POWERS: Dorana, Mistress of the Sea

I let my characters pick any power they like to worship (or none at all) as the assumption is my home-brew is that every power that exists in the planes (and then some) has some representation on Pangaea.  However my default pantheon is the the Celestial River pantheon from Book of Hallowed Might II.  The cleric in the party worships Dorana and so that forced me to update her to D&D 5e.  I consolidated, eliminated or rejigged the feats and spells.  I complexity eliminated the prestige class as I don’t want to even think about implementing that in 5e.  And here is updated Dorana for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons.  Thats pretty much how i work creating things a few steps ahead of the players as needed and those little creations over thirty years have come together to create a world.

f course, Dorana measures purity by a different scale than other gods and goddesses. She gladly offers safety to those who have furthered her cause— vengeance—or those who have offered her great bounties and pleasing benedictions as they travel the seas. The ocean carries her favoured ones along strange tides and unearthly currents until they come to rest on the doorstep of Underwave, a sacred temple deep beneath the ocean’s surface.

DORANA’S SANCTUM

Underwave is a refuge, a haven for those who have upheld Dorana’s teachings despite society’s repercussions. Revenge sometimes clashes with the suffocating dictates of law—a criminal may walk free due to a court’s failure, bribery, or some other weakness. Those who correct these mistakes may face persecution, imprisonment, and death. Dorana offers them succour.

Those who have paid great tribute to Dorana or done her a service that illustrates the constraining nature of civilised law may jump overboard from a ship or allow the tide to carry them away to Underwave. Generally, those who are in Dorana’s favour receive a dream or similar vision showing them that they can turn to her for safe transport through the waves. Such favoured ones merely dive into the water and go limp or allow the rising tide to drag them out to sea. After 1d4 rounds, the currents of the Celestial River reach into the terrestrial waters to guide the travellers to Underwave. The companions of these chosen ones can make the trip with them in the same way, regardless of their alignment and ethos.

Unlike other temples, Underwave caters to a broad variety of folk, from sinister pirates to heroic avengers. Fighting among its inhabitants is common. Though Dorana tolerates and perhaps even enjoys innocent brawls, she has been known to punish her followers if these conflicts grow out of hand. Within the bounds of this place, kinship in Dorana transcends past grudges.

Inhabitants
Owing to the chaotic nature of Dorana and her followers, there is no set staff of clerics found at Underwave. Instead, those who have earned Dorana’s favour and their allies come and go from this place as befits their desires. Coming here once does not necessarily earn a person the right to return.

Few visitors remain in Underwave for more than a few days, as boredom, a lack of food, and the tight confines push them onward. One week the evil crew-members of a pirate frigate dedicated to Dorana might dwell here after their ship was sunk. The next week a group of righteous adventurers who avenge wrongs in Dorana’s name might escape to this place after an evil noble ambushed and almost killed them.

Layout
Underwave is a cave complex about 50 feet beneath the ocean’s surface. Its exact location is unknown, as only Dorana’s grace allows travellers to find it. Heretics and outsiders have yet to discover it. Teleport  always fails to lead a caster here, as the cave’s chaotic nature causes continual minor changes to its appearance that make it impossible to envision for that spell. (In essence, the caster tries to journey to a place that no longer exists.)

The caves here feel damp and cool, though not uncomfortably so. A few puddles build up in the passageways, but the main rooms and rest chambers are relatively clean and dry. A dim, bluish light illuminates the caves at all hours. The smoke from torches and cooking fires escapes through tiny air holes studding the ceiling throughout the complex.

Entry Beach
A cave with a 20-foot-wide entry marks the arrival point for most of Underwave’s visitors. A tangible wall of force  separates the watery depths from the sandy beach here. The cave’s sand floor is hard packed and damp. In the western half of this cave stands a large ivory statue of the goddess, with an altar carved from coral before it. Dorana’s faithful hold rites in the entry beach, offering sacrifices of gold, jewels, and weapons taken from foes to the briny deep.

