The Dark-bringers are the descendants of cultists that once followed Moander, the God of Decay, Rot and Corruption. Moander was defeated and vanquished many years ago and his powers taken by other gods but his servants and followers still exist and strive to locate the last spark of his divinity and rekindle it so that he may return.

Many Dark-bringers are unaware of this and just go about their lives using their powers as they see fit but occasionally one may become possessed with a desire to form a cult dedicated to the principles of Decay, Rot (and Rotting Death) and Corruption. In these instances they form Cults of Personality where they try to utterly control those around them and work to undo the work of Gods of Nature or Druidic Circles.

The symbol of Moander is a hand with a fanged Maw in the palm and many Dark-bringers tattoo or scar a fanged filled maw on one of their palms and use the tattoo/scarring process as a method of initiation for Cult members. Because Moander is a "Dead" God none of his followers are Clerics or paladins and all spell casters that venerate him are Sorcerers that harbour a small spark of divine energy within them much like those of the Divine Soul Bloodline.

Those Dark-bringers that raise cults are Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil although adventuring individuals may be any alignment. It should also be noted that once a Dark-bringer reaches Character level 18, the tiny sliver of Moander that still exists knows everything the Dark-bringer knows (even if the Dark-bringer only has 1 level in this class). Dark-bringers favour spells that enable them to affect plant life, deal Necrotic damage or control people.

For more information on Moander and his cults, it is worth seeking out the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons book: Faiths and Avatars.

Dark-bringer of Moander

At 1st Level, Your bloodline contains a small mote of Moanders former power and you gain a bonus cantrip, this must be drawn from the Druid Spell List, in addition, whenever you learn new Sorcerer spells you can learn a spell form the Druid spell list. These spells count as sorcerer spells for you and are Arcane spells not Divine. Lastly, you also gain proficiency with either the Nature skill or Survival skill.

Seed of Moander

At 6th Level, the Seed of Moanders power in your blood enables you to defile nature. You gain Plant Growth as a bonus spell and can cast it once per Long Rest without using a spell slot.

When using the Plant Growth spell you can use the following spell description:

"This spell channels corruption into plants within a specific area. There are two possible uses for the spell, granting either immediate or long-term effects. If you cast this spell using 1 action, choose a point within range. Ali normal plants in a 100-foot radius centered on that point become diseased and decayed and the ground becomes covered in thick, sludge like, decayed plant matter and it is considered difficult terrain, a creature moving through the area must spend 4 feet of movement for every 1 foot it moves. You can exclude one or more areas of any size within the spell's area from being affected. If you cast this spell over 8 hours, you corrupt the land. Ali plants in a half-mile radius centered on a point within range become corrupted for 1 year. The plants yield half the normal amount of food when harvested."

All other spell requirements remain the same, just the description changes.

Staff of Moander

At Level 14, when you complete your first long rest after reaching 14th level, you awake to find a staff has appeared next to you. Should anyone watch over you during this long rest, they see the staff grow out from you over the course of a turn/6 seconds. The staff is made of a dense but diseased looking wood and the top of the staff looks like a hand with Moanders symbol carved in the palm. The Staff is magical (and radiates Necromantic energy if viewed with Detect Magic) and you are automatically attuned to it and cannot become un-attuned to it. The staff has the following abilities:

This staff has 4 charges and regains 1d4 expended charges daily at dawn.

The staff uses your spell attack modifier to determine to hit bonuses and deals Bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6+ your Charisma Modifier if used one handed or 1d8+ your Charisma Modifier if used 2 handed. On a successful hit you can also expend 1 charge to deal an extra 2d10 necrotic damage to the target and  they must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell DC. On a failed save the target has disadvantage for 1 hour on any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength or Constitution.

The staff can also be used as an Arcane spell focus.

Your staff disappears into an extra-dimensional space if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. You can use an Action to summon it to you (making it appear in an empty hand) or use an Action to cause it to disappear by shunting it into an extra-dimensional space in a manner similar to the Pact of Blade Warlock ability.

This staff is particularly dangerous to plant based life (defined as any creature with the Plant type or mundane plant life). If you hit a plant creature or a magical plant you deal maximum damage to it, if you have spent a charge to deal Necrotic damage this also deals maximum damage and it makes the Constitution Saving throw with disadvantage. If you expend a charge and target a non-magical plant that isn't a creature, such as a tree or shrub, it doesn't make a saving throw; it simply withers and dies.

Minion of Moander

At level 18, the power of Moander corrupts the magic of the Dark-bringer. This corruption has the following effects:

If you use a spell slot to cast the Grease spell, its area of effect is increased to 20ft square and you can use your bonus action each round to cause a sludge like tentacle to strike someone within the Grease spells area of effect, this tentacle functions as per the Thorn Whip cantrip but is not classed as casting a spell.

If you use a spell slot to cast the Spike Growth spell, the ground is additionally affected as per the Grease spell.

If you use a spell slot to cast the 1 Action version of the Plant Growth spell you can cause the decayed plant life to give out corrupted spores and seeds when disturbed. For 1 minute after the spell has been cast anyone moving through affected area must make a Constitution Saving throw (against your spell DC) or suffer 1d8 Necrotic damage and be affected by the effects of a Slow spell until the end of their next turn.

If you use cast the 8 hour version of Plant Growth it instead becomes a ritual for you and you can cause the plant life to only yield half as much food as normal, this food and the area affected otherwise look, smell and taste completely normal but anyone eating any food grown within the area of effect must make a Constitution Saving throw (against your spell DC) or become afflicted the Contagion spell, the effect they suffer is random, roll a d6 to determine which effect they suffer: on a roll of 1 they suffer Blinding Sickness, on a 2 they suffer Filth Fever, on a roll of 3 Flesh Rot, on a roll of 4 Mind Fire, on a roll of 5 Seizure and on a roll of 6 Slimy Doom. Anyone using Detect Magic or spells or abilities that mimic Detect Magic can sense a Necromantic aura over the area. In order to dispel this effect a Remove Disease spell must be cast at the spot the ritual was cast, this will only stop tainted food growing and does not cure an harvested food or infect people.