Maleficar

Creating a Maleficar

The most important aspect of a maleficar character is the nature of their Raven's Bane, as each maleficar order uses different blood or a different process in the creation of their Raven's Bane. Although you do not partake of the Raven's Bane until you reach 3rd level, you will align yourself with one of the orders when you create your character. Whether you are an initiate of an order is up to you, and your choice of order may indicate only the path your character will walk as a maleficar. How does your character feel about the path they walk, and the blood they seek? What lead them to this, and why did they choose to bind themselves to the essence of a particular entity? Do you already have the blood you seek, or are you still seeking the right entity from which to take it?

Consider also how your character received their training with both weapons and magic. Are they a zealous hunter raised by an ancient order of maleficar, sworn to destroy evil? Are they a wounded soul, alone but grasping for the power to avenge the wrongs against them? Are they the hesitant student of a lone mentor, taught the traditions and duties of an order which may no longer exist? Are you an explorer or scholar who uncovered ancient and forbidden secrets, and couldn't turn away from the dark powers they promised?

How do you feel about the grim path you walk? Do you revel in the cruel magicks you wield, turning them on foes with delight? Do you revile the powers you've gained, using them only to serve those causes which you cannot abandon? Do you regret the path you've chosen, seeking redemption by using them to better the world? Are the blood magic and dark powers of the maleficar a means to an end, or is power itself the end you seek?

Purpose

Rarely does an individual become a maleficar without a desperate cause or overwhelming desire which shapes their actions. For some this is a personal ambition or vendetta, while others seek to uphold the ways of their order or serve as a bulwark against evil.

What drives your character to delve into dark magic and embrace dark forces? If you haven't given this much thought, take a moment to consider it, as a maleficar's purpose will often guide their choices and behavior.

Purpose

d6	Purpose
1	Last heir to an ancient family of maleficar, you alone uphold their legacy
2	You suffered a terrible loss, and you'll pay any price to destroy the monster responsible.
3	The knowledge of the ancients must be reclaimed, no matter what terrible truths it reveals.
4	Raised by a maleficar order, you follow their traditions and ardently serve their cause.
5	Prophecies foretell your doom, but the Raven's Bane might break the shackles of fate.
6	You have sworn to purge the world of evil, and your own soul would be a small price to pay.

Maleficar Order

At 1st level, you align with a cabalistic order of maleficar: Order of the Blighted Bane, Order of the Crimson Pact, Order of the Mortal Wraith, or Order of the Sacred Blood, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your order grants you features at 1st level, and again at 3rd, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level.

Crimson Rite

At 1st level, you have bound your lifeblood in a rite of blood magic, which you can invoke upon your weapons. You learn one Primal Rite of your choice from the list below.

As a bonus action, you can activate a known rite on up to two weapons until your next short or long rest. While active, attacks from these weapons deal an additional 1d4 damage of a type based on your rite. This die changes as you gain maleficar levels, as shown in the Crimson Rite column of the Maleficar table. Damage dealt by magical weapons with an active rite changes to the same type as your Crimson Rite, except for bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

You can have active rites on two weapons at once, and a weapon can only have one active rite. You can transfer an active rite from one weapon to another as a bonus action. While not in your hand, a weapon with an active rite temporarily loses the rite’s effects. If a weapon with an active rite is thrown, the rite loses its effects immediately after the attack is resolved.

You learn an additional Primal Rite at 5th and 9th level. You learn an Esoteric Rite at 13th level.

Wisdom of the Orders

Also at 1st level, you are studied in the lore of the maleficar, and have specialized knowledge of certain types of creatures.

Choose one of the following creature types: aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, and undead. You cannot be surprised by creatures of that type. Additionally, your intense study of your chosen creatures grants you advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track them, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. You choose an additional creature type at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a 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.

Dark Magic

At 2nd level, you can harness arcane power through powerful dark magic. See chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and the end of this document for the maleficar spell list.

Spell Slots

The Maleficar table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level.

To cast one of your maleficar spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a short or long rest.

For example, when you are 8th level, you have two 2nd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell hellish rebuke, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a 2nd-level spell.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

At 2nd level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the maleficar spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Maleficar table shows when you learn more maleficar spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 11th level, for example, you learn a new maleficar spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the maleficar spells you know and replace it with another spell from the maleficar spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your maleficar spells, so 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 maleficar 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 an arcane focus (found in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook) as a spellcasting focus for your maleficar spells.

Mystic Rites

Beginning at 2nd level, your weapon is a channel for your dark magic. While it has an active rite, you can use your weapon as a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5 of the Player’s Handbook) for your spells.

Raven’s Bane

Beginning at 3rd level, you have imbibed the Raven’s Bane of your order — a toxic concoction of blood magic and forbidden alchemy — and survived, forever changing your very essence.

You gain darkvision out to 30 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet instead. You are proficient in death saving throws, and if the result of a death saving throw you make is 20 or higher you regain 1 hit point.

At 11th level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest.

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.

