The Undying (Death Tyrant)

Beholders are powerful, extraplanar aberrations of uncommon cunning.  Greedy, xenophobic, and extraordinarily paranoid, Beholders believe themselves to be the epitome of existence, the most perfect beings to have ever come into being.  They are cruel slavers and taskmasters, using their powerful magical abilities to subjugate cities and control their criminal underworlds.  The Thieves' Guild of Waterdeep is controlled by the Beholder Xanathar, and he has his eyestalks in every corner of the City of Splendors.

When Beholders sleep, their dreams can, on occasion, become manifest, literally creating an exact replica of the subconscious visions in the real world.  A Beholder particularly worried about death, either one beginning to suffer the frailty of advanced age or one in imminent danger, can imagine a reality where it exists beyond death.  These dreams can become manifest, causing the Beholders hard, stony skin to slough off, leaving nothing but an imposing skull full of razor sharp teeth and surrounded by glowing, spectral lights where the ten eyestalks once were.  When such a thing happens, a Death Tyrant is born.

Still driven to subjugate lesser beings, the Death Tyrant begins to spread out from its original home.  No longer possessing the magic-cancelling effects of its Antimagic Cone, it instead possesses the ability to suppress vitality in its view, halting healing magic and causing those that die in its sight to rise as mindless zombies under the Death Tyrant's command.  The Death Tyrant can, in fairly short order, amass a massive undead army before leading a terrifying undead hoard against the living.

Zombies make good cannon fodder, but they are unintelligent, little more than pure instinct.  The more forward-thinking Death Tyrants will employ living, humanoid agents, imbuing them with a portion of their boundless power to carry out their goals beyond the reach of their mindless undead army.  Some will enter into these contracts willingly, hoping to one day be granted the eternal life their patron enjoys, unaware their patron only possesses the ability to turn them into a mindless undead thrall.

The alignment of Warlocks who make a pact with a Death Tyrant are almost without exception evil.  They will weaken the defenses of towns to allow their patron's undead hoard to wash over the blockades like a heavy wave overtaking a shallow dune.  The will sacrifice innocent victims in their master's sight, bloating the ranks of the undead under its service.  Perhaps the rare servitor is deceiving their patron in the hopes of using their powers to stop the master's apocalyptic onslaught on the living, but they risk joining the army of the dead if they are found out.

The magic gained from these powerful undead aberrations replicates the abilities of their patron's eye rays, such as putting enemies to sleep, stopping them from fighting, slowing them, or moving them about from a distance.  They also can learn to float above the ground or descend slowly and safely, protect areas from intruders, harden their skin to the same consistency as their patron's bony exterior, summon their patron's spectral eyes to scout the area ahead, or even create something from nothing but one's own willpower.

Expanded Spell List

The Death Tyrant 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.

Death Tyrant Expanded Spells

SPELL LEVEL	SPELLS
1st	Feather Fall, Sleep
2nd	Calm Emotions, Levitate
3rd	Glyph of Warding, Slow
4th	Arcane Eye, Stoneskin
5th	Creation, Telekinesis

Negative Energy Cone

When a Death Tyrant is born, the magic suppressing powers it once possessed as a Beholder give way to the far more ominous ability.  They now project an insidious field of Negative Energy, suppressing healing, raising those that die within its gaze as mindless zombies, and empowering its undead thralls.  You have learned to replicate this effect.

When you enter into this Pact at 1st level, you learn to replicate some of this ability.  As an action, you can project an invisible field of Negative Energy across the battlefield.  Any creature in the area cannot regain hit points, and you can, as a bonus action of the same turn, heal a single friendly undead creature in the cone's area for 1d8 plus your Charisma modifier.  You must use you action each turn to maintain the effect, but you can move freely and change the direction the field faces each turn.

Undead Thralls

When creatures die under the terrifying gaze of a Death Tyrant, they are immediately resurrected as undead thralls under the Death Tyrant's command.

Beginning at sixth level, you can now replicate the effect.  The Animate Dead spell is added to your spell list, but you can only cast it using a Warlock Spell Slot as a reaction, when a creature dies in the area of effect of your Negative Energy Field.  If you have taken the Undying Servitude Eldritch Invocation, you can cast the spell this way once per long rest without using a spell slot.

Improved Pact Boon

Beginning at 10th level, your pact boon is enhanced as your connection to your patron further enhances your abilities.

