Warlock Pacts of Other Causes

[Amnoriath]

Valor, charity, and purity, things in which almost all strive to achieve. While much of these paths are through structured religion the Gods need to attract people and petty squabbles with each other begs the question if such a path even exists when they are the end. While conflict and difficulty are inherent in living the way they are taken upon is often the most defining trait to tell on whether it is good or evil.
A Warlock who chooses to beseech the Hebdomad gain the powers and mantras of the Celestials. The calling brings them close to those in need and suffering as often being called miracle workers and saints.


The Righteous Hebdomad

Hebdomad Expanded Spells
Level 1: Cure Wounds, Sanctuary
Level 2: Aid, Branding Smite
Level 3: Beacon of Hope, Blinding Smite
Level 4: Death Ward, Staggering Smite
Level 5: Greater Restoration, Hallow


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Angelic Prescence: At level 1 as a reaction to an attack you may erect a 15x15 ward in any direction so long as the square you occupy is included in the area. This ward imposes disadvantage to any attack made against any creature in the area and hostile creatures must make a wisdom save using your spell DC to enter. Additionally the creatures inside have advantage on saves against being frightened, charmed, or possessed. This ward lasts for 1d4+1 rounds or automatically ends if you make a hostile action against any other foe, whichever comes first.

Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Supernal Radiance: At level 6 as a bonus action you can transform the damage of all your attacks into radiant damage and you emit light as the light cantrip for 1 minute or whenever you choose to suppress it as a part of another action.

Additionally as an action you may create a 20 by 40 foot cylinder of holy light within 60 feet of you. Enemies must make a constitution save or take maximum spell level/d6+cha. modifier of radiant damage and be blinded for 1 minute. A successful save only deals half damage without being blinded. Evil creatures make the save with disadvantage. This effect also may make a dispel check against any darkness based or spell of the illusion in the area. Once you have used this you must take a short or long rest to use it again.

Blessings and Hardships: At level 10 when an ally takes damage you may use your reaction to move up to your speed which must be used to move as quickly as possible to them. You also gain the following abilities if you have sustained the prerequisite damage.

25 points: You may expel one of your spell slots to cast Bless and any healing you provide is increased by the maximum level of spell you can cast.
50 points: You may use the Help action as a bonus action and Bless no longer needs concentration.
100 points: Spells that heal or alleviate conditions may be cast as bonus actions.
150 points: Spells with a range of self or touch become 30 feet so long as they do not do anything harmful to the target.


On Ethereal Wings: At level 14 you become resistant to radiant damage and have advantage against saving throws from spells of the necromancy school.
Additionally as an action you can target any creature with in 100 feet of you that has been reduced to 0 hit points or incapacitated you may restore 60 hit points, instantly reviving and picking them up instantly holding any items they had dropped with the following benefits.

They gain a flight speed of 40. When the effect ends they gently drop down as if under the effect of feather fall.
They benefit from an option from the Enhance Ability spell of their choice.
They instantly regain any lost limbs or body parts.
Their attacks deal an additional 2 points of damage while considering them to be made of silver for the purposes of bypassing resistance and vulnerabilities.


This ability lasts for 1d6+1 rounds. If you were to be reduced to 0 hit points you may activate this as a reaction. Once this is used you must complete a long rest before you may use it again. This may be treated as healing spell whenever it is beneficial.

[Amnoriath]

Many things are unknown in the Universe, however what always can be found is law. Once discovered it can be counted on and interpreted so that all may come to agreement. While change does exist even it is defined and a constant. One only needs to understand and harness it so that it can be incorporated to the order of existence.
A Warlock who chooses the Inevitable pact call upon the axiomatic powers of the Modrons, Inevitables, and Formians. They search for dissidents and look to further understand the various intricacies of the many laws in the world hoping to unlock their secrets.


The Inevitable

Inevitable Expanded Spells
Level 1: Compelled Duel, Detect Evil and Good
Level 2: See Invisibility, Zone of Truth
Level 3: Glyph of Warding, Slow
Level 4: Fabricate, Locate Creature
Level 5: Animate Objects, Wall of Force
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Daunting Equilibrium: At level 1 you become proficient in Investigation checks as well as any kind of armor.
Additionally, as a reaction or bonus action you can either eliminate disadvantage from one effect imposed on you or you can eliminate advantage from one effect used against you. This effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn.

Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Vigilant Law: At level 6 if you have met a creature or number of beings of a specific group who were hostile to you or your cause as well as successfully made an appropriate check to gain information about them you may treat them as if they were your Favored Enemy as the Ranger class feature. You also aren't fooled by magical means to cover their tracks or direction, instantly recognizing such a spell or effect.

Additionally after a successful attack you can summon chains of force to bind the creature you attacked. They must make a Strength save or become restrained and take 1d8+cha. modifier in force damage per round. Since the bonds are made out of force it forbids extraplanar travel. They may make another save when it is their next turn by using another action. This may still affect a creature with the freedom of movement spell active but the creature has advantage on the save. If they succeed they take no damage but their cost of movement is doubled and they cannot use the Disengage action until they have moved 30 feet from their spot. This effect lasts for 1 minute.

Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Gears of Existence: At level 10 you become proficient in one of the following skills Arcana, History, Religion, or Nature as well as a tool/kit of your choice. You also may choose to have advantage on any one skill or save you are proficient with. Alternatively you can choose one spell or ability you possess that allows a save, then all creatures affected must roll the save with disadvantage. This may be changed after a short or long rest.

Arbiter of the Prime: At level 14 you become immune to diseases, stunning, paralysis, and exhaustion levels.

Additionally you may set up a 1 minute ritual to contact the rulers of Mechanus in order to aid you in your journey. This reason must be something specific to which are about to do and can not be open ended. If the reason you ask for their help isn't in direct opposition to their goals they instantly send a native creature from Mechanus of a CR up to half your warlock level(round down) of your choice. This creature will act in complete accord and in faith to your request and they have advantage on saves against being banished or being sent to another plane against their will. Once the task is completed it is sent back and at some point the rulers of Mechanus may ask of you to perform a task of similar value in which you must complete the task before you can use this ability again. If they happen to already have requested a task from when you haven't used this ability or have already compensated them from your previous request you may use this ability without charge, but only for the task the rulers specified. Either way you can only have one creature summoned this way at a time.

[Ziegander]

These are beautiful! Keep 'em coming!

[Dyhmas]

Angelic Prescence: At level 1 as a reaction to an attack you may erect a 15x15 ward in any direction so long as the square you occupy is included in the area. This ward imposes disadvantage to any attack made in the area and hostile creatures must make a wisdom save using your spell DC to enter. Additionally the creatures inside have advantage on saves against being frightened, charmed, or possessed. This ward lasts for 1d4+1 rounds or automatically ends if you make a hostile action against any other foe, whichever comes first.

Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Ok, while this ability seems very interesting, the wording is all over the place. Firstly, the disadvantage is applied when the attacker or the attacked is in the area? Are allies also affected by this? On that note, do your enemies inside the area also get the advantage on being frightened and what not?

Now, actual comments:
-any reasoning behind the 1d4+1 rounds duration? This ability seems like a great candidate for a scaling duration...either from level or atribute (1d4+relevant attribute modifier?)
-while most of the abilites seem to make your allies more difficult to hit (from what I could understand so far...) it also states that you can't fight back (since the ability ends if you are hostile against your foe), wich is really weird, considering that most of the Warlock's abilitys cause damage IIRC.

This ability would be much more interesting as a sanctuary-ish (as per the spell, perhaps) feature...granting bonuses to allies and penalties to enemies inside it.

Regardless of all that, liked both your Pacts and am reading them more thorougly. Also fully endorse the idea of a good-aligned pact. Makes me wonder why it wasn't in the PHB in the first place...as I'm one that don't view the warlock class as "evil" or anything.

Brew on!

-Dyhmas

[Amnoriath]

Now, actual comments:
-any reasoning behind the 1d4+1 rounds duration? This ability seems like a great candidate for a scaling duration...either from level or atribute (1d4+relevant attribute modifier?)
-while most of the abilites seem to make your allies more difficult to hit (from what I could understand so far...) it also states that you can't fight back (since the ability ends if you are hostile against your foe), wich is really weird, considering that most of the Warlock's abilitys cause damage IIRC.

