ST By Night
2016-12-13, 05:16 AM
Author's Note
I couldn't find a Blackguard class which I liked, and the Oathbreaker Paladin just seems like a weak-ass loser who needs his face kicked in. A proper Blackguard is the ordained champion of evil, and so I took roughly eight hours or so to do this write up. This is not complete; I have not finished the two other Blasphemous Patron paths (Demon Prince & Great Old One). This class was designed to be a dark mirror to the Paladin; many of the class features are based directly on the Paladin itself, and many Paladin abilities can cancel out the Blackguard's abilities (their Auras fight in particular). The biggest difference between the two is that the Blackguard sacrifices what support, healing and defensive utility the Paladin had in favor of self-preservation and offense. The Blackguard also has the fatal flaw of wielding his powerful profane weapon, which if separated from his profane weapon, becomes incapable of casting any Blackguard spells or stealing souls.
The class was designed to be powerful, but not too powerful. I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
BLACKGUARD
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f29/boldlynowhere/Blackguard%20Table_zpsrpzixzec.jpg
A blackguard epitomizes evil. They are nothing short of a mortal fiend, a black knight with the foulest sort of reputation. Many refer to blackguards as anti-paladins due to their completely evil nature. They are equivalent in power to the righteous paladin, but devote themselves to the powers of darkness. Blackguards consort with demons and devils and serve dark deities and have the power to send forth dark minions and servants to do their bidding, attacking with stealth and honourless guile, or straightforward smiting of the forces of good that stand in their way.
Blackguards are defined by their reckless pact with the forces of utterly alien darkness, becoming the ordained champion of evil to humble the wretched servants of light before crushing them utterly. Many blackguards are driven by hatred and lust for power, but some are former champions of good that betrayed their vows or were seduced by the power of evil. The road of a blackguard is a dark fate that is embraced only by those who feel they have nothing left to lose: those who fail their patron and die can expect an eternity of torment in some hellish plane.
Like the paladin, blackguards have a code of conduct which is defined by their original bargain, restricting their actions to best serve the ideals of their evil patron. Almost universally this involves opposing the forces of good (especially paladins) obligated by the depraved demands of their hungry master, which become more frequent and urgent until eventually the blackguard sows sorrow, death and terror wherever they go. Blackguards who refuse or fail their master suffer immeasurably, and the thought of those consequences motivate a blackguard with fear that transcends understanding.
CLASS FEATURES
As a blackguard, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per blackguard level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10+your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6)+your Constitution modifier per blackguard level after 1st.
Proficiencies
Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Arcana, Intimidation, Religion, Deception, and Perception
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) chain mail or (b) leather armor, crossbow, and 20 bolts
(a) martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons or (c) two-handed martial weapon
(a) scholar’s pack or (b) dungeoneer's pack
Any simple weapon, and unholy symbol of your patron
Infernal Sense
The presence of strong good registers on your senses like an uncomfortable burning, and powerful evil rings like a pleasant sensation. As an action, you can open channels of communication with your unholy patron to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, paladin, fiend or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. Your know the type (celestial, paladin, fiend or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place of object that has been consecrated or descrated, as with the hallow spell.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1+your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.
Tyrant's Grip
Your unholy touch can cause wounds and sustain you with stolen life force. You have a pool of infernal power that replenishes when you take one full minute to absorb the life force of a freshly killed humanoid creature who died by your hand. With that pool you can drain life with a touch, damaging your enemy and restoring a total number of your own hit points equal to your blackguard levelx5.
As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to drain a number of hit points from that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. You cannot replenish your infernal pool from humanoid creatures who were killed by your drain or whose souls have been imprisoned by your profane weapon, as their life force has already been absorbed.
Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your infernal pool to spread corruption as their blood sours and their guts churn with pain. You may use this action as a touch or take a negligible amount of damage to ritually coat your weapon in your blood, delivering the corruption for a number of hits with that weapon equal to your blackguard level+Charisma modifier. The target is considered poisoned unless they succeed on a Constitution save with your blackguard DC. This effect is supernatural and persists until the target receives a cure.
