Cleric Domain
Spirits Domain
Some priests are devoted to exploring the boundary between life and death. Spirits Domain clerics see this as their mission: tending to the bereaved, shepherding the departed, and interceding between the two when needed. They frequently worship gods of travel, death, or peace. Their vocation involves ensuring the spirits of the dead are at rest, counseling the living, and contacting the dead to help achieve those goals. Most Spirits clerics revile necromancers and others who intentionally create undead, though they are cordial or even sympathetic to the restless dead themselves.
Spirits domain priests are usually good-aligned - their basic duties require a level of care and consideration for others. Evil clerics can follow this domain, though, twisting its teachings to torment those they should protect. Very little in their background ties them together, but nearly all have experienced grief or loss, and come out with a commitment to helping those who face it.
Spirits Domain Features
| Cleric Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1st | Domain Spells, Grave Teachings, Life and Death |
| 2nd | Channel Divinity: Back From the Brink |
| 6th | Spirit Companion, Spirits' Protection |
| 8th | Spiritual Warfare |
| 17th | Crypt Keeper, Empowered Spirit |
Spirits Domain Spells
You gain domain spells at the cleric levels listed in the Spirits Domain Spells table.
| Cleric Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | spiritual consultationK, unseen servant |
| 3rd | gentle repose, prayer of healing |
| 5th | ghost stepK, speak with dead |
| 7th | aura of life, death ward |
| 9th | hallow, raise dead |
Spells marked with K are by KibblesTasty and included in Appendix 2.
Grave Teachings
At 1st level, you gain proficiency with the Religion skill, and advantage on all ability checks to recall information about death and the undead.
Life and Death
Also at 1st level, your magic is able to manipulate creatures when they are on the edge of death. You gain the following benefits:
- Anytime one of your damaging spells would leave a creature with fewer hit points than your proficiency bonus, it takes additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
- Anytime you heal a creature with fewer hit points than your proficiency bonus, it gains additional healing equal to your proficiency bonus.
Channel Divinity: Back From the Brink
Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to bolster a creature's resilience. As a reaction before a creature you can see within 30 feet rolls a death saving throw, you can grant them divine fortitude. They can add your cleric level to the result. If this causes the result to be a 20 or higher, they may treat the roll as a natural 20.
Spirit Companion
Starting at 6th level, you can call upon the dead for aid, extending your abilities with the help of friendly spirits. As an action, you can summon a spirit, which appears in an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet of you.
It is friendly to you and your companions, and obeys your commands. See its game statistics in the Spirit Companion stat block, which uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places.
In combat, your spirit companion shares your initiative count, taking its turn immediately after yours. It can move on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, it fades into the ethereal plan, reappearing in the same spot when you are no longer incapacitated.
The spirit remains until it is reduced to 0 hit points, you use this feature to resummon it, or you die. Anything it was carrying is left behind when the spirit vanishes.
Once you summon the spirit, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a use of your Channel Divinity to resummon it over the course of a 10-minute ritual.
Spirits' Protection
Also at 6th level, you become immune to possession or fear effects caused by incorporeal undead.
Spiritual Warfare
Starting at 8th level, once per round, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip or the damage your Spirit Companion deals with its Ghostly Touch.
Crypt Keeper
At 17th level, you gain resistance to all damage inflicted by undead creatures with a challenge rating equal to or lower than your cleric level.
Empowered Spirit
Also at 17th level, your Spirit Companion grows in power. Its flying speed increases to 50 feet, and its Ghostly Touch damage increases to 2d6 + your proficiency bonus.
Spirit Companion
Medium Undead (Ghost)
- Armor Class 13+PB
- Hit Points 2+2 times your cleric level
- Speed fly 25 ft. (hover)
4 16 14 10 14 8 STR(-3) DEX(+3) CON(+2) INT(+0) WIS(+2) CHA(-1)
- Saving Throws Dexterity +3 plus PB, Charisma -1 plus PB
- Damage Resistances cold, necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
- Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, prone, restrained
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10+PB
- Languages Understands the languages you speak
Traits
Spiritual Projection. The spirit can channel your holy power. Anytime it is within 30 feet of you, you can cast spells or Channel Divinity as if you were in its space (you must still be able to see targets as needed).
Incorporeal Movement. The spirit can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Actions
Ghostly Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: 3+PB to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 + PB necrotic damage. The target can't regain hit points until the end of its next turn.
