What's the way that those of you who have played a Good, particularly a Lawful Good, character who is also a Hexblade Warlock past level 5 flavor the feature that is about raising a spectre from the corpse of a humanoid that your PC has killed? Do you work with the DM to reflavor the spectre? The default spectre is a soul that is tormented by being unable to get into the afterlife for an extended period of time, right? How have you squared that with the alignment of your character?
I would approach such a contradiction by thinking about how the character views and utilizes this feature. For example, maybe raising a spectre, though an evil act on its own in most cases, when used to fight and destroy a much greater evil results in a good thing; in short, the end justifies the means.
Another approach, that can also be used together with the aforementioned one, is that the character was gifted that power from their patron, but because of it's vile nature, does not intend to use it; it can make for a nice story, especially when the time comes that they will have to use it ,in life or death situtation for example, it can be a moral crisis for them.
The warlock is one of the classes that the question of "Is it worth it?" pops up quite often, and instead of fighting this, I would find a way to augment my character's story with it.
a few options as I see it, one option maybe just to reflavour it a bit, the Hexblade patron is supposed to be a sentient weapon from the shadowfell so instead maybe its a Elven Moonblade from Celestia and the "spectre" is one of the past wielders of it that can be summoned to help the warlock out.
another options is maybe it is an evil patron and this is its way of trying to corrupt the warlock away from LG maybe it whispers promises to them (I'm thinking Craven Edge form Critical Role for this one).
My personal preference would be to switch it back to the UA version which got wrapped into the Shadow Sorcerer and give them the Hound of Ill Omen instead.
Finally, the warlock "gift" is two way deal, the warlock gains power from their patron but at a cost, maybe the patron causes the spectre to rise up and the warlock has to fight to control it or find some way to appease their patron to stop it happening,
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I have a neutral Warlock character who will wind up having a problem with this. My plan is to just ask my DM if he'd be willing to substitute a different Warlock feature, even if a lower-level one, in place of the Accursed Spectre feature. Dark One's Blessing, reflavored to "Hexblade's Blessing," might be a convincing trade.
There is actually a precedent for good-aligned creatures similar to undead ("deathless" if I remember correctly) that are animated by positive energy instead of negative. Think of it like a saint brought back to unlife to do a task or spread a message. Perhaps the spectre it's the good half of the enemy's soul animated to fight? Complete with glowy light?
The point is that if a good deity or good patron wants a body or soul reanimated rather than resurrected, who are mortals to question their decision?
there are also good aligned Lichs in the Forgotten Realms Setting, Baelnorn I think they were called, I'm also working on a ghost "multiclass" based on the Ghostwalk campaign setting and the Necropolitan from the 3.5e book Libris Mortis, I don't think either of these will be on d&db though as they require a fair amount of info as well as a series of custome feats but I'll post a link as and when I get them finished for anyone interested.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Or you could take the UA ability for the same level.
From the UA HexBlade:
Shadow Hound Starting at 6th level, your shadow can split from you and transform into a hound of pure darkness. Most of the time, your shadow hound masquerades as your normal shadow. As a bonus action, you can command it to magically slip into the shadow of a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. While the shadow hound is merged in this manner, the target can’t gain the benefits of half cover or three-quarters cover against your attack rolls, and you know the distance and direction to the target even if it is hidden. The hound can’t be seen by anyone but you and those with truesight, and it is unaffected by light. The target has a vague feeling of dread while the hound is present. As a bonus action, you can command your shadow hound to return to you. It also automatically returns to you if you and the target are on different planes of existence, if you’re incapacitated, or if dispel magic, remove curse, or similar magic is used on the target.
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Asking for a friend:
What's the way that those of you who have played a Good, particularly a Lawful Good, character who is also a Hexblade Warlock past level 5 flavor the feature that is about raising a spectre from the corpse of a humanoid that your PC has killed? Do you work with the DM to reflavor the spectre? The default spectre is a soul that is tormented by being unable to get into the afterlife for an extended period of time, right? How have you squared that with the alignment of your character?
I would approach such a contradiction by thinking about how the character views and utilizes this feature.
For example, maybe raising a spectre, though an evil act on its own in most cases, when used to fight and destroy a much greater evil results in a good thing; in short, the end justifies the means.
Another approach, that can also be used together with the aforementioned one, is that the character was gifted that power from their patron, but because of it's vile nature, does not intend to use it; it can make for a nice story, especially when the time comes that they will have to use it ,in life or death situtation for example, it can be a moral crisis for them.
The warlock is one of the classes that the question of "Is it worth it?" pops up quite often, and instead of fighting this, I would find a way to augment my character's story with it.
a few options as I see it, one option maybe just to reflavour it a bit, the Hexblade patron is supposed to be a sentient weapon from the shadowfell so instead maybe its a Elven Moonblade from Celestia and the "spectre" is one of the past wielders of it that can be summoned to help the warlock out.
another options is maybe it is an evil patron and this is its way of trying to corrupt the warlock away from LG maybe it whispers promises to them (I'm thinking Craven Edge form Critical Role for this one).
My personal preference would be to switch it back to the UA version which got wrapped into the Shadow Sorcerer and give them the Hound of Ill Omen instead.
Finally, the warlock "gift" is two way deal, the warlock gains power from their patron but at a cost, maybe the patron causes the spectre to rise up and the warlock has to fight to control it or find some way to appease their patron to stop it happening,
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/warlock/12912-accursed-specter-feature
Thank you for your ideas and links, everyone!
I have a neutral Warlock character who will wind up having a problem with this. My plan is to just ask my DM if he'd be willing to substitute a different Warlock feature, even if a lower-level one, in place of the Accursed Spectre feature. Dark One's Blessing, reflavored to "Hexblade's Blessing," might be a convincing trade.
Whistler
Titus - V. Human Battle Master Fighter 3 - [Pic] - [Pic2] - [Traits] - in Shadowglass
Locke - V. Human Shadow Monk 3 / Undead Warlock 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in FOW - DMless West Marches
Flèche - V. Human Swords Bard 10 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in The Scarlet Mist
Sterling - V. Human Bard 1 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
There is actually a precedent for good-aligned creatures similar to undead ("deathless" if I remember correctly) that are animated by positive energy instead of negative. Think of it like a saint brought back to unlife to do a task or spread a message. Perhaps the spectre it's the good half of the enemy's soul animated to fight? Complete with glowy light?
The point is that if a good deity or good patron wants a body or soul reanimated rather than resurrected, who are mortals to question their decision?
there are also good aligned Lichs in the Forgotten Realms Setting, Baelnorn I think they were called, I'm also working on a ghost "multiclass" based on the Ghostwalk campaign setting and the Necropolitan from the 3.5e book Libris Mortis, I don't think either of these will be on d&db though as they require a fair amount of info as well as a series of custome feats but I'll post a link as and when I get them finished for anyone interested.
Or you could take the UA ability for the same level.
Hmm. Not sure about the other one, but Fathomless Soul would actually fit my character quite nicely....
Whistler
Titus - V. Human Battle Master Fighter 3 - [Pic] - [Pic2] - [Traits] - in Shadowglass
Locke - V. Human Shadow Monk 3 / Undead Warlock 2 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in FOW - DMless West Marches
Flèche - V. Human Swords Bard 10 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in The Scarlet Mist
Sterling - V. Human Bard 1 - [Pic] - [Traits] - in Bards: Dragon Heist
>> New FOW threat & treasure tables: fow-advanced-threat-tables.pdf fow-advanced-treasure-table.pdf
From the UA HexBlade: