DISCLAIMER: I am not a big old guru and this is still being tested by me in a campaign. I thought messing with this would be fun, but at the moment I really don’t have any idea if it’s balanced. Definitely ask your DM to make sure it’s okay before you use this.
The Muses
Warlocks who gain patronage with the muses are those who were successfully traveling bards for a fairly long time and have told stories for the longest time, or they are simply spontaneously chosen from a young age by the Muses. Warlocks with a patronage from the muses usually have excellent speaking skills and channel their musical energy through storytelling, artistic means, or music, much like the bard. They also channel their magic through an instrument like the bards, and often use their consistent inspired state from the Muses to weave stories.
There is an entire Pantheon of muses who choose to inspire the warlock at certain times and can be invoked from time to time, and whomever is currently inspiring the invoker affects how skillful their storytelling is and how their storytelling is done. The most notable example of this sort of Warlock storytelling is that of Meredith Rotavele, whose intense words managed to convince an entire town of how heroic her party was, despite the rest of her party being evil people who pillaged villages and also gained the favor of the King of her country as the court jester despite typically being a very demure person.
A patronage with the muses is one with little risk for a lot of reward, however, the criterion for continued patronage is strict, as the Muses can be fickle in whom they wish to sing into. The most important of these is that the Muse Warlock must be chaotic in their behavior, as being anything but this would detract from the muses’ own fickle and chaotic nature.
Boons from the pact with the Muses can be used 1+½ Character Level, rounded down, per long rest.
The Pantheon will be detailed at the end of this section.
Attributes
Bonus Proficiencies: Gain proficiency in Performance and a Proficiency in 3 Musical Instruments.
Bonus Spells: Gain the Vicious Mockery Cantrip
Muses Expanded Spell List
The Muses let you choose from an expanded list of Spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following Spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
1st
Comprehend Languages, Healing Word
2nd
Calm Emotions, Magic Mouth
3rd
Bestow Curse, Tongues
4th
Confusion, Compulsion
5th
Dominate Person, Planar Binding
Muse Guidance
Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the Muses in order to guide you. You can spend one action to call them down, using your body as a vessel to speak to your party in order to guide the party to the next point of interest-- information gathered from Muse Invocation is at DM’s discretion. The invocation lasts for 1 hour at most, but can be dismissed earlier.
Additionally, at 1st Level, you can only invoke the Celestial Muse, the Comedic Muse, and the Dramatic Muse. You will gain the patronage of other muses at higher levels.
At 6th Level, you can invoke the Historical Muse, the Epic Muse, and the Tragic Muse.
At 10th Level, you can invoke the Infernal Muse, the Delightful Muse, the Pensive Muse.
At 14th Level, you can invoke the Lovely Muse, and the Dancing Muse, completing the pantheon of muses you can invoke.
Influential Performance
Starting at 6th level, you can invoke the Muses in order to succeed on all Performance checks of any kind depending on the Muse you invoke for one hour. For example, invoking the Comedic Muse allows you to succeed on all performance checks involving telling jokes.
Keep in mind you can only invoke one Muse at a time. If you invoke the Comedic Muse, but suddenly need to use the Historical Muse, for example, you still have a chance to fail on performances related to history, as you are unable to invoke the Historical Muse while the Comedic Muse is inspiring you.
Phantom Tunes
At 10th Level, you can channel a Muse in combat in order to play a song that has different effects on all enemies OR allies in a 50ft radius that can hear you. Each muse has a different effect, and each enemy must roll a WIS save vs. your Spell Save DC.
Celestial Muse: Enemies are fixated on the specific god you are talking about and ponder converting; enemies are made prone. If you are singing a song about a god they worship, you have advantage on charisma skill checks against them as well.
Comedic Muse: Enemies laugh themselves into collapsing. Enemies are stunned for one turn.
Dramatic Muse: Allies tense and are prepared for battle-- Allies cannot be snuck up on.
Historical Muse: Enemies are bored to sleep. They wake up 3 turns after they are put to sleep; Initial spell save DC is -2 and enemies can make a CON save during their turn vs your normal spell save DC to wake up prematurely.
Epic Muse: Morale is boosted for all allies. +2 Modifier on damage rolls for next attack that hits.
Tragic Muse: Enemies start crying and are blinded by their tears for one turn.
Infernal Muse: Enemies are Frightened for one turn.
Delightful Muse: Morale is boosted for all allies. +2 Modifier on rolls to hit on next attack.
Pensive Muse: Allies are thoughtful and reflective and have advantage on saving throws.
Lovely Muse: Enemies are charmed and allies have advantage on any social rolls. Charmed enemies also will not attack the charmer.
Dancing Muse: Allies feel energetic and have advantage on DEX saving throws.
Animated Storytelling
At 14th Level, you gain the ability to channel the power of the muses to bring objects of your description to life. The object must be something that your character has the ability to hold in one hand and cannot be a weapon. You are able to describe the object in great detail in order to bring more accuracy to the object you want to create. Anything not explicitly described by you is a detail left to the discretion of the DM.
Pantheon
The type of muses invoked vary greatly- each of them stand for a different genre and different values. Oftentimes, even the muses disagree on what values they represent, as they are a very diverse cast of patrons. They seek to reward their Voices for invoking them. The buffs detailed here are buffs that work any time a Muse is being invoked.
Celestial Muse
The Celestial Muse is religiously inclined, her touch inspiring works about the heavens and about the gods and goddesses of the land of and inspiring worship. When invoking her for guidance, you have advantage on Religion checks.
Comedic Muse
The Comedic Muse serves as the inspiration for court jesters everywhere. He doesn’t seem to take much of anything seriously, and his laughter is contagious. Invoking the Comedic Muse allows you to cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Dramatic Muse
The Dramatic Muse brings interest to a story that may otherwise be boring, they often take from true events and make them overly dramatic and exaggerated, much to the disdain of its historical colleagues. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on deception checks.
Historical Muse
The Historical Muse inspires scholars and historians to document events and investigate into the world's past. They can often be seen as boring, but are fairly intellectual and don't appreciate when fact and fiction are mixed. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on history checks.
Epic Muse
This Muse has inspired plenty of war tacticians and stories about war and adventure. People who ask for this muse’s guidance are always excited for what may happen next. Invoking this Muse gives you +2 on rolls for Initiative.
Tragic Muse
The Tragic Muse has touched the hearts of people with sad stories and sad lives. Tragedies are often met with sympathy or tend to demoralize people. Invoking this muse gives you the ability to cast Crushing Despair without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Infernal Muse
The Infernal Muse has struck fear into the hearts of many people, as he is a muse for the demons in Inferno. Asking for this muse’s guidance is one that needs to be invoked with caution. Invoking this muse gives you advantage on Intimidation checks.
Delightful Muse
The Delightful Muse is one of joy and festivals. People invoking this muse often have a need to be happy and wish to celebrate. Invoking this muse gives you the ability to cast Friends without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Pensive Muse
The Pensive Muse is often one for reflecting upon your own actions to give a new perspective. People invoke this muse often when they are lost in their journey and are not sure where to go. Invoking this Muse gives you a vision of where you must go, or offers a hint on a puzzle, at DM’s discretion.
Lovely Muse
The Lovely Muse inspires attractivity and romance. Often used when one wants to woo another, conversing with people is one of the most important things the lovely muse can do. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on Persuasion checks.
Dancing Muse
The Dancing Muse is nimble and agile, always knowing how to move their body to match the mood or the music they’re dancing too. She blesses dancers with profound abilities when it comes to moving their body. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on Acrobatics checks.
