The Architect

You have made a pact with The Architect, an ancient and calculating god once worshipped by a long dead astral civilization. Through their iron rule, this deity controlled entire populations with nothing more than a whisper of thought, threading influence with mental precision. Though their empire lies in ruins, a fragment of their puppeteering power lives on in you. As their chosen, you are granted terrifying mastery over minds: to command, to spy, to seed your will; one thought at a time. High priests of The Architect were said to weave invisible strings between ruler and ruled, binding the masses in unseen shackles. Now, that legacy continues through your pact, as you bring order, chaos, elation, or total annihilation.

Level 3: Thread of the Puppeteer

Starting at 3rd level, your patron gifts you with the power to silently weave mental threads between yourself and others, allowing you to infiltrate their thoughts and maintain secret communication across great distances.

As an action, you can attempt to establish a telepathic link with one creature you can see within 60 feet. This link lasts for 12 hours, unless broken early. If the target is willing, the link is established automatically. If the target is unwilling, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or become linked. A creature is unaware both of a failed attempt and of a successful link unless it has some means of detecting magical mental influence. Creatures immune to being charmed automatically succeed.

While linked, you and the target can communicate telepathically in both directions, regardless of whether you share a language. The link persists across any distance, but is immediately broken if either of you leaves the plane of existence.

Deepening the Thread
While the link is active, you can use your action to strengthen it, pushing deeper into the target’s mind. This can only be done if at least 10 hours remain on the link’s duration. When you do so, the link’s remaining duration is reduced to 1 hour. For the rest of that time, you gain access to the target’s senses, allowing you can see and hear through its perspective as if you were there, the ability to read its surface thoughts, and the ability to lightly influence its emotional state. The target remains unaware of your deeper presence unless it succeeds on an Intelligence check against your spell save DC. You can establish a Thread of the Puppeteer a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Level 3: Architect Spells

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

Architect Spells

Warlock Level	Spells
3	Command, Comprehend Languages
5	Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern
7	Greater Invisibility, Phantasmal Killer
9	Dominate Person, Modify Memory

Level 6: Eyes of the Mindbinder

Starting at 6th level, you gain the ability to command and manipulate the minds of those who meet your gaze. As an action, you can choose a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see, and that can see you. You must make direct eye contact with the target. The target must be a humanoid with a soul and functional eyes. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or fall under your influence.

On a failed save, you may issue a simple command, or compel the target to perform an action or adopt a belief for up to 1 hour. The compelled creature regards their action as reasonable and necessary while under the effect, even if it contradicts their previous loyalties or morals. Once the command is fulfilled, or the duration ends, the target becomes aware of their actions and mental manipulation. A creature under your influence retains their personality, knowledge, and abilities, but is compelled to carry out the directive as if it aligns with their own desires for the duration. They will not act in a suicidal or immediately fatal manner unless commanded to do so. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest, unless you expend a Warlock spell slot of 1st level or higher to do so again.

Once per long rest, you may choose to automatically succeed against a creature whose CR is equal to or lower than the value listed in the table below.

Warlock Level	Auto Fail CR
6	1/2 or Lower
7	1
9	2
11	3
13	4
15	5
17	6
19	7
20	8

 

A creature that automatically fails the save is still aware of being compelled after the duration ends, unless their memory was altered.

Level 10: Expanded Influence

Starting at 10th level, your influence can now extend far beyond a simple command or suggestion, embedding itself deep within a target’s psyche, or spreading your control across an entire day.

When you use Eyes of the Mindbinder, choose one of the following effects:

Extended Control
You may use an action to increase the duration of the effect to 8 hours (instead of 1 hour). While under your influence, the target continues to act in accordance with your implanted belief or command for the entire duration. The target becomes aware of the manipulation when the effect ends, as normal. You can only have one creature under this extended effect at a time.

Deep Manipulation
You alter the target’s mind in one of the following ways:

Memory Alteration: You can implant or erase up to 10 minutes of memories. The target perceives the false memory as real until the duration ends, at which point they realise something is amiss, though not necessarily what.

Emotional Override: You impose an intense emotional state, such as fear, confidence, trust, guilt, paranoia, or calm, for up to 1 hour. This is similar to the calm emotions or fear spells, but the emotion can be tailored more precisely to suit your intent.

Both Deep Manipulation effects require eye contact, follow the normal saving throw rules of Eyes of the Mindbinder, and share its recharge conditions. If the target succeeds on the save, they are unaffected and know they resisted something.

Level 14: Succession

Starting at 14th level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points and would die, you can use your reaction to attempt to possess the body of a humanoid creature that is either currently under the effect of your Thread of the Puppeteer feature, or a valid target for Eyes of the Mindbinder.

The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your warlock spell save DC or have its soul permanently displaced. On a failed save, the creature's consciousness is permanently destroyed, and your own mind takes over its body.

When you successfully possess a body using this feature, your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores transfer over to the new body, but you adopt the Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores of your new host. Your race changes to that of your new body, and you gain the creature’s physical features, movement speed, and senses, but not class features, proficiencies, or memories. You retain your own class features, spells, proficiencies, known languages, and mental traits.

Any ongoing magical or physical effects or conditions affecting the new body persist when you take over, and your old body is left behind as a corpse. This new form becomes your true body. Only a Wish spell or divine intervention can restore the soul of the creature you replaced. Using this feature forces you to make a constitution saving throw against your own Spell Save DC. On a failed save, you are rendered unconscious and incapacitated for the next 24 hours.

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