Crimson Domain

The Crimson domain is based on the understanding of the life force in the mortal shell, the balance of life and death, and sacrifice. Almost any neutral or evil deity can claim some influence over the secrets of blood magic; good gods tend to shun it except in extenuating circumstances.

Blessing of the Trickster

Starting when you choose this domain at 1st level, you can use your action to touch a willing creature other than yourself to give it advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. This blessing lasts for 1 hour or until you use this feature again.

Transfer suffering

Beginning at 1st level, as an action you can form a blood bond with a willing creature you can touch. 

 As a reaction, the cleric can then halve the damage dealt to that creature within 30 feet and gain temporary hit points equal to their cleric level plus their Wisdom modifier. If the cleric attacks a creature and hits, they deal additional damage equal to the transferred damage, which then disappear. If they have not lost the temporary damage points by the end of their next turn,  through successfully attacking another creature they will take the damage points themselves.

Channel Divinity: Invoke Duplicity

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to create an illusory duplicate of yourself.

As an action, you create a perfect illusion of yourself that lasts for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The illusion appears in an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the illusion up to 30 feet to a space you can see, but it must remain within 120 feet of you.

For the duration, you can cast spells as though you were in the illusion’s space, but you must use your own senses. Additionally, when both you and your illusion are within 5 feet of a creature that can see the illusion, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature, given how distracting the illusion is to the target.

Channel Divinity: Crimson Bond

Starting at 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to focus on a sample of blood from a creature that is at least 2 ounces, and that has been spilt no longer than a week ago.

As an action, you can focus on the blood of the creature to form a bond and gain information about their current circumstances. You know their approximate distance and direction from you, as well as their general state of health, as long as they are within 10 miles of you. You can maintain this effect as though you were concentrating on a spell for up to 1 hour.

During your bond, you can spend an action to attempt to connect with the bonded creature’s senses. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. If they succeed, the connection is resisted, ending the bond. You suffer 2d6 necrotic damage. Upon a failed saving throw, you can choose to either see through the eyes of or hear through their ears of the target for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). During this time, you are blind or deaf (respectively) with regard to your own senses.

Once this connection ends, the Crimson Bond is lost.

Level 3: Domain spells

Cleric Level	Spells	Theme / Flavor
1st	False Life, Inflict Wounds	Vitality: Bolstering yourself or rupturing others.
3rd	Hold Person, Lesser Restoration	Circulation: Freezing blood or purifying it.
5th	Vampiric Touch, Haste	Metabolism: Stealing life or overclocking it.
7th	Blight, Confusion	Corruption: Withering cells or scrambling the mind.
9th	Hold Monster, Mass Cure Wounds	Mastery: Total body control or mass rejuvenation.

 

Crimson Domain Spell Explanations

• Level 1 (False Life / Inflict Wounds): These represent the basic manipulation of life force. False Life is you drawing blood into a protective barrier or "thickening" your own skin. Inflict Wounds is a brutal attack where you cause an enemy's blood to boil or exit their body through the pores at a touch.

• Level 3 (Hold Person / Lesser Restoration): This pair highlights your control over the circulatory system. Hold Person is flavored as seizing the iron in a target’s blood to lock their muscles in place. Lesser Restoration is a "blood purge," where you reach into an ally's veins to magically filter out toxins, poisons, or parasitic diseases.

• Level 5 (Vampiric Touch / Haste): This is the core "Metabolism" tier. Vampiric Touch allows you to physically siphon the vitality of a foe to replenish your own blood supply. Haste acts as a "Sanguine Adrenaline," where you force an ally’s heart to pump faster and their blood to flow at superhuman speeds, granting them extra actions.

• Level 7 (Blight / Confusion): These represent "Corruption." Blight is the most visceral blood spell, literally evaporating the moisture and life-fluid out of a target until they wither. Confusion is your "Trickster" side, manipulating the blood flow to an enemy's brain to induce vertigo, hallucinations, and erratic behavior.

• Level 9 (Hold Monster / Mass Cure Wounds): The pinnacle of biological mastery. Hold Monster extends your "Iron Grip" to any creature, regardless of their anatomy, so long as they have a life-essence. Mass Cure Wounds is a powerful "Transfusion," where you weave threads of healing energy between all your allies, knitting their flesh and replenishing their blood simultaneously.

 

Divine Strike

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with necromantic powers — a gift from your deity. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 necromantic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Improved Duplicity

At 17th level, you can create up to four duplicates of yourself, instead of one, when you use Invoke Duplicity. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move any number of them up to 30 feet, to a maximum range of 120 feet.