Latest revision as of 20:38, 6 August 2015

Di'Marrë

As a beast falls, arms outstretched to the heavens in an invocation of The Stranger's power, a Tretallë bolsters the confidence and the strength of his allies. Casting blood from her Holy Censer upon her enemies, a priestess of The Rider binds her enemies together with a bond of blood, ensuring that whatever pain comes upon one of them is felt by the others. Drawing a torrent of blood from his Holy Censer, a Di'Marrë stains all of his allies and his enemies in front of him, healing those friendly to him while poisoning the very blood that flows in the veins of his enemies. As different from each other as the Nine are, Di'Marrë each have their own duties and beliefs. Ultimately, they act as a conduit for the Stranger's Gift—Blood Magic—with which they can work miracles of healing that not even the most practised physician could even dream of, or bring entire armies to their knees.

Warriors and Healers

Though Di'Mârrë can worship any of the Nine of the prime pantheon, or any of the numerous minor gods beneath the Nine, they are all sworn to the service of the prime god: The Stranger, the God of Wisdom and Peaceful Death. It is from the Stranger that they get the Stranger's Gift, blood magic, which, as the name suggests, is the power of the Stranger, able to tip the scales of life and death, able to control the very flesh of both foe and ally. This Gift is not given lightly to anyone, for it is great and terrible at its most powerful. Only a life of devotion or an act of selflessness done in the name of the Stranger and his Dominion can impart even the slightest chance for a creature to become a part of Di'Marrë, for truly it is a station of great import.

Di'Mârrë rely on the strength of their intuition, their connection to their god and the Stranger, as well as the fortitude of their own bodies, in order to channel the terrible power of the Stranger's Gift. With their maces and their Holy Censers, they can bolster the strength of their allies with healing, but they can also lay down horrifying curses upon their enemies, making them weep blood, or turning their very own bodies against them. For those who dare to tamper with the law of Life and Death itself, as set by the Stranger at the beginning of time, Di'Marrë wield their Holy Censers, and their Sacred Gifts to set things right.

Agents of the Divine and Stewards of Death

While Di'Mârrë can perform any ceremonies that a priest or priestess can perform at a temple or at a shrine, not every priest or priestess can do what Di'Mârrë can do, much less even attempt to become one. The name of the order, Di'Marrë, translates into the Dominean of the Dominion as "The Hand." They are the avatars and the embodiment of the will of their deities, and though they may all worship different gods as varied as the peoples of the Dominion that they serve, they answer still to the one prime god of the Nine: The Stranger.

Di'Mârrë are the pinnacle of pious achievement, granted their Gifts by many long years of gruelling service or extraordinary, selfless sacrifice in the name of the gods. From the moment that the Stranger gives Di'Mârrë their gifts, they are invited into a life on the battlefield, working as the stewards of death himself, ensuring that the dead are given their rightful peace and that the opposition is crippled enough to ensure that no more death than the gods deem necessary comes about while the Dominion upholds its Divine Imperative of Conquest.

Their order founded on the principle of death being the highest and most prestigious honour for those that have led long and happy lives, Di'Mârrë are called to ensure that only those who are ready among the people of the Dominion die upon the battlefield. In order to do this duty, Di'Mârrë must maintain contact with temples and shrines, and while they may certainly elect to help those who are in need, no mere priest can demand their service without the proper omens of assent from the gods.

Creating Marrë

As you create your Marrë, it is important to ask yourself how it is that you came into the service of The Stranger. Did you spend so many years in absolute devotion to Him, that He turned His eye upon you in favour? If not, what great sacrifice did you make in order for the Stranger's Gift to be imparted upon you? Did you choose to receive this terrible power willingly, or were you simply afraid of incurring the Stranger's Wrath? Do you believe that the Stranger chose you for greatness? Or merely to carry out His will? Apart from the Stranger, what other gods do you worship? Why is it that you worship them? Do you follow the Stranger first before your own god or do you follow your own god before the Stranger?

