I'm thinking about making a Death Domain Cleric, but instead of wearing heavy armor and a shield and a weapon, being more of a caster and having a lighter weapon at my disposal. Someone who is very frail but knows powerful magic, kind of like a wizard I guess? I'd prepare most spells if they are necromancy based, and wouldn't focus on healing, though I might have one prepared and see if we can skin it as a more necromantic approach to healing where it leaves a nasty scar or something.
Would doing this cause my cleric to be so underpowered or fragile that it would become ineffective in an engagement? I've never played a cleric before.
Just starting this with a note than Clerics, including Death Domain Clerics, do not have proficiency with heavy armour.
For my death domain cleric I went variant human and decided she had a sorcerous spark and chose Magic Initiate: Sorcerer feat. For the 1st level spell you get to cast once per day I chose Mage Armor. Once per day she can use this to get 8 hours of +3 AC as long as she does not wear amour and gets to add her dex bonus. This makes it superior to any medium armour. 8 hours is plenty. Clerics get a lot of bonus action things so even if got surprised and first turn of combat when not ready for it she can still use action for this and bonus for something else. I play a lot of spellcasters and not once have I ever needed to cast Mage Armour more than once per day. It's not like you can't get by without it for a while.
Clerics can use shields and using them does not interfere with Mage Armour so that's a nice extra +2. So, we're at a not-too-shabby AC 15 and not even factored Dex yet. Going the spellcaster route I tend to focus more on range so, having the really high AC is not that big of an issue. Still, if i really needed a bump there's Shield of Faith spell offering +2 AC for one minute, concentration and it's a bonus to cast. I rarely find the need to use this as there are better concentration spells but it's useful if enemies insist on getting close. So, that's AC 17 not including Dexterity. If you really are getting low in health, a bonus cast of Sanctuary can be a life-saver considering it will not interfere with concentration. I don't use it unless in direst need because it goes away if you attack and as a death cleric I will, of course, attack a lot.
You could, instead, choose a different feat or same feat with different spell, and take a level-dip in sorcerer taking draconic bloodline origin as the 1st level draconic resistance basically gives you permanent mage armour. A sorc spell can then be Shield spell for +5 AC for a round if it's necessary. However, I tend not to like class dips personally and it means at least one spell you cannot prepare for a day, you lose out on a 2nd 7th level spell slot, and you lose the improvement to Divine Intervention: the auto-success of it. Divine Intervention is powerful and losing the ability to auto-succeed on every use of it is harsh. I feel Cleric is one of those classes that functions better without multiclassing.
The death domain seems to work best from a spellcasting / some weapon build rather than weapon with some spellcasting. In otherwords the weapons you should focus on using should be Dex based. it is better to rely on cantrips and magic and only use weapons when needed for some features.
--
So, good build options for Death Cleric: variant human with magic init sorc feat taking Mage Armour.
If using standard array, make Wisdom 15, Con 13 and Dex 14. Increase Wisdom and Con though Racial traits. Rest of stats are up to you and not important for the mechanics of the class/subclass. With Mage Armour and a shield this is an AC of 17. If you focus more on attacks rather than control spells shield of faith gets this to AC 19 nice enough.
You can proficiency with martial weapons so consider getting a shortsword or rapier - as finesse you use Dex, makes it easier. This is good for when enemies get close and you're out of spell slots. For range, when out of spell slots, consider the hand crossbow - why hand? Because it won't interfere with spellcasting as it leaves your other hand free for that.
Inflict Wounds and Spiritual Weapon will be your melee attacks. Inflict wounds should be for that "go all out" thing or kept in reserve. Spiritual Weapon is a melee attack while at range, this is useful -- because you can combine either with Channel Divinity: Touch of Death for 5 + twice your Cleric level necrotic damage. I combined a level 3 inflict woulds with this and killed an enemy outright with a touch. It was fantastic. Spiritual Weapon being a bonus spell that continues to attack enemies every turn as a bonus with no concentration required? Oh yes. And you can do as I did and make it appear as the classic large bone Scythe of looming death.