This ability would be much more interesting as a sanctuary-ish (as per the spell, perhaps) feature...granting bonuses to allies and penalties to enemies inside it.

Regardless of all that, liked both your Pacts and am reading them more thorougly. Also fully endorse the idea of a good-aligned pact. Makes me wonder why it wasn't in the PHB in the first place...as I'm one that don't view the warlock class as "evil" or anything.

Brew on!

-Dyhmas

1. It goes either way as it is supposed to be a slightly modified protection from evil and good spell. I actually first started out with something like that when making a rough draft but I had a hard time balancing it against the actual spell without everyone being a lynch pin in deactivating it. This way while it covers more ground the spell and can keep out creatures it has the sanctuary restriction but doesn't make things immune. Numbers need to be applied very carefully in 5e as too much scaling can equal outclassing quickly. I know it seems weird but the closest ability at this level is the Archfey pact in which they charm or frightened in a 10 foot burst adjacent to you which only lasts 1 round. In general I haven't found anything that scales so I wanted something that last more time than that as those effects can turn things very quickly but I didn't want it to last for the encounter. If you have a better time please suggest it.
2. Yeah, they should have cover a bit more of the bases, but I don't think they ban them from not being of another alignment. They use cult leaders as a basis but I think the idea covers more. Regardless this is exactly why I made them as there were no good or lawful intended Pacts. Also, thank you very much.

[Amnoriath]

These are beautiful! Keep 'em coming!
Thank you very much. I am currently working on a Primordial Pact.

[Sindeloke]

I also find the Hebdomad a bit hard to parse - just seems like a lot going on there. I'll get back to it once I'm not at work, I think. A modron pact is the best thing I've heard all week, though. Brilliant, and I really love the innovative feel of the abilities and how well they mesh with the theme of order. The only one I'm not sure about is your level 14; it seems well-balanced and helpful to the DM (adventure hooks are always nice), but I'm not sure it makes flavor sense for what we know of the Lawful outsiders, who've always been a bit more detached from the Prime Material and not apt to directly involve themselves the way fiends and celestials do. I guess that's more of a personal preference thing, though.

[Draken]

Those look very nice, however, Gears of Existence is worded in a very weird manner and could use a revision for the sake of clarity.

[Amnoriath]

A modron pact is the best thing I've heard all week, though. Brilliant, and I really love the innovative feel of the abilities and how well they mesh with the theme of order. The only one I'm not sure about is your level 14; it seems well-balanced and helpful to the DM (adventure hooks are always nice), but I'm not sure it makes flavor sense for what we know of the Lawful outsiders, who've always been a bit more detached from the Prime Material and not apt to directly involve themselves the way fiends and celestials do. I guess that's more of a personal preference thing, though.
1. Why thank you.
2. Well, the idea isn't so much the idea of meddling in the affairs of others as more of being organized and the generally understanding of lawful exchange. I didn't want to make a wish like ability because those are very open ended and can almost be too much for the character to compensate in return without making a huge page of text. This just seemed to be the simplest way to handle the idea to me. The task in exchange of course doesn't at all specify it has anything to do within your world. I only stated the qualifier if they did request something outside this quid pro quo you weren't subject to the charge because of course you are already doing something for them while being even with them, but as you mentioned it may not be all that likely. However, this is all up to the DM in the campaign after all there are many things to do with bureaucracy.

[Amnoriath]

Those look very nice, however, Gears of Existence is worded in a very weird manner and could use a revision for the sake of clarity.

"At level 10 you become proficient in one of the following skills Arcana, History, Religion, or Nature as well as a tool/kit of your choice. You also may choose to have advantage on any one skill or save you are proficient with. Alternatively you can choose one spell or ability you possess that allows a save, then all creatures affected must roll the save with disadvantage. This may be changed after a short or long rest."

This better?

[Amnoriath]

I know I said I would do Primordial but some things need to be tweaked to balance the breadth of what they are while not being broken so this came a little easier for me.

