The Shepherd

You've made a pact with a deathless entity, a creature that exists outside the cycle and life and death, so as to be the ever-watching guide of souls. For such beings, time and morality are fleeting things, the concerns of those for whom grains of sand still rush through life's hourglass. Having existed since the dawn of creation, these ancient beings know firsthand the trials and pains of existence, as well as the joys and mercies of living. They know that mortals fear death and the unknown, and that despite the wailings of the souls they meet, all things must come to an end. They share their boundless knowledge, along with other secrets, with those who are willing to accept the ultimate truths of creation.

Expanded Spell List

The Shepherd 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.

Shepherd Expanded Spells

Spell Level	Spells
1st	false life, detect evil and good
2nd	darkness, pass without trace
3rd	counterspell, tongues
4th	faithful hound, phantasmal killer
5th	hallow, reincarnate

Face of Death

At 1st level, you manifest an aspect of your patron’s dreadful power. As a bonus action, you transform for 1 minute. You gain the following benefits while transformed:

• You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your warlock level.

• Once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw, and if the saving throw fails, the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

• You are immune to the frightened condition.

You can transform a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

The appearance of your Face of Death reflects some aspect of your patron. For example, your form could be a shroud of shadows forming the crown and robes of your lich patron, or your body might glow with glyphs from ancient funerary rites and be surrounded by desert winds, suggesting your mummy patron.

Gift of the Guide

At 1st level, you learn the Light and Spare the Dying cantrips. They count as warlock cantrips for you, but they don’t count against your number of cantrips known.

Brush with Death

Starting at 6th level, you can vanish in a cloud of darkness in response to harm. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to turn invisibleand teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You remain invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack or cast a spell.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Right Hand of Death

At 10th level, Your connection to eternity and the afterlife now saturates your body. You have resistance to necrotic damage. If you are transformed using your Face of Death, you instead become immune to necrotic damage.

In addition, when you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to drop to 1 hit point instead and cause your body to erupt with deathly energy. Each creature of your choice that is within 30 feet of you takes necrotic damage equal to 2d10 + your warlock level. You then gain 1 level of exhaustion. Once you use this reaction, you can’t do so again until you finish 1d4 long rests.

Death's Defiance