This particular author was the sickest he can remember being over the last week, and while well on the road to recovery, it was a long, boring, and often times frustrating experience of trying to choke down calories despite not wanting any and trying to sleep despite not being tired. Our editor-in-chief gave me the advice to “funnel the feeling of death into [my] writing” while checking in. I don’t know if this is what you meant, Wayne, but this one’s on you.
“The world is not done with you. Accept the purpose that will be placed upon you and live again.”
With a simple answer young Storrem’s life was changed forever. The sickness that had ravaged his body for the last month was suddenly gone, though he would carry the scars for the rest of his earthly days. He awoke infused with divine power and a drive to protect the world of the living from the machinations of the dead and their servants. He knew he had to leave his former life behind, but such was the price for being able to keep his friends and family safe.
What that destiny ultimately looks like, he has no idea, but he is ready to find out…
The Grave domain cleric is such a weird option from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It’s a healing and support focused domain, but in terms of healing output, it pales in comparison to the Life Domain cleric both in terms of domain spells and the ability to empower them. That said, the Circle of Mortality can be quite powerful in the right circumstances, but requires the recipient to be unconscious for full benefits. Their 17th level Domain ability has the ability to be quite potent, but it does depend greatly on how the DM is constructing his adventures and approaching encounter design – with multiple encounters and enemies in each encounter, this can be a powerful source of free healing. But it loses its usefulness if you’re constantly facing only one or two powerful creatures per day.
Their Channel Divinity is really where this class option shines – letting a powered up Rogue or Paladin double their sneak attack or smite damage on a target without them having to do anything additional on their part? Okay. If they can manage a critical hit out of the matter as well it makes this an even better class option. Finally, their 6th-level ability to negate a few critical hits per rest is nothing to sneeze at. All in all, I think a lot of people turn away some great functionality found in this domain in favor of more classic healing options. If you’re looking to play something a little bit different than your classic cleric, you could do worse than looking at this option.
Ben Erickson