While so many revel in the manifestations of light and life neither of them would be as important or diverse with death and darkness. Yes, sometimes there is evil to be found but there is just as much if not more in the passion of vitality than the subtlety of the still. Both most exist so that the ebb, flow, and cycle of life is as fulfilling as possible.
Warlocks who undergo this Pact pledge to the souls and negative energy of the Shadowfell plane or even the Raven Queen herself. While the choice of evil is obvious many actually are neutral as the life of the dark and death is suppose to be a balance of light and life.

The Shadowfell

Shadowfell Expanded Spells
Level 1: Bane, Inflict Wounds
Level 2: Pass without Trace, Ray of Sickness
Level 3: Animate Dead, Nondetection
Level 4: Phantasmal Killer, Greater Invisibility
Level 5: Creation, Raise Dead

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Ambience of the Shadow: You have advantage on Religion and Arcana checks when it comes to gaining knowledge on the Shadowfell plane and creatures of that plane. Additionally as an action you can project energy from the Shadowfell plane. This puts out any source of nonmagical light and contends against light based spells as an effective level you are capable of casting from your Pact Magic feature within a 30 foot radius from yourself. Any living creature, except for yourself and your allies, in this field takes 1d10+warlock level+cha. modifer of necrotic damage and they become poisoned for 1 minute unless they succeed in making a Constitution save using your spell DC dealing half damage and no additional effect. Any undead conversely is healed for the amount necrotic damage dealt indivdually.

Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Of Darkness and Duplicity: At level 6 you gain the Devil's Sight Invocation and are proficient in Stealth checks. If you already have them you may swap it out for something else as normal. Additionally you have advantage on Charisma checks related to convincing people of the reality and validity of your illusions so long as they have no logical reason otherwise to doubt you.

Finally as an action you may force an opponent within 60 feet to make a Charisma save or you gain control of their senses for rounds equal to your charisma modifier. If they succeed they become aware of someone prying their mind and the effect fails. While in this state they fully sense your illusions as the real thing even if your illusions aren't capable of creating such components. You may also choose to completely shutdown one sense as a bonus action on your round. As such if you choose to sight they become blind. If you choose taste/smell food becomes absolutely bland and they can not distinquish between poison, good food, gases, smoke..etc unless they start to suffocate or visually see the effects. If you would choose touch they cannot feel pain of any kind. If they would try to cast a spell with a somatic component they automatically fail and attacks can't add their to hit attribute bonus to the roll or damage if applicable.

Once this has been used it cannot be used on the same creature for another 24 hours and you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Undeath Acolyte: You are resistant to poison and necrotic damage as well as being poisoned. When dealing with non-intelligent undead they consider you to be undead and indifferent while always being able to communicate with them even if they speak a language you do not know. You may sacrifice a spell slot to turn or destory undead as a Cleric using your effective Warlock level and spell DC. Alternatively instead of turning them you can issue a specific command that can be completed in 1 minute's time and they must follow it in full faith of the request. Once completed they can't make any hostile actions towards for rounds equal to your charisma modifier and they can't be affected this way for another 24 hours. Also when selecting spells for the Mystic Arcanum feature you may choose any spell of the Illusion or Necromancy schools.

Shadowfell Incarnate: You are suffused with the negative energy of the Shadowfell plane making it so you cannot age, naturally or magically, and are immune to diseases. Additionally you may choose one of 2 Shadowfell Incarnations below gain there full benefits.
Conjuring Phantom: Your illusion spells are cast as if one level higher than they are and you have Expertise with Stealth checks. Your illusions also may still fool creatures that have the Truesight ability. Such creatures though may make a Perception check against your spell save DC to see through them. Also as a bonus action you can alter the space you occupy and a 20 foot burst adjacent to or including your space in one of the following ways.

