Warlock Dragon Patron

[Legokeiki]

Made a homebrew subclass for warlocks to take a dragon as their patron.
Please critique!

Specific things I'm unsure about are
- Spell List
- Breath Weapon range/damage
- Draconic Avatar

Dragon Subclass

Patron:
The Dragon
Your patron is an ancient and powerful dragon, a mighty creature that has granted you some draconic abilities in exchange for your services. You might be expected to bring treasure and power to the dragon, or to bring the dragon's wrath upon its enemies.

Expanded Spell List
Your draconic patron has granted you the ability to choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Dragon Expanded Spells


Spell Level
Spells


1st
absorb elements, detect magic


2nd
dragon's breath, see invisibility


3rd
bestow curse, elemental weapon


4th
locate creature, polymorph


5th
dispel evil and good, planar binding



Breath Weapon
Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you a taste of the elemental might of a dragon, allowing you to exhale energy. Choose a color of dragon when you gain this feature. The color you choose will affect features you gain in the future. Using your action, you can exhale draconic energy corresponding the color you chose.

Dragon Color


Color
Damage Type


Red/Brass/Gold
Fire


Blue/Bronze
Lightning


Black/Copper
Acid


Green
Poison


White/Silver
Cold



As an action, you can exhale energy in either a 15 foot cone or a line 5 feet wide and 20 feet long. Each creature must make a constitution saving throw against your warlock spell save DC, taking 4d6 damage of your color's type on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The range and damage of this ability both increase as you increase in level, according to the following table.

Breath Weapon Scaling


Level
Damage
Type


1st
4d6
15ft. cone/20ft. line


5th
6d6
30ft. cone/40ft. line


11th
8d6
45ft. cone/60ft. line


17th
10d6
60ft. cone/90ft. line



Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Frightful Presence
Starting at 6th level, you can exude the presence of a dragon to frighten your enemies. As a bonus action, you can activate your frightful presence. Creatures of your choice within 30 feet of you must make a wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC, becoming frightened for 1 minute on a failed save. A target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Draconic Soul
Starting at 10th level, you gain resistance to damage of your color's type. Additionally, once per turn when you deal damage to a creature with damage of your color's type, you can add your charisma modifier to the damage.

Draconic Avatar
Starting at 14th level, you can fully embody the might of a dragon for a short time. As an action, you can transform, taking the form of a dragon. You gain the following benefits for 1 minute, until you are incapacitated, or until you revert to your true form as an action.


You gain temporary hitpoints equal to twice your level in this class.
Your size increases by one category.
You gain a flying speed of 60 feet.
When you damage of your color's type, you ignore resistance to that damage type and treat immunity to that damage type as resistance.
You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 2d8 + your charisma modifier slashing damage. This damage is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance or immunity to nonmagical damage.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

[MReav]

According to the fluff in 5E, they already have this. It's called a Sorcerer.

[Old Harry MTX]

According to the fluff in 5E, they already have this. It's called a Sorcerer.

Actually, a sorcerer have a draconic ancestor, a warlock have a draconic patron. On a roleplay point of view, are two things completely different...

By the way, on a first look, the path seems fine, but I will change the 6th level feature with an utility or survival one, to use out of combat.

[MReav]

Actually, a sorcerer have a draconic ancestor, a warlock have a draconic patron. On a roleplay point of view, are two things completely different...

By the way, on a first look, the path seems fine, but I will change the 6th level feature with an utility or survival one, to use out of combat.

That was in 3rd edition. In 5E they make pacts (though having a draconic ancestor is not ruled out as a possibility)

[Composer99]

That was in 3rd edition. In 5E they make pacts (though having a draconic ancestor is not ruled out as a possibility)

The being with which the warlock makes a pact is frequently referred to in the 5e class description as a patron. So I'm not sure what is the basis for the distinction you're drawing? Could you perhaps clarify?

(Oh, and if you're instead referring to sorcerers, again, the 5e class description refers to draconic ancestry. Here again a clarification would be appreciated.)

[MReav]

The being with which the warlock makes a pact is frequently referred to in the 5e class description as a patron. So I'm not sure what is the basis for the distinction you're drawing? Could you perhaps clarify?

