Lunar Cleric

LUNAR CLERIC (Divine/Lunar Caster)

Core Concept

Lunar Clerics are devotees of a specific moon, but their “gods” are dead; power flows through lunar conduits instead of living deities. Churches think they serve distant sleeping gods, but mechanically they are tuning themselves to:

• One primary moon = main domain/channel.
• 1–2 secondary moons = minor aspects.

Their power waxes/wanes with:

• Moon phases
• Alignments (triads, conjunctions)
• Night vs day
• Sometimes Solar Pulse Events, Starfall Years, Silent Void interference.

Class Basics

• Hit Die: d8
• Primary Ability: Wisdom
• Saves: Wisdom, Charisma
• Armor: Light, medium, shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons; some moon cults grant martial weapons (domain feature).
• Spellcasting: Full divine caster (like Cleric in 5e/PF) using Wisdom.
• Proficiencies:
• Skills: Choose 2 from Insight, Religion, Medicine, History, Perception, Persuasion, Intimidation.
• Tools: One religious/mystic toolkit (astrolabe, divination tools, ritual implements, calligrapher’s supplies, etc.).

Spellcasting (Summary)

• Full divine spell progression (1–9).
• Spells prepared = Wis mod + Cleric level.
• Spell list:
• Healing, protection, buffs, smites, condition removal.
• Lunar & celestial additions: moonlight, illusions (Noctis), memory/ghosts (Umbriel), storm/war (Eryth), travel/luck (Velis), justice/vengeance (Thren), etc.
• Ritual Casting: Yes, for appropriate spells.

Unique Lunar Mechanics (Core to the Class)

Instead of just “Domain,” we’ll have:

• Primary Moon Attunement – chosen at level 1.
• Secondary Moon Influence – unlocked later (e.g., 3rd and/or 7th level).
• Moon Phase Track – simple mechanical hook that changes some bonuses.

To keep it playable, we abstract the sky rather than simulate all 12 moons’ ephemerides:

• At the table, each Cleric tracks:
• Their primary moon’s Phase: New / Waxing / Full / Waning.
• Whether it is currently Above the Horizon (night, or visible twilight) or Hidden (day, eclipse, etc.)
• GM can say “your moon’s currently waxing and visible” or you can roll/assume a rough cycle over days of travel.

Mechanically, we’ll bake this into class features.

LUNAR CLERIC – FEATURES BY LEVEL

Level 1 – Lunar Devotion

1. Spellcasting

• As above (full divine caster).

2. Primary Moon Attunement

• Choose one of the 12 moons as your Primary Moon.
• E.g., Lunara (Order/Community), Umbriel (Death/Memory), Noctis (Dream/Illusion), Aurethiel (Healing/Harvest), Eryth (War/Storms), Velis (Travel/Luck), Saela (Art/Passion), Thren (Vengeance), Mor’Kas (Entropy/Decay), Ilyon (Time/Fate), Xyra (Forbidden Lore), plus one more from your notes.
• This determines:
• Your Domain (we’ll design domain examples after core chassis).
• Your Channel Divinity flavor.
• Your moon-phase bonuses.

3. Moon Phase Boon (Simple Baseline) Your primary moon’s phase grants a standing effect:

• New Moon: Magic introspection.
• You have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and saving throws vs being charmed.
• Waxing: Growing strength.
• Once per turn, when you roll healing or damage for a spell, you can reroll one die and take the higher result.
• Full: Peak power.
• Your divine spell save DC and spell attack rolls gain a +1 bonus.
• Waning: Protective withdrawal.
• You gain a +1 bonus to AC and saving throws vs spells.

At level 1, you can once per long rest perform a Moon Rite (10 minutes) to “spiritually align” yourself with a desired phase, temporarily treating your moon as that phase for 8 hours (GM can limit abuse; this is a class perk).

4. Temple Role

• Choose a background flavor:
• Acolyte, Missionary, Moon Knight, Oracle, Cultist, etc.
• Mechanical benefit: gain proficiency in either Religion or Persuasion, and one additional language (liturgical, ancient, or cult-specific).

Level 2 – Channel Divinity & Lunar Channel

1. Channel Divinity

• Uses: 1 per short/long rest at 2nd level.
• You gain the generic option:
• Turn the Profane: As an action, present your holy symbol to force outer/eldritch creatures (Silent Void, Weeping Gate spawn, aberrations) and undead to make a Wisdom save or be turned (as Turn Undead).

2. Lunar Channel (Primary Moon Power)

• You also gain a moon-specific Channel Divinity from your Domain (e.g., Lunara protects allies, Umbriel commands ghosts, Eryth smites foes, etc.).
• We’ll define these when we nail down a couple of sample domains.

Level 3 – Secondary Moon (First Influence)

1. Secondary Moon Influence I

• Choose a Secondary Moon. It must be:
• From a different triad than your primary, or
• Approved by your faith’s doctrine (some combinations taboo).
• You gain a Minor Boon related to its theme, always active:
• E.g., a Noctis secondary might give you advantage on saving throws vs illusions and one illusion cantrip.
• You also unlock one spell per spell level that counts as part of your spell list, flavored by this secondary moon (e.g., add a dream/illusion spell).