The spaces become filled as if Darkness was casted in them using the highest illusion spell level you can cast from your Pact Magic feature. While active you can use the Hide action as a bonus action and you may move at full pace while still moving stealthily.
The spaces become affected as if Blur was casted in them using the highest illusion spell level you can cast from your Pact Magic feature. Additionally any Perception, Investigation, or Insight checks have disadvantage against anything in this area. They still can make out what things are suppose to be meaning your illusions are still just as convincing. You don't suffer any of the ill effects of it when contending against other creatures and you may use the Disengage action as a bonus action.
The spaces become affected as if Phantasmal Force was casted in them using the highest illusion spell level you can cast from your Pact Magic feature. The only other differences is that it affects to any other creature capable of seeing what is in the space and therefore are entitled to an Intelligence save without needing to interact with it. You also add your Charisma modifier to the psychic damage dealt from the spell.

You can move this burst as another bonus action but it must still be connected with your space. Ending this may be done as part of another action.

Finally as an action you may sacrifice a spell slot to cast any 4th spell or lower not of the Abjuration, Divination, or Enchantment schools with a casting time of 1 action or less. They also may not be of the Paladin list or have anything to do with creating light. If it is of the Illusion school it may be a 5th level spell. Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

Moribund Shepherd: Your necromany spells are cast as if one level higher than they are and your hit point maximum can't be reduced. You automatically know the Spare the Dying cantrip except you can cast it within 30 feet of yourself and any durational effect that would induce further damage is suppressed for 1 minute. Alternatively you can cast Gentle Repose within 30 feet of yourself on a dead body without using a spell slot. As a reaction you may automatically kill a dying creature within 30 feet of yourself in which you trap their soul in the fabric of the Shadowfell plane. If you have the Whispers of the Grave invocation you can always use it on them even if you don't possess the body. They can not be ressurrected or contacted by any means other than by Wish, True Ressurection, or yourself.

Finally as an action you make a melee attack against a creature which deals 2d10+cha. modifier necrotic damage which then decreases their hit point maximum by the same amount. They also must make a constitution save or be paralyzed taking an additional 1d10 necrotic damage per turn which also reduces their hit point maximum for 1 minute. They may make another attempt at the save each round in which they are freed from the paralysis and take no further damage. Once you have used this you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.

[Anubis Dread]

Alrighty, let's start from the top and work our way down.

The Righteous Hebdomad

Very flavorful but powerful spell list (especially the addition of Cure Wounds). The smites were a bit jarring at first, but the bladelock is a thing and it's nice to devote a few things specifically towards that build. The only thing that makes me scratch my head is Hallow. It's a great spell for a prepared caster, but for a spell caster with a heavily restricted amount of spells known it seems to conditional to every be picked.

Angelic Presence is a bit too complicated. Just having it be a mass Protection from Evil and Good or Sanctuary would have been easier to parse, though of course that would play very different from what's current written. On the other hand I love Supernal Radiance. My only complain is, once again, parsing. Operating off of warlock level rather than spell level is a little simpler and works out to being about the same, so you could probably get away with 'deals 1d6 damage for every two warlock levels you have, plus your charisma modifier' or something similar. The rest of the ability though oozes flavor and is also very effective mechanically.

I'd rather Blesslings and Harships teleported rather than moved to avoid AoOs, but if you wanted it to be conditional this works well. I also love the triggers for the abilities being damage, especially since it can be self inflicted - it gives the idea of this martyr warlock cutting themselves before battles to trigger their power. It's both creepy and very in theme with religious zealotry. On Ethereal Wings on the other hand isn't good enough to intentionally knock yourself unconcious to trigger, which is good since unlike just wounding yourself that image is pretty silly. All in all it's a potent ability and good capstone.

The Inevitable

The spell list here is rock solid. The only slightly conditional and/or expensive spell on here, Locate Object, will still be relevant enough that it's worth taking, unlike Hallow. So excellent work there.

Okay, Daunting Equilibrium is kind of broken. Most of it is okay, but ANY kind of armor and shield? That more than DOUBLES the bonus to the average Warlocks AC. Assuming they have studded leather and 16 dex, while The Inevitable has full plate and a shield, that's a 6 AC boost for the Inevitable! That is INSANE! I would be leery of giving them more than either shield proficiency OR medium armor, let alone both shield proficiency AND heavy armor. A blade lock will never choose any other pact, ever. And even other warlocks would be hard pressed to turn down an unconditional +6 bonus to AC.

