Tia Nadiezja
First Post
Another Tia special from my Mystara campaign - a Warlock tank subclass! This one's built on the arrival of the Giants (I imported them as an idea from Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, which is probably the best game of the d20 Boom era and definitely worth checking out), who have started to colonize/annex/generally get all up in the grill of the people of the Known World. The varied responses of the locals to the arrival of the Giants is a major theme in my campaigns, so I decided that some people might take to worshiping - or something akin to worshiping - them.
The coming of the Hu-Charad to the Known World has shaken society to its foundations. The Giants hold the power to guard that which they treasure, and the people who they encounter admire – and sometimes worship – that power. The symbol of Giantish might is the Diamond Throne – the mystical artifact from which law and protection are granted to Mystara’s greatest empire.
The Throne Warlock gains the following features:
Proficiencies: The Throne warlock adds no new spells to the Warlock spell list. You are proficient with medium armor.
The giants are known as great warriors, and the Throne warlock needs to be able to use heavy weapons. Heavy weapons use Strength, so the Throne Warlock needs to be able to invest less in Dexterity.
Steadfast: At first level, you gain 2 hit points. At each level beyond first, you gain 1 additional hit point. When you roll Hit Dice to recover hit points during a rest, you regain 1 additional hit point per hit die.
This is an effective change of the Warlock's hit die by one category.
The Throne Stands. Starting at 1st level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points, you immediately count as having made a successful death save. You need only 2 successful saves to stabilize, and 3 failed saves to die.
The game's specific rules don't interact much with the "death and dying" rules. I thought this would be an interesting avenue to explore. It might be a bit of a ribbon, though.
Sacrificial Blast. Starting at sixth level, when you hit a target with your eldritch blast, choose one of the targets you hit. That target suffers disadvantage on attacks targeting anyone but you, and creatures other than yourself gain advantage on saving throws against damage-dealing effects created by the target until the start of your next turn.
To encourage enemies to focus on her, the Throne Warlock needs something that incentivizes enemies choosing her over others as a target. That's the point of this ability.
Defend the Defenseless. Starting at level 10, after a short rest, you may choose one target. As long as that target can see you and is within 30 feet of you, whenever the target takes damage, it can choose to redirect half that damage to you. You cannot change the target of this ability or remove its effect until you take a short rest.
This is a purely magical effect - it doesn't involve the Warlock moving between the target and danger; it involves them simply using their soul, or their pact, or their spells to make their ally less likely to die at the cost of themselves.
The Definitive Pact Starting at level 14, you may take on the ultimate defense. Your armor changes to a black diamond suit of heavy articulated plate. Your armor class becomes 19, you gain resistance to all damage, you gain the Extra Attack feature, and each melee attack deals an additional 1d8 damage. You lose the ability to cast spells while this ability is active. The Definitive Pact lasts 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as concentrating on a spell), and when it ends, you immediately drop to 0 hit points and are stable.
I'm not sure how this would interact with multiclassing - I'm tempted to just have it add an extra attack onto those the Warlock already has. It's built on the way giants fight - heavy armor, big weapon, crush everything. It's great for when the Warlock runs out of spell slots, but I'm not sure how much use it would see in play. Any suggestions on improvements?
EDIT: Sacrificial Blast changed to only last until the start of your next turn, and to only affect one target.
The coming of the Hu-Charad to the Known World has shaken society to its foundations. The Giants hold the power to guard that which they treasure, and the people who they encounter admire – and sometimes worship – that power. The symbol of Giantish might is the Diamond Throne – the mystical artifact from which law and protection are granted to Mystara’s greatest empire.
The Throne Warlock gains the following features:
Proficiencies: The Throne warlock adds no new spells to the Warlock spell list. You are proficient with medium armor.
The giants are known as great warriors, and the Throne warlock needs to be able to use heavy weapons. Heavy weapons use Strength, so the Throne Warlock needs to be able to invest less in Dexterity.
Steadfast: At first level, you gain 2 hit points. At each level beyond first, you gain 1 additional hit point. When you roll Hit Dice to recover hit points during a rest, you regain 1 additional hit point per hit die.
This is an effective change of the Warlock's hit die by one category.
The Throne Stands. Starting at 1st level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points, you immediately count as having made a successful death save. You need only 2 successful saves to stabilize, and 3 failed saves to die.
The game's specific rules don't interact much with the "death and dying" rules. I thought this would be an interesting avenue to explore. It might be a bit of a ribbon, though.
Sacrificial Blast. Starting at sixth level, when you hit a target with your eldritch blast, choose one of the targets you hit. That target suffers disadvantage on attacks targeting anyone but you, and creatures other than yourself gain advantage on saving throws against damage-dealing effects created by the target until the start of your next turn.
To encourage enemies to focus on her, the Throne Warlock needs something that incentivizes enemies choosing her over others as a target. That's the point of this ability.
Defend the Defenseless. Starting at level 10, after a short rest, you may choose one target. As long as that target can see you and is within 30 feet of you, whenever the target takes damage, it can choose to redirect half that damage to you. You cannot change the target of this ability or remove its effect until you take a short rest.
This is a purely magical effect - it doesn't involve the Warlock moving between the target and danger; it involves them simply using their soul, or their pact, or their spells to make their ally less likely to die at the cost of themselves.
The Definitive Pact Starting at level 14, you may take on the ultimate defense. Your armor changes to a black diamond suit of heavy articulated plate. Your armor class becomes 19, you gain resistance to all damage, you gain the Extra Attack feature, and each melee attack deals an additional 1d8 damage. You lose the ability to cast spells while this ability is active. The Definitive Pact lasts 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as concentrating on a spell), and when it ends, you immediately drop to 0 hit points and are stable.
I'm not sure how this would interact with multiclassing - I'm tempted to just have it add an extra attack onto those the Warlock already has. It's built on the way giants fight - heavy armor, big weapon, crush everything. It's great for when the Warlock runs out of spell slots, but I'm not sure how much use it would see in play. Any suggestions on improvements?
EDIT: Sacrificial Blast changed to only last until the start of your next turn, and to only affect one target.
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