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Priestess of Persephone (OSR/DCC Style)

My wife is playing a Priestess of Persephone – mostly because that was her bloodline role and she likes playing Raven Queen style philosophy – shepherding the dead to their afterlife and combating undead with religious zeal.  Since I play a very OSR version of 5e I tend to create custom classes level 1 to 10 – where I cap leveling.  Listed here for quick reference. 

Design Note: I use Dungeon Crawl Classic spell, spell system, and disapproval tables in my 5e game.  I do not use the standard 5e spellcasting system. Any external reference is to this book.


PRIEST/PRIESTESS OF PERSEPHONE

Persephone is a Goddess of the Graves, as opposed to death like her husband, Hades. Gods of the grave watch over the line between life and death. To these deities, death and the afterlife are a foundational part of the multiverse. To desecrate the peace of the dead is an abomination. Their magic also allows them to stave off death for a time, particularly for a person who still has some great work to accomplish in the world. This is a delay of death, not a denial of it, for death will eventually get its due.

CLERIC OF PERSEPHONE CLASS TABLE
Level
XP**
Proficiency Bonus
Features*
Title
Hit Points
Spells Known by Level
1 2 3 4 5
1st +2 Channel Divinity, Circle of Immortality, Cure Wounds Acolyte 1d8
2nd 300 +2 Divine Spellcasting Heathen-Slayer 2d8 5
3rd 900 +2 Eyes of the Grave Brother/Sister 3d8 5 3
4th 2,700 +2 Ability Score Improvement (+1) Priest/Priestess 4d8 6 4
5th 6,500 +3 Destroy Undead Curate 5d8 6 5 2
6th 14,000 +3 Path to the Grave Father/Sister Superior 6d8 7 5 3
7th 23,000 +3 Sentinel at Death’s Door Canon 7d8 7 6 4 1
8th 34,000 +3 Ability Score Improvement (+1) The Crow/Maven 8d8 8 6 5 2
9th 48,000 +4 Keeper of Souls Patriarch/Matriarch 9d8 8 7 5 3 1
10th 64,000 +4 Divine Intervention High-Priest/High-Priestess 10d8 9 7 6 4 2
* You may spend 64,000 XP to gain a level 11 to 20 class feature not already granted.
** XP resets at each level up to 0.

Class Features

As a priest or priestess of Persephone, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

  • Hit Dice: 1d8 per cleric level
  • Hit Points at 1st Level: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier
  • Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 + your Constitution modifier per cleric level after 1st

Proficiencies & Special

  • Armor: Light, medium, and heavy armor, shields
  • Weapons: Simple weapons
  • Weapon of Choice: Sickle. You may add your proficiency bonus when wielding a sickle and it is treated as a finesse weapon for you.
  • Tools: None
  • Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
  • Skills: Choose two from History, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, and Religion
  • Alignment Restriction: Lawful Good or Neutral.

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

  • (a) a mace or (b) a sickle
  • (a) leather armor
  • (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
  • (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
  • A shield and a holy symbol of Persephone
    • an amulet shaped like torch,
    • an amulet shaped as a pomegranate, or
    • an amulet stylized depiction of the goddess’s face.

This assumes you are starting at level 1 or higher.  Otherwise, you start at level 0 per the Character Funnel rules.

Cure Wounds. You lay hands on a target as an action and heal them.  There is no limit to how many times a day you can do this though disapproval may limit the spell’s effectiveness. The target’s alignment affects how much Persephone is willing to heal the target, all worshipers of Persephone and Hades are considered to be the “same alignment” as you. HD listed on the table is the target’s class HD number, which can never be higher than the target character level. You can convert HD to heal injuries and remove conditions:

  • Injury: 1 HD
  • Paralysis and Poison: 3 HD
  • Disease: 2 HD
  • Blindness/Deafness: 4 HD
  • Other conditions: 5 HD (at the DM’s discretion)

 

Channel Divinity

At 1st level, you can use channel divinity a number of times equal to a 1/3 of your level with a minimum of 1 per short or long rest.

  • Channel Divinity: Turn Undead. At 1st level, as an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring the undead. Each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.
  • Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to mark another creature’s life force for termination. As an action, you choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you, cursing it until the end of your next turn. The next time you or an ally of yours hits the cursed creature with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of that attack’s damage, and then the curse ends.
  • Channel Divinity: Destroy Undead. Starting at 5th level when an undead fails its saving throw against your Turn Undead feature, the creature is instantly destroyed if its challenge rating is at or below 1/4 your level (rounding up to the nearest CR number applicable). When you reach level 10 you may spend XP to increase this number to 1/3, and then 1/2 your level. Finally, you may upgrade the uses per day to be equal to your WIS modifier.

Circle of Mortality. At 1st level, you gain the ability to manipulate the line between life and death. When you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell to a creature at 0 hit points, the target rolls the healing HD with advantage.  For example, you heal a 4th fighter (who uses d10 HD) who shares the same alignment with you for 3 HD (you rolled 15 on the Cure Wounds table). The fighter would roll 6d10 taking the 3 best rolls as healing.

Divine Spellcasting. At 2nd level, you gain access to divine spells per the table listed. You have access to the entire spell list for your level but can only prepare the number shown. You may change prepared spells at dawn each day (after a long rest). You can cast each spell without limit, however, you risk disapproval the more you use your miracles.

  • Persephone Disapproval. As a cleric, you must serve your immortal mistress well, lest you fall in disfavor. Whenever you roll a 1 on a spell-attack you gain disapproval and lose the spell until your next long rest. When you risk the disapproval of your deity you find that you quickly lose access to the extraordinary benefits of being a cleric.
  • Persephone Disapproval & Sacrifices. You may make sacrifices to your deity in order to regain your lost spell. During a short rest, you spend 50 gp of sacrificed goods for each spell you have lost. Then roll 1d4 for each spell you have lost on Table 5-7: Disapproval table.  You regain your spell but you must apply the rolled effect as penance.

Eyes of the Grave. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to occasionally sense the presence of the undead, whose existence is an insult to the natural cycle of life. As an action, you can open your awareness to magically detect undead. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any undead within 60 feet of you that isn’t behind total cover and that isn’t protected from divination magic. This sense doesn’t tell you anything about a creature’s capabilities or identity. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. For each additional expenditure of the daily use while concentrating you learn more details:

  1. As described.
  2. You know the exact number of undead.
  3. You know the type of undead.
  4. You know the relative strength of the undead to you.
  5. The DM shares something specific about a single type of undead you detect.

Sentinel at Death’s Door. At 7th level, you gain the ability to impede death’s progress. As a reaction when you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you suffers a critical hit, you can turn that hit into a normal hit. Any effects triggered by a critical hit are canceled. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Keeper of Souls. Starting at 9th level, you can seize a trace of vitality from a parting soul and use it to heal the living. When an enemy you can see dies within 60 feet of you, you or one creature of your choice that is within 60 feet of you regains hit points equal to the enemy’s number of Hit Dice. You can use this feature only if you aren’t incapacitated. Once you use it, you can’t do so again until the start of your next turn.

Divine Intervention. At 10th level, you can call on Persphone to intervene on your behalf when your need is great. Imploring her aid requires you to use your action. Describe the assistance you seek, and roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your cleric level, your deity intervenes. The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate. If your deity intervenes, you can’t use this feature again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a long rest. Once you reach level 10 you may spend XP to increase your chance for assistance by 10%.

Posted in 5e, Adventurer's Vault, Clash of the Titans, Class, Dungeons & Dragons

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