aether-dd

[aether-dd]

Background: Hermit

Life of Seclusion: I was searching for spiritual enlightenment.

Personality Trait: I am working on a grand philosophical theory and love sharing my ideas.

Ideal: Free Thinking. Inquiry and curiosity are the pillars of progress (Chaotic).

Bond: I’m still seeking the enlightenment I pursued in my seclusion, and it still eludes me.

Flaw: I’d risk too much to uncover a lost bit of knowledge.

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Inventory

Background Items

A scroll case full of my studies and prayers

Winter blanket 

Common clothes

Herbalism Kit

Class Items

Light Bow (20)

Arcane Focus

Scholars Pack*

Leather Armor

Sickle 

2 Daggers

Scholars Pack*

Book of Lore

Bottle of Ink

10 sheets of paper

Small bag of sand

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Daggers

Piercing

Attack Bonus: +4

Damage: 1d4 +2

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Light Bow

Piercing

Attack Bonus: +4

Damage: 1d8 +4

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Sickle

Slashing

Attack Bonus: + 2

Damage: 1d4 +0 

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Thaumaturgy

Transmutation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Components: V Duration: Up to 1 minute

You manifest a minor wonder, a sign of supernatural power, within range. You create one of the following magical effects within range:

Your voice booms up to three times as loud as normal for 1 minute.

You cause flames to flicker, brighten, dim, or change color for 1 minute.

You cause harmless tremors in the ground for 1 minute.

You create an instantaneous sound that originates from a point of your choice within range, such as a rumble of thunder, the cry of a raven, or ominous whispers.

You instantaneously cause an unlocked door or win dow to fly open or slam shut.

You alter the appearance of your eyes for 1 minute.

If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its 1-minute effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

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Unseen Servant

1st-level conjuration (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V, S, M (a piece of string and a bit of wood) Duration: 1 hour

This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends. The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range. It has AC 10, 1 hit point, and a Strength of 2, and it can’t attack. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends.

Once on each of your turns as a bonus action, you can mentally command the servant to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. The servant can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food, and pouring wine. Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.

If you command the servant to perform a task that would move it more than 60 feet away from you, the spell ends.

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Dissonant Whispers

1st-level enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action Range: 60 feet Components: V Duration: Instantaneous

You whisper a discordant melody that only one creature of your choice within range can hear, wracking it with terrible pain. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 3d6 psychic damage and must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows away from you. The creature doesn’t move into obviously dangerous ground, such as a fire or a pit. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and doesn’t have to move away. A deafened creature automatically succeeds on the save. At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.

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True Strike

Divination cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action Range: 30 feet Components: S Duration: Concentration, up to 1 round

You extend your hand and point a finger at a target in range. Your magic grants you a brief insight into the target’s defenses. On your next turn, you gain advantage on your first attack roll against the target, provided that this spell hasn’t ended.

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Blade Ward

Abjuration cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: Self Components: V, S Duration: 1 round You extend your hand and trace a sigil of warding in the air. Until the end of your next turn, you have resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks.

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Life of Seclusion: I was searching for spiritual enlightenment.

Personality Trait: I am working on a grand philosophical theory and love sharing my ideas.

Ideal: Free Thinking. Inquiry and curiosity are the pillars of progress (Chaotic).

Bond: I’m still seeking the enlightenment I pursued in my seclusion, and it still eludes me.

Flaw: I’d risk too much to uncover a lost bit of knowledge.

[aether-dd]

With a pseudodragon curled on his shoulder, a youngelf in golden robes smiles warmly, weaving a magicalcharm into his honeyed words and bending the palacesentinel to his will.

As flames spring to life in her hands, a wizenedhuman whispers the secret name of her demonic patron,infusing her spell with fiendish magic.

Shifting his gaze between a battered tome and theodd alignment of the stars overhead, a wild-eyed tieflingchants the mystic ritual that will open a doorway to adistant world.

