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The blood domain was introduced into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons by way of Matthew Mercer of the loved 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Critical 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.

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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 cler🌳ic follow:
Deities |
Description |
The Raven Queen |
An enigmatic goddess who was once mortal, The Raven Queen is a deity 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 one abhors undeath, a quality that may appeal to you as a blood 🥂cleric. |
Shevarash |
Shevarash is the elven god of revenge. Once a soldier of Corellonཧ, 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 orc god of war, also known as He Who Never Sleeps, makes for an interesting choice of deity. His bloodlust and rage mean that blood is ever-present within his portfolio and his desire for v𒐪ictory often outweiꦅghs any need for honor, making him an ideal god for a chaotic cleric. |
Asmodeus |
Known as The King of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus is determined 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 the Blood Domain as being one of his. |
Bhaal |
Once a mortal assassin, Bhaal now lives in infamy as the god 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 ma😼ny cults have sprung up around this idea. His very portfolio mak൲es 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 the good deity of martyrdom, perseverance, and suffering. He encourage♚s helping others and taking o﷽n physical pain for those who cannot bear it. Considering himself the eternal enemy of pain, worship of Ilmater may create a more sympathetic cleric who wields their blood magic for the good of others, doing damage to ⛄themselves to bolster 𓆉themselves so their party may stay standing. |
Lolth |
Also known as the Spider Queen or the Queen 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 instigates unending discord among her followers, often positioning them in opposition൩ 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 yo♕ur Dungeon Mﷺaster 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 acquire proficiency with martial weapons as well as the ability to draw on the blood from existing wounds, increasing the damage done to your foes in proximity.
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Bloodletting Focus
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Upon using a spell of first level or higher against 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.
At second level, you gain the ability to use your Channel Divinity to seize control of your opponent's body against their volition.
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Blood Puppet
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- You can target a creature that has blood, as long as they're within 60 feet of you. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, but upon failure, will instantaneously move in any direction you direct it to. It will make a weapon attack on a creature within reach.
- Even more useful, especially in close combat situations, you can target the dead, who fail the save immediately. This grows in power as you level, eventually allowing you to take control of bigger and bigger creatures. This takes an action.
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.
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Crimson Bond
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- You gain information about a creature's current state. Using an action, you can approximate their distance and direction from you, health, and location. They have to be within ten miles of your character, but you can keep the effect going for an hour. It does require concentration, so it may be best served during a quiet moment.
- While active, you can take an action to get a sense of the creature's state by seeing through their eyes or ears for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier. You can't use your own sight or hearing during this. Your target must make a Constitution save, and if they succeed, you'll take necrotic damage, so take care when using it.
At eighth 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.
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Sanguine Recall
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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.
At seventeenth level, you can surge energy through your enemies' veins, ripping through them and doing damage to your opponents.
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Vascular Corruption Aura
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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 is incredibly effective against creatures that have regenerative effects or abilities, and it extends out for thirty feet. This replenishes every long rest.
What Are The Best Blood Domain Cleric Species?
All the subspecies of dwarf will perform well as clerics due to their proficiencies and resistances, which adds to the resilience that a subclass like Blood Cleric calls for. In addition, humans work for their versatility.
The crux of Blood Cleric is utilizing their unique features, and Bloodletting Focus works well with any inherently spellcasting species. Beyond being wise to have more spells at your disposal, Bloodletting Focus works with any damage-based spell, not just clerical ones.
This makes any species that comes with such spells especially effective. The tiefling's ability to inherently cast Hellish Rebuke will mesh well with this, as well as the fire genasi's Flame Blade ability if you plan♊ on playing more mart𒁏ially.
Another excellent choice is the fallen aasimar, who will get consistent, fair mileage out of their resistance to necrotic damage. This will mitigate the necrotic damage you'll constantly be doing to yourself while using your features.
Goliath and half-orc will ensure your durability and provide some resistance 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 your spellcasting modifier. This should be highest, so you have less of a chance of being incapacitated and do more damage. |
Constitution |
It's good to support your hit 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 your armor class will 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 scor🌊es 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 🍰c꧂lass.
Level |
Spells |
First |
Sleep Ray of Sickness |
Third |
Ray of Enfeeblement Crown of Madness |
Fifth |
Haste Slow |
Seventh |
Blight Stoneskin |
Ninth |
Dominate Person Hold Monster |
These inherent spells gifted to the Blood Cleric make a damage-based cleric more than achievable, so it's nice that the spells you get as you level are better for control and durability. Having access to Haste and Slow will make you an extraordinarily powerful cler⭕ic and able to buff your teammates without the use of a wizard, which is particularly versatile for a subclass.
Cantrip |
Description |
Guidance |
This adds a d4 to every ability check, which helps your poor cleric succeed on checks they may otherwise fail. |
Word of Radiance |
Word of Radiance gives you radiant damage which 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 the radius allows you to affect multiple people. |
Resistance |
Adding a d4 onto a saving throw will be useful for this subclass, as all the damage being done to your hit p🤪oint maximum will compound, and you should avoid taking more damage than necessary. |
Here are a couple of spells you can use at first level!
Spell |
Description |
False Life |
Gaining 1d4+4 temporary hit points cannot be more useful for this subclass. Should your damage run a bit too high, this will serve as an emergency stockpile to prevent you from going down. |
Healing Word |
As this is one of the few healing spells that are ranged, adding a d4 to healing will help you and your party out. The spell also casts as a bonus action, leaving you open to using your acti🌃on for your abilities like Blood Puppet. |
Inflict Wounds |
This spell is situational, as it requires you to get up close and personal with your opponent. However, the flavor of the text describes opening 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,ꦉ" 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 have advantage after casting it. This works with Blo꧋odletting Fo✃cus. |