Most warlock patrons are otherworldly entities, demigods, or esoteric creatures of legend. The Undead, introduced in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, offers a gothic horror flair to the list. This is an ancient being that death has no power over, such as Azalin, Lord Soth, and even Strahd von Zarovich himself. A warlock with this patron can take on a terrifying form, destroy and recreate their body, and even project their spirit.
Undead Warlock features
- Expanded Spell List: At 1st level, the warlock can begin choosing from an expanded list of spells themed around undeath. False Life, Phantom Steed, and Death Ward are strong contenders, providing a cushion of hit points, increased mobility, and a failsafe, respectively. Antilife Shell is also thematically appropriate for keeping living creatures from getting into melee range (though that includes party members, as well).
Undead Expanded Spells
Spell Level | Spells |
---|---|
1st | bane, false life |
2nd | blindness/deafness, phantasmal force |
3rd | phantom steed, speak with dead |
4th | death ward, greater invisibility |
5th | antilife shell, cloudkill |
- Form of Dread: Another 1st-level feature, Form of Dread allows you to take on a fearsome appearance for 1 minute as a bonus action. This transformation grants temporary hit points, immunity to the frightened condition, and the ability to frighten a foe when you hit it with an attack (assuming they fail a Wisdom saving throw). You can transform a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You have a lot of flexibility in your appearance upon using Form of Dread, though it should be reminiscent of your patron. Imagine changing from a human to a ghastly skeleton akin to Marvel's Ghost Rider!
- Grave Touched: This 6th-level feature has a few perks. First, you no longer need to eat, drink, or breathe. (Better start placing bets on who can hold their breath the longest.) Furthermore, when you hit with an attack roll and roll damage, you can change the damage type to necrotic. If you're in your Form of Dread, you also get an additional damage die when determining the necrotic damage your target takes.
- Necrotic Husk: Granted at 10th level, Necrotic Husk gives you resistance to necrotic damage. If you are in your Form of Dread, this is kicked up to immunity to necrotic damage. But here's the fun part: When you're reduced to 0 hit points, you can cause your body to explode! If you do, each creature within 30 feet of you takes necrotic damage equal to 2d10 + your level. You can then horrify everyone in your adventuring party as you emerge from your remains with 1 hit point, 1 level of exhaustion, and all of your gear. Once you revive yourself in this way, you can't do so again until you finish 1d4 long rests. This ability reminds me of the supernatural healing factor possessed by gritty comic book heroes like Deadpool, Spawn, and Wolverine, but dare I say, more explosive?
- Spirit Projection: At 14th level, you can project your spirit for 1 hour as an Action, leaving behind your bothersome husk of a body. When you do, you gain a flying speed and can pass through objects. You also gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and you can cast spells of the conjuration and necromancy schools without requiring verbal, somatic, or material components that lack a gold cost. As a nice bonus, once per turn, you can regain hit points equal to half the necrotic damage you deal while in Form of Dread. The downsides to this feature are that it requires concentration and can only be used once per long rest.
Pros
The Undead patron offers as much flavor as function, and is a solid alternative to the Hexblade patron for melee-orientated warlocks. Combined with the Pact of the Blade, Form of Dread and Grave Touched can turn you into a resilient necrotic damage dealer who frightens enemies. If you enjoy the simple pleasure of casting Eldritch Blast from the backline, though, you'll still benefit from the subclass' features. Don't forget that the damage from Grave Touched stacks with Hex.
Necrotic Husk scores bonus points for simply how cool it is to imagine exploding in a wave of energy, and the feature is a great last resort when the tides of battle have turned against you. Spirit Projection, meanwhile, has many flexible applications. Not only can it make you tanky on the battlefield, but you can also use this feature for scouting missions or to assassinate enemies in the dead of night.
Cons
Thematically, the Undead patron runs close to the Undying patron from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. Both offer many of the same spells and ultimately create a warlock who doesn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep. While the Undead patron offers more features for player characters who want to enter melee combat, the Undying focuses on stabilizing companions and combatting the undead.
