Mercy Domain

Mercy can mean promoting healing instead of harm, but it can also mean ending suffering with a quick death. These often-contradictory ideals are the two sides of mercy. The tenets of deities who embody mercy promote ways to end bloody conflicts or deliver healing magics to those in need. While mercy for some may be benevolent, for others it is decidedly not so. More pragmatic mercy gods teach the best method to relieve the agony and torment brought on by monsters and the forces of evil is to bring about the end of that evil.

Domain Spells

You gain domain spells at the cleric levels listed in the Mercy Domain Spells table. See the Divine Domain class feature for how domain spells work.

Mercy Domain Spells

Cleric Level
Spells

1st

divine favor
,
healing word

3rd

aid
,
ray of enfeeblement

5th

bardo
*,
revivify

7th

death ward
,
sacrificial healing
*

9th

antilife shell
,
raise dead

*indicates a spell found in this book
Bonus Proficiencies

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you take your place on the line between the two aspects of mercy: healing and killing. You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill and with the poisoner’s kit. In addition, you gain proficiency with heavy armor and martial weapons.
Threshold Guardian

Also at 1st level, when you hit a creature that doesn’t have all of its hit points with a melee weapon attack, the weapon deals extra radiant or necrotic damage (your choice) equal to half your proficiency bonus.
Channel Divinity: Involuntary Aid

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to wrest the lifeforce from an injured creature and use it to heal allies. As an action, you present your holy symbol to one creature you can see within 30 feet of you that doesn’t have all of its hit points. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, taking radiant or necrotic damage (your choice) equal to three times your cleric level on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Then, one friendly creature you can see within 30 feet of you regains a number of hit points equal to the amount of damage dealt to the target.
Bolster the Living

At 6th level, you gain the ability to manipulate a portion of the lifeforce that escapes a creature as it perishes. When a creature you can see dies within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to channel a portion of that energy into a friendly creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The friendly creature gains a bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to half your proficiency bonus until the end of its next turn.
Divine Strike of Mercy

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with the dual nature of mercy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d6 radiant or necrotic damage (your choice) to the target. If the target dies from this attack, a friendly creature you can see within 5 feet of you regains hit points equal to half the damage dealt. If no friendly creature is within 5 feet of you, you regain the hit points instead. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d6.
Hand of Grace and Execution

At 17th level, you imbue the two sides of mercy into your spellcasting. Once on each of your turns, if you cast a spell that restores hit points to one creature or deals damage to one creature, you can add your proficiency bonus to the amount of hit points restored or damage dealt.

Clerics of Mercy in Midgard

Those who follow the Mercy Domain walk the line between life and death. They follow deities on both sides of the spectrum. Gods of life, healing, and community such as Ceres, Freyr, Lada, Holda, and even Ninkash provide access to this domain, yet so do the deities dealing with war or death like Anubis, Khors, Mavros, Valeresh, and Thor. A significant number of mercy clerics in Midgard follow Charun in his guise as the Guardian of Souls. They pledge themselves to ending suffering by bringing those near death into Charun’s care as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Recently, several independent cells of an extreme cult of Charun worshippers have made their presence known in cities including Bemmea, Harkesh, Nuria-Natal, Zobeck, and others. Not content with waiting for time or fate to settle matters, members of this so-called “Hand of Mercy” pose as healers and apothecaries while carrying out covert murders.