Conduit Core Class: Warlock
The Warlock
Warlocks are pact-magic casters, being a conduit for magic through their otherworldly patron rather than another means. Warlocks in Dunia aren't all too common but more and more are found as otherworldly entities look for new victims on this plane to enact their will and desires. Like Sorcerers, Warlocks were at one point hunted down across the world for their often unsanctified methods of casting magic. The Warlock's magic casting capabilities were slightly altered by the Cataclysm.
Archetype Overview
Pact of the Fiend
Through your lowest point in life you reach out in anguish, seeking help from without. The anguish draws an unseen force to you, and you can feel a surge of energy welling up from below the ground as a magic circle etches itself in fire in front of you. You are presented with your soon-to-be patron, who has somehow managed to cross the barrier between worlds created by the Cataclysm. They snap their fingers and a floating scroll with a blackened feather appear before you, bearing strange texts that seem to twist and undulate, lined by supernatural flames that lick the edges of the paper.
The creature before you, however it has chosen to manifest in front of you, bids that you make a contract with it, indicating that you have no other choices left to you. It has been watching you for quite some time from a tremendous distance with great interest as your path has taken you through great suffering. You take the blackened quill and sign your name on the paper for the promise of unimaginable power to exact revenge or enact justice with a terrible cost. The scroll rolls up, the creature snaps its fingers again, and in a flash, all you are left with in front of you is a thin wisp of lingering smoke and the fading smell of fire and brimstone.
You have made a pact with a fiend from the infernal planes of existence. Though the connection to Dunia has faded from both the Celestial and Infernal planes, contact is still possible through areas where the veil between worlds has thinned.
Pact of the Reticent Observer
You feel a presence watching you, sometimes taking form in your dreams, but never saying a word. Its aura grows stronger when you find yourself closer to a source of magic, as if the veil is thinning with the passage of time. Finally, a point comes where it speaks to you in your dreams, but only to your emotions, not actually saying any words. You begin to feel a longing to see it more. The form takes shape. It's an inner reflection of someone from long ago, from some distant realm lost to time and space. Their eyes are black like the abyss and their cadence of speaking is alien, foreign. They guide you in your dream to an altar and bid that you make a pact to do something "interesting" for them and shape the world with some inscrutable plan. You choose to heed their call. They are now speaking in riddles and cryptic statements, but the meaning is still unclear.
You awaken from your slumber, and the world is no longer the same for you. Shadows leap out of corners to embrace you. Eyes glow in the dark, only to be revealed that there was nothing there. Muttering voices fill the air when you travel familiar places where once there was silence, but when you seek the source, you cannot locate it.
You discover that you now possess otherworldly powers that grant you sight beyond sight. The ability to instantly blink to another location over short distances. Time bends in your favor when you least expect it. You find that you feel better when you kill for its arcane design as it whispers poetry in your dreams. The hunger for more grows as you seek to do the bidding of the Reticent Observer, and so does its hunger for your subservience.
Pact of the Storm Sovereign
The Storm Sovereign, the Lord of Lightning, the Queen of the Tempest, goes by many names yet not many comprehend its vast power and existence. Inexplicably, the connection to the Storm Sovereign is at its strongest when near the MEZ Anchorpoint known as the Plateau of Storms. Passersby that may have caught the influence of the Storm Sovereign can sometimes recall a roiling growl of thunder emanating from seemingly nowhere, and thunderclaps occur without warning or notice, even when the skies are clear.
For you, though, an abrupt dark cloud manifests when you breach the boundaries of where the Storm Sovereign's domain has touched. Wind whips up to hurricane forces around you, but the air immediately in your vicinity is still. You hear a beckoning, sourceless call that crackles with energy. The storm passes without a trace, and you may return to your daily routine bewildered by what you had just experienced. Other times, that same crackling energy grows and you find yourself drawn to this otherworldly power. It calls to you, tempts you with the alluring promise of the sheer destructive force of the storms. You finally answer its questions though they were not posed directly. It is then, and too late, you realize, you are now an extension of the Storm Sovereign's will.
For some, the Storm Sovereign may appear in visions as a formless being of pure energy, for others, one of the old Lords that wields a giant bolt of lightning, and for a few, a great Queen that commands the very air around her with her presence.
Those that act in the Storm Sovereign's interest are often haunted by its nonverbal nudges, pushing them to go further than before, to sow destruction and chaos where they do battle. While they are not in combat, their minds have an insidious rumbling that grows louder and louder the longer they wait, beckoning them to fight in the Sovereign's name. They strike like lightning, erupting with tremendous arcs of electricity as they cast their spells to dart in and out of the fray.
