's magic, surrounding it with blue-white flames and empowering its next strike . As a bonus action, expend one spell slot. Until the end of your next turn, you may roll a d4 and add the number rolled to attack rolls that you make. The next time you hit, you deal extra radiant damage, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d6 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d6 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of your Proficiency bonus. For example, a Proficiency bonus of 3 means a maximum extra damage of 3d6. The effect ends early after a successful hit.
Following the bladesinger, this is the place to add an extra attack but, when looking at other domains, the War domain didn't even get this feature and instead allows attacking with bonus action with a limited number per day. In an attempt to not overshadow that, I chose to replace extra attacks with more damage.
This will stack with divine strike indeed but, I figure clerics didn't have much melee offensive capability anyway. Moreover, it eats a bonus action, which is expensive for clerics (healing word, sanctuary, etc). All in all, I think the feature is balance because of the high price to use it and it still won't overpower a Paladin with their extra attacks.
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 radiant damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.
Eternal Dance
Starting at 17th cleric level, you ignore difficult terrain, have Advantage on Acrobatics checks, and checks made to maintain your footing or resist being knocked prone. Furthermore, when you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and half damage if you fail.
This didn't change much from the base version. I haven't experienced much of epic level play, making it hard to imagine if a suitable capstone feature.
New Spells
Eilistraee's Moonfire
Evocation Cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: Self
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 10 minutes.
This spell creates a globe of moonlight of up to 10 cubic feet, that moves about the caster's body. It provides bright light in a 10 feet radius, and dim light for an additional 10 feet. The caster may choose to reduce the intensity, making the globe shed only dim light in 10 feet radius. The color of the globe and of the light can be white, silver, blue- white and soft green. Each round, as a bonus action, the caster may command the Moonfire to move around her body at any desired speed, or to move away from her, drifting up to 40 feet. As a part of the action, the shape of the globe can be changed to make it pass through openings of any size.
As an action, you can turn the globe into a small comet of cold moonlight (ending the spell), and hurl it at a creature within 30 ft from you. Make an attack roll: on a success, the target takes 1d8 cold damage (2d8 at level 5th; 3d8 at 11th; 4d8 at 17th).
This cantrip can be cast using a 2nd level slot. If you so choose, this spell and the Darkness spell cancel each other out.
This is basically a reflavored Dancing Lights. The cold damage and darkness negating effect follows closely to the lore.
Spellsong
4th level (exclusively granted by Eilistraee to her Sword Dancers)
- Casting Time: variable
- Range: variable
- Components: V, S
- Duration: variable
The Sword Dancers are trained to use their music and dance to call upon Eilistraee's power. They can sing their magic even in the heat of the battle, while dodging and dancing, or while wounded. Their art resonates with the intimate rhythm of life and of the Multiverse, and is able to close wounds, inspire great feats, create untold beauty, or save allies from the cold grip of death.
You can cast this spell using a 4th level spell slot or higher. Depending on the level of the slot, your song and dance can produce a variety of magical effects. You must prepare the material components for each respective spells.
- Song of Hope:
Using a 4th level spell slot, as a bonus action, your song inspires a number of creatures up to your Charisma modifer that can hear you, within 30 ft from you. They can add your Charisma modifier to all saving throws against the Charmed and Frightened conditions, to all attack rolls and ability checks. The spell lasts up to 1 minute, and requires concentration.
Using a 4th level spell slot, your song lifts the hearts of a number of allies up to your Charisma modifier, that can hear you, within 30ft from you. It removes all effects causing the Charmed and Frightened conditions, and all effects that cause despair, confusion or insanity in a creature (such as the Confusion and the Symbol: Hopelessness, Insanity spells). Both the effects of this Spellsong count as Enchantment spells.
- Song of Life: Your music soothes pain and closes wounds of all those who hear it. You conjure strands of soothing moonlight that take the form of tall elven women who embrace and heal your allies.
Choose up to 6 creatures within 30ft from you. Spending a 4th level spell slot, the strands of light heal up to 3d6 + your Charisma modifier hit points. For each spell slot level above 4th, you add 1d6 to the amount healed. The healing die of the spell increases to 1d8 if you sing and dance for 10 minutes. Creatures who benefit from this spell are also immune to the Extreme Cold environmental condition for 1 hr. Wounds healed by this spellsong leave no scars. This is an Evocation effect. As a 4th level slot, you can also cast the Revivify spell.
Using a 7th levelspell slot, and singing for 1 minute, will cause this Spellsong to restore the body of a touched creature. Any severed body members (fingers, legs, tails, and so on), broken bones, and ruined organs are restored after 2 minutes. If the damaged or severed parts are present and touching the respective wound, the regeneration is instantaneous. For the duration of 1 hour, the target also regains 1 hit point at the beginning of each round. This Spellsong removes all existing scars if the caster and the creature so wish. It is as a Transmutation spell.
- Song of Rapture: You dance while playing and singing, creating art of unearthly beauty and deep emotion, while strands of oonlight weave and paint mesmerizing images around you.
A number of creatures up to your Charisma modifier within 30ft from you (that can see or hear you) must take a Charisma saving throw with disadvantage. On a failure, the creatures become charmed. While charmed by this spell, they are incapacitated, and will try to remain within 20 ft from you to admire your art. The effect lasts up to 1 minute, and requires you to spend your action each round after the first to keep performing. You may move up to your speed while sustaining this effect, but you may not take a dash action. You may force new creatures who enter the area (out of their own volition, or because you move within 20ft from them) to also take the saving throw, but the maximum number of affected creatures at any given time can't be higher than your Charisma modifier.
The effect ends for an affected creature if it takes damage, if someone else uses their action to shake the creature out of its stupor, if you stop your performance, or if you use your reaction or bonus action to perform an offensive action. This Spellsong uses a 4th level slot, and is as an Enchantment spell. As a 5th level slot or higher, you can cast the Charm Monster spell. As a 7th spell slot, you can cast the Mass Suggestion spell. Your targets must be able to see or hear you.
- Song of Creation:
Using a 4th level spell slot or higher, you can cast the Major Image spell, as multiple strands of moonlight create artful illusions. Using a 5th level spell slot or higher, you can cast the Fabricate spell, as your music and your dance fluidly shape the raw materials. As a 6th level slot, Fabricate uses your Performance to create items that require high degree craftsmanship: your art shapes even the hardest material in harmony with your emotion and imagination (you are required to make a Performance check. The DC is the same that it takes to craft the item with the adequate tools). A 7th level spell slot provides the Programmed Illusion spell.
Lore-wise, Eilistraee granted the ability to use any spell. But man, any spell is too unbalanced. This version adds a single higher spell slot as cost, while also allowing the use of more spells.
In the base version, each song takes a single preparation slot, which to me is underpowering. Through my DM's suggestion, it's ok to let all songs be prepared.
Moon Path
5th level Evocation
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 100 ft
- Components: V, S, M (a white handkerchief)
- Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
You create a ribbon of glowing, silvery, translucent force, that connects two spots in a straight path. It's up to 150ft long, from 3 to 20 ft wide (you may change the width over the path's length), and 1/4 inch thick. Its starting and ending points can be located anywhere (including midair), and the surface of the ribbon can be oriented as the caster wishes (it can be positioned as a bridge or as a wall, for example). When you cast Moon Path, you choose up to 10 creatures to be protected while standing on the ribbon, granting them the effects of the Sanctuary and Spider Climb spells for the duration of the Moon Path (these boons are lost as soon as the path is left). The surface of the ribbon cannot be physically crossed, and blocks spells, breath attacks (like that of a dragon), gaze effects (such as that of a Medusa) and ethereal travel.
A Disintegrate spell blasts a 10ft wide hole in the path, and the touch of a Sphere of Annihilation destroys it. Unlike a Wall of Force, this spell is normally affected by Dispel Magic.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a 6th level slot or higher, its maximum length is increased by 30ft and the number of affected creatures by 2 for each level above 5th.
Lore-wise, this spell is mainly used to help escaped from the underdark. This spell will mainly be used on escape situations which depending on the campaign, won't always show up. It's niche, but cool.