Pact of the Death(Warlock Patron)

[ImSAMazing]

Death, in some cultures a God, in some cultures an entity. However, it exists, and it's the reason our society can exist normally. Some Warlocks forge a pact with Death to become a Deathbringer. That's the fluff :D


Otherwordly Patron: Death
EXPANDED SPELL LIST
The Death lets you choose from an expanded list of
spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following
spells are added to the warlock spelllist for YOU.

Death expanded spells:
Spelllevel
1st Ray of Sickness, Inflict Wounds
2nd Gentle Repose, Blindness/Deafness
3rd Bestow Curse, Animate Dead
4th Confusion, Phantasmal Killer
5th Contagion, Cloudkill



Death Energy
Starting at 1st level, when you kill a creature, you heal yourself with half the damage you did. You also gain resistance to fire damage for 1 minute.

Deathly Luck
Starting at 6th level, your power to kill gets stronger. When you deal necrotic damage, add your proficiency bonus to your damage.


Death Vision
Starting at 10th level, you have advantage on Death Savingthrows, you gain resistance against necrotic damage, and you learn the cantrip: "Spare the Dying".

Death Power
Starting at 14th level, your power to kill is so strong, when you hit a creature with an attack, and if you multiply the damage rolled you did by 2, if that would be enough to reduce the creature to 0 HP, you deal the amount of damage needed to reduce the creature to 0 HP and instantly kill it.
This feature can only be used once a long rest.

Think I made it more balanced now.

[Ralanr]

Holy...the first feature alone is better than the fiend feature at their intended purpose.

[AvatarVecna]

Holy...the first feature alone is better than the fiend feature at their intended purpose.

I'm playing one of these in an upcoming game that they're running. Look at how beautifully "Inflict Wounds" performs at the higher levels...

[Ralanr]

I'm playing one of these in an upcoming game that they're running. Look at how beautifully "Inflict Wounds" performs at the higher levels...

Uh...wow.
I take it this is a campaign where you all care for balance? I don't mean that in a bad way.
You've said not to criticize that it's OP, I'd suggest pointing out that it's not meant to be balanced. Sometimes people take stuff from homebrew and tell their DM the day of the game, I know I used to (My DM lets it happen sometimes though, mainly if it just looks fun).

[Amnoriath]

The spells are a good choice but your features are way off balance. Your first ability is far more versatile than the Fiend's which is regarded the better one for battle and then you get resistance for 1 minute. Now, yes, in this game you often don't technically kill your enemies but many a DM would treat it like they did so either this is imbalanced or it is almost useless aside from chicken sacrifice for free healing(which is still imbalanced at this level). The next feature really compounds the power of your first ability and makes your Inflict Wounds arguably more powerful than Disintegrate before casters can even get it dealing 14d10 damage with a spell attack. The 10th level ability is okay but it isn't all that interesting as others can get about the same thing(except for adv. on death saves). Than your 14th level ability officially makes your Inflict Wounds one of the most powerful things in the game dealing a whopping 28d10 necrotic damage. This is case in point what the developers was trying to avoid and you must eliminate this multiplication of damage not only for balance but it is as of right now very bland and one dimensional.

[AvatarVecna]

The spells are a good choice but your features are way off balance. Your first ability is far more versatile than the Fiend's which is regarded the better one for battle and then you get resistance for 1 minute. Now, yes, in this game you often don't technically kill your enemies but many a DM would treat it like they did so either this is imbalanced or it is almost useless aside from chicken sacrifice for free healing(which is still imbalanced at this level). The next feature really compounds the power of your first ability and makes your Inflict Wounds arguably more powerful than Disintegrate before casters can even get it dealing 14d10 damage with a spell attack. The 10th level ability is okay but it isn't all that interesting as others can get about the same thing(except for adv. on death saves). Than your 14th level ability officially makes your Inflict Wounds one of the most powerful things in the game dealing a whopping 28d10 necrotic damage. This is case in point what the developers was trying to avoid and you must eliminate this multiplication of damage not only for balance but it is as of right now very bland and one dimensional.

I am in full agreement: compared to the standard classes, this is definitely OP. That said, the DM said the game's challenges are supposed to be significant, so I don't know if it being this OP was entirely unintentional. Regardless, I'm building a bladelock who supplements her Berserker Axe with some spellcasting, and it's likely I won't have too many spell slots to spare all the time. That said, between Lifedrinker and Bestow Curse, I'm gonna have a rocking good time cleaving people in twain.

[Amnoriath]

I am in full agreement: compared to the standard classes, this is definitely OP. That said, the DM said the game's challenges are supposed to be significant, so I don't know if it being this OP was entirely unintentional. Regardless, I'm building a bladelock who supplements her Berserker Axe with some spellcasting, and it's likely I won't have too many spell slots to spare all the time. That said, between Lifedrinker and Bestow Curse, I'm gonna have a rocking good time cleaving people in twain.

This isn't just OP it is entirely broken. Even if the DM rules you don't actually kill your enemies for a pittance you could fully heal yourself by killing small animals. The way Inflict Wounds stacks it is more than twice as powerful as Power Word Kill and you can do it 5 times a dayvs. 1. Even Chill Touch outclasses the Eldritch Blast with its invocations. On top of all this the 6th level feature doesn't even follow the Warlock design.

