Editing Cleric Domain (section)

===Sourcebook Domains===
The very first sourcebook to feature a new Domain was the Dungeon Master's Guide, which featured the '''Death''' domain. Hilariously, the ''PHB itself'' acknowledges that death and its clerics aren't necessarily evil, and lists ''multiple'' non-evil death gods in its various appendices. But the discrepancy can be explained; trying to finally untangle the snarl of "why do Death Gods who hate the Undead have spells relating to creating the undead?", 5e split up the Death God archetype into its two main components; the Death Domain is for "Reaper" Gods, those Death Gods who embody the actual role of killing people, such as [[Nerull]], [[Loviatar]], [[Bhaal]], [[Talona]], and [[Morgion]]. In fact, it goes so far as to break up the three components of 3e's Death Domain - The Reaper God, the Underworld God and the [[Necromancer]]-God - that it actually completely forsakes the mastery of necromancy associated with "Death Priests" in editions past. This means that the [[necromancer]] [[wizard]] is '''finally''' the best character class at its actual role.

'''Death Domain Clerics''' gain access to a bevvy of spells based on offensive or debilitating necromancy, such as Rays of Sickness and Enfeeblement, False Life, Blight and Cloudkill. They get a bonus proficiency with martial weapons, and the 1st level feature "Reaper", which grants them a bonus necromancy cantrip from any class's spell list and the ability to target two adjacent (within 5ft of each other) creatures with the same necromantic cantrip. Their Channel Divinity is Touch of Death, which lets them inflict bonus necrotic damage (5 + 2 X Cleric Level) on a melee attack. 6th level grants them the Inescapable Destruction feature, which means their necrotic damage cleric spells, Channel Divinity and Divine Strike options all ignore necrotic resistance. 8th level gives them Divine Strike, which is the ability to inflict +1d8 Necrotic damage (+2d8 at 14th level onwards) with a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, at level 17, they get Improved Reaper, which applies Reaper's bonus to any single-targetting necromancy spell of 1st through to 5th level.

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide adds the '''Arcane''' domain, for a little more of a [[Mystic Theurge]] feel to the cleric. As worshippers of the God of Magic, these clerics possess abilities that make them a lore more [[wizard]]ly. In addition to a bevvy of "basic arcane" and arcane magic-manipulating spells, like Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Dispel Magic and Teleportation Circle, their first level feature is Arcane Initiate, which grants them proficiency in the Arcana skill and two wizard cantrips of their choice, which function for them as Cleric cantrips. Their Channel Divinity is Arcane Abjuration, which is basically the ability to turn planar creatures ([[angel|celestials]], [[elemental]]s, [[fey]] and [[fiend]]s) as if they were undead, which upgrades to the ability to banish them from the material plane for a minute from 5th level onwards, if the creature is weak enough. At 6th level, they gain Spellbreaker, which lets their curative spells function as a Dispel Magic on whoever they are targeting. Potent Spellcasting, their 8th level feature, lets them add their Wisdom modifier to the damage rolls they make for their offensive cantrips. Finally, at level 17, they can pick one wizard spell from each of the 6th through 9th level lists and turn these into bonus Domain Spells.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything would add two more Domains; '''Forge''' and '''Grave''', based on an earlier Unearthed Arcana article. These would be reprinted in Mythic Odysseys of [[Theros]].

'''Forge Clerics''' worship smithing creator deities like [[Moradin]], [[Gond]], and [[Reorx]], and thusly have abilities aimed at filling the [[artificer]] role, with a dash of tankiness. Their Domain Spells all relate directly to their role, consisting of Identify, Searing Smite, Heat Metal, Magic Weapon, Elemental Weapon, Protection from Energy, Fabricate, Wall of Fire, Animate Objects and Creation. They receive a free proficiency with heavy armor and smith's tools, and their 1st level feature is the Blessing of the Forge, which lets them temporarily imbue a suit of armor or a single weapon with magic until their next long rest or they die, which makes that item function as a +1 item. Their Channel Divinity is Artisan's Blessing, which lets them spend a Channel Divinity use over the course of an hour to create one item from the following list: a simple or martial weapon, a suit of armor, ten pieces of ammunition, a set of tools, or any other metal-based object that costs no more than 100 gold pieces. It can be used to create duplicates of metal objects you already possess, such as an exact replica of a key. 6th level grants them the Soul of the Forge, which gives them Resistance to Fire, plus it also gives them a +1 bonus to AC when wearing heavy armor. 8th level grants them a Divine Strike that deals +1d8 (+2d8 at 14th level) fire damage with a weapon attack once per turn. Finally, 17th level's Saint of the Forge improves their Soul of the Forge to Immunity to Fire and means they gain Resistance to Nonmagical Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage when wearing heavy armor.

'''Grave Clerics''' are, as you'd expect, the "non-evil death clerics!" domain; whilst Death is mechanically aimed at gods of the undead, murder and other "death as an evil force to be feared" deities, the Grave Domain is aimed at gods of "death as a natural part of the cycle", like [[Kelemvor]], [[Pharasma]], the [[Raven Queen]], [[the Undying Court]] and [[Wee Jas]]. This means the two main traditional depictions of a Death Priest in D&D are now covered, although the "Necromancer Cleric" traditionally held by servitors of deities like [[Vecna]] or [[Chemosh]] is still yet to be covered. Domain Spells for the Grave Domain are a weird grab-bag of "gently offensive" necromancy spells (Bane, Ray of Enfeeblement, Blight) and benign necromancy spells (False Life, Gentle Repose, Raise Dead). At 1st level, they gain Circle of Mortality, which not only causes them to always count as rolling the maximum value for their dice-based healing spells, but also gives them a 30ft long, cast on a bonus action version of Spare the Dying as a bonus cantrip that doesn't count against their cantrip limits. 1st level also gives them Eyes of the Grave, which lets them sense the location of all non-protected (that is, neither in total cover nor warded against divination) undead within 60 feet as action, which they can do a number of times per day equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1) before needing to take a long rest to recharge it. Their Channel Divinity is Path to the Grave, which lets them curse a creature within 30 feet so that it counts as having Vulnerability against the next attack to hit it. 6th level grants them the feature Sentinel at Death's Door, which lets them nullify a critical hit against themselves or an ally within 30 feet (downgrading it to a normal hit and cancelling any rider effects that trigger on a crit) as a reaction; again, they can do this a number of times per day equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). At level 8, they gain the same Potent Spellcasting feature as the Arcane Domain Cleric does. Finally, 17th level grants them the Keeper of Souls trait, which means that once per turn, when an enemy dies within 60 feet of them, the cleric can heal a creature of their choice that is also within 60 feet, giving the target hit points equal to the dead creature's Hit Dice.

The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica added a new '''Order''' domain for clerics.

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything added two new domains, Peace and Twilight, as well as reprinting the Order domain from the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica..