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The blood domain was introduced intoDungeons & Dragonsby way of Matthew Mercer of the lovedCritical Role. The Blood Domain is all about balance, using life force to wield sanguine magic. Clerics connect with others, manipulating life force to control enemies or gain insights about creatures.
They can even channel their powers onto themselves, empowering their blood to recover their spell slots. The Blood Domain is versatile, drawing from diverse belief systems emphasizing the connection between life and the body. This allows Blood Clerics to penetrate their enemies' minds and hearts, cutting through enemy ranks with their magic.
Deities Of The Blood Domain
Because the Blood Domain came so much later in terms of development,many gods do not have the domain as part of their portfolio.Here are a couple of deities you may choose to have your cleric follow:
Description
The Raven Queen
An enigmatic goddess who was once mortal, The Raven Queen is adeity of memory and death, ensuring all fate comes to its proper place. She has had many incarnations across the settings of Dungeons and Dragons, but her most recent oneabhorsundeath, a quality that may appeal to you as a blood cleric.
Shevarash
Shevarash is the elvengod of revenge.Once a soldier of Corellon, Shevarash swore vengeance upon the Spider Queen and her followers after his companions were slaughtered around him, refusing to laugh or smile again until the worship of Lolth had been eradicated.
Some say he only feels bitterness, hate, and a consuming desire to revenge himself upon the Underdark’s goddess, making him a good choice for a blood cleric who is combat-oriented.
Gruumsh
The orcgod of war, also known as He Who Never Sleeps, makes for an interesting choice of deity. His bloodlust and rage mean thatblood is ever-present within his portfolioand his desire for victory often outweighs any need for honor, making him an ideal god for a chaotic cleric.
Asmodeus
Known asThe King of the Nine Hells,Asmodeusisdetermined to conquer as many worlds as he can sink his claws into. Charismatic and terrifying, Asmodeus does not encourage violence for violence’s sake. Instead, he believes in calculation and tactical moves.
As the only deity of the Nine Hells, he may have clerics, and the Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn cites theBlood Domain as being one of his.
Bhaal
Once a mortal assassin, Bhaal now lives in infamy as thegod and Lord of Murder, with violence and ritualistic killing being two forms of worship for him. His clergy believes that murder is an acceptable form of worship, and many cults have sprung up around this idea.
His very portfolio makes it so that a Blood Cleric would be a plausible addition, and his lore encourages delving into the forbidden side of arcane knowledge.
Ilmater
Ilmater is thegood deity of martyrdom, perseverance, and suffering.He encourages helping others and taking on physical pain for those who cannot bear it.
Considering himself the eternal enemy of pain, worship of Ilmater may create a more sympathetic cleric whowields their blood magic for the good of others, doing damage to themselves to bolster themselves so their party may stay standing.
Lolth
Also known as the Spider Queen or theQueen of the Demonweb Pits,Lolth’s primary domains are War and Trickery, and it shows in the ways she toys and torments her followers.
Capricious and controlling, Lolth instigatesunending discord among her followers, often positioning them in opposition to one another to test their ambition. A cleric may find themselves under her sway by drawing their power from the blood of their enemies around them, making Lolth a surprising but well-suited choice for such a domain.
While the lack of official blood domain gods may be frustrating, it actually leaves a lot up to creative interpretation while selecting a deity for your character to follow. The Blood Domain can be adapted into many different gods, and due to the balance emphasized in the cleric’s description, could arguably apply to many, many different belief systems.
Talk to your Dungeon Master and work out a deity or ideology you both think would fit!
Blood Domain Cleric Features Overview
At first level, your cleric will gain features and traits aligning with their domain. Your character will acquireproficiency withmartial weaponsas well as the ability to draw on the blood from existing wounds,increasing the damage doneto your foes in proximity.
Bloodletting Focus
Upon using a spell offirst level or higheragainst creatures that have blood, those creatures suffer further necrotic damage. This is a reasonably strong ability for early levels and potentially does more damage than learning an extra cantrip might, balancing out the subclass.
Atsecond level,you gain the ability to use yourChannel Divinitytoseize control of your opponent’s bodyagainst their volition.
At the sixth level, you’ll gain the ability Crimson Bond, which allows you to detect the location and circumstance of a creature whose blood you possess.The blood must not have been spilled longer than one in-game week before use.
Crimson Bond
Ateighth level, you can sacrifice a little bit of your health to regain spell slots. It’s always good to regain spell slots, even if you don’t regain many.
