Michael's Specific Warlock Patron #8: Archduke Mephistopheles Lord of the Eighth

[Michael7123]

I love the themes the warlock class bring to the table. Any character who wound up pledging himself to some sort of mysterious (Great old one), downright weird (Archfey), or devil (Fiend) will almost always have some sort of interesting backstory which is fun to explore in game.

However, the warlock subclasses in of themselves are pretty limited. Playing a warlock of Dagon, a demon lord of the abyss who resides in water, gives you the same classic "kill them all with fire" benefits as playing a warlock of Asmodeus. This is my attempt to change this.

I plan on designing specific warlock subclasses for the lords of the Nine Hells before moving on to other patrons (both fiendish or otherwise).




Mephistopheles, Lord of Cania

http://40.media.tumblr.com/aea4219c9f84d5521237103d93bc1ee9/tumblr_mtnca7PU4D1r3sy6wo8_500.png
You're burning, you're burning, you're burning for me.

Expanded Spell list:



Spell Level
Spells


1st
Burning Hands, Searing Smite



2nd
Scorching Ray, Aganazzar’s Scorcher (ee)


3rd
Fireball, Protection From Energy


4th
Fire Shield, Wall of Fire



5th
Flame strike, Immolation (ee)




Pact features:

Hellfire:
Starting at first level, if you have the Eldtrich Blast cantrip, it changes drastically. It now deals 1d8 fire damage +1d4 necrotic damage.

Kill Them With Fire:
Starting at level 6, any spell you cast that normally deals elemental damage can now deal fire damage instead if you wish. Additionally, any spells that deal fire damage by default have their damage dice increased by 1 category. A d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, a d8 becomes a d10, a d10 becomes a d12. A d12 does not become a d20.

Furthermore, when using any spell that deals fire damage, you can add 2d6 fire and 1d4 necrotic damage to the total amount of damage the spell deals by taking 7 points of damage. You can take this amount of damage twice at level 10 (4d6 fire 2d4 necrotic total, 14 damage on yourself), and three times at level 14 (6d6 fire damage and 3d4 necrotic, 21 damage on yourself).

World on Fire
You gain immunity to fire damage. In addition, in following levels where you would normally pick a Mystic Arcanum spell, they can select the spell from either the warlock list or any spell that deals fire damage from any other class list. Additionally, any spells or abilities you use that deal fire damage ignore resistance to fire, and treat immunity to fire as if it were resistance.

Ritual Burning:
Starting at level 14, you can learn any spell that deals fire damage as a ritual. These spells take an amount of rounds to cast equal to their spell level X 3. Additionally, your can now engulf your body in hellfire once per long rest, dealing 2d12 and 2d4 necrotic damage per round for 10 rounds to enemies within 5 feet of you

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If you ever use this class in a game, please post a link to the game in this thread or send me a pm telling me how this class performed. Any tips you can offer are helpful!

[Michael7123]

It should be fairly obvious what the focus of this class is: dealing fire damage.

I thought that some of these abilities might be a bit to much, but fire resistance is pretty common among enemies. The same can be said about necrotic damage. Still, If you have any feedback, please let me know.

[Submortimer]

I really like this whole idea, so I'll give you feedback across the whole lot. That being said, this needs a little bit of work.



Expanded Spell list:



Spell Level
Spells


1st
Burning Hands, Searing Smite



2nd
Scorching Ray, Flame Blade


3rd
Fireball, Protection From Energy


4th
Fire Shield, Wall of Fire



5th
Flame strike, Conjure Elemental





Spell list is good, lots of fire damage.



Hellfire:
Starting at first level, if you have the Eldtrich Blast cantrip, it changes drastically. It now deals 1d12 fire damage +1d4 necrotic damage.


Holy hell. That's crazy go nuts. assuming you have Hex and AB, 1d10+5+1d6 (avg 14) turns into 1d12+5+1d6+1d4 (avg 17.5). What would be more appropriate is something like this:

Hellfire:
Lord Mephistopheles is considered a pioneer in magical discovery in the nine hells, and his greatest achievement is Hellfire: fire infused with necrotic energy, burning so hot it even burns those normally immune to the flames touch. Starting at first level, if you have the Eldritch Blast cantrip, you may chose to deal either fire or force damage. Additionally, any spells or abilities you use that deal fire damage ignore resistance to fire, and treat immunity to fire as if it were resistance.