In addition, do the priests of the gods see you with awe? Or are they wary of you? Has your tale been told across the land? Or are you a relatively new initiate to the Order, seeking to make a name for yourself through service to the gods?

Quick Build

Wielding the Stranger's Gift is no easy task. There is a reason you spent many a long moon training under both the searing heat of the sun and the calming light of the moon, strengthening your body for the duties that you will soon need to take in the service of the Stranger. Blood Magic exacts its toll on you as much as it does upon your enemies. Constitution should be your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom and Strength. You may also choose the acolyte background if you wish.

Progression

Class Features

As Di'Marrë, you possess the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d8 per Di'Marrë level.

Hit Points at First Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8(or 5) + your Constitution modifier per Di'Marrë level beyond 1st.

Proficiencies

Armor: Light Armour, Medium Armour

Weapons: All simple weapons, Holy Censers

Tools: Bloodletter's kit

Saving throws: Wisdom and Constitution

Skills: Choose two from History, Insight, Medicine, Intimidation, Arcana, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment in addition to any equipment granted by your background:

• A Mace
• (a)Scale mail, or (b)Leather armour
• (a)A light crossbow or (b)any simple weapon
• A Bloodletter's Kit
• A Holy Censer

Spellcasting

As possessor of the Stranger's Gift, you are capable of casting blood magic spells unique to Di'Mârrë. See Chapter 10 of the WOTC D&D 5E Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting, and visit Di'Marrë Spells for the list of Di'Marrë spells.

Cantrips

At 1st level, you know 3 cantrips of your choice from the Di'Marrë spell list. You learn additional Di'Marrë cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the "cantrips known" column of the Di'Marrë progression table.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Di'Marrë table shows you how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended Spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of Di'Marrë spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the Di'Marrë spell list. When you do so, choose a number of Di'Marrë spells equal to your Constitution modifier + your Di'Marrë level(minimum of one spell). Where normal spellcasters would use their Wisdom modifier, Di'Marrë instead use their Constitution modifier, because the power of the spells that you wish to be available to you after each long rest must be etched in your very blood.

The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you are a 3rd-level Di'Marrë, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Constitution of 16, your list of prepared spells can include six spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare a 1st-level spell, Crude Cautery, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of Di'Marrë spells requires time spent transfusing yourself with blood from your Holy Censer. This process lasts 1 minute and deals 2d6 of damage to you unless you make a Constitution saving throw of DC 15, in which case, it deals no damage whatsoever.

Spellcasting Ability

Constitution is your spellcasting ability for your Di'Marrë spells. The power of your spells does not come from your devotion to the Stranger or your patron deity. Instead, the power of your spells comes from the fortitude of your body and its ability to channel the sometimes-corrosive powers of the Stranger's Gift. You use your Constitution whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability, and whenever you make an attack roll with a spell, you use your Constitution modifier. However, because the efficacy of your spells still resides in the strength of your conviction, when setting the saving throw DC for a Di'Marrë spell you cast, you use your Wisdom modifier.

Spell save DC = 6 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.

Ritual Casting

You can cast a Di'Marrë spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell prepared.

Spellcasting Focus

Where a Cleric of some other people or deity might use a holy symbol as the focus for their spells, you use your Holy Censer, granted to you by your order and consecrated to the Stranger as a spellcasting focus.

Sanguine Censer

One of the most important, if not the most important of implements to Di'Mârrë, the Holy Censer that you carry with you is more than just a holy item for ceremonies such as crematory rites. The most important use of the Holy Censer is to serve as a phylactery for the blood that is the most precious component for Di'Marrë spells.

The Holy Censer has an intrinsic amount that it can store from the beginning. This is based on the item. At 1st level, one of the first applications of your Blood Magic is to ensure that the Holy Censer can store that much more Blood, 90 more units, to be precise. From then on, at 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, the capacity improves by a further 30 units each.

