hocus pocus

An open-ended magic system I’m going to use for my simplified 5e game, but you could pretty easily hack it for most D&D-likes. Owes a lot to Pearce’s 5e ritual system.

A warlock or cleric can perform a ritual to achieve nearly any effect, as long as it pertains to a Ritual Court they belong to. The casting time of a ritual depends on its intensity, value, and utility; the more expensive and difficult the ritual’s effects would be to achieve using mundane means, the longer it takes to perform the ritual.

by Berta Lum

A ritual’s difficulty is determined by the value of the goods or services it replicates. Warlocks make a CHA check and clerics make a WIS check.

If it’s no dearer than a copper piece: DC 12 and take a Turn
If it’s no dearer than a silver piece: DC 14 and take an hour
If it’s no dearer than a gold piece: DC 16 and take a day
If it’s no dearer than a platinum piece: DC 18 and take a week
If it can’t be had for love or money: DC 20 and take a month, from new moon to full

As an example, if a Annie Oleander of the Ritual Court of Ash wants to kill a rival from afar, she might decide to fill his house with poisonous smoke. Because hiring an assassin to kill someone costs more than a gold piece, she must pass a DC 18 Charisma check and take a week. Unburning a spent torch, on the other hand, would only take a Turn and require a DC 12 check , because a torch can be bought for a copper.

Duration
A ritual’s effect has a usage die that represents its duration. Each time the ritual’s effects are used or strained in some way, check the die. Ritual effects are fleeting and the die should be checked frequently; a ritual-created sword might be checked every time it is used, while a golem created by a ritual might be checked every time it takes damage. The poisonous smoke Annie Oleander conjured would be checked every time her victim finished reciting a Bible verse or opened a window for ventilation.

The sacrifice a cleric or warlock offers as part of a ritual determines the size of the ritual’s usage die:

  • 1d4: requires nothing
  • 1d6: 1d6 HP in blood, a favor that takes a brief part of a session, or a component worth at least a copper piece
  • 1d8: 1d8 HP in blood, a favor that takes the better part of a session, or a component worth at least a silver piece
  • 1d10: 1d10 HP in blood, a favor that takes an entire session, or a component worth at least a gold piece
  • 1d12: 1d12 HP in blood, a favor that takes several sessions, or a component worth at least a platinum piece

The Ritual Courts

  1. Ash
  2. Mud
  3. Grass
  4. Corpses
  5. Beasts
  6. The Sun
  7. The Moon
  8. The Dark 

 

    toil and trouble

    Extensive rewrite for the 5th edition Warlock class. It’s actually my favorite to play in 5e, but there are many interlocking abilities. This version
    • conforms more to the pattern established by other classes
    • has abilities that stand alone, and don’t require extensive cross-referencing
    • smashes the cleric, druid, and warlock together. I want to get 5e down to four or five classes and get a wider spread of character archetypes with kits. Ideally, I’ll have fighter, warlock/witch, rogue, and wizard
    • is based on archetypal things that witches do, like turn into animals, call up spirits, or brew potions.
    • has an element of risk. Shapeshifting warlocks can get stuck as animals, potions can go wrong, familiars can get loose.
    • makes some assumptions about the kind of campaign. Probably can’t go toe to toe with a monster of equivalent CR the way most classes-as-written can, most of the healing is shunted off to potion-making, so healing is a bit more important as a resource, and I cut out damaging cantrips.

    WARLOCK/WITCH
    a Type V D&D class

    from tactics ogre: wheel of fortune

    CLASS FEATURES

    click to make legible

    HIT POINTS
    Hit Dice: 1d6 per warlock level
    Hit Points at 1st Level: 1d6 + Constitution modifier, minimum 4
    Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 + Constitution modifier per warlock level after 1st 

    PROFICIENCIES
    Armor: Light armor
    Weapons: Simple weapons
    Tools: Choose one from herbalism kit, poisoner’s kit, and alchemist’s kit

    Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
    Skills: Choose two from Animal Handing, Arcana, Deception, History, Intimidation, Nature, Religion, and Survivalism

    PACT MAGIC

    Cantrips. You know two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn additional warlock cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown on the Cantrips Known column of the Warlock table. 

    Spell Slots. The Warlock spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

    Spells Known of 1st level and higher. You know one 1st level warlock spell of your choice. The Spells Known column on the Warlock spellcasting table shows when you learn more warlock spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a level for which you have slots. When you gain a level, you can replace one of the warlock spells you know with another spell of your choice from warlock spell list that you have slots for.

    Spellcasting ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a warlock spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
         Spell Save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
         Spell Attack modifier = proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier 

    Spell Recovery. When you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level equal to or less than half your level (rounded up).

    Spellcasting Focus. You can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells

    OTHERWORLDLY PATRON

    Pick one of the following Otherworldly Patrons. At levels 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17, your patron teaches you additional spells; add them to your list of spells known and do not count them towards your limit.

