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Playing around with the idea of making my own little Sci-Fi TTRPG Setting! Lemme know if you guys are interested!

[thearcanacheck]

Chapter 6/9: Esmerelda, Phyllis, Pyrrha, Adelma, Eudoxia

Esmerelda: A city where the streets are criss-crossing, stratified, and completely chaotic. Thanks to all the canals, bridges, catwalks, and dead-ends, the shortest path between two points is "tortuously" complicated and will invariably require you to mount and dismount several boats. Maps of the city use all sorts of multicolored, textured, and invisible inks to illustrate these roads.

Phyllis: A beautiful, rich city that becomes only more plain and invisible to inhabitants, the longer they stay. "Happy is the man who has Phyllis before his eyes each day and who never ceases seeing the things it contains." But if you stay here, you'll only see it as a collection of routes, memories, and destinations. You'll see less and less of the physical city over time.

Pyrrha: A city with high walls on a bay - that you have not gone to. This city has many different names: Pyrrha if you've never been there; Getullia if you passed through temporarily; Odile if you were born there but never want to return; and so on. Each name corresponds to a different city that are all the same one.

Adelma: A cursed city, where everyone resembles someone *you* know who has since died. Walking down the street, you'll spot a lady who looks for all the world like your deceased mother, a beggar who looks like a neighbor of yours who took their life, a fishmonger who looks like your grandmother. The inhabitants wear veils and visitors are encouraged to do so as well, since *you'll* appear as a dead loved one to *them* as well.

Eudoxia: A city with carpets instead of a maps. These carpets don't look anything like maps on first glance, but if you look closely, you can see the trajectory of walking citizens, the odor of fishes, the fates of men, everything, all represented by intertwining threads. This plays a large role in their religion - since the carpet is a map for the city, the city must be a map for the universe.

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Keep reading

[thearcanacheck]

I'm DYING squirtle

(Rats! Sorry for reblogging that last post about the wonders of the outdoors on to the wrong blog; glad you guys seemed to like it though!)

(I was just working in the Drafted-posts mine for the Arcana Check; but here's my link to my main blog if you want more stuff like that)

[thearcanacheck]

I'm gonna have to put a little post-it note on my computer to remind me to CHECK WHICH ACCOUNT A POST IS GOING TO

(Rats! Sorry for reblogging that last post about the wonders of the outdoors on to the wrong blog; glad you guys seemed to like it though!)

(I was just working in the Drafted-posts mine for the Arcana Check; but here's my link to my main blog if you want more stuff like that)

[thearcanacheck]

(Rats! Sorry for reblogging that last post about the wonders of the outdoors on to the wrong blog; glad you guys seemed to like it though!)

(I was just working in the Drafted-posts mine for the Arcana Check; but here's my link to my main blog if you want more stuff like that)

[thearcanacheck]

Chapter 5/9: Octavia, Ersilia, Baucis, Leandra, Melania

Octavia: A city built between two steep mountains, over a deep chasm. The city is built on a web of ropes, chains, and catwalks - not on top of it, but hung below. Dangling from the web, there are rope ladders, cable cars, and buildings designed like hanging sacks. It’s a nice place to live, but the inhabitants know that the net will only last so long.

Ersilia: In this city, the citizens tie strings from one-another’s houses to represent their relationships. You might tie a red string to mark a relationship of blood, a black string to represent debt, or a striped string to represent influence. And so on. Eventually, the strings become so numerous that the inhabitants can no longer move among them and must move away - leaving behind only the strings and their supports. They always try to make *new* Ersilias with more organized strings, but the countryside is littered with these abandoned spider-web cities.

Baucis: An unreachable city built on towering, slender stilts in the middle of the wilderness. Nobody has visited this “flamingo” city, so we can only guess why they’ve built it this way. Maybe they hate the earth? Maybe they respect it too much to touch it? Maybe they love it so much that they try to view as much of it as possible from their vantage point?

Leandra: A city with two kinds of gods: The Penates and the Lares. These two gods exist in homes - the P’s stick with families and move with them, and the L’s belong to the houses. The two kinds of gods are hard to tell apart at a glance, but they form friendships and get in terrible fights as you would expect.

Both gods believe *they* are the true gods of Leandra and criticize everything the citizens do. The Penates champion the grandparents and wish the best for their children, while the Lares bemoan “lazy” housekeepers and hope to see the environment in good condition.

