Warlock Patron: The Famished Dark

The Famished Dark can be most accurately thought of as the collective will of the Negative Energy Plane roused to sentience. It is a predatory intelligence characterized by little more than a bottomless, insatiable hunger for life and spiritual energies, as though it seeks to fill the infinite void that defines it. Occasionally it will see fit to bestow the art of life drain and great power upon promising disciples in exchange for a share of the vitality they harvest from other worlds. Though its motives and goals are simple, the plans it weaves to achieve them are often vast, complex and far reaching; those who would trust in the covetous Dark or seek its favour would do well to exercise the utmost caution.

Famished Dark Patron Spells
Spell Level Spells
1st absorb elements, inflict wounds
2nd blindness/deafness, silence
3rd bestow curse, nondetection
4th evard's black tentacles, dessicate
5th antilife shell, hallow

Life Drain

The most elementary boon of the Dark, you gain the ability to drain a foe of their life force, further honing this loathsome gift as your pact deepens.

Starting at 1st level, as an action you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within your reach. On a hit, the target takes necrotic damage equal to 1d12 + your Charisma modifier. This damage increases by 1d12 when you reach Warlock level 5, 2d12 at Warlock level 11, and 3d12 at Warlock level 17.

If a creature takes damage from this feature, you gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt for 1 minute.

Credits

  • Image: Life Drain by Monpuasajr

  • Brew: by Surrealistik

Swallower of Souls

Starting at 6th level, you're able to absorb a portion of a slain foe's essence, its remainder given unto the Dark as tribute.

Whenever you kill a creature with a pact weapon, Warlock spell or feature that deals necrotic damage, or a creature dies while subject to your hex spell or bestow curse spell, you can regain 1 Hit Dice. If you do, that creature can't be revived until you die, short of divine intervention or a wish spell.

Further, you gain the following abilities:

Barter in Blood. As an action you can expend a number of Hit Dice equal to the level of your Pact Magic spell slots to regain a Pact Magic spell slot.
Soul Reagent. When you cast a Warlock spell, you can expend any number of Hit Dice to reduce the total value of material components it requires by up to 50 gold pieces per Hit Dice spent in this way (to a minimum of 0).

Living Void

Starting at 10th level, you become as a conduit of the Dark, your person imbued with a facet of its hungering abyss.

You gain resistance to necrotic damage, are immune to being magically aged, your hit point maximum can't be reduced and necrotic damage you deal ignores resistance.

While you have no Hit Dice remaining, you are immune to necrotic damage and necrotic damage you deal ignores resistance and immunity.

By Darkness Devoured

Starting at 14th level, you can banish others unto the life eating abyss where the Famished Dark dwells.

As an action, you can expend up to 5 Hit Dice. Choose up to one creature you can see within 60 feet of you, plus another for each Hit Dice spent in this way. Each target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be banished to the Negative Energy Plane for 1 minute or until your concentration ends (as if you were concentrating on a spell).

While banished, the target is incapacitated, can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points, and takes 5d12 necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns, ignoring resistance and immunity. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Charisma saving throw. On a success, this effect ends on the target, and the target reappears in an unoccupied space closest to where it left.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Patron: The Famished Dark by Surrealistik

Eldritch Invocations

Barter in Blood

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Tome feature

When you cast a Warlock spell that requires a minute or longer to cast and you expend Hit Dice to reduce the cost of its material components with your Siphon Essence feature, that cost reduction is doubled, and the time required to cast that spell is halved.

Black Lightning

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

As an action, you can expend a Pact Magic spell slot to discharge bolts of sizzling black lightning in a line 100 feet long and 5 feet wide, or in a 30 foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking necrotic damage as if it were hit by your Life Drain feature's attack on a failure, or half as much damage on a success.

You gain temporary hit points equal to half the total damage dealt in this way for 1 minute.

Blackshard

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Blade feature

You can have your pact weapon deal necrotic damage instead of its normal damage types. If it does, it ignores resistance to necrotic damage.

Whenever your pact weapon deals necrotic damage to a creature, you can prevent that creature from regaining hit points or gaining temporary hit points until the end of your next turn.

Blood Arcanum

Prerequisite: 11th level, The Famished Dark patron

When you finish a short rest, you can expend Hit Dice equal to twice the level of a Mystic Arcanum spell. If you do, you can regain a use of that Mystic Arcanum.

Patron: The Famished Dark by Surrealistik

By Death Defiled

Prerequisite: 5th level, The Famished Dark patron

Whenever you would regain a Hit Dice using your Swallower of Souls feature, you can instead use your reaction to spawn a shadow at the space of the corpse of the creature whose death triggered that feature. This shadow obeys your commands and can communicate with you telepathically up to 60 feet away. The shadow fades away after 1 hour.