For normal cantrip choices one should be Toll the Dead. It's useful when dealing with enemies that have a high AC you have difficulty hitting. However, typically speaking save-type spells fail almost half as much as they succeed while for the majority of enemies an attack is more likely to be successful. Plus it's all-or-nothing as a cantrip, if they resist it they take no damage. Useful but do not rely on it unless you have to. For your Reaper feature you get to pick an offensive necromantic cantrip that deals necrotic damage from any spell list: choose Chill Touch the best necromancy cantrip there is. Seriously, ok damage for a cantrip and on a hit you prevent them from healing and if they're undead they have disadvantage if they try to attack you for a turn. As you level up to get Inescapable Death the necrotic damage you deal ignores resistance - you will want to favour this when you can. This will keep you going until you get Divine Smite for 1d8 necrotic damage on weapon attacks. Then you can consider upgrading to a more damaging ranged weapon and keep chill touch for when out of ammo or facing undead or in case you get the weapon stolen or for when enemies are close together (Reaper lets you target multiple enemies with a single cantrip casting if within 5 feet of each other).
Keep some healing spells. A bonus healing word can save PCs from death bringing them back into the fight and a cure wounds can greatly increase your ability to keep going. Necromancy as a theme is about "control" over life and death, so it is certainly within the theme to control those forces to keep somebody alive. In real life, before church-inspired prosecutions necromancy was associated with positive things: mediums and shamans who consulted spirits of the dead for guidance and spiritual healers who used their control over death to keep death at bay. D&D can certainly carry these myths and traditions into your games. In my character concept, my character is not evil because death is not actually evil, it's neutral. It's just part of life. And as a servant of death she is sent to not merely end those who must die but also to save those when it is not yet their appropriate time. Sometimes the death of one can save and heal so many others.
Now I could go on and on more about spell choices and there's also magic items like magic shields, cloaks/rings of protection, bracers of defense and whatnot (which all stack), and increasing your Dex along with Wis with ASIs will also boost your AC.
I hope I have given some food for thought with these suggestions. I've had a lot of success with my Death Cleric.
Just starting this with a note than Clerics, including Death Domain Clerics, do not have proficiency with heavy armour.
For my death domain cleric I went variant human and decided she had a sorcerous spark and chose Magic Initiate: Sorcerer feat. For the 1st level spell you get to cast once per day I chose Mage Armor. Once per day she can use this to get 8 hours of +3 AC as long as she does not wear amour and gets to add her dex bonus. This makes it superior to any medium armour.
Not really? Half-Plate is AC15-17, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 20 dexterity...
Even the cheap Scale Mail gives AC 14-16, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 18+ dexterity.
Better spend that Magic Initiate to get Find Familiar instead.
Just starting this with a note than Clerics, including Death Domain Clerics, do not have proficiency with heavy armour.
For my death domain cleric I went variant human and decided she had a sorcerous spark and chose Magic Initiate: Sorcerer feat. For the 1st level spell you get to cast once per day I chose Mage Armor. Once per day she can use this to get 8 hours of +3 AC as long as she does not wear amour and gets to add her dex bonus. This makes it superior to any medium armour.
Not really? Half-Plate is AC15-17, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 20 dexterity...
Even the cheap Scale Mail gives AC 14-16, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 18+ dexterity.
Better spend that Magic Initiate to get Find Familiar instead.
Half-Plate gives an AC of 15 plus Dex (max 2). This is a maximum of 17. It costs 750 gp which means you cannot start with it and it will be several levels before you can acquire this plus it's a weight of 40 lbs, take several minutes to put on so useless if caught during the night having to go immediately into a battle, and puts you at disadvantage to stealth checks. Upgraded armour is not common: magic armour is more rare than magic weapons or most other loot. The best you will start with is Scale Mail of AC 14 plus Dex, max 16, and has the same weight and disadvantages as half-plate. Even if you sell this off it will be at least 3-4 levels before you will get half-plate if you're lucky and have a generous DM.
If you went with a dex based instead of strength based and went human variant with magic init for mage armour you get an AC 17 right away, no cost (actually, you profit since you can sell off your starting armour), it can be applied with just an action, weighs nothing and no disadvantage. Getting higher AC is easier by just using ASI on Dex, magic items increasing AC like Cloak of Protection are more common to get than armour of worth, and when those 3-4 levels have gone by you get to spend that gold on other things, ASI Dex gets you AC 18 (which cannot be matched by half-plate) and if you're dex-based increases weapon attacks as well.
Speaking of magic items you may get half-plate +3 (very rare), cloak and ring of protection (uncommon and rare) and thiis would give an AC of 22 and still have the disadvantage to stealth and the weight. Increasing your Dex for AC purposes is pointless, so this is a good route if you're going Strength based. Strength based weapons do a little more damage and require melee only. Since you're melee you get hit more and therefore need more Con. So that's Strength, Wisdom and Con you need to focus on.