Bloodletting

One of the unique mechanics of the Di'Mârrë is bloodletting. Every rest, you may spend 1 minute each time you wish to try to draw blood from yourself or from a willing ally. Before you begin, you must make a Bloodletting check.

Bloodletting check = 1d20 + your proficiency in the Bloodletter's Kit + your Constitution modifier

Bloodletting check DC = The number of units you want to draw from yourself or from an ally - 6

If you succeed with the Bloodletting check, you deal 1d2 of physical damage to yourself or your ally and extract the number of units that they allowed you to extract from them. If, however, you fail the Bloodletting check, you deal 1d2 of physical damage to yourself or your ally and extract only half of the units that you are supposed to.

Unless you or your ally have bonuses or the Thick-Blooded trait, you may only draw a maximum of 36 units of blood from them every long rest, recovered at a rate of 18 units/day. There are, however, penalties associated with how many units you wish to draw from yourself or your ally. They are as follows:

Sacred Brotherhood

At 1st level, you must choose which of the current two Sacred Brotherhoods of Di'Mârrë you will follow: the Crimson Band or the Sable Circle. Each Brotherhood is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you Brotherhood spells and other features when you choose it at 1st level. It also grants you additional ways to use Stranger's Grace when you gain that feature at 2nd level, and additional benefits at 6th, 8th, and 17th levels.

Brotherhood Spells

Each Brotherhood has a list of spells—its Brotherhood spells—that you gain at the Di'Marrë levels noted in the Brotherhood description. Once you gain a Brotherhood spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.

If you have a Brotherhood spell that doesn't appear on the Di'Marrë spell list, the spell is nonetheless a Di'Marrë spell for you.

The Stranger's Grace

At 2nd level, you gain the ability to channel the very will of the Stranger himself through your body. With the will of the Stranger empowering the Gift that He imparted on you at the beginning of your journey to be Di'Marrë, you can perform feats of blood magic that have thus far been unavailable to you. You begin with two such magics, Hemic Fortitude, and an additional effect determined by your Sacred Brotherhood.

When you use The Stranger's Grace, you choose which effect to create. You must then finish a short or long rest to use the Stranger's Grace again. Take note, however, that some Stranger's Grace effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your Di'Marrë spell save DC.

Beginning at 6th level, you can use your Stranger's Grace twice between rests, and beginning at 18th level, you can use it three times between rests. When you finish a short or long rest, you regain your expended uses.

The Stranger's Grace: Hemic Fortitude

As an action, you trace dark bands of blood on your face, or on a willing ally's face and channel the will of the Stranger through your hands. Casting this spell takes an enormous amount of effort and can be rather painful. Deal 1d6 of physical damage to yourself, even if you are targeting yourself. Your ally must then make a Constitution saving roll against your spellcasting DC. If they succeed, they gain 1d20 temporary hitpoints, halved if they fail.

This effect increases in potency as your ability to channel the Stranger's will improves as you gain experience and strength. At 6th level, the temporary hitpoints that this effect grants on a successful save becomes 2d20, and at 18th level, it becomes 3d20.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Primal Fear

Starting at 5th level, you come into your position as an avatar of Death Himself, radiating an aura of the inevitable end around you(60 feet). Peoples belonging to the Dominion are unaffected by this ability, and most intelligent creatures are unfazed, as well. However, to the more primal and bestial creatures of the world, you are a walking beacon of the one thing that their biology compels them to avoid: death without viable offspring.

Any beast creature that comes into your aura or begins a turn inside your aura must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If they fail, they must spend their movement in a direction that will take them outside of your sphere of influence. If the beast fails its saving throw and has a CR at or below a certain threshold(defined in the table below), it instantly flees the battle and leaves the encounter.

Death's Design

Beginning at 10th level, your hold on the very law of Life and Death itself becomes strong enough that you can intercede on a dying ally's behalf to the Stranger. If an ally is to fail their final death save roll, no matter how far you are from them on the battlefield, you may fall to your knees and pray to the Stranger to save them from certain death. Praying for intercession requires using an action.

