The Symbiote
While warlocks of the Great Old One deal with distant entities far outside the bounds of reality, your pact is much more intimate. Your patron lives inside of you, symbiotically gaining protection and sustenance in exchange for power. Symbiotes have a trace of sentience, but your patron is primarily concerned with thriving in a reality that actively rejects its existance.
Since you are the shell keeping the universe from violently expelling your Symbiote, you face an interesting conundrum. On one hand, you are harboring an alien presence that wishes nothing less than to feed on everything that moves, and despoil everything that doesn't. On the other hand, the power the Symbiote grants may be too tempting to pass up...
Symbiote Features
| Warlock Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1st | Expanded Spell List, Bonus Cantrip, Unconventional Pact |
| 6th | Symbiotic Weapons |
| 10th | Benevolent Parasite |
| 14th | Reconstitute |
Expanded Spell List
The Symbiote lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock list for you.
Symbiote Expanded Spells
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | detect poison and disease, hunter's mark |
| 2nd | alter self, web |
| 3rd | feign death, nondetection |
| 4th | evard's black tentacles, grasping vine |
| 5th | contagion, insect plague |
Bonus Cantrips
At 1st level, you learn the primal savagery cantrip (Xanathar's Guide to Everything). This counts as a warlock cantrip for you, but doesn't count against your number of cantrips known.
Symbiotic Body
The Symbiote spends most of its time coiled around your internal organs, but you can spend a Pact Magic spell slot as a bonus action to have your patron emerge over you as a second skin. You gain the following traits while in this Symbiote form:
- You count as an aberration, rather than the creature type of your race.
- Your Dexterity score increases to equal your Charisma score for the duration of the transformation.
- You gain darkvision out to 60 feet.
- You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
- Your armor class can equal 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You lose proficiency in all medium armor, heavy armor, and shields for the duration of the transformation.
- You gain a claws attack that deals 1d6 + ability modifer slashing damage, requiring at least one free hand. When you use the Attack action with your claws on your turn, you can make a bite attack as a bonus action, which deals 1d4 + ability modifer piercing damage. You are proficient with your claws and your bite, and both count as finesse weapons.
- Your jump distance is doubled.
- Once per transformation, you may cast a spell as if using the Pact Magic slot you expended to activate the transformation. The spell must be a spell you know of an appropriate level or one you have access to via an invocation. You can't expend spell slots during the transformation.
- You are proficient in the Intimidation skill for the duration of the transformation.
- You can't cast cantrips other than primal savagery.
- Your clothing and equipment are covered by the Symbiote layer, though you may use an object interaction to pull an item out and into your (Symbiote-covered) hand. Bulky items on your person, such as a backpack, non-light weapons, medium or heavy armor, etc. are not covered.
The transformation lasts for 1 hour, until you dismiss it as a bonus action, or until you fall unconscious or reach 0 hp.
Unconventional Pact
Due to your patron's invasive proximity, you do not recieve a conventional pact boon. When you select a pact boon at 3rd level, choose from the following options instead:
Pact of Looming Hunger: You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill. When you transform into Symbiote form, you immediately gain temporary hit points equal to double your level in this class. You also increase your size category by one---Medium to Large, for example. This doubles your size in all dimensions, and multiplies your weight by eight. If there isn't enough room to double your size, you attain the maximum possible size in the space available. While in Symbiote form, your Strength score increases to equal your Charisma score, your Dexterity score becomes 9 + your Charisma modifier, you have advantage on Strength saving throws and checks, and your claws and bite damage dice each increase to 1d8.
Pact of Preternatual Awareness: You gain proficiency in the Perception skill, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for all ability checks that use this proficiency. While in Symbiote form, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gain blindsight out to 10 feet.
Pact of the Star-Spawned Stalker: You gain proficiency in the Acrobatics and Stealth skills. While in Symbiote form your speed increases by 10 feet, and you gain the ability to move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free. You also gain a climb speed equal to your walking speed while in Symbiote form. Opportunity attacks against you have disadvantage while you are in Symbiote form.
Symbiotic Weapons
At 6th level, your Symbiote's urge to kill becomes tangible. Your claws and bite in Symbiote form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage, and gain a +1 bonus to their attack and damage rolls.
Benevolent Parasite
At 10th level, the connection between you and your patron deepens. You gain advantage on saving throws to resist being charmed or frightened. While in Symbiote form, you gain resistance to all damage except fire and thunder damage. The Symbiote protects your mind and body, but it is weak to fire, and sonic waves disrupt its connection to you.
Reconstitute
At 14th level, your Symbiote can regrow and repair your body in a burst of enzymes and digestive acids. When you use your action to cast primal savagery on your turn, you may use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to your class level. For 1 minute, your claws and bite attacks while in Symbiote form deal an extra 1d8 acid damage.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you complete a long rest.
New Invocations
Eldritch Invocations
Devouring Maw
Prerequisite: 7th level, Pact of Looming Hunger feature
When you damage a creature with your bite attack on your turn in Symbiote form, you may immediately make a grapple attempt against that creature.
When you successfully grapple a creature in this way, you maintain the hold using your maw. While you have a creature grappled with your maw, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier at the start of your turn, but you can't make bite attacks or perform verbal components for spells.
Greater Symbiotic Weapons
Prerequisite: 15th level, Symbiotic Weapons feature
The bonus on attack and damage rolls from your Symbiotic Weapons feature becomes +3.
This invocation does not stack with Improved Symbiotic Weapons.
Improved Symbiotic Weapons
Prerequisite: 9th level, Symbiotic Weapons feature
The bonus on attack and damage rolls from your Symbiotic Weapons feature becomes +2.
This invocation does not stack with Greater Symbiotic Weapons.
Reflexive Lunge
Prerequisite: 7th level, Pact of Preternatural Awareness
feature
When a creature misses you with a melee attack during its turn while you are in Symbiote form, you may use your reaction to immediately make a bite attack against that creature if they are within your reach.
Thirsting Talons
Prerequisite: 5th level, Symbiotic Body feature
You can attack with your claws twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn while in Symbiote form.
Viscious Mauling
Prerequisite: 7th level, Pact of the Star-Spawned Stalker
You gain the following benefits while in Symbiote form:
- When you have advantage on a claws or bite attack and hit a creature, or when you hit a surprised creature with a claws or bite attack, you may make a shove attack against that creature immediately after dealing damage. Rather than rolling Strength (Athletics), you may use the result of your attack roll.
- Any hit you score on a prone target with your claws or bite is automatically a critical hit.