(Oh, and if you're instead referring to sorcerers, again, the 5e class description refers to draconic ancestry. Here again a clarification would be appreciated.)

From DnD Beyond:

"Your innate magic comes from draconic magic that was mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. Most often, sorcerers with this origin trace their descent back to a mighty sorcerer of ancient times who made a bargain with a dragon or who might even have claimed a dragon parent."

[Old Harry MTX]

From DnD Beyond:

"Your innate magic comes from draconic magic that was mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. Most often, sorcerers with this origin trace their descent back to a mighty sorcerer of ancient times who made a bargain with a dragon or who might even have claimed a dragon parent."

Yes, that's the point. A sorcerer have an ancestor that have made affair with a dragon, while a warlock made the pact directly.

[Composer99]

I concur with OldHarryMTX that this subclass could stand to have a utility feature. Either the frightful presence or the current 10th-level feature could be made into an invocation to make room for it.

The breath weapon damage might be a little high. By way of comparison, burning hands, which you can use as often as this feature at 1st level, does 3d6 damage. Also, unlike burning hands, the area of effect of this feature increases as you gain levels. Overall, the breath weapon ends up looking like a bonus spell slot.

I'm not sure what to suggest for the spell list. It doesn't all feel all that... dragon-esque, for lack of a better term, but some of the spells

Avatar is fine. I would go through spells such as shapechange or druid wildshape to clear up how the transformation works a bit. Also, if you want to incentivise using the claw attacks, you might want to give a multiattack.

[MReav]

Yes, that's the point. A sorcerer have an ancestor that have made affair with a dragon, while a warlock made the pact directly.

You are missing my point in that the original sorcerer made a pact with the dragon in the first place, without having been born from said dragon.

From Roll20 (sorry I don't use the books, my Internet is down, so I have to use public wifi):

"Any given Sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline, as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance."

[Composer99]

You are missing my point in that the original sorcerer made a pact with the dragon in the first place, without having been born from said dragon.

From Roll20 (sorry I don't use the books, my Internet is down, so I have to use public wifi):

"Any given Sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline, as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance."

It does not follow that, since a sorcerer could have made a pact with a dragon to gain its powers, the sorcerer class is the best representation of "pact magic" with respect to dragons in the game. Warlocks are still the most suitable "pact magic" class, meaning a warlock subclass for dragons is perfectly apropos.

What is more, the PHB makes as much reference to bloodlines and ancestry as it does to pacts, such as:

Your innate magic comes from draconic magic that was mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. [...]

The line you yourself quote about having a mighty draconic sorcerer for an ancestor (which is itself a statement of ancestry) includes the line "might even have claimed a dragon parent", implying the line starts as a matter of ancestry.

The general remarks on the class include such statements as:


Some sorcerers wield magic that springs from an ancient bloodline infused with the magic of dragons.

[...]

Some draconic bloodlines produce exactly one sorcerer in every generation, but in other lines of descent every individual is a sorcerer.

Bloodline and ancestry is again clearly apparent here.

All that is to say that you are vastly overstating the importance of "a pact" to the formation of a draconic bloodline of sorcerers. It is clearly not considered the primary way for a draconic sorcerer to have gained their powers, although it is not left out as a possibility - such as, say, for a sorcerer who is the first in a new bloodline.

[SodaQueen]

It's a bit vanilla for my tastes. It hits all the beats you'd expect and it seems fine balance wise but it's just kind of...plain. And some of the higher level spell choices seem like odd choices thematically. Maybe you could focus more on the color of the draconic patron? Like blue dragon's affinity for sand, not just lightning or black dragons corrupting water. Stuff like that would help this stand out more and maybe provide mich needed utility.


You are missing my point in that the original sorcerer made a pact with the dragon in the first place, without having been born from said dragon.

From Roll20 (sorry I don't use the books, my Internet is down, so I have to use public wifi):

"Any given Sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline, as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance."Volo's suggests a unicorn as a patron for a celestial warlock. Why not a dragon? And just coming into a thread and saying "nah sorcerers are a thing" without providing any critique is quite unhelpful.