Forbidden Domain
The gods whose portfolios include the Forbidden domain are not worshipped by the common folk. These deities or concepts are often contained outside our reality, the hidden darker aspects of gods of knowledge, or embodiments of madness. The existence of these deities is often maddening enough, and is the source for many nothic births. Few can overcome the madness of understanding the existence of these beings, and fewer still can continually worship them without descending into a spiral of insanity. Forbidden Clerics can channel this worship to corrupt their enemies and empower their deities connection to their reality, causing them to often hide their worship until the time is right due to other faiths hunting them down.
Forbidden Domain Spells
| Cleric Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers |
| 3rd | Crown of Madness, Mind Spike |
| 5th | Enemies Abound, Nondetection |
| 7th | Summon Aberration, Hallucinatory Terrain |
| 9th | Dominate Person, Synaptic Static |
Eldritch Tongue
Upon taking this domain at 1st level, you learn Deep Speech, and can communicate with Aberrations who don't speak a language. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them.
As an action, you can expand this communication to any one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw, understanding you for the next hour, even if you both don't share any languages, on a successful save. On a failed save, they are frightened of you until the end of your next turn, and you can't expand this communication again until you finish a long rest.
Caresses from the Beyond
Also at 1st level, your spells are imbued with unspeakable gifts of your god. Whenever you cast a spell using a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target a creature, you can force them to make a Wisdom saving throw. If the spell already forces a Wisdom saving throw, you can use that instance instead.
On a failed save, the target suffers one of the following effects of your choice:
- Any languages they can understand, read, and write are changed to Deep Speech.
- Ethereal appendages cover their body, reducing their movement speed by 10 feet.
- Choose another creature you can see within 30 feet of you that is the same size as you. You appear and sound as this secondary creature to the target, potentially causing them not to attack you.
- Cryptic whispers fill their head, preventing them from taking reactions.
This effect lasts until the spell ends on the creature, or until the end of your next turn if the spell was instantaneous. If the spell targets more than one creature, you choose which creature is affected by this feature.
You can perform this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and regain all expended uses after a long rest.
Channel Divinity: A Monument for the Unknown
At 2nd level, you can use your channel divinity to temporarily warp the landscape to one akin to the unfathomable place your deity resides.
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and a sphere of madness emanates from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and reduces bright light to dim light. The sphere moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or die. Whenever a hostile creature (excluding you) starts its turn in the sphere or enters it for the first time, it must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it suffers the following:
- It is frightened of you.
- It treats the sphere as difficult terrain.
- Each time it makes a Wisdom saving throw while inside the sphere, it rolls a d4 and deducts it from the total save.
Cosmic Resilience
Starting at 6th level, your faith has protected you from mental harm from both your deity and its enemies. You gain resistance to psychic damage, and gain proficiency in Intelligence saving throws.
Additionally, you are always aware when a creature is reading your thoughts, perceiving you via magical scrying sensors, or is targeting you through divination magic.
Potent Spellcasting
Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.
Shatter the Mind
At 17th level, your faithful devotion can break the minds of your enemies. You choose which creatures get affected by your Channel Divinity: A Monument for the Unknown while they are inside the sphere.
Additionally, creatures who fail their saving throw against this channel divinity also rolls on the Short-Term Madness table, suffering the rolled madness until they leave the sphere or the channel divinity ends.
