Silver Dancer Domain

The Silver Dance is a disciplined order within the restored faith of Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden. Its Blade Dancers serve as priests, performers, protectors, emissaries, and living proof that the drow are not eternally bound to Lolth or the cruelty of the Underdark.

Where many followers of Eilistraee celebrate freedom through spontaneous song and dance, the Blade Dancers transform that freedom into a sacred discipline. Their grace is not frivolity, and their Charisma does not merely represent charm or physical beauty. It represents spiritual conviction, ritual presence, practiced performance, and the trust carried by an acknowledged servant of the Dark Maiden.

Blade Dancers are trained to walk openly among peoples who may fear or distrust the drow. Through humility, lawful conduct, mercy, and decisive action against evil, they seek to earn the confidence of surface communities and create a place where redeemed drow can live beneath the open sky.

A Blade Dancer combines the spellcasting of a Cleric with selected traditions of sacred music and swordplay. Rather than possessing immediate knowledge of every Cleric spell, the Blade Dancer maintains a limited repertoire of mastered prayers, songs, and magical forms drawn from the Cleric and Bard spell lists. Additional spells must be learned through study, normally from spell scrolls acquired during the Blade Dancer’s travels.

Each Blade Dancer also consecrates a single bladed weapon as an instrument of worship. The rite does not magically empower the weapon, but allows it to serve as the Blade Dancer’s Holy Symbol and Spellcasting Focus. A consecrated weapon with the Versatile property gains the Finesse property for the Blade Dancer and can be wielded gracefully in one or two hands.

In battle, the Blade Dancer invokes a sacred state known as the Blade Dance. While dancing, the Cleric relies on speed, precision, divine concentration, and the protection of Eilistraee rather than shields, heavy armor, or a second weapon. More experienced Blade Dancers learn to weave cantrips into their weapon attacks and use Channel Divinity to guide or restore endangered companions.

Only a Lawful Good Drow who worships Eilistraee and swears the Covenant of the Silver Dance can choose this domain. Chaotic behavior does not violate the covenant, but knowingly and willingly committing an evil act causes the Blade Dancer to fall from grace. A fallen Blade Dancer loses access to divine spellcasting and the Blade Dance until they complete confession, restitution, and a meaningful personal sacrifice.

Level 3: Covenant of the Silver Dance

The Silver Dancers are a disciplined order of drow clerics devoted to Eilistraee. They serve as priests, protectors, diplomats, artists, and living proof that the drow are not eternally bound to Lolth or the cruelty of the Underdark.

To choose the Silver Dancer Domain, you must be a Drow of Lawful Good alignment who worships Eilistraee. You must also swear the Covenant of the Silver Dance and strive to uphold its tenets.

COVENANT OF THE SILVER DANCE

Shelter Beneath the Moon. Protect the innocent, the persecuted, and those seeking freedom from tyranny. Never willingly return a creature to slavery, torture, religious persecution, or an unjust execution.

Let Truth Guide the Blade. Do not knowingly condemn the innocent, conceal evidence that would prevent an injustice, or use deception to deprive another creature of fair judgment.

Offer the Open Hand. Where redemption remains reasonably possible, offer mercy. A surrendered enemy should not be killed merely for convenience, cruelty, or vengeance.

Draw the Blade When Needed. Mercy must never become an excuse for cowardice. When peaceful efforts fail and innocent creatures remain in danger, act decisively to end the threat.

Honor Righteous Law. Support laws and authorities that protect life, dignity, freedom, and honest judgment. Laws created to enable slavery, persecution, or cruelty possess no sacred authority.

Walk Without Pride. Your sacred station does not make you superior to those you protect. Accept kindness humbly, repay hospitality, aid struggling communities, and never demand obedience or privilege because of your divine calling.

Be the Proof. Your conduct represents every peaceful drow seeking a life beneath the open sky. Do not demand that others immediately trust you, but never knowingly give them just cause to regret doing so.

FALLING FROM GRACE

A chaotic, impulsive, or unlawful action does not by itself violate your covenant. You fall from grace only when you knowingly and willingly commit an evil act.

An act committed while you are magically controlled, unaware of its relevant consequences, or deprived of meaningful choice does not normally cause you to fall.

When you fall from grace, you lose the ability to cast Cleric spells and cannot use Blade Dance, Channel Divinity, or any magical feature granted by the Silver Dancer Domain. You retain your proficiencies, Hit Points, Hit Dice, equipment, feats, and other nonmagical abilities.

These abilities cannot be restored by completing a rest.

RESTORING THE COVENANT

To regain your divine abilities, you must complete the Rite of the Silver Price. The rite requires all three of the following:

Confession. You must honestly acknowledge your actions without deception or an attempt to escape responsibility.

Restitution. You must make a sincere effort to repair the harm caused by your actions or protect those who suffered because of them.

Sacrifice. You must surrender something of genuine personal value, accept a meaningful consequence, or complete a dangerous act of service appropriate to the severity of your offense.

Once these requirements have been fulfilled, you must complete an uninterrupted 1-hour dance beneath the open night sky. At the conclusion of the rite, Eilistraee restores your Cleric and Silver Dancer abilities.

The DM determines whether your restitution and sacrifice are sufficient. A character who repeatedly commits evil and treats the rite as a convenient means of restoring class features may be required to undertake a major divine quest before restoration becomes possible.

