Warlock Subclass: Great Wyrm Pact

[LibraryOgre]

An attempt, perhaps too powerful, at a Warlock/Sorcerer crossover.

Pacts with Great Wyrms vary as much as the wyrm itself. A pact with an ancient gold dragon is far different, in particulars, than the pact with a blue, or a brass, or a green. Each wyrm has its own touch, its own desires and goals, even its own view of the relationship between the dragon and its disciple, but a dragon is a being of Power, and that power will attract those who crave it, for good or for ill.
Like other dragon-related characters, a warlock whose pact is with a Great Wyrm must know the type of dragon to which they are linked. This link dictates the element which various spells and powers use.

Dragon Patron/DamageType
Black/ Acid
Blue/Lightning
Brass/Fire
Bronze/Lightning
Copper/Acid
Gold/Fire
Green/Poison
Red/Fire
Silver/Cold
White/Cold

Great Wyrm Expanded Spell List
1st Detect magic, Heroism
2nd Dragon’s Breath, See Invisibility
3rd Clairvoyance, Glyph of Warding
4th Compulsion, Leomund’s Secret Chest
5th Dominate Person, Summon Draconic Spirit

1st
Dragon Sight: Adepts of the Great Wyrms can call upon their patrons, allowing the wyrm to see through their eyes, while also gaining the sight of a dragon. As a bonus action, they gain blindsight 60’ for one minute. They may use this a number of minutes per day equal to their proficiency bonus, and regain lost uses after a long rest. The minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they are used in full-minute increments.

6th
Dragon’s Bite: As a bonus action, the warlock may grow claws and a maw with which to attack. The claws deal 1d4 slashing damage + Charisma Modifier elemental damage with each attack, and the warlock may attack once with each claw in an Attack action. The bite does 1d6 piercing and slashing damage + Charisma Modifier elemental damage with each attack, and inflicts the grappled condition on the target. On their next action, and in subsequent rounds, the Warlock may use a bonus action to inflict bite damage again, and may use their claws against the grappled opponent, but cannot cast spells or attack other creatures. Grappled creature may use their reaction at the beginning of each of their turns to attempt a Strength (Athletics) test to free themselves from the grapple. The DC to escape the grapple is equal to the DC to resist the Warlock’s magic; the attack roll with either claws or bite are equal to the Warlock’s magical attack bonus.
Additionally, while Dragon’s Might is active, the Warlock adds their Charisma bonus to their AC. Dragon’s Bite may be used once for proficiency bonus + charisma bonus rounds. Use is regained after a short or long rest.

10th
Dragon’s Flight: As a bonus action, the warlock may grow dragon wings and gain a flight speed of 60’. These wings cannot be grown if the warlock is wearing armor not specifically designed for them. The warlock may manifest these wings for a number of rounds equal to their level. If there is no duration remaining, and the warlock is still in flight, then they will be affected by feather fall until they reach the ground. Uses of this power are replenished with a short or long rest.

14th
Dragon’s Might: As an action, the warlock may polymorph themselves into a wyrmling dragon of their patron’s type, as the spell. This transformation lasts a number of rounds equal to the warlock’s level, and requires concentration. They may do this once per day, and used rounds are reset after a long rest.

[Loek]

Let's start with "This link dictates the element which various spells and powers use." This is in the fluff section, but has zero mention in the actual rules.
I'd move this to "they are better" with said element instead, giving a DC boost of 1 or damage boost of 1 or something small like that to incentivize.


Great Wyrm Expanded Spell List
Detect magic is already available for a warlock as the invocation Eldritch Sight, so I'd remove that spell. (Recommended replacement: Chromatic Orb)
Leomund's Secret Chest fits with the dragon theme... but that spell is not only utter meh (way too many bells and whistles and components/costs) but also not something you'll use regularly, which makes it even more meh for the warlock. (Maybe replace with Freedom of movement?)


Dragon Sight: very thematic, but you'll gain it 2 levels before you get See invisbility (and blindsight is most often better). So yeah, it might not have the hour long "I'll see everything coming" vibe, combat wise it's going to blow it out of the water.
I'd recommend reducing the range (5ft per class level?) and/or giving it at a later point in the class.


Dragon’s Bite: "On their next action" you probably mean something like "on the turn that they start the grapple" or such?

I was tempted to say, that this and dragon sight could be swapped, but the potential 4 attacks per turn already makes it somewhat iffy at level 6... let alone level 1 :-/ (and yes, with that extra AC, this might actually be viable and dangerous) (Note: I'd think about removing the AC bonus. You'll be getting a lot of attacks, with a much better than normal attack bonus already...)


Dragon’s Flight: this is in some ways (speed) better than the level 14 feature of the draconic sorcerer, but in others significantly weaker (duration/uses). I'd be tempted to just use the sorcerer's version. Maybe with an added "x minutes per short rest max" or something.


Dragon’s Might: Cool, but seriously underwhelming. Note that the highest CHA amongst the wymrlings is 17. So that's going to hurt. Also note that the strongest of the wyrmlings are CR 4 (while most the metalic/chromatics are between 1 and 3) so that's not a massive boost either. So there is very little reason to limit this in duration/use.

Also, note the Customizing Dragons part of the stat blocks, how much will this be allowed?

My recommendation: Create a generic stat block. Make a few features based on dragon type (resistance/immunity, breath weapon) and have 2 more sections, namely "abilities specific to each type" (Like certain dragons being aqautic, some having a second breath weapon, spiderclimb, etc) and finally a "pick your own features" where you give them 1 or 2 interesting boosts (either from the customizing dragons block or something else).

Alternatively/Concurrently: Give them the dragonform of a wyrmling earlier/always and allow them to boost 1 or 2 age groups for a shorter amount per day?



Even more radical rethinking
Dragon's sight/flight/might can be combined into 1 big shapeshifting thing.
While dragon's bite can be split into 2 abilities.
Level 1: Gain bite or dual claw attack
Level 6: gain wyrmling form for limited time (which grants some form of flying and sight)
Level 10: Boost the bite ability to the level it is at now
Level 14: Boost wyrmling form to always at will, with a limited amount of "bigger form"
(I'd still recommend combining this with a special stat block instead of using the MM stats, as they vary too much between themselves and will make the weaker dragon types like Brass/Copper just too un-optimal)