Pact of the Blade: Withering Strike

Death Tyrants' Negative Energy Field is permanently in effect in whatever direction they gaze, but Warlocks suffused with their power must maintain intense concentration to sufficiently utilize it.  Those that choose to focus more in close quarters combat can learn to suffuse their weapon with these same energies.

Beginning at 10th level, if you selected the Pact of the Blade at 3rd level, you can, as a reaction when you reduce a creature to zero hit points with your pact weapon, you can cast Animate Dead using a Warlock Spell Slot.  If you have taken the Undying Servitude Eldritch Invocation, you can cast the spell this way once per long rest without using a spell slot.

Pact of the Chain: Aberrant Familiar

Beholders often dream into existence Gazers into existence, miniature Beholders who guard their lairs, accompany their minions, and keep the vermin out.  Upon ascending to a Death Tyrant, a Beholder will have dozens or even hundreds of Gazers in its service.  

Beginning at 10th level, if you selected the Pact of the Chain at level 3, you can now choose to summon a Gazer as your familiar.  

Pact of the Talisman: Contingency

Beholders, and, by extension, Death Tyrants, are extraordinarily paranoid.  They have plans for every possible eventuality.

Beginning at 10th level, if you selected the Pact of the Talisman at 3rd level, you can, while wearing your Talisman, cast the Contingency spell without material components or using a spell slot.  You may then cast one of your Warlock Spells using a Warlock spell slot, but the effect does not come into effect until the triggering effect occurs.  After the triggering effect occurs, after the duration expires, or if you choose to end the effect, you must undergo 1d4 long rests before you can cast the spell again.

Pact of the Tome: Eye Rays

Death Tyrants shoot various beams of destructive power from the glowing orbs that surround it skull, mimicking the effects of the Beholders from which they originated.  

Beginning at 10th level, if you selected the Pact of the Tome at 3rd level, you can now mimic this effect with some of the less dangerous eye rays.  You have little control over the ability, and the Eye Ray you replicate is random.  As a bonus action, roll a d6, and you may then take the following actions:

d6	Effect
1	You can use an action to fire a Charm Ray from your eyes at a humanoid target within 120 feet.  The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or be charmed for one minute.
2	You can use an action to fire a Paralyzing Ray from your eyes at a humanoid target within 120 feet.  The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or be paralyzed for one minute.
3	You can use an action to fire a Fear Ray from your eyes at a target within 120 feet.  The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or drop whatever they are holding and be frightened for one minute.  While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move. If the creature ends its turn in a location where it doesn't have line of sight to you, the creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, the spell ends for that creature.
4	You can use an action to fire a Enervation Ray from your eyes at a humanoid target within 120 feet.  Make a ranged spell attack.  On a hit, the target takes 3d10 Necrotic damage.
5	You can use an action to fire a Teleportation Ray from your eyes at an object within 120 feet.  This object then accelerates rapidly in a 90 foot line.  A target within this line must make a dexterity saving throw, or take 3d8 bludgeoning damage.  If the target succeeds on their save, the object keeps moving, potentially hitting additional targets.
6	You can use an action to fire a Sleep Ray from your eyes at a creature within 120 feet.  Roll 5d8.  If the creature has less hit points than the total rolled, they fall unconscious for one minute.  They will awaken if they take damage or if another creature uses their action to shake them awake.

Advanced Eye Rays

Death Tyrants most feared abilities are their most powerful eye rays, their Petrification Ray, Disintegration Ray, and Death Ray.  

Beginning at level 14, you can now simulate some of the power of these deadly Eye Rays.  You have little control over the ability, and the Eye Ray you replicate is random.  As a bonus action, roll a d6, and you may then take the following actions:

D6	EFFECT
1-3	You can use an action to fire a Petrification Ray from your eyes at a target within 120 feet.  The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be [Tooltip Not Found] until freed by the Greater Restoration spell or other powerful magic.
4-5	You can use an action to fire a Disintegration Ray from your eyes at a target within 120 feet. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 10d6+40 force damage.  If this damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, its body becomes a pile of fine gray dust and can only be restored to life through the use of a Wish or True Resurrection spell. If the target is a Large or smaller nonmagical object or creation of magical force, it is disintegrated without a saving throw. If the target is a Huge or larger object or creation of magical force, this ray disintegrates a 10-foot cube of it.
6	You can use an action to fire a Death Ray from your eyes at a target within 120 feet.  The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 10d10 necrotic damage.  If this damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, they die and can only be restored to life through the use of a Wish or True Resurrection spell.  A humanoid killed by this spell rises at the start of your next turn as a zombie that is permanently under your command, following your verbal orders to the best of its ability.