Fell Agility

Upon reaching 6th level, your power over the Raven’s Bane strengthens, granting you unnatural swiftness on the battlefield. Your speed increases by 10 feet, and opportunity attacks made against you have disadvantage.

Grim Psychometry

When you reach 7th level, you can take 10 minutes to meditate on an object or location and draw upon the power of the Raven’s Bane to sense lingering signs of evil. Make a Charisma ability check. In the form of visions and whispers, you gain vague hints about the following: If the object or location has an evil purpose or nature, or was surrounded by dark events in the past. The information you gain can be cryptic and unclear, but not false. You sense nothing if an object or location is untouched by evil, or if you have used this feature on it previously. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

War Magic

Beginning at 11th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action.

Crimson Soul

When you reach 15th level, the power of your blood rite wards you from harm. You can add your Crimson Rite die to all of your saving throws.

Forgotten Arts

Upon reaching 20th level, you have mastered the dark magic of the Maleficar. When you use the Attack action or the Cast a Spell action to cast a cantrip, you can cast a maleficar spell of 1st level or higher as a bonus action.

Maleficar Orders

There are a handful of secretive orders of maleficar that guard the ancient techniques and blasphemous rituals of the Raven’s Bane. Each order has perfected a variation of the Raven’s Bane concoction, each using a different kind of powerful blood. These small sects of maleficar pass on the training and dark magic to control and exploit the potential of the Raven’s Bane. They guard their secrets carefully, and even beginning to walk the path of the maleficar requires one to prove their worth and determination.

Blackened Mind

Upon reaching 7th level, your corrupted blood grants your mind unnatural strength. You gain proficiency in Intelligence and Charisma saving throws. Additionally, you gain a bonus to Intelligence and Wisdom ability checks equal to half your Charisma modifier.

Blighted Flesh

Beginning at 10th level, the Raven’s Bane has spread throughout your flesh, granting aberrant resilience. All damage you take is reduced by 2, and you gain proficiency in Constitution saving throws.

Living Scourge

At 14th level, your body has embraced the Raven’s Bane, and begins to move on its own in response to danger. You gain proficiency in Dexterity saving throws. Additionally, you can give yourself a bonus to initiative rolls equal to your Charisma modifier, and you cannot be surprised.

Blighted Soul

At 18th level, the corruption in your blood has tainted your soul. As a bonus action you can cause magical darkness to spill from your flesh. The darkness spreads in a 5 or 10 foot radius (your choice). You can alter the radius or end the effect as a bonus action. When a hostile creature enters the darkness for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it takes necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

Additionally, you can see in magical darkness as if it were dim light.

Order of the Crimson Pact

The Order of the Crimson Pact is an outlier among the maleficar orders, for they forge a pact with a powerful entity, and it infuses the mortal blood of their Raven’s Bane with eldritch energy. Called Pactbinders, they have far less in common than members of other orders, for they are bound together by their methods instead of their blood. Though many seek to further the power of their magic, the Pactbinders are less unified than the other maleficar orders, which generally see them as a strange and motley group.

Order of the Sacred Blood

The Order of the Sacred Blood is by far the best known and most accepted of the maleficar orders. They call themselves lightbearers, and draw their radiant magic from the celestial blood used in their Raven’s Bane, usurping the power of the heavens through blood magic. Though many maleficar consider this far fouler and bending evil powers to their will, the lightbearers call it a holy sacrament, one which confers a sacred duty to purge all creatures of darkness from the world.

Lightbearer Magic

You learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class. The spell counts as a maleficar spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of maleficar spells you know.

Maleficar Level	Spell
2nd	Healing Word
5th	Lesser Restoration
9th	Mass Healing Word
13th	Aura of Life
17th	Greater Restoration

Celestial Lore

At 1st level, you gain proficiency in Religion.

Rite of the Dawn

At 3rd level, you learn the esoteric Rite of the Dawn, which deals radiant damage.

Cleansing Light

Also at 3rd level, your righteous strikes surround you with an aura of blazing radiance. Once on your turn when you deal radiant damage, you can cause creatures of your choice within 5 feet of you to take radiant damage equal to your crimson rite die. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once), and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Righteous Crusader

Beginning at 7th level, you fear no evil. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid being frightened.

If you succeed on a saving throw to avoid being frightened, you can gain temporary hit points equal to your level. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Divine Wrath

Upon reaching 10th level, you channel the fury of the heavens through your blood rite. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can deal additional radiant damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1) if that weapon has an active rite.

Hallowed Protector

At 14th level, your allies are graced by the same heavenly light which burns your foes. When you use your Cleansing Light feature, friendly creatures within 5 feet can make a saving throw against the frightened condition or any spell which is affecting them, ending the effect on a success.

Anointed Soul

At 18th level, using a bonus action, you can manifest a pair of radiant angelic wings from your back. While the wings are present, you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. The wings last until you're incapacitated, you die, or you dismiss them as a bonus action.

Additionally, your Cleansing Light and Hallowed Protector features can affect creatures within 10 feet.