Tao Domain (5e Subclass)
Tao Domain
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| "Pakua with frame", by Benoît Stella and Πrate |
Cleric Subclass
The tao domain comprises a handful of faiths hailing from Kara-Tur and the Utter East. Rather than serving a single deity, clerics of this domain serve a Taoic Pantheon, a collection of lesser, demi, and quasi-deities, as well as nature spirits. Depending on the region, clerics of this domain go by titles such as daoshi, fashi, kannushi, lama, lisheng, miko, mu, pujari, or wu. They are experts at reading and adjusting the tao's flow, which makes them especially adept in divination magic and martial combat. Those unfamiliar with taoic clerics sometimes mistake them for monks, rangers, or even wizards.
| Cleric Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | Alarm, Identify |
| 3rd | Magic Weapon, See Invisibility |
| 5th | Glyph of Warding, Tiny Servant |
| 7th | Death Ward, Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 9th | Hold Monster, Reincarnate |
Eastern Weapon Training
Taoic clerics undergo specialized martial training. You have proficiency with glaives, longbows, longswords, scimitars, shortswords, and tridents.
Unarmored Defense
Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
Paper Talismans
Beginning at 1st level, you gain proficiency in Calligrapher's Tools, and learn to read and write in the Taoic script. This ancient writing system uses pictorial characters thought to be handed down from the gods. Using these tools, you can create paper talismans (sometimes referred to as charms, ofuda, fulu, sutras, or pujoc) by spending 1 minute and using 1 sp in materials for each one. This process can be done as part of a short or long rest, and so long as you have the time and materials, you can make as many talismans as you like.
When creating your character, you can forgo the holy symbol listed in your starting equipment to take an eastern-style calligraphy kit and 5 pre-made paper talismans instead. This kit includes a brush, an inkstick, an inkstone, and blank slips of paper.
These charms can are vaguely magical, and can be attached to objects or creatures as if with a dab of glue, using their latent power. A paper talisman can also be used as your holy symbol, but doing so consumes the charm. You may decide how this is represented, whether the talisman bursts into flames, dissolves into dust, or fades into a blank slip of paper.
Channel Divinity: Protection Charm
Starting at 2nd level, you can give an paper talisman to a willing creature as a good luck charm. When a creature holding one of your paper talismans within 30 feet of you makes an saving throw, you can use your reaction to grant that creature a +10 bonus to the roll, using your Channel Divinity. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses. After a talisman is activated this way, it is destroyed.
Channel Divinity: Warding Charm
At 6th level, you learn to magically charge your paper talismans for tactical purposes. You can use your channel divinity, along with an appropriate spell slot, to make a special casting of the Glyph of Warding spell, with the following changes to its normal rules:
- The casting time is 5 minutes, rather than 1 hour.
- You use a paper talisman in lieu of the normal material components.
- The glyph takes the visible form of the paper talisman, making the DC to find it 5, unless otherwise hidden or disguised.
- If you select the Explosive Runes option, the damage type becomes force.
- If attached to a moveable object, the spell is not broken by the object being moved, so long as it remains on the same plane of existence as you.
Divine Strike
At 8th level, you gain the ability to meld your weapon strikes with the tao's flow. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 force damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.
Oracle
Beginning at 17th level, your affinity for reading the tao's flow has become so great that you can cast divination spells using just a portion of their normal energy. When you cast a divination spell of 2nd level or higher using a spell slot, you regain one expended spell slot. The slot you regain must be of a level lower than the spell you cast and can't be higher than 5th level.
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