Melania: A city of roles and dialogues. Walking around, you’ll meet The Soldier, The Prostitute, The Miserly Father, The Amorous Daughter, or The Foolish Servant. Return in a few years, and some individuals have died, but others have taken their place. The Soldier has become The Hypocrite and the Foolish Servant has been replaced by The Astrologer.

The roles and performances rarely change but are multiplied or shared. There may be three thousand Hypocrites, or one man who must be The Tyrant, The Benefactor, and The Messenger. Individuals lead short lives, but the roles go on.

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Keep reading

[thearcanacheck]

(Sorry, accidentally reblogged a post about the Pokemon “Archen” to the wrong account. Archen is very cute, in any case.)

[thearcanacheck]

I swear to god I wrote down a reminder to make this joke a few weeks ago I just forgot to post this earlier

[thearcanacheck]

Chapter 4/9: Olivia, Sophronia, Eutropia, Zemrude, and Aglaura.

Olivia: A city of sarcasm. If one enters this city expecting a rich, wealthy city - with splendid palaces and gardens - they’ll instead find a downtrodden, destitute city of beggars and soot. If you expect a violent, subjugated police-state under the heel of a cruel tyrant, you’ll instead find a calm, bucolic town where the wind carries with it sudden bursts of laughter from all directions. Rumors of what life’s actually like in Olivia are never wrong - it’s the city that lies.

Sophronia: Like most cities, this one has roller-coasters, circuses and carousels. Sophronia also has banks, factories, schools and palaces. One-half of the city is permanent and the other is temporary. When the season’s over, the city’s banks are dismantled, the factories are loaded up on to wagons, and the ruling lords climb up and into their caravans. The citizens return to their carnival games to wait until these travelers return and “a complete life can begin again.”

Eutropia: This city consists of several, identical cities, scattered over a rolling plateau. Only one of these cities is inhabited at a time. Every few years, however, when Eutropia’s inhabitants get bored or frustrated with their lives, the people decide to move to the next city over. There, they take new homes, new jobs, new families, and new social groups. Although they worship gods oftrickery and chaos, Eutropia is much more stable than any other. The actors may change, but the roles never do.

Zemrude: A city of tall palaces, glittering fountains, and emblazoned flags. It is also a city of rancid gutters, dark cellars, and litter-strewn streets. The optimist enters the city with their head held high - focused on the former city and unable to comprehend the latter. The pessimist walks through Zemrude with their head low - eyes running along the drainpipes and only going lower, lower and lower.

Aglaura: (This one’s tough) The oldest city. A city that has been written about since the dawn of language. It has been compared and contrasted with cities that have long since been destroyed and rebuilt. A writer comes along to praise the virtues of the Aglauran spirit! Centuries later, these virtues become antiquated and new writers and virtues must be employed.

It is a dull, lifeless city that can hardly be said to exist. Lost to language.

On rare occasion, something new, strange, and beautiful may occur in Aglaura. But because so much has already been said, written, and sung, the previous words imprison yours and you may only repeat or reference.

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Keep reading

[thearcanacheck]

Chapter 3/9: Zobeide, Hypatia, Armillia, Chloe, and  Valdrada.

1. Zobeide: Once upon a time, a great many individuals across the world (mostly men) dreamt they were chasing a nude woman through a maze-like city in the desert. They were never able to catch the woman, but the dreams persisted. Over time, they left their homes to find this city, but all they found was the desert -- and each other. Together, they built the city from their shared dream. They added traps for the woman should she ever appear. Dead-ends, fences, unclimbable walls. The woman never appeared in real life, and the dreams eventually ceased, but the city remained. Ugly and utterly hostile.

2. Hypatia: A city of opposites. Corpses are buried in the magnolia gardens, prisoners toil in the palace, opium dealers fester in the libraries, philosophers debate in the playgrounds, prostitutes run the military stables, musicians play in the cemeteries, and ships are chartered at the mountaintops.

3. Armillia: A city of plumbing. This city once had the most advanced plumbing system in the world; every room of every house had immaculately-constructed pipes that delivered clean water and carried away waste -- allowing for very tall buildings. However, the nymphs and water spirits took it over. Now the buildings have all eroded, but the pipes, sinks, and bathtubs remain. Forming skeletons of the towering structures that were once there. You can still hear the nymphs singing and showering among the forest of pipes.

4. Chloe: A city where, whenever two strangers pass by each other, they imagine doing all sorts of stuff together. The less said about this the better, but if you took away all these imagined fantasies, Chloe would be a very dreary and shut-in place indeed.