Warlocks are seekers of the knowledge that lies hidden in the fabric of the multiverse. Through pacts made with mysterious beings of supernatural power, warlocks unlock magical effects both subtle and spectacular. Drawing on the ancient knowledge of beings such as fey nobles, demons, devils, hags, and alien entities of the Far Realm, warlocks piece together arcane secrets to bolster their own power.

SWORN AND BEHOLDEN

A warlock is defined by a pact with an otherworldly being. Sometimes the relationship between warlock and patron is like that of a cleric and a deity, though the beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are not gods. A warlock might lead a cult dedicated to a demon prince, an archdevil, or an utterly alien entity—beings not typically served by clerics. More often, though, the arrangement is similar to that between a master and an apprentice. The warlock learns and grows in power, at the cost of occasional services performed on the patron’s behalf.

The magic bestowed on a warlock ranges from minor but lasting alterations to the warlock's being (such as the ability to see in darkness or to read any language) to access to powerful spells. Unlike bookish wizards, warlocks supplement their magic with some facility at hand-to-hand combat. They are comfortable in light armor and know how to use simple weapons.

DELVERS INTO SECRETS

Warlocks are driven by an insatiable need for knowledge and power, which compels them into their pacts and shapes their lives. This thirst drives warlocks into their pacts and shapes their later careers as well.

Stories of warlocks binding themselves to fiends are widely known. But many warlocks serve patrons that are not fiendish. Sometimes a traveler in the wilds comes to a strangely beautiful tower, meets its fey lord or lady, and stumbles into a pact without being fully aware of it. And sometimes, while poring over tomes of forbidden lore, a brilliant but crazed student’s mind is opened to realities beyond the material world and to the alien beings that dwell in the outer void. Once a pact is made, a warlock’s thirst for knowledge and power can’t be slaked with mere study and research. No one makes a pact with such a mighty patron if he or she doesn’t intend to use the power thus gained. Rather, the vast majority of warlocks spend their days in active pursuit of their goals, which typically means some kind of adventuring. Furthermore, the demands of their patrons drive warlocks toward adventure.

CREATING A WARLOCK

As you make your warlock character, spend some time thinking about your patron and the obligations that your pact imposes upon you. What led you to make the pact, and how did you make contact with your patron? Were you seduced into summoning a devil, or did you seek out the ritual that would allow you to make contact with an alien elder god? Did you search for your patron, or did your patron find and choose you? Do you chafe under the obligations of your pact or serve joyfully in anticipation of the rewards promised to you?

Work with your DM to determine how big a part your pact will play in your character’s adventuring career. Your patron’s demands might drive you into adventures, or they might consist entirely of small favors you can do between adventures. What kind of relationship do you have with your patron? Is it friendly, antagonistic, uneasy, or romantic? How important does your patron consider you to be? What part do you play in your patron’s plans? Do you know other servants of your patron? How does your patron communicate with you? If you have a familiar, it might occasionally speak with your patron’s voice. Some warlocks find messages from their patrons etched on trees, mingled among tea leaves, or adrift in the clouds—messages that only the warlock can see. Other warlocks converse with their patrons in dreams or waking visions, or deal only with intermediaries.

CLASS FEATURES

As a warlock, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points Hit Dice: 1d8 per warlock level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per warlock level after 1st Armor: Light armor Weapons: Simple weapons Tools: None Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma  Skills: Choose two skills from Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Investigation, Nature, and Religion

EQUIPMENT

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

(a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon

(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus

(a) a scholar’s pack or (b) a dungeoneer’s pack

Leather armor, any simple weapon, and two daggers

OTHER WORLDLY PATRON At 1st level, you have struck a bargain with an otherworldly being of your choice: the Archfey, the Fiend, or the Great Old One, each of which is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 1st level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

PACT MAGIC

Your arcane research and the magic bestowed on you by your patron have given you facility with spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the warlock spell list.

Cantrips You know two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table.

Spell Slots The Warlock table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. To cast one of your warlock spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a short or long rest.

