Velis - Moon of Travel, Luck, Trade, and Crossroads

VELIS – MOON OF TRAVEL, LUCK, TRADE, CROSSROADS

Themes:

• Journeys, wayfinding, caravans, roads, sky‑routes
• Luck (especially “earned” luck), gambles that pay off
• Merchants, pacts, neutral ground at crossroads

A Velis Cleric is:

• A pathfinder‑priest, caravan chaplain, ship’s augur
• Patron of travelers, smugglers, messengers, and negotiators
• In play: high mobility, repositioning, escape tools, and “bent but not broken” luck

Visually: symbols of roads, wheels, coins, roadsigns; priests wear travel‑worn cloaks, many small charms.

VELIS DOMAIN FEATURES BY LEVEL

These features stack with the base Lunar Cleric chassis.

Level 1 – Domain Spells & Wayfarer of Velis

Domain Spells

Always prepared; don’t count against prepared spells.

• 1st:longstrider, bless
• 3rd:pass without trace, locate object
• 5th:blink, sending
• 7th:dimension door, freedom of movement
• 9th:teleportation circle, passwall

You can tweak exact picks later, but this list covers travel, evasion, and long‑range contact.

Wayfarer of Velis

You are marked as one who walks and bargains under Velis’s eye.

• You gain proficiency in Survival or Persuasion (your choice).
• You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to:
• Avoid becoming lost,
• Find safe paths, and
• Predict weather or natural hazards along a route.
• Traveler’s Fortune:
• Once per long rest, when you make an ability check related to:
• Navigation, travel logistics (foraging, campsite, avoiding hazards), or
• Haggling/bargaining (Persuasion to negotiate prices, etc.),
• You can treat the d20 roll as if you rolled a 10, before adding modifiers.

This makes the Velis Cleric a reliable guide and negotiator.

Level 2 – Channel Divinity: Crossroads Blessing

You gain your first Velis‑specific Channel Divinity.

Channel Divinity: Crossroads Blessing

You invoke Velis at a metaphorical or literal crossroads.

• As an action, you choose up to 6 willing creatures within 30 ft.
• For 1 hour:
• Each affected creature’s speed increases by 10 ft.
• They have advantage on saving throws against effects that would:
• Restrain,
• Paralyze,
• Reduce speed to 0, or
• Teleport or forcibly move them without consent (e.g. some forced‑movement spells; GM adjudication).

This blessing is ideal before entering dangerous territory, dungeons, or political mazes; it makes the party harder to pin down or abduct.

You expend one use of Channel Divinity when you grant this blessing.

Level 3 – (Base: Secondary Moon Influence I)

No Velis‑specific feature; you choose your first secondary moon.

Level 4 – (Base ASI)

Level 5 – Lucky Escape

At 5th level, Velis grants you a knack for near‑misses.

Lucky Escape

You can twist fate at the last moment.

• When you or an ally within 30 ft that you can see:
• Fails a Dexterity saving throw, or
• Is hit by an attack roll,
• You can use your reaction to invoke a Lucky Escape:
• The creature rerolls the saving throw or the attacker rerolls the attack roll.
• The new result must be used, even if it’s worse.

Uses:

• You can use Lucky Escape a number of times per long rest equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).

This is your key “nope” button against fireballs, traps, and critical hits.

Level 6 – Channel Divinity: Waygate Step

At 6th, you gain a second Velis Channel option, focused on sudden movement.

Channel Divinity: Waygate Step

You briefly open Velis‑touched paths that others can’t see.

• As an action, you create one of the following effects (you choose when using Channel Divinity):

1. Blink Step (Self)
2. You teleport yourself from your space to an unoccupied space you can see within 60 ft.
3. Until the end of your turn:
4. Your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
5. Crossroad Step (Group)
6. Choose up to 3 willing creatures within 30 ft.
7. Each chosen creature can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 ft to an unoccupied space it can see.
8. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
9. Path of Evasion (Line)
10. You designate a straight 30‑ft line originating from you.
11. Allies in that line can use their reaction to move along the line up to 30 ft, as if stepping through a briefly open “path between moments.”
12. This movement ignores difficult terrain and does not provoke opportunity attacks.

You expend one use of Channel Divinity to create one of these effects.
This is your tactical reposition tool: get the party past chokepoints, out of grapples, or behind enemy lines.

Level 7 – (Base: Secondary Moon Influence II)

No extra Velis feature.

Level 8 – (Base ASI)

Level 9 – Merchant’s Tongue

At 9th, Velis sharpens your social and mercantile edge.

Merchant’s Tongue

• You gain proficiency in one additional language of your choice.
• You have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks to:
• Negotiate prices,
• Secure safe passage, and
• Broker treaties or deals under a flag of truce.
• Once per long rest, you can declare a Safe Passage Pact:
• During a parley or negotiation with a group or leader, you spend 1 minute invoking Velis and sealing terms.
• If the other side accepts the pact (explicitly or implicitly; GM call):
• For the next 24 hours, creatures party to the pact are disinclined to attack you first unless:
• Severely provoked, or
• They are under compulsion/charm/non‑Velis divine influence.
• Mechanically: treat their attitude as one step friendlier for purposes of deciding whether they start hostilities, and they have disadvantage on attack rolls made as part of any surprise round against you or your allies.