5. Valdrada: A mirrored city built alongside a lake. Every building, every window, and every room interior is built so that it reflects off the surface of the sparkling lake. Because this city is effectively two cities, the inhabitants are very conscious of what their actions would look like, reflected back at them. Unfortunately, reflections tend to exaggerate or deny a thing’s value; Symmetrical but not equal. The two Valdradas do not like each other.

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Keep reading

[thearcanacheck]

All the calculators for finding appropriate Monster CRs for players to fight are confusing. I just use the “Half Your Age Plus Seven” rule and go from there.

[thearcanacheck]

Chapter 2/9: Maurilia, Fedora, Zoe, Zenobia, and Euphemia.

Maurilia: A modern city where the inhabitants carry around postcards depicting what the city used to look like. When Maurilians discuss these postcards, they do so following strict social guidelines: always praise the way things used to be, but never admit that the city shouldn’t have changed.

Fedora: A gray stone metropolis. In the center is a large metal building filled with miniature dioramas, almost like snow globes. Each diorama depicts a planned public projects (e.g. water canals, zoos, parks) that had to be cancelled for one reason or another. Inhabitants of Fedora visit this museum of miniature Fedoras and meditates on how nice it must be to live in the dioramas. Not that any Fedora is any more/less real than the other.

Zoe: A city where every building is multi-purpose and rather identical. Any building can be used for sleeping, trading, cooking, manufacturing, governing, worshiping, and so on. People hate going to Zoe and Zoians are unpopular in other cities.

Zenobia: A city in a dry area that is nonetheless built on tall stilts. Nobody remembers why the city was built so impractically, but whenever a Zenobian tries to imagine a happier life, this vision is always built vertically. Sure, there may be more food or flags in these fantasies, but the precarious stilts and ladders remain. Most people are like this.

Euphemia: A great trading city in the desert. Every solstice and equinox the merchants gather to trade stories. The legends that spread around this time are, in themselves, legendary - but there is a catch. The stories you tell are forgotten, replaced by the new ones you hear.

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Keep reading

[thearcanacheck]

Invisible Cities and World-Building

So! I’ve been a bit obsessed with this book, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Link to PDF ; Link to Youtube Audiobook). In short, it’s a book about Marco Polo trying to describe all the surreal cities he’s seen to the Emperor Kublai Khan.

Beyond that, it’s a book about how hard it is to use language to describe a city. And if YOUR’RE the sort of writer who’s always looking for ways to paint a picture of a fantastical city, it’s a great read/listen to get the world-building juices flowing!

For our purposes, however, I’ll go through and oversimplify summarize each city in case any of you would like to drag-and-drop one into your own setting! Here we go!

CHAPTER 1/9: Diomira, Isidora, Dorothea, Zaria, Anastasia, Tamara, Zora, Despina, Zirma, and Isaura.

Diomira: A utopia of crystal theaters, mechanical golden roosters, and countless other beautiful sights. Those who live here are plagued with an envy for those happy few who have actually seen the sights this city claims to have.

Isidora: A city of beautiful people, brawling sports, and perfect violins. Those who travel to this city to take in these desires are doomed to only arrive in their late age -- doomed to sit on the side and watch the beautiful musicians and athletes go by.

Dorothea: A desert city divided into a complicated and exact system of quarters, drawbridges, and canals (detailed further in the book). Each family in Dorothea specializes in a certain trade good, like roe, amethysts, or astrolabes, and marry in certain ways to benefit business. It’s all very structured, but the caravaneers who pass through are made unsure and alienated by it all.

Zaria: A city that measures itself with history, rather than meters or inches. The height of a lamppost is measured with the height of the noose that hanged a usurper. The length of a gutter is measured by the firing range of a gunboat that besieged Zaria long ago. Zaria expresses its history like lines on a hand.

Anastasia: A city of attractive people, delicious food, and precious gems. Those who live here enthusiastically toil, endlessly, in order to afford these wonderful treasures.

Tamara: City of Signs. Signs for buildings, signs for rules, signs for advertisements, signs for gods, signs for everything. No sign has written words on them, but instead images are used to define parts of the city (a tankard to represent a tavern, or a sword to represent barracks). No part of Tamara is not hidden by iconography.

Zora: A city that is impossible to forget. The patterns of streets, shops, and cobbles on the road, once seen can never be forgotten. The most educated scholars have memorized every bit of Zora and have learned to associate each part of it with useful knowledge -- like a giant Mnemonic device. Sadly, the city refused to change with the times and has languished. It no longer physically exists.

