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 | An original 2024 Death Domain adaptation appears below, explicitly GM-approved campaign rules rather than an official Player’s Handbook subclass. The 2014 version remains a separate Dungeon Master’s Guide villainous option. |
| 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 2024: original, GM-approved complete Death Domain conversion, beginning at Cleric level 3; not official 2024 PHB material. D&D 2014: published villainous class option from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, with its own level-1 progression. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e: separate published Death Domain rules and nine spell-level tables. Four edition panels follow; the conversion does not replace the printed rules.
Death Domain — D&D 5.5e / 2024
Rules status: original SpiralWorlds 2024 campaign adaptation, GM approval required. It is not an official 2024 Player’s Handbook subclass. Its necromantic powers suit hostile death cults or expressly approved player characters; they are distinct from the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide version. Gain it at Cleric level 3, keeping the ordinary 2024 Cleric class features.
2024 Death Domain Spells
At the Cleric levels shown, the corresponding spells are always prepared without counting against your ordinary preparations. They count as Cleric spells for you even if normally on another spell list. Use their 2024 spell effects, not outdated 2014 text.
| Cleric Level | Always-Prepared Spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | False Life, Ray of Sickness, Blindness/Deafness, Ray of Enfeeblement |
| 5 | Animate Dead, Vampiric Touch |
| 7 | Blight, Death Ward |
| 9 | Antilife Shell, Cloudkill |
Level 3: Grave-Rot
Once on each of your turns when a Cleric spell you cast with a spell slot deals Necrotic damage to a creature, you can add your Proficiency Bonus to one of that spell’s damage rolls against one creature. That creature cannot regain Hit Points until the start of your next turn. This feature does not override immunity to Necrotic damage.
Level 3: Channel Divinity — Touch of the Last Door
As a Magic action, expend a use of Channel Divinity and choose one living creature you can see within 30 feet. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your Cleric spell save DC, taking Necrotic damage equal to 2d10 plus your Cleric level on a failure or half as much on a success. On a failure, it also cannot regain Hit Points until the end of your next turn. Undead and Constructs cannot be targeted by this feature.
Level 6: Unyielding Necrosis
Necrotic damage dealt by your Cleric spells and by Touch of the Last Door ignores Resistance to Necrotic damage. Immunity to Necrotic damage still applies. This feature does not affect spells you cast as another class.
Level 17: Grave’s Crown
As a Bonus Action, you manifest a funereal aura in a 30-foot Emanation for 1 minute. You have Resistance to Necrotic damage while it lasts. Once on each of your turns, when a creature you can see within this Emanation is reduced to 0 Hit Points, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Cleric level; you gain none if the creature was a Construct or Undead. The effect ends early if you have the Incapacitated condition. Once used, the crown cannot be activated again until you finish a Long Rest.
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. The 2024 panel above is a complete original campaign conversion (GM-approved), not official published material; it uses the 2024 Cleric subclass levels and spellcasting rules.
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