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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2009

    Question Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]


    War is expensive. The toll of war is the lives of soldiers, and the lives of soldiers take immense resources to mantain. With requirements like food, shelter and rest, the average man-at-arms is a very inefficient tool in the game of war. While some nations try to rectify this with the use of constructs, their outrageous price tags prove prohibitive to deploying them en-mass. While most nations live with the costs of fielding an entirely living army or using constructs, for a few wayward nations necromancy provides an alluring alternative.

    When morality is set aside, the undead can make terrifically efficient soldiers. Fearless and untiring, undead don't require food, lodging or rest for their survival. They do not shrink at the prospect of taking life, and will obey orders without question. With their relatively cheap price, at least when compared to constructs, it is no surprise some desperate or amoral nations turn to raising the dead as a means of cutting down on the number of living troops they must provide for. However, while obedient, mindless undead are less than ideal in many respects, being unable to take initiative or respond to changing battlefield conditions. Sentient undead are therefore the pinnacle of soldiering, but since they are not mindless they have the capacity for disobedience. Thus, both shambling mindless grunts and elite intelligent shock troopers come with the same need: the need for leadership.

    For political reasons, the undead are seldom permitted to serve as their own officers; instead, fearful mortal authorities insist that they must be placed under the command of the living. However, if such officers hope to win the respect of their troops, they must be magically powerful in their own right, as well as charismatic and subtly tainted by the touch of death. Such officers are thus vested with magical powers by the sovereigns of their nations, giving them quick and easy access to the fell talents needed to lead undead units on the battlefield. Often called "uttercold assault necromancers," the defining trait of these Warlocks is their ability to harness a twisted blend of ice and death-based magics to support the undead that fight under them and destroy their enemies.

    The undead soldiers that uttercold assault necromancers lead are perfectly disciplined, and their nations thus expect the same level of discipline from them. In order to maintain this expected discipline, and in response to the hatred and fear in which their forces are held, uttercold assault necromancers are held to the highest standard of military ethics. A degree of political aptitude is also demanded of these officers, as their forces are almost guaranteed to be given the most dangerous and least desirable missions. The stringent requirements that come with being an uttercold assault necromancer demand commitment from a young age, so most who take up the path are apprenticed in their teens, and low level characters typically fall into this apprentice category.

    Patron Spells

    The Uttercold Legion lets choose from an expanded list of spells when you select a Warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you:

    1st: Heroism, Ice Knife
    2nd: Aid, Enhance Ability
    3rd: Crusader's Mantle, Sleet Storm
    4th: Death Ward, Ice Storm
    5th: Circle of Power, Cone of Cold

    An Officer and a Gentleman

    As an Uttercold Assault Necromancer, you are a recognized officer in a military force that has one or more undead detachments, one of which you are responsible for, or one day will be responsible for. Starting when you select this patron at 1st level you and up to 4 of your allies may gain free food and lodging while on a military installation within your nation. You also have advantage on all d20 rolls when gathering information from military members (active or retired) from your nation.

    You gain proficiency in one versatile or one-handed melee weapon of your choice. Upon completing your training (or at character creation, if you received your training prior then the start of the campaign) your GM can have your millitary reward you with a weapon of that type, known as a Ceremonial Weapon. You may use you ceremonial weapon as an arcane focus for your Warlock spells and abilities. If you lose or break your Ceremonial Weapon you may get a replacement at any military installation within your nation. A Ceremonial Weapon can become a pact weapon. (Credit: Garfunion)

    You also must abide by the officer's code, a set of exacting standards that your military and nation hold you accountable to. Your GM determines the exact punishment for defying this code.

    Spoiler: Officer's Code
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    As an Uttercold Assault Necromancer, you must conduct your villainous acts with restraint, good manners and aplomb. In addition, you must hold yourself to the following rules:

    • You must avoid harming innocents and civilians, when feasible.
    • You must be courteous and dignified of bearing at all times.
    • You must graciously accept the surrender of a defeated foe, and treat them with decorum and respect, which means absolutely no torture.
    • You cannot summarily slay captured foes. You are permitted to test their worthiness by placing them in elaborate conditions almost certain to kill them, as long as those of sufficient character or cleverness might survive.
    • You must always keep your word of honor.

