Forbidden Lore

There are some things that none should know. This simple fact has escaped you, and those like you, as you have delved deeper and deeper into the study of the eldritch and the arcane. There are things that are greater than mortal understanding, and you have sought to understand them, without regard to the cost. Blood sacrifice, the carving of spells into flesh, the eldritch arts, and unholy methods of resurrection are among the topics studied by practicioners of the forbidden lore.

While some who walk this path have been lured by the sinister temptations of terrible fiends, dead gods, or the ruinous Accursed Archive itself, not all require outside influence. Some simply believe that knowledge is power, and that power is merely a tool that one can use to change the world. Be wary, wizard, for a changed world does not always mean a world changed for the better. There are some things that none should know.

Unearthed Knowledge

When you choose this tradition at 2nd level, you devote yourself to uncovering spells and secrets traditionally forbidden to practitioners of the arcane. When you find a druid or warlock spell of 1st level or higher that can't cause a creature to regain hit points, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it, as though it were a wizard spell. You can prepare these spells from your spellbook, and you use your Intelligence as your spell casting ability for these spells.

Dark Ritual

At 2nd level, your studies into the strange and nightmarish arts have revealed methods of spellcasting that are entirely unnatural. During a short or long rest, you can enact a dark ritual, which takes 1 hour to perform. During the ritual, you must have access to a willing or a captive creature. Choose one of the following rites each time you perform the ritual.

Arcane Inscription. You visibly inscribe the flesh of the creature with a wizard spell of 1st level or higher that you have prepared with a casting time of 1 action, bonus action, or reaction, expending a spell slot appropriate to cast the spell. While the spell is inscribed, you can’t recover the spell slot expended to inscribe it. During your turn, you can use your bonus action to force the creature to use its reaction to immediately cast the spell in a manner of your choosing, selecting targets or effects as you desire. If the creature can’t cast the spell, your bonus action is wasted. The creature uses its Intelligence as its spellcasting ability for this spell, and has disadvantage on concentration saving throws to maintain concentration on this spell.

Once the creature successfully casts the spell, or after 1 week, the inscription vanishes. You can maintain a number of inscriptions equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) at a time. Inscribing another beyond this limit causes an inscription of your choosing to vanish.

Blood Pact. You siphon the ichor of the creature, using it as fuel for a greater working. Upon finishing this ritual, you deliver a deadly blow to the creature, killing it. You can then immediately cast a spell of 5th level or lower that you have prepared, and that you have spell slots of an appropriate level to cast, without expending a spell slot. Alternatively, you can touch a creature, causing that creature to regain hit points equal to the amount of hit points the sacrificed creature had before you killed it.

Delve Into Madness

At 6th level, your studies into the corruptive arts have taught you to harvest the knowledge of the dead. As an action, you can touch the skull of a creature’s corpse. When you do, you learn the creature’s name (if it has one) and if the creature was capable of casting spells. If the creature could cast wizard, druid, or warlock spells, you can immediately prepare one spell of 1st level or higher that it knew or had prepared at the time of its death. So long as you have this spell prepared, you can copy the spell into your spellbook, and you use your Intelligence as your spellcasting ability for this spell. You can only have one spell prepared in this way at a time. Preparing a second spell in this way causes you to lose the first spell.

Gradual Corruption

At 10th level, the sickening energy you infuse into your spells slowly and insidiously afflicts your enemies, wearing down their defenses. When you cast a spell that causes a creature to make a saving throw, and the creature succeeds, the creature has disadvantage on its next saving throw made as a result of a spell you cast.

Forsaken Resurrection

At 14th level, you discover that the sacred mysteries are not the only things that hold sway over life and death. As an action, you can touch a creature’s corpse, restoring that creature to life with 1 hit point if the creature’s soul is free and able to return, provided the creature died within the last 30 days. This unnatural resurrection curses the creature, and this curse can’t be removed by any effect less powerful than a spell cast using a 9th-level spell slot. You can use your action while the creature is cursed to cause it to immediately die. The creature can otherwise act freely and behave in a manner of its choosing. If you die, the cursed creature also dies. If you resurrect a second creature using this feature, the first cursed creature dies. When a cursed creature dies, the curse upon it is lifted.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.