In a blind alley, a young street urchin stands trapped by three thugs. Luck has finally failed him this night. With nowhere to run and no hope of fighting, he unleashes a primal scream of desperation and the world goes dark. The next morning he awakes, untouched. There is no sign of the thugs, except for the blood that seems to cover everything in sight.

In a small-town tavern, a crowd gathers, spilling out the door and into the street for lack of space. A performer stands on a makeshift stage, unassuming at first glance, but every eye in the room is upon them. As they begin to sing, a hush falls. Hours later, the performance finally ended, the crowd begins to wander back to their homes. While no-one can seem to agree on just what it was they heard, all agree that they have never experienced it's equal.

On a distant sea, a ship is foundering in a deadly typhoon. Out of options, the captain decides to take a gamble. She sends a runner below decks with instructions to fetch 'the old man'. No one knows where he came from; everyone who has ever sailed this vessel claims he was there before them. No one has ever heard him speak a word, and most assume he is simply an elderly mute. The captain however, suspects he is something much more. As he stumbles up on to the pitching deck, the old man glances about and lets out a hum that is all but lost amongst the crashing waves and wind. In moments the wind goes still and the waves calm. Even the clouds begin to disperse. Silent as ever, the old man disappears back below deck as the crew stands awestruck.

 

Of all the known varieties of sorcerers, perhaps the rarest and most powerful is the wish singer. As the name implies, these mages can use the power of their voice to summon up a near limitless variety of magic. However, that power comes with a steep price. The magic of the wish song is capricious and addictive, always threatening to consume those who would employ it.

As a wish song sorcerer, you gain access to spells that would normally be beyond your class and/or level. Using these enhanced abilities can cause an accumulation of corruption that will eventually erode your mind and soul if not addressed.

 

Origins

Like most sorcerers, the powers of the wish song are inherited although exactly when it will emerge is impossible to predict. Sometimes it passes directly from parent to child, while other times it may disappear for hundreds of years at a time. The exact origins of the song vary and are often shrouded in myth and legend. Most often, the cause is attributed to an ancestor who came into contact with a powerful magical artifact of some sort. Whether through foolishness or desperation, they attempted to wield a power beyond their control, and the consequences reverberate to the present day.

 

Magical Corruption

While all magic carries some level of risk, the wish song presents a unique sort of danger to it's host. This is a power that ordinary mortals are ill equipped to wield. Rather than mere physical harm, the wish song is morally and psychologically corrosive. In the short term, using the wish song can bring about a sense of overwhelming euphoria. Long term this can lead to addictive behavior and mental illness as the user engages in ever more reckless actions looking for excuses to cast. Even the most experienced users must exercise constant mental discipline to avoid being consumed.

As a Wish Song Sorcerer, certain actions and abilities will inflict corruption points as part of their use. You have a corruption threshold equal to your WIS modifier + Proficiency that represents the limits of your control. Incurring corruption points in excess of this threshold will cause temporary side effects as described in the table below.

 

CORRUPTION EFFECTS
1	Disadvantage on all WIS saves and checks while concentrating on a spell.
2	Shift alignment one step toward 'Chaotic'. If your alignment is already 'Chaotic', shift alignment one step toward 'Evil'.
3	Shift alignment one step toward 'Chaotic'. If your alignment is already 'Chaotic', shift alignment one step toward 'Evil'.
4	-2 penalty to your WIS
5	-10 penalty to max HP
6	Suffer a random condition
7	Remaining HP drops to 0

 

Reducing your corruption points back below the level where a penalty or effect was incurred will cause that effect to be reversed. Any corruption effect that has not been removed within 24 hours will become permanent.

Corruption Points can be removed in the following ways:

•  Spending at least 8 continuous hours without using magic will remove a number of corruption points equal to your WIS modifier.
• Once per day you can spend 10 minutes meditating. At the end of the 10 minutes make a WIS saving throw with a DC = 10 + current number of corruption points. If successful, remove 1d4 points of corruption. If you increase the length of the meditation to at least 1 hour, you can choose to either make the save with advantage or remove an additional 1d4 corruption points.

 

Illusion Song

At 1st level you gain the ability to create illusions of spell effects.

Mastering the powers of the soul song depends above all else on mastering one's own will. In order to manifest an effect, the caster must first be able to clearly be able to define and visualize it. This mental clarity, when combined with the powers of suggestion that tend to come along with the song, can make for potent illusions.

As an action on your turn, you can spend a spell slot to create an illusion that mimics the perceptible effects of any spell with a verbal component.

 

Illusory Cast

On a failed save, the target will react in an appropriate manner as if a real spell had been cast, starting on their next turn. For example, a creature targeted by a fireball illusion will attempt to take evasive action or try to jump into a nearby body of water.

At the end of it's turn, an effected target may make a DC 15 WIS check to end the illusion. If the illusion is of a spell that would not normally be available to the caster due to class or level restriction, the affected target makes the check with advantage.

True Song

At level 5, you gain enhanced access to the powers of the wish song, if you can learn to control them. Rather than mere illusions, you can now cast actual spells from outside your class list, as long as they include a verbal component. You can also use this feature to cast spells from the sorcerer spell list without using a spell slot, again as long as they have a verbal component.

Exceeding your limits this way is not without risks. Each time you use the wish song to cast a spell, you will accumulate Corruption Points. Accumulate too many corruption points and your character will begin to suffer temporary, and eventually permanent, negative effects (see the Corruption Points feature for more details). Using the wish song to cast a sorcerer spell in place of a spell slot will inflict a number of corruption points equal to the level spell slot you would use. Casting a spell from outside your class will incur corruption points equal to the spell slot + 1.

Optional: Your DM may wish to add additional restrictions to the feature. Before taking this feature, check with the DM about any non-sorcerer spells you might want to use and what sort of additional penalties (if any) they want to place for using them. For example, casting a spell that you would not otherwise have access to due to class or level restrictions comes with a chance of failure or unexpected results.

Deep Reserves

Starting at 14th level, you learn to channel the power of the song to into your meta magic. For any action or ability that costs sorcery points, you can instead choose to take an equal number of corruption points. 

Magical Virtuoso

At 18th level you gain complete mastery of the wish song. You can now use the wish song to cast spells regardless of component requirements (including those with no verbal component).