D&D Homebrew Subclass #3: Warlock’s The Decaying Patron
You have made a pact with a deity whose powers come from decay and rot. This might be a dying god of entropy, a sentient fungal hivemind, or a powerful but withering undead. Regardless of how you derive your magic, you harness them to drive forth your patron’s goal of expanding their own decay.
The Decaying lets 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.
Inflict Wounds, Ray of Sickness
Blindness/Deafness, Wither and Bloom
Bestow Curse, Stinking Cloud
Elemental Bane, Giant Insect
Starting at 1st level, your very form becomes accustomed to decay. You gain resistance to poison damage, and you have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.
Also at 1st level, once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack or affect them with a spell, you can force them to make a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned. The creature can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
While a creature is poisoned by this feature, you cannot poison another one until the effect is clear from the first one. You can end this effect on a creature at will.
At 6th level, you learn to infuse your powers with venomous dread. When you inflict the poisoned condition on a creature, you can choose one of the following effects to also inflict upon them.
The creature is frightened of you for 1 minute. The frightened target can make a Wisdom saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the frightened effect on itself on a success, but not the poisoned one.
The creature takes 2d6 poison damage at the start of each of its turns while it is poisoned.
The creature is stunned while they are poisoned. If they take damage while in this state, both conditions immediately end on them.
Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Additionally, you’ve developed your abilities with venom further. If a creature affected by this feature has advantage on saving throws against poison, it rolls normally instead; and if it is immune to the poisoned condition, it instead rolls with advantage to avoid the effect.
At 10th level, your mere presence exudes death and decay around you. Creatures of your choice that start their turn within 20 feet of you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or have their movement speed halved until the end of their turn. If the creature is poisoned, their movement is reduced to 0 instead.
Additionally, while poisoned by you, creatures resistant to poison damage are treated as if they had no resistance, and creatures immune to poison damage are treated as if they were immune.
At 14th level, you can release your decaying energy in a burst. Choose a point within 120 feet. All creatures within 20 feet of the point must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 6d8 necrotic damage and is poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned by this feature, a creature is affected by two conditions of your choice from your Poisonous Affliction feature. On a success, a creature takes half as much damage, and is not poisoned.
Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
Another subclass! Not entirely sure on the thematics of this one, I considered renaming it The Diseased but I started with The Decaying and stuck with it. Definitely moved away from the necrotic-involved implications of decay into a more poison theme as I went though. Oh well.
As always, feedback, criticism, and suggestions are welcome :)