Despina: A city between a desert of sand and a desert of ocean. Approached from the desert, it appears as a massive ship (flapping wind-socks, smoking chimneys, small windows in every building). Approached from the sea, it appears as a camel (embroidered flags, towers like camel humps, overburdened with wineskins). Despina does well to serve both.

Zirma: A city where everything is redundant. Walking down the street, you’ll always see several blind men, women with pet pumas, lunatics standing on rooftops, and so forth. Most people passing through only notice one of each.

Isaura: A city founded on top of a giant subterranean lake. Everywhere there are wells, pumps, and aqueducts that bring the life-giving water upwards. There are two religions in Isaura: those who believe gods live in the depths of the lake, and those who believe gods inhabit their mechanisms.

[thearcanacheck]

Long Time No See!

I took some time to compile all of my Homebrew D&D Subclasses and 125+ Magic items (organized by rarity, of course). Click the link and it’ll take you right to my Google Docs Thingy!

I’d be flattered if anyone out there wants copy/paste any of these ideas on their own blog or whatever! Like, if your blog is titled “D&D Homebrew Daily” or somesuch. My only request is that if you do, make sure to include a link to this blog post right here so that more folks will check out my crap!

(Also, feel free to reply to this post if y’all notice any mistakes I made. Like, if something seems Overpowered or Underpowered or too-vaguely-worded for a half-serious game of D&D)

[thearcanacheck]

The Drow

I’ve been No-Lifeing RPGMaker these last few months, but I do have something for you guys:

Take your generic Drow Kingdom, right? They aren’t necessarily All Evil, but say that their economy is based entirely on supplying black markets. An underground kingdom of smugglers.

You get plenty of good with the bad. Through some tunnels, you get refugees, cheap medicine, and outlawed books. Through others, however, you get drugs, spies, and human trafficking. Escaped slaves go one way, kidnapped slaves go the other. The Drow kingdoms are all variations on the theme of laissez faire, but they only exist to support these networks indiscriminately. After all, a spider’s web exists to extend and ensnare.

Consider the combined might of the all the world’s Drow Palaces, ramshackle caravans, and even the depths of Lolth’s Demonweb Pits!

Suppliers of political plots, exotic goods, and demonic magic (respectively).

Refer to it all as “The Dark Web” and go from there.

[thearcanacheck]

Wizards

Wizards are typically defined by their education and, in days of yore, it was up to the Master Wizard to teach their apprentice the widest spectrum of magic possible so they may choose their own focus of independent study. Times have changed, of course. Now, apprentice wizards enjoy a buyer’s market and may choose from a long list of masters and schools. Below are a few of the more modern environments a Wizard may cut their teeth in.

Medical School: Although priests have cornered the healthcare market, there are mages who wish to study human anatomy from a more secular perspective. Wizard-doctors may fulfil a variety of roles, beyond Curing Wounds:

Diagnosing illnesses (Divination)

Heating or cooling patients to make them more comfortable (Evocation)

Shocking patients to make them less comfortable (Evocation)

Performing transplants (Transmutation)

Analyzing mental illnesses (Enchantment)

Forging hospital paperwork (Illusion)

Assisting in post-mortem reports (Necromancy)

Wizards and Artificers have also been developing “Scroll-Surgery.” To put it simply, a tiny (and waterproof) spell scroll is implanted in a patient’s body to do beneficial things like regulate electricity or pain. Less-beneficial effects are possible too; spies are often found with scrolls of “Fireball” or “Modify Memory” etched in their molars.

Astralspace Engineering: These are Wizards who specialize in studying the countless cosmological planes which appear to be everywhere and a long way off at the same time. If you need a submarine to plunge to the depths of the Elemental Plane of Water, an inflammable suit to trek the expanse of the Nine Hells, or a list of the top ten restaurants in Sigil, these are the Wizards to turn to.

Business School: Business Wizards perform a wide variety of roles in the modern-medieval world despite not knowing much magic. Well, actually just two:

Court Wizardry: Kings are always in need of magical advice, and the same goes for lesser feudal lords, wealthy merchants, military leaders, etc.

Supply-Chain Management: Artificers are the undisputed lords of magical-item manufacturing, but once you’ve got a cursed magical ring, you need someone who can get it on the shelves.

Community College: Certain towns may be too small to support a large University and too big to rely on 1-on-1 apprenticeship. In such cases, a Wizard may come down to the public meeting place and train prospective Wizards en masse. If a student shows promise, the head wizard may write a letter of recommendation, helping them secure a scholarship to attend a larger university miles away. If a student doesn’t show promise, they may still walk away with a cantrip under their belt. Some accredited Wizards see teaching as merely a way of earning income, while others may see it as a way of earning the respect of their Alma Matter.

