Getting Six Feet Deep into the Path to the Grave

 The Grave Domain is maybe the Cleric subclass I'm most familiar with. One of my most consistent players in my 6-years-running Ravnica campaign is a Grave Cleric (he was Orzhov but has broken with the guild over the efforts by the guild leadership to maintain their hold on power through undeath - actually, by this point in the campaign, the Obzedat have all been banished to true death in Agryem, and there are a lot of internal reforms), but on top of that, when I did (most of) Curse of Strahd, our Cleric was also a Grave Cleric.

The new version of this subclass sparked a lot of debate because of the perception that it had been nerfed. I want to investigate that.

Now, several features changed. Sentinel at Death's Door is more effective now when it's used, but you can only use it when a target is Bloodied, meaning that you can't save a friend from a big crit at the start of combat. It's basically a trickier judgment call now - typically I see it just automatically used if the Cleric has a reaction open to negate any critical hit.

But the much biggest controversy is over Path to the Grave.

The Xanathar's version of this had you use your Channel Divinity to set up a monster, giving them vulnerability to the next attack that hit them. Ideally, you get someone like a Paladin to hit them and then expend a high-level Divine Smite, or have a Rogue land a Sneak Attack. It required careful planning, though the Cleric can opt to Ready this action to ensure that the right character is about to attack (I'm not sure if I'd let you declare this after you see an ally crit, though if you're waiting for them to crit and they never do, it'd be a wasted action... might be ok).

Anyway, the new version works very differently:

Now, you curse the target (no save) as a bonus action (you do need to be within 30 feet). This lasts until the start of your next turn. The curse imposes Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. Then, when you or an ally lands an attack on the target, you can end the curse (no action required) to cause the attack to deal Radiant or Necrotic damage equal to your Cleric level.

Let's unpack things a little:

First off, the disadvantage that the curse imposes is entirely new. That aspect, at least, is a full buff.

But what about the damage?

Well, you're doing 3-20 damage, depending on your level. What's interesting about this is that it really doesn't matter who hits or how hard. An off-hand dagger attack is going to benefit from this just as much as a Paladin smiting on a crit. It's flat damage, and the only thing you need to deliver it is for someone to hit the target before your next turn. This can even be you, as this only takes your bonus action to activate.

Now, vulnerability did double all damage, effectively (if they were resistant, you'd negate that, which still doubles the damage they would have done. It doesn't help with immunity, but that's just doubling zero). So, basically, it's a question of whether the ally whose attack you're boosting was dealing damage with a single attack higher than your level.

I do think there's a good chance they were. Even a dual-wielding fighter is going to probably be doing something like 1d6+3 damage on a hit when you first get this, which is obviously more than the 3 you're adding.

But at higher levels, what kind of damage are we looking at? A Paladin hitting with a +3 Greatsword and with Great Weapon Master and capped Strength at level 17 is going to hit for 2d6+1d8+14, which is 25.5. So, yeah, vulnerability would be better.

But a level 20 Monk might still only be hitting on an individual attack for 1d12+10 (if they have +3 Wraps of Unarmed Prowess and had capped their Dex before hitting level 20,) meaning that Path to the Grave would actually be more damage for them than the old version (well, if they crit the vulnerability would be better).

    Look: I think in a vacuum, this does look like a nerf. It's certainly not going to enable insane burst damage the way the old version worked.

But the disadvantage imposed by the curse can potentially be really helpful, making it harder for them to resist things like grapples and stuns, or just full on damage from something like your own Spirit Guardians.

I maintain that if we had not previously had the old Grave Domain Cleric, people would actually be pretty excited about the one out of Horrors Within. Really, only the Phantom Rogue, to me, missed the mark (it could be so much better if you got the Spirit Trinkets earlier).