This feature has no effect on undead or constructs.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
Profane Weapon
Beginning at 2nd level, you have learned how to transform your weapon into an instrument of the most foul evil, killing not only bodies but souls. You must first stain the weapon by using it to kill an innocent sentient creature. Over the course of one hour you may then profane your weapon with your patron's unholy symbol, a ritual which concludes by fusing the weapon together with the unholy symbol, which is now prominently displayed on the new profane weapon. You may have only one profane weapon at a time.
Your profane weapon is attuned to you, and may be used as an arcane focus for your blackguard spells. When you slay a sentient humanoid using the profane weapon, you instantly imprison that creature's soul within. Souls you harvest with your profane weapon form a pool from which you may use to replenish blackguard spell slots. You can use souls to replenish spell slots as a bonus action on your turn. The Soul Exchange table below shows the costs of replenishing a spell slot at a given spell level. You can replenish spell slots no higher in level than 5th.
Soul Exchange:
1st Slot - 2 Souls
2nd Slot - 3 Souls
3rd Slot - 4 Souls
4th Slot - 5 Souls
5th Slot - 6 Souls
You start with no souls, but can store up to 2 at 2nd level, and may imprison more as you reach higher levels, as shown in the Souls column of the Blackguard table. You can never imprison more souls than shown in the table for your level. You can only imprison the souls of sentient humanoids you slay with your profane weapon excluding: paladins, clerics, constructs, fiends, undead, or creatures that are 2 or more sizes larger than you. Once a soul is expended the soul is destroyed utterly, making resurrection impossible.
You can break this bond at any time, but when you do, the weapon disintegrates into ashes and leaves behind only your patron's unholy symbol. If you profane a magical weapon, it gains additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Only a special ritual of purification performed on holy ground may cleanse your profane weapon, destroying your patron's unholy symbol and releasing any imprisoned souls.
Additionally, the profane weapon radiates evil like a sour odor, and makes any creatures of good alignment who touch it physically ill - thus they cannot wield a weapon you have profaned. You also instinctively know the location of your profane weapon at all times, and if it is ever separated from you, you lose all ability to steal souls or cast spells until you are reunited with your profane weapon or it is destroyed (purification counts as 'destroyed'). If your profane weapon is destroyed, you must complete an atonement quest for your patron before being permitted to profane another.
Spellcasting
By 2nd level, your connection with your evil patron has grown so strong that you may draw on unholy magic through the power of your patron much as a cleric does with their deity. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and below for the blackguard spell list.
Preparing and Casting Spells
The Blackguard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your blackguard spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of blackguard spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the blackguard spell list. When you do, choose a number of blackguard spells equal to your Charisma modifier+half your blackguard level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you are a 5th-level blackguard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Charisma of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell Hellish Rebuke, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of blackguard spells requires time spent in communion with your patron: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your blackguard spells, since their power derives from the strength of your hatred. 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 blackguard 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 may use your patron's unholy symbol or profane weapon as a spellcasting focus for your blackguard spells.
Blackguard Spell List
1st
Armor of Agathys
Bane
Command
Compelled Duel
Dissonant Whispers
False Life
Hellish Rebuke
Inflict Wounds
Ray of Sickness
Searing Smite
Wrathful Smite
Detect Magic
Shield of Faith
Thunderous Smite
Protection From Evil and Good
2nd
Blindness/Deafness
Cloud of Daggers
Darkness
Enhance Ability
Spider Climb
Pass Without Trace
Locate Object
Protection from Poison
3rd
Animate Dead
Protection From Energy
Sending
Speak With Dead
Tongues
Vampiric Touch
Haste
Phantom Steed
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
4th
Blight
Evard's Black Tentacles
Staggering Smite
Polymorph
Banishment
Locate Creature
5th
Banishing Smite
Commune
Destructive Smite
Contagion
Geas
Hallow
Unholy Smite
Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one blackguard spell slot to deal necrotic damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is a paladin or good cleric.
Dark Blessing
By 3rd level, the infernal power flowing through you makes you immune to life or ability score drain.
Blasphemous Patron
When you reach 3rd level, your patron is no longer content merely with your service: they demand nothing less than your soul. You are visited by a messenger of your patron and must sign the contract that binds you as a blackguard in their service forever. Up to this time you have been in a preparatory stage, committed to the path but not yet sworn to it. Now you must promise your soul to the Archdevil, the Demon Prince, or the Great Old One, all detailed at the end of the class description.