The Undead leans heavily into dealing necrotic damage, which can be a major downside depending on the enemies you face across your adventure. There's no shortage of creatures who are resistant or immune to necrotic damage. You also need to be careful with Mortal Husk, as the effect hits allies as well as enemies.
Meet Shakan, the warlock pledged to Acererak
The gaunt-faced warlock hacked away at the jungle vines with a sickle, an expression of grim disgust in his eyes. Once again, the lich had compelled him to come to a godforsaken corner of the globe to run a series of tests on yet another trap-infested labyrinth. How many poor wretches were going to die this time, their bodies skewered on spikes or smashed to bits by pulverizing rods that he had to foolproof?
For a moment, memories of a past life penetrated the warlock’s brain, and he was reminded of a time before his existence had become intertwined with that of an undead megalomaniac.
Then the warlock emerged into a clearing and saw the catacombs entrance. A shimmering portal appeared on the door and a skeletal figure strode out, making the memories disappear as quickly as they had come.
“Hello once again, Shakan,” Acererak cackled. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”
Shakan Kain is a human whose patron is the notorious lich Acererak, constructor of the Tomb of the Nine Gods found in the Tomb of Annihilation adventure. An architect-turned-adventurer, Shakan and a group of friends dared to delve into one of Acererak’s dungeons on a quest for magical weapons to defend their village, which was under attack by zombies. Unfortunately, nearly all of the party died in the trap-laden catacombs. Shakan only survived due to his intimate knowledge of construction.
In the dungeon’s final room, the devastated adventurer came face to face with Acererak. Impressed by Shakan's ability to circumvent traps, Acererak offered him a deal. Shakan would have all the magic required to save his village, but in return, he would have to foolproof the traps in the lich’s future dungeons. Not wishing to die in vain, Shakan agreed, and a piece of his soul was bound to Acererak. Brimming with power, Shakan destroyed the undead in his village only to be shunned by his people, who were horrified by his choice to barter with a lich. Shakan was soon exiled.
He now travels the world, improving the traps he finds in the lich’s tombs. Shakan is riddled with guilt at the thought of causing harm to others through his work, and he hates Acererak for making him a glorified custodian. Shakan hopes to one day destroy his master’s phylactery. Yet, he is still bitter for having been exiled for doing what he felt was right and necessary.
Playing Shakan
Shakan Kain is a lawful evil warlock with the Guild Artisan background. His highest ability scores are Charisma and Constitution. His Wisdom is also above average, while his Strength is below average. As a variant human, Shakan took the Prodigy feat at 1st level. He has proficiency and Expertise in the following skills and tools:
- Carpenter's Tools
- Deception
- Insight
- Investigation (Expertise)
- Perception
- Persuasion
- Stealth
- Thieves' Tools
In combat, Shakan relies on his Form of Dread, which makes his face appear as a demilich. When combined with Grave Touched, this form boosts the damage of his Eldritch Blast and Hex spells.
Shakan’s other spells all come in handy while navigating Acererak’s death chambers. Eldritch Invocations like Armor of Shadows and Fiendish Vigor let him cast False Life and Mage Armor at will. The spells Blade Ward, Misty Step, and Spider Climb, plus the Spirit Projection feature, are useful ways of resisting damage and quickly maneuvering around a dungeon. Necrotic Husk can preserve Shakan’s life in a pinch, such as if a deadly ceiling sickle or spiked floor takes him down.
When Shakan needs further assistance to foolproof a trap, he either summons an Unseen Servant or calls upon his Pact of the Chain familiar, an unpleasant quasit named Vilius who frequently taunts the warlock for being a lapdog.
Shakan Kain’s name refers to Chakan the Forever Man, an obscure undead comic book character, and the austere pulp hero Solomon Kane. A grim combination of the two, Shakan can be a thorn in the side of any party navigating Acererak’s dungeons, though he could potentially be redeemed.
Strike fear into your enemy's heart
Whether you hope to create a tortured soul like Shakan or a madcap mage who simply enjoys exploding in the midst of battle, the Undead is a chilling patron choice. For spell-slingers who dare to defy death, look no further.