Level 4 – Ability Score Improvement

• Standard ASI/feat.

Level 5 – Empowered Miracle

1. 3rd‑level Spells

• Full caster progression.

2. Radiant Surge

• Once per short rest, when you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that:
• Heals hit points or
• Deals radiant/necrotic/lightning damage (depending on moon),
• You can maximize one damage or healing die roll.

Level 6 – Enhanced Channel & Moonlight Ward

1. Channel Divinity (2 uses)

• Your uses per rest increase to 2.

2. Moonlight Ward

• As a reaction, when you or an ally within 30 feet is hit by an attack:
• You can flash your holy symbol and invoke your moon.
• Reduce the damage by 2d8 + your Wisdom modifier (scales like a Cleric’s protective reaction).
• If your moon is Full or Waxing and visible, you add + your Cleric level to the reduction once per short rest.

Level 7 – Secondary Moon (Deepening)

1. Secondary Moon Influence II

• Your secondary moon grants:
• One 2nd‑level spell added to your list (always prepared).
• A situational feature:
• Example: Velis secondary – advantage on checks to avoid getting lost and +10 ft movement for 1 minute after you cast a teleport/blink/step spell.
• This is primarily flavor + a small mechanical edge.

Level 8 – Ability Score Improvement

• Standard ASI/feat.

Level 9 – High Lunar Miracle

1. 5th‑level Spells

• Access to powerful healing, resurrection, and area control.

2. Eclipse Insight

• Once per long rest, you can enter a brief lunar trance (1 minute):
• You gain truesight 30 ft OR see invisible + detect magic for the duration (choose when you activate).
• During this trance, the GM can drop visions/omens about:
• Hidden cults
• Silent Void activity
• Moon alignments and omens.

Level 10 – Divine Intervention (Rethemed: Lunar Intervention)

Lunar Intervention

• Once per week, you can call upon your moon directly.
• Mechanically like Divine Intervention:
• You describe the desired effect.
• Roll percentile dice; if the roll is equal to or less than your cleric level, your moon intervenes.
• Effects are flavored as:
• Sudden auroral veils.
• Shifts in moonlight.
• Strange gravitational or temporal anomalies (depending on moon).

Level 11 – Lunar Resurgence

1. 6th‑level Spells

• As normal.

2. Lunar Surge

• When your primary moon is Full or in a rare triad alignment (GM sets events):
• Once per long rest, you can cast a spell of 5th level or lower without expending a spell slot.
• When your primary moon is New:
• Once per long rest, you can reroll a failed saving throw vs a spell or magical effect.

Level 12 – Ability Score Improvement

Level 13 – Greater Lunar Gifts

1. 7th‑level Spells

2. Moon-Bound Resilience

• You no longer age magically; divinations about your exact future are harder to perform.
• You gain resistance to one damage type associated with your moon:
• Lunara: radiant
• Umbriel: necrotic
• Eryth: lightning/thunder
• Noctis: psychic
• Etc.

Level 14 – Secondary Moon (Optional Third)

You can either:

• Deepen your current secondary moon, gaining:
• Another always‑prepared spell (3rd or 4th level).
• A small once-per-long-rest ability tied to its theme.

OR

• Take a Third Moon Influence at a lesser strength:
• Very small boon (like a cantrip + minor passive), mainly for flavor.
• This may be restricted by doctrine; some combinations mark you as a heretic or “walking conjunction.”

Level 15 – Nightwatch Zenith

• At night (or under dense‑mana sky phenomena):
• Allies within 10 feet of you gain a +1 bonus to saving throws.
• Once per long rest, you can declare a “Moonlit Sanctuary”:
• For 1 minute, any ally who starts their turn within 10 feet of you gains temporary hit points equal to your Wis mod.

Level 16 – Ability Score Improvement

Level 17 – Mythic Cleric Magic

1. 9th‑level Spells

2. Lunar Confluence

• Once per long rest, you can merge the influence of your primary and secondary moons:
• For 1 minute:
• All your healing and damage spells gain extra dice equal to your Wis mod (applied once per spell).
• Your Channel Divinity can be used as a bonus action, and you can use both your primary and secondary moon’s Channel options in the same encounter (still expending separate uses).

Level 18 – Persistent Blessing

• You gain a permanent aura (30 ft):
• Allies in the aura cannot be charmed or frightened while they can see you and you are conscious.
• If your primary moon is visible in the sky at the moment, they also gain a +1 bonus to death saving throws and saving throws against necrotic and psychic damage.

Level 19 – Ability Score Improvement

Level 20 – Lunar Avatar

At the height of your power, you become a living extension of your moon.

• Wisdom +2 (max 22).
• Choose one of two capstones:
• Manifest Avatar:
• Once per long rest, you can assume an Avatar Form for 1 minute:
• Gain resistance to all damage.
• Your spells of 1st–5th level are cast as if upcast by +1 level (no slot change).
• You emit bright moonlight in 30 ft, dim 30 ft more; enemies in the light have disadvantage on attacks against your allies.
• Enduring Radiance (or Shadow, Dream, etc., based on moon):
• Your Lunar Intervention automatically succeeds once per week without a roll.
• You no longer need to eat or sleep; instead, you “rest” by meditating under the night sky for 4 hours.