Once you have signed over your soul, the messenger burns the unholy symbol of your patron somewhere on your body (most commonly the right hand or the forehead). All who see the brand know you are forever in the sway of the blackest powers; you gain a circumstance bonus that is equal to your proficiency bonus when dealing with evil creatures.
Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include patron spells and the Channel Infernalism feature.
Patron Spells
Each patron has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the patron description. Once you gain access to a patron spell, you always have it prepared. Patron spells don't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
If you gain a patron spell that doesn't appear on the blackguard spell list, the spell is nonetheless a blackguard spell for you.
Channel Infernalism
Your patron allows you to channel hellish energy to fuel magical effects. Each Channel Infernalism option provided by your patron explains how to use it.
When you use your Channel Infernalism, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Infernalism again.
Some Channel Infernalism effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your blackguard spell save DC.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Aura of Despair
Starting at 6th level, whenever a hostile creature within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature suffers a penalty to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum penalty of -1). You must be conscious to grant this penalty.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Aura of Terror
Starting at 10th level, you can't be frightened. Hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw equal to your blackguard DC on their turn or become frightened until their next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Improved Unholy Smite
By 11th level, you are so suffused with malevolent fury that all your melee weapon strikes carry unholy power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. If you also use your Unholy Smite with an attack, you add this damage to the extra damage of your Unholy Smite.
Dark Resistance
Beginning at 14th level, you gain unnatural resilience to the effects of magic. You gain advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical abilities.
Blasphemous Patrons
Becoming a blackguard involves selling your soul to otherworldly beings that commit the blackguard to their cause for all eternity, an active path of serving evil. The final contract, made when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of the blackguard's damnation. Some characters with this class don't consider themselves true blackguards until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual signing of the contract is a formality, an official brand on what has always been the true hatred in the blackguard's heart.
The Archdevil
You have entered into a pact with one of the Archdevils of the Nine Hells of Baator. Also called the Lords of the Nine, the Archdukes of Hell, and the Lords of Hell, they each control one of the plane's nine layers and are the most powerful and highest-ranking devils. Unlike the chaotic evil Demon Princes of the Abyss, the Lords of the Nine are arranged in a strict hierarchy. The lord of the first layer has the lowest rank of the nine Archdevils, while the lord of the ninth layer has the highest rank. While the demons of the Abyss answer only to their own basic instincts, every single Archdevil (at least in theory) answers to the Lord of the Ninth, Asmodeus.
These Archdevils include: Bel (Lord of the First), Dispater (Lord of the Second), Mammon (Lord of the Third), Fierna (Lady of the Fourth), Levistus (Lord of the Fifth), Glasya (Lady of the Sixth), Baalzebul (Lord of the Seventh), Mephistopheles (Lord of the Eighth), and Asmodeus (Lord of the Ninth).
Blackguards in service to an Archdevil are nothing less than knights of Hell, the chosen fists of tyranny against all who oppose the Lords of the Nine. Ironically, these blackguards hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, following a code of honor which puts them above unprincipled villains. Knights of Hell are expected to never give others cause to call them liars or cowards and uphold the honor of their masters. Deception, of course, is not the same as lying; Asmodeus himself once omitted the truth with his famous words 'read the fine print'.
Tenets of Hell
Though the exact wording and strictures each Archdevil demands of their blackguard vary, knights of Hell share these tenets.
Honor. Keep your word to the letter once it is given, and nothing more. You shall not betray others once your word is given. Follow the law and seek benefit for yourself, and honor legitimate authority that promotes you and your comrades. You shall not lie or aid criminals.
Determination. Showing fear is beneath you; never permit others reason to call you a coward. You shall not aid the weak or show mercy. Kill those who stand in your way to advance yourself or promote order. You shall seek unlimited power over others and unlimited order in society.
Duty. You are responsible for your actions and for your words and their consequences. Take no action which would subvert the agenda of Hell or your master. Follow your master's desires without question. Treat knights who serve a higher Lord of Hell with respect, and knights who serve a lesser Lord of Hell with authority.
Courtesy. You will conduct yourself with politeness to those who have not earned your scorn. All creatures who spread evil and order are advancing the agenda of Hell, knowing or not; you are obligated to deal with them equitably, except when to advance yourself.
