Blackguards

Blackguard Class

Class Features

As a blackguard, you gain the following class features

Hit Points

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• Hit Dice: 1d10 per blackguard level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per blackguard level after 1st

Proficiencies

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• Armor: All armor, shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: None

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• Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
• Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, and Religion

Equipment

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

• (a) (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) five javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon
• (a) a priest's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• Chain mail and a holy symbol

Fiendish Sense

The presence of strong good registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful evil rings like music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.

Deadly Touch

Your corrupted touch can inflict wounds. You have a pool of harming power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can deal a total number of damage equal to your paladin level x 5.

As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to deal the creature a number of damage, up to the maximum amount remaning in your pool. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, taking full damage on a failed saving throw, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to inflict the target with one disease or to infect it with one poison. You can inflict multiple diseases and infect with multiple poisons with a single use of Deadly Touch, expending hit points separately for each one. The poison's gold value cannot exceed 10 x your paladin level gp.

This feature has no effect on undead or constructs.

Fighting Style

Starting at 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again

• Blessed Warrior. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. They count as paladin spells for you, and Charisma is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the cleric spell list.

• Blind Fighting. You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.

• Defense. While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC. Dueling. When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon. Great Weapon Fighting. When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

• Interception. When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.

• Protection. When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Spellcasting

By 2nd level, you have learned to draw on divine magic through meditation and prayer to cast spells as a cleric does.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Blackguard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your blackgduard spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

You prepare the list of blackguard spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the paladin spell list. When you do so, choose a number of blackguard spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your paladin level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you are a 5th-level blackguard, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Charisma of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of blackguard spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your paladin spells, since their power derives from the strength of your convictions. 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 paladin 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 a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your paladin spells.

Fiendish Smite

Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal necrotic damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is a construct or celestial, to a maximum of 6d8.

Divine Health

By 3rd level, the divine magic flowing through you makes you immune to disease.

Profane Oath

When you reach 3rd level, you swear the oath that binds you as a blackguard forever. Up to this time you have been in a preparatory stage, committed to the path but not yet sworn to it. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include oath spells and the Channel Divinity feature.

Oath Spells

Each oath has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the oath description. Once you gain access to an oath spell, you always have it prepared. Oath spells don't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.

If you gain an oath spell that doesn't appear on the paladin spell list, the spell is nonetheless a blackguard spell for you.

Channel Divinity

Your oath allows you to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. Each Channel Divinity option provided by your oath explains how to use it.

When you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again.

Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your blackguard spell save DC.

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.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Aura of Despair

Starting at 6th level, whenever a hostile creature starts its turn within 10 feet of you, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or gain penalty to its next saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier. You must be conscious to impose this penalty.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Aura of Fear

Starting at 10th level, hostile creatures within 10 feet of you have disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened while you are conscious.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Improved Fiendish Smite

By 11th level, you are so suffused with fiendish might that all your melee weapon strikes carry that power with them. Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 necrotic damage.

Contagious Touch

Beginning at 14th level, you can use your action to cast the contagion spell on one creature that you touch.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Oath of Slaughter

The Oath of Slaughter binds a blackguard to the most notorious behaviour. A longer, he eschews prolonged contact with all forms of society and companionship except on a temporary basis as his desires, needs, and lusts demand. He wanders the fringe of civilization, always seeking justice to upend, happiness to quash, and faith to destroy. Many Slaughter Blackguards are truly mad, completely overwhelmed with the burning desire to tear down what others have toiled to create, be it a comfortable home, a loving family, or even a powerful nation.

Tenets of Slaughter

Blackguards of this oath share these tenets.

• Insincerity. Your words are as easy to give as they are to take.
• Fear. Your acts must terrify everyone in your vicinity.
• Cruelty. Mercy is weakness, which must be frowned upon.
• Entropy. You must personify the raw destructive force of entropy and hatred without focus or direction.

Oath of Slaughter Spells

Blackguard Level	Spells
3rd	inflict wounds, searing smite
5th	branding smite, ray of enfeeblement
9th	blinding smite, fear
13th	blight, staggering smite
17th	banishing smite, negative energy floodX

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

• Slaughter the Weak. You take a perverse and horrendous glee when facing opponents in battle that are weaker than yourself. You can use your bonus action to grant yourself advantage on attack rolls with melee weapons against a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than you do.
• Death Knell. As an action, you magically draw forth the ebbing life force of a creature and use it to fuel your own power. Upon casting this spell, you touch a creature that has 0 hit points. The subject must succeed on a Charisma saving throw; otherwise, it dies, and you gain 1d8 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus to Strength for 10 minutes per HD of the subject creature.

