Death Domain
The Death Domain governs killing power, mortality, negative energy and magic that brings creatures closer to death. It is not the same thing as every deity associated with funerals, ancestors or the afterlife, and its mechanics differ substantially across D&D 5e/2014, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e.
At a Glance
| Divine Sphere | Death, killing power, negative energy, necromancy and the boundary between life and death |
|---|---|
| Typical Role | Necrotic striker, death-magic specialist and anti-life caster |
| Published Rules | D&D 5e/2014, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e |
| 2024 Status | No new same-named Death Domain is published in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. The 2014 Death Domain remains legacy material rather than a 2024-original subclass. |
| Important Distinction | A deity of graves, funerals, ancestors or peaceful passage may fit Repose or another death-adjacent sphere without granting the Death Domain. |
| Possible Patrons | Hel, Thanatos, and other deities whose established portfolios genuinely include lethal or necromantic power |
Edition Applicability
D&D 5e/2014: the Death Domain is an official subclass from the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide, presented under Villainous Class Options rather than the Player’s Handbook. 2024: there is no newly published Death Domain in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, so this page does not label the legacy 2014 subclass as a new 2024 domain. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e each have their own published Death Domain.
Death Domain — D&D 5e / 2014
Rules status: official 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide villainous Cleric option.
Domain Spells
| Cleric 1 | False Life, Ray of Sickness |
|---|---|
| Cleric 3 | Blindness/Deafness, Ray of Enfeeblement |
| Cleric 5 | Animate Dead, Vampiric Touch |
| Cleric 7 | Blight, Death Ward |
| Cleric 9 | Antilife Shell, Cloudkill |
Bonus Proficiency
When you choose this domain, you gain proficiency with martial weapons.
Reaper
You learn one necromancy cantrip from the Wizard spell list. When you cast a necromancy cantrip that normally targets one creature, it can instead affect two creatures that are within 5 feet of each other and both within the spell’s range.
Channel Divinity: Touch of Death
When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can use Channel Divinity to deal extra necrotic damage equal to 5 + twice your Cleric level.
Inescapable Destruction
From 6th level, necrotic damage from your Cleric spells and Channel Divinity ignores resistance to necrotic damage.
Divine Strike
At 8th level, once on each of your turns when you hit with a weapon attack, you can deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. This rises to 2d8 at 14th level.
Improved Reaper
At 17th level, when you cast a necromancy spell of 1st through 5th level that normally targets one creature, it can instead target two creatures within 5 feet of one another and both within range, using the spell’s normal material component for each target where required.
Death Domain — Pathfinder 1e
Rules status: published Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook domain.
Bleeding Touch
As a melee touch attack, cause a living creature to take 1d6 bleed damage each round for a number of rounds equal to half your Cleric level, minimum 1. The bleeding ends with a DC 15 Heal check or any effect that heals hit point damage. Uses per day equal 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Death’s Embrace
At 8th level, channeled negative energy heals you instead of damaging you. If that channel targets undead, you regain hit points as though you were one of the undead creatures in the area.
Pathfinder 1e Death Domain Spells
| 1st | Cause Fear |
|---|---|
| 2nd | Death Knell |
| 3rd | Animate Dead |
| 4th | Death Ward |
| 5th | Slay Living |
| 6th | Create Undead |
| 7th | Destruction |
| 8th | Create Greater Undead |
| 9th | Wail of the Banshee |
Death Domain — D&D 3.5e
Rules status: published D&D 3.5e SRD domain.
Granted Power: Death Touch
Once per day, make a melee touch attack against a living creature. Roll 1d6 per Cleric level. If the total equals or exceeds the creature’s current hit points, it dies; the effect allows no saving throw.
D&D 3.5e Death Domain Spells
| 1st | Cause Fear |
|---|---|
| 2nd | Death Knell |
| 3rd | Animate Dead |
| 4th | Death Ward |
| 5th | Slay Living |
| 6th | Create Undead |
| 7th | Destruction |
| 8th | Create Greater Undead |
| 9th | Wail of the Banshee |
How the Death Domain Plays
The three editions share a lethal theme but not the same play pattern. The 2014 version is a necrotic-damage subclass that rewards melee contact and necromancy. Pathfinder revolves around bleed and interaction with negative energy. D&D 3.5e is much simpler but extremely dangerous at high level because its granted power is a once-per-day death effect.
Death Is Not the Same as Repose
A death deity is not automatically a necromancy patron. Gods who guard graves, oversee funerals, receive the dead or oppose undeath may fit the Repose Domain more naturally. The Death Domain belongs where the divine portfolio genuinely includes killing power, negative energy or destructive death magic.
Who Grants the Death Domain?
Hel and Thanatos can support different readings of death where their established pages justify it. Anubis and Hades should not be labelled necromancer patrons merely because they are associated with the dead or underworld.
Priests, Temples and Rites
Death-domain cults may serve execution, battlefield death, predatory spirits, lethal fate or powers that weaponise negative energy. Their rites should reflect the specific deity rather than treating all funerary traditions as necromantic.
What Are Death Priests Doing Now?
Death priests are hunting escaped undead, studying unnatural deaths, guarding dangerous funerary magic, seeking relics that manipulate negative energy and confronting cults that confuse rightful passage into death with the creation or enslavement of undead.
Related Domains and Character Options
Rules Sources and Licensing
- D&D 5e/2014: Death Domain is an official villainous Cleric option from the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide.
- Pathfinder 1e: powers and domain spells follow the Pathfinder Core Rulebook Death Domain.
- D&D 3.5e: death touch and the domain spell list follow the 3.5 SRD Cleric Domains rules.
- 2024: the 2024 Player’s Handbook does not publish a new Death Domain.