The goddess’ will keeps the water at bay, in the form of a wall of force  that allows only her chosen guests and their allies access to this place. At times, leaks and slight failures in the wall signal her displeasure. If the competing factions of her followers fail to get along in Underwave, she has been known to flood the place and sweep them through the waters back to their homes. The wall counts as being created by a 20th-level wizard. If it is somehow dispelled, it returns to existence in 1d4 rounds.

New arrivals usually make their way through a hall leading from the back of this cave to a grand arboretum to get their bearings, unless they wash ashore in the midst of a rite. Leaving Underwave is as simple as walking through the wall of force . Travellers must picture a waterside location they seek to arrive at. Treat this travel as a teleport  spell to determine whether a character arrives at the desired location, near it, or somewhere else completely. Damage taken represents battering upon rocks and other hazards encountered during the trip.

Arboretum
This strange, wondrous chamber boasts a domed glass ceiling that reveals the ocean above. During the daylight hours the sun streams in through the glass, providing some additional illumination, though muted by the depths. A stand of stunted trees, lichen, flowers, and other plant life dominates this chamber. Visitors to Underwave spend much of their time here in quiet rest, meditation, and study, preparing themselves for their eventual return to the surface world. As many of those who seek safety here are criminals, outcasts, or revolutionaries, they may plot their next actions while licking their wounds from their last adventures. Dorana’s faithful are a tough, aggressive lot. Few of them come here in search of long-lasting peace and quiet. Instead, they seek only a temporary respite before diving back into the fray.

Sandy paths cut through the plant growth. Here visitors can gather small amounts of food and find water. Over the centuries of Underwave’s existence, visitors have built small benches, stone chairs, tables, and other furnishings that they scattered throughout the place. The plant life grows in a confused jumble. It sometimes overruns a path, but in so doing it always seems to reveal a new one or lead to a set of stone chairs and tables.

Rest Chambers
The various factions and individual visitors to Underwave dwell in private rest chambers accessible from a long hall off the arboretum. About half of the half-dozen rooms are occupied at any given time. These chambers feature a wide variety of beds, tables, and armoires from a staggering array of eras and places; fugitives and visitors have crafted all the furniture found here.

DORANA

Titles: Lady of Storms, Mistress of the Sea, the Vengeful Eye

Symbol: A curling tidal wave split by a lightning bolt that arcs down upon it
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Domains: Air, Chaos, Retribution,Water
Favoured Weapon: Lightning blade (see page 22)

Ethos: Your strength and power are like a surging storm or the unfettered sea. Only you can control it, and those who would rein you in seek only to claim dominion over you. Each person must chart her own course in life, but harmony is possible only with respect and appreciation for each other’s boundaries. Make no effort to control, command, or injure others, but if you are yourself attacked, fight with the fury of a storm unleashed.

Description: The concept of vengeance is the backbone of Dorana’s teachings. It states that direct, personal  transgressions must be answered, either by the victim or one who fights on his behalf. Once a score is settled, one must stamp out any efforts to prolong the conflict, driving them from one’s heart, lest the cycle of vengeance turn against itself. However, as a chaotic goddess, Dorana has no writings or formal teachings of these principles.

Thus, most of her followers tend to interpret them as it suits them. They usually hand out justice to those who commit obvious crimes such as murder, rape, and robbery, but sometimes they apply their own moral leanings to her teaching. Chaotic good followers and clerics usually seek just punishments, even if they work outside of the law. For example, they may force a thief to return stolen goods or pay his victims. They might even turn him over to the authorities if they cannot find a just solution on their own, such as in the case of a thief who has spent the money gained in the robbery. A chaotic neutral cleric is much more likely to take justice into her own hands, perhaps removing a deadbeat thief’s right hand as a permanent reminder of his actions. An evil cleric sees herself as above all concerns of justice and vengeance. She strikes down criminals, engages in blood feuds, and works to incite hatred. In this manner, she cultivates vengeance and, in a perverse way, makes her lady’s ethos a part of many lives.

