Otherworldly Patron - The Darklord

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# Otherwordly Patron - The Darklord

Your patron is a resident from the Demiplane of Dread. Locked inside a domain closed by mists for a terrible crime, they are a being of tremendous power, haunted by inescapable curses. Any of the darklords of Ravenloft's Domain of Dread could become a warlock's patron, though one might want to use the Undead patron for undead darklords such as Azalin Rex or Strahd von Zarovich, and the Artifact patron for sentient objects such as Aggarath or Ebonbane. 
<p>Despite their power and nigh immortality, Darklords are deeply limited by their curses and imprisonment. As such, they can forge pacts with warlocks, giving them magic and skills in exchange for their loyalty. These warlocks are required to act as their patron's eyes and hands outside of their domain. This pact is generally designed to be used inside Ravenloft, both in terms of mechanics and flavour (for example, a Darklord Warlock casting Raise Dead might grab the soul of their target from the mists to bring them back to life), though it can also be used in other planes with some tweaks.

#### Expanded Spell List
The Darklord 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.

##### Artifact Expanded Spells
|    Spell Level    | Spells |
|:--:|:--|
|  1st  | <em>fog cloud, false life |
|  2nd  | <em>see invisibility, moonbeam |
|  3rd  | <em>speak with dead, spirit guardians |
|  4th  | <em>phantasmal killer, greater invisibility |
|  5th  | <em>raise dead, contagion |

#### Form of dread
At 1st level, you manifest an aspect of your patron’s dreadful power. As a bonus action, you transform for 1 minute. You gain the following benefits while transformed:

You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your warlock level.
Once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw, and if the saving throw fails, the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
You are immune to the frightened condition.
You can transform a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

The appearance of your Form of Dread can reflect some aspect of your patron. For example, you might grow fangs if you serve a lycanthropic darklord, or become pale and sickly if you serve a darklord known for using poison and toxins.

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#### Scholar of decay
Starting at 6th level, your patron has deemed you worthy and made you their official emissary, tasked to wander the Demiplane for them. You become resilient to necrotic damage.

Furthermore, you can channel your patron's power to scare the children of the night that wander Ravenloft, and use it to cast Turn Undead. Once you've used this power, you must wait until you finish a short or long rest to use it again.

#### Herald of the mists
Starting at 10th level, your can get a grasp of your patron's power over the mists of their domain. Though you cannot open or close the borders of a domain, you are immune to the negative effects of the mists while you wander them.

Furthermore, you can use an action to conjure mist around you as if you were using fog cloud, except the mist conjured by this ability has the same exhausting properties as the mists of Ravenloft. You can use this ability a number of times equal to you charisma modifier, and regain all expanded uses after a rest.

#### Denizen of dread

Starting at 14th level, your soul has ingrained itself deep inside the fabric of the demiplane. Though you are not a darklord, you know the Dark Powers keep their eye on you, and are waiting for you to commit a crime heinous enough.

You can use your ties to your darklord to temporarily twist the very essence of the demiplane, creating a reality wrinkle around a creature within 60 feet of you. The creature inside the wrinkle takes 9d10 of force damage, and is knocked prone as its body is twisted by the chaotic energy. A darklord affected by this ability takes only half the damage, but sees their darklord powers suppressed for one turn.

Once you've used this ability, you must finish a long rest before using it again.

> ##### Pact Boons
> There are multiple ways in which the Darklord and its mist-creeping influence  can change you pact boons.
> * <b> Pact of the Chain: </b> You can use a Gnashing Death's Head as an additional familiar when you have the Darklord patron. 
> * <b> Pact of the Book: </b> Your Book of Shadows could be a gazetteer, full of cryptic messages among which you can only decipher the cantrips this boon gives you.

##### Credits
 * <font size=1> Written and created by Ambre Jarno using [GMBinder](https://www.gmbinder.com/)

<div class='footnote'> <fontsize=1> The Darklord is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLCYellow </div>