Tyranny. The power of good coddles the weak, the lazy, and the stupid; the power of evil exalts the strong, the determined, and the cunning. The laws of Hell edify your rights over the weak. You will take full advantage of others. To not exercise your rights is to abdicate them.
Patron Spells
You gain patron spells at the blackguard levels listed.
Blackguard Level Spells
3rd Arms of Hadar, Hex
5th Crown of Madness, Ray of Enfeeblement
9th Bestow Curse, Hunger of Hadar
13th Arcane Eye, Phantasmal Killer
17th Antilife Shell, Hold Monster
Channel Infernalism
When you take this patron at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Infernalism options.
Hellish Weapon. As an action, you can imbue your profane weapon with infernal energy, using your Channel Infernalism. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits a bright hellish light in a 20-foot radius from your patron's unholy symbol, and dim hellish light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Command the Unholy. As an action, you present your patron's unholy symbol or profane weapon and speak a command over fiends and undead, using your Channel Infernalism to invoke the laws of Hell. Each fiend or undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw equal to your blackguard DC. If the creature fails it is brought under your control for 1 minute or until it takes damage, at which point it receives another Wisdom saving throw to shake off the command.
A commanded creature must spend its turns obeying your orders to the letter, and it can't willingly disobey or take direct action against you. This effect ends if the creature can no longer see or hear you.
Aura of Tyranny
Starting at 7th level, you cannot be charmed. All hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw at your blackguard DC on their turn or be considered charmed until their next turn, unable to attack you or target you with harmful abilities or magical effects, and you gain advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Retaliation
Beginning at 15th level, when a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack at that creature with advantage.
Unholy Nimbus
At 20th level, as an action, you can emanate an unholy aura of darkness. For 1 minute, total darkness radiates from you in a 30-foot radius, and light is reduced to dim light for 30 feet beyond that. This darkness utterly smothers all light except the Holy Nimbus of a paladin.
Whenever a hostile creature starts its turn in the darkness, the creature takes 10 necrotic damage.
In addition, for the duration, all creatures within the nimbus are considered blinded. Your eyes blaze with hellish light, enabling you to see while in the nimbus.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
I couldn't find a Blackguard class which I liked, and the Oathbreaker Paladin just seems like a weak-ass loser who needs his face kicked in. A proper Blackguard is the ordained champion of evil, and so I took roughly eight hours or so to do this write up. This is not complete; I have not finished the two other Blasphemous Patron paths (Demon Prince & Great Old One). This class was designed to be a dark mirror to the Paladin; many of the class features are based directly on the Paladin itself, and many Paladin abilities can cancel out the Blackguard's abilities (their Auras fight in particular). The biggest difference between the two is that the Blackguard sacrifices what support, healing and defensive utility the Paladin had in favor of self-preservation and offense. The Blackguard also has the fatal flaw of wielding his powerful profane weapon, which if separated from his profane weapon, becomes incapable of casting any Blackguard spells or stealing souls.
The class was designed to be powerful, but not too powerful. I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
BLACKGUARD
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f29/boldlynowhere/Blackguard%20Table_zpsrpzixzec.jpg
A blackguard epitomizes evil. They are nothing short of a mortal fiend, a black knight with the foulest sort of reputation. Many refer to blackguards as anti-paladins due to their completely evil nature. They are equivalent in power to the righteous paladin, but devote themselves to the powers of darkness. Blackguards consort with demons and devils and serve dark deities and have the power to send forth dark minions and servants to do their bidding, attacking with stealth and honourless guile, or straightforward smiting of the forces of good that stand in their way.
Blackguards are defined by their reckless pact with the forces of utterly alien darkness, becoming the ordained champion of evil to humble the wretched servants of light before crushing them utterly. Many blackguards are driven by hatred and lust for power, but some are former champions of good that betrayed their vows or were seduced by the power of evil. The road of a blackguard is a dark fate that is embraced only by those who feel they have nothing left to lose: those who fail their patron and die can expect an eternity of torment in some hellish plane.
Like the paladin, blackguards have a code of conduct which is defined by their original bargain, restricting their actions to best serve the ideals of their evil patron. Almost universally this involves opposing the forces of good (especially paladins) obligated by the depraved demands of their hungry master, which become more frequent and urgent until eventually the blackguard sows sorrow, death and terror wherever they go. Blackguards who refuse or fail their master suffer immeasurably, and the thought of those consequences motivate a blackguard with fear that transcends understanding.
