Vaelthoris
Vaelthoris was shaped in a forgotten age when a sect of death clerics broke from their patron's orthodoxy, insisting that dominion over death carried an equal obligation to shepherd the living. The focus is carved from pale ashwood and capped with a disc of polished bone at one end and a shard of perpetually warm amber at the other, light and ending housed in a single instrument. Scholars who study it disagree on whether it was made to redeem its wielder or to redeem death itself.
Mechanics
A consecrated focus that bends necrotic energy into radiant purpose, scarring undead with searing holy light and sealing wounds that death magic would otherwise deepen.
Sanctified Inversion
When you cast a spell through Vaelthoris that deals necrotic damage, each die of necrotic damage it deals to undead creatures is treated as radiant damage instead. Against living creatures, the necrotic damage is unaffected. This conversion applies to all dice of the spell's necrotic damage, you do not choose which dice are affected.
Aureate Seal
When a creature within 30 feet of you is reduced to 0 hit points by a spell cast through Vaelthoris, a burst of radiant energy erupts from the point of death. Each undead creature within 10 feet of that point must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Luminant Mercy
Once per long rest, as an action, you press Vaelthoris against a creature you can touch that is suffering from a necrotic curse, a disease, or the poisoned condition caused by undead or fiends. The condition or effect ends immediately. Pale golden light bleeds from the point of contact and lingers on the creature's skin for a moment before fading.
DM Notes
Sanctified Inversion is the load-bearing mechanic and is strongest in campaigns with frequent undead encounters, in those contexts it effectively removes a common resistance for free and can meaningfully increase spell damage. Against non-undead it grants no bonus, which keeps the item from being universally dominant. Aureate Seal can produce reliable action denial against undead hordes when combined with area spells, especially Inflict Wounds or Blight; DMs running undead-heavy encounters should note that this can cascade, one death triggering the frightened condition on adjacent undead who then fail their next attack due to the condition. Luminant Mercy is intentionally broad in its eligibility (necrotic curses, disease, poison from undead/fiends) but limited to one use per long rest and touch range, so it should not replace the Cleric's healing spell slots in practice. The item is thematically appropriate for a Death Domain Cleric pursuing a heroic interpretation of their domain, life and death held together rather than in opposition.
Generated with: Level 9 · Cleric · Death Domain · Arcane focus · Heroic · Radiant / Holy · Rare