Laurefindel
Legend
I'm currently converting to 5e a character we created back in AD&D 2nd edition, that also got converted to D&D 3rd edition and gained a lot of power there. It started as a shadow mage in 2e, who then became a shadow adept in 3e (a prestige class in the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting). To make things even more complicated, that character became a shade (a template also from 3e Forgotten Realm era).
Although this is mostly just a fun experiment, I'm asking for feedback on a few homebrewed archetypes I've made for that conversion. This thread is about the shade “template” that I’ve reworked as a warlock patron, but you can find my version of the shadow mage here. For the curious, you can find the 3e Shade template here. A real pearl for the power-hungry player!
[sblock=Why a Warlock Patron?]
"Cool, so you made a Shade race! Wait what? A warlock patron?"
Yes, a warlock patron. The D&D 3e Shade is a template, meaning that it augments a character, often happening mid-career. And it comes with a hefty +4 level adjustment (and for good reasons too, I mean, look at all these features!) In trying to keep things in a 5e paradigm, it is not a far stretch to go from a character’s level adjustment to simply more character levels. I find that the warlock is a good chassis for a character with limited but renewable resources, such as the shade template with several spell-like and supernatural abilities. And then there’s the whole “replacing part of your soul with the stuff of shadows” that feels very warlock-y to me. So yeah, your "shade-ness" is represented by your warlock levels, but for that we need a new patron.
[/sblock]
N.B. reference to the Plane of Shadows rather than Shadowfell is intentional.
[sblock=The Shades]
Your patron is not an entity but a transformation of your body and mind. As you trade a portion of your soul for the stuff of shadow, you gain new insights on the duplicity of the world and its mirror Shadow Plane.
Expanded Spell List
Your transformation into a shade allows you to harness powers from the Plane of Shadows. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
Shade Expanded Spells
1st: false life, mage armor
2nd: enhance ability, see invisibility
3rd: feign death, gaseous form
4th: evard's black tentacles, phantasmal killer
5th: mislead, hold monster
Control Light
Starting at 1st level, you can decrease the level of light in a nearby area. As an action, you can diminish the levels of light in a radius of 100 feet centered on you. The effect moves with you and remains active as long as you maintain your concentration on it. Areas of bright light thus affected become dim light, and areas of dim light become darkness. When you reach 10th level, you can use this ability to bring areas of bright light in complete darkness.
This effect light does not emanate from a punctual source, and spreads around corners. However, this effect is nullified by any area of light created by a spell or magic effect of 1st level or higher.
Shadowsight
Also from 1st level, you gain the devil sight incantation, allowing you to see in any type of darkness, magical or otherwise, up to a range of 120 feet. This incantation does not count against your maximum number of known incantations.
Shadow Stride
Starting at 6th level, you can step from one shadow into another. When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness.
Spell Resistance
Starting at 10th level, when you are in dim light or darkness, you gain magic resistance.
Shadow Travel
Starting at 14th level, when you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can cast teleport without expending a spell slot to travel to any place on the same plane of existence or in the Plane of Shadows, as long as the destination is also in an area of dim light or darkness.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
[/sblock]
"Hey, but, that doesn’t even cover half of the Shade’s abilities!"
Well, that was the warlock’s ARCHETYPE. Beneath that archetype, there’s still the warlock class, which has a lot of goodies in itself. Whereas straight bonus abilities would be unbalanced, many can be “faked” with spells. Let’s see what we left behind:
+2 CON, +2 CHA
These are your warlock’s ASI. Constitution and charisma are probably good stats to bring up anyway.
Speed +20 feet
You can cast expeditious retreat and move an additional 30 feet, or more!
+4 deflection to Armor Class
You can cast mage armor, or even better, take the invocation. Ha! It’s even called Armor of Shadows. Perfect!
+2 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls
As your character level goes up, so does you proficiency bonus. Ok fine, it doesn’t boost your damage…
+4 luck bonus on saving throws
Again, gained via proficiency bonus.
+4 racial bonus to listen and spot checks, and +8 racial bonus to hide and move silently checks
Riiiiiight… I guess this would translate to proficiency in Perception and expertise in Stealth for 5e, but the class is already pretty front-loaded. It would be easy enough to make it a new invocation though.
Fast Healing
You can cast false life, or better still, take the invocation. Yeah I know; it’s not like fast healing or regeneration. I’m opened to suggestions here, and the warlock’s expanded spells allows us to steal from literally any spell list.
Invisibility (technically not at-will, but up to 2 times per round)
You can cast invisibility, or you could take the Shroud of Shadows invocation from Xanathar. The One With Shadows invocation gets you close enough however.