    You are also expected to ensure that all of your subordinates (including undead minions you raise or summon yourself) obey this code, and to discipline them if they do not. Note that other "dishonorable" actions, including attacks from ambush, torture of captured spies, and the use of poison, are perfectly permissible under the Officer's Code.


    Conscript Undead

    Also at 1st level, you learn how to bring the undead under your control. As an action you can expend a Warlock spell slot to take control of an undead creature. When you this, you target one undead creature you can see within 30 feet and force it to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target must obey your commands for the next 24 hours, or until you use this feature again. Undead whose CRs equal or exceed your warlock level are immune to this effect. (Credit: Garfunion)

    Chill of the Grave

    Starting at 6th level, you are able to fuse reanimating magics with cold magics to deadly effect. When one or more creatures die to damage they took from spell you cast that deals cold damage, you can use your reaction (even on your own turn) to raise them as skeletons or zombies under your control. Undead you raise this way remain animated for 1 minute or until end of combat (whichever comes first), and can be commanded as-if they where created by an Animate Dead spell cast by you. You can control an ammount of undead you create this way no higher than your Charisma modifier at any given time. Any undead you create with this feature over that limit are uncontrolled and hostile towards all living creatures. (Credit: Garfunion)

    Cold Embrace

    Starting at 10th level, you gain resistance to cold and necrotic damage, can hold your breath indefinitely, and don't require food, water, or sleep, though you still require rest to reduce exhaustion and still benefit from finishing short and long rests. In addition, you age at a slower rate. For every 10 years that pass, your body ages only 1 year, and you are immune to being magically aged.(Credit: Garfunion)

    Uttercold Assault

    At 14th level, you learn how to draw upon the dual powers of frost and necromancy to devistate your foes. When you cast a Warlock spell using a Pact Magic spell slot that deals cold damage and offers a saving throw, you can infuse it with Uttercold magic as a bonus action. When you do this, it deals half its damage as necrotic instead of its normal type, and each creature that fails its saving throw against it becomes restrained. A restrained creature can spend their action to break the restrained condition. If any creature is reduced to 0 hit points by that spell, they become skeletons or zombies (your choice, and not subject to change once chosen) under your control, as if you cast Animate Dead on their corpses. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

    Spoiler: New Invocations
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    New Invocations

    The following invocations are added to those a warlock can choose from when they select their invocations:

    Reanimating Touch
    Prerequisite: Chill Touch cantrip
    When a living creature’s hit points are reduced to 0 or less from your Chill Touch cantrip a skeleton rises from its corpse. The skeleton has 1 hit point and has the same initiative as the creature. (It cannot gain hit points from other features) When the skeleton takes it’s turn, it will move to and attack the closest target that is an enemy to you (if it can). At the end of the skeleton’s turn its hit points are reduced to 0 and crumbles to pieces. (Credit: Garfunion)

    Frightful Touch
    Prerequisite: Chill Touch cantrip
    When you hit a creature with your Chill Touch cantrip, you can have that creature make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of you until the end of its next turn. Once a creature fails its saving throw against this invocation, you cannot affect it with this invocation again until you finish a long rest.

    Felfrost
    Prerequisite: Uttercold Legion Patron
    When you cast a spell that deals cold damage normally, that spell deals additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier. When you cast a spell that deals necrotic damage normally, that spell deals additional cold damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

    Legion of the Dead
    Prerequisite: Undead Servitude invocation
    You can use your Pact Magic spell slots to cast Animate Dead with your Undead Servitude invocation without it counting against that Invocation’s 1/long rest use limit, casting it at the expended slot’s level when you do so. However, any Pact Magic spell slot you use to cast Animate Dead this way is not regained until you finish a long rest, rather than on a short or long rest.

    Rime Blade
    Prerequisite: Uttercold Legion Patron
    As an action, you can use this invocation to make an attack with your Ceremonial Weapon, using your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength modifier on the attack when you do so. If that attack hits, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects, you use your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength modifier on the damage roll, and the target is afflicted with chilling cold.

    This chilling cold causes half the damage the target takes from that attack to be dealt as cold damage instead of its normal type, and causes them to subtract 1d4 from the next ability check, attack roll, or saving throw they make. Starting at 5th level, this chilling cold also cause the target to take 1d8 additional cold damage, which increases to 2d8 at 11th level and 3d8 at 17th level. If you have the Pact of the Blade and use this invocation to make a melee attack with your Pact Weapon, you can treat the attack you make as a normal attack for the Eldritch Smite and Lifedrinker invocations.