    SPIRIT OF THE HEAVENS
    from mononoke

    1st: bless, purify food and drink
    5th: augury, lesser restoration
    9th: clairvoyance, remove curse
    13th: divination, locate creature
    17th: greater restoration, scrying

    ANCIENT BEAST
    from black desert

    1st: animal friendship, speak with animals
    5th: animal messenger, spike growth
    9th: plant growth, water walk
    13th: conjure woodland beings, dominate beast
    17th: awaken, commune with nature

    STORM GOD
    from final fantasy
    1st: create or destroy water, thunderwave
    5th: blindness/deafness, gust of wind
    9th: call lightning, sleet storm
    13th: control water, ice storm
    17th: cone of cold, planar binding

    FIRST GIFT

    At level 3, your patron rewards you for your service. Choose one of the following First Gifts.

    FIRST GIFT: BORROWED SKIN
    You can polymorph into any beast with a CR equal to or less than 1/3 your level. When you cast polymorph in this manner, it lasts until you lose concentration, with no other limits on duration. If you fail your Constitution Saving throw to maintain concentration with an odd result, you become trapped in your beast form until you take a short rest. If you reach 0 HP while in your animal form, you do not transform back, but continue to deduct hit points from your true form’s HP pool. You must take a short rest before using this ability again.

    FIRST GIFT: BRASS RING
    Pick one of the following: imp, sprite, pseudodragon, or a single beast with a CR of 1/2 or less.
         As an action, you can summon that creature into an empty space within 15 ft. The servant is friendly to you and your companions. Roll initiative for the servant, which has its own turns. It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any commands to the servant, it defends itself from hostile creatures but otherwise takes no actions. The servant disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when you dismiss it as an action. If the servant dies, you cannot use this ability again until you take a long rest. The servant recovers all of its HP when you take a long rest.
         This ability requires concentration to maintain. If your concentration is broken, you lose control of the servant, it becomes hostile toward you and your companions, and it might attack. An uncontrolled servant can’t be dismissed by you.
         When you take a long rest, you can choose a different creature on the list of eligible creatures to summon. You must take another long rest to choose again. If you perform a 10 minute ritual using the remains of a fey, elemental, fiend, or beast-type creature with a CR equal to or less than 1/4 your level, you can add it to the list of creatures you can summon with this ability.

    FIRST GIFT: STRANGE KNOWLEDGE
    Learning. If gain the following proficiencies if you do not already have them:

    • Arcana skill
    • herbalism kit

    Ritualist.  If any of the warlock spells you know or learn have the ritual tag, you can cast them as rituals. If you find any ritual spell in a scroll or spellbook, or see it cast, you can attempt to recreate it as a ritual. This requires an Intelligence (Arcana) check vs a DC of 11 + Spell Level. If the spell exceeds half your level (rounded up), you make the roll at disadvantage. If you succeed the check, the ritual proceeds as it should; if you fail, catastrophe strikes as determined by the DM).

    Potion-maker. When you find a spell with a level of 5 or less, and that spell has a range of Self or Touch, you can memorize it as a recipe. This process takes 50 gp per spell level and 1 hour per spell level, as you impress the formula into your mind with the aid of exotic drugs. You can learn as many recipes as you like.
         You can brew potions using your recipe book. This process requires

    • 50gp/spell level (in ingredients)
    • 1 hour/spell level (fretting over alembics and stirring cauldrons)
    • A Wisdom (herbalism kit) check with a DC of 11 + spell level. If the spell exceeds half your level (rounded up), you make the roll at disadvantage

    If you fail a check, the potion functions as a vial of poison (the DM should roll this check outside of the player’s view and not tell them the result). If a spell can be cast at multiple spell levels, you can choose which at the time of brewing, but you must pay the extra money and take the extra time. A potion causes the exact same effects as the spell it is based off of on the creature that ingests it. You count as the caster if it comes up in the spell description.
         The number of potions you have brewed cannot exceed half your level (rounded up). If you exceed this limit, a random potion you have brewed loses its potency.

    SECOND GIFT

    At level 11, your patron rewards you for your continuing service. Choose one of the following Second Gifts.

    SECOND GIFT: WITCH GARDEN
    You acquire a home and garden in the form of a 1 acre demiplane. Its exact nature, climate, and contents are a matter between you and your DM. The garden is never more than half a day’s travel away, no matter where you go or where you are. Only you know the way there, though others can follow you (even without your knowledge)

    SECOND GIFT: UNBREAKABLE OATH
    Anyone who signs a contract with or swears an oath to you must make a Charisma save vs your spell save DC in order to break its terms. They only must follow the letter, not the spirit of the agreement. Paradoxical promises are null and void.

    SECOND GIFT: WITCH FLIGHT
    You can cast fly on yourself without expending a spell slot. When you cast fly in this manner, it lasts until you lose concentration, with no other limits on duration. You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

    FINAL GIFT

    At level 18, your patron rewards you for your continuing service. Choose one of the following Final Gifts.

    FINAL GIFT: HEART’S DESIRE
    Your patron will grant you a wish when you beseech them directly, requiring no action on your part and sparing you the ill effects listed in the spell’s description. However, you must perform an onerous service for your patron before they will grant you a wish again.

    FINAL GIFT: MALEFICENCE
    You can shapechange yourself into a dragon-type creature without any material component. You receive advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration for this ability, and you must take a long rest before using this ability again.