Shadow Image
You can cast mirror image.
The rest is covered in the archetype.
Although this is mostly just a fun experiment, I'm asking for feedback on a few homebrewed archetypes I've made for that conversion. This thread is about the shade “template” that I’ve reworked as a warlock patron, but you can find my version of the shadow mage here. For the curious, you can find the 3e Shade template here. A real pearl for the power-hungry player!
[sblock=Why a Warlock Patron?]
"Cool, so you made a Shade race! Wait what? A warlock patron?"
Yes, a warlock patron. The D&D 3e Shade is a template, meaning that it augments a character, often happening mid-career. And it comes with a hefty +4 level adjustment (and for good reasons too, I mean, look at all these features!) In trying to keep things in a 5e paradigm, it is not a far stretch to go from a character’s level adjustment to simply more character levels. I find that the warlock is a good chassis for a character with limited but renewable resources, such as the shade template with several spell-like and supernatural abilities. And then there’s the whole “replacing part of your soul with the stuff of shadows” that feels very warlock-y to me. So yeah, your "shade-ness" is represented by your warlock levels, but for that we need a new patron.
[/sblock]
N.B. reference to the Plane of Shadows rather than Shadowfell is intentional.
[sblock=The Shades]
Your patron is not an entity but a transformation of your body and mind. As you trade a portion of your soul for the stuff of shadow, you gain new insights on the duplicity of the world and its mirror Shadow Plane.
Expanded Spell List
Your transformation into a shade allows you to harness powers from the Plane of Shadows. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
Shade Expanded Spells
1st: false life, mage armor
2nd: enhance ability, see invisibility
3rd: feign death, gaseous form
4th: evard's black tentacles, phantasmal killer
5th: mislead, hold monster
Control Light
Starting at 1st level, you can decrease the level of light in a nearby area. As an action, you can diminish the levels of light in a radius of 100 feet centered on you. The effect moves with you and remains active as long as you maintain your concentration on it. Areas of bright light thus affected become dim light, and areas of dim light become darkness. When you reach 10th level, you can use this ability to bring areas of bright light in complete darkness.
This effect light does not emanate from a punctual source, and spreads around corners. However, this effect is nullified by any area of light created by a spell or magic effect of 1st level or higher.
Shadowsight
Also from 1st level, you gain the devil sight incantation, allowing you to see in any type of darkness, magical or otherwise, up to a range of 120 feet. This incantation does not count against your maximum number of known incantations.
Shadow Stride
Starting at 6th level, you can step from one shadow into another. When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness.
Spell Resistance
Starting at 10th level, when you are in dim light or darkness, you gain magic resistance.
Shadow Travel
Starting at 14th level, when you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can cast teleport without expending a spell slot to travel to any place on the same plane of existence or in the Plane of Shadows, as long as the destination is also in an area of dim light or darkness.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
[/sblock]
"Hey, but, that doesn’t even cover half of the Shade’s abilities!"
Well, that was the warlock’s ARCHETYPE. Beneath that archetype, there’s still the warlock class, which has a lot of goodies in itself. Whereas straight bonus abilities would be unbalanced, many can be “faked” with spells. Let’s see what we left behind:
+2 CON, +2 CHA
These are your warlock’s ASI. Constitution and charisma are probably good stats to bring up anyway.
Speed +20 feet
You can cast expeditious retreat and move an additional 30 feet, or more!
+4 deflection to Armor Class
You can cast mage armor, or even better, take the invocation. Ha! It’s even called Armor of Shadows. Perfect!
+2 competence bonus on attack and damage rolls
As your character level goes up, so does you proficiency bonus. Ok fine, it doesn’t boost your damage…
+4 luck bonus on saving throws
Again, gained via proficiency bonus.
+4 racial bonus to listen and spot checks, and +8 racial bonus to hide and move silently checks
Riiiiiight… I guess this would translate to proficiency in Perception and expertise in Stealth for 5e, but the class is already pretty front-loaded. It would be easy enough to make it a new invocation though.
Fast Healing
You can cast false life, or better still, take the invocation. Yeah I know; it’s not like fast healing or regeneration. I’m opened to suggestions here, and the warlock’s expanded spells allows us to steal from literally any spell list.
Invisibility (technically not at-will, but up to 2 times per round)
You can cast invisibility, or you could take the Shroud of Shadows invocation from Xanathar. The One With Shadows invocation gets you close enough however.
Shadow Image
You can cast mirror image.
The rest is covered in the archetype.
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