    Icy Burst
    Prerequisite: Uttercold Legion Patron, Frostbite cantrip
    When you cast Frostbite as a Warlock cantrip, it can target one additional creature. Starting at 5th level, it can target 2 additional creatures instead. All creatures you target with a Frostbite cantrip this way must be no more than 10ft apart from each other.

    Aura of Desecration
    Prerequisite: Uttercold Legion Patron or the Legion of the Dead invocation, 7th level
    Friendly undead (which includes undead controlled by you or frendly creatures via spells like Animate Dead and class features like Chill of the Grave) add your Charisma modifier to their damage rolls as long as they are within 30ft of you.

    Flexible Arcanum
    Prerequisite: 11th level
    Choose one Warlock spell (which can be a mystic arcanum spell, if applicable) you know. You may use your Mystic Arcanum to cast that spell at a spell level equal to the Mystic Arcanum spent. (You do not also cast the expended mystic arcanum spell when you do this.) You can select this invocation multiple times. Each time you do so, you must choose a different spell. (Credit: Garfunion)


    Credits

    A big thanks to Garfunion of GITPG for inspiring and outright creating many of the mechanics used by these subclasses. Art courtesy of Granblu Fantasy.
    Last edited by Giegue; 2021-03-03 at 11:26 AM.
    78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

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  2. - Top - End - #2
    Dwarf in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    Female

    Default Re: Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]

    I really like the flavor of this subclass. My main note mechanically, I think, is that it feels like it's missing an invocation that answers Felfrost: rather than adding necrotic damage to cold spells, it would add cold damage to necrotic spells. I might also suggest shifting Conscript Undead to scale directly off the level of the spell slot rather than off your warlock level, so that you're mostly limited to commanding lower-level/non-intelligent undead with it - perhaps make the max CR equal to twice the level of the spell slot used?
    Last edited by theVoidWatches; 2018-10-31 at 11:42 AM.
    Hi, you can call me Void. I prefer she/her or they/them pronouns, please. Yes, "they" is a singular pronoun. I write a superhero webserial called Paternum - check it out!



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  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

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    Default Re: Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]

    Quote Originally Posted by theVoidWatches View Post
    I really like the flavor of this subclass. My main note mechanically, I think, is that it feels like it's missing an invocation that answers Felfrost: rather than adding necrotic damage to cold spells, it would add cold damage to necrotic spells. I might also suggest shifting Conscript Undead to scale directly off the level of the spell slot rather than off your warlock level, so that you're mostly limited to commanding lower-level/non-intelligent undead with it - perhaps make the max CR equal to twice the level of the spell slot used?
    I used almost the exact wording from the Oathbreaker Paladin.
    Although there is a “do” missing in the wording.
    Last edited by Garfunion; 2018-10-31 at 10:35 PM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2009

    Default Re: Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]

    Since I’m gonna be playing this subclass soon, starting up discussion on it again.
    78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

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  5. - Top - End - #5
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    JNAProductions's Avatar

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    Default Re: Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]

    Subclass

    I'd change the Ceremonial Weapon to be a ritual you can perform over a short/long rest with any weapon you have proficiency in.

    Uttercold Assault is much better than Hurl Through Hell-I'd weaken it.

    Invocations

    Frightful Touch is too good-Frightened is a damn powerful condition.

    Legion Of The Dead, I'd rather see a rework of Animate Dead where you leave slots invested.
    I have a LOT of Homebrew!

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  6. - Top - End - #6
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2009

    Default Re: Warlock Patron: The Uttercold Legion [V.2]

    As far as Uttercold Assault goes, what would you scale the damage back to? I’m making it 1/long rest to be on par with Hurl Through Hell as well, but am not sure what to scale the damage back to? The Celestial warlock has simmilar feature that is both better (no save to resist) and worse (requires you to drop to 0 and make a death save to use, and inflicts a less powerful condition, albiet with no possibility for the enemy to resist/no save to resist) so would using the same 2d8 + Cha mod damage be fitting here?

    Also fixed Legion of the Dead, and attempted to fix Frightful Touch.
    Last edited by Giegue; 2021-03-03 at 10:57 AM.
    78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

    Mine started at a dinner party in the BBEG's estate.

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