Dorana also claims dominion over the sea, but only because she prefers to dwell in an ever-changing, watery environment. Her abrasive, vengeful manner causes sailors to pay homage to her or risk facing her wrath. Before ships set out for the open sea, they commonly throw a small bundle of flowers, copper coins, and sweets overboard as a tribute to the Mistress of the Sea. She has been known to conjure storms to plague ships that ignore their debt to her, though she actively seeks to destroy only those who repeatedly scorn her demands or flaunt their impiety. While Dorana can be unyielding in her attentions, she is known to crush pirates, evil aquatic humanoids, and others who plague the ships she favours. Lightning storms erupt to savage such attacks, electrifying the water around a ship or blasting a corsair to pieces. By the same token, raiders who revere Dorana take care to avoid ships sailing under her protection. They seek guidance from her clerics, who use their divinatory magic to punish any heretics who sail the waves.

Artwork typically depicts Dorana as a young, laughing woman with freckles and bright eyes. Her shoulder-length red hair is wild and unkempt. She wears a shirt and skirt of chainmail along with a belt made of seashells. She carries a steel javelin forged to resemble a lightning bolt. As befits her chaotic nature, her followers modify her appearance to fit their personal ethos. A gang of pirates might show her as a buccaneer queen bearing a cutlass and bedecked as a corsair. In her aspect as queen of the seas, she is sometimes portrayed as a withered, wretched hag or a feral, piscine humanoid female with long fangs and savage claws.

As is obvious from her followers’ broad spectrum of attitudes and Dorana’s own blend of petty, protective, and violent actions, this goddess remains difficult to pin down. Her mind is her own, and she considers herself beholden to no one and nothing—not even her past decisions or declarations. In some coastal regions, people depict her as a vengeful, bitter sea hag who jealously rules over the waves, yet temples in inland cities celebrate her as a protector of the weak and avenger of wrongs.  Generally, the folk of the sea take a more unified view of Dorana as a capricious patron: sometimes loving, sometimes hateful and jealous. In lands far from the water, her followers’ alignment plays a much larger role in how commoners see her. Her aspects range from that of a patron of blood feuds and unending strife to that of a justice maker working outside of the ineffectual, corrupt law.

The wide array of beliefs that Dorana encompasses makes her clerics and followers difficult to handle. They are a fractious, unpredictable group, often waging struggles among themselves. Chaotic good and chaotic evil clerics of Dorana are typically mortal enemies, as each fights to unravel the works of the other. Outsiders must take care to gauge her followers’ attitudes and actions, as the holy symbols they wear are no guarantee of their desires.

NEW WEAPON – THE LIGHTNING BLADE
Owing to their affinity for vengeance and their often violent bent, many of Dorana’s followers become adventurers. In combat, they overwhelm their enemies with their anger and thirst for revenge. They also learn to utilise the deadly lightning blade, a serrated blade crafted by and for her followers.

Dorana’s clerics and ardent believers identify themselves by the strange, exotic weapon they carry.  Known as a lightning blade — both for its appearance and for the goddess to whom it is consecrated — this weapon resembles a sword with two blades that point in opposite directions, mounted on one pommel.  Both ends have sharp, jagged blades crafted to resemble lightning bolts.  In the hands of an inexperienced wielder, the lightning blade is an awkward weapon. However, a skilled warrior can handle it with ease. Its unusual characteristics, most notably its jagged edges, allow for several unique combat manoeuvres that require diligent practice to master but can surprise even the most grizzled opponent.

The lightning blade counts as a double weapon and the wielder is considered to be dual wielding and any related rules are applicable.  The lightning blade is also a prerequisite for many of the Dorana related feats.

