#just a hobo mage wandering around healing people

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

🎀  to see them in a cute outfit

Yes, I'm finally answering the asks from this prompt list. It's only been, uh. Almost a month.

ANYWAY, this probably isn't what the prompt had in mind when it said 'cute,' but I always think Dusk looks comfy and cute in this glam. I dunno what to tell you!

[grayintogreen]

NO FUCK IT. I mentioned Death Cleric!Sesshomaru and no one asked how, but I’m gonna tell you how, anyway, because I love the idea too much and thought about it ALL FUCKING DAY. So now you have to live with the knowledge that I told you how to build him...... as an NPC because a lot of this requires way too much DM approval for something that will probably make all your nerd friends call you a weeb, and when you’re the DM, no one can call you a weeb because you’re playing a death cleric with a Blight Sword.

Let’s begin.

ABILITY SCORES

Sesshoumaru’s highest stat should be his Wisdom, not just because it determines his caster DC, but also because it helps his Insight and Survival checks, which are probably his two most used skill checks (does he always succeed at survival checks or does he just wander around and somehow accidentally manage to always be where the action is??? Who knows).

Constitution should be his next highest. He takes a lot of hits and as a combat oriented caster, he’s GONNA need to be tanky to hell and back. 

Dexterity should be his next highest- Sesshomaru relies primarily on his speed and agility in fights and given he’s gonna be spellslinging more than anything, so the extra boost to AC is more important than an extra strength modifier to your damage- especially when your main sword deals 2d6 necrotic damage on every hit (more on that later).

Strength is next, since he’s no slouch. Which leaves us with the final two- Intelligence and Charisma. Now ideally, Sesshomaru’s dump stats would still be over 10, just because of who he is as a person, but if you’re rolling it properly, that’s not always going to be feasible unless you roll bonkers well. In canon, Intelligence is his dump stat, and I’d agree it’s probably the best choice, because while he’s not a simpleton, he doesn’t always have more than one braincell to rub together. I wouldn’t knock Charisma as a dump stat, however, just for comedy’s sake. Sesshomaru may be aristocratic and attractive, but he’s bigoted, blunt, prefers to walk away rather than come up with a lie or even a legitimate answer, and generally about as charismatic as a hot pocket on most days. He gets away with it, because he’s pretty, but let’s be real, Jaken is where he keeps his Charisma and that is saying a lot about how little he really has.

(No, really, Jaken does ALL the talking and negotiating for him. That little bitch has all the ranks in Persuasion, and none for Sesshomaru byyeeee.)

SPELLS

The good thing about clerics is they custom pick their own spells so even if you created a Sesshomaru-skinned death cleric and then he had a massive change of heart, you can still have him start to prep the heals, but as a starter pack, no heals here. 

Death Clerics are good at one thing- making things dead. It’s all in the name. Their specialty is necrotic damage which is… mostly decay and rot and undead things, obviously. Now, Sesshomaru’s main aesthetic is poison/corrosive acid (it varies okay), so whatever poison/acid spells you can nab, go for it, but there’s also no reason that any of the special nasty necrotic spells like Inflict Wounds can’t have some of that weird corrosive flavor. Honestly, the poison claw is basically Inflict Wounds, already, just battery acid-flavored.

But wait, there’s more!  A spiritual weapon that looks like an acid whip? Done.

Being so good at making things degenerate and rot that even things that resist that kind of thing start rotting? Hey, we got a channel divinity for that!

I’m not going to go too deeply into this because spells are picked on the daily, but Sesshomaru as a cleric is 100% the asshole who picks the same spells every day and they are always fucking damage dealing. Seriously, if you played Sesshomaru as a cleric in an actual D&D party and he was the only cleric, the party would kill him (if he didn’t kill them first).

Also, hilariously, Death Clerics get Cloudkill as a bonus spell at 9th level, which is really just miasma, but no one ever said this would be note perfect. Just enjoy the irony.

WEAPONS/EQUIPMENT

Also known as “Sesshomaru has exactly enough attunement slots for all of this!”

Tenseiga: Literally just a legendary +1 sword that can cast Resurrection and only damages things of the undead subtype. The stipulation on the Resurrection spell is that it can be used on a single person once, so even if you can bypass needing diamonds to rez a person by using it, you only get one freebie for the same person. Also you’d like… have to get him to use it. Fun hook for your campaign! Party seeks wandering death cleric with healing sword who likes murdering people. 

Bakusaiga: Another legendary sword (honestly I’d put it at a +2, because it’s just that badass) that deals 2d6 necrotic damage on every successful hit and can cast Blight once per long rest. It’s a Blight Sword.. Just… Look at it. It’s a Blight sword.

Armor: The very nice +2 leather armor includes the mokomoko, which has been enchanted to cast Fly. Of course. 

If you want to include Tokijin as a weaker option to the obnoxiousness that Is Bakusaiga, then it’s probably just a fancy sword that deals lightning damage. Sometimes the lightning looks like a dragon! Because no one said it couldn’t.

BACKSTORY

Backstory is a little harder to spin into a cohesive narrative in most D&D settings, but also not hard at all- parent issues and birthright bullshit is the bread and butter of a good character backstory and/or subplot. Just say he’s the descendant of some minor echelon deity (think The Traveler or Vesh in Critical Role) whom he serves simply due to pride even if he’s an angry shithead who is real mad that Deity Daddy gave his younger, idiot brother a better blade and destiny than him, and left him with cleric powers and an ultimately weaker weapon. 

HE DIDN’T ASK TO BE THE WHITE MAGE, DAD. Obviously, this part is very much up to your discretion, but that’s how I feel about getting the most reliable amount of canon-compliant resentment out of a character meant to invoke nostalgia and probably kill your party.

So there you go, one tanky murder hobo cleric of death. That knowledge is out in the world. You’re welcome.