D&D: Death Is Your Friend When You’re A Grave Domain Cleric
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within updates the Grave Domain Cleric to 5.5E, albeit with some sizable differences from its 5E incarnation.
One of the things that Ravenloft: The Horrors Within illustrates quite well is just how different a subclass can feel between 5E and 5.5E. Because of the seven subclasses included in the book, five are “5.5E updates,” and by and large, these subclasses all play quite differently from their 5E incarnations.
You can see it in subclasses like the College of Spirits Bard, which got a significant improvement to the way its ghostly tales are handled. Or, as we’ll see today in the Grave Domain Cleric, who went from being the secret ingredient in a “damage explosion” combo to now a potent debuffer that can potentially interrupt annoying enemies and set up the whole party for success.
Grave Domain Clerics – Less Swingy, More Zingy
The Grave Domain Cleric, first introduced in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything back in 5E has always been a subclass about maintaining the boundary between life and death. Far from being the “necromancer but for Clerics” domain, this was the subclass for disciples of deities like Kelemvor who are all about the sanctity of death.
In its 5.5E incarnation, the Grave Domain Cleric still lives up to that creed. Albeit some of its features are quite different from their previous iteration. Consider one of the core features of the subclass, Path to the Grave. This level 3 feature is the “Channel Divinity” feature that all Cleric subclasses get. In 5E, this was the “you die now” ability that let the Cleric give a creature vulnerability to all damage to the next attack that hit it (meaning you’d double all the damage the creature took, potentially even doing quadruple damage with a critical hit). But in 5.5E this is a much different feature.
It’s still a “set up” feature. You present your Holy Symbol and spend a use of Channel Divinity to curse your target. But instead of vulnerability, the Channel Divinity curses your target to have Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws until the start of your next turn.
It’s still potent, because you can debuff an enemy and leave them vulnerable to a party with spells or other abilities that offer saving throws (like a Monk’s stunning fist). But it plays out differently. Also you can end the curse early whenever someone hits your target to deal [your Cleric level] in extra Necrotic or Radiant damage. Not bad, but different!
But even the other core features are different. Circle of Mortality gets a sizable buff from 5E, which is fitting because you have to wait until level 3 to get it. It lets you cast Spare the Dying as a Bonus Action and also whenever you heal a creature at 0 hit points, you automatically heal for the maximum amount.
Meaning your Healing Word heals for 8 + Wisdom Modifier hit points, for instance. But on top of that, you get Pull of Death, which lets you deal an extra 1d4 (or 1d6 at level 11) Necrotic damage whenever you deal damage to a creature that’s missing any of its hit points. This synergizes surprisingly well with Vampiric Touch, which you get as a Bonus Spell.
Grave Matters At Higher Level
At higher levels, the 5.5E Grave Domain Cleric still shines. The level 6 feature, Sentinel at Death’s Door is an absolute beast of a way to keep your party alive. Because protecting life is a part of making sure death happens when it’s meant to, after all.
You gain a Reaction that you can take whenever you or a Bloodied creature you can see is hit with an attack roll. When you use it, you only take half damage. And if that attack was a crit? It becomes only a normal hit, before then being halved. And you can use it up to your Wisdom modifier times per Long Rest, so by the time you get it it’s likely to be 4, and then quickly will cap out at 5.
Then there’s the capstone feature at level 17, Divine Reaper, which signifies your deep connection to the grave. You become a hallowed harbinger of death and gain two abilities, starting with Enhanced Necromancy. This is basically like old school twin spell. Whenever you cast a Necromancy spell of level 5 or lower (or a Grave domain bonus spell) that only targets one creature, you can spend your Channel Divinity to have that spell target a second creature. So you can effectively cast Blight on two different targets.
You also gain Keeper of Souls, which has been changed from its previous incarnation. Whenever an enemy dies within 60 feet of you, you can restore hit points to either you or one creature you can see (also within 60 feet). Your target regains double your Cleric level in hit points, and you can do this once per Short or Long Rest unless you spend a level 6+ slot to regain it.
All in all, the Grave Domain Cleric still feels like a subclass worth taking. While I am sad to see it lose out on the “and now you take double damage” aspect; as a whole the subclass feels a lot more put together. You really feel like a Cleric that uses the energy of life and death to maintain the veil.
You can see for yourself by checking out the 5.5E Grave Domain Cleric in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within!
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