Whereas, focusing on Dex, instead means you'll max that, now add the cloak and ring, and because you're not wearing actual armour you can have Bracers of Defense (rare). This is AC 22 without the weight of half-plate, no disadvantage to stealth and your weapon attacks are increased as well. Since the highest rarity needed is Rare you will achieve this much sooner. Dex based means you get versatility of melee or range, you do slightly less damage but not enough to envy strength based at all especially as a death cleric. You'll be at range more often than not and usually get hit less so not quite as much need for Con compared to melee builds. Just seems, to me, this is far more efficient as a build. To each their own of course. But given my death cleric easily destroys enemies and never has to heal herself due to high AC, good flexibility and range based, I'd say it's worth consideration.
Just starting this with a note than Clerics, including Death Domain Clerics, do not have proficiency with heavy armour.
For my death domain cleric I went variant human and decided she had a sorcerous spark and chose Magic Initiate: Sorcerer feat. For the 1st level spell you get to cast once per day I chose Mage Armor. Once per day she can use this to get 8 hours of +3 AC as long as she does not wear amour and gets to add her dex bonus. This makes it superior to any medium armour.
Not really? Half-Plate is AC15-17, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 20 dexterity...
Even the cheap Scale Mail gives AC 14-16, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 18+ dexterity.
Better spend that Magic Initiate to get Find Familiar instead.
Half-Plate gives an AC of 15 plus Dex (max 2). This is a maximum of 17. It costs 750 gp which means you cannot start with it and it will be several levels before you can acquire this plus it's a weight of 40 lbs, take several minutes to put on so useless if caught during the night having to go immediately into a battle, and puts you at disadvantage to stealth checks. Upgraded armour is not common: magic armour is more rare than magic weapons or most other loot. The best you will start with is Scale Mail of AC 14 plus Dex, max 16, and has the same weight and disadvantages as half-plate. Even if you sell this off it will be at least 3-4 levels before you will get half-plate if you're lucky and have a generous DM.
If you went with a dex based instead of strength based and went human variant with magic init for mage armour you get an AC 17 right away, no cost (actually, you profit since you can sell off your starting armour), it can be applied with just an action, weighs nothing and no disadvantage. Getting higher AC is easier by just using ASI on Dex, magic items increasing AC like Cloak of Protection are more common to get than armour of worth, and when those 3-4 levels have gone by you get to spend that gold on other things, ASI Dex gets you AC 18 (which cannot be matched by half-plate) and if you're dex-based increases weapon attacks as well.
Speaking of magic items you may get half-plate +3 (very rare), cloak and ring of protection (uncommon and rare) and thiis would give an AC of 22 and still have the disadvantage to stealth and the weight. Increasing your Dex for AC purposes is pointless, so this is a good route if you're going Strength based. Strength based weapons do a little more damage and require melee only. Since you're melee you get hit more and therefore need more Con. So that's Strength, Wisdom and Con you need to focus on.
Whereas, focusing on Dex, instead means you'll max that, now add the cloak and ring, and because you're not wearing actual armour you can have Bracers of Defense (rare). This is AC 22 without the weight of half-plate, no disadvantage to stealth and your weapon attacks are increased as well. Since the highest rarity needed is Rare you will achieve this much sooner. Dex based means you get versatility of melee or range, you do slightly less damage but not enough to envy strength based at all especially as a death cleric. You'll be at range more often than not and usually get hit less so not quite as much need for Con compared to melee builds. Just seems, to me, this is far more efficient as a build. To each their own of course. But given my death cleric easily destroys enemies and never has to heal herself due to high AC, good flexibility and range based, I'd say it's worth consideration.
So you are seriously suggesting spending a feat for 17AC (13 MA + 2 DEX + 2 Shield), instead of buying a 50gp Chain Shirt for 17AC (15CS + 2 DEX + 2 Shield), or using the starting Scale / Chain Mail for 18AC?
A year late to the party but thank you so much for this, such an ideal death domain wearing robes. Obviously chain mail is heavy armour so still disadvantage on stealth, honestly no brainer if your after that smooth deathly priest. Can’t thank you enough this is the best recommendation to death domain that I’ve found.
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I'm thinking about making a Death Domain Cleric, but instead of wearing heavy armor and a shield and a weapon, being more of a caster and having a lighter weapon at my disposal. Someone who is very frail but knows powerful magic, kind of like a wizard I guess? I'd prepare most spells if they are necromancy based, and wouldn't focus on healing, though I might have one prepared and see if we can skin it as a more necromantic approach to healing where it leaves a nasty scar or something.