Vigilant Laws first effect is fine, but it's second effect... most spells of this level that deal with status effects allow an additional save each turn, or allows the creature to make an attempt to free themselves from it some other way. Just outright restraining a creature for a whole minute with only one save is nuts. This is easily fixed by just allowing the creature to use it's action to make a Strength ability check to break the chains or something similar.

Gears of Existence is fine, though I'd recommend Expertise over Advantage for the skill or tool. Arbiter of the Prime is a little excessive though. Immune to all of those and a permanent pet of a CR equal to half your level is pretty potent even for a capstone. One or the other would be fine, but both of them combined is a little overwhelming.

----

All in all I really love both of these, but while the Hebdomad is potent if balanced the Inevitable is WAY too powerful. It needs a solid hit with the nerf bat to say the least. That said it's flavorful enough that the abilities probably just need a rewrite, rather than scrapping certain problematic abilities altogether and starting over with them. That in itself is pretty impressive.

[Amnoriath]

Alrighty, let's start from the top and work our way down.

The Righteous Hebdomad

Very flavorful but powerful spell list (especially the addition of Cure Wounds). The smites were a bit jarring at first, but the bladelock is a thing and it's nice to devote a few things specifically towards that build. The only thing that makes me scratch my head is Hallow. It's a great spell for a prepared caster, but for a spell caster with a heavily restricted amount of spells known it seems to conditional to every be picked.

Angelic Presence is a bit too complicated. Just having it be a mass Protection from Evil and Good or Sanctuary would have been easier to parse, though of course that would play very different from what's current written. On the other hand I love Supernal Radiance. My only complain is, once again, parsing. Operating off of warlock level rather than spell level is a little simpler and works out to being about the same, so you could probably get away with 'deals 1d6 damage for every two warlock levels you have, plus your charisma modifier' or something similar. The rest of the ability though oozes flavor and is also very effective mechanically.

I'd rather Blesslings and Harships teleported rather than moved to avoid AoOs, but if you wanted it to be conditional this works well. I also love the triggers for the abilities being damage, especially since it can be self inflicted - it gives the idea of this martyr warlock cutting themselves before battles to trigger their power. It's both creepy and very in theme with religious zealotry. On Ethereal Wings on the other hand isn't good enough to intentionally knock yourself unconcious to trigger, which is good since unlike just wounding yourself that image is pretty silly. All in all it's a potent ability and good capstone.

The Inevitable

The spell list here is rock solid. The only slightly conditional and/or expensive spell on here, Locate Object, will still be relevant enough that it's worth taking, unlike Hallow. So excellent work there.

Okay, Daunting Equilibrium is kind of broken. Most of it is okay, but ANY kind of armor and shield? That more than DOUBLES the bonus to the average Warlocks AC. Assuming they have studded leather and 16 dex, while The Inevitable has full plate and a shield, that's a 6 AC boost for the Inevitable! That is INSANE! I would be leery of giving them more than either shield proficiency OR medium armor, let alone both shield proficiency AND heavy armor. A blade lock will never choose any other pact, ever. And even other warlocks would be hard pressed to turn down an unconditional +6 bonus to AC.

Vigilant Laws first effect is fine, but it's second effect... most spells of this level that deal with status effects allow an additional save each turn, or allows the creature to make an attempt to free themselves from it some other way. Just outright restraining a creature for a whole minute with only one save is nuts. This is easily fixed by just allowing the creature to use it's action to make a Strength ability check to break the chains or something similar.

Gears of Existence is fine, though I'd recommend Expertise over Advantage for the skill or tool. Arbiter of the Prime is a little excessive though. Immune to all of those and a permanent pet of a CR equal to half your level is pretty potent even for a capstone. One or the other would be fine, but both of them combined is a little overwhelming.

