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InDungeons and Dragons, magic is not always learned or inherent. Sometimes, magic is gifted. Dire consequences may await those who receive such gifts, and none understand that more than the warlock. The Fathomless Warlock boasts powers that reside in the tentacles of some of the ocean’s most incomprehensible creatures.
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As a warlock of the Fathomless, you have made a pact with such a creature. You deal in the magic of the depths, summoning elemental deluges and surges of lightning to control the battlefield. You may swim the seas for your party, breathing cold water through your lungs. Or, you may find yourself dragged deep beneath the waves, the horrible will of your patron echoing through your head.
Here are some ideas for patrons.
Leviathan
Amassive, dark sea creature,some myths refer to the Leviathan as being the offspring of a god. Its spirit is reborn every time it dies.
Sea Hag
Sea Hagsreside in underwater lairs and grottos,despising all that is good and beautiful.A reclusive monster,the Sea Hag may use her illusory magic to mess with the minds of her prey before devouring them.
Kraken
Able to crush the hull of a Galleon, the Kraken is an elemental force to be reckoned with. Once theruler of the sea,the Kraken lurks, waiting for its chance to reign again.
Aboleth
Amphibious and eel-like,Aboleths swim the depths looking for creatures to mentally incapacitate and force into servitude. Cruel, intelligent, and psionic, theybelieve that most life forms are beneath them.
You are not at all limited to this list. In fact, the Fathomless Warlock is so open-ended in terms of your patron that there’s a lot of room for you to create one yourself. Work with your Dungeon Master to best create a watery patron to suit your needs.
Fathomless Warlock Features Overview
The Fathomless Warlock relies ondamage and control.One feature you gain atfirst levelreflects this, allowing you to use yourbonus actionstocreate a spectral tentaclewith which you canlash at your foes. You’ll also gain anincreased swimming speed.
Tentacle of the Deep
You can breathe underwater, and your swim speed shoots up to 40 feet.
Your next features come atsixth level, empowering the spectral tentacle totake hits for youor your companions and giving you the ability to resistcolddamage.
Guardian Coil
You acquire resistance tocolddamage. By extension, you and any creature that issubmergedcan comprehend what you say to each other. You both just have to be immersed. ‘Submerged’ is vague, so while one can assume that it refers to water, this isn’t explicitly stated.
A bonus action that scales is more than useful to a warlock, especially if you plan on being damage-based. Not many warlock subclasses offer this, making Fathomless Warlock unique both in that and their ability to intercept damage without feats.
Attenth level, your features lean more heavily intocrowd control, and you gain another spell to add to your repertoire.
Atfourteenth level, things start to get even more bizarre. Following your well-established theme, you gain more powers in the form of tentacles. A whirl of tentacles appears, providing a portal for you to travel through.
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Best Species For Fathomless Warlock
You can ultimately choose whatever you want when playing a Fathomless Warlock, though some species may lend more to the class than others.
For instance, choosing to play atritonmay be thematic and lend well to connecting species and class. However, the Fathomless Warlock subclass gives you access tocold resistanceatsixth level, thereby rendering one of the triton’s existing resistances less helpful.
Considerwater genasias an alternative if this is important to you, though the spellCreate and Destroy Waterwill double up.
Tieflingremains an excellent warlock species, and theirinherent castingcan help cushion the warlock’s spell list. A species likeHalf-Orcwill improve how tough your Fathomless Warlock is, especially with the featureGrasping Tentaclesallowing you temporary hit points. To that same point,Lizardfolkmay be a viable option as well.
Fallen Aasimarmay work well for you, too, using theirNecrotic Shroud, an ability that causes enemies to gain thefearedcondition, to assist with the control aspects of the Fathomless Warlock’s spellcasting.
Regardless of what may benefit the Fathomless Warlock, with customized origin, your species choices are limitless.
Best Ability Scores For Fathomless Warlock
Charisma
Charisma improves your abilities as theface of your party, and makes sure you’re doing as much damage as you possibly can as a warlock. As your spellcasting modifier, Charisma shouldalways be highwhen crafting a warlock.
Constitution
You may have temporary hit points and the ability to control a battlefield, but your existing hit points should be taken care of above all else, as you’ll havea very small amount of hit die.While still above that of a wizard, it’s best to keep fate in check by making sure a well-timed spell won’t knock your character unconscious. You won’t have to entirely rely on your Spectral Tentacle for peace of mind if you have a couple extra points in Constitution.
Dexterity
Warlocks are embarrassingly easy to down, and if yourConstitutionandtemporary hit pointsaren’t keeping you mostly out of trouble, yourDexterityshould. Yourarmor classwill become more important depending on whether you selectedPact of the Bladeas your pact boon, but other than that, it’s still good to remember that being harder to hit will only improve things.
Warlocks as a whole do best withCharisma, Constitution,andDexterityas their prime stats, withIntelligence, Wisdom,andStrengthtrailing behind. For Fathomless Warlock in particular, you may be inclined to boost your Intelligence.
By making a pact with a creature that lurks in the deep, you may open yourself up to unsavory encounters with creatures likeaboleths. Psionics may become more prevalent in your story the more Lovecraftian you lean with Fathomless Warlock, which is something the class itself very much nudges you towards.
Intelligence saving throwsandInvestigationchecks may be important to you. Having a solidArcanamodifier may also be useful, especially if you foresee being one of the few casters in the party.
Strengthshould likely come last when creating a Fathomless Warlock, and if you play your crowd-controlling spells well, you may never need to worry about being grappled, especially withEvard’s Black Tentaclesactive.
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Recommended Spells For Fathomless Warlock
As a Fathomless Warlock, you’ll get several spells as you level. They’ll line up with the theme of the subclass, and provide you access to spells otherwise not on the warlock spell list.
Create or Destroy Water
Bigby’s Hand
Cone of Cold
Atfirst level, receivingThunderwaveon an expanded spell list is great. Not only is it a low-levelarea of effectspell, but it’s also great for keeping opponents far from you.Sleet Stormis also good for this reason, with the added benefit of causing your opponents to lose concentration on their spells while potentially knocking them down.Silencecan effectively function as a weakening agent for mages, completely eradicating the verbal component of their spells.
Summon Elementallets you control anelementalon the battlefield, and this could work in tandem withTentacle of the Deep, leaving you to puppet the two around the map.Bigby’s Handis a great spell to receive atfifth level, especially for a class with so few spell slots, and the control it lends you synergizes well with the Fathomless Warlock’s existing abilities, what with thegrapplingcapabilities it has.
Recommended Cantrips
Eldritch Blast
Eldritch Blast should be taken by your Fathomless Warlock because it’s available andone of the best damage-dealing cantrips in the game. Furthermore, it levels with your character, making this an even better cantrip to have.
Mage Hand
Mage Hand is one of the cantrips that the warlock has available to them without pact boons, and is versatile enough that you should consider taking it for your Fathomless Warlock, if not to add to thelevel of controlthat you have, then to assist with yourutility, which the Fathomless Warlock lacks in terms of spell list.