With Wizardry becoming more and more specialized over the years, there are a select few who still wish to embrace the full spectrum of magical knowledge. Among these Wizards, there are no master, no arch-mages, grand-chancellors or post-graduates. Every student of  studies one topic enough to become a mere dilettante and then moves on to the next.

Below is a description of the 5e homebrew subclass: Liberal Arts School

Liberal Arts School

Wizards who want to study everything. Their skills, proficiencies, and expertise would put your average skill-monkey to shame – and may even multiclass a little without neglecting their Wizardry!

Expert Savant: At level one, you become proficient in one tool of your choice and may also pick one skill you’re proficient with and gain “Expertise” in it. At level 10 you may pick a second tool proficiency and a second “Expertise.”

Integrated Education: At level 2, your education is expansive, all-encompassing, and somewhat muddled in your mind. You may choose three non-intelligence skills and those skills will always be intelligence-based for you – instead of their usual ability.

On top of that, you can pick one spellcasting class that you could normally multiclass into (For example, if you want to choose the Bard class, you’d need a charisma of 13 or higher). Whenever you choose a new spell to learn, you may choose from this class’s spell list. If you come across spell scrolls for this class, you may copy them into your spellbook. These additional spells do not count as Wizard spells for the purposes of calculating spell save DCs and attack bonuses.

Unemployable: By the 6th level, the time you’ve spent below the poverty line has certainly left its mark on you. You only need half as much food, water, and short/long rest time as you normally would.

Performance Enhancer: At level 10, you’ve learned a magical technique that could probably get you expelled from university. As an action, you can make a motion with your hands to send magic coursing through your brain. For the next 5 minutes, you can cast any un-prepared 1st level wizard spell in your spellbook and you may concentrate on two spells at once.

When the minute is over, you can no longer concentrate on spells until you complete a long rest. If you try to use this feature while you are suffering from the aftereffects, there is a 50% chance that you instead gain a level of exhaustion.

Declared Minor: At level 14, you’ve spent so long studying wizardry… it’s gotten pretty dull. You gain the benefits of one level in any other class besides wizard, with the following three catches:

HP maximum only increases by the amount the wizard class would improve normally.

Your number of spell slots only increases by the amount it normally would for a wizard.

Your character level for cantrip scaling (and similar purposes) only increases by one.

For example, if you were a Fighter 6 and Wizard 13, you could effectively become a Fighter 7, Wizard 14. So go nuts!

[thearcanacheck]

Warlocks

Lots of powerful, extraplanar creatures offer mortals the title of Warlock, but not many of them make good “Adventurers.” Times are-a changing, so being able to break into a dungeon and kill a bunch of cultists/monsters/witnesses is no longer the be-all-end-all of job qualifications. Below are a few Patrons whose Warlocks are rarely seen around tabletops:

Inevitables: Many mortals are granted power from the plane of Mechanus, but you wouldn’t guess by looking around. Such Warlocks are endowed with the power of a graphing calculator, and thusly spend a lot of time indoors, adding sums and transcribing documents. 

LLCs: When a bunch of people pool their money together and create a Limited Liability Corporation, a non-zero amount of infernal power is created. Plenty of businesses have monetized their eldritch assets and offered candidates Warlock powers in return for... what remains of their soul. These Warlocks aren’t as strong as others, but they’re renown for their presentation skills and ability to hold their liquor.

Giants: Giants are reluctant to admit that there are things a “Tiny” person can do that a Giant can’t: running errands, acting as ambassadors, cleaning behind furniture, and so forth. Highly-esteemed slaves Warlocks gain the ability to speak on behalf of their masters and command knee-bending respect where ever Giants hold sway.

Kua-Toas: The god-kings of Kua-Toa villages gain a very small amount of power from their worshipers, but this power builds up over time. These Warlocks only gain enough power for, say, one lightning bolt every generation, but that’s usually more than enough to command belief.

Wizard-Warlocks: Demonologists (an old-world term meaning the study of extraplanar creatures) siphon their power without the consent of their patrons! These Warlocks use Intelligence instead of Charisma and typically gain a tiny bit of power from different patrons to avoid attention.

