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Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Re: 1001 Homebrew Ideas to Flesh Out Sometime
« on: February 19, 2024, 08:58:07 PM »
You got the levels off on Invocations being granted, and I feel there needs to be a bit more tweaking to it to justify why you have this option since the class has always held inheritability of the powers. Personally, I'd go with this:
Faustian Warlock
Your power carries with it an especially strong link to Hell, allowing you to extend others a share of your power at the cost of sharing the perils of the bargain it came from.
Alignment: Any Lawful or Evil
Class skills: A faustian warlock adds Diplomacy to his list of class skills.
Extend Pact (Sp): A faustian warlock has the ability to connect others to the source of their magic. Starting at 2nd level, they may perform a ritual taking 10 minutes to establish a bond for one day that grants one willing creature an Eldritch Blast dealing one die less damage than the faustian warlock's own (minimum 1d6). They may have only one such bond active at a time plus one per five class levels beyond 1st, breaking the earliest if they establish one in excess of this.
Should the creature die while this bond is active, they must make a DC 12 Will save or gain the Hellbound special quality, as the Hellbred racial trait (see Fiendish Codex II, page 78). If this happens, the faustian warlock's alignment moves one step towards Evil, or one step towards Lawful if they are already Evil. If the faustian warlock is already Lawful Evil, they must make the same save with a -10 Profane penalty or gain the Hellbound special quality.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 2nd level.
Transfer Invocation (Sp): At 6th level, a faustian warlock may choose upon bonding to grant a recipient of their Extend Pact ability uses of their own Invocations. Each Invocation so granted may only be used five times that day, split as the faustian warlock chooses between himself and the recipient. The faustian warlock may provide one Invocation plus one-half the Warlock Invocations the recipient knows, of a caster level and grade available to a warlock of five levels lower than the faustian warlock plus the recipient's warlock caster level, to a maximum of the faustian warlock's. Every two effective spell levels of invocations transferred this way increases the save DC for receiving the Hellbound quality by one.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 6th level.
Insidious Proxy (Sp) At 11th level, a faustian warlock can contact the Devil their powers began with, or the successor to their position in the Infernal Hierarchy, to offer Pacts Insidious (see Fiendish Codex II page 24) with a total reward value up to one-third his class level on that Devil's behalf. The Devil must agree to the terms before the contract is available to be signed, but the faustian warlock offering remote and relatively subtle access can often allow him to argue for one additional point worth of rewards or the use of Obeisance where the devil would prefer Corruption. Each point of Corruption or Obeisance the recipient of Extend Pact has from these pacts increases the save DC for receiving the Hellbound quality by two.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 11th level.
Self-Sponsorship (Su) At 16th level, a faustian warlock can direct his efforts inwards, exerting a measure of ownership over his own soul and thus re-signing the pact with his name as the Devil responsible. Upon reaching this level, he may choose to simply decline any claim on the souls of recipients of Extend Pact, prepare gems as if confining them with Trap the Soul (release sends them to the appropriate afterlife), or allow them to be subject to Hell's practices in his name. In the first case, no Will save is made by himself or the recipient upon their death. In the second case, his Alignment no longer shifts upon death of recipients and the gem allows him to transfer invocations from the soul and drain it of properties for like rewards in Faustian Pacts. In the third case, he immediately becomes Lawful Evil, gains the Law and Evil subtypes, and becomes an Imp with his personality and faustian warlock levels retained upon his death.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 16th level.
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This actually functions as an MLM in the second Self-Sponsorship case on over-level Invocations and Eldritch Blast damage, as the value is strictly dependent on suckers paying to fund the gems to drain dead suckers to power the Pacts Insidious to lock in the Invocation sharing. If the intake of dying participants and wealth to pay for the gems to house them stops, then the benefits drop off a cliff like a proper MLM scheme.
It could just as well be implemented as Invocations with the Law-for-Hell variation being much more minor to nearly identical effect, mind you. Kinda how costing only Invocations works.
Faustian Warlock
Your power carries with it an especially strong link to Hell, allowing you to extend others a share of your power at the cost of sharing the perils of the bargain it came from.
Alignment: Any Lawful or Evil
Class skills: A faustian warlock adds Diplomacy to his list of class skills.
Extend Pact (Sp): A faustian warlock has the ability to connect others to the source of their magic. Starting at 2nd level, they may perform a ritual taking 10 minutes to establish a bond for one day that grants one willing creature an Eldritch Blast dealing one die less damage than the faustian warlock's own (minimum 1d6). They may have only one such bond active at a time plus one per five class levels beyond 1st, breaking the earliest if they establish one in excess of this.
Should the creature die while this bond is active, they must make a DC 12 Will save or gain the Hellbound special quality, as the Hellbred racial trait (see Fiendish Codex II, page 78). If this happens, the faustian warlock's alignment moves one step towards Evil, or one step towards Lawful if they are already Evil. If the faustian warlock is already Lawful Evil, they must make the same save with a -10 Profane penalty or gain the Hellbound special quality.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 2nd level.
Transfer Invocation (Sp): At 6th level, a faustian warlock may choose upon bonding to grant a recipient of their Extend Pact ability uses of their own Invocations. Each Invocation so granted may only be used five times that day, split as the faustian warlock chooses between himself and the recipient. The faustian warlock may provide one Invocation plus one-half the Warlock Invocations the recipient knows, of a caster level and grade available to a warlock of five levels lower than the faustian warlock plus the recipient's warlock caster level, to a maximum of the faustian warlock's. Every two effective spell levels of invocations transferred this way increases the save DC for receiving the Hellbound quality by one.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 6th level.
Insidious Proxy (Sp) At 11th level, a faustian warlock can contact the Devil their powers began with, or the successor to their position in the Infernal Hierarchy, to offer Pacts Insidious (see Fiendish Codex II page 24) with a total reward value up to one-third his class level on that Devil's behalf. The Devil must agree to the terms before the contract is available to be signed, but the faustian warlock offering remote and relatively subtle access can often allow him to argue for one additional point worth of rewards or the use of Obeisance where the devil would prefer Corruption. Each point of Corruption or Obeisance the recipient of Extend Pact has from these pacts increases the save DC for receiving the Hellbound quality by two.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 11th level.
Self-Sponsorship (Su) At 16th level, a faustian warlock can direct his efforts inwards, exerting a measure of ownership over his own soul and thus re-signing the pact with his name as the Devil responsible. Upon reaching this level, he may choose to simply decline any claim on the souls of recipients of Extend Pact, prepare gems as if confining them with Trap the Soul (release sends them to the appropriate afterlife), or allow them to be subject to Hell's practices in his name. In the first case, no Will save is made by himself or the recipient upon their death. In the second case, his Alignment no longer shifts upon death of recipients and the gem allows him to transfer invocations from the soul and drain it of properties for like rewards in Faustian Pacts. In the third case, he immediately becomes Lawful Evil, gains the Law and Evil subtypes, and becomes an Imp with his personality and faustian warlock levels retained upon his death.
This replaces the Invocation learned at 16th level.
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This actually functions as an MLM in the second Self-Sponsorship case on over-level Invocations and Eldritch Blast damage, as the value is strictly dependent on suckers paying to fund the gems to drain dead suckers to power the Pacts Insidious to lock in the Invocation sharing. If the intake of dying participants and wealth to pay for the gems to house them stops, then the benefits drop off a cliff like a proper MLM scheme.
It could just as well be implemented as Invocations with the Law-for-Hell variation being much more minor to nearly identical effect, mind you. Kinda how costing only Invocations works.