Features
Player Equipment Category
Hit Points
Hit Dice: D8
Starting HP: 8 + CON Modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5 if averaged) + your CON modifier per Warlock level after 1st
Hit Dice: D8
Starting HP: 8 + CON Modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5 if averaged) + your CON modifier per Warlock level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light Armor
Weapons: Simple Melee Weapons, Firearms (Simple)
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose 2 from Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Nature, and Religion
Armor: Light Armor
Weapons: Simple Melee Weapons, Firearms (Simple)
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose 2 from Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Nature, and Religion
Starting Equipment
(a) Baseline Light Armor and one Common Resistance Mod
or
(b) Baseline Light Armor and One Mundane Simple 2-Handed Longarm and 4 Spare Magazines (Shotgun spare ammunition is doubled, and comes with 4 slugs)
(a) Component Pack
or
(b) Arcane Focus
(a) Scholar's Pack
or
(b) Dungeoneer's Pack
(a) One Mundane Simple 2-handed Longarm and 6 Spare Magazines
or
(b) One Mundane 1-handed Sidearm and 8 Spare Magazines
Two Daggers and any Common Simple Melee Weapon
Ammunition matching the above weapon's spare magazines and one loaded magazine per weapon
(a) Baseline Light Armor and one Common Resistance Mod
or
(b) Baseline Light Armor and One Mundane Simple 2-Handed Longarm and 4 Spare Magazines (Shotgun spare ammunition is doubled, and comes with 4 slugs)
(a) Component Pack
or
(b) Arcane Focus
(a) Scholar's Pack
or
(b) Dungeoneer's Pack
(a) One Mundane Simple 2-handed Longarm and 6 Spare Magazines
or
(b) One Mundane 1-handed Sidearm and 8 Spare Magazines
Two Daggers and any Common Simple Melee Weapon
Ammunition matching the above weapon's spare magazines and one loaded magazine per weapon
Features
1st Level
Eldritch Invocations
In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed eldritch invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.
At 2nd level, you gain two eldritch invocations of your choice. Your invocation options are detailed at the end of the class description. When you gain certain warlock levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice, as shown in the Invocations Known column of the Warlock table.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level.
Pact Magic
Your arcane research and the magic bestowed on you by your patron have given you facility with spells.
Cantrips
You know two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.
Pact Caster Volatility
The Warlock table shows your volatility threshold that you have. The table also shows what the level of those spells are; all of your spell casts are the same level. To cast one of your warlock spells of 1st level or higher, you must raise your volatility by a matching amount. You remove all volatility on a short or long rest.
As a warlock, if you cast a damaging leveled spell while at or above the 'backfire threshold', it can backfire, but for double the damage detailed in the Critical Fail Penalties section of Magical Volatility and Recovery. This gives the warlock class a greater degree of risk vs. reward and flexibility if you choose to push your limits but no net negative change in terms of spellcasting from base D&D 5E warlocks.
You can only cast spells at your highest spell level. For example, when you are 5th level, your maximum spell level is 3rd. To cast the 1st-level spell thunderwave, you must cast it at your maximum spell level, so you cast it as a 3rd-level spell. This will raise your volatility by 3.
Prepared Spells of Level 1+
You prepare the list of level 1+ spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To start, choose two level 1 Warlock spells. Charm Person and Hex are recommended.
The number of spells on your list increases as you gain Warlock levels, as shown in the Prepared Spells column of the Warlock Features table. Whenever that number increases, choose additional Warlock spells until the number of spells on your list matches the number in the table. The chosen spells must be of a level no higher than what's shown in the table's Slot Level column for your level. When you reach level 6, for example, you learn a new Warlock spell, which can be of levels 1–3.
If another Warlock feature gives you spells that you always have prepared, those spells don't count against the number of spells you can prepare with this feature, but those spells otherwise count as Warlock spells for you.
Changing Your Prepared Spells
Whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one spell on your list with another Warlock spell of an eligible level.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells, so you use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a warlock spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spellcasting Focus
You can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.
2nd Level
Outworlds Communion
You can perform an esoteric rite for 1 minute. At the end of it, you reduce your Volatility by half of its maximum threshold. Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a Long Rest.
3rd Level
Otherworldly Patron
At 3rd level, you have struck a bargain with an otherworldly being of your choice: the Fiend, the Reticent Observer, or the Storm Sovereign, each of which is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.