CLASS FEATURES
As a blackguard, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per blackguard level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10+your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6)+your Constitution modifier per blackguard level after 1st.
Proficiencies
Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Arcana, Intimidation, Religion, Deception, and Perception
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) chain mail or (b) leather armor, crossbow, and 20 bolts
(a) martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons or (c) two-handed martial weapon
(a) scholar’s pack or (b) dungeoneer's pack
Any simple weapon, and unholy symbol of your patron
Infernal Sense
The presence of strong good registers on your senses like an uncomfortable burning, and powerful evil rings like a pleasant sensation. As an action, you can open channels of communication with your unholy patron to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, paladin, fiend or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. Your know the type (celestial, paladin, fiend or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place of object that has been consecrated or descrated, as with the hallow spell.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1+your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.
Tyrant's Grip
Your unholy touch can cause wounds and sustain you with stolen life force. You have a pool of infernal power that replenishes when you take one full minute to absorb the life force of a freshly killed humanoid creature who died by your hand. With that pool you can drain life with a touch, damaging your enemy and restoring a total number of your own hit points equal to your blackguard levelx5.
As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to drain a number of hit points from that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. You cannot replenish your infernal pool from humanoid creatures who were killed by your drain or whose souls have been imprisoned by your profane weapon, as their life force has already been absorbed.
Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your infernal pool to spread corruption as their blood sours and their guts churn with pain. You may use this action as a touch or take a negligible amount of damage to ritually coat your weapon in your blood, delivering the corruption for a number of hits with that weapon equal to your blackguard level+Charisma modifier. The target is considered poisoned unless they succeed on a Constitution save with your blackguard DC. This effect is supernatural and persists until the target receives a cure.
This feature has no effect on undead or constructs.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
Profane Weapon
Beginning at 2nd level, you have learned how to transform your weapon into an instrument of the most foul evil, killing not only bodies but souls. You must first stain the weapon by using it to kill an innocent sentient creature. Over the course of one hour you may then profane your weapon with your patron's unholy symbol, a ritual which concludes by fusing the weapon together with the unholy symbol, which is now prominently displayed on the new profane weapon. You may have only one profane weapon at a time.
Your profane weapon is attuned to you, and may be used as an arcane focus for your blackguard spells. When you slay a sentient humanoid using the profane weapon, you instantly imprison that creature's soul within. Souls you harvest with your profane weapon form a pool from which you may use to replenish blackguard spell slots. You can use souls to replenish spell slots as a bonus action on your turn. The Soul Exchange table below shows the costs of replenishing a spell slot at a given spell level. You can replenish spell slots no higher in level than 5th.
Soul Exchange:
1st Slot - 2 Souls
2nd Slot - 3 Souls
3rd Slot - 4 Souls
4th Slot - 5 Souls
5th Slot - 6 Souls
You start with no souls, but can store up to 2 at 2nd level, and may imprison more as you reach higher levels, as shown in the Souls column of the Blackguard table. You can never imprison more souls than shown in the table for your level. You can only imprison the souls of sentient humanoids you slay with your profane weapon excluding: paladins, clerics, constructs, fiends, undead, or creatures that are 2 or more sizes larger than you. Once a soul is expended the soul is destroyed utterly, making resurrection impossible.
You can break this bond at any time, but when you do, the weapon disintegrates into ashes and leaves behind only your patron's unholy symbol. If you profane a magical weapon, it gains additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Only a special ritual of purification performed on holy ground may cleanse your profane weapon, destroying your patron's unholy symbol and releasing any imprisoned souls.
Additionally, the profane weapon radiates evil like a sour odor, and makes any creatures of good alignment who touch it physically ill - thus they cannot wield a weapon you have profaned. You also instinctively know the location of your profane weapon at all times, and if it is ever separated from you, you lose all ability to steal souls or cast spells until you are reunited with your profane weapon or it is destroyed (purification counts as 'destroyed'). If your profane weapon is destroyed, you must complete an atonement quest for your patron before being permitted to profane another.
Spellcasting
By 2nd level, your connection with your evil patron has grown so strong that you may draw on unholy magic through the power of your patron much as a cleric does with their deity. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and below for the blackguard spell list.
