Warlock Patron
The Chained
Many warlocks obtain their powers from shadowy patrons, creatures sealed away to restrain their influence on the mortal world. Sometimes, that patron is explicitly imprisoned—trapped forever on the dreaded prison plane. A harrowing place of lightless caves and tortured screams, the prison plane twists the minds of its inhabitants, warping creatures to fit the plane's own nature. Over eons, the prisoners may even become the guards, seduced by the place's wicked order.
Warlocks who follow a Chained Patron are drawn to this darkness. They may hear the Chained One's whispers and seek to free it, or imagine they can tap its power without letting its influence into the world. Either way, they find themselves inevitably drawn to the tools of the grimmest plane.
The Chained Patron Features
| Warlock Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1st | Expanded Spell List, Flailing Chain, Entrapping Torment |
| 6th | Pocket Prison |
| 10th | Hungry Chains |
| 14th | Prison Plane |
Expanded Spell List
The The Chained 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.
| Warlock Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | bane, create pitK |
| 3rd | knock, silence |
| 5th | slow, summon fell machineS |
| 7th | confusion, stone coffinK |
| 9th | burial barrageK, wall of stone, |
You may want to swap confusion for bewilderSDS, which is an upgraded replacement.
Spells marked with S were created by somanyrobots. Spells marked with SDS were created as part of the Spells That Don't Suck project. Spells marked with K were created by KibblesTasty and used with permission. All are linked in the Spell Sources appendix.
Flailing Chains
At 1st level, your patron enables you to conjure the very chains that bind its form. As a bonus action, you can conjure a 15-foot length of chain at a location you can see within 120 feet. Immediately and as a bonus action on your subsequent turns, it can lash out to try and chain a creature you can see within its reach. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or become lashed. A lashed creature is unable to move beyond the chain's reach.
The target or an adjacent creature can use an action to try and break it free, making a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC. On a success, the target is no longer lashed.q
The chains last for 1 minute after you create them before disappearing. You can summon these chains once, regaining the ability after a short or long rest.
Entrapping Torment
Also at 1st level, other creatures' restraints answer to your will. Once on each of your turns when you deal damage to a lashed, grappled, or restrained creature, you can cause it to take 1d8 slashing damage.
Pocket Prison
At 6th level, you can transport yourself bodily to a cell within your patron's prison. As an action, you can teleport to this prison cell. You can stay there as long as you wish; the cell has breathable air but nothing else. The prison cell is cold, uncomfortable, and disturbing; you can stay as long as you want and you may take a short rest there but not a long rest. You can return as an action to the same location you left. Anything you took with you returns when you do.
When you teleport, you can bring a number of willing creatures within 30 feet up to your proficiency bonus.
Hungry Chains
At 10th level, your Flailing Chains ability summons two chains at the same point. You command both chains independently with the same bonus action. If both chains successfully lash the same creature, it becomes restrained until either chain is broken.
Prison Plane
At 14th level, you become able to condemn unwilling creatures to the prison plane. As an action, you can point at one creature of your choice and force it to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it is teleported to its own cell within the prison plane.
The target can use its action to repeat its saving throw, ending its imprisonment on a success and reappearing where it was teleported from. At the start of each of its turns while imprisoned, it takes 2d8 nonlethal psychic damage.
You can only have one creature trapped on the prison plane at a time; an imprisoned creature is immediately freed if you imprison another. Once a creature has succeeded on a saving throw against this ability, it is immune to it for 24 hours.
Once you imprison a creature with this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short rest.
The Chained Patron quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this subclass to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You wear chains and locks on your clothing. |
| 2 | You have elaborate tattoos which convey some secret prison language. |
| 3 | You believe harsher laws are always better. |
| 4 | You aren't even sure what type of being your patron is. |
| 5 | You think prisons are inherently unjust and all must be torn down. |
| 6 | You wear manacles as bracelets. |
Appendix 1: Spell Sources
Spells used are available in these collections, all of which are free to use and reference for any purpose.
- Spells That Don't Suck is a set of spells by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, creating replacements for problematic spells contained in first-party WotC materials. These are marked with SDS.
- So Many Spells is a set of wholly original spells written by somanyrobots. These are marked with S.
- Kibbles' Casting Compendium is the complete set of spells written by KibblesTasty. These are marked with K.
Change Log
v0.3
- Buffed uses on Flailing Chains
- Buffed Damage on Entrapping Torment
v0.2
- Reduced chain length for Flailing Chains
- Tweaks to Pocket Prison
- Increased uses for Prison Plane
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
The Chained Patron created by somanyrobots Discord | Patreon
Spells
- Burial Barrage, Create Pit, Stone Coffin by KibblesTasty
- Summon Fell Machine by somanyrobots
Art
Chained Brute, by Dan Scott © Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
License
© 2026 somanyrobots, CC BY-NC 4.0
Includes spells from Kibbles' Casting Compendium 2.0 by KibblesTasty Homebrew LLC, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Includes spells from Spells That Don't Suck by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Fan Content Policy
This work 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 LLC.
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here. -->