Otherworldly Patron features
Pact of the Fiend
Pact of the Reticent Observer
Pact of the Storm Sovereign
4th Level
Ability Score Improvement or Feat
Choose an ASI or feat this level
5th Level
Invocations Known
You now have up to 5 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up as long as you meet the requirements.
Heightened Magical Awareness
Starting at 5th level, you are able to intuitively detect when and where ambient magical volatility levels are elevated. Not only does your connection to your patron feel more tangible while in a 'Zone', but the general feeling of magic moving through you creates a sense of heightened chaos and peril.
6th Level
Otherworldly Patron features
Pact of the Fiend
Pact of the Reticent Observer
Pact of the Storm Sovereign
7th Level
Invocations Known
You now have 6 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up as long as you meet the requirements.
8th Level
Ability Score Improvement or Feat
Choose an ASI or feat this level
9th Level
Invocations Known
You now have 7 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up as long as you meet the requirements.
10th Level
Otherworldly Patron features
Pact of the Fiend
Pact of the Reticent Observer
Pact of the Storm Sovereign
11th Level
Mystic Arcanum
At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose one 6th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this arcanum.
You can cast one of your arcanum spells once without raising your volatility. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
At higher levels, you gain more warlock spells of your choice that can be cast in this way: one 7th-level spell at 13th level, one 8th-level spell at 15th level, and one 9th-level spell at 17th level. You regain all uses of your Mystic Arcanum when you finish a long rest.
12th Level
Ability Score Improvement or Feat
Choose an ASI or feat this level
Invocations Known
You now have 8 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up.
13th Level
Mystic Arcanum7th Level
At 13th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret to be added to your arcanum. Choose one 7th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this addition to your arcanum.
14th Level
Otherworldly Patron features
Pact of the Fiend
Pact of the Reticent Observer
Pact of the Storm Sovereign
15th Level
Mystic Arcanum 8th level
At 15th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret to be added to your arcanum. Choose one 8th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this addition to your arcanum.
Invocations Known
You now have 9 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up.
16th Level
Ability Score Improvement or Feat
Choose an ASI or feat this level
17th Level
Mystic Arcanum 9th Level
At 17th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret to be added to your arcanum. Choose one 9th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this addition to your arcanum.
18th Level
Invocations Known
You now have 10 Eldritch Invocations at this level. You can exchange one of your chosen invocations for another whenever you level up.
19th Level
Ability Score Improvement or Feat
Choose an ASI or feat this level
20th Level
Eldritch Master
At 20th level, you can draw on your inner reserve of mystical power while entreating your patron to restore your magical stability. You can spend 1 minute entreating your patron for aid to remove all magical volatility. Once you restore your magical stability with this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.
Eldritch Invocations
If an eldritch invocation has prerequisites, you must meet them to learn it. You can learn the invocation at the same time that you meet its prerequisites. A level prerequisite refers to your level in this class.
Agonizing Blast
Prerequisite: eldritch blast cantrip
When you cast eldritch blast, add your Charisma modifier to the damage it deals on a hit.
Armor of Shadows
You can cast Mage Armor on yourself at will, without raising your Volatility.
Ascendant Step
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Levitate on yourself at will, without raising your Volatility.
Beast Speech
You can cast Speak with Animals at will, without raising your Volatility.
Beguiling Influence
You gain proficiency in the Deception and Persuasion skills.
Bewitching Whispers
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast Compulsion once without raising your Volatility. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Book of Ancient Secrets
Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome feature
You can now inscribe magical rituals in your Book of Shadows. Choose two 1st-level spells that have the ritual tag from any class's spell list (the two needn't be from the same list). The spells appear in the book and don't count against the number of spells you know. With your Book of Shadows in hand, you can cast the chosen spells as rituals. You can't cast the spells except as rituals, unless you've learned them by some other means. You can also cast a warlock spell you know as a ritual if it has the ritual tag.
On your adventures, you can add other ritual spells to your Book of Shadows. When you find such a spell, you can add it to the book if the spell's level is equal to or less than half your warlock level (rounded up) and if you can spare the time to transcribe the spell. For each level of the spell, the transcription process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp for the rare inks needed to inscribe it.
Chains of Carceri
Prerequisite: 15th level, Pact of the Chain feature
You can cast hold monster at will–targeting a celestial, fiend, or elemental–without expending a spell slot or material components. You must finish a long rest before you can use this invocation on the same creature again.