Lightning Blade.  Two-handed exotic weapon; double weapon; Damage 1d8; critical 19, 20; Weight 10 lbs.; slashing; cost 100 gp.

NEW FEATS
Dorana’s followers are an odd mix of murderous slayers, righteous warriors, and warmongers. Sailors pray to her for protection, while pirates prey on ships with her blessing. The tricks and talents they have developed, as evidenced by the 11 new feats below, reflect their diverse backgrounds.  These feats are only available to worshipers of Dorana.

Furious Tenacity
You draw strength from pain. When your foes seem on the verge of victory, a stubborn, righteous fury fills you and grants you an extra burst of energy. When things are at their worst, you are at your best.

• If your hit point total falls to half the number you had at the start of an encounter, you gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls for the rest of the battle.
• For each ally who falls during an encounter, you gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls for the rest of the
• encounter.
• If a melee attack reduces you to less than 0 hit points, you may instantly make a single attack as a reaction against the opponent who hit you. You gain a advantage to the attack roll and a +8 bonus to damage with this strike. You must be able to reach your opponent and may use only a melee attack in this manner.

Eye of Vengeance
You have mastered the ability for ferreting out, tracking down and executing the guilty. Your glare

casts terror into your enemies, opening their souls to the knowledge that your divine patron can see through their lies. Needless to say, victims of this ability become nervous and jittery.

• You gain survival and investigation as a class skill.
• You strike fear into the hearts of your enemy.  Anyone who is lying to you has disadvantage on any related skill check.
• You may use your survival skill to track a specific target after you have studied them for an hour.
• You may use your investigation skill to determine where your marked target has visited and where they may be heading.
• If you spend 100 gp to create a small figurine or doll of a marked opponent, you gain a +1 bonus to the save Difficulty Class of spells you cast against him and only him.
• You can use one of your daily turn attempts to channel a bolt of divine energy at a marked foe no more than 100 feet away. This bolt of energy inflicts damage equal to 1d6 + your Charisma modifier + your caster level. You must make a ranged attack to hit your opponent. Targets with the same alignment as you suffer only half damage. You can use this ability as many times per day as you have turn attempts.

Lightning Blademaster
You can hack into your opponent with the sawlike edge of your lightning blade, rending tendons and muscle to produce a terrible wounds while swirling your weapon around you in a storm of blades.

• You gain proficiency with the Lightning Blade.
• When you score a critical hit with your lightning blade, you inflict 1d2 exhaustion levels to your target in addition to the standard effects of a confirmed critical.
• As part of an attack action you swirl your lightning blade around you slashing at opponents who draw near.  This allows you to make one lightning blade attack against each opponent within range as well as any opponent who does anything except take the disengage action.  This may mean you attack the same creature twice.

VENGEANCE DOMAIN
The tools of vengeance available to Dorana’s followers are many. Her priests enjoy one of the most powerful: access to the Vengeance domain.  The Vengeance domain functions identically to the Oat of Vengeance paladin archetype but instead can be taken as a domain by Dorana’s clerics.

NEW SPELLS
Dorana’s clerics commonly employ a few spells designed to punish those who attack and injure others. They share a common theme of reflecting attackers’ strikes or spells back at them, visiting upon them the ills they would deal out to others.

Bestow Curse
3rd-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You may add the Bestow Curse spell to your spell list.  You also have the following extra options when you cast this spell:

Bully’s Curse. The target of this spell suffers from intense overconfidence, causing them to fight with a half-hearted effort against foes whose combat skills (he believes) clearly cannot match his own. Against foes of lower level (or hit dice in the case of monsters) lower than his, he suffers a -1d4 penalty to attacks and Armour Class.   In addition, the target refuses to make attacks of opportunity against such obviously inferior opponents. These penalties do not apply against foes with an attack bonus equal to or greater than his.

