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Subclass Cleric Grave Domain
The Grave Domain is a Cleric subclass built around the idea that death is not evil — it is inevitable, sacred, and necessary. Grave Clerics don't raise undead or revel in destruction. They ensure that life ends when it should, that the dying find peace, and that those who cling to life beyond their time are pulled back into balance.
This is a support and control hybrid with a unique mechanic: Path to the Grave marks an enemy for doubled damage, and Sentinel at Death's Door protects allies from critical hits. At every level, the Grave Domain rewards positioning, timing, and reading the battlefield.
| LEVEL | FEATURE |
|---|---|
| 3 | Grave Domain Spells, Circle of Mortality, Path to the Grave, Pull of Death |
| 5 | Grave Domain Spells (expanded) |
| 6 | Sentinel at Death's Door |
| 7 | Grave Domain Spells (expanded) |
| 9 | Grave Domain Spells (expanded) |
Your Domain grants an expanding spell list that is always prepared and doesn't count against your limit. Spells are added at Cleric levels 3, 5, 7, and 9:
| CLERIC LEVEL | SPELLS ADDED |
|---|---|
| 3 | Protection from Evil and Good, False Life, Lesser Restoration, Ray of Enfeeblement, Spare the Dying |
| 5 | Revivify, Vampiric Touch |
| 7 | Blight, Death Ward |
| 9 | Dispel Evil and Good, Mass Cure Wounds |
10 spells total — a toolkit that spans healing, protection, debuffing, and resurrection. Every level brings something useful.
When you cast a healing spell to restore HP to a creature at 0 hit points, you can treat any dice rolled as if they had rolled their maximum value.
- Applies to all healing spells
- Triggers only when the target is at exactly 0 HP
- No action cost — completely passive
Healing spells cast on creatures at 0 HP are maximally efficient — no randomness on dice that return a downed ally to consciousness.
Channel Divinity option. As an action, you curse a creature you can see within 30 feet. Until the end of your next turn, the next hit that creature takes is treated as a critical hit, regardless of the actual roll.
- Trigger: Any hit against the cursed creature before the end of your next turn
- Effect: That hit automatically becomes a critical hit
- Duration: Until end of your next turn or until a hit triggers it
Path to the Grave guarantees the next hit against a target is a critical — effective on any high-damage ally attack, including Sneak Attack, Divine Smite, or Action Surge attacks.
A passive that scales with level:
| CLERIC LEVEL | PULL OF DEATH DAMAGE |
|---|---|
| 3–10 | 1d4 necrotic |
| 11+ | 1d6 necrotic |
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack or spell, you can trigger Pull of Death to deal additional necrotic damage. This represents the Grave Domain's constant pressure — every attack drains a little more life from those already close to death.
A new action resource: SentinelAtDeathsDoor — replenishes on rest, scaling with Wisdom modifier.
Interrupt — Sentinel at Death's Door:
- Trigger: A creature you can see within 30 feet is hit by a critical hit
- Cost: 1 Sentinel charge + your Reaction
- Effect: The critical hit becomes a normal hit — halving all damage and removing any critical hit bonus effects
Sentinel at Death's Door converts an incoming critical hit into a normal hit, halving all damage and removing critical bonus effects. Charges scale with Wisdom modifier, so the resource is most plentiful when your primary stat is fully invested.
The number of charges scales with your Wisdom modifier, rewarding investment in your primary stat.
The Grave Domain is a battlefield controller disguised as a support Cleric. Your core loop:
- Path to the Grave — mark a priority target for guaranteed critical
- Signal your party — let your Rogue, Fighter, or Paladin land the hit
- Circle of Mortality — when allies drop, your healing brings them back at maximum efficiency
- Sentinel at Death's Door — when a critical hit threatens to end the fight, spend a charge and negate it
- Pull of Death — every attack drains a little more from enemies near their end
The Grave Domain rewards players who track HP states — identifying when to mark a target, when to intercept an incoming critical, and when to concentrate healing on downed allies.