Devil's Sight
You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
Dreadful Word
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast Confusion once without raising your Volatility. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Eldritch Sight
You can cast detect magic at will, without raising your Volatility.
Eldritch Spear
Prerequisite: eldritch blast cantrip
When you cast eldritch blast, its range is 300 feet.
Eyes of the Rune Keeper
You can read all writing.
Fiendish Vigor
You can cast false life on yourself at will as a 1st-level spell, without raising your Volatility.
Force-Imbued Rounds
Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Eye of Reach feature
Whenever you make a ranged weapon attack, add extra force elemental damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) to the damage roll. This extra damage bypasses all resistances.
Gaze of Two Minds
You can use your action to touch a willing humanoid and perceive through its senses until the end of your next turn. As long as the creature is on the same plane of existence as you, you can use your action on subsequent turns to maintain this connection, extending the duration until the end of your next turn. While perceiving through the other creature's senses, you benefit from any special senses possessed by that creature, and you are blinded and deafened to your own surroundings.
Lifedrinker
Prerequisite: 12th level, Pact of the Blade feature
When you hit a creature with your pact weapon, the creature takes extra necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
Mask of Many Faces
You can cast disguise self at will, without raising your Volatility.
Master of Myriad Forms
Prerequisite: 15th level
You can cast alter self at will, without raising your Volatility.
Minions of Chaos
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Conjure Elemental once without raising your Volatility. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Mire the Mind
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can cast Slow once without raising your Volatility. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Misty Visions
You can cast Silent Image at will, without raising your Volatility.
One with Shadows
Prerequisite: 5th level
When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move or take an action or a reaction.
Otherworldly Leap
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Jump on yourself at will, without raising your Volatility.
Pact of the Blade
As a Bonus Action, you can conjure a pact weapon in your hand—a Simple or Martial Melee weapon of your choice with which you bond—or create a bond with a magic weapon you touch; you can't bond with a magic weapon if someone else is attuned to it or another Warlock is bonded with it. Until the bond ends, you have proficiency with the weapon, and you can use it as a Spellcasting Focus.
Whenever you attack with the bonded weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier for the attack and damage rolls instead of using Strength or Dexterity; and you can cause the weapon to deal Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant damage or its normal damage type.
Your bond with the weapon ends if you use this feature's Bonus Action again, if the weapon is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more, or if you die. A conjured weapon disappears when the bond ends.
Pact of the Chain
You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn't count against your number of spells known.
When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one attack of its own with its reaction.
Pact of the Eye of Reach
Your patron grants you the ability to turn any ranged weapon you hold into an extension of their will and bind it to you. You are now proficient with any firearm or ranged weapon while you are using it. A ranged weapon that you have bound to you cannot be disarmed and it cannot jam. The firearm now uses your Charisma modifier when making attack rolls instead of your Dexterity modifier. You may have only one bound ranged weapon at a time.
Pact of the Tome
Your patron gives you a grimoire called a Book of Shadows. When you gain this feature, choose three cantrips from any class's spell list (the three needn't be from the same list). While the book is on your person, you can cast those cantrips at will. They don't count against your number of cantrips known. If they don't appear on the warlock spell list, they are nonetheless warlock spells for you.
If you lose your Book of Shadows, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous book. The book turns to ash when you die.
Repelling Blast
Prerequisite: eldritch blast cantrip
When you hit a creature with eldritch blast, you can push the creature up to 10 feet away from you in a straight line.
Sculptor of Flesh
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast polymorph once without raising your Volatility. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Sight beyond Sight
Prerequisite: 7th Level
You can, as a bonus action, give yourself the ability to see the auras of the living and the undead for 1 minute through solid structures and any obstacles out to 60 feet, even in complete darkness. You may use this invocation as many times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Sign of Ill Omen
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can cast Bestow Curse once for free. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Thief of Five Fates
You can cast bane once for free. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
Thirsting Blade
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Blade feature
You can attack with your pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Visions of Distant Realms
Prerequisite: 15th level
You can cast arcane eye at will, without expending a spell slot.
Voice of the Chain Master
Prerequisite: Pact of the Chain feature
You can communicate telepathically with your familiar and perceive through your familiar's senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence. Additionally, while perceiving through your familiar's senses, you can also speak through your familiar in your own voice, even if your familiar is normally incapable of speech.
