Warlock
The Binder
Binders are far too cunning to serve a permanent master. These arcane barterers and dealmakers try to connive, adapt, and compromise their way to power with an ever-shifting array of otherworldly patrons hailing from all manner of admirable and nefarious aims. They are masters of the covenant, and can often leave the dealing table with their patron gaining nothing in return. But these dark dealings are made with bebings of unimaginable strength, and a binder's very sanity remains forever on the line.
Binder Features
| Warlock Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1st | Pact Making, Indentured Servitude |
| 6th | Binding Acolyte |
| 10th | Silver Tongue |
| 14th | Pact Master |
Pact Making
Beginning at 1st level when you choose this archetype, you learn to strike constant deals and barters and offer your service to many different powerful beings. By spending 8 hours seeking out a patron, you can locate an otherworldly being who can act as your power source.
The chosen being grants you powers associated with one of the patrons from the Player's Handbook: The Archfey, The Fiend, or The Great Old One. Your GM determines which powers are granted, and might also grant the powers of other patrons. You make a temporary pact with the patron, which lasts for 1 month or until you use this feature again.
You must broker this deal by taking a brief parlance with your chosen patron, culminating in a DC 17 Charisma (Deception) or Charisma (Persuasion) check. On a failure, the patron's deal forces you to offer a little more servitude than you bargained for, and you gain a flaw of the GM’s choice until the pact ends. Patrons are learning creatures: the DC of this check increases by 5 each consecutive time you attempt to broker a deal with the same patron.
For the duration of your temporary pact, you master the patron's magic almost incomparably. You learn any spells in the patron’s expanded spell list that are of a level for which you have spell slots from your Pact Magic feature. The spells do not count against your number of warlock spells learned.
Indentured Servitude
Also at 1st level when you choose this archetype, you can bind a loyal magical familiar to your service. You learn the find familiar spell if you don't already know it, it doesn't count against your number of spells known, and you can cast it as a ritual. When you cast the find familiar spell, the familiar you summon gains the following benefits:
- It gains a bonus to Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, and to AC. The bonus is equal to your proficiency bonus.
- It gains a way to make attacks: it can use its reaction to make opportunity attacks.
- Whenever the familiar sees you hit a hostile creature with an attack, it can use its reaction to teleport into an unoccupied space it can see within 10 feet of the target.
Binding Acolyte
At 6th level, for the duration of your temporary pact, you gain your chosen patron’s 1st level benefits. You do not gain any cantrips or bonus proficiencies from the patron.
Silver Tongue
At 10th level, you master techniques that let you pry information from others. You can pick up on minor clues and tells in creatures' facial expressions to faultlessly interrogate their mood, and you exploit this to ply their emotional state with love, fear, or disgust.
By spending 10 minutes speaking with a creature that can understand you, and observing its behavior, you can learn the target's surface thoughts and current emotional state.
You can also manipulate the target. Choose one of the following three effects. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell Save DC or suffer the chosen effect.
- The target becomes frightened of you.
- The target becomes charmed by you.
- The target feels sickly, and has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
The effect lasts for 1 hour. The target can repeat the saving throw each time it takes damage from you or one of your allies during this time, ending the effect on a success.
Once the target succeeds on the saving throw, it has no hint that you tried to manipulate it, and becomes immune to this feature for 24 hours.
Pact Master
At 14th level, for the duration of your temporary pact, you gain your chosen patron’s 6th level benefits.
Additionally, as a bonus action, you can strengthen your temporary pact further. When you do this, you gain your patron's 10th level benefits for 1 minute. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you do so again.
Art from Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus.
Patron by The Smithy
