The Forbidden One

The Forbidden One is not a being so much as an embodiment of suppressed knowledge and severed truths. To swear a pact with this patron is to bind oneself to the remnants of arcane practices long erased from public record, powers that deities and empires alike deemed too dangerous to persist. Its warlocks are conduits of what should never have endured: grim formulas etched in forgotten tomes, syllables that curdle the air, and incantations meant to unravel life’s order.

Those who follow the Forbidden One wield magic that unsettles body and mind alike, turning strength to ash and resolve to ruin. Their spells bear the taint of obscurity—necrotic energies, shadowcraft, blood rites, and curses—that leave marks not only on their enemies, but on the world itself. To the outsider, a servant of the Forbidden One is a walking heresy, condemned for brandishing what no authority, celestial or infernal, will acknowledge as rightful magic.

Yet the bargain offers a grim freedom: mastery of power that no other patron dares grant, spells meant not for balance but for undoing. To walk this path is to embrace isolation, wielding magic unbound by law, faith, or nature—an inheritance of everything cast away, everything hidden, everything too dangerous to be spoken aloud.

Forbidden spells

The magic of your patron ensures you always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Warlock level specified in the Abandoned Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

 

(Replace Raise Dead with Danse Macabre, DnD Beyond won't let me publish with a spell from XGE in the subclass)

Veil of Forbidden Power

Starting at 1st level, the dark energies you command swirl around you, empowering your spells and unsettling those nearby. When you cast a warlock spell that deals damage, you can choose to infuse it with forbidden energy. The first time each turn you do so, one creature of your choice hit by the spell must make a Charisma saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or be frightened until the end of its next turn.

Additionally, when you cast a warlock spell of 1st level or higher, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

Corruptive Resonance

Starting at 6th level, your mastery of forbidden magic allows you to twist the energies of the battlefield to your advantage. When you take damage from a creature within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to release a pulse of dark energy. The attacking creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature takes necrotic damage equal to 2d8 + your warlock level and is frightened until the end of its next turn.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once). All expended uses recharge after a long rest.

Umbral Fortitude

Starting at 10th level, your mastery of dark magic hardens your essence against destructive forces. You gain immunity to necrotic damage and resistance to one other damage type of your choice from the following: psychic, poison, or cold.

While you have these protections, any creature that hits you with a spell or weapon attack dealing necrotic or the chosen resistance type must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws until the end of their next turn.

Dominion of the Forbidden

Starting at 14th level, your connection to dark magic allows you to impose your will with terrifying force. As an action, choose up to three creatures of your choice within 60 feet. Each must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, a creature suffers frightened and paralyzed conditions for 1 minute. While paralyzed in this way, a creature takes necrotic damage equal to your warlock level at the start of each of its turns. The effect ends early if the creature succeeds on its saving throw at the end of its turn or if you are incapacitated.

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