Sanguine Recall
You can recover spell slots as long as none of the slots can be 6th level or higher. Upon recovery, you’ll suffer 1d6 necrotic damage per spell slot gained. This is something to be wary of as you come out of battle, as the damage stacks the more slots you recover per long rest, and could very well knock you out.
Atseventeenth level, you can surge energy through your enemies' veins, ripping through them and doing damage to your opponents.
Vascular Corruption Aura
As an action, for a single minute,any foes that start, pass through, or end their turn within the aura you cast instantly take necrotic damage.They must have blood for this to function, and they can’t regain full hit points. This isincredibly effectiveagainst creatures that haveregenerative effectsor abilities, and itextends out for thirty feet.This replenishes every long rest.
What Are The Best Blood Domain Cleric Species?
All the subspecies ofdwarfwill perform well as clerics due to theirproficiencies and resistances, which adds to the resilience that a subclass like Blood Cleric calls for. In addition,humanswork for theirversatility.
The crux of Blood Cleric is utilizing their unique features, and Bloodletting Focus works well with anyinherently spellcasting species. Beyond being wise to have more spells at your disposal, Bloodletting Focus works with anydamage-based spell, not just clerical ones.
This makes any species that comes with such spells especially effective. Thetiefling’sability to inherently cast Hellish Rebuke will mesh well with this, as well as thefire genasi’sFlame Blade ability if you plan on playing more martially.
Another excellent choice is thefallen aasimar, who will get consistent, fair mileage out of theirresistance to necrotic damage.This will mitigate the necrotic damage you’ll constantly be doing to yourself while using your features.
Goliathandhalf-orcwill ensure yourdurabilityand provide someresistance to damage types, but overall will mainly serve as a pool of hit points for you to dip into.
What Are The Best Ability Scores For Blood Domain Clerics?
Interested in fine-tuning the abilities of your Blood Domain Cleric? Let’s delve into the best ability scores to empower your character for maximum effectiveness.
Wisdom
Your Wisdom is yourspellcasting modifier.This should be highest, so you haveless of a chance of being incapacitatedand do more damage.
Constitution
It’s good to support yourhit point maximum,but will also be useful in terms of the damage you’ll be doing to yourself. You should make sure to have a decent amount of hit points to pull from!
Dexterity
Increasing yourarmor classwill keep you up, but unless you’re rushing within melee range, your character will be fine putting Wisdom and Constitution ahead of this, as long as Dexterity stays on the list of priorities!
You can parse out your other ability scores as you see fit, or as best suits your roleplaying needs.
What Are The Best Spells For Blood Clerics?
Blood Domain Clerics have access to several spells granted to them by choosing the class.
Dominate Person
Hold Monster
These inherent spells gifted to the Blood Cleric make adamage-based cleric more than achievable, so it’s nice that the spells you get as you level are better forcontrolanddurability. Having access to Haste and Slow will make you an extraordinarily powerful cleric and able to buff your teammates without the use of a wizard, which is particularly versatile for a subclass.
Guidance
This adds ad4to every ability check, which helps your poor clericsucceed on checks they may otherwise fail.
Word of Radiance
Word of Radiance gives youradiant damagewhich is effective against many enemies. This also adds to your existing damage spells, although you won’t be able to use the Bloodletting Focus trait, as it is a cantrip. The ranged nature of it is great, though, and theradius allows you to affect multiple people.
Resistance
Adding ad4onto a saving throw will be useful for this subclass, as all the damage being done to your hit point maximum will compound, and you should avoid taking more damage than necessary.
Here are a couple of spells you can use atfirst level!
False Life
Gaining 1d4+4 temporary hit pointscannot be more useful for this subclass. Should your damage run a bit too high, this will serve as an emergency stockpile toprevent you from going down.
Healing Word
As this is one of the few healing spells that are ranged, adding ad4to healing will help you and your party out. The spell also casts as abonus action, leaving you open to using your action for your abilities like Blood Puppet.
Inflict Wounds
This spell is situational, as it requires you to getup closeand personal with your opponent. However, the flavor of the text describesopening up wounds on the body of your foe, making it not only thematic but a pair with Bloodletting Focus. If you have a Dungeon Master who insists that the creature must be damaged before Bloodletting Focus can kick in, due to the description saying “drawing on inflicted wounds,” this spell puts you right there.
Guiding Bolt
Another ranged spell attack. Not only does it do an impressive amount of radiant damage at early levels, but the next attack will haveadvantageafter casting it. This works with Bloodletting Focus.
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