The Vermillion

The origin of Vermillion
Vermillion was a mortal named Damien who was plagued with a fickle form of insanity. His mind was warped by a horrible event in his childhood which caused him to have this love and lust for death. To him, killing was as ubiquitous as eating. It was a need that he had to fulfill. Initially, he killed only animals and beasts but as time went on, he needed more sentient beings to satiate his bloodlust. Naturally intelligent and a quick learner, he started to teach himself how to fight and trained himself, learning techniques from books and watching knights spar in the courtyard and drunkards brawling in the taverns. Soon, he was able to kill on his own but he was still sloppy leaving many loose ends that would affect him later. One such loose end was the father of a man he killed. He was a warlock who came hunting the one who killed his son and was able to find Damien. Though Damien was able to kill the enraged warlock, he suffered the loss of sight in his right eye. That day he learned the power of magic. Later one in his life he would join an assassin's guild and learn more techniques and skills. He moved around a lot learning for different people and races honing his craft until he became one of the deadliest assassins alive.

Being both a master of disguise and combat, he was renowned for his ability to infiltrate and duel. He began to plateau as he could only push his body so much. Remembering the warlock who nearly killed him, he decided that the only way to grow was to study magic. Eventually, he became a warlock under the patronage of the Fiend. Quickly mastering the magics of the Fiend he felt he could have prowess. He did not lust for power. He simply wanted the knowledge. He entreated the Archfey mastering it as fast as the Fiend. He then moved on to the Great Old One, the Raven Queen, the Seeker, the Hexblade, and the Celestial. He mastered all these magics and with that became a powerful warlock only held back by the many pacts he had to uphold. Even with all this power, he never sought conquest of domination. No, he used it to make his craft inflatable and such satiating his bloodlust permanently. He soon became bored as it became all too easy. Sure, his bloodlust was always satiated but there was no excitement in killing powerless beings. He needed more, so he decided to travel the other planes taking on harder missions in the most horrible or wonderful places. From the glooms of Hades to the forest of Arborea, he lived in them all seeking harder beings to fell. He was enthralled for the time.

In time, he forgot to uphold the contracts he had with the patrons which in turn angered them. They sent many beings to kill him for his insolence. From fey to aberration, they came but none could take him down. He outsmarted them at every turn. In these battles, he learned how to absorb their power and increase his own. The more they sent, the stronger he became. He soon gathered enough power and knowledge in his planar travels. He was satiated, but soon it bored him too. In his planar travels, he had learned of a path to divinity. He would have to kill a god. He spent years searching for a god and in that time he garnered more power from his would-be assassins that came unendingly from his patrons. In time, he found a god that he could feasibly kill, Nocturne, who hailed from Limbo, was a being of pure shadow. The battle tested both their wits and their combat prowess. After a long arduous battle, he succeeded in killing Nocturne and was able to absorb his divinity an ascend. His mortal body burned away with the force of his ascension and it reformed to look much like his younger self. Now he hunts other gods and divine creatures forevermore. Always enthralled, never bored.

Entreating Vermillion
Entreating Vermillion has wide-reaching effects on the warlock receiving his power. Channeling his power leads to large changes in your mental state and expressions. The first effects are gaining his insatiable bloodlust as a pact with him demands blood. Along with that comes a lack of care and humanity. Slowly you lose care for who or what you kill as it becomes a natural action like walking or eating. You slowly become more cold and calculating, observing and analyzing all those around you. You may come off as either classy and refined or cold and reserved depending on your temperament before entreating the Vermillion. Those who become more refined tend to be more approachable a have the sharpest change in temperament as their bloodlust grows; while those who become more reserved tend to have a more steady change in temperament. Not killing while under a pact with the Vermillion will cause you to lose more and more humanity until you enter a feral state in which all you can do is attack and kill until the Vermillion is satiated. Because of this, Vermillion warlocks tend to live alone in a nomadic lifestyle.

Balancing Chaos
Becoming a warlock under the Vermillion is rather common amongst rogues, tyrants, and all manner of scorned mortals. Those who seek out his power either have evil intent, a thirst for power, a grudge to keep, or revenge to enact. They are easily drawn to the Vermillion's power and many are easily consumed by it. Rarely do most people learn to harness the power and handle the change in mental state without losing themselves to the bloodlust or madness. Those who can control the power learn that they are no longer able to live like normal mortals and have to work around this constant need to kill. For some, this suits them fine while for others it can be a constant struggle.