    FINAL GIFT: WAKE THE DEAD
    You can cast Animate Undead or Create Undead as a 9th level spell without material components. You must take a long rest before you can use this ability again.

     
    ABILITY SCORE INCREASE

    At levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19, you can increase one ability score by 2 or two ability scores by 1. You cannot increase an ability score above 20.

     SPELL LIST CHANGES
    WARLOCK CANTRIPS
    thaumaturgy
    druidcraft
    control flames*
    gust*
    shape water*
    mold earth*
    friends
    mending
    message
    minor illusion

    Asterisked cantrips are from the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion (which is free).

     ADDITIONAL FIRST LEVEL WARLOCK SPELLS

    command
    disguise self
    feather fall
    fog cloud

    ranger danger

    OK, so everyone likes to complain about beastmaster Rangers in fifth edition D&D because they’re not very optimized. Which is fine, but I also don’t like them because their a little boring. This is an archetype about making animal friends. So less of the worrying about action economy and more of the giant wolf mothers. This is based heavily off of the spell planar ally.

    from princess mononoke
    Geomancer, Ranger Archetype

    Geomancy
    Starting at level 3, you can perform a 10 minute ritual to summon a little god of the wild. It appears witin 5 feet of you as a beast of your choice, though little gods with a CR greater than ½ your level will not bother to appear. Little gods can speak Common and Sylvan.

    When the creature appears, it is under no compulsion to behave in any particular way. You can ask the creature to perform a service in exchange for payment, but it isn’t obliged to do so. The requested task could range from simple (fly us across the chasm, or help us fight a battle) to complex (spy on our enemies, or protect us during our foray into the dungeon). You must be able to communicate with the creature to bargain for its services.

    Payment can take a variety of forms. A little god might require you to construct or repair its shrine, kill a rival, or perform a ritual. Some little gods might exchange their service for a quest undertaken by you. As a rule of thumb, a task that takes minutes requires 50 gp/minute, a task that takes hours requires 500 gp/hour, and a task that takes days requires 5,000 gp/day. These payments can change based on the circumstances and nature of the little god; if a task is aligned to the little god’s ethos, the payment might be halved or even waived. Easy or nonhazardous tasks might cost less, while dangerous ones might cost more. Little gods don’t accept tasks that seem suicidal.

    You can also expend spell slots to gift little gods with a measure of immanence; generally, the little god will perform a task that takes a number of minutes equal to or less than the sum of the levels of the expended spell slots.

    After the little god completes the task, or when the agreed-upon duration of service expires, the creature dissipates back into the wild after reporting back to you, if appropriate to the task and if possible. If you are unable to agree on a price for the little god’s service, it dissipates immediately.

    A little god enlisted to join your group counts as a member of it, receiving a full share of experience points awarded.

    Once you have performed this ritual, you cannot perform it again until the little god completes its task or dies.

    from legend of zelda: ocarina of time

    Wild Treaty
    At level 7, you can establish a particularly friendly relationship with a certain clan of little gods. Pick a beast you can summon as a little god (such as a raven, brown bear, giant spider, etc.) You can speak to that type of creature as the speak with beasts spell, and all such creatures will be neutral, if not friendly, to you and your allies as long as you do not attack, they are not magically compelled, and you do not actively work against their interests.

    Every time you gain a level, you can change your chosen type of beast for another.

    Greater Gods
    At level 11, pick an elemental, dragon, or fey creature with a CR equal to or less than ½ your level. You can use your Geomancy ability to summon little gods that take the form of that creature. If you meet an elemental, dragon, or fey creature with a CR equal to or less than ½ your level and receive explicit permission from it, you can summon little gods that take the form of that creature, too. Generally, you must perform a favor or pay a price before it will give such permission.

    from princess mononoke

    Demand Favor
    Starting at level 17, you can compel a little god summoned with your Geomancy ability to perform a favor for you that lasts no longer than 1 minute. You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

    MAGICIANS: THE MAGICKING: THE RPG

    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is a very good novel that you should read. I have been wanting to run a game based on it (Austen pastiche in moody Napoleonic-era Britain; wicked fairies, whimsical magicians, intrigue, kidnapping, murder) for quite some time; my setting Pernicious Albion is me turning it into a D&D game. I have been wanting to run something more true to form, but it’s a bit tough. Magicians operate in quite a different scale than most people; one of my favorite parts of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a footnote where the author tells us Spain considered demanding reparations for one of the main characters after he rearranged a fair chunk of its geography.

    Ars Magica and Fate are obvious solutions, but I’m not too hot on actually running them. This is a bullshit hack, but its starts to get at the feel I’m going for.

    Character Creation
    Make a 5th edition character. Pick human as the race, and do not pick a class. You are all Magicians.

    Magicians start with 10d6 Magic dice. This represents the strength of their sorcery. They can temporarily lose Magic dice through exertion, but they can never have more than their maximum.

    Magicians do not have a set list of spells. Each time they cast one, they determine what it does by assigning dice to its Duration, Range, Area Of Effect, and Intensity. Each category must have at least one dice, and can have up to 5. The total number of dice assigned to a spell cannot exceed a magician’s current Magic dice.

