Cleric & Homebrew

WITCH DOCTOR

Witch doctors are spiritual warriors who summon dead souls and crawling creatures to do their bidding. The ability to infect, slow and terrify their enemies gives witch doctors unprecedented control over a battlefield.

Inspired on the Witch Doctor from Diablo 3


Bad Voodoo

When you choose this domain at 1st level, any cleric spells you cast that deal necrotic or poison damage ignore a creature’s resistance to that damage type.

Your domain also grants you the power to hex a hostile creature. When you or an ally are attacked by a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll, causing specters and creatures from the shadowfell to haunt the attacker. An attacker that can’t be frightened is immune to this feature. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Cleric level Spells
Cantrips Poison Spray, Chill Touch
1st Ray of Sickness, Bane
3rd Ray of Enfeeblement, Blindness/Deafness
5th Fear, Slow
7th Phantasmal Killer, Grasping Vine*
9th Hold Monster, Synaptic Static

Channel Divinity: Zombie Minion

With 10 minutes of work and the expenditure of 10 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth a zombie animal (usually a dog) from the shadowfell to serve as your faithful companion. The minion obeys your commands as best it can.

In combat, the minion shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, or Help action.


Midnight Feast

At 6th level, you have a stronger connection to the dark energies of the shadowfell plane. You use this energy to enhance your minion and your curses.

First, your minion’s bite attack is now considered magical for the purposes of bypassing resistances and immunities, thanks to a stronger link you have made to the creature’s original plane of existence. If your minion is reduced to 0 hit points, you can also spent your reaction and trigger its sacrifice action.

Second, you regain your hex uses when you finish a short rest.


Spiritual Attunement

Starting at 8th level, you have learned to regain some of your magical energy by borrowing power from the shadowfell. Once per day when you finish a Short Rest, you can choose expended Spell Slots to recover. The Spell Slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your Cleric level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be 6th level or higher.


Gruesome Sacrifice

Also at 8th level, whenever you use your minion’s sacrifice action. You force any number of creatures in the area of effect to roll a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a fail, the creature is restrained until the end of your next turn.

Witch doctor art by David Cornish,
Undead dogs (unknown artist)