Undead Patron

In Service of the Deathless

You have made a pact with an entity that exists between life and death, such as a lich, vampire, or mummy. These creatures may have once been mortal, but any semblance of mortal values have long left them. What remains is only power, which they have shared with you, provided you do their bidding. This is an updated version of the subclass from TCoE.

Level 3: Magic of Undeath

You always have certain spells prepared after you reach the Warlock level shown in the following table.

Warlock LevelSpells
3rdBane, Inflict Wounds, Invisibility, Blindness/Deafness
5thSpeak With Dead, Summon Undead
7thDeath Ward, Blight
9thContagion, Antilife Shell

Level 3: Form of Dread

You assume a form reminiscent of your patron's undead visage. As a bonus action, you transform for 1 minute, or until you become Incapacitated. You gain the following benefits while transformed:

  • You gain Temporary Hit Points equal to 1d10 + your Warlock level
  • Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
  • You become immune to the Frightened condition

You can transform a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all uses when you finish a long rest.

Level 6: Grave Touched

Your patron has taken some of your life essence. You no longer need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Additionally, once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack roll and deal damage, you can replace the damage type with necrotic damage. If you are in your Form of Dread, you can roll one additional damage die when you do so.

Level 10: Necrotic Husk

Not much remains of your mortal form, as the connection to your patron has siphoned most of it away. You gain resistance to necrotic damage.

If you fall to 0 hit points while you are in your Form of Dread, you erupt with deathly energy. All creatures of your choice within 30 feet takes necrotic damage equal to 2d10 + your Warlock level. You then restore that many hit points to yourself. When this happens, you gain 1 level of Exhaustion, your Form of Dread fades, and you cannot activate it again until you finish a short rest.

Level 14: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Your spirit has become untethered from your physical body, which crumples to dust. Your spirit is a translucent version of your old self, and has all the statistics of your previous form. You gain the following benefits:

  • Your creature type becomes Undead, and you stop aging.
  • You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
  • During Form of Dread, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed, and you can pass through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. If you end your turn inside a creature or object, you take 1d10 damage and is shunted to the nearest unoccupied space.