Jeremy Blum (@PixelGrotto) is a journalist, gaming blogger, comic book aficionado, and fan of all forms of storytelling who rolled his first polyhedral dice while living in Hong Kong in 2017. Since then, he's never looked back and loves roleplaying games for the chance to tell the tales that have been swirling in his head since childhood.
:)
Finally, we have corpse explosion. Sure, it's situational, but it's here!
This is really cool!!!!!!
This is great! I really enjoy playing warlocks when I get the chance to be a character, and this subclass is really interesting to use. Can't wait to try it out!
This would fit perfectly a drow character i'm making, but I don't have Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft.
Very nice article! I like that you created a character to show us what the subclass can do, without falling into the same stereotypes as some of us players usually do
Nice! I like the way you make and show us a character for each Class 101 you do. Also, a question for the DDB team: are there any plans to bring back the Encounter of the Week series? It was one of my favorites, and I constantly used them in my games.
It's stated in the Tomb of Annihilation that Acererak doesn't grant spells or even treat his followers well (he steals their phylacteries even)... so Shakan has no spells, technically. Vecna is a better Patron choice.
same here. I really miss it.
Were the examples for the Undead warlock and College of Spirits bard from earlier articles? I've been getting deja vu when reading about Shakan and Knee-Knee, and I feel like I had read about their concepts in an earlier article or two. Can someone send me a link to another article where they were introduced, if such article(s) exist?
There was an article up for the Unearthed Arcana versions of these classes. The original article has now been taken down and split into two separate pieces since the finalized versions of the classes are available on D&D Beyond. More tweaks and content related to both character builds are added as well.
I do recall reading something relatively recently about the Encounter of the Week series and Class 101 articles resuming at some point in the future - well I guess this is a Class 101, isn't it? James Haeck (sp?) was the lead writer of both of those series and having seen examples of the work of the recently hired or promoted staff (e.g. @pixelgrotto - Jeremy Blum), we can confidently look forward to great writing, whatever the subject may be.
Doesn't Lord Soth rule one of the Domains of Dread now? I think I read that somewhere. I am so excited about picking up this book!!
Fun article! Shakan Kain sounds like a fun character and he shows off what it can mean to have an undead Patreon. The only things I might mention are that he has for some reason chosen to wear his 13 ac leather armor instead of his 15 ac at-will mage armor and that Fiendish Vigor seems not as helpful on a warlock that can grant themselves 1d10+4 Temporary hit points when they enter their Form of Dread It may be a better idea to take a different invocation such as Repelling Blast as it would knock foes away and frighten them so that they cannot reaproach allowing him to keep his distance, Lance of Lethargy for much the same use or simply Agonizing Blast for additional damage.
Form of Dread (Undead Warlock L1) + Beguiling Twist (Fey Wanderer L7) :D
Or Form of Dread (Undead Warlock L1) + Aura of Conquest (Conquest Paladin L7)
He did, but then he got yoinked back to Krynn for the next edition of Dragonlance, so his Dread Domain makes a cameo as a floating piece of rubble.
This is really cool! I love the idea of Acererak's tomb keeper, as Acererak would definitely want them. I think if I were to make an undead warlock, their patron would be a mummy lord. They would have been a grave robber in times past, finally taking on the wrong tomb. All his companions died, but he had enough ingenuity to impress the mummy lord. He was put into a state of stasis until he was needed, when the mummy lord woke him up and told him he had a simple choice: serve him or die. You can guess which one the character chose. Unbeknownst to him, he's been asleep for untold centuries, and he often behaves as if it were still the time period he left. Think Rip Van Winkle with an Ancient Egyptian horror spin. He becomes entirely enshrouded in linens in his form of dread and he'd flavour his spells as mummy lord monster features like summoning swarms of insects.
Seems like an interesting subclass if I played this I'd make the patron an Alhoon.
I am so gonna make a warlock with a dracolich as my patron. Not sure what kind of dracolich, but it's gonna be awesome.
Not correct. You now choose which creatures it works on.