Waveshaper Power-Casting
Prerequisite: 5th Level
Starting at 5th level, at the cost of raising your volatility by the equivalent of one Warlock spell cast, you can channel your patron's power to create a zone of elevated ambient magical volatility as a bonus action. While in this zone, you may use Waveshaping, but at a cost. The zone lasts for 1 minute.
While in the MEZ or areas with high ambient magical volatility, you can channel your Patron's power more easily, but at greater risk. While in the MEZ or other volatile zones, you may cast to roll double the damage dice of that spell, but also double the volatility of that spell on cast. This is called Waveshaper Power-Casting. Backfires can happen on a critical fail if you go past the safety threshold during this type of cast for quadruple the damage outlined in the Critical Fail Penalties section of the Magic and Volatility page.
Backfire damage while using Waveshaper Power-Casting with this invocation is reduced to only double at 9th level, and reduced again to normal backfire damage at 18th level.
You can also use this feature offensively to raise the ambient magical volatility versus other spellcasters. Enemy spellcasters in the Waveshaper Zone double their volatility per cast without the benefits you would receive from the Waveshaper Power-Casting feature. You may create a zone of volatility using this invocation once per short or long rest.
Zone size starts at a 15 foot radial sphere at a point of your choosing at 5th level, and the radius can be increased at will to increments of 20, and 30 feet starting at 9th, and 18th Warlock levels respectively.
Winding Shot
Prerequisite: 5th level, Pact of the Eye of Reach feature
When you make an attack with your pactbound ranged weapon, you can turn the attack into a 5 foot wide line attack, inheriting the weapon's effective range, and targets in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Spellcasting DC. On failed saves, targets take the rolled damage, and on a successful save, targets take half damage. The range of the line attack is up to the effective range of the firearm, marked by the first number listed in its range property. You can use this feature as many times as equal to your Charisma Modifier (minimum of once) per short or long rest. Additionally, you may alter the damage type for double the ammunition cost. The damage type can be Necrotic, Psychic, or Radiant damage.
Whispers of the Grave
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast speak with dead at will, without expending a spell slot.
Witch Sight
Prerequisite: 15th level
You can see the true form of any shapechanger or creature concealed by illusion or transmutation magic while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within line of sight.
Otherworldly Patron Features
Fiend
3rd Level
Expanded Spell List
The Fiend lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you reach the specified levels as a Warlock. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
Warlock Level | Spells
Dark One's Blessing
Starting at 1st level, when you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier + your warlock level (minimum of 1). You also gain this benefit if someone else reduces an enemy within 15 feet of you to 0 Hit Points.
6th Level
Dark One's Own Luck
You can call on your fiendish patron to alter fate in your favor. When you make an ability check or a saving throw, you can use this feature to add 1d10 to your roll. You can do so after seeing the roll but before any of the roll's effects occur.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), but you can use it no more than once per roll. You regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
10th Level
Fiendish Resilience
Choose one damage type, other than Force, whenever you finish a Short or Long Rest. You have Resistance to that damage type until you choose a different one with this feature.
14th Level
Hurl Through Hell
Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can try to instantly transport the target through the Lower Planes. The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC, or the target disappears and hurtles through a nightmare landscape. The target takes 10d10 Psychic damage if it isn't a Fiend, and it has the Incapacitated condition until the end of your next turn, when it returns to the space it previously occupied or the nearest unoccupied space.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a Long Rest unless you raise your Volatility by the maximum spell level you can cast normally (no action required) to restore your use of it.
Back to the Archetype Overview
Reticent Observer
3rd Level
Bladeseeker of the Reticent Observer
You are at this point, a fledgling Bladeseeker, an agent of the Observer, capable of enacting its plans and arcane designs. Starting at 1st level, you now have additional actions you can take to strike from the dark and end the lives of those that stand in your way abruptly and without ceremony, or you can manipulate your foes to gather information, trick them, or even turn them against each other. These abilities are limited in use but grant you terrifying power. You may choose one of two specializations to take which have their own sets of magical abilities. You can take the Phantom's Eyes path to become a spymaster with great utility, or you can heed the Pull of the Abyss to excel in combat. You may consult with your Patron to change your specialization after finishing a Long Rest.
