The Hunting Domain (Cleric)
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Hunting Domain
Art Credit: https://www.howardlyon.com/blog/2010/03/10/recent-work/
Deities of the hunt are one of the most common among the pantheons of real world religions and fantasy worlds alike, yet the officially published domains are often insufficient for those like the hunter-priestesses of Artemis. By turning to D&D Unleashed homebrew, you can use the Hunting domain for not just your clerics of such gods and goddesses, but also your elven warrior-clerics, your Shinto archer-priests, and even wild hunters that worship nature or the Feywild itself. Making this kind of subclass feel noticeably different from a ranger and from existing cleric subclasses might be difficult, but we think you’ll enjoy this attempt!
Mechanically, the Hunting Domain is similar to both the War Domain and the Nature Domain, with some key differences that distinguish it from those two and bring it into its own niche. If the Nature Domain can be seen as the “druid cleric,” then the Hunting Domain is intended to be the “ranger cleric.” While we eschewed giving level 1 clerics access to hunter’s mark (since rangers only learn the spell by level 2 at the earliest), the conjure critters spell is available, and it serves as a fairly powerful concentration spell at the early levels that enables the Hunting cleric to utilize their support features without requiring the aid of other player characters, by summoning classic beasts such as mastiffs or eagles to join in the hunt. The 1st and 2nd-level features encourage the cleric’s party members to take part together in the hunt of a single foe, giving clerics of the hunt a familiar support and healing theme that grounds them in classic cleric themes. As they reach higher levels, the increasing access to powerful and defining cleric spells at full-caster progression keeps them distinct from druids and rangers.
For those without access to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, the snare spell from the domain list can be replaced with ensnaring strike from the Player’s Handbook. The other new spells on the domain list will be found in the compendium alongside this subclass, but they can also be found in the compendium that’s already been released, The Elements and Beyond, a 246 page compendium that contains 23 subclasses, 8 spellcasting feats, 134 spells, 213 spell variants, 85 monsters, 30 magic items, 4 races plus 12 new subraces each with racial feats, and more. If you haven’t checked it out yet, don’t hesitate to take a look. It’s all free, even the pdfs (which have selectable text and plenty of bookmarks)! When Legends of Prestige and Prowess eventually releases with this subclass contained within, it will be free as well.
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Hunting Domain
