School of Dissidence

The School of Dissidence explores the darker arts of the Demain, from which raw magic is drawn by spellcasters in the plane Elysia exists on. By focusing on this tradition, practitioners must delve into dark shadow magic, and break the known laws of the Demain which exist to maintain balance in the world and not over-exude the pool of Incarnum. The School of Magic manipulates one's life force, much like that of necromancy, though may leave devasting effects to the student's body and mind as a result. 

As a result of your studies into the dark arts, you gain the following spells to your expanded Wizard spell list.

Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Hunger of Hadar.

As a student of the School of Dissidence, you gain access to the following spells from the School of Dissidence. These cannot be learned by any other class or subclass.

Gather Blood (Ritual), Dark Omens, Dominate Thrall, Face of Darkness, Grasping Void, Intoxicating Touch, Ray of Decay, Waldomar's Crawling Claw (Ritual), Conjure Shadow, Waldomar's Miasmic Malady, Siphon Senses, Parasitic Curse, Marionettic Slave, Dissident Senses, Corrupt Beast, Hemophilic Laceration, Shadow Step, Halting Heart, Unholy Weapon, Nightmare, Inflict Madness, Call of the Void, Sacrificial Demise, Insidious Plague.

Student of the Dark Arts

Prerequisite: Wizard/Warlock/Sorcerer

You have studied the Dark Arts of the School of Dissidence. You gain the following benefits:

• You gain +1 to your Intelligence ability score.
• You have access to the School of Dissidence spells.
• You can swap out three existing spells from your chosen spell list and replace them with Dissidence spells of equal level.

Forbidding Mortality

Tapping into the darker arts of the arcane, you have learned to keep death at bay and channel the arcane of the Demain to grant yourself immortality. But the ritual is not without risk.

Starting at level 20, you have discovered the darkest arts of the arcane, you have learned of a ritual to keep death at bay and channel the arcane of the Demain to grant yourself immortality. You cannot die of natural causes and you no longer age. If you undergo the ritual to achieve immortality, you will need the following ingredients.

• A vial of wyvern's blood
• A vial of Manticore venom
• A vial of pure Arsenic
• Crushed Belladonna
• A crushed Unicorn horn
• A pint of Griffon's blood
• A pint of Vampire's blood
• A pint of specially prepared ale that has had the spell book or brain of another spell casting creature soaked in it for 24 hours.
• The heart of a sacrificed humanoid. The humanoid must have been sacrificed within 1 hour of the potion being created and is used as a container for the potion rather than an ingredient. If used as an ingredient, the heart must be consumed immediately after drinking the potion.
• An ornate vial worth 3000gp

The strain of the ritual is not without danger, meaning that any that undergo this ritual has a 30% of becoming a Lich and the DM assuming control of your character.

Dark Arts Savant

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a dissidence or necromancy spell into your spellbook is halved.

In addition, you may choose a cantrip from the Warlock spells list.

Dissident Madness

Once per turn, when casting a spell from the School of Dissidence, roll a d100 to determine the additional effect of the spell from the Short-Term Madness table, effects last for 1 minute. You may use this feature a number of times equal to half your Intelligence modifier (rounded down). Expended uses reset on a long rest.

Dissident Transference

At 6th level, you add the life transference spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. When you cast life transference.

You can choose to reverse the effects of the spell, targetting an enemy or ally to deal 4d8 necrotic damage and regain a number of hit points equal to twice to necrotic damage you deal. When cast in this way, the target must make a Constitution saving throw, taking half damage on a success.

Shadows of Death

Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage as you learn to embolden the body from decay and aging.

In addition, when an enemy is dropped to 0 hit-points using a School of Dissidence spell, they are immediately killed. Once per turn when you kill one or more creatures with a Dissidence spell of 1st level or higher, you may summon a Shadow from its corpse that is under your control.

Drain Demain

Starting at 14th level, you can increase the power of your simpler spells. When you cast a wizard spell of 5th level or lower that deals damage and isn't a cantrip, you can deal maximum damage with that spell.

The first time you do so, you suffer no adverse effect. If you use this feature again before you finish a long rest, you take 2d12 necrotic damage for each level of the spell, immediately after you cast it. Each time you use this feature again before finishing a long rest, the necrotic damage per spell level increases by 1d12. This damage ignores resistance and immunity.