Preparing and Casting Spells
The Blackguard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your blackguard spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of blackguard spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the blackguard spell list. When you do, choose a number of blackguard spells equal to your Charisma modifier+half your blackguard level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you are a 5th-level blackguard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Charisma of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell Hellish Rebuke, you can cast it using a 1st-level or 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of blackguard spells requires time spent in communion with your patron: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.
Spellcasting Ability
Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your blackguard spells, since their power derives from the strength of your hatred. 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 blackguard 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 may use your patron's unholy symbol or profane weapon as a spellcasting focus for your blackguard spells.
Blackguard Spell List
1st
Armor of Agathys
Bane
Command
Compelled Duel
Dissonant Whispers
False Life
Hellish Rebuke
Inflict Wounds
Ray of Sickness
Searing Smite
Wrathful Smite
Detect Magic
Shield of Faith
Thunderous Smite
Protection From Evil and Good
2nd
Blindness/Deafness
Cloud of Daggers
Darkness
Enhance Ability
Spider Climb
Pass Without Trace
Locate Object
Protection from Poison
3rd
Animate Dead
Protection From Energy
Sending
Speak With Dead
Tongues
Vampiric Touch
Haste
Phantom Steed
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
4th
Blight
Evard's Black Tentacles
Staggering Smite
Polymorph
Banishment
Locate Creature
5th
Banishing Smite
Commune
Destructive Smite
Contagion
Geas
Hallow
Unholy Smite
Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one blackguard spell slot to deal necrotic damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is a paladin or good cleric.
Dark Blessing
By 3rd level, the infernal power flowing through you makes you immune to life or ability score drain.
Blasphemous Patron
When you reach 3rd level, your patron is no longer content merely with your service: they demand nothing less than your soul. You are visited by a messenger of your patron and must sign the contract that binds you as a blackguard in their service forever. Up to this time you have been in a preparatory stage, committed to the path but not yet sworn to it. Now you must promise your soul to the Archdevil, the Demon Prince, or the Great Old One, all detailed at the end of the class description.
Once you have signed over your soul, the messenger burns the unholy symbol of your patron somewhere on your body (most commonly the right hand or the forehead). All who see the brand know you are forever in the sway of the blackest powers; you gain a circumstance bonus that is equal to your proficiency bonus when dealing with evil creatures.
Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include patron spells and the Channel Infernalism feature.
Patron Spells
Each patron has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the patron description. Once you gain access to a patron spell, you always have it prepared. Patron spells don't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
If you gain a patron spell that doesn't appear on the blackguard spell list, the spell is nonetheless a blackguard spell for you.
Channel Infernalism
Your patron allows you to channel hellish energy to fuel magical effects. Each Channel Infernalism option provided by your patron explains how to use it.
When you use your Channel Infernalism, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Infernalism again.
Some Channel Infernalism effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your blackguard spell save DC.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Aura of Despair
Starting at 6th level, whenever a hostile creature within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature suffers a penalty to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum penalty of -1). You must be conscious to grant this penalty.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Aura of Terror
Starting at 10th level, you can't be frightened. Hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw equal to your blackguard DC on their turn or become frightened until their next turn.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Improved Unholy Smite
By 11th level, you are so suffused with malevolent fury that all your melee weapon strikes carry unholy power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. If you also use your Unholy Smite with an attack, you add this damage to the extra damage of your Unholy Smite.
Dark Resistance
Beginning at 14th level, you gain unnatural resilience to the effects of magic. You gain advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical abilities.
Blasphemous Patrons
Becoming a blackguard involves selling your soul to otherworldly beings that commit the blackguard to their cause for all eternity, an active path of serving evil. The final contract, made when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of the blackguard's damnation. Some characters with this class don't consider themselves true blackguards until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual signing of the contract is a formality, an official brand on what has always been the true hatred in the blackguard's heart.
The Archdevil
You have entered into a pact with one of the Archdevils of the Nine Hells of Baator. Also called the Lords of the Nine, the Archdukes of Hell, and the Lords of Hell, they each control one of the plane's nine layers and are the most powerful and highest-ranking devils. Unlike the chaotic evil Demon Princes of the Abyss, the Lords of the Nine are arranged in a strict hierarchy. The lord of the first layer has the lowest rank of the nine Archdevils, while the lord of the ninth layer has the highest rank. While the demons of the Abyss answer only to their own basic instincts, every single Archdevil (at least in theory) answers to the Lord of the Ninth, Asmodeus.