    Once a magician has determined a spell’s effects, they roll all of the assigned dice.

    • When a dice comes up 6, the magician removes it from their pool of Magic dice until they take a long rest.
    • If a number of dice greater than a magician’s level come up 1, the spell is a botch. Something happens, and it is related to the spell’s effect, but only incidental to what the magician wanted to happen.

    Casting a spell does not expend Magic dice unless they come up a 6. Unless the spell is a botch, the spell always works, even if the magician loses or runs out of dice.

    The following charts state how many dice a magician must assign to a given category in order to achieve a given effect. All spells use the same Duration, Range, and Area Of Effect Tables, but no two spells use the same Intensity table.

    Most of the tables are self explanatory. Area Of Effect details the size of the area effected around the actual spell. Intensity (each Intensity table is listed with each spell) details the greatest creature, object, or concept that can be affected by the spell. If a magician has an Area Of Effect that encompasses an entire city but an Intensity of “a torchfire” when casting the spell It Burns, they could put out every candle in town. If Intensity ever seems to encroach on Area of Effect, just use whichever the magician has placed more dice in.

    DURATION

    1d6 A moment
    2d6 A day
    3d6 A week
    4d6 A month
    5d6 A year and a day

    RANGE

    1d6 an arm’s span
    2d6 a stone’s throw
    3d6 shouting distance
    4d6 within sight
    5d6 out beyond the horizon

    AREA OF EFFECT.

    1d6 all within an arm’s span
    2d6 all within the range of a thrown stone
    3d6 all within shouting distance
    4d6 all within sight
    5d6 all to out beyond the horizon

    Spells
    There are, of course, far more spells than this. Magicians start with 3.

    Utterance of Black Feathers
    Allows a magician to perform feats of manipulation, transformation, summoning, and destruction pertaining to crows.
    INTENSITY

    1d6 one crow
    2d6 thirteen crows
    3d6 a murder of crows
    4d6 crows to cover a field
    5d6 crows to blacken the sky

    Breath of the Holy Earth
    Allows a magician to call forth, direct, and banish wind. (+Alex Chalk gets credit for this one)
    INTENSITY

    1d6 a draft
    2d6 a breeze
    3d6 a gust
    4d6 a gale
    5d6 a whirlwind

    It Burns
    Allows a magician to enkindle, throw, extinguish, shape, and otherwise manipulate flame.
    INTENSITY

    1d6 a torchfire
    2d6 a campfire
    3d6 a bonfire
    4d6 a funeral pyre
    5d6 a housefire

    Fingers of Night
    Allows a magician to create, shape, and banish darkness

    INTENSITY

    1d6 a shadow like that of a passing cloud
    2d6 the gloom of a thick forest
    3d6 night, just as the last of the sun is leaving the sky
    4d6 a moonless night
    5d6 a darkness heavy enough to be felt

    Greatest Folly
    Allows a magician to ignite, strengthen, diminish, and twist feelings of affection.

    INTENSITY

    1d6 Delight
    2d6 Friendship
    3d6 Infatuation
    4d6 Craven Obsession
    5d6 Love

    Really should put up a setting sketch, but I’m tired and don’t feel very good so eh. Tomorrow maybe. Here’s some pictures of magicians.

    the Lackaday Twins (not actual title, by John Singer Sargent)

    John Pharoah, Ursurper to the Northern Throne (not actual title, from El Shaddai)

    Lord Umberlin of  the Bells (not actual title, from etrian odyssey)
    Claude the Gaul, wanted in 10 counties for violating the course of history (from Persona 5, not actual title)

    55555

    Thinking about running 5e again, probably for San Serafín.

    In 5th edition, if you want to play a nature character, you can pick one of the following.

    • Druids
    • Nature Clerics
    • Nature Paladins
    • Rangers
    • Barbarians (some barbarians are extra nature-y. don’t get those ones confused with the barbarians that are extra angry)
    • Fighters with Survival, Nature, and Animal Handling skills 

    These do have various amounts of hippy and a broad range of mechanical differences, but explaining them even to a very engaged, interested player is KIND OF A LOT. I am playing a 5e game where it took a player three sessions before she could regularly remember if her class was a wizard, warlock, or sorcerer, and that makes sense. You  have to dig through the book to really get the differences–there’s nothing about the names that really let you know how they actually work. SO, I’m crushing down the class list to four and then rewriting archetypes to cover a wider range of characters.

    FIGHTERS are slashy smashy stabby types. (Paladins, Rangers, and Barbarians are getting collapsed into fighter). Monks, too, probably.

    • Champions: You fight more better
    • Barbarian/Ranger: Ferocious Conan type, also pretty good out in the wilds
    • Paladin: Knightly righteous dude, can cast some spells.

    WARLOCKS are witchy and wild and traffic in gods and monsters. (Clerics and Druids are getting collapsed into warlock). They can learn to Wild Shape as a Pact Boon and can choose the Pact of Many Gods for a animist/priest/medium type deal. I’ll probably write a patron for a benevolent Abrahamic deity type.

    ROGUES are thieves and assassins.

    WIZARDS are scholarly magic types.