[AvatarVecna]

This isn't just OP it is entirely broken. Even if the DM rules you don't actually kill your enemies for a pittance you could fully heal yourself by killing small animals. The way Inflict Wounds stacks it is more than twice as powerful as Power Word Kill and you can do it 5 times a dayvs. 1. Even Chill Touch outclasses the Eldritch Blast with its invocations. On top of all this the 6th level feature doesn't even follow the Warlock design.

I was in full "this is awesome and powerful, but not totally broken" until I saw that Inflict Wounds got put on the spell list. There's other ways to get necrotic damage (Chill Touch, Lifedrinker, Bestow Curse, Circle of Death, Finger of Death, etc.), but Inflict Wounds is the one that takes the cake. You hit lvl 6 in this class, and it just takes off.

EDIT: My only hope for balance is that the DM will check in on this thread soon and see just what I meant by "Unholy crap, I have Inflict Wounds?!", before immediately fixing all of this. TBH, I think that changing the lvl 1 and 6 features to be more reasonable would be sufficient.

[JNAProductions]

Outright X2 damage multiplier? That is pretty damn powerful. As in too powerful.

X2 again if it would kill? That's both hard to measure (do you roll first and take away half the dice if it doesn't kill?) and really overpowered.

Stacking between them? With Inflict Wounds? Sorry, Avatar, but this is rather too powerful to play. ImSAMazing, you probably want to replace most of the class features with weaker versions. Ideas:

Death Energy-Just make it like Fiend Warlocks and give temporary HP. Refluffing is easy and balanced. Also, maybe change this name to Siphon The Soul?

Deathly Luck-Add proficiency modifier to damage. Also, change the name. Deathly Luck is ill-fitting as a name and not terribly impressive. Maybe Strength of the Dead?

Death Vision-Looks good. Except the name. Maybe Death Ward?

Death Power-I don't know what to do here. It's pretty damn powerful, hard to quantify... I just don't know how to fix it.

[ImSAMazing]

I am working on it.

[ImSAMazing]

Better now?

[AvatarVecna]

I think this is much more balanced. This way, the 14th lvl ability is the only thing that can even possibly increase damage a great deal. The only thing left people might complain about is the lvl 1 ability, but I think it's not that bad now that the super-necrotic power is gone.

[StandardBC]

Death Power
Starting at 14th level, your power to kill is so strong, when you hit a creature with an attack, and if you multiply the damage rolled you did by 2, if that would be enough to reduce the creature to 0 HP, you deal the amount of damage needed to reduce the creature to 0 HP and instantly kill it.
This feature can only be used once a long rest.

Think I made it more balanced now.

Would you consider allowing a fort save for 10d10 extra damage?

[PoeticDwarf]

Would you consider allowing a fort save for 10d10 extra damage?
With the first level feature also little bit like it that would make it too much as a fiend.

Rats in a bag tactic still works but next to that it seems balanced. You could add some more fluff maybe

[Submortimer]

Death, in some cultures a God, in some cultures an entity. However, it exists, and it's the reason our society can exist normally. Some Warlocks forge a pact with Death to become a Deathbringer. That's the fluff :D


Otherwordly Patron: Death
EXPANDED SPELL LIST
The Death lets you choose from an expanded list of
spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following
spells are added to the warlock spelllist for YOU.

Death expanded spells:
Spelllevel
1st Ray of Sickness, Inflict Wounds
2nd Gentle Repose, Blindness/Deafness
3rd Bestow Curse, Animate Dead
4th Confusion, Phantasmal Killer
5th Contagion, Cloudkill


Spell list is fine, no qualms here.



Death Energy
Starting at 1st level, when you kill a creature, you heal yourself with half the damage you did. You also gain resistance to fire damage for 1 minute.


My suggestion:
"Starting at 1st level, whenever you kill a creature with an attack, if you are under half your hit point maximum you heal a number of HP equal to half the damage you dealt"

Fire resistance makes no thematic sense, and only allowing you to heal to half your max keeps it from being too strong.



Deathly Luck
Starting at 6th level, your power to kill gets stronger. When you deal necrotic damage, add your proficiency bonus to your damage.


My suggestion:
"At 6th level, you may change the damage type of any one of your damage dealing spells to Necrotic. You deal additional necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier whenever you cast a spell thqt deals necrotic damage. This does not stack with the bonus from Agonizing Blast."

Keeps things around the charisma modifier, and the previous version got a little too nuts, stacking with lifedrinker and Hex.



Death Vision
Starting at 10th level, you have advantage on Death Savingthrows, you gain resistance against necrotic damage, and you learn the cantrip: "Spare the Dying".


I dig it. The name is a little confusing, though.



Death Power
Starting at 14th level, your power to kill is so strong, when you hit a creature with an attack, and if you multiply the damage rolled you did by 2, if that would be enough to reduce the creature to 0 HP, you deal the amount of damage needed to reduce the creature to 0 HP and instantly kill it.
This feature can only be used once a long rest.


Ai-yai-yai...complex does not mean good, and this is also really, really weak in comparison to other 14th level abilities.

My suggestion:
"At 14th level, when you hit a creature with an attack, you may attempt to kill it outright. If the creature has less than 100 HP, it makes a constitution saving throw: failure causes the creature to die instantly. If the creature succeeds on the saving throw or has more than 100 HP, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage. Once you use this ability, you must take a long rest before you can do so again."

In this case, it now acts like a weaker PWK, with a backup of the Fiend level ability. This is alright, because the Fiend ability is Psychic damage (rarely resisted) and this is necrotic (commonly resisted).