Defiler

This subclass comes from ABYSS. ABYSS is an aquatic compendium lovingly put together by the good people of the Haven Discord server. We homebrew for our own joy and to provide enjoyment to the readers.

A Defiler is a master of deadly substances both caustic and corruptive, using foul mixtures to create sickeningly permanent effects. Any battlefield a Defiler enters is hauntingly marked with cruel magic that scars the landscape and mutilates its victims. Valued for scorched-earth warfare, members of the specialization are summoned when morals and long-term consequences no longer matter.

Tool Proficiency

3rd-level Defiler feature

You gain proficiency with poisoner's kit and can use it as a spell-casting focus for your artificer spells. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice.

 

Defiler Spells

3rd-level Defiler feature

You always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Alchemist Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Alchemist Spells

Artificer Level	Spell
3rd	grease, ray of sickness
5th	protection from poison, ray of enfeeblement
9th	hunger of hadar, magic circle
13th	blight, hallucinatory terrain
17th	cloudkill, contagion

Tainted Ground

At 3rd level, you learn to magically salt the earth around you, corrupting it and sickening creatures that enter the contaminated area. As an action, you can use a poisoner’s kit to befoul a 10-foot cube you can see within 60 feet of you, choosing one of the options listed below. The area becomes corrupted for 1 minute, until you use this feature again, or until it is dispelled by a dispel magic spell. An area affected by this feature remains forever scarred and unable to support any kind of plant or animal life after the effect ends. You are immune to the effects of Tainted Ground that you create.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher to use it again.
At the start of each of your turns, the corruption spreads to one adjacent 10-foot cube of your choice. The new cube must have at least one face adjacent to another cube of Tainted Ground, and has the same effect as it.

Creeping Corruption

5th-level Defiler feature

Starting at 5th level, you can use your Tainted Ground to channel your foul magics. When you cast an artificer spell while standing within an area of Tainted Ground, you choose any point covered by Tainted Ground. The spell is cast as if you were at the chosen point, but you must use your own senses. After you cast a spell of 1st level or higher in this way, you can cause the Tainted Ground to spreads to a number of 10-foot-cubes equal to the spell’s level. Each new cube must have at least one face adjacent to another cube of Tainted Ground.

Reduced Casualties

9th-level Defiler feature

Starting at 9th level, you learn how to protect others from your own powers. When you cast an artificer spell or create an area of Tainted Ground, you can designate any number of creatures you can see to be immune to its effects.

Profane Empowerment

15th-level Defiler feature

By 15th level, your exposure to horrific pollutants allows you to become one with the contaminants:

• Creatures of your choice have resistance to the damage type dealt by your Tainted Ground while standing in it.
• If you start your turn within an area of Tainted Ground, your speed is increased by 10 feet until the end of the turn.
• When you cast an artificer spell that deals damage while standing in a patch of Tainted Ground, you can choose to change the spell’s damage type to the same type that the Tainted Ground deals.