Stride in Shadows (Bonus Action)
Your patron grants you the power to hide in plain sight by distorting the world for your opponents and shrouding you in the void. If they try to look at your general direction, they only see a roiling mass of void tendrils which mask your exact position. To your allies, when you use this, you appear as normal except for your eyes. Use this feature as a bonus action to hide freely, remaining hidden for up to 3 of your turns or until you use the attack action or cast a damaging spell. All targets that were previously alerted to you lose sight of you. While in this state, your footsteps do not alert your opponents and your attacks do not alert anyone but your target. Since they are unaware of your precise location, they cannot take opportunity attacks against you if you move past them. This grants you advantage for your first attack against a target. Once you have used this power, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Arcane Heart of the Abyss
The Observer has granted you a beating heart wreathed in undulating shadows, with a brass-rimmed, glass and circular window buried in its center, revealing a glowing core that pulses with the rhythm. Its heartbeat matches your own. This is now your casting focus and can be summoned or dismissed at will, and cannot be taken away from you. While you have this eldritch device in your offhand, you may cast Detect Magic with it, as many times as equal to your proficiency bonus. The Arcane Heart regains its charges after a long rest. When you are close to a source of especially potent magic, the heart beats faster, as does your own. When you are close to a source of life, it too, beats faster, as if anticipating the rush of a kill.
Reticent Observer Expanded Spells
Spell Level | Spells
Specializations
Phantom's Eyes
Possess The Living (Action)
As an action, you may transpose yourself into a living target or creature of medium or smaller size you can see within 60 feet of you, effectively teleporting yourself into their mind for you to manipulate their movement until the end of your next turn. While transposed, you may not fight, but you may move as your host would move, and you can also sense everything they can. The possessed host, if it has not been alerted to your presence yet will not know it has been possessed even after you exit the creature's mind.
If the host has been alerted to you, they must make a Wisdom Saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If they succeed, you are ejected from the host in an unoccupied space 5 feet away. If the host dies while you are possessing it, you are ejected from the host in an unoccupied space 5 feet away, prone and take 3d4 Force damage. As a reaction or bonus action, or when the possession ends, you may leave the host, choosing an unoccupied space you can see up to 30 feet away. While under the effects of Stride in Shadows, the duration for possession is doubled, and Stride in Shadows' duration is reset upon exiting. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
At 6th level, the base duration is increased to 2 of your turns. At 10th level, you may use your action on the second turn to possess another host and reset the duration. At 14th level, you gain the ability to try to coax the host into attacking a target of your choosing as a bonus action. The host must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If the host succeeds the save, you are forced to leave the host. If the host fails, you may attack one of their allies.
Mesmerizing Shade (Bonus Action)
As a bonus action, you can summon a shadowy copy of yourself up to 60 feet away in an unoccupied space to draw attention away from yourself or allies, which lasts for up to 1 minute or until it is destroyed. Opponents that can see the shade must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spellcasting DC. If they fail, they choose to attack it exclusively and forget about you and your allies. If you have the effects of Stride in Shadows, opponents making a Wisdom save do so with disadvantage. The copy has hit points equal to 1 + Your Warlock Level + your Charisma Modifier, and an Evasion (AC) of 13. You can intuitively command the shade to move up to 30 feet when you first summon it, and on subsequent turns. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
At 6th level when it is destroyed, it leaves a 15 foot circle of magical darkness until the end of your next turn. At 10th level when it is destroyed, it will leave the circle of magical darkness and silence enemies within the radius. At 14th level, as an action, you can command it to cast a copy of your Eldritch Blast with any invocation bonuses you may have applied to that Eldritch Blast.
Pull of the Abyss
Hidden Bladeseeker (Attack) While hidden or heavily obscured, you can perform deadly, supernaturally-charged attacks against your opponents, striking with black abyssal tendrils of smoke. When you successfully make a melee attack, you deal an extra 1d6 plus your Charisma Modifier in force damage that bypasses the armor of your opponents. This increases when you reach the following Warlock levels: to 2d6 at 6th, 3d6 at 10th, and 4d6 at 14th. Only the target you have attacked will be aware of your presence.
When you perform a plunging attack from an elevated position with this power, you also deal an additional damage dice for each 5 feet you fall, but must drop from a minimum of 10 feet above the target. When you use this power from an elevated position, you also have additional air control and can move up to half your movement into a position adjacent to your target while falling. Even if the plunging attack misses, you will not take fall damage.
If you are empowered by the effects of Stride in Shadows when you strike a target, you double the number of extra damage dice used in the attack. This power cannot be used in conjunction with the Rogue's Sneak Attack.
Reducing a target to 0 HP with this maneuver allows you to pull yourself instantaneously with a shadowy black tendril in a straight line to a location in darkness or dim light within 60 feet of you as long as there are no obstacles in the way, without alerting anyone. Once you have pulled yourself to a location, you are heavily obscured by black smoke until the start of your next turn.