Kill Them With Fire:
Starting at level 6, any spell you cast that deals elemental damage can now deal fire damage instead if you wish. Additionally, any spells that deal fire damage by default have their damage dice increased by 1 category. A d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, a d8 becomes a d10, a d10 becomes a d12. A d12 does not become a d20. Furthermore, for every dice of fire damage dealt, deal that many d4's worth of necrotic damage.

Again, too strong. Obviously, this whole subclass takes a cue from the 3.5 Hellfire Warlock, and the main focus there was burning Con for extra damage. Here's my recommendation:

Hellfire Specialist:
Hellfire is an exceptionally versatile energy form, able to supplant most forms of elemental energy in a spell with little to no adverse effects. Starting at level 6, You may choose to have any spell you cast or invocation you use that deals cold, lightning, thunder, acid, or necrotic damage to instead deal fire damage; Any spells that deal fire damage by default have their damage dice increased by 1 category; A d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, a d8 becomes a d10, a d10 becomes a d12, and a d12 becomes 2d6.

Additionally, you learn to burn your life force to infuse your spells with even more power. Whenever you cast a spell that deals fire damage, you may choose to take an amount of necrotic damage equal to your warlock level +your charisma modifier; this damage cannot be reduced or resisted in any way. Should you choose to do so, that spell deals an additional 1d6 points of fire damage per 5 damage taken to each creature affected by it.


This lets you deal fire damage with Hex, Vampiric Touch, and Lifedrinker. Also, I wouldn't let this increase the damage of EB; that spell is strong enough as is.


World on Fire
You gain immunity to fire damage. In addition, in following levels where you would normally pick a Mystic Arcanum spell, they can select the spell from either the warlock list or any spell that deals fire damage from any other class list.

Just fine with this as is.



Ritual Burning:
Starting at level 14, you can learn any spell that deals fire damage as a ritual. These spells take an amount of rounds to cast equal to their spell level X 3. Additionally, your can now engulf your body in hellfire once per long rest, dealing 2d12 and 2d4 necrotic damage per round for 10 rounds to enemies within 5 feet of you

I get the intent of the first ability, but it feels like it'd be next to useless in practice. Maybe i'm just short sighted.

The second ability has one glaring issue: The class is really set up to be a ranged blaster, yet this ability is exclusively melee. Not sure what I'd do with it jsut yet, but it's something to think about.

[Steampunkette]

What about making the EB 1d8+1d4? Or 2d6?

Could also go 1d6 and a d4, instead, to increase average but not max damage.

[Michael7123]

Okay, based on all of your feedback, I made the following changes.

1. Eldtrich blast now only deals 1d8 fire +1d4 necrotic.

2. Ability to overcome fire immunity/ resistance added upon reaching level 10.

3. When using any spell that deals fire damage, you can add 2d6 fire and 1d4 necrotic damage to the total amount of damage the spell deals by taking 7 points of damage. You can take this amount of damage twice at level 10 (4d6 fire 2d4 necrotic total, 14 damage on yourself), and three times at level 14 (6d6 fire damage and 3d4 necrotic, 21 damage on yourself).

4. Took out the part about fire spells dealing extra necrotic damage themselves.


Thank you all for your feeback. Unless any glaring issues are made apparent, I'm probably going to hold off making any more changes untill I see this in game.

[Michael7123]

Sawped out the spell flame blade for Aganazzar’s scorcher, and conjure elemental for immolate.

If you don't have the elemental evil handbook, don't worry! There's a perfectly legal pdf on the wizards of the coast website containing all the races and spells that came with that book.

[Melcar]

Question... Since Cania is a frozen, icy, Hoth like place, would it not be more fitting with a cold theme?

[Michael7123]

Question... Since Cania is a frozen, icy, Hoth like place, would it not be more fitting with a cold theme?

Normally, yes. However, the archduke in question (likely in an effort to compensate) designed a substance called hellfire. In 3.5, there was a prestige class called the hellfire warlock, which was the only thing that made the warlock semi viable.

This is an attempt to recreate the hellfire warlock.