One D&D: New Holy Orders

Just to be the first kid on the block dipping a toe into homebrewed One D&D design, I’m exploring some new Holy Orders for the Cleric Class, as released in the new UA document. (See my full breakdown of the document on Tribality.) I really like the idea of the Holy Order feature, as it provides both a playstyle and an implied social role for Clerics without getting into their deity or Domain choice. (It does need to move to 1st level, though.)

If you’ve been reading this blog since its earliest days, you’ll recall that I did the same thing during D&D Next. Those designs haven’t stood the test of time and maybe these won’t either, but you’ve gotta get it wrong, a lot, before you can get it right, so let’s start early, you know?

Antiquarian. When you first touched a holy symbol of an ancient faith, prayers in a forgotten language tumbled from your lips. You can use Intelligence rather than Wisdom as your Spellcasting Ability for Cleric Spells. (Designer’s Note: This Holy Order is a pretty bad idea if the Holy Order feature doesn’t move to 1st level.)

Archivist. Preserving the history of a faith, an organization, or a people is a holy obligation for you. You gain Proficiency in the History Skill, and when you make a History Check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom Modifier. When you use the Study Action and your Ability Check is a success, you can also choose one creature who can hear you. That creature gains advantage on the next d20 Test that it rolls before the start of your next turn.

Avenger. Trained for battle, you gain Martial Weapon Proficiency, and when you are not wearing Armor, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity Modifier + your Wisdom Modifier. You can wield a Shield and still gain this benefit.

When you finish a Long Rest, you can choose one weapon; while you wield that weapon, you can use Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity for attack and damage rolls you make with it.

Exorcist. Charged with defending all people from malevolent spiritual forces, choose one of the following creature types: Aberration, Celestial, Fey, or Fiend. Creatures of the type you choose are also affected when you Channel Divinity to Turn Undead. When a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see rolls a Saving Throw to avoid or end possession or the Charmed Condition, you can use your Reaction to give them Advantage.

Inquisitor. Charged with rooting out the truth (or heretics), you gain Proficiency in two of the following Skills of your choice: Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, or Religion. Whenever you make an Ability Check using either Skill, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom Modifier.

Invoker. You have been invested with a fragment of divine power. When you roll damage for an Evocation Spell that you cast with a Spell Slot, you can expend one use of your Channel Divinity and take Radiant Damage equal to twice the Spell’s level; this damage ignores Resistance and Immunity to Radiant Damage. If you do, you can treat any results of 1 or 2 on the damage dice as if they were the maximum result for that die.

In addition, you regain one expended use of your Channel Divinity whenever you finish a Short Rest.

Runepriest. You have been granted command over runes of divine power. When you cast a Divine Abjuration Spell that requires Concentration, you can expend one use of your Channel Divinity to cast it without Concentration instead. This creates a glowing rune on the target that sheds dim light within 5 ft. You must be able to see and touch your target, and your Spell ends immediately if you use this feature again.

Design Notes

My foremost goal is to reclaim some of the most compelling concepts of divine magic that haven’t yet come from 4e to 5e – Avenger, Invoker, and Runepriest spring to mind. Also, an idea from 3.5e that really spoke to me: the Archivist. Making the Antiquarian a Cleric and thus a Divine caster is one of several ideas I’ve been playing with for awhile – another is an Artificer subclass dedicated to using old weird stuff that definitely doesn’t come from Celeano or Carcosa, why would you even think that, pish tosh.

For the Invoker, I'm intentionally copying the important half of the Thaumaturge feature, so that they can afford to use the Invoker feature more often. (But even charging a CD use may be unnecessary, because of the HP cost. I dunno.)

Thanks for reading.