An undead created in this way gains a bonus to its attack and damage rolls equal to your Charisma modifier, and crumbles to dust when reduced to 0 hit points or after 1 minute.

Dark Bound Familiar

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Chain feature

You can make your Life Drain feature's attack through your familiar as though it were delivering a spell with a range of touch.

Further, you can choose an undead creature of up to Challenge Rating of 1 for your familiar's form with the Find Familiar spell.

Your familiar cannot create or spawn undead.

Devouring Smite

Prerequisite: 5th level, The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Blade feature

Once per turn, when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can expend Hit Dice up to Charisma modifier to imbue it with fell energies. For each Hit Dice spent in this way, your pact weapon deals an extra 1d10 necrotic damage.

Dominate Undead

Prerequisite: 15th level, The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Chain feature

You can cast dominate monster at will on undead creatures without expending a spell slot or material components.

You must finish a long rest before you can use this invocation on the same creature again.

Favoured of the Dark

Prerequisite: 11th level, The Famished Dark patron, Siphon Essence feature

When you would spend Hit Dice to use a class feature, you spend one less Hit Dice to a minimum of 1.

Grim Oblation

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Tome feature, Swallower of Souls feature

When you cast a Warlock spell that normally requires a minute or longer to cast, you may sacrifice one or more living creatures as material components for that spell. For the entire duration of that spell's casting time, creatures used in this way cannot have total cover from you, and they must be alive, within 30 feet of you and either willing, restrained or incapacitated.

When you finish casting the spell, these creatures die and the cost of the spell's required material components is reduced by 50 gold pieces (to a minimum of 0) for each Hit Dice among creatures killed in this way. These creatures can't be revived short of divine intervention or a wish spell.

Devouring Hunger

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

Once per turn, you can reroll any number of damage dice for your Life Drain feature's attack. You must accept the results of any reroll.

Further, your Life Drain feature's attack ignores necrotic resistance.

Imbue Hunger

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

Whenever a Warlock spell you cast deals damage, you can have it deal necrotic damage instead of its normal damage types.

Harvester of Souls

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

Your Life Drain feature's attack deals extra damage equal to half your Warlock level.

Lifegorging Blade

Prerequisite: 11th level, The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Blade feature

When you damage a creature with a melee weapon attack using your pact weapon, you can immediately make an attack with your Life Drain feature against that target. This attack automatically hits, though you make an attack roll as normal to determine whether it critically hits.

Whenever you use this invocation, you can't use it again for 1 minute.

Life Tap

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

Whenever you hit a creature with your Life Drain feature's attack, until the end of your next turn, whenever that creature would regain hit points or gain temporary hit points, you can gain that benefit instead.

Servants of the Dark

Prerequisite: 5th level, The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Chain feature

Once per day, you can cast animate dead with a Pact Magic spell slot. Whenever you do, you can create shadows instead of zombies or skeletons, and you can expend up to 5 Hit Dice. Creatures created with this spell gain 5 temporary hit points and a cumulative +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, saving throws and ability checks for each Hit Dice expended in this way until the end of your next long rest.

Undead created with a spell cast in this way cannot create or spawn undead.

Shadow of Nihil

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

You exude a magical aura in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on yourself. You can make your Life Drain feature's attack against any creature within the aura. This attack ignores non-total cover.

A creature that dies within this aura triggers your Swallower of Souls feature, if you have it, as though it were subject to your hex spell.

Patron: The Famished Dark by Surrealistik

Tear Essence

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron, Swallower of Souls feature

Whenever you deal necrotic damage to a creature with your Life Drain feature, you can regain one Hit Dice.

If you do, you can't use this ability again until you finish a short or long rest.

Vile Grasp

Prerequisite: The Famished Dark patron

Attack rolls made with your Life Drain feature have advantage against grappled creatures.

Further, when you hit a creature with your Life Drain feature's attack, you can immediately attempt to grapple it as a bonus action.

Writ In Blood

Prerequisite: 5th level, The Famished Dark patron, Pact of the Tome feature

You can cast ritual spells in your Book of Shadows normally instead of as rituals by expending Hit Dice equal to their spell level when you cast them.

New Spells

Dessicate

4th-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: 1 hour

Spell Lists: Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

You strike a creature of your choice in range with a black, crackling bolt of negative energy. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target gains 2 levels of exhaustion plus an additional level for every five points this attack roll exceeded the target's AC by. Undead targets instead gain 3d8 temporary hit points per exhaustion level they would have gained. This spell cannot increase a target's exhaustion level above 5 unless it has 50 hit points or fewer.

At the end of each of its turns, the target can make a Constitution saving throw against the spell. On a success, the spell ends for that target.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 4th. All target creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.

Credits:

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Brew:

  • Surrealistik

    Patron: The Famished Dark by Surrealistik