Once you have successfully used this power twice, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
The Winding Narrows (Bonus Action)
Calling upon your patron's powers, you conjure two roiling black circles of eldritch magic in two locations which will last until the end of your next turn. Thin wispy lines curve to connect the two and undulate in the air, muttering whispers and unknowable words. Each circle is 10 feet in diameter. The first circle must be within 30 feet of you but not overlapping where you are standing, and the second circle can be up to 90 feet away regardless of if you can see the location you are placing the second circle. The locations must be free of obstacles. You and your allies can move instantly between the two locations whenever you or they choose while the circles are present. While standing in the circles, you and your allies are heavily obscured, and enemies that enter these circles or start their turns there are blinded and deafened for 1 minute. Objects smaller than the circles' diameters can be moved through the Winding Narrows and retain their momentum and direction of travel when passing through them.
When you reach the following Warlock levels, the Winding Narrows damages enemies that enter or start their turns inside the circles for the amount specified: 2d6 Necrotic at 6th level, 3d6 Necrotic at 10th level, and 5d6 Necrotic at 14th level.
Any targets reduced to 0 HP inside of the Winding Narrows has their worldly possessions ejected out the other end.
You may use this power once per short or long rest.
6th Level
Starting at 6th level, you can use a unique reaction specific to your Bladeseeker specialization. As per usual, you can switch out between one or the other after you have finished a long rest.
Specialization
Phantom's Eyes
Twist the Fates (Bonus Action/Reaction)
Starting at 6th level, you have the ability to switch places with a target creature of medium or smaller size you can see within 60 feet. You can use this as a bonus action on your turn, or as a reaction if you are being attacked or are in imminent danger. The target you switch with, if you used this ability as a reaction, will instead be the recipient of an attack targeting you. You can use this feature on any summoned creatures or Mesmerizing Shades you have active. You may use this power as many times as equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest.
Pull of the Abyss
Windblast (Bonus Action/Reaction)
Starting at 6th level, as a reaction, when you are targeted by a ranged attack, you can attempt to deflect the projectile back at the attacker using a blast of wind called from the void. The attacker must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, they take half the damage instead of you receiving damage. Additionally, you can use a bonus action to push objects or creatures within a 15 foot cone originating from you. Each target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be pushed 10 feet away from you in the direction of your cast. Using this ability disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them. You may use this power as many times equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest.
10th Level
Silent Bladeseeker of the Observer
You have successfully furthered the plans of the Observer, and it has granted you even greater capability. You can use Stride in Shadows twice, and the other powers granted to you at 1st level gain one additional use per short or long rest.
Silencing Strike
The Observer demands that you silence your opponents and send their screams and anguish into its realm between realms, and it grants you the ability to do so in a strange manner that allows you to perform your job more effectively. Starting at 10th level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, the attack makes no noise, and the target is silenced until the start of your next turn. Additionally, your ranged weapon attacks do not create noise, preventing others from being alerted by your attacks. Unsuppressed firearms still emit a flash of light when they are fired however and are strangely muffled and can only be heard, if faintly as if they were underwater, from up to 30 feet away.
14th Level
Bind the Fated Hearts
Through the Observer's eldritch powers, you may tie the fates of one to another, binding a shadow-wreathed abyssal tendril from one heart to the next. Starting at 14th level, you may use this power as a Bonus Action to mark a Bound target, and tether up to two additional targets within 30 feet to the marked target for 10 minutes. The secondary targets must make a Charisma Saving Throw against your Spellcasting DC or be Tethered. If you are invisible, or under the effects of Stride in Shadows, the targets have disadvantage on their saving throws.
The binding is successful if at least one target fails. If the binding fails completely, you may try again on your next turn until you succeed. The Tethered targets must be a creature of medium size or smaller while the Bound target may be of any size.
While Tethered, the targets bound to the first target cannot willingly move further than 30 feet away from the Bound target, and take half the damage you deal to the Bound target as necrotic damage. If they are pushed out of the radius by some means or another, the amount of HP damage that the secondary targets had taken up to that point is dealt back to the Bound target and the tether between it and the target outside of the tether's range is broken. If the Bound target dies from one of your attacks or spells, its heart is destroyed and the other targets take half the HP of the Bound target's original HP in necrotic damage.
