Law Domain (5e Subclass)

Law Domain

As a cleric of law you are charged with upholding your god's divine mandates. Whether its bringing in suspects for questioning or passing judgement right there on the streets, the Law domain cleric seeks out violators of divine justice and seeks to punish them. You are upheld to this same code and must adhere to it yourself. You know the will of your god and their laws and concepts of justice. As such many Law domain Clerics are hired by local governments to act as law enforcement or even bounty hunters.

Expanded Spell List

Cleric Level	Spells
1st	command, protection from evil and good
3rd	arcane lock, zone of truth
5th	beacon of hope, counterspell
7th	banishment, private sanctum
9th	dominate person, geas

A Lawful Friend

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain the friends cantrip if you don't already know it. You also gain proficiency in the History and Persuasion skills, and one additional language of your choice.

Note it is highly encouraged for this subclass to make sense that you are of some sort of lawful alignment, preferably lawful good or lawful neutral.

Channel Divinity: Bringer of Law

Starting at 2nd level you can use your Channel Divinity to cast one of the spells from the expanded spell list of this subclass that you have access to based on your level. Casting one of these spells using Bringer of Law does not consume a spell slot, but is done at their base spell level only. Spells cast using Bringer of Law cannot be dispelled with counterspell or dispel magic, but are still subject to effects that prevent the use of magic, such as antimagic field.

Thus, at 2nd level you may use your channel divinity to cast command and protection from evil and good.

Mantle of Justice

At 6th level, you exude an Aura of divine justice to a 30-foot spherical radius from your space as long as you are not incapacitated. Everyone in the area will feel a sense of lawfulness and obedience at all times. If a creature does something you might deem unlawful or unjustified they will feel compelled to hesitate. You are unaffected by this feature, as you can justify your actions; but are expected to act within your alignment.

Mechanically this translates into disadvantage on rolls while a creature is in the aura. It is up to you and the GM to determine what constitutes an unlawful act, but typically the following actions will have disadvantage, and it should apply to your allies as well as enemies:

• Attacks during a surprise round of combat. Quarter must be given, and enemies should be allowed to defend themselves.
• Attacking an incapacitated or dying creature, or attacking a creature that has clearly yielded in combat.
• Attacking from a hidden/stealth position, including from being invisible or disguised.
• Performing any ability/skill check to steal objects, break and enter into a home, or other clearly criminal act. Examples include: pickpocketing (Sleight of Hand), Break and Entering (Acrobatics, Athletics, Stealth), wearing a disguise for the purposes of robbing or conning someone (Deception, disguise kit), conning or lying for the purposes of selling or buying illicit or stolen goods (Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion). Exceptions can be made for rolls against clearly evil or chaotic creatures that have already committed a crime, especially against you.
  • If it is unclear how disadvantage should be applied using this feature, the GM may call for you to use your reaction to apply disadvantage in response to a single creature's attack or ability/skill check within the aura that you wish to target. In this case you will need to see your target.
    • In most cases, alignment in 5e is a roleplaying tool and not a mechanical rule. The GM, however may opt for this feature to apply disadvantage to attack and ability/skill checks to creatures that are chaotic or neutral in nature that are inside the aura.

Binding Law

At 8th level, when you cast a spell that would cause a creature to be charmed or is from this subclass's expanded spell list, saving throws against those spells have disadvantage. You are immune to being charmed, and have advantage on Wisdom and Charisma saving throws.

Scion of Order

At 17th level, you may cast the spell command as bonus action or action without using spell slots. This spell cannot be counterspelled, dispelled, and is not subject to effects that prevent the use of magic, such as antimagic field, though it will still need verbal components.

Also at 17th level, if a creature succeeds on a Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw while inside aura of your Mantle of Justice, as a reaction you may choose to deal either radiant or psychic damage equal to your Cleric level + your Wisdom modifier to them.

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