Sacred Presence

Your divine magic flows through sacred presence, disciplined expression, and the strength with which you embody the teachings of Eilistraee.

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your Cleric spells, replacing Wisdom. You use your Charisma whenever a Cleric spell refers to your spellcasting ability.

In addition, whenever a Cleric or Silver Dancer Domain feature uses your Wisdom modifier, you use your Charisma modifier instead. This includes features such as Divine Spark and any other Cleric feature whose effect is calculated using your Wisdom modifier.

This replacement does not affect Wisdom ability checks, Wisdom saving throws, or features gained from another class.

Your Charisma does not necessarily represent physical beauty, charm, or social manipulation. For a Silver Dancer, it represents spiritual conviction, ritual performance, composure, and the authority carried by a trusted servant of Eilistraee.

Level 3: Moonlit Strike

Your sword training incorporates a sacred cantrip through which Eilistraee guides your weapon with divine precision.

You learn the True Strike cantrip. It counts as a Cleric cantrip for you, uses Charisma as its spellcasting ability, and does not count against the number of Cleric cantrips you know.

Consecrated Blade

During a Short Rest, you can consecrate one qualifying blade as your holy symbol and spellcasting focus. A consecrated Versatile[Bladed] weapon gains the finesse property. 

Blade Dance

You can invoke Eilistraee’s sacred dance, blending graceful movement, divine concentration, and precise swordplay.

You may use your Cha Modifier to attack and damage rolls with your consecrated weapon. 

As a Bonus Action, you begin your Blade Dance. It lasts for 1 minute and ends early if any of the following occurs:

• You have the Incapacitated condition.
• You equip Medium Armor or Heavy Armor.
• You equip or use a Shield.
• You willingly hold or attack with a second weapon.
• You make an attack using a weapon other than your Consecrated Blade.
• You end the dance voluntarily, which requires no action.

Using two hands to wield your Consecrated Blade does not end the Blade Dance.

While your Blade Dance is active, you gain the following benefits:

MOONLIT DEFENSE

You gain a bonus to your Armor Class equal to your Charisma modifier, with a minimum bonus of +1.

DANCER’S SPEED

Your Speed increases by 10 feet.

GRACEFUL FOOTWORK

You have Advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

SACRED CONCENTRATION

You add your Charisma modifier to Constitution saving throws you make to maintain Concentration.

SINGLE-BLADE DISCIPLINE

You cannot engage in two-weapon fighting while your Blade Dance is active.

You cannot make an additional attack granted by the Light property, the Nick mastery property, the Dual Wielder feat, or another rule that requires you to attack with two different weapons.

A double-bladed weapon can count as one Consecrated Blade

You can use Blade Dance a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Moonlit Swordplay

You have learned to weave divine magic seamlessly into the movements of your sacred sword dance.

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. While wielding a consecrated Blade

In addition, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of those attacks with the casting of one cantrip that has a casting time of an action.

You can replace only one attack with a cantrip during the same Attack action.

A cantrip that includes a weapon attack as part of its casting, such as True Strike, can be cast using this feature. For example, you can replace one attack with True Strike and then make one normal weapon attack with your remaining attack.

Level 8: Unbroken Dance

While your Blade Dance is active, you have Advantage on Constitution saving throws you make to maintain Concentration.

This benefit applies only to saving throws made to maintain Concentration. It does not grant Advantage on other Constitution saving throws.

You must be wielding your Consecrated Blade and otherwise meet all the requirements of Blade Dance to gain this benefit.

Level 17: Legacy of the Crescent Blade

Eilistraee entrusts you with an echo of the Crescent Blade, the legendary weapon forged to strike down beings thought beyond the reach of mortal steel.

When you begin your Blade Dance, you can invoke the Legacy of the Crescent Blade as part of the same Bonus Action. The Legacy lasts until that Blade Dance ends.

Once you invoke the Legacy of the Crescent Blade, you cannot do so again until you finish a Long Rest.

While the Legacy is active, your Consecrated Blade gains the following benefits.

CRESCENT EDGE

Damage dealt by your Consecrated Blade ignores Resistance and Immunity to Slashing and Piercing damage.

VORPAL BLADE

When you roll a 20 on the d20 for an attack roll made with your Consecrated Blade against a creature that has at least one head, you sever one of the creature’s heads.

The creature dies if it cannot survive without the severed head. If the creature has multiple heads, only one head is severed by the attack.

A creature is not killed by this effect if any of the following is true:

• It does not have or require a head.
• It has Legendary Actions.
• It has Immunity to the damage type dealt by the weapon before Crescent Edge is applied.
• The DM determines that the creature is too large for its head to be severed by your weapon.

If the creature is not killed by this effect, the attack instead deals an additional 6d8 damage of the weapon’s damage type. These additional damage dice are doubled by the Critical Hit.

SEVER THE IMMORTAL

A creature that takes the additional damage from Vorpal Blade instead of being killed suffers the following effects until the start of your next turn:

• It cannot regain Hit Points.
• It cannot use Legendary Actions.
• It cannot teleport.
• It cannot travel to another plane.

All benefits granted by Legacy of the Crescent Blade end when your Blade Dance ends.