Next in our Hellish Update, we have the classic cultastic end-of-the-world master… the Hell Cleric. This is an alternate interpretation to the more obvious Fiend warlock, which focuses on the more religious idea of demons. For these cultists, the end-of-the-world is paradise, and they the rightful rulers of what comes before.

 

So sit back and put your faith in the gods below and their loyal servants… and join the Domain of the Damned!

Hell Cleric Domain

You can also find the PDF version here.

 

The Domain of the Damned – or Hell Clerics as I like to call them – is dedicated to one of the more powerful devils in the Nine Hells. Beings like Asmodeus and Tiamat are worshiped as gods are, and so need clerical leaders for their faiths. These leaders guide cultists in their devotion to destruction and doom, and harbor dark wishes for the end of the world altogether.

 

FEATURES:

• Blast your foes with eldritch power!
• Any self-respecting devilish being needs a good bit of sacrifice, and it’s your pleasure to provide!
• And what would you be without helpers? Summon your own fiendish servitor using your Channel Divinity! Or Channel Devilishness perhaps?
• Speaking of servitors, your Domain spells can summon all the fiendish help you’ll need!
• Why stop at simple self-sacrifice when you can brutally eviscerate your foes!  If they’re incapacitated of course, but the reward is to die for.
• ARMAGEDDON! Who needs one, two, even three devilish servants… when you could have four?

 

DESIGN NOTES:

• When I was first drawing this up, I wanted to go with a typical heavy-armor and heavy-weapon using basher type of cleric – more of a torturer or executioner. But I realized that a spellcaster fits the theme better, so we ended up here.
• The vast majority of this subclass’s combat power comes just from having eldritch blast. It’s a good cantrip, and that should be what the cleric is using most turns.
• Your secondary combat power is with your summons – both your Channel Divinity and spell slots can get you devils to serve you. Not many, but they’re statistically better than the demonic options from the spells in the “That Old Black Magic” article.
• Other than that, this is all about the out-of-combat sacrifices. The idea with Sacrificial Rite is to give you something to do with creatures that survive a battle with you… as well as encouraging you to gather blood for other hellish spells.
• My main concern is that Sacrificial Rite as written might be able to be used in combat. And that is really against the theme. But I can’t just say “may not be used while in combat” because that’s weird and doesn’t really happen in 5e. Hopefully what I have here is enough.

 

In any case, thanks for stickin’ with the Hellish Update!