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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next [PEACH] Warlock class option: Divine Patron, Wee Jas



anaximander19
2015-04-28, 08:12 AM
I'm part of a 3.5e game that's been running for about two years now, and after a few 5e trial sessions we've decided to try migrating our long-running campaign to 5e. In places, this means we need to homebrew some things to represent stuff that's not in 5e yet.

My character is a tiefling duskblade whose ancestors were cast out of the lower planes because they were considered tainted by having mortal blood. Now, he's made a deal with Wee Jas: he enforces her law, making sure that things die when it's their time and they stay dead, and in exchange, when it's his time to die he gets to take the place his ancestors lost among the powers of the lower planes.

There's no duskblade in 5e, but it's also hard to convert because the way its channeling works gets overpowered if directly copied into 5e. At any rate I was finding that I wanted to throw spells around a little more, so I didn't mind using one of the existing arcane classes - and conveniently, warlock's Pact of the Blade fit the duskblade flavour well enough for me. However, I really wanted to keep the deal with Wee Jas, and when I read the warlock description I realised it's a textbook pact, just like warlocks make... except there's no option for your patron to be a deity.

So I made one.


Warlock Alternate Class Option: Divine Patron
Your patron is one of the gods themselves. Unlike a cleric or paladin, who are granted divine powers as a gift in reward for devoted service, your relationship with your chosen deity is much more mercenary. You have struck a deal with a deity, and your powers are given to you as part of the deity's end of the bargain. Your obligations in this deal may vary depending on the deity chosen, their motivations, and their personality. This grants you features at 1st level and again at 6th, 10th and 14th level. These features are determined by your chosen deity's domain.

Wee Jas
Your patron is Wee Jas, goddess of death. She keeps account of all souls and their allotted time of passing, reading each name from the Book of Souls and calling them to pass beyond the Veil. Wee Jas expects all souls to die at their allotted time, and to remain that way. When a recently-dead creature is resurrected, Wee Jas must be petitioned to release their soul, and to practice necromancy is to steal from her.

Wee Jas Expanded Spells
1: Detect Poison and Disease, Ray of Sickness
2: Gentle Repose, Spiritual Weapon
3: Bestow Curse, Speak with Dead
4: Death Ward, Guardian of Faith
5: Dispel Evil and Good, Hallow

Not Your Time
Starting at first level, your deal with the goddess of death allows you to intercede on behalf of another. You learn the cantrip Spare The Dying. In addition, when examining a dead creature you have a sense of when Wee Jas called its name.

Death's Favour
Starting at 6th level, your deal with Wee Jas makes it in her best interests to let you live. When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you. You can't use this ability again until you complete a short or long rest.

Don't Fear The Reaper
Beginning at 10th level, your exposure to death allows you to remain stoic in the face of terror, and leaves you with an intimidating air. You are immune to being frightened, and when another creature attempts to frighten you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the effect back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be frightened by you for 1 minute or until you leave its line of sight.

Draw Back The Veil
Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can bestow upon it a form of second sight allowing it to see beyond the realm of the living and glimpse beyond the Veil. The creature is struck with an overpowering sense of its own mortality. The creature takes 8d8 psychic damage, and must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. If it fails the save, it is frightened by you for 1d4 rounds. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you've completed a long or short rest.

Ziegander
2015-04-28, 09:58 AM
This looks really excellent. Now let's make Vestige patrons... :smallcool:

anaximander19
2015-04-28, 10:37 AM
Thanks! It's funny you should mention vestiges; I'm currently working on a 5e version of 3.5's Binder class, because our party has one of those as well. It's proving to be... interesting; 3.5e Binder mechanics don't convert over too well so instead I'm devising a system based on existing mechanics that captures the flavour as best I can - stay tuned for a thread on that in the near future!

I'm also planning to look at Divine patron options for each domain of deity, if anyone would be interested in seeing those. We don't need them for our campaign, but doing Wee Jas and neglecting the rest of the pantheon feels too much like leaving it unfinished.