----
All in all I really love both of these, but while the Hebdomad is potent if balanced the Inevitable is WAY too powerful. It needs a solid hit with the nerf bat to say the least. That said it's flavorful enough that the abilities probably just need a rewrite, rather than scrapping certain problematic abilities altogether and starting over with them. That in itself is pretty impressive.
Hebdomad
1. Glad you really like it. Yeah I know Hallow is long and expensive but it has a lot of options as well as flavor that just simply make sense for the guy.
2. I honestly started with something like that but it became too complicated to square it right with the actual 1st level spells since they come at the same time. So, I gave an ad-hoc version of Protection from Good and Evil.
3. Okay, sure.
4. Actually I was sort of worried about them but hey glad you found both to your liking. Would it be possible to try to roll one out?
Inevitable
1. Its Locate Creature actually and the spell list is intended to be a sort of cop's spell list with a little construct and craft flavor. Again, good that you like it.
2. Well, consider this for a moment. The Warlock has an invocation that is a permanent Mage Armor. So, the to hit attribute of choice is Dexterity for Bladelocks as it increases so many defenses and initiative..etc. Strength has very little if no use because summoning a Greatsword or Battle Axe..etc just isn't worth the optimal average of 2 extra damage for a 13 or even 12 AC plus bad other dexterity things. I did this for 2 reasons. One, so that a Strength based Warlock could be viable without multiclassing into Fighter giving a Dex 13 prerequisite or out of it. Two, so that by doing so that they could emulate being metal like guys both with big guys and bigger strength. The shield choice could be curtailed but giving up the damage as well as the possibility of using GWM for 2 maybe 3 AC is a decent trade. After all War and Tempest Clerics do the same thing. As for the negation the way I figure it is the advantage and disadvantage that are single of rolls can be recreated by a single ability or fairly easily pulling off x stunt so that it can be done again. Ones that are from a condition or spell will likely last longer than this negates so he is just at best giving himself a round to ignore one source of it.
3. Ah forgot that I will change that.
4. The problem with that is at level 6 a Rogue has 4 modified this way while at best you 1 at a time modulated by a short rest. It has a little meaning in battle this rather than just skills or tools.
5. The Mechanus creature isn't at all a permanent pet. You need to read it again. You petition with them for 1 minute so that they may help you perform a certain task in which they are sent back when its done. Then at some point the rulers of Mechanus ask you to perform a task or roughly equivalent value in order for you to have the chance to use it again. The immunities are a calculated choice as even if they do ask for it immediately it could be a while depending on how long you asked for the buddy in the first place.

[Anubis Dread]

Hebdomad
1. Glad you really like it. Yeah I know Hallow is long and expensive but it has a lot of options as well as flavor that just simply make sense for the guy.

Oh the flavor is good for sure. As long as you're okay with it very rarely being picked up just having it on the list for flavor reasons is fine.


2. I honestly started with something like that but it became too complicated to square it right with the actual 1st level spells since they come at the same time. So, I gave an ad-hoc version of Protection from Good and Evil.

Not sure how imitating a spell could be more complicated than writing up a whole new ability, but since it's function is unique compared to those other spells I'll take your word for it.


4. Actually I was sort of worried about them but hey glad you found both to your liking. Would it be possible to try to roll one out?

Huh, not a bad idea. I might need to make some time to roll up some theoretical characters using these pacts and compare them to the baselocks.


1. Its Locate Creature actually

Whoops :smallredface:


2. Well, consider this for a moment. The Warlock has an invocation that is a permanent Mage Armor. So, the to hit attribute of choice is Dexterity for Bladelocks as it increases so many defenses and initiative..etc. Strength has very little if no use because summoning a Greatsword or Battle Axe..etc just isn't worth the optimal average of 2 extra damage for a 13 or even 12 AC plus bad other dexterity things. I did this for 2 reasons. One, so that a Strength based Warlock could be viable without multiclassing into Fighter giving a Dex 13 prerequisite or out of it. Two, so that by doing so that they could emulate being metal like guys both with big guys and bigger strength. The shield choice could be curtailed but giving up the damage as well as the possibility of using GWM for 2 maybe 3 AC is a decent trade. After all War and Tempest Clerics do the same thing. As for the negation the way I figure it is the advantage and disadvantage that are single of rolls can be recreated by a single ability or fairly easily pulling off x stunt so that it can be done again. Ones that are from a condition or spell will likely last longer than this negates so he is just at best giving himself a round to ignore one source of it.