Would doing this cause my cleric to be so underpowered or fragile that it would become ineffective in an engagement? I've never played a cleric before.
Just starting this with a note than Clerics, including Death Domain Clerics, do not have proficiency with heavy armour.
For my death domain cleric I went variant human and decided she had a sorcerous spark and chose Magic Initiate: Sorcerer feat. For the 1st level spell you get to cast once per day I chose Mage Armor. Once per day she can use this to get 8 hours of +3 AC as long as she does not wear amour and gets to add her dex bonus. This makes it superior to any medium armour. 8 hours is plenty. Clerics get a lot of bonus action things so even if got surprised and first turn of combat when not ready for it she can still use action for this and bonus for something else. I play a lot of spellcasters and not once have I ever needed to cast Mage Armour more than once per day. It's not like you can't get by without it for a while.
Clerics can use shields and using them does not interfere with Mage Armour so that's a nice extra +2. So, we're at a not-too-shabby AC 15 and not even factored Dex yet. Going the spellcaster route I tend to focus more on range so, having the really high AC is not that big of an issue. Still, if i really needed a bump there's Shield of Faith spell offering +2 AC for one minute, concentration and it's a bonus to cast. I rarely find the need to use this as there are better concentration spells but it's useful if enemies insist on getting close. So, that's AC 17 not including Dexterity. If you really are getting low in health, a bonus cast of Sanctuary can be a life-saver considering it will not interfere with concentration. I don't use it unless in direst need because it goes away if you attack and as a death cleric I will, of course, attack a lot.
You could, instead, choose a different feat or same feat with different spell, and take a level-dip in sorcerer taking draconic bloodline origin as the 1st level draconic resistance basically gives you permanent mage armour. A sorc spell can then be Shield spell for +5 AC for a round if it's necessary. However, I tend not to like class dips personally and it means at least one spell you cannot prepare for a day, you lose out on a 2nd 7th level spell slot, and you lose the improvement to Divine Intervention: the auto-success of it. Divine Intervention is powerful and losing the ability to auto-succeed on every use of it is harsh. I feel Cleric is one of those classes that functions better without multiclassing.
The death domain seems to work best from a spellcasting / some weapon build rather than weapon with some spellcasting. In otherwords the weapons you should focus on using should be Dex based. it is better to rely on cantrips and magic and only use weapons when needed for some features.
--
So, good build options for Death Cleric: variant human with magic init sorc feat taking Mage Armour.
If using standard array, make Wisdom 15, Con 13 and Dex 14. Increase Wisdom and Con though Racial traits. Rest of stats are up to you and not important for the mechanics of the class/subclass. With Mage Armour and a shield this is an AC of 17. If you focus more on attacks rather than control spells shield of faith gets this to AC 19 nice enough.
You can proficiency with martial weapons so consider getting a shortsword or rapier - as finesse you use Dex, makes it easier. This is good for when enemies get close and you're out of spell slots. For range, when out of spell slots, consider the hand crossbow - why hand? Because it won't interfere with spellcasting as it leaves your other hand free for that.
Inflict Wounds and Spiritual Weapon will be your melee attacks. Inflict wounds should be for that "go all out" thing or kept in reserve. Spiritual Weapon is a melee attack while at range, this is useful -- because you can combine either with Channel Divinity: Touch of Death for 5 + twice your Cleric level necrotic damage. I combined a level 3 inflict woulds with this and killed an enemy outright with a touch. It was fantastic. Spiritual Weapon being a bonus spell that continues to attack enemies every turn as a bonus with no concentration required? Oh yes. And you can do as I did and make it appear as the classic large bone Scythe of looming death.
For normal cantrip choices one should be Toll the Dead. It's useful when dealing with enemies that have a high AC you have difficulty hitting. However, typically speaking save-type spells fail almost half as much as they succeed while for the majority of enemies an attack is more likely to be successful. Plus it's all-or-nothing as a cantrip, if they resist it they take no damage. Useful but do not rely on it unless you have to. For your Reaper feature you get to pick an offensive necromantic cantrip that deals necrotic damage from any spell list: choose Chill Touch the best necromancy cantrip there is. Seriously, ok damage for a cantrip and on a hit you prevent them from healing and if they're undead they have disadvantage if they try to attack you for a turn. As you level up to get Inescapable Death the necrotic damage you deal ignores resistance - you will want to favour this when you can. This will keep you going until you get Divine Smite for 1d8 necrotic damage on weapon attacks. Then you can consider upgrading to a more damaging ranged weapon and keep chill touch for when out of ammo or facing undead or in case you get the weapon stolen or for when enemies are close together (Reaper lets you target multiple enemies with a single cantrip casting if within 5 feet of each other).