It is unlikely to see someone with good intentions wield the Vermillion's power, however, few do exist. Those who use the Vermillion's power for good tend to have their code or justifications for their actions. These people tend to be short-lived as the power becomes too much for them and they either take their own lives before they could harm innocents or they simply have themselves executed whether it be in honor or dishonor. If they can control it perfectly, then they tend to become cold tacticians, refined royal assassins, or berzerk champions. Either path, their lives are a constant battle to retain their good intentions.

The power of Vermillions is more common with those of evil alignments, however, those of evil alignments tend to have the worst issues with power. While they can follow the pact easier, the bloodlust or madness can easily consume them turning them into nothing more, but aimless zealots. Those who can control themselves find that the power of Vermillion is not stably lawful or chaotic and they have to learn to ride the temperament changes to their advantage.

Keep it at Bay
Those who have a pact with Vermillion normally has a favored activity they do to distract themselves from their bloodlust and focus themselves. Here are some suggestions
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| 1d6 | Activities |
|:----:|:-------------|
| 1 | Book Reading(mostly fiction or educational) |
| 2 | Combat Training |
| 3 | Meditation |
| 4 | Hunting |
| 5 | Art(mostly painting or sculpting) |
| 6 | Singing(mostly music they write themselves) |
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Intrusive Thoughts
Using the power of the Vermillion tends to create intrusive thoughts in the mind of the warlock. These do not necessarily affect the actions of the warlock, however, it does add to their mental strain. Warlocks under the Vermillion should have these more and more the longer their pact goes on. Here are some ideas
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| 1d12 | Thoughts |
|:----:|:-------------|
| 1 | I desire blood |
| 2 | I could kill everyone around me right now |
| 3 | I rather see them bleeding |
| 4 | What does their heart looks like? |
| 5 | I wonder if they would scream |
| 6 | Pain I must inflict |
| 7 | I want to drive my knife into their back |
| 8 | This one would be a challenge to fell |
| 9 | I wonder what color is their blood(races that are not the same as them) |
| 10 | Could I get away with this murder? |
| 11 | If only we were alone |
| 12 | Sheep, all of them, for the slaughter |
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Preferred Method of Killing
Each warlock under this pact kills much that eventually they develop preferences on how they like to kill and/or finish people off. Here are some ideas.
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| 1d8 | Method |
|:----:|:-------------|
| 1 | Finish them off with a spell |
| 2 | Decapitation |
| 3 | Backstab |
| 4 | Asphyxiate |
| 5 | Bloodletting |
| 6 | Poisoning |
| 7 | Heavy Trauma |
| 8 | Suicidal Persuasion |

Inhumanity

Upon choosing this patron, your humanity begins to degrade as your bloodlust increases. Going without killing and/or watching beings/people who die not by your hand will reduce your level of humanity. Your mental state worsens the lower your humanity is causing your murderous urges to grow and your mood to change violently. Dropping below 50% humanity, the warlock must roll on the ***Bloodlust Surge Table*** at the beginning of all combat. Dropping below 15% humanity, the warlock enters the ***Feral State***. You can restore, 10% of your humanity by killing a person and 5% from killing a creature. The creature must be of medium to high difficulty to kill.
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> ##### Humanity Gauge
> This is up to the DM's discretion, however, here is a basic table as a guide.
>
> ##### Humanity by Week
| Week | Humanity |
|:----:|:-------------|
| 1 | 100-80% |
| 2 | 79-40% |
| 3 | 39-0% |
> ##### Humanity by Deaths Witnessed
| Deaths | Humanity |
|:----:|:-------------|
| 1-4 | 100-80% |
| 4-8 | 79-40% |
| 8-12 | 39-0% |

Death's Dance

At 1st level, the influence of your patron changes how damaging spells work for you. All spells that deal damage and have a range further than touch are now reduced to melee range meaning that you do not occur disadvantage on those spells attack rolls when casting within 5 feet. This range cannot be affected by any modifiers. Furthermore, your spells can critically hit on 19 and 20. If the spell hits its target you can use your bonus action to disengage. Your movement is increased by 10 for that move.