You must roll percentile die to determine the outcome of your intercession. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your Di'Marrë level, the Stranger intercedes on your behalf and restores life to your ally's lifeless body. Your ally rises to his/her feet in vengeful rage, with half of his hit points restored, an additional 1d20 of temporary hitpoints, and advantage on his/her next attack roll. If your percentile roll fails, the Stranger intervenes but only reaches down to instantly stabilize your ally. Whether or not your percentile roll succeeds, you may not use this feature again for 9 days.

At 20th level, your supplication for help instantly succeeds. No roll required.

Sacred Brotherhood

Among the Nine of the Faith, there are two gods of death who exist in peaceful adversity: The Stranger and his counterpart, The Rider. The Stranger exists as the pillar of the Faith. He is the god of Wisdom and of Peaceful Death. The Rider is the force that is constantly trying to topple this pillar of stability, not out of malevolent will, but simply by his nature. The Rider represents War and Violent Death, the two things that never fail to threaten the peaceful existence of the Dominion.

These two deities are the primary patrons of the Sable Circle and the Crimson Band respectively. Each of these Sacred Brotherhoods stand for the principles that their patrons represent. The Sable Circle holds bringing peaceful repose to the suffering above all else, while the Crimson Band seeks to end War and Violent Death by ensuring that the foes that stand before the Dominion are crippled enough that casualties will be minimized.

The Crimson Band

Though the patron of the Crimson Band is the Rider, contrary to your patron deity, you do not stand for war nor violent death on principle. However, As Di'Marrë of this Brotherhood, you recognize that because of the Divine Imperative to Conquest, that war, sooner or later, will find the lands of the Dominion. You are a part of this Brotherhood not to wage nor incite war against the innocent. You stand for this Brotherhood because you believe that when war is inevitable, the only way to secure the lives of the innocent, so that in their deaths they may find the peace of the Stranger, is to make sure war ends as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

To this end, you use your Gift much less to heal those who need peaceful repose. You leave that duty to the Brothers of the Sable Circle. Instead, you use your Gift to cripple your foes, to bring them to their knees, and to weaken them enough so that little, if any, unnecessary death happens.

Crippling Strikes

Starting at 1st level, whenever you make a melee attack with a bludgeoning weapon, you may charge your weapon with blood from your censer(3 blood material cost) to perform a Crippling Strike.

Crippling Strike attack roll = 1d20 at a disadvantage + your proficiency modifier

Note that you may not add your dexterity modifier to this attack. If the attack hits, it does 1d6 less damage, but your target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If your target fails this save, it takes a Wound and must take disadvantage to all rolls, checks, and saves for the next round.

You may only use this feature twice for every long rest.

Stranger's Grace: Bolstered Wrath

Starting at 2nd level, you can use Stranger's Grace to deal 3d20 age damage to yourself in order to cast a single "Wrath" spell of spell slot level up to 2 levels higher than your maximum without expending a spell slot. This takes an action to cast. You may only use this feature once every long rest, regardless of how many uses you have left of Stranger's Grace.

Stranger's Grace: Terrify

Using the power of the Stranger to make your appearance as monstrous as it can be, staring at 6th level, you can use Stranger's Grace to petrify an enemy in fear. Enemies in a 40 feet radius must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If they fail, they are rendered immobile in fear of your visage. They are unable to take any actions for one round. This feature takes an action to use.

War-Hardened

Starting at 8th level, you have seen enough of the horrors of war and battle that there is very little that can scare you. You gain advantage when making an opposed roll against someone who is trying to intimidate you.

Stranger's Grace: Mutilating Strikes

Starting at 17th level, you may use Stranger's Grace to apply a much-augmented version of Crippling Strikes to all of your attacks for the next 5 minutes. Note, however, that Crippling Strikes does not stack with Mutilating Strikes. Using Mutilating Strikes you charge your weapon with blood(6 units material cost per strike) and take disadvantage on your attack rolls.