    Sorcerers, Bards, and maybe Monks are out.

    Fighter Martial Archetype: Paladin
    THIRD LEVEL
    Spellcasting. When you reach third level, you can cast cleric spells.

    Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list.

    Spell Slots. The Paladin spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

    Spells Known of 1st level and higher. You know three 1st level cleric spells of your choice. The Spells Known column on the Paladin spellcasting table shows when you learn more cleric spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be a level for which you have slots. When you gain a level of Fighter, you can replace one of the cleric spells you know with another spell of your choice from cleric spell list that you have slots for.

    Spellcasting ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric spells. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you sue your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a cleric spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

         Spell Save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
         Spell Attack modifier = proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier

    Sense Evil and Good. You know if there is an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within thirty feet of you, as well as its general direction.

    SEVENTH LEVEL
    Weapon Bond. At 7th level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. you perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a long rest. The weapon must be within your reach during the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and forge the bond.
         Once you have bonded the weapon to yourself, you can’t be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon that weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to instantly teleport to your hand. For purposes of damage immunity, your bonded weapons counts as magical.
         You can have up to two bonded weapons, but can summon only one at a time with your bonus action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

    TENTH LEVEL
    Divine health. You are immune to disease. You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and gain resistance to poison damage.

    FIFTEENTH LEVEL
    Taboo. You can issue a divinely enforced edict, preventing all around you from breaking a rule of your creation
         When you use this ability, you shout a one-word command. All creatures in earshot must make a Charisma save vs your spell save DC every time they attempt to perform that action. If a creature fails their saving throw, they cannot attempt to perform that action again until the beginning of their next turn. This lasts until you lose Concentration or move from the spot you created the taboo.
         You must take a short rest before you can use this ability again.

    EIGHTEENTH LEVEL
    Occult resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against all spells.

    Warlock Abilities
    Patron: The Many Gods
    You have formed a pact with a minor deity: a beast, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, or aberration with some measure of immanence. They cannot provide you with the kind of power an Archfey, Fiend, or Great Old One can, but they are also willing to help you personally–you can help them as much as they can help you.
         You can summon one of your patrons with a 10 minute ritual. You can ask it to cast a spell it knows or to perform some other favor, like convey you to a destination, help you in a fight, deliver a message, or retrieve an object. Patrons always require something in return–they feed off of occult power, and you can always expend a spell slot as payment, but they also accept the expenditure of hit dice, blood, favors, treasure, or anything else that aligns with their ethos and goals. More powerful patrons require more sacrifice. Patrons are NPCs like any other–there is always a chance they will demand more for a favor, refuse to help you, or even temporarily become hostile.
         You do not learn spells of 1st level or above. Whenever you would learn a spell, you can give the ability to cast it to one of your patrons. Patrons can cast such spells at will at your behest, enabled by your payments/sacrifices, but when operating on their own prerogative can only cast each spell they know once per long rest.
         You start with a single patron. It is a beast, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, undead, celestial, or aberration with a CR of 1 or less. It can cast your Spells Known at level 1.
         When one of your patrons is reduced to 0 HP, you can revive it with an 8 hour ritual.
          You can gain a patron by establishing friendly contact with a creature and completing a 1 hour ritual in its presence. You can always understand you patron, even if you do not share a language or it does not have a language.

    Warlock Pact Boon: Pact of Borrowed Skin

    You can use the Druid’s Wild Shape class feature once per short rest.

    Warlock Eldritch Invocations

    Shapeshifter

    Prerequisite: Pact of Borrowed Skin, 5th level

    You can Wild Shape into creatures with a CR of 1/4 your level or less.

    Maleficence

    Prerequisite: Pact of Borrowed Skin, 15th level.

    You can Wild Shape into dragons as well as beasts.

    pokédungeon

    I don’t like Find Familiar or Conjure X spells in 5e D&D, and I’ve been circling around the idea on how to fix them for a while. I think this is how I will do it next time I run Type V–spells that call up a critter what does as you say, but prevents the caster from recovering the spell slot used until the creature is dismissed. This sort of amortizes the benefit of a spell slot over the course of a day, as opposed to making them a single-use get-out-of-jail-free cards. It also gives me a measure for what these creatures should be able to do–there needs to be a reason to pick this spell over any other 1st level spell. Finally, it means I don’t have to fuss with class mechanics, which is a big plus. How to implement this:

    • Wizards can get this spell as is.
    • Warlocks can get this as an Invocation that lets them use a Warlock slot to cast it 1/day.  (Being able to cast it 1/short rest would let warlocks be able to easily circumvent the cost of losing the spell for the day, since they could just dismiss the creature and take a short rest.)

    I’ll probably make a version for 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th levels, as well. Stronger versions might only be for a single creature.

    Minor Covenant
    1st-level conjuration 

    Casting Time: 1 hour
    Range: 10 feet
    Component: V, S, M (an opal, ruby, piece of quartz, or sapphire worth at least 50 gp)
    Duration: Permanent

    You summon a lesser spirit that appears in an unoccupied space that you can see in range. A spirit summoned by this spell disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or you choose to end the spell, which takes an action. As long as this spell is in effect, you cannot regain use of the spell slot you used to cast it.