No Loose Ends

At 1st level, the influence of your patron allows you to do more damage to a wounded target. This additional damage is necrotic and can only be dealt once per attack action. It is not affected by critical hits or any other modifiers. If casting an AoE spell, the additional damage only applies to one target of your choice. This damage cannot be added to a bonus attack. The damage increases at the 6th, 10th, 14th, and 20th levels. Every time you use this feature you must roll on the ***Bloodlust Surge Table***.
- Additional damage is 1d4 per every 1 round. This increases to 1d6 at the 6th level, 1d8 at the 10th level, 1d10 at the 14th level, and 1d12 at the 20th level.

Locum

Starting at the 6th level as an action you can transform your appearance to match that of a creature you have seen. You decided how you look including your height, weight, coloration, sex, hair length, facial features, the sound of your voice, and any other distinguishing features. You can make yourself look like another race as long as they are humanoid and can understand at least one language. Furthermore, changing into another race does not change your stats. You cannot become a creature larger than your size and your basic shape remains unchanged. You cannot use this to become quadrupedal. Your clothing does not change with you. Your transformation lasts for an hour without concentration and can be extended to 24 hours with concentration. During your transformation, you are completely indistinguishable to observers but if an astute creature rouses suspicion, you have advantage on Charisma(Deception) checks to avoid detection. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. Every time you use this feature you must roll on the Bloodlust Surge Table at the end of the transformation.

Locum Concentration

For every hour after the first hour, the warlock must roll a d20 to maintain the form they are currently in. On a failed check they are reverted to their true form. The ability has a DC 8 from 2nd-5th hours, a DC 12 from 6th-9th hours, DC 14 10th-13th hours, DC 16 14th-17th hours, and DC 20 18th-24th hours. After the 24th hour, the warlock is reverted.

Indifference

Starting at the 10th level, you are immune to be being intimidated. Furthermore, when you are afflicted with the charmed or frightened effect, you can spend your reaction to clear yourself of this effect. If you clear yourself of any of these effects while in the ***Feral State***, you lash out in front of you consuming your bonus action. Enemies must make a Dexterity save or take two hits from your blood claws. Every time you use this feature you must roll on the ***Bloodlust Surge Table***.

Crimson Dervish

At the 14th level, you can channel the Vermillion's insatiable bloodlust to drain the life of creatures near you. Upon using this ability, you are immediately put into the ***Feral State*** but with more control. You have full cognition and can take other actions in this state but you cannot cast spells or use your weapons. While in this state, everything in a ten-meter radius must back a Constitution save on each of your turns or take 2d8 necrotic damage on a failed one, or half as much damage on a successful one. You heal for half of the damage dealt by this ability rounded-down. Any health over healed surges out in a 10-foot cone in front of you. Enemies in the cone must make a Dexterity save or take 1d4 psychic damage per every 10 points over-healed on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. These effects happen at the beginning of your turns for the duration of the ability. Your transformation can last up to 10 minutes, however, every minute after the first you must make a DC 18 Charisma save. On a failed save, your transformation ends and you are paralyzed for 1 + (each additional minute transformed) rounds. The DC increases by 2 for every additional minute capping out at a DC 30 on the 8th minute. When you use this feature, you must roll on the ***Bloodlust Surge Table*** at the beginning and end of the transformation.

Feral State

The ***Feral State*** is a form that the Vermillion warlock can take whether by choice, chance, or due to a lack of humanity. When entering the ***Feral State***, you tear at your flesh with your fingernails wounding yourself. You lose hit points equal to 20% of your current hit points rounded-up. The blood from your wounds collects and solidifies into 5 blades radiating red energy on top of your hands. These claws have unique statistics that scale with your warlock level. Each attack with these claws grants temporary hit points that last until your next turn. If using *No Loose Ends* while in the ***Feral State***, you do not receive temporary hit points. Your posture is perpetually crouched over, but you remain bipedal. While in the ***Feral State*** you are unable to take any actions other than the attack action, the dash action, and disengage action. You cannot speak nor comprehend any languages. You cannot cast spells nor can you willingly consent to spells. You also cannot use your weapons in the ***Feral State***. You can discern ally from enemy. When leaving the ***Feral State***, the blood claws melt away into liquid again. You retain only a foggy recollection of what occurred while you were in the ***Feral State***. You may feel exhausted, sore, or have a terrible headache depending on how long you where in the ***Feral State***.