Summary

  • Not all clerics in D&D have to be nice — evil Deities like Bhaal, Myrkul, Bane, Lolth, and Shar offer interesting roleplaying opportunities.
  • Devil and Demon Lords can also make powerful evil clerical Deities, providing unique storylines and opportunities for redemption arcs in your campaign.

Clerics are famous for being the group's healers, making them the nice guys who always look out for those in need. Well, it's time to let your friends know that Life Domain isn't the only cleric subclass in Dungeons & Dragons. Or even better, if you are a Dungeon Master, you can use clerics as the starting point for an excellent main villain in your campaign.

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To that end, we'll discuss the many evil Deities you can choose for your cleric and how a servant of said Deity could behave, ensuring your baddie will be terrifying or giving you a nice opportunity to roleplay an evil player character.

Updated on December 4, 2024, by Lucas Olah: You know, there are a lot of gods in D&D. Though the list offered a good number already, we knew we had only scratched the surface of D&D's pantheon, especially considering how blurry the line of godhood can be here. Thus, between more evil deities, powerful demons who achieved godhood, and evil people who just ascended, we have quite a few more to talk about, going a bit deeper into this abyss.

If you are a player rather than a DM, keep in mind that roleplaying an evil character, especially one that serves something even worse, can cause a lot of conflict and even have good PCs turn against you with reason.

Still, this is an interesting way to begin your character, and you can reject your Deity during the story and have a fun redemption arc, for instance, or an evil character can work with good ones if there's a proper motive. Or play in an evil campaign.

17 Talona

Mother Of All Plagues

Official art from the book Faiths And Pantheons

Talona is an old deity within D&D, associated with many ailments. As her title suggests, she's related to illnesses and decay, making her an excellent fit for death domain clerics.

She's not a character who often appears in recent lore, but you can use this in your favor as a cleric of an old evil goddess returning for whatever plot is going on in your campaign. And though we're talking about clerics, a circle of spores druid re-skinned as a cleric would be a great pick, too.

16 Vecna

The Whispered One

Vecna casting his Ritual of Remaking by Kieran Yanner

If you want a more popular evil god, this one is as good as it gets. Vecna is the ultimate evil being in D&D, which admittedly makes it very difficult for a player to be his follower, but a cleric of Vecna is a great choice for a BBEG.

He doesn't have a particular divine domain, but a cleric who focuses on learning dark powers and obtaining knowledge (and keeping it all a secret to them and their god) is a good archetype for a cleric of Vecna. Bonus points if you're a reborn, dhampir, or anything that can pass off as an undead character, whether it's official or homebrew.

15 Asmodeus

Lord Of The Ninth

Asmodeus the Archfiend by Aleksi Briclot

While there is some debate on whether Asmodeus should be considered a god, in the worst-case scenario, he's still the most powerful archdevil and his power is equivalent to that of a greater god. Plus, the irony of being a cleric of the top devil out there is too good to ignore.

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It's perfect for a trickery cleric who can attempt all kinds of deals with people in an attempt to get souls for his god, as they are always good at making more devils for the Blood War. Still, a more battle-hardened cleric also works well with this deity.

14 Orcus

Lord Of Undeath

Orcus 5th Edition via Wizards of the Coast.

Orcus is another 'deity' who would be hard to work as a player, but a cleric of Orcus would make an excellent big bad. Orcus is a demon who wishes to turn everyone into undead, and he has utter control over them, even going as far as having power over liches.

That said, the death domain works well here, given all the boosts it gets for necrotic spells and access to Animate Dead (though any cleric can get this spell, really). And all you need to do is kill left and right to please your god, with bonus points for turning your victims undead.

13 Bhaal

Lord Of Murder

Bhaal, Lord of Murder by Justine Jones 

If you're familiar with Baldur's Gate 3, there are three evil Gods who are perfect options, known as the Dead Three. One of them is Bhaal. He's also one of the easiest ones to roleplay as a servant because all you need to do is essentially be a serial killer, with no pattern to your victims whatsoever.

He doesn't care who or what you're killing as long as you're killing people regularly. You can even work with a nice party as long as you're constantly killing your enemies, and even killing other servants of Bhaal is fair game.

12 Myrkul

God Of Death And Decay

Artwork of Myrkul, Lord of Bones by Isis Sargare.

Continuing the Dead Three, Myrkul is a perfect option for a more neutral character who sees death as a part of life and fully embraces it — though you'll still spread the fear of death to others. The fact that people die, even loved ones, should not affect one of their worshipers, and their animated corpse is good enough company.

That said, worshiping Myrkul is rare, and there are no active places that do so, so your character can be a lone worshiper or part of a secret cult, and people can become afraid of you if they learn about your worship. All in all, this is the ideal god for a character who resembles the figure of the Grim Reaper and if you want to tackle necromancy, which Myrkul is notorious for.

11 Bane

God Of Tyranny

Official art via Wizards of the Coast

The last of the Dead Three, Bane, is a better option for a more subtle evil character — at least at first. As a servant of Bane, you don't necessarily need to perform multiple killing sprees, but it's important for you always to hold the position of power over others, no matter how.

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This opens the door for a lot of deception during your low-level sessions, and then using brute force to keep every NPC in line when you become stronger. A tyrannical servant of Bane is also a perfect BBEG for a campaign, ruling over their lands through oppression, and you can have a whole campaign about taking out their power base and then killing them.

10 Vlaakith CLVII

The Lich Queen

Vlaakith the Lich Queen via Wizards of the Coast

Vlaakith isn't an actual goddess, but rather a powerful lich and a ruler of the githyanki. Still, she's absurdly powerful and essentially the must-pick option for a githyanki cleric - unless your character isn't fond of their empire, but that's a different discussion.

While the death domain fits here as well, given her lichdom, war, tempest, or any other domain that works well as a damage-dealing character will certainly please your queen, as she praises her soldiers above all. If you are a player, though, we suggest forsaking her before she ascends you.

9 Lolth

Queen Of Spiders

Lolth, Spider Queen by Tyler Jacobson

We urge you to think thoroughly about whether picking Lolth is a good idea, as she's one of the most chaotic choices possible. She's a weird mix of Bane and Bhaal, where you do everything in your power to be on top and rule everyone, but nothing stops you from killing just for the pleasure of doing so, especially those your character would consider inferior to them — which would be quite the list.

Having a worshiper of Lolth in the game will also bring racism and sexism into the story, as your character would have to be a female drow and would likely treat everyone who's not a drow poorly, as well as everyone who's male (even, and especially, male drows) as mere tools. Forsaking her would make a fun redemption arc, or such a cleric would also be a perfect BBEG option for the DM.

8 Gruumsh

The One-Eyed God

Official artwork from Faiths and Pantheons

Gruumsh is a curious figure here, as his evilness is becoming less of a key aspect. He's the creator of all orcs (and thus great for an orc cleric) and is an evil deity who encourages war and orc supremacy over the world. However, as orcs stopped being considered inherently evil over the years, new material doesn't paint Gruumsh as being super evil anymore.

He's still a hardened warrior god who is an embodiment of most tropes associated with orcs, such as being big, tough, and a great warrior. Whether he's evil or more neutral will depend on you and your DM, but you can give him a similar relationship between him and orcs as Lolth has with drows.