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Crisis21
2019-04-07, 11:31 PM
So, after attempting a warlock-flavored Bard, I felt I really had to also attempt an archetype for the most forbidden multiclass pairing of all: Wizard and Warlock.

With this archetype, you can play a Wizard that has done the one thing a self-respecting Wizard should never do: make a deal with a higher being for greater magic power.

And, yes, one of the features I included essentially lets you play a stupid wizard.

Forbidden Pact

Wizards in general have long shunned the path of the Warlock, viewing the act of bartering for mystical power as an insult to their intellect and the careful study they partake in to gain their mystical might. If it ever got out that you had made such a pact yourself, you would be shunned by Wizards everywhere for the grave insult your action gives their profession.

Pact of the Tome

When you make your pact at 2nd level, your patron transforms your wizard's spellbook into an eldritch grimoire. When you gain this feature, choose three cantrips from any class's spell list (the three needn't be from the same list). While the book is on your person, you can cast those cantrips at will. They don't count against your number of cantrips known. If they don't appear on the wizard spell list, they are nonetheless wizard spells for you.
You may record spells in this grimoire in the same manner as you would an ordinary spellbook. In addition, when you gain a new wizard level, you may choose to petition your patron to grant you knowledge of a spell on the Warlock spell list. This spell appears in your spellbook and is considered a wizard spell for you. If you chose this option, the spell replaces one of the wizard spells you would normally add to your spellbook upon gaining a level.
If you lose your grimoire, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to recreate the book, including any spells that were recorded in it. This ceremony can be performed during a short or long rest, and it destroys the previous book. The book turns to ash when you die.

Flexible Spellcasting

When you make your pact at 2nd level, you discover other ways to focus your magical power. You may use either your Intelligence or your Charisma as your spellcasting modifier for wizard spells you cast.

Eldritch Invocations

When you gain this archetype at 2nd level, you may select an invocation from the following list. You may gain an additional invocation at 6th, and 14th level. When you gain a new wizard level, you may exchange one of your invocations for another invocation that you qualify for.

Armor of Shadows
You can cast Mage Armor on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Ascendant Step
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Levitate on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Beast Speech
You can cast Speak with Animals at will, without expending a spell slot.

Bewitching Whispers
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast Compulsion once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Dreadful Word
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast Confusion once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Eldritch Sight
You can cast Detect Magic at will, without expending a spell slot.

Fiendish Vigor
You can cast False Life on yourself at will as a 1st-level spell, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Mask of Many Faces
You can cast Disguise Self at will, without expending a spell slot.

Minions of Chaos
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Conjure Elemental once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Mire the Mind
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can cast Slow once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Misty Visions
You can cast Silent Image at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Otherworldly Leap
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Jump on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.

Sculptor of Flesh
Prerequisite: 7th level
You can cast Polymorph once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Sign of Ill Omen
Prerequisite: 5th level
You can cast Bestow Curse once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Thief of Five Fates
You can cast Bane once using a wizard spell slot. You can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Whispers of the Grave
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast Speak with Dead at will, without expending a spell slot.

Eldritch Regeneration

Starting at 6th level, you may increase the amount of spell slots regained using your Arcane Regeneration feature to three quarters of your Wizard level, rounded down. All other restrictions of your Arcane Regeneration feature apply.

Book of Ancient Secrets

At 10th level, you can add any spell with the ritual tag to your grimoire, regardless of what spell list it is from, and cast it as a ritual. Choose two 1st-level spells that have the ritual tag from any class's spell list (the two needn't be from the same list). The spells appear in the book and don't count against the number of spells you know. With your grimoire in hand, you can cast the chosen spells as rituals. You can't cast spells added to your grimoire through this feature except as rituals, unless you've learned them by some other means.

Eldritch Power

Starting at 14th level, when you cast a wizard spell using a spell slot of 4th level or lower (excluding cantrips), you may cast it as if it were one level higher.

The first time you do so, you suffer no adverse effect. If you use this feature again before you finish a long rest, you take 2d12 necrotic damage for each level of the spell, immediately after you cast it. Each time you use this feature again before finishing a long rest, the necrotic damage per spell level increases by 1d12. This damage ignores resistance and immunity.

Crisis21
2019-04-10, 01:24 AM
Any comments at all? Positive? Negative? Neutral? Chartreuse?

theVoidWatches
2019-04-10, 09:30 AM
Question for Pact of the Tome here - are you required to learn a warlock spell for one of your level-up spells each time you level-up, or allowed?

As for the Invocations, several of them don't make any sense to take. Specifically:

Dreadful Word
Minions of Chaos
Mire the Mind
Sculptor of Flesh
Sign of Ill Omen
All of them let you spend a spell slot once/day to cast a spell which is already on the wizard spell list. Why would anyone spend any of their (very limited) invocations to be able to cast a spell once/day when they could just learn the spell and cast it multiple times?

Armor of Shadows also makes very little sense, since as a wizard your spell slots aren't at nearly as much of a premium - using a single 1st level slot to have Mage Armor for an entire day (as it lasts 8 hours) is easy for a wizard to do. It's a great invocation for warlocks, but wizards don't really need it.

Crisis21
2019-04-10, 09:54 AM
Question for Pact of the Tome here - are you required to learn a warlock spell for one of your level-up spells each time you level-up, or allowed?

As for the Invocations, several of them don't make any sense to take. Specifically:

Dreadful Word
Minions of Chaos
Mire the Mind
Sculptor of Flesh
Sign of Ill Omen
All of them let you spend a spell slot once/day to cast a spell which is already on the wizard spell list. Why would anyone spend any of their (very limited) invocations to be able to cast a spell once/day when they could just learn the spell and cast it multiple times?

Armor of Shadows also makes very little sense, since as a wizard your spell slots aren't at nearly as much of a premium - using a single 1st level slot to have Mage Armor for an entire day (as it lasts 8 hours) is easy for a wizard to do. It's a great invocation for warlocks, but wizards don't really need it.

...You know, I was just comparing the twos spell lists and there isn't much the warlock has that the wizard doesn't. Granted, the warlock has some good exclusive spells, but not enough to justify the way I worded it. I'll change that.

I will freely admit that I took the srd invocation list and cut out anything that didn't start with 'you can cast'. Then I cut out anything that required level 15 or higher. I was left with plenty that was suboptimal for a wizard, but I kept it as options.

Also, just because something is on the wizard spell list doesn't mean your wizard knows it. Wizards notoriously have to seek out spells to learn them and here is a patron willing to give them access in the interim if they really want to have the spell right now. Remember, the invocations can be traded out when they become redundant.

Consider: You get two new spells for free when you gain a wizard level. Awesome. But there's three spells you really want to have and your DM isn't being cooperative with letting you find them. But hey! One of those spells can be granted by an invocation! So you take the other two as your free spells for gaining a wizard level and choose the relevant invocation for the third, reasoning that you can put it in your spellbook properly when you get your next level and switch out the invocation for a more long-term choice.

The wizard spell list is the biggest in the game, and appropriately wizards learn more spells just by levelling up than most other spellcasters ever get and they can search out and record new spells as they adventure. But they're still highly unlikely to be able to learn every spell. The invocations you get from this subclass are essentially spells you don't have to worry about hunting down, or at least don't have to worry about hunting down right now. Furthermore, they're spells you don't have to prepare. Given how premium prepared spells are, even for high INT wizards, having extra spells you don't need to prepare can be a load off your mind. It's options, and any good wizard can appreciate having options.