Swords & Sorceries: The Love Domain for 5E Clerics (Patreon)

Open a grimoire from any point in history and you'll find a love spell, imploring the gods and goddesses of the heart for favor.  One of the oldest known deities of history was Inanna of the Sumerians, who became mighty Ishtar of the Akkadians, goddess of sex, war, justice, and rulership. Ishtar was worshipped among the Phoenecians and the Levantines as Astoreth and Astarte. Aspects of her drifted to Egypt and the cult of Isis, to Greece's Aphrodite, and perhaps to Vedic India's Durga. The inescable powers of love and war shaped civilizations and human understanding of the world.

Deities of the Love domain ensure fertility and inspire devotion. The enchanting powers of Love are often found in gods and goddesses of the sunrise and sunset, of the aurora, of gentle rains, and of the changeable moon. But they are also found in gods and especially goddesses of war and the underworld, in whom the powers of adoration and anger are as inextricable as the link between life and death. What is more dangerous than love?

In the Broken Empire setting, deities associated with the Love domain include Ailan and Aili, the twin god and goddess of the Kiavalkans, said to have been the first man and woman; Astarra of the Sickle Moon, the Zyirran goddess of storms, magic, and fertility; Batani of the Oasis, the Kahlim goddess of nature and love; Belen, the Valkan goddess of sunrise and sunset, prosperity, humor, luck, fate, and trade; the Sindusan goddess Bhora, Queen of the Dawn, mother of elves; Bora, the Iskutai goddess of dawn and fertility; Enkop, the Sunlands goddess of the earth, farming, and fertility; and Illiossus of the Dawn, the Samarran goddess of the dawn, spring, and life, said to be the queen of high elves.

LOVE DOMAIN SPELLS

• 1st-level cleric: charm person, heroism
• 3rd-level cleric: enthrall, suggestion
• 5th-level cleric: hypnotic pattern, remove curse
• 7th-level cleric: compulsion, confusion
• 9th-level cleric: dominate person, geas

EVERYBODY'S FRIEND

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain the feat Everybody’s Friend.

BONUS CANTRIP

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain the friendship cantrip if you don’t already know it.

CHANNEL DIVINITY: LOVE'S CHARM

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to influence others. As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn or until the charmed creature takes any damage. You can also cause any of the charmed creatures to drop what they are holding when they fail the saving throw.

BEGUILEMENT

At 6th level, if you cast a spell of the enchantment school using a spell slot of 1st level or higher, you can change the spell’s casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting, provided the spell’s casting time is normally 1 action. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

DIVINE STRIKE

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. 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 radiant damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

SPELLBINDING

At 17th level, while creatures are charmed by your Love’s Charm feature, you can take a bonus action on your turn to verbally command what each of those creatures will do on its next turn.