Justicar

A Justicar is not a missionary, nor a crusader, nor a zealot driven by revelation. They are adjudicators—individuals trained by faith-bound institutions to recognize transgression, interpret doctrine under pressure, and act decisively when law or balance is threatened.

Where clerics tend temples, heal the faithful, and interpret divine will through ritual and prayer, Justicars are deployed. They investigate heresy, hunt rogue spellcasters, suppress forbidden practices, and bring judgment to those who weaponize magic, authority, or belief outside sanctioned bounds.

Justicars are shaped by discipline rather than devotion alone. Their faith is expressed through preparation, restraint, and procedure. Every action, whether casting a spell, drawing a blade, or delivering a sentence, is governed by codes, rites, and consequences. Power is a tool to be regulated, not indulged.

Though they draw upon divine magic, Justicars do not rely on miracles to solve every problem. They train their senses to pierce deception, their minds to recognize patterns of corruption, and their bodies to endure prolonged pursuit and conflict. Many are feared rather than loved, tolerated rather than welcomed, but all are necessary instruments in societies that prefer order without acknowledging the cost of enforcing it.

Different Justicars embody different interpretations of justice. Some cleave rigidly to law, others temper judgment with mercy, some embrace ruthless efficiency, and others walk the edge of exile after rejecting institutional orthodoxy. What unites them is not alignment alone, but purpose: to ensure that power, mortal or divine, remains accountable.

A Justicar adventurer may be assigned to investigate arcane anomalies, track dangerous individuals, dismantle cults, or enforce decrees beyond the reach of temples and courts. In a party, they serve as watchful sentinels against magical threats, interpreters of religious and legal doctrine, and disciplined combatants who strike with intent rather than impulse.

Level 1: Mandate of Judgment

Action: Bonus Action
Range: 60 feet
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per long rest

You designate one creature you can see within range as being under your Mandate of Judgment for 1 minute.

While a creature is under your Mandate:

• You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to locate or identify the creature.

• The creature cannot benefit from being invisible or heavily obscured to you unless it is also behind total cover.

• The first time each turn the creature casts a spell or activates a magical effect, you learn the spell’s school of magic.

The Mandate ends early if the creature drops to 0 hit points, leaves your line of sight for more than 1 round, or you designate another creature.

Level 1: Oathbound Authority

 

• You can mark a creature you can see within 30 feet as being under your jurisdiction as a bonus action.

• While marked, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you and your allies.

• This effect lasts for 1 minute or until the target is incapacitated.

• You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) per long rest.

 

Judicious Insight

Casting Time: Instant
Range: Self
Components: Somatic
Duration: 1 hour
Classes: Cleric

Effect:

• You can activate Judicious Insight at will, only outside of combat.

• While active, you gain advantage on all Intelligence-based checks against humanoids.

• Applies to Investigation, Arcana, History, Religion, or any Intelligence-based check involving humanoids.

Level 2: Sanctioned Retaliation

Trigger: A creature you can see within 60 feet casts a spell
Reaction
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per long rest

When a creature you can see casts a spell of 1st level or higher, you can use your reaction to impose one of the following effects (your choice):

• The creature takes radiant, necrotic, or force damage equal to your Intelligence modifier + half your Justicar level.

• The creature has disadvantage on its next spell attack roll or forces disadvantage on the first saving throw caused by its spell before the end of its next turn.

You must be aware of the creature when it casts the spell to use this feature.

Level 6: Ward of Reflection

• Counter hostile magic: Any spell cast by a hostile creature within 60 feet is automatically reflected back onto the caster. No saving throws. This includes damaging, controlling, or debuffing spells.

• Redirect beneficial magic: Spells that would normally benefit the caster or their allies (healing, buffs, protections) instead affect you and all allies within 30 feet of you.

• Area-of-effect spells: The original caster takes half of the maximum damage, and any creatures adjacent to the caster take full damage. Other targets are unaffected.

Uses:

• You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).

• All expended uses are regained after finishing a long rest.

Level 8: Immutable Sentence

When a creature fails a saving throw against one of your spells or class features:

• The creature has disadvantage on saving throws against that effect for its duration.

• The effect cannot be ended early by dispel magic unless it is cast using a spell slot of a level equal to or higher than the original spell.

In addition, once per turn when a creature under your Mandate of Judgment takes damage, it takes additional damage equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Level 17: Thine Faithful Justicar

You gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on saving throws against spells.

• Creatures of your choice within 15 feet of you have disadvantage on spell attack rolls.

• When you use Writ of Nullification, you can affect spells of any level, and suppression lasts for the full duration on a success.

If you knowingly violate your lawful mandate, all benefits of this feature are suppressed until you complete an appropriate penance determined by the DM.