Pact of the Raven Queen
2024 Warlock subclass
A homebrew pact for the 2024 Warlock, based around the Raven Queen.
Patron spells
The magic of your otherworldly patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Raven Queen Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.
Raven Queen Spells
| Warlock level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | Calm Emotion, Arms of Hadar, Cause Fear, False Life, Frost Fingers |
| 5 | Hunger of Hadar, Speak with Dead, Darkness |
| 7 | Shadow of Moil, Spirit of Death |
| 9 | Far step, Antilife Shell |
Shadow manipulation
The raven queen has granted you limited control over the shadows, allowing you to travel within them.
At level 3, when you touch a shadow, other than your own, you can use an action to fold your physical self into the shadow, leaving your own shadow behind. For the next ten minutes, you are incorporeal, but can see and hear as normal. While folded into the shadow, you automatically move with it, but can also move inside it at a speed of 120 feet. You are also undetectable, except by magical means such as detect magic and scrying magic.
Each shadow is unique, and when shadows overlap, you are still bound to the original shadow. In other words, you cannot travel from shadow to shadow with only movement speed.
As a bonus action, you can choose to leave the shadow. When you do, you can choose to reappear next to it, or back where you left your own shadow. After 10 minutes, you leave the shadow regardless, and you still choose where to reappear.
The shadow you reside in must at least occupy most of a 5 feet square. If the shadow becomes to small, you immediately leave the shadow. You can still choose where to appear.
You may use this feature an amount equal to twice your proficiency bonus, per long rest.
Shadowstuff creation
At level 6, your mastery over shadows increases. You gain the ability to find, manipulate and even create shadowstuff.
When you use your shadow manipulation, you no longer need to touch another shadow. You can merge into a shadow of your own creation. As an action you can shape and move this shadow at will. The shadow can only move 30 feet per turn, and cannot be larger than 30 feet in any dimension.
Additionally, you can use an action to expend two uses of your shadow manipulation, and make one of the following shadowstuff creations:
- Wings of night. Large raven wings from shadowstuff wrap around you. You gain a flying speed of 60 feet, you can hover freely. You can take the dash, or disengage action as a bonus action.
- Shadow Mimic. You mould your own shadow into a copy of yourself. The copy has no colour and is clearly magical. It always remains in the spot you created it, but mimics your movements. While the mimic remains within 100 feet, you can possess it. While possessing the mimic you cannot move or interact with objects, but can hear, speak and sense as normal.
- Barrier of darkness. You can create a magical wall, sphere, or cube of shadow. The object appears within 120 feet of you, and can only be moved if you allow it too. The object can be no larger than 30 feet in any dimension. You can change its weight from weightless to 100 pounds, but it always remains solid. The objects are impenetrable, expect by you. You can use an action to enter or exit the object. While inside, any creature is blinded, has full cover, and cannot make attacks or cast spells with a target outside the object. The object disappears after 1 minute, or when in magical light.
The creations disappear after 10 minutes, unless specified otherwise. You can only make one shadowstuff creation at a time. When you make a new one, the previous disappears. Creations also disappear if they are not on the same plane as you.
Shadowriding
At level 10, you learn to shadow ride. When you use shadow manipulation, you can draw the shadows around you, and teleport to any location you have been, and can visualise in your mind. The place must currently be in the shadows, and on the same plane as you, or the teleportation fails. Any creature you are grappling travels with you.
Additionally, you can open portals into or out of the Shadowfell. You and up to eight willing creatures within 20 ft. of you are transported to the Shadowfell, or the Material Realm. You can specify a target destination within this plane similar to the normal teleportation. You may also bring 4 uncarried objects which are no larger than 3 feet in any dimension each, and have a combined weight under 500 pounds.
When you use your shadow manipulation to travel between the planes, you expend all your remaining uses (minimum of 1).
Master of Shadows
Your control over shadows and shadowstuff has become unrivalled.
At level 14, your first use of the shadow manipulation feature is free. When using the feature to make shadowstuff creations, you can have two creations at the same time. Additionally, your creations last for 8 hours, or until destroyed in another way.
Eldritch Invocations
Shadow Surfer
(Prerequisite: Raven Queen Patron)
When using your shadow manipulation, you can use your speed to travel to new shadows, as long as they are connected to your current one. Additionally, when you have expended all your uses of the shadowstuff manipulation feature, you may regain half. Once you recover uses in this way, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Raven Familiar
(Prerequisite: lvl 5+ Warlock, Raven Queen Patron)
When you cast Find Familiar, you may summon a raven made of shadows. Your familiar uses the raven stat block, but it can attack. As a bonus action, you can teleport the raven to any shadow you can see.
When a creature gets attacked within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to teleport your raven to the target's space. Your raven becomes the new target for the attack.
Nightmare Creations
(Prerequisite: lvl 7+ Warlock, Raven Queen Patron)
At the end of a long rest, you may change any of your shadowstuff creation options with one from the following list:
- Grasping shadows. The shadows of a number of creations you can see, equal to your charisma modifier + 1, become partially physical. Each creature must succeed on a dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, or be restrained by their own shadow.
- Dark shroud. You become cloaked in a mantle of solid dark shadows, they create a horrible mask to hide your face, a sweeping cloak to protect you, and wrap around your boots to silence them. While you remain clocked in this fashion, you have three-quarters cover, and you gain advantage on intimidation and stealth checks.
- Shadow weapons. You turn the shadow of the weapons you are wielding, into physical copies made of shadowstuff. The copies mirror your attacks. When you damage a creature with your weapons, they take additional necrotic damage, equal to half the original damage. This effect can only happen once per turn.
- Nightmare shade. You change your own shadow into a nightmarish creature of darkness. The creature has the same stat block as a Wraith (CR 5), but it cannot use the Create Specter action.
You always have four creation options, from which you can make shadowstuff creations. The list of options stays the same, unless you change it after a long rest.
Dream Walker
(Prerequisite: lvl 16+ Warlock, Raven Queen Patron)
Your shadowstuff creations become stronger. They no longer disappear when you are not on the same plane as them.
At the end of a long rest, you may change any of your shadowstuff creation options with one from the following list:
- Eldritch Raven. You create a raven with eyes that glow with arcane power. The raven perches on the shoulder of a willing creature within 30 feet of you. While on their shoulder, the shadow links you telepathically with the target. You can see and hear what the character sees, and you can communicate with it telepathically. While connected in this way, you can switch places with the other creature as a bonus action. This teleportation also works across planes.
- Shadow Mirror. You create a mirror on a flat surface you can touch. The mirror allows you to see the dreams of any creature you know, while it is on the same plane as you and asleep. Additionally, it counts as a focus worth at least 1,000 gp for the scrying spell, and it allows you to cast the spell once at will, even if you don't know it.
- Crown of Dreams. You create a shadowy crown around your head. It remains there for 8 hours. During this time magic cannot put you to sleep, you can speak telepathically with any intelligent creature, and while you sleep you can project a shadowy clone of yourself, which cannot attack, cast spells or use class abilities. It otherwise, can act perfectly normal.
- Planar Tomb. You call down a tomb from the Shadowfell, the tomb is made of impenetrable shadowstuff. Anything inside it is protected from scrying magic. It can either hold one medium or smaller creature, or objects that do not exceed 5 cubic feet and 200 lbs. When the tomb disappears, it returns to a random spot in the shadowfell. Any creature trapped inside it, is petrified.