Debilitating Aura

Starting at 7th level, you radiate a malign aura that causes hostile creatures within 10 feet of you to take a -1 penalty to AC.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Negative Energy Flood

The negative energy flood spell is encountered in the Xanathar's Guide to Everything and reprinted here for convenient use of the material.

Negative Energy Flood

5th-level necromancy

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: V, M (a broken bone and a square of black silk)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You send ribbons of negative energy at one creature you can see within range. Unless the target is undead, it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 5d12 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A target killed by this damage rises up as a zombie at the start of your next turn. The zombie pursues whatever creature it can see that is closest to it. Statistics for the zombie are in the Monster Manual. If you target an undead with this spell, the target doesn’t make a saving throw. Instead, roll 5d12. The target gains half the total as temporary hit points.

Rampaging Bloodlust

Starting at 15th level, you and each friendly creature within 10 feet of you gain a bonus to damage rolls equal to twice the number of hosiile creatures within 10 feet of you.

Avatar of Slaughter

At 20th level, you can use your action to release the fury within you and transform you into living shadow. You gain the following benefits for 1 minute:

• Your attacks deal additional necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier
• Once per turn after you attack an enemy and hit, you gain 10 temporary hit points.
• Whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the target takes cold damage equal to 5 + half your Charisma modifier and necrotic damage equal to 5 + half your Charisma modifier.

In addition, when you use this action, you can make one melee weapon attack against a creature within reach. If the attack hits, the target takes 5d12 damage of the weapon's damage type, rather than normal damage appropriate to the weapon.

Oath of Tyranny

The Oath of Tyranny binds a blackguard to a dominant behaviour, be she a local thug who demands protection money from struggling businesses or the tyrannical ruler of an oppressed nation. In both cases, they profit and thrive from the oppression of those under their net of cruelty and domination. Yet for all their inability to emphasize with the hurts and distress of those they stand upon for their own personal empowerment, they are not without a rigid form of law and warped honor. They and their minions protect those they rule from other forces. Indeed, in a region besieged with armies of goblinoids, rampaging giants, or ravenous hordes of undead, the local inhabitants might find this kind of ruler preferable.

Tenets of Tyranny

Blackguards of this oath share these tenets.

• Responsibility. You must take responsibility for your decisions and for those you rule.
• Law. Try to establish your laws everywhere you go. You can twist the laws of other country for that end, but you mustn't bluntly ignore them.
• Iron Fist. Everyone that breaks your laws must be punished. However, why sentence them to death if you could use them to your aid?

  Oath of Tyranny Spells

Blackguard Level	Spells
3rd	charm person, command
5th	suggestion, zone of truth
9th	compulsion, dispel magic
13th	phantasmal killer, locate creature
17th	banishing smite, dominate person

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

• Oppression. With an action, you speak with living creatures and channel profane energy into the power of your voice, oppressing them. Each creature within 60 feet of you that can hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the target is sickened with guilt and depression for 1 minute, and whenever it makes an attack roll, a damage roll, a saving throw, or an ability check, it must roll a 1d4 and subtract the result from its roll. If the target fails its saving throw by 5 or more, that creature is instead incapacitated for 1 minute. The effect ends on the target if it takes damage.
• Crushing Despair. With an action you create an invisible 30-feet cone of despair originating from you. Each creature in the cone must make a Wisdom saving throw or gain disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks for 1 hour. This effect requires concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell).

Deathly Aura

Starting at 7th level, you radiate a malign aura that rips at your foes as they are struck. While you have fewer hit points than half your hit point maximum, each creature within 10 feet of you that you hit with an attack takes necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Dark Grace

Starting at 15th level, you shine with a soft golden light , inspiring allies at your side and drawing their life force to you.

Whenever you or a friendly creature within 5 feet of you hits an enemy with an attack, the attacker gains 5 temporary hit points. Whenever a friendly creature within 5 feet of you regains hit points, that creature regains only half the hit points, and you regain the rest.

The Dark Lord

At 20th level, you become the true tyrant that is feared by the commonfolk. You gain the following benefits:

• Return from Beyond. When you die, your spirit can freely cross the veil from the Shadowfell and return to life. At the start of your next turn, you manifest a new body (destroying your corpse, if it is still present) with all the items that were on your corpse and appear standing in the space where you died. You immediately regain all hit points and can continue fighting as normal. Pnce you benefit from this feature, you can't benefit from it again until you finish a long rest.
• Thrall to Death. Whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points and kill it, at the start of your next turn, the enemy automatically stands in the space where it died with 1 hit point. The target behaves as if you had cast the dominate person spell on it, except that no concentration is required. After the effect ends, the creature is destroyed.
• Shadow Stride. As a bonus action on your turn, you can magically teleport up to 120 feet. When you appear in your destination point, you are heavily obscured from others for 1 minute or until you are hit by an attack. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Oath of Corruption

Of the three blackguards presented here, none can match the blackguard of Corruption in his capacity for evil. Tyranny blackguards can serve as guardians to those they oppress and abuse, and Slaughter blackguards are often too self-destructive and capricious to be a long-term menace. Additionally, their goals are often focused on large scales, and as such their evil is blatantly obvious.

