Poison

The mistress of poison and arachnids that lords over the feared drow bestows special gifts upon her servants, granting them the prowess in both spell and deed to withstand the rigors of the treacherous life in the cut-throat society of drow… and beyond.

Table: Poison Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spells
1st disguise self, shadow mote
3rd see invisibility, shadow cast
5th loom large, dispel magic
7th dimension door, form of shadows
9th modify memory, umbral step

Blessing of Poison

Starting when you choose this domain at 1st level, you choose either Dexterity (Stealth) or Charisma (Deception). Once made, this choice cannot be reversed, unless you complete an appropriate quest. (subject to GM’s approval.) You can grant yourself or a creature you touch advantage on checks with the chosen skill. This blessing lasts for 1 hour or until you use this feature again. You also gain proficiency with the poisoner’s kit.

Channel Divinity: Poisonous Cunning

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to invoke divine favor upon those wielding or subject to poison. As an action, you call your deity’s name. Up to two allies, one of which may be yourself, who are currently wielding a poisonous weapon or who are suffering from the poisoned condition, may spend their reactions to make an attack with their weapons. If these attacks hit, they add your Wisdom modifier to the damage dealt. At 11th level, allies (or yourself) who hit with this attack deal an additional 1d8 poison damage on a hit. At 17th level, allies (or yourself) who hit with this attack deal an additional 2d8 poison damage.

Pure Spite

Beginning at 6th level, whenever you are below half of your maximum hit points and suffering from either the grappled, poisoned or prone conditions due to the actions of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished, you may treat any result of 1 or 2 as a 3 on dice you roll to determine damage or healing effects for attacks you execute and spells you cast. This immediately ends if the foe is brought to 0 HP or if the condition ends.

Poisonous Shadows

Starting at 8th level, whenever you would lose your shadow due to an effect, spell or similar circumstance, you may use your reaction to regrow your shadow and negate any and all negative effects associated with having no shadow. Additionally, any beneficial spell or ability that requires the use of your shadow that may currently be in effect is not ended by this, allowing you to potentially have more than one spell or ability that uses your shadow in effect at any given time. You can use this feature again after completing a short rest. Furthermore, as a reaction to being poisoned or to suffering poison damage, you can siphon poison coursing through your veins into your shadow, immediately ending any ongoing poison damage and the poisoned condition. You are still treated as poisoned for the purpose of this domain’s abilities for as long as your shadow that absorbed the poison persists. Abrupt exposure to total darkness or magical light ends this boon. Your shadow may only hold one poison at any given time. If your shadow holds a poison and you complete a long rest, it is no longer considered to be holding poison.

Masters of the Web

Living in the underworld for any period of time tends to alter one’s perspective. The lack of light or changes in temperature that normally indicate day and night are gone, as are the meaning of the terms. The senses run amok as constant sounds flit in and out of the limits of hearing, and the need to be able to navigate in three dimensions as chimneys and crevasses discombobulate any natural talent for direction. Were that not enough, the creeping horrors that developed below the picturesque surface have a disturbing trait of “changing” people.

In the stygian depths, the claustrophobic tunnels, endless caverns, and undiscovered realms beneath the surface, the paths taken by humanoids of the Upperworld warp considerably. Specialties suited to the peculiar and particular environs abound.

Those that adapt to their surroundings live, while those that only hold fast to the old ways fall prey to menaces that lurk around every corner. The archetypes and classes in Underworld Classes are most frequently associated with dwarves and drow, but can be adopted either by a race in an Underworld setting or by a character with an Underworld influence in their history. If your campaign doesn’t have a subterranean bent, each class has other means and motivations for characters to pursue them detailed in their class entry.

Masters of Deception

In the labyrinthine, nefarious politics of the underworld and in the face of the uncounted ways one can fall prey to deadly predators, few races have managed to eke out a means of survival, much less established a civilization that has reached a proper level of sophistication. Those that manage this feat are among the hardiest and most adaptable beings one can find.

It is testament to their wiles that the feared drow have managed to create a truly impressive array of bustling empires built on deceit, murder, treason, and poison.

Among the feared masters of the underworld, there are certain drow who have developed unique means of meeting the challenges of the underworld, known to most other races as the masters of the web.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Underworld Races and Classes © 2017 AAW Games LLC; Designers: Thilo Graf and Mike Myler