For example, when you are 5th level, you have two 3rd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell thunderwave, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a 3rd-level spell.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher At 1st level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the warlock spell list. The Spells Known column of the Warlock table shows when you learn more warlock spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table's Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 6th level, for example, you learn a new warlock spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the warlock spells you know and replace it with another spell from the warlock spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells, so 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 warlock 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 can use an arcane focus (found in chapter 5) as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.

ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS

In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed eldritch invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.

At 2nd level, you gain two eldritch invocations of your choice. Your invocation options are detailed at the end of the class description. When you gain certain warlock levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice,as shown in the Invocations Known column of the Warlock table.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level.

PACT BOON

At 3rd level, your otherworldly patron bestows a gift upon you for your loyal service. You gain one of the following features of your choice.

Pact of the Tome Your patron gives you a grimoire called a Book of Shadows. When you gain this feature, choose three cantrips from any class’s spell 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 you lose your Book of Shadows, you can perform a 1-hour ceremony to receive a replacement from your patron. 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.

Your Book of Shadows might be a fine, gilt-edged tome with spells of enchantment and illusion, gifted to you by the lordly Archfey. It could be a weighty tome bound in demon hide studded with iron, holding spells of conjuration and a wealth of forbidden lore about the sinister regions of the cosmos, a gift of the Fiend. Or it could be the tattered diary of a lunatic driven mad by contact with the Great Old One, holding scraps of spells that only your own burgeoning insanity allows you to understand and cast.

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.

MYSTIC ARCANUM

At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose one 6th-level spell from the warlock spell list as this arcanum.

You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

At higher levels, you gain more warlock spells of your choice that can be cast in this way: one 7th-level spell at 13th level, one 8th-level spell at 15th level, and one 9th-level spell at 17th level. You regain all uses of your Mystic Arcanum when you finish a long rest.

ELDRITCH MASTER

At 20th level, you can draw on your inner reserve of mystical power while entreating your patron to regain expended spell slots. You can spend 1 minute entreating your patron for aid to regain all your expended spell slots from your Pact Magic feature. Once you regain spell slots with this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

OTHERWORLDLY PATRONS

The beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are mighty inhabitants of other planes of existence—not gods, but almost godlike in their power. Various patrons give their warlocks access to different powers and invocations, and expect significant favors in return.

Some patrons collect warlocks, doling out mystic knowledge relatively freely or boasting of their ability to bind mortals to their will. Other patrons bestow their power only grudgingly, and might make a pact with only one warlock. Warlocks who serve the same patron might view each other as allies, siblings, or rivals.

THE GREAT OLD ONE

Your patron is a mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds. The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.

Entities of this type include Ghaunadar, called That Which Lurks; Tharizdun, the Chained God; Dendar, the Night Serpent; Zargon, the Returner; Great Cthulhu; and other unfathomable beings.

Awakened Mind Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.

Entropic Ward At 6th level, you learn to magically ward yourself against attack and to turn an enemy’s failed strike into good luck for yourself. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses you, your next attack roll against the creature has advantage if you make it before the end of your next turn.

Thought Shield Starting at 10th level, your thoughts can’t be read by telepathy or other means unless you allow it. You also have resistance to psychic damage, and whenever a creature deals psychic damage to you, that creature takes the same amount of damage that you do.

Create Thrall At 14th level, you gain the ability to infect a humanoid’s mind with the alien magic of your patron. You can use your action to touch an incapacitated humanoid. That creature is then charmed by you until a remove curse spell is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed from it, or you use this feature again.

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“But you do see the way people look at you, devil’s child." 

Those black eyes, cold as a winter storm, were staring right into her heart and the sudden seriousness in hisvoice jolted her.

“What is it they say?" he asked.  “One’s a curiosity, two’sa conspiracy—”

“Three's a curse,” she finished. 

“You think I haven’t heardthat rubbish before?”

“I know you have.” When she glared at him, he added, “It’s not as if I’m plumbing the depths of your mind, deargirl. That is the burden of every tiefling. Some break under it, some make it the millstone around their neck, some revel in it.”He tilted his head again, scrutinizing her, with that wicked glint in his eyes. “You fight it, don’t you? Like a little wildcat, I wager. Every little jab and comment just sharpens your claws.”