Corruption blackguards, on the other hand, specialize in smaller scale perversions and cruelties. You may not rule nations or drive your enemies before yourself with a wave of fear, but the effects of your deeds are arguably more terrifying.

Tenets of Corruption

Blackguards of this oath share these tenets.

• Disguise. You are hidden evil, a lurking menace that uses charm, guise, and deception to allow your evil to work like a slow poison in the souls of your victims.
• Corrupted Faith. Your primary focus is to corrupt the faith of others and your favored targets are good clerics to your faith.

  Oath of Corruption Spells

Blackguard Level	Spells
3rd	dissonant whispers, wrathful smite
5th	phantasmal force, Tasha's mind whipT
9th	counterspell, dispel magic
13th	phantasmal killer, staggering smite
17th	dispel evil and good, synaptic staticX

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

• Intercession. With an action you can attempt to cut spellcasters off the Weave or from divine source of power. Each creature within 60 feet of you that has a Spellcasting feature must make a Wisdom saving throw, or lose the ability to cast spells for 1 minute. If a creature fails its saving throw by 5 or more, then it loses its ability to cast spells for 24 hours. The Innate Spellcasting and Innate Spellcasting (Psionics) traits are not affected by this Channel Divinity. If you attack an affected spellcaster or perform any other harmful act against it, the effect ends on the target. Your allies and other creatures can attack or perform other harmful acts against the affected spellcaster without breaking the effect.
• Fallen Soul. With an action you touch a humanoid and force it to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the target is imbued with a hidden taint of evil potential. When this spell is first cast on a creature, it becomes incapacitated for 1 minute. Once a good or neutral target is affected by this spell, it begins to have strange and increasingly powerful urges to commit evil acts.
  Its dreams grow dark, sinister, and cruel, yet are disturbingly entertaining and soothing. The magic of this Channel Divinity does not force the tar11get to make evil acts but it does encourage such behaviour through conditioning. Each time the target willingly commits an evil act, this Channel Divinity grants the target advantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws that use Strength, Constitution and Charisma for 1 hour before fading. If the target continues to perform evil acts, its alignment eventually becomes evil as well, at which time the magic no longer grants this bonus.
  If the target is evil, the magic punishes the creature for good acts. If such a target ever willingly commits a good act, the target gains permanent disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and saving throws using Strength, Constitution or Charisma.
  Dispel evil and good or wish can remove the effect of this Channel Divinity, but remove curse cannot.

Synaptic Static and Tasha's mind whip

The synaptic statis spell is encountered in the Xanathar's Guide to Everything and the Tasha's mind whip spell is encountered in the Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Both spells are reprinted here for convenient use of the material.

Synaptic Static

5th-level enchantment

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 120 feet
• Components: V, S
• Duration: Instantaneous

You choose a point within range and cause psychic energy to explode there. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make an Intelligence saving throw. A creature with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower can’t be affected by this spell. A target takes 8d6 psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

After a failed save, a target has muddled thoughts for 1 minute. During that time, it rolls a d6 and subtracts the number rolled from all its attack rolls and ability checks, as well as its Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration. The target can make an Intelligence saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Tasha's Mind Whip

2nd-level enchantment

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• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 90 feet
• Components: V
• Duration: 1 round

You psychically lash out at one creature you can see within range. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 3d6 psychic damage, and it can’t take a reaction until the end of its next turn. Moreover, on its next turn, it must choose whether it gets a move, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three. On a successful save, the target takes half as much damage and suffers none of the spell’s other effects.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.

Aura of Grandeur

Starting at 7th level, you become a beacon that your foes cannot ignore, forcing them to become distracted like moths circling an open flame.

Hostile creatures within 10 feet of you cannot make opportunity attacks against you or your allies. Whenever a hostile creature ends its turn in the aura, you can use your reaction to move it up to 10 feet within the aura.

At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Fateful Death

Starting at 15th level, you sense bleeding enemies. Attack rolls against each creature within 10 feet of you have advantage if that creature has fewer hit points than half its hit point maximum. If a creature drops to 0 hit points within 10 feet of you, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier.

Avatar of Death

At 20th level, you become the true corrupter to spread the grains of evil. You gain the following benefits:

• Harbinger of Demise. Hostile creatures that end their turn within 5 feet of you and have 25 hit points or fewer die.
• Inevitable Death. As a bonus action on your turn, you can target each creature of your choice within 30 feet of you. They gain vulnerability to all damage and cannot regain hit points. The affected creature can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on success. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.