Mutilating Strikes attack roll = 1d20 at a disadvantage + proficiency modifier + dexterity bonus

If the attack hits, it does an additional 1d6 damage. Your target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spellcasting DC, and if they fail, they take two Wounds and a further 1d6 damage.

The Sable Circle

You are one of the chosen few, an avatar of the Stranger's will and sworn brother to a Brotherhood that upholds his command and his dominion. You do not stand for trivial death, and in fact, you use all of your power to prevent a death that seems to be unnecessary. You do anything in your power to prevent someone who is not ready to go with the Stranger from dying. You know that war is an inevitability of the Divine Imperative to Conquest, but that hardly matters to you. The Crimson Band exists for a reason, and you leave the duty of ensuring that War is as quick and painless as possible to your Brothers in that order.

To this end, you use your Gift not to bring down your foes. Instead, you use your Gift to heal those who need healing, to bring rest to those who seek it, to bolster the morale of your allies, and, perhaps, most importantly, to ensure that any of those in your charge who die may go to the Stranger in peace.

Blessings of Valor

Starting at 1st level, the Stranger's will coursing through your body allows you to make blessings in his name. After each long rest, you may choose one of the following blessings:

Blessing of Might

For 1 action, you may pray to the Stranger for guidance and aid. You gain 4d6 dice. By laying your hands upon an ally and spending 1 action, you may give them one of these dice, which they may use to add to any roll of their choosing, except for a damage roll. These dice last for an hour. A character may only have one on his/her person at any time. You may not give yourself one of these dice.

Blessing of Fortitude

For 1 action, you may pray to the Stranger for strength and courage. You gain 1d20 temporary hitpoints for 1 hour.

*NOTE: You may only choose one of the blessings every long rest. If you choose a different one from the one that you chose previously, the new blessing overrides the old.

Stranger's Grace: Bolstered Peace

Starting at 2nd level, you can use Stranger's Grace to deal 3d20 age damage to yourself in order to cast a single "Peace" spell of spell slot level up to 2 levels higher than your maximum without expending a spell slot. This takes an action to cast. You may only use this feature once every long rest, regardless of how many uses you have left of Stranger's Grace.

Master Bloodletter

Starting at 6th level, your craft of bloodletting has improved enough that you are no longer merely proficient in the art of bloodletting. You gain expertise in bloodletting, doubling your proficiency bonus for this skill.

In addition, you may now attempt to extract blood from your fallen foes. Make a Wisdom check against a DC of 20 and make a Constitution check against a DC of 20. If both checks succeed, you may extract 2d6 blood from the corpse of an organic enemy. If you fail, you extract no blood. You may use this once per corpse, whether you succeed or fail. Each attempt takes one action to complete.

Your ability to extract blood from fallen foes increases as you become more in tune with the Sacred Brotherhood that you belong to. At 8th level, you may extract up to 4d6 blood from the corpse of an organic enemy, and from 17th level, you may extract up to 6d6.

Death's Consort

The domain of death is no longer as foreign to you as it once was. Starting from 8th level, if you are to fail a death saving throw, you may instead choose to succeed it. You may not use this feature again until you take a short or long rest.

In addition, should you take any necrotic damage, you may perform a Constitution saving throw as an opposed check to your enemy's Wisdom check. If you succeed, you shrug off the necrotic damage, taking all of it as Age damage instead. If you fail, however, you may still reduce the necrotic damage you take by half but suffer 1 level of fatigue.

Stranger's Grace: Spare Your Tears

Starting at 17th level, you have become nigh-invaluable to the propagation and the execution of the Stranger's will throughout the land. You are held in fond light by the deity Himself. As a result, should you ever fall to 0 Hit Points, the Stranger intervenes, bringing you back to full strength with your current maximum hit points as temporary hitpoints, inspiring yourself and all your allies who are within a 60-foot range around you.

Note, however, that your current hit points are not restored and remain at 0 when this feature is triggered. Once this feature is triggered, it may not be triggered again until you take a long rest.