This gives you a concrete “we had a deal” mechanic that still leaves room for betrayal if story demands it.

Level 10 – Lunar Intervention (Base)

Mechanically unchanged; under Velis, interventions might look like:

• A cart breaking a wheel to delay pursuers.
• A sudden gust revealing a hidden path.
• A coin landing in your favor at a crucial decision.

Level 11 – Roadwarden’s Aura

You become a mobile sanctuary of Velis on the road.

Roadwarden’s Aura

• While you are conscious, you emit a 10‑ft‑radius aura.
• Within the aura:
• Allies:
• Gain +1 bonus to all saving throws vs effects that impede movement (grapples, restrain, slow, paralyze, difficult terrain if it’s magical, etc.; GM adjudication).
• Have advantage on ability checks to navigate, climb, jump, or otherwise overcome environmental obstacles.
• Hostile creatures:
• Treat all difficult terrain within the aura as normal terrain for you and your allies,
• But still as difficult terrain for themselves, if the terrain is nonmagical and not created by their own magic.

Additionally:

• You and allies in the aura have advantage on checks to avoid getting lost while traveling.

At 18th, this aura will expand/improve.

Level 12 – (Base ASI)

Level 13 – Fortune’s Favor

Velis leans on the scales a bit more for you.

Fortune’s Favor

• You gain resistance to force damage (representing near‑misses from pure magic) or, if you’d rather, resistance to damage from traps (GM’s call: maybe half damage from non‑spell traps).
• Once per short rest, when you:
• Roll a 1 on any d20 roll (attack, save, or ability check),
• You can reroll the die and must take the new result.
• In addition, when you finish a long rest, you gain one Luck Die:
• A single d6 that you can add to any one roll you make during the day (attack, check, or save) after seeing the roll but before knowing the outcome.
• You can only have one Luck Die at a time; it vanishes at the next long rest if unused.

This is a lighter version of the Lucky feat, tuned to class power.

Level 14 – (Base: Third Moon / Deeper Influence)

No additional Velis‑specific feature.

Level 15 – Nightwatch Zenith (Base)

Under Velis, Nightwatch might manifest as:

• Always finding the one decent campsite in a cursed forest.
• Guards “just happening” to wake up when danger draws near.

Mechanics remain as per your base Nightwatch; this is flavor.

Level 16 – (Base ASI)

Level 17 – Velis Confluence

Your Lunar Confluence gains a strong travel/luck rider.

Velis Confluence

While Lunar Confluence is active (1 minute):

• You and allies within 30 ft gain:
• +10 ft to all movement speeds, and
• A +1 bonus to all saving throws.
• Once during each Confluence, you can cast teleport (or your setting’s high‑tier long‑range travel spell) with these benefits:
• Without expending a spell slot, and
• Without risk of mishap as long as:
• The destination is a place you have seen or have a detailed, accurate description of (e.g., major city, temple of Velis, known sigil circle).
• In addition, during Confluence:
• When a creature within 30 ft fails a saving throw, you can use your reaction to let them reroll that save.
• You can do this a number of times during a Confluence equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).

This makes Velis Clerics phenomenal for “we must get there now” emergencies and clutch saves in boss fights.

Level 18 – Avatar of the Crossroads

You become a living crossroad of fate and roads.

Avatar of the Crossroads

• Your Roadwarden’s Aura radius increases to 30 ft.
• While conscious, you and allies in the aura:
• Ignore nonmagical difficult terrain entirely.
• Have advantage on initiative rolls (they are always “ready to move”).
• Once per long rest, you can invoke Fateful Detour:
• When an encounter or event begins (GM’s discretion: combat, social scene, or major hazard), you can declare:
• “We take another path.”
• Mechanically:
• The GM re‑frames the scene to give the party one major alternative option they would not otherwise have had—e.g.:
• A side street to flank instead of frontal assault.
• A sympathetic merchant in the crowd you recognize.
• A sudden break in enemy lines or a collapsing bridge blocking pursuers.
• In mechanical terms, for one round or one exchange:
• All allies within 30 ft gain advantage on one key roll (attack, check, or save) tied to exploiting this “detour.”

This is intentionally narrative‑heavy: a late‑game power to “bend” the story’s path slightly in your favor.

Level 19 – (Base ASI)

Level 20 – Lunar Avatar (Base)

Your generic Lunar Avatar capstone applies. For Velis, this might appear as:

• A cloak of starlit roads unfurling behind you.
• Ghostly caravan bells audible when you move.
• Every step leaving luminous footprints that fade into newly opened paths.

Mechanically unchanged; it’s pure flavor alignment.