Lux Tenebris: The Gray Wardens

Yrella made her way through the night, confident that there was nothing to fear in the dark. After all, there was little that could still harm her, in this world or the next, thanks to the blessings of Rovelek.

As she returned to her territory, she was aware of the lingering dead. Most were recent, slain during the Draconic Legions' march through the region. Some were older. Souls still bound to the earthly plain by pain and longing, attachments that bound them to the material world, compelling them to ignore the sweet surrender that the God of the Dead offered.

And, beyond them, as always, Yrella could sense the enemy stirring, roused by all the recent death and chaos the dragonborn had brought to this land. Yrella could sense his presence,like a fetid stink, rising around her.

Somek. Defiler of the Grave. Enemy of the Dead.

She ran her chain through her hand, spinning it expertly. Her spirit blazed and, if it had still been possible, her heart would have pounded in anticipation.

If the Defiler, or his spawn, dared appear in these lands again, she and the other Gray Wardens would be waiting, to send them to their dooms.

The Gray Wardens are priests of Rovelek, the God of the Dead, who sacrificed their mortal lives in service to the god. Their devotion was so great, their self-sacrifice so pure, that the God of the Dead resurrected them to continue their service to him as members of his Gray Wardens.

The Gray Wardens are not undead. Whereas undead are created via necromancy, the Gray Wardens are revived by the divine intent of Rovelek himself.  It is devine, radiant energy that raises them up and sustains them in service to their god.

This power leaves its mark on the Gray Wardens. Their skin and eyes possess an eerie luminosity that many other creatures find distracting or unnerving. For this reason, Gray Wardens typically wear long shroud-like robes when interacting with others.

As a symbol of their devotion to Rovelek, the Gray Wardens also wear chains. Some of these chains are purely ceremonial and decorative, but some fuction as practical weapons. For many Gray Wardens, their chains are the only physical weapon they weild.

The Gray Wardens are all Clerics of Rovelek. Players who wish to play a Gray Warden must play a cleric.  Multiclassing, however, is allowed.

The Gray Wardens have several special traits, listed below:

Blessed Nature. A Gray Warden does not require food, water, air or sleep to survive.

Necrotic Resistance.  Gray Wardens have resistance to necrotic damage.

Regeneration. A Gray Warden regain 20 hit points at the start of her turn if she has at least 1 hit point.

In addition to these special traits, Gray Wardens possess the standard cleric abilities, but a Divine Domain unique to them.

Gray Warden Domain Spells

1st Level         Charm Person, Sleep

3rd Level         Dark Vision, Invisibility

5th Level         Nondetection, Suggestion

7th Level         Greater Invisibility, Hallucinatory Terrain

9th Level         Antilife Shell, Telekinesis

Bonus Proficiency.

At 1st level, Gray Wardens gain proficiency with their chain weapon.  This weapon deals

1d4 bludgeoning damage and has the following properties: Reach, Special, Versatile(1d8), Finesse.

Death-Aware.

At 1st level, you gain the power to sense the presence of the dead and undead within one mile of you. And although you can differentiate between a restless spirit and an undead monster, you cannot identify what sort of specific undead you sense with this ability.

Channel Divinity: Death's Mercy

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to heal the badly injured.

As an action, you present your holy symbol and evoke healing energy that can restore a number of hit points equal to five times your cleric level in a single individual. You cannot use this feature on an undead or a construct.

Aura of Protection

Starting at 6th level, whenever you or a friendly creature within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature gains a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1).  You must be conscious to grant this bonus.

Divine Strike

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your melee attacks with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a melee 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.

Rovelek's Revenge

Starting at 17th level, you can use your action to project an aura of divine light around yourself that lasts for 1 minute or until you dismiss it using another action. You emit bright light in a 60-foot radius and dim light 30 feet beyond that. Any undead creature or necromancer within that area has disadvantage on attacks and saving throws for the duration.