    The kind of material component you use determines the kind of lesser spirit this spell summons.

    • An opal summons a sylph
    • A ruby summons a least djinn
    • A piece of quartz summons an true gnome
    • A sapphire summons an undine

    The spirit will not attempt to harm you or your companions. It receives its own place in initiative. The spirit obeys any verbal commands you issue it (no action required by you). If you don’t issue any commands to it, the spirit will follow you without taking any other action.

    As an action, you can temporarily dismiss the lesser spirit. It disappears into the Void where it awaits your summons. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 10 feet of you.

    The spirit can break free from the bonds of this spell. It may make a Wisdom save whenever

    • you give the spirit a new command
    • you insult the spirit or place it in egregious danger
    • you command the spirit to perform an action that requires it to ignore one of its compulsions or perform one of its taboos.

    If the spirit succeeds its Wisdom saving throw, it breaks free from your control, becomes hostile to you and no longer obeys your commands. You cannot temporarily dismiss it, and ending the spell no longer causes the spirit to disappear, though it does allow you to recover the spell slot used to cast this spell.

    Sylph

    from bravely default

    Small elemental, unaligned                                                          

    AC: 15
    HP: 6
    Speed: 0 ft, fly 30 ft.                                              
    STR: 4 (-3) DEX: 20 (+5) CON: 8 (-1)
    INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 10 (+0) CHA: 12 (+1)                   
    Skills: Perception +2, Sleight of Hand +7, Stealth +7
    Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
    Languages: Common, Sylvan
    CR: 1/8                                                         

    ABILITIES

    • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The sylph can innately cast the cantrip Gust. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
    • Keen Smell: The sylph has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. 
    • Ethereal: Sylphs can squeeze through spaces as if they were Tiny creatures

                                                                                  
    ACTIONS

    • Superior Invisibility: The sylph magically turns invisible until its concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment the sylph wears or carries turns invisible with it.

      DISPOSITION
      Sylphs are spirits of air and propriety. They despise rudeness, ugliness, and violence, and delight in courtesy, beauty, quietude, and refined conversation. Despite their ostensibly peaceable and orderly natures, sylphs will steal, murder, and torment to punish those they have deemed transgressors. 

      from final fantasy 12 revenant wings

      True Gnome

      Medium elemental, unaligned                                                    

      AC: 11 (natural armor)
      HP: 19
      Speed: 30 ft                                                              
      STR: 15 (+2) DEX: 10 (+0) CON: 14 (+2)
      INT: 4 (-3) WIS: 12 (+1) CHA: 12 (+1)                   
      Skills: Perception +2, Nature +4
      Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing
      Languages: Common, Celestial                                 
      ABILITIES

      • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The true gnome can innately cast the cantrip Mold Earth. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
      • Quiet Strength: The true gnome has advantage on Strength checks to lift, carry, bend, break, and otherwise manipulate inanimate objects

                                                                                    
      ACTIONS

      • Punch: Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. 2d4+2 bludgeoning damage.

      DISPOSITION
      Ursulines are spirits of earth and obligation. They dislike dishonesty, destruction, and disorder, and appreciate respect for wildlife, honesty, prudence, and sleeping. 

      from final fantasy

      Least Djinni

      Small elemental, unaligned                                                    

      AC: 15 (natural armor)
      HP: 2
      Speed: 0 ft, fly 40 ft                                                              
      STR: 18 (+4) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 10 (+0)
      INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 8 (-1) CHA: 14 (+2)                   
      Skills: Stealth +3, Athletics +6
      Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
      Damage Immunities: fire
      Languages: Common, Primordial                                 
      ABILITIES

      • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The ursuline can innately cast the cantrip Control Flames. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 

                                                                                    
      ACTIONS

      • Discern Desire: The least djinni touches a creature and magically knows what the creature most desires at that moment. 
      • Bite: Melee Weapon Attack, +6 to hit, 1 reach 5 ft, one target. d4+4 piercing damage, and the target must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute.
      • Invisibility: The least djinni magically turns invisible until it attacks or casts a spell, or until concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Any equipment the least djinn wears or carries is invisible with it.

      DISPOSITION
      Djinn are spirits of flame and desire. They dislike equivocation, moderation, and cowardice. They love the exertion of power, achieving desires, and eating.

      Undine

      Medium elemental, unaligned                                                    

      AC: 2
      HP: 9
      Speed: 25 ft, swim 40 ft                            
      STR: 6 (+2) DEX: 12 (+1) CON: 8 (+2)
      INT: 11 (+0) WIS: 10 (+0) CHA: 16 (+3)                   
      Skills: Persuasion +5, Performance +5
      Damage Resistances: slashing, piercing, bludgeoning
      Languages: Common, Primordial                                 
      ABILITIES

      • Innate Spellcasting (at will): The undine can innately cast the cantrip Shape Water. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma. 
      • Translucency: The undine can become invisible in water as a bonus action
      • Amorphous:The undine can squeeze through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing

                                                                                    
      ABILITIES

      • Claw: Melee Weapon Attack, +3 to hit, 1 reach 5 ft, one target. d6+1 piercing damage, and the target must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute.