The problem is that a cleric is a cleric and a warlock is a warlock. That sounds like a tautology, but it's actually an important point you need to keep in mind when designing a subclass. NEVER balance something by basing it off another classes feature. Each class is given a certain power budger for their core features and subclasses. The ranger for instance has a weak core and strong subclasses, while the sorcerer has an amazing core and lack luster subclasses. Clerics are intentionally designed to have incredibly potent subclasses, while warlocks have average powered subclasses, so comparing the two gets messy. What's more, clerics go from medium armor to heavy, while this subclasses goes from light and no shield to heavy and a shield (in other words a 2 to 3 point increase for cleric, vs a 6 or 7 increase for warlock). The improvement is actually SIGNIFICANTLY more potent than it is for a cleric.

I can understand wanting to make Strengthlocks better, but Strength is already pretty tempting due to the bigger weapons and better Shoving and Grabbing abilities. Just upping the AC to Medium means they can benefit from at most 2 Dex while having a bigger base than the Mage Armor Invocation gives, so just giving them Medium Armor will incentize Bladelocks without blowing, say, at-will telepathy or temp hp on killing an enemy so far out of the water they get launched into orbit.


4. The problem with that is at level 6 a Rogue has 4 modified this way while at best you 1 at a time modulated by a short rest. It has a little meaning in battle this rather than just skills or tools.

Oh, I read that as only being able to change the save part and not the skill or tool part. In that case it probably doesn't need either - being trained with any skill or tool is worthy of an ability all on its own. Case and point the Knowledge Domain cleric, which once again since clerics tend to have stronger subclasses points at how potent such flexibility is. And they're restricted to tools.


5. The Mechanus creature isn't at all a permanent pet. You need to read it again. You petition with them for 1 minute so that they may help you perform a certain task in which they are sent back when its done. Then at some point the rulers of Mechanus ask you to perform a task or roughly equivalent value in order for you to have the chance to use it again. The immunities are a calculated choice as even if they do ask for it immediately it could be a while depending on how long you asked for the buddy in the first place.

I guess it depends on how you definite 'task'. If 'help defeat the BBEG we're going to be fighting right up until level 20' is a task, then it's basically permanent. If a task is instead 'help us for one fight' then it's much more restrictive. I'd suggest writing up some example tasks, but keeping it DM dependent might be a better idea.

[Amnoriath]

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I can understand wanting to make Strengthlocks better, but Strength is already pretty tempting due to the bigger weapons and better Shoving and Grabbing abilities. Just upping the AC to Medium means they can benefit from at most 2 Dex while having a bigger base than the Mage Armor Invocation gives, so just giving them Medium Armor will incentize Bladelocks without blowing, say, at-will telepathy or temp hp on killing an enemy so far out of the water they get launched into orbit.



Oh, I read that as only being able to change the save part and not the skill or tool part. In that case it probably doesn't need either - being trained with any skill or tool is worthy of an ability all on its own. Case and point the Knowledge Domain cleric, which once again since clerics tend to have stronger subclasses points at how potent such flexibility is. And they're restricted to tools.



I guess it depends on how you definite 'task'. If 'help defeat the BBEG we're going to be fighting right up until level 20' is a task, then it's basically permanent. If a task is instead 'help us for one fight' then it's much more restrictive. I'd suggest writing up some example tasks, but keeping it DM dependent might be a better idea.
1. I have a lot to say here but I am going to be brief. Clerics are tier 1 characters while Warlocks here at best are tier 2.
2. Except you are trying to say it is okay that they have an additional 4 points of MAD to attack comparably while still having 1 less AC. I mean you can't just dump the other 2 mental stats more some has to be taken out of constitution. I will consider removing shields as they are really just extra to the idea.
3. It doesn't quite work like that. They select one of the knowledge skills presented and a tool of their choice. Then they choose one skill or save they are proficient with to have advantage in which may be changed after a short rest. Alternatively they can choose one of their spells or abilities that allow a save to be forced to roll with disadvantage.
4. It specifically says, specific task. It is also a petition so saying that is obviously open ended and therefore you will be denied.