Muses: The countless Muses of D&D such as “Comedic Timing,” “Rule of Cool,” or “Let’s Take it Easy on the New Player” are fickle in their patronage, but their presence can be felt in every epic tale. Players and DMs often think themselves the lords and masters of D&D, but whenever a Movie reference crops up, whenever a character tells a joke that makes no sense, and whenever a Dice Roll is ignored, that is the work of a Muse.

Below are a few Pact Boons and Invocations (for D&D 5e) that are also rarely seen in Adventures, but because Patrons are always looking for new features to attract recruits, it may only be a matter of time...

PACT BOONS

Pact of Obedience: Your number of Warlock spell slots increases by 1. In return, you merely need to obey your patron’s completely rational requests. At the dawn of each day, roll for a random law and a random punishment on the table below:

Complaining about the poor grammar in your Patron’s commandments instantly inflicts a punishment.

Pact of the Shell: As an action you may summon a suit of armor. You can choose the form that the armor takes each time you create it. You are proficient with the armor while you ear it. The rest of this boons features are also identical to the “Pact of the Blade.” This pact armor may be used as your spellcasting focus.

INVOCATIONS

Full Metal Jacket: Prerequisite - Pact of the Shell; Warlock Level 5. The metal in your pact armor has been hardened under the weight of collapsing dimensions. While wearing your pact armor, you may substitute your strength modifier with your charisma modifier (this also applies to strength requirements for armor). You may also use an action to grant yourself +2 AC until you use another action to remove that bonus. While the +2 bonus is active, you suffer disadvantage on dexterity/wisdom checks.

Tanner of Titans: Prerequisite - Pact of the Shell; Warlock level 5. The leather in your pact armor has been hewn from the skin of demigods. While worn, you may replace your dexterity modifier with your charisma modifier (this also applies to the dexterity bonus to AC you get with some armor). Furthermore, if your AC is ever below 17, you may disengage as a bonus action while wearing your armor.

Curse of Entropy: Prerequisite: The Hex spell or a warlock feature that curses. Whenever you or a creature under the effect of your curse rolls a d20, you can instead force yourself/the creature to take a “10.” You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to your Charisma modifier.

Express Warranty: Prerequisite: Warlock Level 5. You’ve learned that it’s wise to keep the receipts when you sell your soul. If you cast a spell using your Aarlock spell slots and it completely fails due to either: A. all creatures targeted succeeded on the save DC and suffer no effects, or B. your spell attack(s) completely miss(es), you may appeal your patron for a replacement spell slot. One business day later, after you’ve completed a long rest, you’ll have one extra Warlock Spell slot. You may not use this feature again until that extra spell slot is expended.

Contractual Consideration: Prerequisite: Warlock Level 5, if you cast a spell that requires a save or an attack roll, you may choose to make the spell successful against a single creature if the spell failed. However, in doing so, the same effect of the spell is applied to you, as if you’ve cast the spell on yourself.

Gift of Obedience: Prerequisite - Boon of Obedience and the Hex spell. Whenever you cast the Hex spell, you may substitute the effects of the spell for a “Boon of Obedience” law and punishment. You choose the law and punishment when you first cast the spell -- and a voice in the cursed creature’s head informs them of the Law.

Minions a’Penty: Prerequisite - Pact of the Chain. The following creatures are added to your list of possible familiars: Mephits, Gazers, Quadrones, Sprites, Death Dogs, Vine Blights, Specters, Steeders, Cultists, and any Beast of CR 1 or lower. If the familiar has the Innate Spellcasting feature or a breath weapon, such abilities recharge after you finish a short or long rest, as opposed to its usual recharge period.

Kindred Spirit: Choose one of the following creature types: Undead, Fiend, Fey, Elementals, Celestials, or Aberrations. You have advantage on charisma skill checks to interact with those creatures. Even if they cannot speak or understand you, you can still communicate general ideas. You are also able to sense the presence of such creatures within 15 feet of you (you experience a strong chill).

Mask of Miasma: Prerequisite - Warlock Level 9. You may cast Gaseous Form on yourself at will, without expending a spell slot. You suffer 3d12 radiant damage whenever you enter sunlight or start your turn there.

Cadaver Collector: Prerequisite - Warlock Level 15. Once after a short rest, you may cast Magic Jar with the following differences:

You do not need a material component to cast this spell.

You may only possess a humanoid who has been dead (and therefore soulless) for no longer than an hour.

Your old body counts as the “container” for this spell.

The spell ends early if the body you’re inhabiting is beheaded, incinerated, disintegrated, or mangled beyond recognition.

When the spell is over and you return to your body, you suffer psychic damage equal to the damage the dead body took while you were controlling it.