Keep some healing spells. A bonus healing word can save PCs from death bringing them back into the fight and a cure wounds can greatly increase your ability to keep going. Necromancy as a theme is about "control" over life and death, so it is certainly within the theme to control those forces to keep somebody alive. In real life, before church-inspired prosecutions necromancy was associated with positive things: mediums and shamans who consulted spirits of the dead for guidance and spiritual healers who used their control over death to keep death at bay. D&D can certainly carry these myths and traditions into your games. In my character concept, my character is not evil because death is not actually evil, it's neutral. It's just part of life. And as a servant of death she is sent to not merely end those who must die but also to save those when it is not yet their appropriate time. Sometimes the death of one can save and heal so many others.
Now I could go on and on more about spell choices and there's also magic items like magic shields, cloaks/rings of protection, bracers of defense and whatnot (which all stack), and increasing your Dex along with Wis with ASIs will also boost your AC.
I hope I have given some food for thought with these suggestions. I've had a lot of success with my Death Cleric.
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
Not really? Half-Plate is AC15-17, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 20 dexterity...
Even the cheap Scale Mail gives AC 14-16, which is better or as good as Mage Armor unless you have 18+ dexterity.
Better spend that Magic Initiate to get Find Familiar instead.
Half-Plate gives an AC of 15 plus Dex (max 2). This is a maximum of 17. It costs 750 gp which means you cannot start with it and it will be several levels before you can acquire this plus it's a weight of 40 lbs, take several minutes to put on so useless if caught during the night having to go immediately into a battle, and puts you at disadvantage to stealth checks. Upgraded armour is not common: magic armour is more rare than magic weapons or most other loot. The best you will start with is Scale Mail of AC 14 plus Dex, max 16, and has the same weight and disadvantages as half-plate. Even if you sell this off it will be at least 3-4 levels before you will get half-plate if you're lucky and have a generous DM.
If you went with a dex based instead of strength based and went human variant with magic init for mage armour you get an AC 17 right away, no cost (actually, you profit since you can sell off your starting armour), it can be applied with just an action, weighs nothing and no disadvantage. Getting higher AC is easier by just using ASI on Dex, magic items increasing AC like Cloak of Protection are more common to get than armour of worth, and when those 3-4 levels have gone by you get to spend that gold on other things, ASI Dex gets you AC 18 (which cannot be matched by half-plate) and if you're dex-based increases weapon attacks as well.
Speaking of magic items you may get half-plate +3 (very rare), cloak and ring of protection (uncommon and rare) and thiis would give an AC of 22 and still have the disadvantage to stealth and the weight. Increasing your Dex for AC purposes is pointless, so this is a good route if you're going Strength based. Strength based weapons do a little more damage and require melee only. Since you're melee you get hit more and therefore need more Con. So that's Strength, Wisdom and Con you need to focus on.
Whereas, focusing on Dex, instead means you'll max that, now add the cloak and ring, and because you're not wearing actual armour you can have Bracers of Defense (rare). This is AC 22 without the weight of half-plate, no disadvantage to stealth and your weapon attacks are increased as well. Since the highest rarity needed is Rare you will achieve this much sooner. Dex based means you get versatility of melee or range, you do slightly less damage but not enough to envy strength based at all especially as a death cleric. You'll be at range more often than not and usually get hit less so not quite as much need for Con compared to melee builds. Just seems, to me, this is far more efficient as a build. To each their own of course. But given my death cleric easily destroys enemies and never has to heal herself due to high AC, good flexibility and range based, I'd say it's worth consideration.
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
So you are seriously suggesting spending a feat for 17AC (13 MA + 2 DEX + 2 Shield), instead of buying a 50gp Chain Shirt for 17AC (15CS + 2 DEX + 2 Shield), or using the starting Scale / Chain Mail for 18AC?
Doesn't that sound crazy to you?
A year late to the party but thank you so much for this, such an ideal death domain wearing robes. Obviously chain mail is heavy armour so still disadvantage on stealth, honestly no brainer if your after that smooth deathly priest. Can’t thank you enough this is the best recommendation to death domain that I’ve found.