Hello everyone, and welcome to the next installment in a series of articles focusing on the Cleric Domains in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of your domain powers, spells, and introduce you to a god or goddess from real-Earth mythology who could be a deity using this particular domain.
All that said, welcome to this week’s article on the domain of Death
The Death domain is described as “You can cause the living to bleed at a touch, and find comfort in the presence of the dead.” – From this, we can probably safely conclude that this is a person who is somewhat anathema to life, and comfortable around the dead and undead.
So, what does a cleric with this domain get?
First, they get bleeding touch, which is a damage over time for bleed, that causes 1d6 points of damage per round, up to half the Cleric’s level or until a Heal DC 15 or healing spell is received. In theory, this is a great spell for longer combats, as it continually deals reliable damage, equal to a hit with a short sword, and it even increases in power with your level. And while there are a few monsters that have regeneration or healing spells, most do not, and most do not have the heal skill either, OR they’ll be too busy with the combat itself to apply the use of the Heal skill (as it takes a standard action, that they might be better off using for the combat itself). It could potentially win you a combat, though that is admittedly unlikely.
Secondly, you get the granted power “Death’s Embrace.” This allows you to heal damage from channeled negative energy. This is practically a must-have ability for an evil cleric, as they lose the ability to channel positive energy, and do not gain any benefit from negative energy. However, it is also extremely useful to any cleric who hunts the undead, as some undead (and evil clerics) use channel negative energy to bolster their undead allies. In this case, they would also bolster you. It is however extremely situational, and unless you play an evil cleric you likely will not see much use of it. (Some neutral clerics might, but they would be rare.
Spells:
The spells you get with the Death domain are as follows:
Cause Fear
This forces a condition upon your enemy, in this case, the “frightened” condition. A frightened creature flees from the source of its fear as best it can. If unable to flee, it may fight. A frightened creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. A frightened creature can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, the creature must use such means if they are the only way to escape. – As such, not only do they take a penalty on attacks, but they must try to escape the caster. PCs and NPCs can use this to clear out a low-level boss, to deal with his minions or to remove a single henchman from a low-level fight, like sending away the healer, who would otherwise be keeping the villain alive and functional.
Death Knell
Death Knell is an evil (yep, it has that descriptor) spell, and as such should be used sparingly in games where your Game Master keeps track of your alignment, at least if you’re good or neutrally aligned. It kills creatures that are already dying (-1 hit points or below) in return for granting you some serious benefits (1d8 temporary hit points, +2 Strength and an effective caster level increase of +1 for 10 minutes per caster level). Very situational, but useful when you get the chance, as those benefits can be quite nice.
Animate Dead
Another evil spell, this one is the bread and butter of the Necromancy school, the ability to raise the dead. Now, importantly there are some limitations to this spell, so it is best to keep a few things in mind. First, there’s a limit to the amount of undead that you can CONTROL at any time using this spell, regardless of how many times you cast it which is equal to 4 times your level, so if you’ve just gained access to the spell at level 7, then you can control 28 HD worth of undead. If you’re not worried about control then you can raise as many as you want. Be aware also that these undead do NOT count against your Command Undead feat, so you can unload some of the living dead onto the feat, keeping control of even more undead. Using our 7th level Necromancer from before, stacking his Command Undead and Animate Dead now gives him access to controlling 31 HD worth of undead. That means that one 7th level Necromancer can control the equivalent of 4 adventuring partners, through the use of just this spell, making him a formidable foe, under the right circumstances.
Now, there ARE some limitations to the spell, namely that it can only raise skeletons and zombies. But even here there are a few options to choose from. Your bog-standard skeleton/zombie can be raised with multiple hit dice (provided you can find a suitable corpse), and you can apply a template to it (my favorite is the Bloody template, as it gives your skeleton the fast healing ability, making it quite difficult to kill – Applying a template DOES cost more from your Hit Dice bucket though, in the case of Bloody, it doubles the HD cost, but then – unkillable (well nearly) skeletons! (Also a +4 bonus to Charisma for the skeleton is worth it, as it increases the bonus hit points.)
Death Ward
This grants you a +4 morale bonus on saves against death spells and death effects, EVEN IF THEY DO NOT NORMALLY ALLOW IT, and it makes you immune to all negative energy effects, including Energy Drain from both spells and abilities.
This is an EXTREMELY useful spell if you’re hunting a necromancer or the undead since it allows you saves on things you would not normally get anything against. This simply cannot be underestimated, and the fact that it comes as an automatic spell from your domain is simply fantastic.
Slay Living
One of those death effects that Death Ward protects against and gives the bonus on, this causes 12d6+level in hit point damage. At the time where you get this as a Cleric, you’ll be at 9th level, so this will likely outstrip any other damage spell you have, causing 12d6+9 points of damage on a failed save (3d6+9 on a successful one). On a failed save that’s an average of 52 points of damage. While that may not kill all opponents, it’s quite likely to take out one that has already been injured, or severely hurt them.