If you cast the Sleep spell on the Bound target, the Tethered targets are also put to sleep if the Bound Target is put to sleep, regardless of their HP. Casting Dominate Person on a Bound target also links the effects of Dominate Person to the tethered targets, and they will automatically fail the save if the Bound Target fails its save.
You may use the Bind the Fated Hearts feature once per long rest.
Devouring Abyss
Starting at 14th level, targets that have been reduced to 0 HP by your attacks or spells replenish one use of each of your Bladeseeker abilities from 1st level and 6th level. The corpses of those that were killed are consumed by the abyss and vanish, preventing them from being detected. Their weapons and other worldly possessions are left behind, however.
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Storm Sovereign
3rd Level
Vanguard of the Storm Sovereign
As the chosen vanguard of the Storm Sovereign, it has granted you with knowledge from champions past, their warrior ethos imprinted on your mind, and visions of their triumphs fill your head. You gain the profane knowledge of their martial techniques and make them your own.
At 3rd level, you have the necessary knowledge and training to arm yourself for battle on the front lines. You are now proficient in Medium and Heavy armor, Shields, and Martial Weapons (Dustriders Only).
When you reach levels in this class where you can choose Mystic Arcanum spells as a Storm Sovereign Warlock, you may pick any Lightning or Thunder elemental spells outside of the Warlock spell list, in addition to the otherwise available spells in the Warlock spell list.
Storm Sovereign Expanded Spells
Warlock Level | Spells
Sundering Charge (Action)
With frightening force and crackling energy, you unleash the power of the Storm Sovereign in a single lightning-fueled rush.
Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to surge forth with the power of the Storm Sovereign propelling you. As an action, you charge forth in the blink of an eye towards an enemy target you can see within 30 feet in a straight line without provoking opportunity attacks, stopping in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of them.
This deals 2d10 damage plus your Charisma modifier, choosing to deal either Lightning or Thunder damage to all enemy targets within 5 feet. Affected targets must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Spellcasting DC. Successful saves take half damage.
Add your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level in Temporary HP.
You can perform this maneuver once at this level per Short or Long Rest. At later levels, you can use this ability more often.
While you have Temporary HP, you emit a visual disturbance of electricity and wind, called a Stormshroud.
Warlock Level | Damage | Charge Range
6th Level
Stormshroud Detonation (Bonus Action)
Starting at 6th level, as a Bonus Action, you can detonate all of your current Temporary HP in a 5 foot radius around you, dealing the same amount as the Temporary HP in either Thunder or Lightning damage. Targets in the radius must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Spellcasting DC. You can choose whether they will be pushed back to the edge of the radius, or be knocked prone, but not both. Successful saves don't take damage and are not pushed or knocked prone. When you take this bonus action, you remove all Temporary HP.
Now, when you deal damage with a leveled spell that does Thunder or Lightning damage, you gain Temporary HP equal to your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level in Temporary HP.
10th Level
Shield of the Tempest (Reaction)
The Stormshroud lashes out at whatever attempts to harm you, as an extension of the Storm Sovereign's will.
Starting at 10th level, while you have Temporary HP, you are resistant to Thunder and Lightning damage types and can use a special reaction if you are attacked while your Stormshroud is active.
While you have Temporary HP, you can use the following reactions.
If an enemy successfully strikes you with a melee attack, you can choose as a Reaction, to repel them up to 5x your Charisma modifier in feet in a straight line away from you, with Thunder damage for the same amount of damage they hit you up to or equal to your Warlock level, after mitigations.
If an enemy successfully strikes you with a ranged attack from within 60 feet of you, you can use your Reaction to shock them and a chosen target within 15 feet of the first target with Lightning damage for half the amount of damage they hit you for, up to or equal to your Warlock level, after mitigations.
When you use this Reaction, you expend all Temporary HP.
Storm Surge
If you start initiative without any remaining uses of Sundering Charge, you regain one use of Sundering Charge.
14th Level
Conduit of the Storm Sovereign
Starting at 14th level, while you have Temporary HP, you are immune to Thunder and Lightning damage.
When you take the Sundering Charge action, you now deal the damage from the action in a larger radius, growing from 15 feet to 30 feet. You may now use Sundering Charge up to three times per Short or Long rest.
Additionally, when you use the Sundering Charge action you have the effects of Feather Fall for 1 minute and can glide 30 feet for every 5 feet dropped while moving. Allies within the radius of the Sundering Charge action also gain the effects of Feather Fall for 1 minute and can glide.
Your Stormshroud Detonation's radius also grows from 15 feet to 30 feet.
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