      DISPOSITION
      Undine are spirits of water and vanity. They dislike dirt, modesty, poverty, and circumspection. They like performance, ostentation, and cleanliness. They really love drowning people.

      poké-esqe

      Tried to make a 5th edition D&D warlock pact for Final Fantasy-esque summoning awhile back and I’m still not happy with the result. This fits more neatly into the way 5th edition classes work, leverages the large number of existing creatures in the Monster Manual, and allows for pokemon-style critter-collecting.

       
      Otherworldy Patron: The Monarch
      from tactics ogre: let us cling together

      You are the student of an asura, deva, or legendary monarch in the Art of Royalty and have learned to command fealty from lesser spirits.

      Starting at 1st level
      You can spend your action to bind a willing or incapacitated elemental, fey, incorporeal undead, celestial, fiend, or dragon with a CR equal to or less than your warlock level divided by 3, rounded down (If your level is 1, you can bind creatures with a CR of 1 or less). You can only have 1 bound creature at a time. If you exceed this limit, you must choose a creature to release from its binding. Released creatures appear in a space adjacent to you. If they are neutral or friendly, they will simply depart. If they despise you, they will give you at least a 24 hour running start before they start trying to kill you.

      You can spend an action to conjure a bound creature for 10 minutes.. The creature appears in a space adjacent to you and is friendly to you and your companions for as long as you maintain concentration.  The creature gets its own initiative and turns. It obeys all spoken commands you give it, and commanding it does not require you to spend any actions.

      If your concentration is broken, the creature breaks free from your control. If it was hostile before you bound it, it again becomes hostile towards you and your companions, and may flee to cause greater mischief. If it was neutral or friendly, it might require you to convince it to enter your service again, possibly demanding a bribe. You cannot dismiss an uncontrolled creature, and uncontrolled creatures do not count towards your bound total.

      The creature vanishes once the 10 minutes expire. Dismissing a controlled creature early is a free action. Bound creatures can die like any other.

      You can conjure a bound creature once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest. 

      Starting at 6th level
      You can bind up to three creatures.You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

      Starting at 10th level
      You can bind up to five creatures. You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

      Starting at 14th level
      You can bind up to seven creatures. You can conjure any one of them once, and regain your use of this ability when you take a short or long rest.

      having the time of your life

      Been playing Shantae. Aggressively nostalgic, exceedingly Crayola, surprisingly excellent. Been have interested in playing it since it came out for the Game Boy Color. Anyway, it has me thinking about dancing. Also been thinking about Gus L’s Imperial Cultists. So here’s a prancing bardlike that mashes the two together.

      from Etrian Odyssey


      Dancers

      from black swan

      HP, attack bonus and XP as Cleric. Saves and Equipment as Thief.

      Dancers perform magic dances, which aren’t memorized and forgotten like spells–they can be attempted as often as the dancer wishes.

      Each Dance function like Lamentations of the Flame Princess skill. You start out with a 1-in-6 chance of succeeding on checks pertaining to the relevant dance, but you can increase the odds of success with skill points. At level 1, you start out with 4 skill points to allocate however you wish; every time you level up, you gain 2 more. You can only improve Dances you’ve learned, naturally. A Dance cannot exceed a 5-in-6 chance of success. If all of this is too complicated for you, just use the thief’s Hear Noise skill odds for all known dances.

      Dances always work, but for every turn you perform a Dance, you must make a check with the relevant skill. If you succeed, you continue your performance unfazed; if you fail, you take a level of exhaustion. (There are a lot of ways to do this. In my games, for each level of exhaustion, you suffer a -1 penalty to all attribute, attack, and skill rolls, and move as if you were encumbered by an additional level. If you roll a negative number on a roll while exhausted or reach a movement speed of 0, you fall unconscious for d4 Turns. Eating a ration and resting for a Turn removes one level of exhaustion.) When you are dancing, you move no faster than 30′. If you are struck by an attack while dancing, you must make a Save vs Breath or end the dance.

      from Shantae

      Dances
      You begin play knowing two Mysterious Dances dances. To acquire more, you must find them in your travels. Learning a dance from a tutor takes a week. Learning a dance from written instructions takes a month.

      Mysterious Dances

      • Arson Dance: When you perform this dance indoors, no fire within that structure can be extinguished until you leave or stop dancing. This may work in a limited area (such as a single story or wing) in very large buildings. 
      • Vorpal Dance: This dance ends by tracing a finger or toe across a flat surface. This creates a cut with a depth in inches equal to twice the number of turns you danced, regardless of material. 
      • Murder Dance: For each round you perform this dance, every creature that can see you takes d6 necrotic damage as they slowly crumble to dust; they can Save vs Spell for half damage
      • Scandal Dance: Any creature that sees you perform this dance must Save vs Spells or pay attention to nothing else but you for as long as you continue to dance. This does not change its disposition towards you. 
      • Shatter Dance: Completing this dance breaks every mundane piece of glass within a number of feet equal to 10 times the number of Turns spent dancing.  
      • Dark Dance: Completing this dance extinguishes every torch, lamp, or other light source within a number of feet equal to 10 times the number of Turns spent dancing.