Create Undead
Create Undead is a double-edged sword. The reason for this is that the undead you create are free-willed, so unless you have some other means of controlling them (Command Undead feat or Control Undead spell) then you run a certain risk using it. Further, and this is a personal thing admittedly, I do not think the spell is powerful enough. That is because the undead that it creates are not as powerful as those of the Conjuration spell of the same level. Allow me to show you what I mean:
| Caster Level | Undead Created | Challenge Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 11th or lower | Ghoul | 1 |
| 12th – 14th | Ghast | 2 |
| 15th – 17th | Mummy | 5 |
| 18th or higher | Mohrg | 8 |
For the same 6th level spell slot you ALWAYS gain a monster of Challenge Rating 7-8 – unfortunately, that does mean that unless you have some way of bolstering the undead created (like the Charnel Soldiers feat for example), then it will pretty much always be inferior to Summon Monster VI. – Nonetheless, for a free spell as a domain spell, it is quite handy for generating some quick backup.
Destruction
The big brother of Slay Living, this causes an automatic 10 points of damage per level of the caster (or 130 hit points at the time you get it). Even if they make their save they still take 10d6 points of damage. Further, anyone killed by it can only be resurrected through 3 or 4 different spells, rather than any common Raise Dead. Your opponent quite simply is gone, though they leave their equipment behind for you to loot.
Create Greater Undead
This has the same issues as Create Undead in that it is not competitive with Summon Monster VIII which summons a CR 11 monster each time. Here is the listing as before:
| Caster Level | Undead Created | Challenge Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 15th or lower | Shadow | 3 |
| 16th – 17th | Wraith | 5 |
| 18th – 19th | Spectre | 7 |
| 20th or higher | Devourer | 11 |
Wail of the Banshee
And here is the “save or die” spell. The closest creature to you dies if they fail their save, and even if they make it, they take a minimum of 170 points of damage. (10 points of damage per level, and minimum level 17 to cast). Incredibly powerful spell, and should you make it to this level of spellcasting ability, USE IT. – The ability to simply kill 17 creatures (at the time you pick it up), as a standard action is just, insane. Quite probably one of the best spells in the game.
New Deity
Death
The Grim Reaper, the Ferryman, The Harvester of Souls, Angel of Death
Alignment LN
Worshipers undertakers and morticians, those who are dying or their families, the elderly, those wishing to stave off death or achieve immortality
Cleric Alignments LG, LN, LE, NG, N
Domains: Death, Law, Luck Repose, Trickery
Sub-domains: Ancestors, Fate, Judgement, Psychopomp, Undead,
Favored Weapon: Scythe
Symbol: A skeletal hand holding an hourglass
Death is both a personification of the concept of death and the actual death itself. He has existed since the death of the first creature and will remain until the end of the universe. It is said that in his domain, he has an hourglass for every single creature that has ever lived or will ever live, with them constantly floating around as the winds of fate change the amount of sand left to them. A few hourglasses seem frozen in time, these are the hourglasses of the immortals and other deities. Death looks at these every so often and notes whether they have begun trickling. Sooner or later, they all do.
Death is an impartial judge, his job is to end the life of all living creatures, but he does so without malice or evil intent. He is there to ensure the flow of life, and all life must end. Once a creature has died, Death escorts that soul to the afterlife, judging it, and ensuring that the soul spends the rest of time in its designated location.
Death is NOT above manipulation though. He has an intense dislike for those who cause the death of many creatures at once, as this brings disorder to his otherwise orderly existence. These creatures he will actively try to ensure are removed from the flow of things as quickly as possible (and as close to any calamities as possible, to avoid creating worse ripples in time by removing the creature early), and he has been known to spare children who were supposed to have a long life. His stance on those seeking immortality is one of indifference. He knows that everything dies eventually, and as long as the creature doesn’t bring disorder to the afterlife by killing a lot of other creatures, he is happy to leave them alone. At least for the time being.
Clerics of the Grim Reaper, dress in somber black robes, carry scythes and tend to be gaunt themselves. They are the morticians and undertakers of most societies, fatalists who often take jobs that others would not, such as tending to the sick, knowing that Death will come for them when their time is up, and no sooner. They are not foolish and will take precautions when around the sick, but they realize that if it is their time, then nothing can prevent that, so they may as well help his work where they can, ensuring the easy passing of those destined to die, and helping others live on.
Worshippers pray to the Ferryman twice per day, once at midday (known as the death of the day) and once at midnight (known as the death of the night). Both prayers are somber affairs, usually ended with a short prayer to the Angel of Death, asking him to remember lost family and friends.
Next week, we look at the Destruction domain. Let us know in the comments if you have anything you wish to add or see addressed.
Kim Frandsen
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