These Archdevils include: Bel (Lord of the First), Dispater (Lord of the Second), Mammon (Lord of the Third), Fierna (Lady of the Fourth), Levistus (Lord of the Fifth), Glasya (Lady of the Sixth), Baalzebul (Lord of the Seventh), Mephistopheles (Lord of the Eighth), and Asmodeus (Lord of the Ninth).
Blackguards in service to an Archdevil are nothing less than knights of Hell, the chosen fists of tyranny against all who oppose the Lords of the Nine. Ironically, these blackguards hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, following a code of honor which puts them above unprincipled villains. Knights of Hell are expected to never give others cause to call them liars or cowards and uphold the honor of their masters. Deception, of course, is not the same as lying; Asmodeus himself once omitted the truth with his famous words 'read the fine print'.
Tenets of Hell
Though the exact wording and strictures each Archdevil demands of their blackguard vary, knights of Hell share these tenets.
Honor. Keep your word to the letter once it is given, and nothing more. You shall not betray others once your word is given. Follow the law and seek benefit for yourself, and honor legitimate authority that promotes you and your comrades. You shall not lie or aid criminals.
Determination. Showing fear is beneath you; never permit others reason to call you a coward. You shall not aid the weak or show mercy. Kill those who stand in your way to advance yourself or promote order. You shall seek unlimited power over others and unlimited order in society.
Duty. You are responsible for your actions and for your words and their consequences. Take no action which would subvert the agenda of Hell or your master. Follow your master's desires without question. Treat knights who serve a higher Lord of Hell with respect, and knights who serve a lesser Lord of Hell with authority.
Courtesy. You will conduct yourself with politeness to those who have not earned your scorn. All creatures who spread evil and order are advancing the agenda of Hell, knowing or not; you are obligated to deal with them equitably, except when to advance yourself.
Tyranny. The power of good coddles the weak, the lazy, and the stupid; the power of evil exalts the strong, the determined, and the cunning. The laws of Hell edify your rights over the weak. You will take full advantage of others. To not exercise your rights is to abdicate them.
Patron Spells
You gain patron spells at the blackguard levels listed.
Blackguard Level Spells
3rd Arms of Hadar, Hex
5th Crown of Madness, Ray of Enfeeblement
9th Bestow Curse, Hunger of Hadar
13th Arcane Eye, Phantasmal Killer
17th Antilife Shell, Hold Monster
Channel Infernalism
When you take this patron at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Infernalism options.
Hellish Weapon. As an action, you can imbue your profane weapon with infernal energy, using your Channel Infernalism. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits a bright hellish light in a 20-foot radius from your patron's unholy symbol, and dim hellish light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.
Command the Unholy. As an action, you present your patron's unholy symbol or profane weapon and speak a command over fiends and undead, using your Channel Infernalism to invoke the laws of Hell. Each fiend or undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw equal to your blackguard DC. If the creature fails it is brought under your control for 1 minute or until it takes damage, at which point it receives another Wisdom saving throw to shake off the command.
A commanded creature must spend its turns obeying your orders to the letter, and it can't willingly disobey or take direct action against you. This effect ends if the creature can no longer see or hear you.
Aura of Tyranny
Starting at 7th level, you cannot be charmed. All hostile creatures within 10 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw at your blackguard DC on their turn or be considered charmed until their next turn, unable to attack you or target you with harmful abilities or magical effects, and you gain advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Retaliation
Beginning at 15th level, when a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack at that creature with advantage.
Unholy Nimbus
At 20th level, as an action, you can emanate an unholy aura of darkness. For 1 minute, total darkness radiates from you in a 30-foot radius, and light is reduced to dim light for 30 feet beyond that. This darkness utterly smothers all light except the Holy Nimbus of a paladin.
Whenever a hostile creature starts its turn in the darkness, the creature takes 10 necrotic damage.
In addition, for the duration, all creatures within the nimbus are considered blinded. Your eyes blaze with hellish light, enabling you to see while in the nimbus.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.