      Forbidden Dances
      Known to no one. Can only be learned from forgotten texts.

      • Bone Dance: animates a number of HD of undead equal to half your level, rounded up. They obey your spoken commands until you stop dancing, at which point they go berserk.
      • Wind Dance: As per Stormspeech. Lasts until you stop dancing. 
      • Dance of Monstrosity: As per Summon. Replace all mention of caster level with number of turns spent dancing.
      • Dance of Change: When you complete this dance, you may polymorph into a mundane animal of your choice with HD equal to or less than half your level. The transformation lasts for as long as you danced or until you choose to revert to your true form. 
      • Immolation Dance: Performing this dance sets you on fire and makes you immune to all heat and flame. Any creature in melee range of you takes d6 damage, and you ignite every flammable thing you pass by. Ceasing to dance ends your immunity to heat, but it doesn’t douse you. 
      • Prominence Dance: For as long as you perform this dance, the Sun shines overhead as if it were noon. Only works outdoors
      • Nocturne Dance: For as long as your perform this dance, the sky darkens and the stars shine as if it were midnight. Only works outdoors.
      from Magi

      So the idea behind all of this is you have multiple pressures on the character, most of which revolve around the overloaded encounter die/Hazard System.

      • Rations encumber you, but let you reduce exhaustion.
      • Exhaustion reduces the amount of stuff you can carry (including rations) and makes you more likely to fail dances, which exhausts you more
      • Dancing takes time, which makes encounters and complications more likely, which might require more dances to resolve.
      • Armor makes it safer to use dances in combat, but leaves you less room for rations and makes you even slower while you dance.

        monster of the week

        one of my players is grumpy I disallow darkvision in my 5e game, so here’s a proposal for him.

        Dark Elves

        by asher levine

        unseelie freaks, troglobite fairies, bad-dream cousins of the elves. They are just as beautiful as their surface-swelling relatives, save that they have no eyes. the ones who live deep beneath the Earth are worm-belly white, while the ones who live in caves and venture to the surface are shades of dark grey. Their clothes and art are heavily textured, because they cannot truly see. Their fashion is designed to disturb those who can; their Knights Verso wear backwards armor and paint eyes on the back of their head.

        The ruler of the dark elves is Lord Fathom, who dwells at the bottom of the earth. He knows what the dead know–every soul passing on to the Hereafters must give him a single secret. His honor guard is Lord Fathom’s Forty, the evilest, strangest, and most powerful of the dark elves. They are renowned and hated on the surface, famous for stealing the Little Moon and killing the Red Dragon and the White Worm.

        • Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Charisma score increases by 1
        • Age: Around 700.
        • Alignment: Whatever you please
        • Size: Your size is Medium. Because your skeleton is cartilaginous, you can squeeze through spaces as a Small creature. 
        • Speed:  Your move speed is 30 ft.
        • Weird Knowledge: You cannot see, but you have blindsight out to 30 feet.
        • Keen Senses: You have proficiency in the Perception skill. When you make a Wisdom (Perception) check to smell something, add double your proficiency bonus.
        • Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
        • Sleep: You can’t sleep, no matter how much you want to. You instead slip into a semiconscious fever dream; 4 hours counts as 8 hours of sleep, and you remain aware of your surroundings during this time. 
        • Languages: You speak English/Common and Ara Gorash/Deep Speech. You can only read textured scripts, because you are blind. This is rare on the surface.
        • Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on all checks, saving throws, and attack rolls in direct sunlight. Shade and heavy clothing remove this effect.
        • Uncanny: You can cast the Thaumaturgy cantrip.

        torch songs

        I don’t like how genasi + aasimar + tieflings are so taxonomical. They could do with being a bit more vague about what high fantasy Paracelsian interpretation they map onto. They could also do to be a but more like Kill Six Billion Demons. 

        Aasimar/Fire Genasi

        Angels are eternal conflagrations of heatless nuclear flame. They mostly exist in the Void, where they sing endless atomic songs and contemplate their own immanence. Those unfortunate humans descended from angels are aasimar. They are as much flesh as fire, their blood and breath and soul replaced by a single nuclear pneuma that sustains them even as it slowly consumes their bodies.

        from kill six billion demons
        • Age: Aasumar live as long as elves. As they age, they become more beautiful, more alien, and more rarefied as their heavenly fire slowly burns away all trace of their temporality. 
        • Alignment: Whatever
        • Speed:  30 ft
        • Languages: English/Common and Enochian/Celestial
        • Ability Score Increases: Your Constitution score increases by 1. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
        • Rarefied: You are immune to disease and poison and do not breathe. You keep your fire-self burning with sacred oils and blessed incense (function as wine and rations in terms of cost and encumbrance) for fuel. You need to “eat” and “drink” half as much as a human. 
        • Meditation: Though you do not sleep, you must spend 4 hours a day contemplating the Void or find yourself slowly drawn back there in a state that conveniently mirrors human exhaustion. You are fully aware of your surroundings in this state.
        • Radioactive: You can cast the Produce Flame cantrip
        • Body of Fire: You have resistance to radiant damage