—Erin M. Evans, BrimstoneAngels

To be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye: this is the lot of the tiefling. And to twist the knife, tieflings know that this is because a pact struck generations ago infused the essence of Asmodeus—overlord of the Nine Hells—into their bloodline. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children’s children will always be held accountable.

INFERNAL BLOODLINE

Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors—black, red, white, silver, or gold—with no visible sclera or pupil. Their skin tones cover the full range of human coloration, but also include various shades of red. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple.

SELF-RELIANT AND SUSPICIOUS

Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves, or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect.

Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, the tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend or ally for life.

TIEFLING NAMES

Tiefling names fall into three broad categories. Tieflings born into another culture typically have names reflective of that culture. Some have names derived from the Infernal language, passed down through generations, that reflect their fiendish heritage. And some younger tieflings, striving to find a place in the world, adopt a name that signifies a virtue or other concept and then try to embody that concept. For some, the chosen name is a noble quest. For others, it’s a grim destiny.

Male Infernal Names: Akmenos, Amnon, Barakas, Damakos, Ekemon, Iados, Kairon, Leucis, Melech, Mordai, Morthos, Pelaios, Skamos, Therai

Female Infernal Names: Akta, Anakis, Bryseis, Criella, Damaia, Ea, Kallista, Lerissa, Makaria, Nemeia, Orianna, Phelaia, Rieta

“Virtue” Names: Art, Carrion, Chant, Creed, Despair, Excellence, Fear, Glory, Hope, Ideal, Music, Nowhere, Open, Poetry, Quest, Random, Reverence, Sorrow, Temerity, Torment, Weary

TIEFLING TRAITS

Tieflings share certain racial traits as a result of their infernal descent.

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 2. Age. Tieflings mature at the same rate as humans but live a few years longer.

Alignment. Tieflings might not have an innate tendency toward evil, but many of them end up there. Evil or not, an independent nature inclines many tieflings toward a chaotic alignment.

Size. Tieflings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Thanks to your infernal heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.

Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.

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WARLOCK SPELLS

Great Old One Expanded Spells

(Lv 1) Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's hideous laughter 

(Lv 2) Detect Thoughts, Phantasmal Force 

(Lv 3) Clairvoyance, Sending 

(Lv 4) Dominate Beast, Evard’s Black Tentacles 

(Lv 5) Eominate Person, Telekinesis

Cantrips (0 Level)

Blade Ward 

Chill Touch 

Eldritch Blast 

Friends

Mage Hand 

Minor Illusion 

Poison Spray 

Prestidigitation 

True Strike

1st Level

Armor of Agathys

Arms of Hadar

Charm Person 

Comprehend Languages 

Expeditious Retreat 

Hellish Rebuke

Hex

Illusory Script 

Protection from Evil and Good 

Unseen Servant 

Witch Bolt

2nd Level

Cloud of Daggers

Crown of Madness

Darkness

Enthrall

Hold Person

Invisibility

Mirror Image

Misty Step

Ray of Enfeeblement

Shatter

Spider Climb

Suggestion

3rd Level

Counterspell

Dispel Magic

Fear

Fly

Gaseous Form

Hunger of Haar

Hypnotic Pattern

Magic Circle

Major Image

Remove Curse

Tongues

Vampiric Touch

4th Level

Banishment

Blight

Dimension Door

Hallucinatory Terrain

5th Level

Contact Other Plane

Dream

Hold Monster

Scrying

6th Level

Arcane Gate

Circle of Death

Conjure Fey

Create Undead

Eyebite

Flesh to Stone

Mass Suggestion

True Seeing

7th Level

Etherealness

Finger of Death

Force cage

Plane Shift

8th Level

Demiplane

Dominate Monster

Feeblemind

Glibness

Power Word Stun

9th Level

Astral Projection

Foresight

Imprisonment

Power Word Kill

True Polymorph