Pride comes before the Fall. This spell causes within the target a sense of disorientation and confusion that makes him less capable of attacking or even noticing smaller opponents. The spell clouds the target’s senses and befuddles his mind, creating a mental blind spot. He might see these opponents as incredibly small, as if they were bugs, or he simply might fail to note their presence.  The target suffers disadvantage to attacks against creatures smaller than he and on perception checks to notice them. Against creatures of the same size category or larger, the target suffers no penalties.

Mirror of Pain
4th-level Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 feet) and touch
Components: V, S, DF
Target: One creature
Duration: Varies

You tap into a magical spell that affects the target, altering the spell to leap onto a different person. The spell’s numeric effects, such as its duration or random effects, remain the same.

Mirror spell can affect only a limited number of spells. It has no effect on those with a duration of Instantaneous, nor can it affect spells above 4th level. The initial target of this spell—the person currently affected by the spell you want to transfer— must be within 100 feet of you. You must then touch the new target, using am attack action as normal. You can choose to target yourself. Until you succeed in this touch attack, you suffer the spell’s effects or gain its benefits yourself.

The initial target loses the effects of the spell if it is transferred. You remove the spell from him. He may choose to make a Wisdom save to resist this loss. On a successful save, he retains the spell and you cannot transfer it. Otherwise, the new target of this spell, whom you touch, may either accept it willingly or choose to resist. The target is allowed a Wisdom save; if it succeeds, the spell continues to affect you instead. You are not allowed a saving throw in this case.

The spell’s duration continues to run as normal. The new target gains no effects that have already expired. Treat the character who loses the spell as if he received dispel magic to remove it. The new target receives only any continuing effects that persist in the spell’s current state.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the spell level you may affects changes accordingly..

Vengeful Shield
3rd-level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V
Target: Self
Duration: Instantaneous and then Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a shimmering field of force that swirls around you. When an opponent strikes you, the field draws on the energy of the attack and mirrors it back at the attacker. You take damage and suffer attacks as normal, but anyone who hits you suffers 1d6 points of force damage. Only attackers adjacent to you suffer this damage. Opponents who use spells, ranged attacks, or reach weapons avoid this spell’s effects.

MAGIC ITEMS OF THE SEA MISTRESS
Arrow of Vengeance
Weapon (any ammunition), rare

Dorana’s followers favour this item as an instrument of divine retribution. Crafted with a head of coral, it has a lightning bolt etched in adamantine along its shaft. The arrow of vengeance can be fired as a normal missile.  It never breaks and counts as an adamantine and chaotic weapon for purposes of defeating damage reduction. It grants no bonus to attacks or damage.

Alternatively, its user can call upon Dorana’s wrath and launch the arrow toward his target. If the arrow lands in the target’s space, it explodes in a flash of lightning or, if used outside, calls down a lightning bolt  from the heavens. In game terms, this attack need only hit the target’s touch Armour Class.

On a successful attack, the target suffers 10d6 points of electricity damage, or half this amount following a successful Dexterity save (DC 14). The arrow is destroyed when used in this way.

Dorana’s Pendant
Weapon (any ammunition), very rare

This simple trinket is crafted from tin to resemble a small lightning bolt. It usually has a clasp, pin, or loop, depending on how a particular pendant  is designed to be worn. Regardless of its exact form, the pendant  takes up no space on its wearer for the purposes of determining how many magic items can be used at the same time. For example, one could attach a pendant  set with a loop to a gold chain to wear as a necklace while wearing a magical necklace at the same time.

Dorana’s pendant  confers several blessings upon any chaotic-aligned character. The wearer gains a +5 competence bonus to Strength (Athletics) for the purposes of swimming, electricity resistance, and the ability to cast water breathing once per day at caster level 5.  A neutral creature who attempts to wear this item is automatically  stunned for 2d6 rounds.  A lawful one suffers 3d6 points of damage (Fortitude save, DC 20, for half).

Art credit for banner golden tigers‘ pepper goddess.
Black and white art from original Book of Hallowed Might II