The Pyramid Scheme

Why bargain with a higher being when you can become the patron yourself? You are either on a low level of someone else’s pyramid scheme or starting your own following from scratch. Your power stems from the belief and siphoning some of the powers from those who put their faith in you or your cause. However, this power still has strings attached. Your followers will want something in return and can revoke their power if you stop fighting for the cause and managing the crowd.

 

Expanded Spell List

The Pyramid Scheme lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Fiend Expanded Spells

Spell Level	Spells
1st	ceremony (bless if you don't own XGtE), command
2nd	aid, detect thoughts
3rd	spirit guardians, mass healing word
4th	compulsion, private sanctum
5th	commune, telepathic bond

Inspire Conversion

At 1 level, you start building up your follower base. You can convince friendly person to become part of your scheme (does not work on people who are already part of it). Make a charisma (persuasion) check of DC10, if you succeed you get advantage on one magic attack roll. You cannot use this feature for free again before finishing a short or long rest and the advantage must be used before the rest or it’s gone.

At the DMs discretion, you could try to suede more people during the day, but they can have demands in return. They might ask the player to complete a task or give them a certain item or gold. Other people might just need stronger persuasion in the form of a higher Work with your DM to come up with a theming to the task that you get.

Wisdom of the Crowd

At 6 level, your followers have grown in numbers and can reliably give advice through their link to you. You can add your proficiency bonus to a saving throw or ability check, you are not proficient in yourself. If the skill or save is wisdom based, you can add your charisma modifier instead. You can do so a number of times equal to your charisma modifier and regain all charges when you finish a long rest.

Disappear in the Crowd

At 10 level, you learned how to move in large groups of people and gain the following benefits.

One of them. You gain advantage on dexterity (stealth) checks when you move around non-hostile crowds.

Passing through. Moving through the space of hostile creatures never counts as difficult terrain for you.

Meat shield. If two or more creatures stand within 5 feet of you, you can hide behind them as a bonus action counting as half cover (+2 to AC and Dex saves) for all ranged attacks.

Tyranny of the Majority

At 14 level, you sway the public consciousness with the help of your followers. As a bonus action you can summon a group soul slivers of your followers to your aid equal to half your warlock level rounded down. These soul slivers can take no action and only appear as a crowd of spectral forms behind you and they disappear after 1 min. For this duration, if your followers (including both soul slivers and physically present followers) make up the majority of creatures in a 60 ft radius, you can apply one of the following effects to spells from the abjuration, conjuration, enchantment and illusion schools.

Centralization excess. You double the range of the effect.

Abandonment of rationality. All creatures targeted by the spell have disadvantage on saving throws against it.

You can do so once and you need to finish a long rest to regain this use.