Divine Explosion. The spirit extinguishes itself in a blaze of divine energy. All creatures within 20 feet of the spirit must make a Constitution saving throw, taking radiant damage equal to to 2d8 + the spirit's remaining hit points on a failure, or half as much on a success.
Spirits Domain quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this Domain to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You speak softly and gently at all times. |
| 2 | You wear heavy makeup in grim, gothic designs. |
| 3 | You reek of ammonia and embalming fluid. |
| 4 | You prefer skull motifs in your vestments and jewelry. |
| 5 | You always carry a complete set of embalming tools. |
| 6 | You pray over your companions every night to keep them from dying in their sleep. |
Appendix 1: Backgrounds
Mortuary Cultist
You were a member of a mortuary cult, a religious organization devoted to the care and preparation of the dead. You embalmed bodies, prepared tombs, and helped people pass gracefully into the afterlife. Your services were valued and essential, but not exactly sought after or beloved.
- Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Religion
- Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, poisoner's kit
- Equipment: A healer's kit, vestments, 2 glass bottles, a set of embalming tools, and a pouch containing 15gp
Feature: Peaceful Rest
You know how to properly prepare the dead for burial. Over the course of 1 hour, you can use your embalming tools and disguise kit to protect a body from decay for 3 days. This also extends the time limit for spells such as raise dead.
Ideals
| d6 | Ideals |
|---|---|
| 1 | Equality. Every person deserves a respectful end. (Good) |
| 2 | Duty. I must always improve my skill. (Neutral) |
| 3 | Piety. The rites are as important as the people. (Lawful) |
| 4 | Disdain. The dead don't actually need their grave goods. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Greed. I can leverage my position to extort the grieving. (Evil) |
| 6 | Pride. I must ensure every afterlife is prepared perfectly. (Any) |
Bonds
| d6 | Bonds |
|---|---|
| 1 | A scroll of sacred rites is mine to protect. |
| 2 | One of the dead came back as a revenant. I must atone for my failure. |
| 3 | I left my home to hunt a band of graverobbers. |
| 4 | I had a mentor I greatly respected within the cult. |
| 5 | My faith was challenged once, and I never found a satisfactory answer. |
| 6 | There's a tomb waiting for me when my time comes. |
Flaws
| d6 | Flaws |
|---|---|
| 1 | You are an insufferable know-it-all about funerary practices. |
| 2 | You are extremely rigid about how to treat the dead. |
| 3 | You have zero tolerance for desecration of graves. |
| 4 | You stop and inspect the embalming work on all dead or undead you find. |
| 5 | You have secretly lost faith in the afterlife. |
| 6 | A good organ should never go to waste. |
Appendix 2: Spells
Ghost Step
3rd-level transmutation
- Classes: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: Self
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 1 round
You become briefly ethereal and intangible. For the duration, you can move in any direction and do not fall. You can move through creatures, objects, walls, terrain, and effects as if they were not there. You can only pass through magical objects if they do not block ethereal transit. While you are intangible, you are immune to all damage besides force damage.
At the start of your next turn, you once more become tangible, manifesting in your current space. If the space is occupied, you are shunted to the nearest unoccupied space, take force damage equal to twice the number of feet you are forced to move. If the space you manifest is not on the ground and you cannot fly, you fall to the ground.
Spiritual Consultation
1st-level necromancy
- Classes: None
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: Self
- Components: V, S, M (1 gp worth of incense, which the spell consumes)
- Duration: 10 minutes
You call forth a spirit that is proficient in a skill from Arcana, Animal Handling, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Religion, or Survival. The spirit is ethereal and ephemeral and cannot interact with physical objects, but can provide guidance on matters relating to the skill selected when you summon it.
You can treat any check you make in the skill as if you have proficiency with it so long as the spirit can communicate with you. Alternatively, if the ability check is an Intelligence or Wisdom check you can have the spirit make the check, and it has a +5 for the skill was summoned for.
The spirit will follow you and cannot stray more than 5 feet from you. You can choose to release it early, dismissing it back from whence it came.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the spirit's bonus making ability checks itself increases by 1 for each slot level above 1st, up to a maximum of +9.
Change Log
v0.2
- Fixed some typos
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
Spirits Domain created by somanyrobots Discord | Patreon
Spells
- Ghost Step, Spiritual Consultation by Kibblestasty.
Art
Anointer Priest, by Lake Hurwitz ©Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
Includes spells from Kibbles' Casting Compendium 2.0 by KibblesTasty Homebrew LLC, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Fan Content Policy
This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.